Gay Newspaper Boxes Vandalised In Vancouver, National Suicide Prevention Task Force Formed, Barcelona To Build Monument To Gays And Lesbians, Out Military Social Media Site Launched, Kellan Lutz, Tom Felton

Vancouver, British Columbia police are investigating after at least fourteen boxes containing the national gay and lesbian newspaper Xtra were vandalised between December 25th and the 29th, the Globe and Mail reporting that the damage was contained to the downtown and that in most cases the glass on the front was broken and the papers stolen. Gareth Kirby, the senior manager of the Xtra publisher Pink Triangle Press, said he is concerned that the vandalism is an obvious threat to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community, saying “They’re not taking out an anger against Xtra. There’s something about our community that’s being targeted here. I worry about an escalation.” Ken Coolen, the president of the Vancouver Pride Society, called the actions “cowardly,” adding “It’s frustrating and it’s disappointing. We’re going into 2011. It sounds like one or a group of people who are homophobic and looking at a way to lash out against the gay community. I guess this is a way of them doing it without thinking they’re going to be in as much trouble.” Constable Jana McGuinness, a spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department, said that while it is remains too soon to categorise the vandalism as a hate crime “it certainly does look targeted.”

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention announced Thursday that is creating a new task force to handle suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, a press release stating that the LGBT Youth Task Force will be co-lead by Kevin Jennings, who is the Assistant Deputy Secretary Office of Safe and Drug-Free School, U.S. Department of Education, and Charles Robbins, the Executive Director of The Trevor Project, the leading national organisation focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBT youth. Robbins said that “This task force will bring together the best minds in the country to combat suicide and make sure that every LGBT youth has the opportunity to grow up in a supportive, accepting community and to enter adulthood safely.”

Barcelona is going to erect a monument to gays, lesbians, and transgender people who have been persecuted and repressed “throughout history” authorities announced Thursday, the AFP reports. A statement from city hall said that the monument will be unveiled in February, although the exact site of the pink triangular stone sculpture has not yet been determined, but a spokesperson did suggest that the square outside the Sacred Heart basilica or Sagrada Familia “is one location that has been proposed.” An inscription will read “In memory of the gays, lesbians, transsexual people who have suffered persecution and repression throughout history, Barcelona 2011.”

Reuters reports on outmilitary.com, a new social media site for gay and lesbian military members that launched a little over a week ago in the wake of the repeal of the United States military policy that prohibited openly gay service personal. To date the site has just over 50 members, but its backers think that will quite quickly change in the coming months as the repeal takes complete effect. Out Military creator and designer John McKinnon, says he built the site in an attempt to support others looking for similar friends, and thinks “a social networking site specifically for that niche of gay and lesbian service members is a natural fit,” adding that the site “might be just a little bit early, but it’s not too early to join.”

Thursday, Kellan Lutz was seen in Las Vegas, Nevada attending the gala opening of the Marquee Nightclub at The Cosmopolitan.

A paler shade of white Tom Felton spotted in Miami, Florida Friday.