GAY SLAUGHTER IN TEL AVIV

At approximately 11:00pm on Saturday, a man reportedly dressed in black and wearing a black ski mask entered the Gay Youth Center in Tel Aviv, Israel and immediately opened fire, spraying bullets indiscriminately around the room.

The teenagers, many of whom were very young and hadn't even come out to their parents yet, were gathered in a basement room of the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association for a group support meeting. Within minutes, two people were killed and more than a dozen where wounded.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel Radio identified a 17 year old girl from Holon and a 24-year-old guide from Givatayim as the two fatalities. Of those who where wounded, at least two are in critical condition, another six were badly hurt and several others had minor wounds. Unfortunately, regardless of the physical wounds, the psychological trauma of just being a target during such a horrendous attack like this is going to haunt everyone who was in that room for the rest of their lives.

Even though Tel Aviv has been a target of numerous terrorist's attacks, most agree that this one was not done by a terrorist. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that this was "most likely a criminal attack and not a terror attack."

Eyewitness Yaniv Weisman told Channel 10 TV that, "This was a hate crime, a premeditated attack." He said Cafe Noir (the basement club's name) was a popular spot with gay youth. The club is also a bit off the beaten path which means that you have to know where you were going to be able to find it. So this being a random terrorist's act seems unlikely.

Of course it won't be possible to know the real motives behind the gunman's attack until he is caught. But, it's well known throughout Israel that the Jewish right wing religious sects espouse the same hateful, homophobic, rabble-rousing rhetoric that our own right wing religious fanatics constantly blubber about here. It's not such a big leap to assume that that kind of shrill pomposity, especially "in the name of God," can easily lead an unstable mind to believe that they would be doing "God's work" by such horrendously evil acts like this shooting. Somewhere along the line, this needs to be stopped before more innocent people and children are killed because of those twisted beliefs.

Yes, there is the issue of freedom of expression. But even that has limits -- like it's unlawful to yell "FIRE" in a crowded theatre when there isn't any fire. Well, to me, this kind of religious rhetoric is exactly the same thing and shouldn't be protected by any law or constitution. And, I have no doubt that our founding fathers would agree.

Since this incident occurred there have been dozens of stories in mainstream medias, blogs across the internet and radio and television stations around the world. If you would like to read more, the links I've provided below are the sites I used to compile this report:

The Jerusalem Post
The Huffington Post
The Advocate.com
365gay.com
PinkNews.co.uk
BoxTurtleBulletin.com

And here's a recent article about the continuing manhunt for the gunman...
LezGetReal.com

HOWARD STERNS PRO-GAY ACTIVISM CONTINUES...

Howard Stern has mesmerized and confounded his listeners and critics alike for years now. You never know what he's going to say from one second to the next and from all appearances, neither does he.

Aside from his trademark, point-blank, raunchy realism there's one thing that has remained a constant and recurring topic of countless discussions. Us.

He clearly believes that the gay community has an indisputable right to equal treatment - not just under the law but within the general society as a whole. He has been a staunch, unabashed and defiantly outspoken champion of our causes for many years now and his ability to reach millions of people everyday (mostly straight) makes him one of the most powerful voices we could ever have on our side.

Last week, Jenny Stewart posted a segment of a discussion on the April 29th broadcast under Hot Topics on Gay.com. I want to share this with you now because I think it deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.

According to Jenny, who is apparently a long-time listener, Stern frequently inserts insightful, positive opinions on gays - completely out of nowhere. On the April 29th show, while reading his fan feedback emails, he started talking about someone complaining to him that the show had become "too gay." Following is the exchange that took place between Howard and his co-hosts Robin Quivers and Artie Lange:

Howard: I was talking to someone recently and they said, 'Oh you have so many gay guests lately, the show is getting too gay.'

OK -- first of all, we don't have that many gay guests. And my feeling about gay people is that we have a responsibility not only to make gay marriage acceptable and to make gays feel as accepted as heterosexuals, but that we have to hold gay people above all others.

Robin: What the hell does that mean?

Howard: In other words, gay people are downtrodden. They're beaten and abused for their sexuality. And it goes across race – it's in the white community and the black community. Gay people are the bastards of the world. And in order for things to change – because anyone of you could have gay children, gay relatives or gay friends –

Robin: And in some countries, you can be put to death for being gay.

Howard: Yes. You know, it reminds [me] almost of the Jews in Europe. In Poland, Warsaw was one of the great cities of Europe. They had Jews and the Jews were very important to the culture of Poland, and elevated the society. And then when the Nazis came and cleaned them out, Poland became what is today – nothing. It's really…not much.

Now, gay people in our society are responsible for some of the most creative arts, and creative science – and not just the Arts, because I don't want this to sound like a cliché. What I'm saying is that they're contributors, they are people who want to thrive and they're artistic and they're free thinkers.

So I think we have a responsibility to make [gays] acceptable. We have to get past all this bullshit, so that some gay kid going to high school doesn’t get the shit beat out of him just because he's gay. And like, what is this hang up with gay marriage, you know? Who cares?!

I mean, we aired a clip yesterday where this guy was carrying on – he's petitioning, and he's devoting his whole life to making sure that gay marriage doesn't happen in his state. And I'm thinking, 'Geez, this man must have the most empty fucking life.' It's just such bullshit.

If you want to believe in God, that's great. But don’t buy into these religions that were created by man that have all these cockamamie rules that were created by some uptight douche bag.

Artie Lange: And God created gay people, so I don’t know what these religious nuts are even talking about. Look, you can become a Nazi and you could be mad at them for doing that. But you're not born a Nazi. Every type of person was created by God, so you love them and accept them. Some people think it’s a choice, being gay, but I really don’t think so. I mean, why would you choose to be downtrodden?

Robin: Why would you choose to get the shit kicked out of you?

Howard: Right.

When Stern was just beginning to make a major name for himself, I just couldn't get into his style of commentary and comedy. Over the years however, after hearing over and over again about the extraordinary level of humanity and compassion that make up the core of his persona, I've done a compete 180.

I don't think there's anyone anywhere who deserves our respect and especially our gratitude more than Howard Stern.

Thank you Howard for continuing to stand by us.