A California man says he was brutally beat outside a local bar for being gay, Bakersfield Now reporting that the incident happened outside The Mint bar, where Bakersfield native Brandon Stewart says he and his boyfriend were outside when several men starting yelling gay slurs at them. Stewart says he immediately got into his car when the men ran across the street, jumped on top of his boyfriend and started kicking him. It was then that Stewart says the bouncer of The Mint came running across the street, reached into his car and put a guitar wire around Stewart's neck and choked him. However, a police report is stating the bouncer arrived on scene after Stewart was beaten and was trying to keep Stewart from driving over his attackers. Stewart is adamant about what happened and says the entire attack was nothing more than pure hatred. The police investigation is still underway, and, at this time, has not been ruled a hate crime. Stewart says he is waiting to see the final police report before he files a lawsuit.
An update on a previous post, The Advocate newspaper reporting that two 23 year old Ulverstone, Tasmania men have been charged in relation to the alleged bashing of Daniel Stanley on June 26. The alleged incident happened in the early hours of the morning on the corner of Bertha and Queen streets at West Ulverstone. Stanley, also of Ulverstone, argues he was attacked because he is gay. He was hospitalised as a result of the alleged incident and left with a fractured elbow, cuts and black eyes. Stanley said he was walking back to Ulverstone from Turners Beach when he was approached by four or five people on the town bridge. He said one of the people chased after him but he managed to get away. It was not long after that the same people allegedly came up to him in a car, with two getting out. Stanley said he was again chased by the men and thrown to the ground and punched to the face. One of the men charged was scheduled to appear in an out-of-hours court sitting at the Devonport Court of Petty sessions late yesterday and the other will attend court at a later date.
President Barack Obama Tuesday appointed an openly gay Army veteran, Brenda S. “Sue” Fulton, to the Board of Visitors at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, Bloomberg News reporting that Fulton, who will be the board’s first openly gay member, graduated from West Point in 1980 as a member of the first class to admit women. She served for five years in the Army Signal Corps and was honourably discharged with the rank of captain. She is the executive director and co-founder of Knights Out, an organization of gay and lesbian West Point graduates and supporters, the White House said in a statement announcing her appointment. “I’m proud to have the opportunity to support the cadets who will lead our Army in the coming years,” Fulton said in a news release issued by OutServe, an association of lesbian and gay military personnel. “And I’m pleased that the president is clearly setting the stage for a post-‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ military with appointments like this. It is my honour to continue to serve the Academy and the Army that I love.” The West Point Board of Visitors, the oldest currently operating board appointed by the president, is composed of seven members of Congress and six presidential appointees. Former U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, an Army veteran and a vocal advocate for repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gays from serving openly in the military, was recently appointed to the board. “Sue’s appointment demonstrates the commitment our nation’s most hallowed institutions have to equal treatment of everyone - - a quintessential American value,” OutServe spokesman Jonathan Hopkins, a West Point graduate and a former Army captain, said in a written statement.
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