The 19-year-old thug was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause GBH earlier this week at Knutsford Crown Court.

Passing sentence, the Recorder, as reported by icCheshireonline.co.uk, said : “The scar from the injuries you inflicted on Colin Black will be a constant reminder to him of the events of that Boxing Day.”

Despite a laughable claim from defence lawyer Vincent Yip that the teenage thug is not homophobic and has gay friends, Recorder Geriant Williams sent Close to a young offender’s institution for four years.

The length of the sentence was increased because the crime was homophobic.

Two men were attacked by a gang of up to 10 youths on busy Oxford Street on the weekend in a savage act of homophobic violence.

One of the victims was co-chair of communications for New Mardi Gras, Scott Gillespie.

The unprovoked attack occurred just after 2am on Saturday in front of dozens of passers-by opposite the intersection of Oxford and Palmer Streets. The attackers yelled “poofters” and “faggots” during the assault.

Gillespie and his friend “Dave”, who is heterosexual and does not wish to have his surname published, were both punched repeatedly in the head.

Dave had two of his front teeth knocked out. Gillespie sustained only minor scratches and bruises.

Gillespie said he was surprised no one tried to help or call police during the attack, which lasted for around five minutes. “At least two dozen people walked past,” he said.

A gay German couple traveling through the Croatian town of Split was attacked by unknown perpetrators, police and local media reported on Friday. The incident was the latest in a series of homophobic attacks on tourists along Croatia's popular Adriatic coast in recent months, according to Agence France-Presse reports.

The two German men, ages 20 and 39, were beaten up late on Wednesday while walking on a street in Split, a police spokeswoman told AFP. Of the two, the 39-year-old suffered serious injuries and needed medical treatment for a broken nose, she said.

According to local press, the two were holding hands when they were attacked. It was the fourth attack on gay and lesbian tourists in the Split area since July.

Three men attacked bar staff at Northampton gay pub the Boston Clipper, leaving one of them seriously injured.

One of the licensees of the pub, Peter Dean, was hospitalised, suffering a broken ankle, a leg shattered in three places, and will need corrective surgery.

Police are continuing inquiries about the incident on 16 September.

The horrific attack happened the day before a charity concert was due to take place at the pub, to show support for the family of Michael Fardon, a man who was murdered in July after leaving the Boston Clipper. A man has been arrested in connection with Fardon’s murder, and is awaiting trial.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of Gary Hirte for the "thrill killing" of a man in 2003.

Hirte was sentenced to life in prison last year for the killing of Glen Kopitske following a sensational trial in which the defense tried to use the so-called 'gay panic' defense.

During the trial Hirte's attorney said he was so overcome with guilt and shame after having gay sex that he became enraged and then killed the man.

[...]

The prosecution had a different version of the events leading up to Kopitske's murder. They said that Gary Hirte planned the murder and did it to see how it would feel.

The jury discounted the "gay rage" claim and found Hirte, who was 19 at the time, legally sane.

If the jury had found Hirte insane he would have been sent to a mental institution, where he could petition every six months for release. The Court of Appeals ruling means he will serve his full sentence in prison.

Encouraging people to hate homosexuals should be against the law, say equality campaigners following the murder of a gay Portsmouth man.

Gay charity Stonewall has proposed an anti-gay incitement law should be included in the new Criminal Justice Bill announced as part of the Queen's speech yesterday.
It comes after a spate of murders in the gay community in the last year including 67-year-old Malcolm Bryan, who was found dead at the bottom of a stairwell in Crown Court, Landport, Portsmouth, eight weeks ago.

Stonewall has received about £10,000 of donations towards plans for a campaign to stop the incitement of anti-gay hatred.

The lobby group wants it to be made illegal for anti-gay statements to be made on public platforms such as in musical lyrics or political campaigns.

BOULDER - A 21-year-old student at Naropa University was badly beaten early Wednesday near downtown Boulder after telling two men she had just met that she was gay.

The Boulder woman, whose name wasn't released, was assaulted around 3 a.m. near 13th Street and Canyon Boulevard, police said. One of the men attacked the woman after she rejected sexual advances from him and his friend, police said.

The woman was punched and kicked in the face and head, causing serious injuries, according to police. She told officers that her attacker's friend told him to stop but didn't intervene to help her.

DETROIT - Andrew Anthos died Friday of injuries sustained during an attack last week outside his downtown Detroit apartment building. Family members said he was a victim of an anti-gay hate crime.

...

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has offered to pay Anthos' funeral expenses.

"It was maybe like that 20 or 30 years ago," Winchester, 30, said of Boulder's liberal reputation, as she held her daughter, Sami. "This is really shocking, and this gives us an opportunity to show support for the victim and the community as a whole. I want to live where I feel safe and be accepted for who I am."

Mullet, 30, said that she and Winchester will not sit by quietly when any violent act is committed against members of their community.

"We need to let people know that it's not OK" to attack gays or lesbians, said Mullet, as she carried her son, Kai. "And we're just not going to sit down and take it."

The demonstrators, carrying signs and sporting rainbow ribbons representing the colors of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, began their march from the Boulder Pride community center in the 2100 block of 14th Street, near the Pearl Street Mall. They proceeded through Central Park and under the Broadway Bridge at Boulder Creek before gathering behind the municipal building.

...

"This is not acceptable," said Blake Weber, Boulder Pride's new executive director, to the demonstrators, who responded with shouts of approval. "This is not acceptable in Boulder. This is not acceptable in Colorado and this not acceptable in this country."

Nail bomber David Copeland must serve at least 50 years behind bars for three "horrific" murders carried out during a 13-day reign of terror in London, a High Court judge ruled.
Copeland, now 30, was given six life sentences at the Old Bailey in June 2000 for three counts of murder and three of causing explosions in order to endanger life.

The original recommendation in his case was that he should serve a minimum of 30 years in custody before he can be considered for parole.

But following a reconsideration of that "tariff" under new legislation, a judge in London announced that he had set a minimum term of 50 years in a case of "exceptional gravity".

Mr Justice Burton, who described it as a "really exceptional case of deliberate, multiple murder", said a period of 13 months and 26 days, which Copeland served on remand, would be deducted from the term.

Engineer Copeland, from Cove, Farnborough, Hants, admitted causing explosions in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho, London, during 13 days in April 1999, killing three people and injuring 139.

...given six life sentences at the Old Bailey in June 2000...

BRISTOL -- At around 9pm on Friday, March 2, 2007, the 46-year-old local man walked into the Charcoal Grill kebab house at the junction on Stockwood Road and the Holway Road shopping precinct.

The takeaway had around 20 to 30 youths both in and outside of it.

As the victim left the premises he noticed three youths outside the takeaway.

One of them then made a homophobic remark before a verbal exchange between the two.

As the victim turned to walk off, he was attacked from behind and hit in the face, sustaining a broken nose and injured left eye.

Following surgery, the victim has now lost permanent use of the eye....

The youth who made the homophobic remark is described as a white male, aged 17 years, 5ft 6ins tall with short dark hair and wearing a black jumper.

It is thought either he or the two other males outside of the takeaway were responsible for the attack.

DETROIT -- Andrew Anthos, the elderly gay man whose death was attributed to a vicious hate crime, did not die from a beating but from natural causes, Detroit police said Wednesday.

Police spokesman James Tate, citing an autopsy report from the Wayne County Medical Examiners Office that made the conclusion, said there was no evidence of a crime.

The autopsy's conclusion has angered Anthos' relatives.

"They determined that he died of natural causes," Tate said. "There's no evidence that an assault occurred. Effectively, this case is closed."

the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office concluded that Anthos fell because he had an arthritic neck, and detectives were unable to find witnesses to a beating, police said. Medical Examiner Dr. Carl Schmidt said evidence did not support the report of an attack on Anthos and said a head injury likely came from falling.

The AP notes, "It was unclear what police made of the friend's account." It's also unclear where police came up with a sketch of Anthos' attacker which was released on March 1st.

Athena Fedenis, Anthos' cousin, whom police did not talk to before going public with their findings, expressed shock that the case was closed: "I'm just livid about this. Andrew didn't have any reason to make this up. I won't let this rest. I can't let this tarnish him. I don't want anyone to think it wasn't a hate crime."

Today, Triangle Foundation joined with the Wayne County Prosecutor's office and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in calling for more witnesses to come forward in the attack on openly-gay 72-year-old Detroiter Andrew Anthos. The Task Force has offered a $5,000 cash reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect in the case.

"Triangle Foundation stands in full support of the family of Andrew Anthos, whom we still believe was the victim of a vicious anti-gay assault which ultimately led to his death," said Triangle Director of Victims Services Melissa L. Pope, J.D. In addition to Andrew's statements about the attack to his family while on his deathbed, there was a witness present who provided police with a sketch of the man we believe attacked Andrew."

Triangle Foundation will continue working with Andrew's family and the press to reaffirm what we believe to be the truth in this case. The coroner's report, which we have not seen at this time, is unfortunate because it may lead to justice not being served in this case.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy's office has issued a call for witnesses to call the Detroit Police Department. Triangle and the Task Force request that witnesses who may feel unsafe contacting the police call Triangle directly at 313-537-7000, ext. 112 or 1-877-787-4264.

Further, we request that everyone receiving this message forward it to everyone they know in the city of Detroit and/or anyone thay know who may have been in the city on the night of Feb. 13 who may have been a witness to this attack. Together, we will pursue justice in this case.

...the American Family Association of Michigan in a statement called on Detroit police to investigate who may have been involved in the filing of what the Midland-based conservative group called "the filing of a false police report."

WASHINGTON, March 29 — Detroit police have closed their investigation into the Feb. 23 death of Andrew Anthos, 72, after the Wayne County medical examiner’s office ruled Anthos fell because he had an arthritic neck, not because he was struck during a hate-motivated attack.

Anthos was left paralyzed from the neck down in what his family and others have called a hate crime. Anthos was on a city bus on Feb. 13 when a man reportedly approached him and asked him whether he was gay. The man reportedly continued to harass Anthos and followed him off the bus at the stop in front of his building. A witness saw a man trailing Anthos and standing over him while Anthos was face down on the ground. Anthos gave a corroborating statement before slipping into a coma. The medical examiner’s report fails to explain a 2-inch bruise on the back of Anthos’ head.

Statement by Matt Foreman, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“The Detroit Police Department’s mishandling of the investigation into the death of Andrew Anthos is appalling and it is clear that they simply want to sweep it under the rug. The DPD have failed on so many levels — they have failed to involve the community in finding additional witnesses, they have ignored Mr. Anthos’ family and they are using a coroner’s report to negate Mr. Anthos’ deathbed statements and those of an eyewitness.

“We’ve seen the same kinds of things happen time and again in the way in which police respond to hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We are proud to work with the Triangle Foundation and to post a $10,000 reward to encourage people to come forward with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator.”

The wheelchair user did not see the attack but provided a description of a man at the scene that police used to develop a sketch of a suspect, Detroit police spokesman Leon Rahmaan told reporters.

To view a large version of the police sketch, go to

www.tri.org/violence/anthos_killer_sketch_lg.jpg.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, hoping to prod Detroit police into reopening the case, posted a $25,000 reward Tuesday for information on the circumstances surrounding the death of gay senior citizen Andrew Anthos.

New Mexico Bashing
Free New Mexican



There is much more about this horrific case at the link. The details are just mind-boggling.

KOBTV offers a little more on the story.



May all the gods preserve me from str8 people.

A minor addendum to the New Mexico hate crime story --



(The emphasis is mine.)

Wow. A whole extra year. Sure is a good thing New Mexico is one of the states with a hate crime law, isn't it?

Update on the New Mexico case: More arrests

THE NEW MEXICAN



You may recall that this similarly hateful case also took place in Santa Fe, a tad over a year ago.

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/11159.html
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/11120.html
http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2006/04/07/2
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/45172.html
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/45154.html

And it doesn't bode well.

The New Mexico bashers were in court for their probable cause hearing.

The Free New Mexican is reporting that bond for each of the two adults accused in this case has been set at $100,000 cash.

Something that seems to have slipped everyone's notice is the judge in this case -- it's State District Judge Michael Vigil, whom we have read about before.



While the Free New Mexican gets a kudo for printing the word (so many other news outlets are just too shy), I have to rescind it. "Joto" most assuredly does not mean "gay" in Spanish. It means "faggot." There is as much a difference between the two words in Spanish as there is in English.

Edgewood: Four indicted in gay-bashing case



Note that the minors accused in this case, Cecily Gonzales (16) and Uriah Smith (17), have been indicted as adults. Leroy Segura is reportedly 19, while William York is 21.

State District Judge Michael Vigil sentenced Cecily Gonzalez, 17, to a year in the custody of the Children, Youth and Families Department for taking part in the beating. Gonzalez, who faced a maximum of two years in CYFD custody, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and false imprisonment but wasn't eligible for a hate-crime enhancement of an extra year because she was sentenced as a juvenile.

...

Uriah Smith, 18, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and was sentenced to four years in prison. Prosecutor Donna Dagnall said everyone involved identified Smith as the leader of the attack, though Smith's attorney said his client never battered the victim.

Ellen Russill, a juvenile probation officer, said a diagnostic exam on Smith found he has psychotic tendencies, possible personality disorders and wasn't amenable to treatment in the juvenile system.

Noting that Smith requested adult sanctions, Dagnall said Smith's report was one of the most frightening she'd ever read. She also said that Smith considered shoving a broomstick up the victim's rectum but decided against it because he thought people might consider him gay.

"There's something seriously wrong with Mr. Smith," Dagnall said. "He knows right from wrong and does wrong anyway."