Gay Rights Groups To Rally Sunday In Montgomery Alabama Calling For Expansion Of State Hate Crime Law To Include Sexual Orientation, Joel Baltazar Olivarez Sentenced To At Least One Year In Prison After Pleaded Guilty To Attacking Man Outside California Bowling Alley Because He Was Gay, Angel Pena Ayala Sentenced To Life After Convicted Of Violently Robbing Three Gay Men In California Because He Believed He Was Saving Society From Pedophiles, Brevard Florida Case Could Define Parental Rights Of Gay Couples, Massachusetts Student Physically Attacked By Two People For Writing Opinion Piece Supporting Decision Overturning Proposition 8, Ricky Martin On Marriage Equality, Jake Gyllenhaal

Gay rights advocates are planning a rally at the Alabama state capitol to urge lawmakers to expand the state's hate crimes law to include violence against gays and lesbians. Activists will gather Sunday in Montgomery on the 13th anniversary of the slaying of Billy Jack Gaither, a Sylacauga man who was brutally stabbed and beaten before his body was burned on a pile of tires. Authorities determined Gaither was targeted because he was gay. The Birmingham News reports the state hate crimes law sets mandatory minimum sentences for crimes motivated by race, ethnicity and religion — but not sexual orientation. State Representative Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham), has introduced a bill to expand the hate crime law but lawmakers have taken no other action.

A man will serve at least one year in jail, undergo treatment and complete community service hours with an organization within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community after admitting to beating up another man because he was gay. Joel Baltazar Olivarez was sentenced Friday to three years in prison, unless he successfully completes five years of probation. The terms of the probation include treatment for drug and alcohol use and 240 hours of community service. Olivarez pleaded guilty to assault and admitted his attack on Seth Parker outside a Strikes bowling center last summer was a hate crime. On June 5, 2011, Parker and several friends were leaving Strikes in Elk Grove when they were approached by Olivarez, who was visibly drunk. Olivarez started harassing one of Parker’s friends, and when Parker tried to intervene, Olivarez hit him repeatedly in the face while yelling gay slurs. After the attack, Olivarez ran off. Elk Grove Police say an anonymous tip helped them track down Olivarez. FOX40 interviewed Parker shortly after the attack, and he told us he had no doubt attack was a hate crime. “He called me a fag right before he hit me; and he told me to suck his dick and called me a faggot probably 13 times after he hit me,” Parker said last summer. Parker has since moved to another city since the attack, his mother read a statement from him during Friday’s sentencing. “I’m absolutely going to take away from all of this a new sense of strength and self-worth. I am proud of who I am, and I love my friends and family very much. No one should ever be made to feel like who they are isn’t exactly who they are supposed to be.” If Olivarez does not meet the conditions of probation, he will be sentenced to three years in prison.

An ex-convict sentenced Friday to spend the rest of his life in prison for robbing gay men during a violent spree in Hermosa Beach, California and three other cities committed the crimes because he believed he was saving society from pedophiles, his attorney said. Angel Pena Ayala, 26, of Los Angeles sat quietly, occasionally looking and smiling at friends in a Torrance courtroom, as Judge Alan Honeycutt imposed a prison sentence of 80 years to life - plus another 58 years, nine months - for his 2010 crimes. Ayala's attorney, Deputy Alternate Public Defender Ernestine Odom, said her client grew up mentally ill, received no treatment as a child and believed all gay men were pedophiles. "There were symptoms and indications of a troubled mind early in his life," Odom said. "Mr. Ayala did not have a choice in this matter. ... He felt and still feels he was, in effect, saving the children by victimizing these pedophiles." The Daily Breeze reports that a Torrance jury took about an hour in October to convict Ayala of 12 felony charges, including first-degree robbery, kidnapping for carjacking, kidnapping to commit a robbery, carjacking, first-degree burglary, escape by force or violence, and dissuading a witness from reporting a crime. Jurors agreed he used a gun in the crimes, which were committed for the benefit of the "White Fence" gang. Ayala's 20-day crime spree primarily targeted gay men he met through the "men seeking men" section on Craigslist. He arranged to meet a Hermosa Beach man March 31, 2010, went to the victim's home and robbed him at gunpoint of his flat-screen television and other electronics. He also forced the victim to drive to an ATM and withdraw $400. He then took the car. A few days earlier, Ayala robbed a West Hollywood man who believed they were meeting for sex. In fact, the pair engaged in a sex act before Ayala pulled a gun to rob him. Ayala also was found guilty of robbing a Bell Gardens man while using a female accomplice on April 13, 2010, and held up a taco truck in Los Angeles two days later. Hermosa Beach detectives linked Ayala to the crimes through fingerprints. He was arrested April 16, 2010, and confessed to police. A couple of days later, Ayala tried to run when they took him to the Torrance courthouse for arraignment. Detectives tackled him 50 yards away. None of Ayala's victims appeared Friday for the sentencing proceeding, where they could have spoken about the impact of his crimes on their lives. Deputy District Attorney Ethan Milius, who prosecuted the case, said each man wanted to move on with his life and not see Ayala again. "He did get what he deserved," Milius said.

"A case that could further define parental rights of gay couples in Florida is headed to the state supreme court. Florida Today reports that a Brevard woman filed the Florida Supreme Court appeal February 10. She is asking the top court to reverse a decision from the Fifth District Court of Appeals that gave her former partner parental rights to her daughter. The women, who are identified in court documents only by their initials, were in a relationship for 11 years. They decided to have a child and then discovered that one woman, at the time a 39-year-old law enforcement officer, was infertile. The other woman, then 34 and also a law enforcement officer, donated an egg. It was fertilized by an anonymous sperm donor and implanted into her partner. The child was born the first week of 2004 and treated both women as parents, according to the appeals court ruling, even after they split up when the girl was 2. But a year and a half later, the birth mom disappeared with the girl. They were eventually found in Queensland, Australia, and have since returned to Florida. The appeals court ruling from December 23 instructed Viera Circuit Judge Charlie Crawford to give the egg-donor mom access to her daughter and iron out custody, visitation and child support issues. The focus, according to the appeals court, should be the child’s well-being. The Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of a state law that terminates the parental rights of people who donate eggs, sperm and pre embryos. According to Florida Statute, when parental rights are disputed, donors relinquish all rights.

Authorities in Bridgewater, Massachusetts are trying to identify two people who attacked a writer for the student-run newspaper at the largest state university because of an opinion piece she wrote in support of same sex marriage. Bridgewater State University spokesman Bryan Baldwin said on Saturday that the assailants approached Destinie Mogg-Barkalow on campus. The man questioned her about the article titled "Prop 8 generates more hate" before the woman accompanying him punched the victim, leaving her with a bruised eye Thursday evening. No one has been arrested and authorities are investigating the attack as a possible hate crime. University President Dana Mohler-Faria sent an e-mail to the entire school condemning the attack and reminding everyone authorities will not tolerate actions that impede or curtail the rights of members of the campus community to express themselves freely.

In an interview with Details, Ricky Martin, who has been dating Carlos Gonzalez Abella for over four years, is asked if it bothers him that marriage equality is not yet a reality. Answers Martin, “I don't want to blame the government. I think there's a stolen faith—an interpretation of what God ‘says.’ That's your God—I have my God. It's about civil rights. I'm not telling you what to believe. I wish people understood that love manifests in different ways. Allow me to have my life and I won't mess with yours. That's when I struggle and get angry and punch the table. And then I talk. Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.’”

In Berlin, Jake Gyllenhaal gets a haircut.