EQCA Has 7 LGBT-related Bills On Governor's Desk

Equality California has sponsored several bills which have made it through both houses of the California legislature this year and will be on Governor Schwarzenegger's desk, which he has to sign or veto by September 30th.

They are:

• The Mental Health Services for At-Risk Youth bill (Leno) will increase LGBT youths’ access to counseling.
• The Repeal of Discriminatory Code bill (Lowenthal) will end California’s search for a “gay cure.”
• The Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act (Leno) will codify freedom of religion in relation to civil marriage.
• The LGBT Prisoner Safety Act (Ammiano) will reduce violence against LGBT people in the state prison system.
• The Separation Equity Act (Ma) will allow same-sex couples to dissolve their domestic partnerships and civil marriages at the same time.
• The Hate Crimes Protection Act (Saldaña) will prohibit contracts from requiring a person to waive their right to sue if they are the victim of a hate crime.
• The Unemployment Benefits Equality bill (De La Torre) will give individuals entering domestic partnerships the same rights as those getting married to obtain unemployment benefits

You can click on each bill name to take action to write the Governor and let him know what you think his position on each bill should be.

Jury in Lawrence King Killing To Be Drawn From Santa Barbara County

Today comes news that the judge in the Brandon McInerney trial has decided not to move the venue of the trial but he will have jury selection drawn from Santa Barbara County.

McInerney had just turned 14 when he allegedly shot King execution-style in a computer class in February 2008. Student witnesses said the effeminate King had expressed a romantic interest in McInerney, who was humiliated by the attention. The boys had verbally sparred in the days before the shooting.

The case has garnered international attention from gay and lesbian groups, who see King as a victim of homophobia. McInerney’s defenders say that school officials and the boys’ parents should have done more to quell tensions between them.

McInerney is being tried as an adult on a first-degree murder charge with a hate crime enhancement and could face 53 years to life if convicted.

MadProfessah has been following the case very closely since February 2008 when the incident first happened. I agree with the decision to try McInerney as an adult but I do not support the death penalty (for any crime).

Palm Springs Responds To Out Cry Over Anti-Gay Actions

Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominguez (pictured above) has begun to respond to the growing outcry over the anti-gay actions of police officers during a "public gay sex" sting operation. He has announced that Palm Springs police will no longer use decoys to entice gay men to violate the public nudity and lewd conduct laws. These are just some of the changes the Palm Springs Police Department will engage in, which also include:

Putting more officers in marked police vehicles.

Working with business owners and hotel operators to warn visitors about the consequences of illegal public conduct.

Ensuring the Warm Sands neighborhood is well lit and possibly installing lighting triggered by motion sensors.

The Palm Springs City Council, which includes the Mayor Steve Pougnet,, who is running for the 45th District congressional seat currently held by Mary Bono Mack, issued the following new policy on police coduct:

CITY COUNCIL ENDORSES NEW POLICY ON CONDUCT

The Palm Springs City Council has unanimously endorsed the Police Department's new proactive enforcement policy to control lewd conduct.

This policy restricts the use of decoy undercover operations.

“Palm Springs has always embraced diversity and tolerance and wants the LGBT community and all visitors to continue to feel safe and welcome in our City at all times,” the council stated.

“In addition to the new enforcement policy, our police department has instituted comprehensive LGBT sensitivity training. The police department continues to meet with residents and hoteliers to receive neighborhood input and to refine the implementation of the new policy,” the council added.

These steps serve as a reminder to citizens and all visitors that Palm Springs is a safe and welcoming city and unique vacation destination for everyone.

It will be interesting to see whether these actions will be enough to satisfy the many people disgusted by the police actions in this instance. If you are interested in contacting Chief Dominguz, he can be reached at David.Dominguez@palmsprings-ca.gov

Palm Springs Police Caught Trying To "Bag A F*g"

In many areas of the country, there has long been an antagonistic relationship between law enforcement and the gay community; in fact resistance to a police action in New York City in 1969 is widely regarded as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. This antagonism has typically not been present in Palm Springs, California, but apparently that is changing. Palm Springs is now considered to be the "gayest city" per capita in California, with an estimated 30 to 40 percent of its population openly gay and lesbian. It has had multiple openly gay Mayors and current has a majority city councilmembers who are gay pr lesbian.

But recently there have been increased tensions between the police and the gay community thanks to a sting operation which resulted in the arrest of more than 2 dozen gay men for "indecent exposure" and "lewd conduct."

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Sunday:

Last summer, Palm Springs police used undercover officers to arrest 24 men in a gay neighborhood for allegedly trying to engage the officers in sex. While few in the gay community defend anyone having public sex - whether gay or straight - the anger is over the unusual charges in the case: The men are charged under Section 290(c) of the California Penal Code, making those who are convicted register as sex offenders for life, their names added to a police database.

That charge is essentially a life sentence, defense lawyers say, and has never been used against straight couples arrested for similar activity in Palm Springs.

Adding fuel to the community anger is surveillance tape shot inside a patrol car during the sting. One officer can be heard using an anti-gay slur, while another officer laughs.

The San Diego Gay and Lesbian Times broke this story more than two months ago:

All 24 men were charged with violations of Penal Code sections 314 and 647(a).

According to the defense, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office will only accept a guilty plea from the defendants, and even then, only to a 314 violation with its sex offender designation.

Herein lies a huge issue that is being alleged in court documents. More on that in a moment.

What is the difference between the 314 and 647(a) misdemeanors?

Penal Code section 314 - California's "indecent exposure" law - has remained virtually unchanged since its enactment in 1872, despite the fact that community moral standards have changed drastically in the 138 years that have passed since that enactment.

This law prohibits publicly "exposing" a person’s naked body or genitals with lewd intent. Typically, a conviction of "simple" misdemeanor indecent exposure under this code brings a sentence of up to six months in a county jail, a maximum fine of $1,000 and a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender, pursuant to Penal Code 290.

Section 647(a) defines "lewd conduct" as the touching or displaying of the genitals, buttocks or female breasts with the intent of achieving sexual arousal or gratification. These acts are deemed illegal under this code when done in a lewd or lascivious manner in a public place - where a third party may be offended by its viewing. Unless there are overriding circumstances, a 647(a) conviction typically does not come with a sex offender designation.

The sex offender designation, however, can cause dire consequences for a lifetime. Those convicted have trouble keeping or finding jobs and homes, and those with green cards are usually deported.

Major allegations are being raised

The Riverside County Public Defender’s Office thinks something smells fishy about this undercover sting. As a result, court documents show that the defense is making some serious allegations:

 The Palm Springs Police Department (PSPD) exclusively targeted gay men in undercover sex stings.

 Heterosexual couples get a free pass on public sex in Palm Springs and throughout Riverside County.

 A backroom deal was struck with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office to force those arrested in the sting operations to plead to a harsher charge, requiring lifetime registration as a sex offender.

These contentions are being raised in a Riverside County discrimination motion going before a Superior Court judge in Indio on June 14.

On May 4, Deputy Public Defender Roger Tansey, who is the attorney for the defendants, and Public Defender Gary Windom, filed numerous documents related to this case.

Tansey told SDGLN in an exclusive interview that he believes this case is about “homophobia” and that the Palm Springs police are out to “get the gay guys.”

I believe this is known as "bag a f*g" in the police world, and is absolutely unacceptable. SDGLN has even more evidence showing the discriminatory nature of the proceedings:

SDGLN has obtained a copy of the court document from Thomas Hughes, who was a Deputy District Attorney for Riverside County from 2007 to 2009 and who was assigned to the Indio branch. The document – which the DA is trying to get excluded from the trial -- provides an insider glimpse into how Palm Springs initiated its 2009 undercover sting operation.

Hughes describes a 2008 sting operation conducted by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, which provides police services to the city of Rancho Mirage. As with the Palm Springs operation, the Rancho Mirage sting was directed at men who have public sex with men, not at heterosexual couples.

Hughes said the county prosecutors settled a majority of the 2008 cases for violations of Penal Code sections 647(a) or 415. Those are much less serious misdemeanor charges than Penal Code 314, which requires lifetime registration as a sex offender.

In his document, Hughes states that he was informed that the Palm Springs Police Department (PSPD) wanted to ensure ahead of the sting operation that their cases would only settle for violations of the more serious Penal Code 314.

“I have been informed and thereon believe that during spring or summer of 2009, a meeting was therefore set up between the PSPD and the District Attorney’s Office,” Hughes states in the document.

“The DA’s Office was represented by Trisha Fransdahl, a Supervising Deputy District Attorney, who met with members of the PSPD. This meeting occurred before the sting operation took place and before anyone was arrested. At that meeting, it was agreed that all of those arrested would be charged with violations of Penal Code sections 314 and 647(a). It was also agreed that Defendants would only be allowed to plead to the 314 count. Based on my experience at the District Attorney’s Office, such a meeting, before anyone is even arrested, is unusual.”

Hughes also states that the DA’s Office decided that the Palm Springs sting cases would not be subject to negotiations or plea deals.

Bolstering the discrimination claim is this statement by Hughes: “I was also in my office when I personally heard Linda Dunn, head of the Eastern Division of the District Attorney’s Office and the supervisor of Ms. Frandahl, make homophobic remarks. This occurred when I overheard Lee Roberts, one of the District Attorneys on the Palm Springs cases, express a desire to Ms. Dunn to visit the scene of the sting.

“Several times I heard Ms. Dunn make disparaging remarks about ‘those people’ as she laughingly expressed concern for Mr. Roberts’s safety if he were to visit Palm Springs. Ms. Dunn did not want Mr. Roberts to go, stating that, ‘I don’t want you around ‘those’ people, we don’t know what they’re capable of doing. If you go, be safe.'”

Unbelievable! In 2009, the Riverside District Attorney and the Palm Springs Police Department thinks they can get away with this? In a city that is 40% gay?

Oscar Grant Trial Starts In Los Angeles

MadProfessah has been following the case of Oscar Grant closely since it became public in January 1, 2009. On that day a 27-year-old Bay Area Rapid Transit cop named Johannes Mehserle shot and killed Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old father of two in the back while Grant was face down on the ground being arrested by Mehserle. The shooting was captured by multiple cell-phone videos and the horrific incident became an internet sensation. Because of pre-trial publicity, the murder trial of Mehserle was moved from Alameda County to Los Angeles County and began last week.

Oklahoma Homophobes Can't Even Discriminate Straight!

Last week in the blogosphere there were multiple reports about the Oklahoma State Senate passing legislation which would exempt that state from enforcing the recently enacted federal hate crimes act that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. However, now it turns that there was "a legislative error" and instead of exempting Oklahoma from enforcing hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the fools eliminated protections based on race and religion instead:

Oklahoma State Senate Minority Leader Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, said when the Senate passed Senate Bill 1965 on March 10, it eliminated hate crime protections for race and religion.

The bill states local law enforcement agencies should not enforce any sections of federal law under hate crimes statutes listed under Title 18 U.S. Code Section 245 unless they are in correlation with Oklahoma’s hate crimes laws.

But the protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes, which passed Congress last year, are not listed under Section 245, but Section 249

“The bill in its current form doesn’t take away rights from gays and lesbians,” Rice said. “It takes away rights for religion and race.”

“This is most likely a legislative error or at least a typo,” Rice said.

All I can do is shake my head.

hat/tip to PFAW's Right Wing Watch.

Hate Crimes Against Gays Rise In LA County

111: Hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2007
134: Hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2008
105: Hate crimes based on religion in 2007
120: Hate crimes based on religion in 2008
763: Overall hate crimes in 2007
729: Overall hate crimes in 2008

The Los Angeles Daily News is reporting that the number of hate crimes in Los Angeles County decreased overall, but increased in several categories such as sexual orientation and religion.

Sexual orientation hate crimes rose the most last year, with more than 80 percent targeting gay men and at least nine crimes traced to Proposition 8.

One incident highlighted in the report involved a white lesbian couple walking hand-in-hand on the beach in Malibu. The mother of a white tourist family from Arkansas told them, "You are going to burn in hell!" and dumped her water bottle on one of them and punched one in the face.

"The worst part of the story is that hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are the most violent hate crimes of all," said Lorri Jean, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

"Seventy-three percent of all anti-gay and anti-lesbian hate crimes were violent. And the frightening truth is that equal numbers of LGBT people were targeted in public places as in their residences."

Almost two-thirds of the religious-based hate crimes were anti-Jewish.

Joint Statement from 32 LGBT Groups on Hate Crimes Act

A joint statement was released last week on the occasion of President Barack Obama signing hate crimes legislation into law:

History in the Making

It took much too long, more than a decade. And it came at too great a price: the brutal killings of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. are just two among the thousands of crimes motivated by hate and bigotry.

But this week, the president put pen to paper and fulfilled a campaign promise, the signing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, extending the federal hate crimes statute to include sexual orientation and gender identity along with race, religion, gender, national origin and disability. Our deepest hope and strong belief is that this new law will save lives. Now, lawmakers and the president have made an imperative statement to the country and the world: Our nation will no longer tolerate hate-motivated violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

We have worked long and hard for this and its passage is historic.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, there are nearly 8,000 hate crime-related incidents annually, and more than 1,200 of those incidents involve violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity. And even more alarming, while the overall occurrence of hate crimes is declining nationally, hate crimes against LGBT people have been increasing. This year alone, we saw hate crimes trials in the brutal killings of two transgender women, Angie Zapata and Lateisha Green.

As a result of this legislation, if local jurisdictions are unable or unwilling to investigate or prosecute hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity, the Justice Department can now step in. And that’s why the LGBT community never stopped working for this historic day.

This legislation not only has practical value, but is a symbol of our progress. It is the first time in the nation’s history that Congress has passed explicit protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. We could not have reached this moment without the powerful support of our allies who stood with us every step of the way. We are deeply grateful to civil rights, civic, faith and disability rights groups, as well as law enforcement and district attorney organizations that worked side by side with the LGBT advocates. We are equally thankful to Congress, President Obama and members of his administration for passing and signing this bill into law.

While today we celebrate this marker of progress, we must recognize it as only one of the building blocks to full equality and demand that it be just a first step toward equal treatment under federal law in all areas of our lives. And we must focus on the next step.

The passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act provides us with an opportunity. We must use this moment to educate and keep the momentum going so that we can continue to make progress on the local, state and federal levels. Yes, legislation takes a long time — often years of work. Yet, our community is on the cusp of passing much-needed protections.

This week, we call upon lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, families and allies to take this opportunity of increased media and public attention on hate crimes to educate co-workers, classmates, neighbors, family members and friends about our lives, and about why we need not only their friendship and love, but their vocal support for a more just and equal America for LGBT people. If your members of Congress voted in support of hate crimes legislation, call them and thank them. Then ask them to be there for us again when the vote turns to workplace nondiscrimination, military service and partnership rights.

With your help and our collective pressure, equality is within reach.

When talking about the need for hate crimes legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “The time for debate is over.”

She was right.

Just as the time has finally come for stronger hate crime protections, it is also time to pass an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and ensure that health care, economic policy and immigration reform incorporate the needs of LGBT people.

The time for debate is over.

Signed by:

Jo Kenny, AFL-CIO Pride at Work
Terry Stone, Centerlink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Gabe Javier & Debbie Bazarsky, Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
Marianne Duddy-Burke, DignityUSA
Toni Broaddus, Equality Federation
Jennifer Chrisler, Family Equality Council
Evan Wolfson, Freedom to Marry
Lee Swislow, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
Jarrett Barrios, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Rebecca Allison, M.D., Gay & Lesbian Medical Association
Eliza Byard, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
Chuck Wolfe, Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund
Marjorie Hill, Gay Men’s Health Crisis
Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign
Rachel Tiven, Immigration Equality
Earl Fowlkes, International Federation of Black Prides
Kevin M. Cathcart, Lambda Legal
Leslie Calman, Mautner Project: The National Lesbian Health Organization
Sharon Lettman, National Black Justice Coalition
Kate Kendell, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Mara Keisling, National Center for Transgender Equality
Sharon Stapel, National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
Rebecca Fox, National Coalition for LGBT Health
Justin Nelson, National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
Rea Carey, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Paul Kawata, National Minority AIDS Council
Kyle Bailey, National Stonewall Democrats
Greg Varnum, National Youth Advocacy Coalition
Selisse Berry, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
Jody Michael Huckaby, PFLAG National
Michael Adams, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE)
Aubrey Sarvis, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Lisbeth Melendez Rivera, UNID@S

–30–

VIDEO: Obama Remarks on Hate Crimes Bill Signing

Obama Signs Hate Crimes Act Into Law

President Obama with Judy Shepard, mother of Mathew Shepard,
in the Oval Office in June 2009

Here are the President's Remarks on the signing of the Defense Reauthorization Act (which included the Mathew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act) today white the White House emailed to its Press List:

Now, speaking of that, there is one more long-awaited change contained within this legislation that I'll be talking about a little more later today. After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we've passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray, or who they are. (Applause.)

I promised Judy Shepard, when she saw me in the Oval Office, that this day would come, and I'm glad that she and her husband Dennis could join us for this event. I'm also honored to have the family of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, who fought so hard for this legislation. And Vicki and Patrick, Kara, everybody who's here, I just want you all to know how proud we are of the work that Ted did to help this day -- make this day possible. So -- and thank you for joining us here today. (Applause.)

The haters are already complaining that Obama didn't use the word gay in his remarks, although he did have aseparate reception later with invited representatives of the LGBT community. No word on whether the White House will also release those remarks.

Pam's House Blend has a summary of reactions from LGBT organizations.

Obama To Sign Federal Hate Crimes Bill Wed

President Barack Obama will sign the federal hate crimes bill into law on Wednesday and deliver remarks at a reception to which members of the LGBT community are invited.

The president plans to pen his name to the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill, which includes a provision known as the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The measure would make illegal hate crimes based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, among other categories, and would allow the Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of such crimes.

The legislation has languished in Congress for 12 years, and with strong support this congressional session, lawmakers put the finishing touches on the bill this month.

The House on Oct. 8 voted in favor of the defense conference report with the hate crimes measure, 281-146, and the Senate on Thursday approved the same report, 68-29.

I wonder how long the (white) LGBT community will give Obama credit for signing the first piece of federal legislaation ever to include civil rights protection based on gender identity as well as enacting a bill which has been on "the Gay Agenda" for over a decade. Don't hold your breath!

Congress Sends Federal Hate Crimes Bill To Obama

Elections have consequences. Today's 68-29 vote on the final version of the Department of Defense spending bill means that the federal hate crimes bill will become the first piece of federal legislation that includes gender identity and the first major piece of civil rights legislation on the LGBT agenda to be enacted.

The New York Times said

The measure, attached to an essential military-spending bill, broadens the definition of federal hate crimes to include those committed because of a victim’s gender or gender identity, or sexual orientation. It gives victims the same federal safeguards already afforded to people who are victims of violent crimes because of their race, color, religion or national origin.

“Hate crimes instill fear in those who have no connection to the victim other than a shared characteristic such as race or sexual orientation,” Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said afterward. “For nearly 150 years, we have responded as a nation to deter and to punish violent denials of civil rights by enacting federal laws to protect the civil rights of all of our citizens.”

[...]

Opponents argued to no avail that the new measure was unnecessary in view of existing laws and might interfere with local law enforcement agencies. Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, said he agreed that hate crimes were terrible. “That’s why they are already illegal,” Mr. DeMint said, asserting that the new law was a dangerous, even “Orwellian” step toward “thought crime.”

Republicans have also said that they may challenge the law in court.

Federal hate crimes legislation passes U.S.House

The federal hate crimes act passed the U.S. House Thursday by a vote of 281-146 and goes to a final ratification by the U.S. Senate early next week. October 12 will be the 10th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, for whom the act is named.

From The New York Times:

The hate-crime provision had passed both the House and Senate in previous years as a separate bill, but the bill could never clear its final hurdles. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was fitting that Congress was acting now because Monday is the 11th anniversary of Mr. Shepard’s death. The legislation is known as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, for Mr. Shephard and a black man who was killed in a race-based attack in Texas the same year.

“When I came to Congress 22 years ago, hate-crimes legislation was one of the items on my agenda,” Ms. Pelosi said.

The hate-crimes legislation allocates $5 million a year to the Justice Department to provide assistance to local communities in investigating such crimes, a process that can sometimes strain local police resources. It allows the Justice Department to assist in the investigation and prosecution of such crimes if asked to do so by local authorities.

Of course, now the Republicans are claiming the hate crimes bill is unconstitutional if Obama signs the DOD Authorization into law next week, as expected. I guess they are hoping the Roberts court will revisit the unanimous precedent set in Wisconsin v. Mitchell in 1993? Bring. It. On.

Matthew's Choice: Hate Crimes Or No More War Funding

Memorial for Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming a few days
after the gay man was brutally left to die in October 1998

Remember the movie Sophie's Choice that won Meryl Streep her Best Actress Oscar? What the LGBT community is facing today is what I call "Matthew's Choice."

The federal hate crimes bill, which would include the possibility of penalty enhancements for crimes motivated by the sexual orientation, gender identity or mental/physical disability of the victim. If enacted, the Mathew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S.909 / H.R. 1913) would become the first substantive piece of federal legislation to increase civil rights for members of the LGBT community.

However, the legislative history of the bill is so convoluted that in order for it to become law, the Department of Defense Authorization bill, which happens to include funding for both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, will also need to become law.

So, if you are against the wars but in favor of LGBT people finally receiving recognition under federal law, you have the awful choice of having to choose between your anti-war principles and your pro-equality principles, i.e. similar horrific choice with no good answer to what Meryl Streep's character had to face in Sophie's Choice. I call this dilemma Matthew's Choice.

There has been quite an intense debate going on among LGBT activists about what position to take on this question of supporting a bill which includes both the Department of Defense Authorization and the federal hate crimes act simultaneously.

For me, if the bill still included a death penalty provision I would NOT be in support of it. However, although I do not support the DOD Authorization I think it is more important to set the precedent that meaningful federal legislation can be passed that includes protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

So, I called my Congressperson Xavier Becerra (CA-31) this afternoon and encouraged him to vote in favor of the conference report on the Department of Defense Authorization bill.

I encourage YOU to call your Congressperson as well. Find the name of your Representative here and MAKE THAT CALL!

Brandon McInerney Pleads Not Guilty To Hate Crime

Brandon McInerney, the teenager who shot and killed an openly gay classmate in February 2008, has pleaded "not guilty" to murder. The 15-year-old is being tried as an adult.

Ventura County Superior Court Superior Court Judge Bruce Young set a pretrial hearing for Oct. 23 and a trial date for Dec. 1.

[...]

McInerney’s lawyers, Scott Wippert and Robyn Bramson, filed a legal motion Thursday to dismiss the special circumstance of lying in wait that was tacked onto the felony criminal charges by prosecutors after a three-day preliminary hearing.

Attaching a lying in wait special circumstance to a murder charge in a juvenile case, by law, automatically transfers the case to adult court.

[...]

McInerney is accused of murder and a hate crime in the killing of King, who wore female clothing to school and told classmates he was gay. Prosecutors allege McInerney waited 15 to 20 minutes in a classroom before shooting King, constituting grounds for adding the lying-in-wait charge.

McInerney faces as much as 53 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges in adult court. Prosecutors have offered to agree to a sentence of 25 years to life if he pleads guilty to first-degree murder and the hate-crime allegation.

Prosecutors allege McInerney, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, subscribed to a white-supremacist philosophy.

Hat/tip Joe.My.God

VIDEO: CNN Report on Iraqi LGBT Killings

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

15-Year-Old Killer of Lawrence King To Be Tried As Adult

Brandon McInerney, the person who (allegedly) shot 15-year old Lawrence King in their 8th grade class in February 2008 is going to be tried for the crime as an adult, a judge ruled on Wednesday at a preliminary hearing. The court proceedings were delayed from earlier this year when McInerney's father was found dead the day before the trial was supposed to start.

According to prosecutor Maeve Fox, McInerney faces up to 53 years in prison, if convicted.

The prosecutor has offered McInerney a plea of a reduced sentence of 25 years if he pleads guilty. McInerney's defense attorneys have said they will appeal the judge's ruling that the now-15-year-old should be tried as an adult for a crime he allegedly committed days after he turned 14.

The defense has also been criticized by LGBT organizations for attempting to use a form of the "gay panic" defense for McInerney's actions:

In the preliminary hearing, the defense suggested that McInerney had been sexually abused as a child. They said he felt threatened by King, who returned taunts from him and other boys with sexual overtures and declarations of love.

At Wednesday's hearing, McInerney attorney Robyn Bramson summed up the defense strategy. In exasperation, she asked an investigator: "What if you talked to Brandon and he said, 'I did it because this kid was sexually harassing me and I felt panicked, freaked out and uncomfortable'?"

The judge ruled the question improper, and the investigator did not have to answer.

If that's not an attempt to get "gay panic defense" admitted, then what is it?

The judge also ruled that the special circumstance of "lying in wait" be added to the charges because the crime occurred 15 to 20 minutes in to a computer class on the morning of February 12, 2008. He also agreed that the crime should be classified as a hate crime.

Celebrity Friday: Judy Shepard

Judy Shepard, the mother of Mathew Shepard, for whom S. 909, the Mathew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act is named, met with President Barack Obama in the White House on Wednesday May 20th.

The U.S. House of Representatives version of the bill, H.R. 1913, passed that body on April 29th by a vote of 249-175.

The White House released the photo and urged the Senate to act quickly on the pending legislation so the President could sign it into law.

Federal Anti-Hate Crimes Bill Passes U.S. House

The final vote tay to pass the hate crimes bill in the U.S. House was 249-175. However, the blogosphere is melting down about the North Carolina congresswoman who in speaking against the bill claimed the Mathew Shepard incident was a hoax:



As someone else said, "Fire her!"

President Issues Statement In Support of Hate Crimes Bill

President Barack Obama has issued a statement in favor of H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, more commonly known as "the hate crimes bill."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 28, 2009

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON H.R. 1913, THE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT HATE CRIMES PREVENTION ACT OF 2009

This week, the House of Representatives is expected to consider H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance – legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action.

The hate crimes bill passed both houses of Congress last year (U.S. House 237-180 and U.S. Senate 60-39) but the measure did not become law because it was stripped from the Department of Defense authorization conference report.

H.R. 1913 will be debated on the floor of the House tomorrow. The companion Senate bill, the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was introduced today with main co-sponsors Senators Kennedy (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Snowe (R-ME) and Collins (R-ME).

You can follow the action by going to FightHateNow.org and following the tweet #FightHateNow.