LA TIMES Covers Anti-Homophobia Campaign In Black Los Angeles

There is a very interesting billboard at an important intersection in a predominantly African American section of South Los Angeles (near La Brea and Coliseum Avenue). The billboard has  the word "HOMOPHOBIA" and large black letters on a white background with a bright red ex through them. This is part of a public awareness campaign by the Black Gay group called In The Meantime Men's Group.

The campaign caught the attention of the Los Angeles Times which ran an article on the reaction of some in the black community to the anti-homophobia campaign.

The new campaign aims "to address one of the key factors in why we're seeing high rates of HIV, especially among gay black men," [Executive Directory and Founder Jeffrey] King said.

Although a lack of resources remains a prominent reason for the racial disparity in HIV infections among those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or still questioning their sexuality, Fielding said the attitudes some people have toward men who have sex with men are also partly to blame. Black men who have sex with men "suffer from stigma, discrimination, from a reduced rate of acceptance for their same-sex orientation, and they also have historically had less access to healthcare," he said. And, he said, they tend not to use condoms.

Also, King said, many gay and bisexual black men in South L.A. are not getting tested for HIV because the very act might "out" them, while many straight black men are not getting tested because they don't want to be perceived as gay.

"One of the key reasons we're seeing HIV rates as high as they are is linked to homophobia in the community, which is taught from a high place, which is the church," King said.

It's good to see the campaign getting attention from mainstream media sources. According to the Times, it turns out that AIDS Healthcare Foundation, one of the largest AIDS service organizations in the United States (and perhaps the world) is actually paying for the billboards to go up.

L.A. MAYOR 2013: Garcetti Leads Greuel In Polls

The runoff election for Mayor of Los Angeles is on Tuesday May 21, exactly one month from today. Former City Council President Eric Garcetti, the MadProfessah-endorsed candidate, leads former City Controller Wendy Greuel (the Bill Clinton-endorsed candidate) in three separate polls published in the race, from 7 to 10 points. However two of these surveys were the little-respected computer-generated polls by SurveyUSA, released on March 28 (47-40) and April 12 (49-40).

The much more prestigious Los Angeles Times/USC poll is the latest poll to show Garcetti in the lead:

The survey also found no sign of success for Greuel's effort to gain an edge among women by highlighting her potential to make history as the city's first female mayor. Women preferred Garcetti, 50% to 41%.

Latinos and younger voters backed Garcetti by still wider margins. The city councilman from Silver Lake has strengthened his standing in the central city and Eastside neighborhoods that he won decisively in the March primary. He has also built a solid lead on the Westside — a key target of Greuel's.

Perhaps most worrisome for Greuel, the city controller, is her failure so far to establish a base in the Valley, where the two are effectively tied. Greuel, who lives in Studio City, had hoped that audits by her office that found wasteful spending of taxpayer money would appeal to the Valley's Republicans, often a pivotal vote in L.A. elections.

Instead, Garcetti has emerged with a lopsided lead among conservatives citywide, picking up support from many of those who voted in the primary for Republican radio personality Kevin James, now a Garcetti backer.

 In fact, every single one of the major candidates in the March 5 primary election (Jan Perry, Kevin James and Emmanuel Pleitez) has endorsed Garcetti for Mayor as has almost every single member of the current Los Angeles City Council, even though Greuel was herself a Councilmember from 2002 to 2009.

To me it is very telling that the people Greuel worked with on the City Council, as well as the people she beat all are choosing someone else over her to be the next Mayor of Los Angeles.

The two are relatively similar on many key Democratic policy positions (LGBT equality, reproductive rights, environmentalism, immigration, gun control) but Garcetti would be the one who would more firmly embrace the "progressive" label. And he has already played the Mayor of L.A. (multiple times) on television:

After May 21, Garcetti can be called Mr. Mayor in real life, too.

Celebrity Friday: Herb Wesson Becomes LA City Council Prez

The Los Angeles City Council made history recently by electing Herb Wesson its first African-American President. This is the second most important position in the government of our country's second largest city. Interestingly, Los Angeles has previously had an African-American mayor (Tom Bradley), but in a city which is now only around 10% Black with 3 Black members in a City Council of 15 people, Wesson's election is historic.

Wesson had previously served as Speaker of the California Assembly, spot on his resume he shares with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Bizarrely, even though the selection of Wesson to replace outgoing City Council President Eric Garcetti was technically unanimous, the two other Black members of the Council, Jan Perry and Bernard Parks, were not present.

Wesson's election was necessary because Garcetti and Perry have already announced they are running for the open Mayoral seat which must be vacated by Villaraigosa in Spring 2013.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson made municipal history Wednesday [November 16], with his colleagues agreeing unanimously to make him the council's first African American president. 

That vote may appear in the history books with an asterisk. Wesson's two black colleagues, both of whom have had strained relations with him in recent weeks, did not show up — providing the only no-shows during the vote. 

Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who for days refused to say whether he would back Wesson, called in sick Wednesday morning. Councilwoman Jan Perry received permission for an excused absence. But when called by The Times, she would not say where she needed to be during the council meeting.

Congratulations to Council President Wesson!

LA County Settles Police Brutality Case For $650K

The 5-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a settlement of $650,000 to Erick Hoxey and his girlfriend Shatwan Smith in response to a civil lawsuit which charged outrageous behavior by Los Angeles County Sherriff officials during an April 2008 incident in Compton.

The Los Angeles Times covers the story:

On trial for allegedly assaulting two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, Erick Hoxey took the witness stand in his own defense and told jurors it was the other way around.

He said he was waiting in his car outside a Compton apartment building where his girlfriend was making an appointment to braid a little girl's hair, when deputies pulled up. After asking him a few questions, Hoxey said they inexplicably yanked him out of the car, punched him and struck him with a flashlight before pepper-spraying his eyes and inside his mouth.


Then, he said, one grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head twice against the pavement.

The prosecutor, troubled by the young man's testimony, cut him off suddenly and asked the judge for a recess. When he returned an hour and a half later, the prosecutor announced that all charges were being dropped.

On Tuesday, two years after the criminal case fizzled, the county agreed to pay Hoxey, now 24, and his girlfriend $650,000.

The payout comes despite the Sheriff's Department defending the deputies' conduct in arresting Hoxey, his girlfriend, Shatwan Smith, and a bystander who came to their aid during the April 2008 altercation.

According to Deputies Samuel Orozco and Scott Giles, they were on patrol when they spotted Hoxey driving with his seatbelt off. The deputies said Hoxey was immediately aggressive, cursing at them, before reaching under his leg for what they believed was a handgun. The deputies unlocked the car door and pulled Hoxey out of the vehicle. The young man then spun around and took a swing at them, according to the deputies' account. Hoxey continued to fight back, the deputies said, while his girlfriend ran out from the apartment building and began hitting them too.

Although the deputies said they believed Hoxey was armed with a gun, no weapon was recovered. Deputy Orozco testified that a woman at the scene, who did not identify herself because she feared retribution, told him that she saw a man run and grab something from the car, presumably the weapon.

The couple, and the bystander who interceded and pleaded with the deputies to stop, denied the deputies were assaulted.

After hearing the conflicting testimony about the incident, the L.A. County district attorney's office abandoned its prosecution of Hoxey and Smith.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric Siddall said in a deposition that Hoxey's testimony "made me think that there was reasonable doubt in the case."

The couple's civil attorney, Glen Jonas, accused the deputies of framing Hoxey on charges of resisting arrest and drug possession and Smith of resisting arrest and assault. Giles said he found a cocaine rock in Hoxey's car, while he and other deputies were searching the vehicle.

"It ruined their lives," Jonas said of the ordeal. He said Smith, who was a student at UC San Diego at the time, "was so distraught over being falsely prosecuted that she couldn't concentrate in school…her grades fell and ultimately she wasn't able to stay in school."

During the trial, Orozco's past on-duty behavior was also scrutinized in testimony from residents in the area who said they had run-ins with him. One woman said he used the N-word against her. Another testified that she'd also been roughed up by Orozco, booked and was eventually acquitted.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore declined to comment on specific allegations but said the department maintains the couple was resisting arrest. "This settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing," he said. "Deputies don't make stuff up, the hope is, and we contend they did not fabricate anything."

I don't usually include such an extensive excerpt from a newspaper story but one really needs to see all the paragraphs that I have included in order to draw your own conclusions about what really happened*. Two Sheriff deputies see a Black guy sitting in a car and decide to rough him up for some bizarre reason only known to themselves. They start beating the crap out of him, then his girlfriend and a bystander come to the guy's defense.  Then the deputies have the gall to claim that the person that they assaulted was "resisting arrest" AND they claim the existence of a gun which is not found AND attempt to plant drugs in the vehicle. It reads like something out of FX's The Shield!
(That was a show starring Michael Chiklis as a rogue cop who basically takes the law into his own hands.)

The real hero of the piece is the Deputy District Attorney Eric Siddall who refused to condone the cops lying and when he realized what was going on, declined to perpetrate a fraud upon the court. I'm not convinced that $650,000 is enough money for the two people who were attacked by the very same people their own taxes pay to protect them and keep them safe. What is a reasonable price for violation of the public trust?

Another question is why do Samuel Orozco and Scott Giles still have jobs with Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and why hasn't the Los Angeles County District Attorney charged them with perjury?
Even the Sheriff's Department spokesperson says "Deputies don't make stuff up, the hope is." Really? Do you think this is some kind of joke?

 It is incredibly damaging to how all police officers are viewed and public safety overall if it appears that some officers of the court are getting away with activities that if they were just regular people would result in jail time. Police officers and sheriff's deputies (and elected officials) who are presumed to have the public trust should be held to a higher ethical standard than the general public. Even the appearance of hypocrisy is unacceptable.

*DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this blog posting should be construed as claiming any individual of having committed any criminal or civil offense.

Rash Of Violent Anti-Gay Hate Crimes In Long Beach

Long Beach has been the location of at least three attacks on gay men in the last two weeks.  Long Beach is the third largest city in California and is well-known for a prominent LGBT community. They have an openly gay, Latino city councilman named Robert Garcia who is quoted saying that "These incidents have no place in our city."

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Avila, who was walking ahead of the group, passed a man arguing with a woman on the sidewalk. The man stopped long enough to use a slur against Avila as he passed, he said.
[...]
The man ran away, but Avila and another friend chased him several blocks until police arrived, he said.

The suspect, Jorge Jhovanoy Ibarrias, 21, was arrested and charged with felony battery in addition to a hate crime. He has pleaded not guilty, authorities said.

Three days later, near East 4th Street and Orange Avenue, another man was beaten and called slurs. That case is being investigated as a battery and a possible hate incident, though not a hate crime, Fernandez said. The difference, he said, is that police do not believe that hatred specifically against gays was the initial motivation.

Four days after the second attack, on Sundayabout 1:30 a.m., several men walking on Broadway, two blocks from the site of the initial incident, were approached by another group that used slurs against them, police said. A fight broke out before the groups separated. But the group that made the insults returned shortly afterward with several other people and assaulted three of the men who had been walking down the street, police said.

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0 who posted the video of a local ABC affiliate coverage of the story shown above.

CA-36: Hahn Defeats Huey By 9 Points

In yesterday's special election to replace former U.S. Representative Jane Harman in the 36th Congressional District of California, Los Angeles City Councilwoman has defeated Republican Tea Party businessman Craig Huey 54.5%-45.5%, just under 7,00
0 votes out of 75,000 cast.

The details are:

As of Date: 07/12/2011 Time: 23:31             Votes  Percent 
                                                                             
US REPRESENTATIVE 36 DIST    TERM ENDS 01/03/13                              
                                                                             
   JANICE HAHN            DEM                  41,585    54.56 
   CRAIG HUEY             REP                  34,636    45.44 
                                                                             
TOTAL PRECINCTS        261            

PRECINCTS REPORTING    261   100.00 
REGISTRATION       342,492   

Congratiolations to Congresswoman-elect Hahn!

CA-36: Hahn Barely Leads Huey In Special Election

Janice Hahn (D) has a lead of 8 points over a Tea Party Republican
 in tomorrow's Congressional special election in the 36th District

Daily Kos has a new poll of the 36th Congressional district special election which should scare the bejeezus out of every Democrat in Southern California! In the special election between Democratic Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and Tea Party Republican businessman Craig Huey

Here are the poll results:

Janice Hahn (D): 52 

Craig Huey (R): 44 

Undecided: 4 

Margin of Error: ±3.9%

The margin of error is important. The spread between the candidates is a mere 8 points but the margin of error is ±3.9 which means that Hahn's lead could theoretically be 0.2 percentage points (or it could also be 15.8 points). Another interesting factor there is the undecided number: just 4 percentage points. That is pretty low, as it should be, since election day is tomorrow Tuesday July 12th. However, people in the 36th district have been voting absentee-by-mail for weeks. However, there is not so good news there for Hahn either.

Dave Catanese of Politico has these totals by the party registrations of those people who had requested vote-by-mail ballots as of Friday July 1st:

Republican/Libertarian — 13,343 

Democratic/Green — 14,035 

Non-affiliated — 5,512

Democrats/Greens outnumber Republican/Libertarian absentee voters by a mere 692 votes! However, in California, it is more likely than not that Hahn is winning the vast majority of the Decline To State ("Non-Affiliated") voters so in that case she should be going into tomorrow's election with a lead, but that's a BIG IF.
The 36th is a pretty tricky district, even if Obama carried by 30 points (64-34), which is a bit less than the 69-31 longtime incumbent Jane Harman had carried it by.

I fully expect Janice Hahn to replace Harman in Congress representing the 36th District tomorrow. It should be interesting to see what happens to the 36th District in the final round of redistricting and if Huey will have a better chance of unseating Hahn in a less partisan district.

Election Results for tomorrow can be found here at LAvote.net.

Isadore Hall Announces Intention To Run For Congress

Assemblymember Isadore hall has announced his
intention to run for a South LA Congressional seat

The decennial redistricting will lead to a lot of turnover of the California congressional delegation, especially since a non-partisan commission is drawing the boundaries of every congressional and state legislative district in the state. This means that every current officeholder will be running in a brand new district. Many ambitious politicians will seize this opportunity to run for higher offices.

One such politician is Assemblymember Isadore Hall III, an African-American pastor who represents the 52nd Assembly District which includes part of North Long Beach and all of Compton. Hall recently announced his intention to run for a new Congressional district which is intended to be "majority-minority." There are currently 4 Black members in the 53-member Congressional delegation, all women: Maxine Waters (CA-35), Karen Bass (CA-33), Laura Richardson (CA-37) and Barbara Lee (CA-09). The district that Hall is eyeing would probably be one that Waters would be expected to run in, unless the 72-year-old Congresswoman decides to retire instead.

Hall's staff sent out a press release about his political intentions:

Compton, California – California State Assemblymember Isadore Hall announced his campaign for Congress today. Hall intends to run in a new Congressional District, which according to the first draft of maps released by the California Citizens Redistricting Committee on June 10th, might include the cities of Compton, Carson, Lynwood, Hawthorne, Gardena, Lawndale, portions of the City of Los Angeles and Unincorporated Los Angeles County.  

“As a local School Board Member, Councilmember and Assemblymember, I have worked tirelessly to make a difference in this community,” said Hall. “Our district needs a representative that will fight cuts to education and gang prevention programs, protect critical frontline services, and partner with President Obama to create family wage jobs.” 
“I have spent the past few days talking with friends and community leaders about running for this new seat,” Hall added.  “The response has been overwhelming and I am energized by the grassroots support we have already received.”

Hall is a former two term President of the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees. He was elected to the Compton City Council in 2003 where he served in various leadership positions including Mayor pro Tempore.  Hall was elected to the California State Assembly in 2008 and served as Assistant Speaker pro Tempore during his first term. He currently serves as a member of the Appropriations, Elections and Redistricting and Human Services Committees. He chairs the Assembly Committee on Government Organization.
The youngest of six children, Hall was born and raised in the City of Compton. Hall holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration, a Masters Degree in Management and Leadership from the University of Southern California, a Masters Degree in Public Administration from National University and will be conveyed his Ph.D. from Next Dimension Bible College later this summer.

No incumbent member of Congress currently lives in the proposed Congressional District; however, Hall will not seek election to Congress in the event that Congresswoman Maxine Waters seeks to represent the new district.

I'm pretty confident that this will be the first of a lot of similar announcements.

WATCH: Openly Gay Contingent in Los Angeles MLK Day Parade

Black LGBT Contingent in 26th Annual Kingdom Day Parade

MadProfessah and Wonder Man were part of a contingent of nearly 100 Black LGBT Angelenos participating in the 26th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Kingdom Day Parade in South Los Angeles for the 3rd consecutive year, primarily organized and sponsored by the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, in collaboration with Here To Stay Coalition, Los Angeles Black Pride and Black Lesbians United.

The contingent has grown every year, and this time we received media attention from the local public radio station, KPCC 89.3 FM.

Thousands of people lined Martin Luther King Boulevard in South Los Angeles to pay tribute to the fallen civil rights leader.

It's the 26th annual Kingdom Day Parade – and the first parade for Long Beach resident Chante Craig. Craig walked as part of a group declaring themselves "black, gay and here to stay."

She says Dr. King's words are inspiring to gay blacks seeking tolerance and love.

"Unfortunately, though we live in California, it's a very liberal state but we still have some very conservative views – especially in the black community with churches being such a stronghold in the community. It tends to allow homophobia to spread across the community – and so this is one of our ways to come out and bring some positive exposure to the community and show them what other things we're doing as well."

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, county and state leaders and marching bands from South L.A. high schools took part in the event. A party continues at the parade route's end in Leimert Park.

SD-28: Ted Lieu Announces Run For Oropeza's Seat

Assemblymember Ted Lieu has announced his plans to run for the late Jenny Oropeza's State Senate seat in the 28th District. Sadly, Oropeza died on October 22, but was re-elected posthumously in the statewide general election on Tuesday November 1st.

Lieu currently represents the 53rd Assembly district, but will lose his seat on December 6th when Betsy Butler is sworn in to represent the South Bay-area district because Lieu decided to run for Attorney General this Spring since he was forced to leave the Assembly due to term limits. He lost in the Democratic primary in June 2010 to Kamala Harris, who is still in a too-close-to-call race with Republican Steve Cooley to be California's next Attorney General.

Another person who lost in the June 2010 Democratic primary, this time in the Lieutenant Governor's race (to Gavin Newsom) was Janice Hahn, who announced today that she would not run in the special election and endorsed Lieu. Another perso who may announce  a bid for the seat is Warren Furutani who represents the 55th Assembly district which covers part of the 24th Senate District. Furutani was able to win the 55th Assembly district when Laura Richardson gave it up to run against Oropeza in an August 2007 special election when Congresswoman Janice Millender-McDonald's 37th Congressional district opened up due to her untimely death. Richardson won that race and now represents CA-37.

Of course all these district lines will become open seats in the next election in 2012 when the lines are redrawn, thanks to Proposition 11 and Proposition 20 by an independent "citizen's" redistricting commission with data from the 2010 Census.

CA-33: Karen Bass Announces Run For Congress

Karen Bass

At a press conference on Wednesday, outgoing Speaker of the California Assembly Karen Bass announced that she is indeed seeking to represent the 33rd Congressional District of California, which Congresswoman Diane Watson announced that she was retiring from last week. The congressional district includes many different sections of Los Angeles, including Culver City, Baldwin Hills, Ladera Heights, Windsor Hills, Hancock Park, Hollywood, the Wilshire corridor and Koreatown.

The highest ranked African American politician in Los Angeles County, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and Rep. Watson herself appeared at the press conference and endorsed the 56-year-old Bass to be her successor.

“I 100% -- maybe 300% -- endorse Karen Bass," said Rep. Watson, 76

"Karen's abundant strengths as a public servant have always been her willingness and desire to listen carefully to the people she serves, couples with her ability to act swiftly, forcefully and sensitively to meet the needs (of) her diverse constituents. Speaker Bass has my full support as she seeks to succeed Congresswoman Diane Watson in the House of Representatives to serve the needs of the people of the 33rd Congressional District," said Ridley-Thomas, 55.

Karen Bass will be an excellent Congresswoman and MadProfessah endorses her in the June 2010 Democratic primary.

AD-51: Bradford Wins Easily; Defeats Homophobic Baiting

Steve Bradford won Tuesday's Special Election to replace now-State Senator Curren Price in the State Assembly by getting the most votes in the 51st district Primary election.

Los Angeles County - Assembly District 51

100.00% (158 of 158) precincts partially or fully reporting as of Sep 1, 2009, 10:52 p.m.

Candidate	Votes	Percent
Steven Bradford (Dem)	7,145	52.93%
Mervin Leon Evans (Dem)	164	1.21%
David Coffin (Rep)	2,308	17.10%
Thomas Jefferson Cares (Dem)	626	4.64%
Robert Pullen-Miles (Dem)	666	4.93%
Gloria D. Gray (Dem)	2,591	19.19%

Although the result was widely expected (and Bradford was endorsed by Equality California, Stonewall Democrats and MadProfessah) in recent days before the election there had been rumors and press stories that Steve Bradford was backtracking on his previously vocal position supporting marriage equality (despite the fact that the 51st Assembly District voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposition 8 in November 2008).

In fact, MadProfessah was quoted in an article at The Daily Breeze last week urging Bradford to stay strong:

Ron Buckmire, a gay black activist who blogs under the name the Mad Professah, recently endorsed Bradford, noting his support for gay unions.

"The gay community definitely thinks it's a big deal," he said. "The black community's position has been of particular interest to both sides."

Buckmire also said he knew several volunteers who were supporting Bradford because of his stance on gay marriage.

"I think Steve Bradford has made it clear that he's in favor of equal rights for all people, including marriage for same sex couples," Buckmire said. "I think it is important for a legislative leader, as he intends to be, to lead his community to see that's the right position to take."

Let's hope that Assemblymember-elect Bradford lives up to his promises to be a champion for equality for all people.

AD-51: Bradford and Gray Vie To Replace Price

Former Assemblymember Curren Price was elected to the State Senate to fill the seat of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, thus leaving Price's 51st district Assembly seat vacant. The seat will be filled in a special election to be held Tuesday September 1st.

The two front runners for that seat are Steve Bradford and Gloria Gray. Bradford originally lost the 2006 Democratic primary by a heartbreaking 112 votes to Price, who has now endorsed Bradford to be his replacement in the Assembly.

Equality California has endorsed Steve Bradford. They are aware that in the 51st AD Proposition 8 passed by a margin of 57.9 to 42.1 per cent.

Here's an excerpt from a statement from the candidate:

"If elected to represent the people of the 51st Assembly District, I will vow to continue fighting to protect the rights of all Californians including those of our LGBT brothers and sisters. In building a true state of equality, we must ensure that all members of our communities are given equal rights and protection under the law including the right to marry."

Stonewall Democrats have also endorsed Bradford. MadProfessah also endorses Bradford.