New Plays Examines 1981 Police Raid On Edmonton Bathhouse, Anti-Gay Posters Litter Linn-Benton Community College, Former Air Force Sergeant Discharged Under DADT Sues Defense Department Over Separation Pay, Same Sex Skype Marriage, Calls To Censure Anti-Gay Croatian Football Head, Daddy David Beckham

The Journal on Edmonton native Nick Green and his new play entitled Underground that tells the tale of the 1981 police raid on the city bathhouse Pisces. The 27 year old Green uses notes and correspondence of two of the officers, obtained under the freedom of information act, saying “I think in one regard, watching this play offers a look back at what things were like then. At the same time, I’m humanizing the characters of the police officers in the play to show that human bias and human discrimination can enter into law enforcement.” In total 56 men were arrested, all pleaded guilty under bawdy house laws that were decidedly ambiguous and the raid, regarded than as an example of a targeted attack on the gay community, galvanized the city’s gay and lesbian community, who fought back. One of the officers that went undercover at the bathhouse, Ken Hykawy, then a 24 year old patrol officer, now staff sergeant in charge of the department’s flight operations and canine units, Hykawy saying that the goal of the raid was to crack down on what was then seen as a criminal activity, and that “The first time that my partner and I went in, I had no clue what a gay man looked like or acted like. So we went overly playing the role and quickly realised that the men that we were meeting in the club were no different than us.”

The Democratic Herald reports that Linn-Benton Community College officials say that anti-gay posters were distributed on the Albany, Oregon campus Friday, November 5th to presumably protest a screening of the film Out in the Silence, a documentary directed by Joe Wilson that examines the controversy that erupted in Wilson’s small Pennsylvania town after a local newspaper published the announcement of his marriage to another man. According to Bruce Clemetsen, the acting vice-president of LBCC student services, the posters appeared on campus bulletin boards, and were falsely attributed to the college’s diversity centre, and were subsequently removed by campus security staff. The incident has been reported to the Albany Police Department as a hate crime.

Wednesday, Richard Collins, a former Air Force staff sergeant discharged under the military policy prohibiting openly gay service members, filed a lawsuit against the federal government over a Defense Department policy that divides in half the involuntary separation pay for personal that violate the ban, reports the Air Force News. Collins, a nine year veteran, was ordered discharged in 2006, and according to the American Civil Liberties Union, acting on his behalf, the lawsuit does not challenge the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” but instead focuses on the 1991 Defense Department policy that limits separation pay to 50-percent of the amount most service members involuntarily released receive when they are honourably discharged. The suit argues that “The Department of Defense instruction reflects an outdated policy equating sexual orientation with misconduct,” Collins, now a community college student in New Mexico, receiving $12,351 instead of the $25,702 he actually earned.

NBC Washington on the historic Skype same sex marriage between Thomas Mark Reed and Dante Karl Walkup, the Dallas, Texas couple who were wed via teleconference from Washington, D.C. where gay marriage is legal. Marriage equality activist Shelia Alexander-Reid officiated, Reed saying “When we walked down the aisle, as soon as we reached the front, she comes on the screen like The Wizard of Oz. It was beautiful. It wasn’t make-believe. It was like she was really there. It’s more like the more equal we can get through creative ways, we’re going to do it. It’s just important to do anything we can find creative ways around inequality.” The couple says they are aware that the D.C. marriage law has no provision against e-marriage, and that the validity of the union could well be challenged in court. The couple are working with legal experts and legislators from states where gay marriage is legal to draft statutes that would solidify the practice of e-marriage.

Despite offering an awkward apology, gay and lesbian groups are asking that authorities take action against Vlatko Markovic, the head of the Croatia Football Federation, who said in an interview that gay players would be banned from playing for the country, and that “only healthy people play football,” reports the Guardian. In fact, Ulrike Lunacek, the Australian Green Member of Parliament and an active participant in the annual Gay Games, warned that if the Croatian government fails to censure Markovic, his anti-gay sentiment could affect the country’s application to join the European Union.

Friday, David Beckham was spotted at Color Me Mine alongside sons Cruz and Romeo, the threesome creating ceramic mugs and ornaments, including one that read I Love Mum.