Attorneys Argue Atlanta Police Purposefully Destroyed Evidence Pertaining To Botched Raid On Gay Bar, Queering The Air Demands Rutgers President Deliver On Promise To Protect Gay Students, National Organization For Marriage Can Participate In Rhode Island Election But Must Play By Rules, Chris Pine Up Above, Tom Hardy Departs, Trevor Donovan Big Thumbs Up

Atlanta, Georgia police officers and officials deliberately destroyed details of a September 2009 raid on the Eagle, including erasing e-mails, photographs, and text messages, despite a federal judge ordering that the records be preserved, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. Attorneys for the bar and for some of the patrons argued in court filings that evidence detailing violations of civil rights and of police protocol were destroyed, Daniel Grossman, an attorney representing the Atlanta Eagle writing that “Throughout this litigation the defendants (the city and APD) and their counsel have acted as if the rules, the law and even the orders of this court simply do not apply to them.”

Queering the Air, a gay rights advocacy group based in New Jersey, plans a rally Thursday evening at Rutgers University to protest what it insists is the school’s failure to confront harassment against gays and call for “safe housing,” the rally arriving less than a month after 18 year old Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi killed himself after his dormitory roommate allegedly live streamed online a sexual encounter between Clementi and another man, North Jersey.com reports. Queering the Air says it has complied complaints from LGBT students regarding safety, housing, medical and counselling services, and plan to present it to Rutgers President Richard McCormick at a meeting of the Student Assembly this evening. “We hope they start taking our complaints more seriously and they recognize there is a need for safe spaces on campus, particular after Tyler’s death,” Lauren Felton, a Rutgers student and Queering the Air member said.

The Boston Globe reports that United States District Judge Mary Lisi late Thursday afternoon ruled that the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage can run political ads in the upcoming Rhode Island election so long as it adheres to state election law and reports how much it spends. NOM had (and has) maintained that it is not a political action committee and is not therefore governed by the rules that require a detail reporting of expenditures, a compliance with spending limits, and other laws imposed on PACs. Lisi said that because NOM contends not affiliation with a particular candidate or political party, their argument is moot.

Chris Pine perched on a balcony in Vancouver, British Columbia, at work on the film This Means War.

His co-star, meanwhile, Tom Hardy, spotted at the airport, departing for points unknown.

Trevor Donovan was seen Wednesday on the set of 90210, looking deeply delicious as always.