Gay Bashing Trial Begins In Vancouver, Transgendered Widow Of Fallen Firefighter Forced To Fight For His Benefits Because His Family Contends Their Marriage Was Not Valid, Atlanta CEO Killed By Police In Newark Gay Public Sex Sting, National Organization For Marriage Summer Tour Still Tanking, Justice Who Wrote Massachusetts Gay Marriage Ruling Retiring

The trial of 35 year old Shawn Woodward begins Wednesday in a Vancouver Provincial Court, charged with one count of aggravated assault resulting from an unprovoked attack on 62 year old Ritchie Dowrey in March, 2009. The assault occurred outside the Fountainhead Pub along Davie Street, witnesses telling police that they heard Woodward yelling anti-gay slurs during the attack, accusing the victim of being sexually suggestive. He punched Dowrey in the head, causing the victim to fall and hit his head, suffering serious brain damage. He now resides in a care home. A hate crime stipulation has yet to seek by the Crown.

From Texas, a sickening story about the family of Thomas Araguz II, of Wharton, a firefighter who was fighting a fire at an egg farm in Boling, Texas, and who was killed do so. He was 37 years old and died without a will, and that fact, under state law, means that probate courts usually divide the deceased’s assets and benefits equally between the spouse and the children. However, the Araguz family, led by the mother, and Thomas’ first wife, is fighting the state, demanding that all the assets and benefits go to his 7 and 10 year old sons from his first marriage. The reason: Nikki Araguz, Thomas’ second wife is transgendered, and that fact is encouraging the Araguz family to fight for full access to all death benefits left by Thomas, denying that he and Nikki, “members of the same sex,” had a marriage recognized as legal by the courts or the state. Both parties are due in court Friday.

In Newark, New Jersey Friday, a 29 year old member of the Essex County Sheriff’s Department shot and killed 48 year old DeFarra Gaymon, a married C.E.O., and father of four who was returning from Atlanta, Georgia for the 30th reunion of high school graduating class. According to the police report, the undercover officer who had been assigned to patrol an area of Branch Brook Park known to be a gay sex public cruising area, a part of an operation that, again according to police, has been ongoing for years an unknown cost to taxpayers. Around 6:00 pm, the officer, who cannot be named, had arrested a man and in pursuit lost his handcuffs. He returned to a wooded area of the park, alone, to retrieve them, and came upon Mr. Gaymon, allegedly engaged in a sexual act at the time. The office alleges Gaymon propositioned him and “the officer pulled out his badge, identified himself as a police officer and informed Mr. Gaymon that he was under arrest.” It then appears that Gaymon pushed the officer to the ground and ran, repeatedly ignoring the request to stop, and reportedly threatening to kill the officer if he approached. The officer surrounded Gaymon, tried to handcuff him, when “Mr. Gaymon reached into his pocket and lunged at the officer in an attempt to disarm the officer” who, “fearing for his life,” shot Gaymon once. He died in hospital three hours later. To state the obvious, there are many questions, and likely few answers. And Mr Gaymon is not here to offer any answers of his own. Unfortunately, what answers provided will be of little comfort to the four children Gaymon leaves behind.

The National Organization for Marriage stop along their summer of anti-gay hate tour in Trenton, New Jersey, was another in series of failures, the "One Man, One Woman" concert attracting between 50 and 80 supporters, while a counter-protest attracted an estimate audience in the hundreds.

Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, who wrote Massachusetts’ historic ruling legalizing gay marriage, announced that she is retiring to spend more time with her husband, the New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis, who was recently diagnosed to have Parkinson’s disease. Marshall, after authoring the 4-3 decision that made Massachusetts the first state in America to legalize same sex marriage, was deemed a judicial activist by gay marriage opponents.