Defense Attorney Argues Clients Could Not Commit Anti-Gay Hate Crime In Boston Because The Three Are Lesbians, Plymouth England Couple Convicted Of Anti-Gay Hate Crime, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman’s Refusal To Sign Pledge Supporting Same Sex Marriage Draws Criticism From At Least One City Council Candidate, Shepard Fairly Pleads Guilty In Obama Hope Poster Case, The Artist Wins Big At Spirit Awards, Zachary Quinto Spirit Award Sexy, Josh Hutcherson

In Boston, the suspects in a possible hate crime at a MBTA station defended themselves in court on Friday. The victim said he was attacked because he is gay. Prosecutors acknowledged that there was a heated exchange between the two parties involved but they insist that it was gay hate that prompted three young women to attack a gay man at a MBTA stop. The defense attorney said the accusations are completely false because the three suspects are gay themselves. WHDH reports that the three girls, two sisters and a friend came into court with their faces covered; they were accused of beating a gay man while shouting gay slurs at the Forest Hills MBTA station. Prosecutors said the man was badly injured and the attack was caught on camera. “He indicated that his attackers demonstrated hate toward him as they continually punched and kicked him and called him insulting, homophobic slurs prior to attacking him. As a result of this attack the victim sustained several cuts, contusions and a broken nose,” said Lindsey Weinstein, Assistant District Attorney. Defense attorneys said it was the victim who started the fight when the group bumped into each other and he began saying racial slurs toward the woman. “There was a fight, somebody got hurt, whether it’s assault and battery, that’s for a judge and a jury but I don’t think it’s a hate crime,” said C. Harold Krasnow, the defense attorney. Lawyers for two of the girls said their clients are gay. The mother of the third suspect said her daughter is bisexual. Lawyers and relatives said they may have been in a fight but homophobia was not at the root of it. “My kids are good, you know, they’re good kids, they got caught up,” said Carolyn Euell, one of the suspects’ mother. Late Friday afternoon prosecutors said they were going to add assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a simpler charge that would not require that they prove that gay hate was at the root of the attack.

In England, The Plymouth Herald reports that a woman hit a gay man in the face with a glass bottle as part of a homophobic attack, a court heard. Natasha Young, aged 21, struck her victim on the nose while her partner Adam Peters punched another gay man several times to the head. Plymouth Magistrates' Court was told the gay couple were subjected to homophobic abuse during the late-night incident. A trial judge previously ruled the pair were subjected to an unprovoked homophobic attack but it was not clear who had used insulting words. A third unidentified man had been involved in the attack. Both Young and Peters, aged 23, claimed through their solicitors they were not homophobic and had gay friends. Young, of Newcastle Gardens, Whitleigh, denied common assault and threatening behaviour on June 26 last year. Peters, of the same address, denied using threatening behaviour during the same incident. But both were convicted of all charges at a trial. Sentencing the couple, district judge Martin Steen said they were guilty of "disgraceful behaviour" after drinking. They were both banned from on-licensed premises for the period of 12-month community orders. Young must do probation's Female Offender Specified Activity and Peters must complete the Thinking Skills programme. Both will pay £50 compensation to the man hit with the bottle and each will pay £100 towards prosecution costs. Gareth Warden, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the gay couple encountered Peters, Young and the third man shouting up at a window in Holdsworth Street, Pennycomequick, just before 1:00 am. He said Young persistently asked one of the men for a light until he swore. The court heard the couple were then subjected to abuse. Mr Warden said the unidentified man charged at one of the gay men, and added, "Young pulled a glass bottle from her bag and hit the gay man in the face. The bottle did not break, but he was left with a cut on his nose and backed away." Warden said another witness living nearby saw Young screaming and waving a second bottle, adding, "The second gay man was grabbed by the two men including Peters and was hit several times to his head." Stephen Walker, for Young, said she did not have "any homophobic attitudes whatsoever.” He said the couple had a young child and she was pregnant. Walker said she had been out of trouble for nine months and had suffered from depression. Adrian Hill, for Peters, said, "So far as he was concerned, this was not a homophobic incident." He added he suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder.

At least one Las Vegas Ward 2 City Council candidate has become embroiled into the controversy over Mayor Carolyn Goodman's refusal to sign a pledge of support for same sex couples who want to get married. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports Kristine Kuzemka, who with partner Nancie O'Neill was the third couple processed on Nevada's state domestic partnership registry in 2009, said Goodman's reluctance to sign could result in Las Vegas losing tourism business. "I believe there was a missed opportunity to court a broader base of tourists to Las Vegas," Kuzemka said in an e-mail when asked about Goodman's refusal. Goodman's refusal to sign a brief promise to "add my voice to those supporting the freedom to marry" has become a political landmine for the popular mayor. Whether it becomes an issue in the special election race to replace departed Councilman Steve Wolfson remains to be seen. Candidates are reluctant to explore the hot-button issue; even Kuzemka didn't respond to follow-up questions about it. Kuzemka, a public defender, previously stated she doesn't want her sexual orientation to define her candidacy in the nine-person race. Bob Beers, a former legislator considered a leading candidate in the race, said he wants to "focus my work on the City Council on City Council business." Ric Truesdell, another prominent candidate, was unavailable to discuss the campaign, as he said he was mourning the death of his friend Dennis Gomes, a longtime gambling industry regulator and leader. Candidate Anthony Ruggiero said it is up to the state to decide marriage laws. "It has been on the ballot before, so I think the people have spoken," he said. "That being said, I don't think it is something the city should really get involved with until we get direction from the state." Candidate Roberta Boyers said the marriage issue shouldn't sidetrack campaigns from issues such as redevelopment, spending and home foreclosures, but added of Goodman, "I think she should stand up for what she believes in and make it public." The pledge is merely symbolic as neither the mayor nor council has the power to change Nevada's constitution, which states, "Only a marriage between a male and female person shall be recognized and given effect in this state." But backers say it is important nonetheless. "It says to (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) tourists from around the world that Las Vegas is one of the places they should put on their list because they are welcome," said Derek Washington, chairman of the Stonewall Democratic Club of Southern Nevada and a chief supporter of the pledge. Already, mayors from more than 100 cities, including tourism destinations such as South Lake Tahoe and Palm Springs, Calif., have signed the pledge. Washington said that by affirmatively stating support for the rights of same-sex couples to marry, communities are highlighting themselves as gay-friendly destinations. He said Goodman's refusal has been reported in various media outlets. "If we Google Las Vegas, this comes up," Washington said. "This is not good." Andrew Collins, a travel journalist who writes for several major outlets with predominantly gay audiences, said it is unlikely Goodman's refusal will cause people to suddenly consider Las Vegas hostile to gay travelers. But he added that it may well sway business and leisure travelers who are undecided about where to visit. "It's not so much that anybody out there believes Las Vegas isn't a gay-welcoming city," Collins said. "But if a gay couple, or a company with a large number of (gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender) employees, is debating among three destinations in deciding where to plan an upcoming trip, I think it's quite possible they ... pass on the one whose mayor opposes gay marriage." Goodman, who has been asked repeatedly by journalists and activists to defend her position, continues to stand by her decision. "I support anyone who wants to help make this a better community, and I have no objection to people's personal choices. Anyone who suggests otherwise is disingenuous, at best," she said in an e-mail, adding that Las Vegas was among Nevada's earliest cities to adopt a domestic partnership policy. "The fact of the matter is that currently gay marriage is illegal in the state of Nevada; anyone who wants to change that needs to approach the Legislature. It is not an issue the Mayor's Office has the power to change."

Artist Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic "Hope" campaign poster featuring then-Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court on Friday to one count of criminal contempt for destroying documents, manufacturing evidence and other misconduct. The guilty plea stems from Fairey's civil litigation against the Associated Press over copyright issues revolving around the poster. Fairey claimed that his use of an AP photograph as the basis for the poster fell under the "fair use" doctrine. According to The Wrap, in his complaint against AP, Fairey claimed he had used an AP image of Obama and actor George Clooney from an April 2006 National Press Club event as the basis for his work. In actuality, he used a different, tightly cropped image -- which was also an AP photo --- as the basis for the poster. In an effort to conceal this falsehood, Fairey created numerous fraudulent documents, and tried to delete multiple electronic documents that would have proven his claim false, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Fairey also ignored a judge's deadlines for producing discovery documents for the trial, Bharara said, and suggested to an employee that a back-ordered document-retention policy be created in order to explain why documents had been deleted. Bharara said Fairey further coached a witness in his case against the AP to give a false account of the facts. Fairey and the AP settled the copyright case in January 2011, with Fairey agreeing not to use unlicensed AP photos in his future work. Fairey, 42, faces six months in prison and one year of supervised release, plus a $5,000 fine. He will be sentenced on July 16.

In Santa Monica, The Artist, produced by Thomas Langmann, won best feature at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, The Los Angeles Times reporting the black-and-white homage to silent cinema, which is also nominated for 10 Oscars, is considered a best picture front-runner heading into Sunday's 84th Academy Awards ceremony. The top prize for the independent film community, the Spirit Awards hand out trophies in 14 competitive categories. The afternoon affair is designed to be a more casual answer to the motion picture academy's lavish Oscar gala. The Artist's Michel Hazanavicius was honoured for best director, star Jean Dujardin won best male lead for his turn as a movie idol whose fame is on the wane and Guillaume Schiffman won the cinematography prize for the film. Only Hazanavicius was on hand to claim his statuette, however; the other two men had not yet arrived from Paris, where The Artist collected even more accolades this weekend at France's Cesar Awards. Other winners included Michelle Williams, who was named best actress for her portrayal of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn. Christopher Plummer was named best supporting actor for his role in Beginners, in which he plays a widower who reveals he's gay. The actor accepted the prize with a quip in keeping with the irreverent nature of the beach-side Santa Monica ceremony hosted this year by actor Seth Rogen. "It's taken me the longest time to realize that the Spirit Awards have nothing to do with booze," said Plummer. Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who wrote the script for The Descendants, won best screenplay for their film, which Payne also directed, about an indifferent father forced to re-examine his life. Shailene Woodley captured the supporting female award for her work in the drama. Iran's A Separation, directed by Asghar Farhadi, was honoured as best international film. The Interrupters, which follows people who work as "violence interrupters" to intervene in conflicts in their communities before they get out of hand, won best documentary. Will Reiser won best first screenplay for 50/50, a cancer-themed comedy inspired by his experiences battling the disease. Director J.C. Chandor's Margin Call won for best first feature and also took home the Robert Altman Award, which recognizes a film's director, casting director and ensemble cast. The John Cassavetes Award, which honours the best film made for less than $500,000, went to Pariah writer-director Dee Rees and producer Nekisa Cooper. The movie tells the story of a black teenager embracing her identity as a lesbian. Heather Courtney, director of Where Soldiers Come From, was presented with the Truer Than Fiction Award; Sophia Lin, producer of the drama Take Shelter, earned the Piaget Producers Award; and Mark Jackson, director of Without, won the Someone to Watch Award. Benjamin Murray and Alysa Nahmias received the Jameson FIND Your Audience Award for their documentary Unfinished Spaces, which tells the story of three architects invited back to Cuba after four decades in exile.

A smoking sexy Zachary Quinto was among those attending the aforementioned Spirit Awards.

Josh Hutcherson (in a tank-top) spotted riding a motorcycle in Beverly Hills Friday.