WIKILEAKS: American Gov't Kept Quiet About Murders Of Gays In Iraq

Gay City News reports today that according to a portion of latest documents revealed via Wikileaks, the Pentagon knew about the murders of gay men in Iraq for more than a year before news outlets reported them. Via Duncan Osborne:

“The male was shot (___) times in the chest, and a note was discovered on the body stating that the man had been killed by ___ for stealing cars and being homosexual,” read the January 1, 2005, memo, in which some words were redacted. The body was discovered in Ramadi, a city in central Iraq, and a note was left at the scene by the gunmen who killed the man. The fact that the note was written in advance of the killing suggests that the gunmen knew whom they were targeting and why they were killing him, and had time to plan and prepare for the murder.

“After talking with the locals (through an ___), a CO discovered that the male was killed at approximately 1545C by gunmen driving past in a vehicle,” the memo read. “The vehicle drove past, fired, dropped the note, and then fled. The note is being brought back to - -___ for further analysis. No friendly casualties or damage to equipment reported.”

Gay City News found the memo by searching on wikileaks.org with keywords such as gay, lesbian, homosexual, fag, and faggot. The 2005 memo was the only document Gay City News found that related to the killings of gay Iraqis. Gay City News first reported on such killings in March of 2006. Reporter Doug Ireland, who authored that first story, found killings that occurred as early as April of 2005. An April 2006 report from the United Nations added further evidence that gay, lesbian, and transgender Iraqis were being targeted.

Read Duncan Osborne's complete report.

October 18th In NYC: The 14th Annual Anti-Violence Project Courage Awards

Hosted once again by Law & Order's BD Wong, this year's Anti-Violence Project Courage Awards honorees are the Paul Rapoport Foundation, Gay City News journalist Duncan Osborne, and Village Voice columnist Steven Thrasher. Get tickets here. AVP executive director Sharon Stapel raves about Thrasher to the Village Voice:

"Your work at the Village Voice, particularly your coverage of proposed state funding cuts for domestic violence, has been exemplary. In recognition of your work as a community activist, advocate and journalist, we would like to honor you with a 2010 Courage Award. In accepting this award, you will join the distinguished company of past awardees including: progressive LGBTQ bloggers -- Bill Browning, Joe Jervis, Pam Spaulding and Andy Towle, Tony Kushner, Emil Wilbekin and George C. Wolfe to name but a few."

The NYC Anti-Violence Project is the city's primary civilian organization dedicated to immediate responses to incidents of violence against the LGBT community. Please consider supporting their vital work.

What's Up With AFER Donor Paul Singer?

This weekend the New York Times reported that Wall Street financier Paul Singer, who calls himself a "Barry Goldwater conservative," has secretly donated millions to LGBT causes. Singer will be hosting the upcoming Ken Mehlman fundraiser for AFER in his Manhattan home.

But Duncan Osborne reports on his blog Herd & Scene that Singer has also been a heavy backer of anti-gay GOP candidates around the nation.

When Mehlman came out in an August 25 story in The Atlantic it was clearly timed to coincide with the fundraiser so as an organizer of the 2004 campaigns it would seem that he was doing penance for those earlier anti-gay efforts. Singer and Thiel bring plenty of their own right wing baggage to this fundraiser. Call me cynical, but the same people who helped Mehlman spin his coming out may be helping Singer. For years, Singer has been a reliable and generous donor to many state and federal Republican political organizations, candidates, and office holders including some of the most anti-gay members of that party, such as Rick Santorum and Bill McCollum, who lost a bid to become the Republican nominee for Florida’s governor’s office on August 24. Singer has also supported moderate Republicans and has donated to Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat. In New York, he has donated to Democrats and Republicans, but his largest donations have gone to the state Republican and Conservative parties. In 2008, the Paul Singer Family Foundation gave $275,000 to the Manhattan Institute, a right wing group that has Singer as the chair of its board. Plenty of the experts at the institute have opposed gay marriage and other gay causes. The foundation gave the institute $30,000 in 2007. Also in 2008, the foundation gave $50,000 to the Witherspoon Institute.

Duncan Osbourne: "This fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights looks increasingly bizarre. When donors to a gay group must hire publicists to plant stories about the alleged secret philanthropy of one to gay causes or another’s struggle with his gay feelings as he attacked the gay and lesbian community it seems to me that the message is that they have doubts about their commitment. Or they think the rest of us will question their motives. The solution would have been to approach Mehlman’s coming out with some humility, but I doubt he knows what that is."

In a follow-up post today, Osborne examines Singer's donations to anti-gay candidates in Virginia such as Gov. Bob McDonnell and AG Ken Cuchinelli.

Does Elena Kagan Favor "Religious Liberty" At The Expense Of LGBT Rights?

Duncan Osbourne of Gay City News has uncovered some troubling history from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. From Osbourne's blog, Herd & Scene:

Despite knowing that religious freedom laws could invalidate state and local anti-discrimination statutes that protect bisexual, lesbian, transgender, and gay taxpayers, Elena Kagan, a nominee to the US Supreme Court, championed such laws in her later years in the Clinton administration. “I’m the biggest fan of [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act] (now [the Religious Liberty Protection Act]) in this building, but you should not take this advice right now,” Kagan wrote in a May 20, 1999 memo to Ron Klain, then the chief of staff to Al Gore, the vice president. “You’ll have a gay/lesbian firestorm on your hands. (Alternatively, if you come out for a version of RFRA that has a civil rights carve-out, you’ll have a religious groups firestorm on your hands.)” Kagan’s advice came in response to a memo by Bill Galston, a Gore advisor, that circulated among Gore’s staff and suggested the position he should take on the law.

Read Duncan Osbourne's complete story.