LOS ANGELES: Gay Cop Wins $1M Suit

Los Angeles cop Sgt. Ronald Crump has won a $1M judgment in a lawsuit filed against the LAPD because of retaliation he suffered after complaining about anti-gay mistreatment by a superior.

Sgt. Ronald Crump sued the city last year, alleging that his direct supervisor at the Los Angeles Police Department Media Relations Section -- Lt. John Romero -- made derogatory remarks about his homosexuality. Romero, who has since been promoted to captain, allegedly described him as "the new Ruby minus the heels," in reference to the woman he replaced in the unit. On another occasion, Romero allegedly told him, "I was a religion major at Liberty University. Jerry Falwell would roll over in his grave if he knew I had hired you."

HomoQuotable - Elton John

"I think I have it all. I have a wonderful career, a wonderful life. I have my health, I have a partner of 17 years, and now I have a son. I don't have everything because I don't have the respect of people like the church or like politicians who tell me that I'm not worthy, that I'm lesser because I'm gay, well FUCK YOU!" - Elton John, speaking after performing at an AFER fundraiser in Los Angeles. The event raised $3M for the overturn of Proposition 8.

Black Gays March In LA's MLK Day Parade

A coalition of African-American gay groups marched in yesterday's Martin Luther King Day Parade in Los Angeles. Among those attending: The Barbara Jordan/ Bayard Rustin Coalition, The Here to Stay Coalition, Black Lesbians United, In the Meantime Men’s Group, At the Beach Los Angeles Black Pride. Hit the link for more on the event.

LA Gay Men's Chorus - It Gets Better

A soothing brain salve for all the hatred below, courtesy of the LA Gay Men's Chorus and Cyndi Lauper's True Colors. Feel better about the world for five minutes.

Los Angeles LGBT Center Wins $13M Federal Grant To Help Gay Foster Kids

We needed this kind of great news today, we really did. Via press release:

Today the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center was awarded a landmark $13.3 million, five-year grant from the Federal Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Administration on Children, Youth and Families to create a model program that will provide life-saving support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in the foster care system. Following a highly competitive review process, six grants were awarded—the Center’s grant is the only one specifically to support LGBTQ youth and the only grant that did not go to a government agency or academic institution. It’s also the largest federal grant ever awarded to an LGBT organization.

The need for services for LGBT youth in foster care is dire. According to a 2001 (Feinstein) study, 78% of LGBTQ foster youth were forced to leave their foster placements due to hostility related to their sexual orientation or gender identity. In a 2001 study from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, 70% reported physical violence and 100% reported harassment in their group home. Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS), the only group home for LGBTQ foster youth in Los Angeles, closed its doors in 2008 (with its displaced residents turning to the Center for much-needed support).

Stand by for the wingnut screaming. Which will be delicious.

LOS ANGELES: Student Loses Suit Against College For Stopping His Anti-Gay Speech

Shortly after the passage of Proposition 8, Los Angeles City College student Jonathan Lopez was stopped by his public speaking professor as he attempted to deliver a speech against marriage equality. Lopez alleged that the professor called him a "fascist bastard" and told him to "ask God what your grade is." He then won the right to sue the college for violating his First Amendment rights. On Friday the Ninth Circuit Court overturned that decision.

Lopez, a self-described Christian, claimed a professor stopped him mid-speech, deeming his words sexual harassment under the Los Angeles Community College District's code of conduct. He sued the district in February 2009 in Los Angeles federal court, claiming the code was so broad that it limited his right to free speech. U.S. Circuit Court Judge Sandra S. Ikuta wrote in the opinion handed down today that Lopez, "failed to make a clear showing that his intended speech on religious topics gave rise to a specific and credible threat of adverse action from college officials under the college's sexual harassment policy.''

Lopez' lawsuit has been closely followed by Christianist websites who claim that his case is yet another example of Christian speech being stifled at the nation's universities. He was represented by the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund.

LOS ANGELES: Latino AIDS Memorial Vandalized With Yellow Paint

Karen Ocamb reports that the Wall Las Memorias in Los Angeles has been splashed with yellow paint by unknown vandals.

The Wall Las Memorias – an inspirational art project dedicated as a Latino AIDS monument on World AIDS Day in 2004 – has been vandalized. Apparently a mother went to see the name of her son on the Wall in Highland Park and found a section of the mural splashed in yellow paint. The Wall’s founder Richard Zaldivar told me: “The vandalism was done to the section of the AIDS mural that depicts a child saying, ‘I once knew a child with AIDS.’ And so it is really sad and very troubling that someone would use this opportunity to damage a piece of art that was created for the purpose HIV prevention and education to our community.

Las Memorias Project will update the story on their Facebook page.

Where Are People Moving?

Using 2008 IRS data, Forbes Magazine has created a fascinating interactive map showing which cities are gaining or losing populations and where people are coming from/going to. Detroit, Los Angeles, and Miami appear to be suffering the greatest exoduses, with New York City remaining fairly unchanged. Red lines are outbound, black lines are inbound. You can click on every county in the country and see its changes.

LOS ANGELES PRIDE: Kelly & Sharon Osbourne Shout Down Anti-Gay Asshats

Los Angeles Pride grand marshals Kelly and Sharon Osbourne ripped into some anti-gay protesters as their float passed them by yesterday.

The anti-gay group came right up to Sharon and Kelly midway through the parade, and Sharon stood her ground. "You should be ashamed of yourselves," she said over the loud speaker. "Kelly went to the mic and told the crowd, 'My God loves Gays'," an eyewitness tells RadarOnline.com. She then led the crowd into a chant of "God loves Gays." It was so loud it drowned out the protesters.

Well done, ladies!

Log Cabin Republicans To Celebrate Pride By Tossing Teabags At Photos Of Pols

Today in homocon dumbassery:

Well, this is certainly one way to celebrate Pride. The Log Cabin Republicans of Los Angeles -- the largest such gay GOP organization in the country -- is holding a Tea Bag Toss at Christopher Street West, the Los Angeles Pride celebration this weekend. According to a press release we just got, "Participants will purchase a tea bag and win a prize if they can successfully throw it through the open mouth of one of three politicians on the game board." We had to know if this was for real, so we got a hold of Scott Schmidt, president of of Log Cabin-Los Angeles. He said it was part of their effort to reach out the LGBT community, and, "We figured this year we ought to take it up a notch and do something that is engaging and somewhat amusing and shows that we can even laugh at ourselves." And the three open-mouthed politicos? Those would be Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerry Brown, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Schmidt said including Palin was an attempt to be nonpartisan and he noted that she raised the sales tax while mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.

As always with the homocons, you can't make it up.

LOS ANGELES: Evangelicals And Right-Wing Pols Rally For Israel

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rep. Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann, and other GOP politicians joined evangelical and Jewish leaders in Los Angeles on Monday to speak before about 5000 pro-Israel protesters angry about international reaction to the Gaza flotilla raid. Near the end of the below clip, peace activist David Pine is shouted down by the crowd and called a "traitor" for suggesting that the only answer is a Palestine state.

Arizona Electric Official To Los Angeles: If You Hate Us So Much, Cut Off Your Power

Angry over the decision to boycott his state, an Arizona power commissioner has sent a letter to the mayor of Los Angeles, daring him to cut off the city's power supply from Arizona.

In a sharply worded letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that raises the political stakes for America's second-largest city, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Gary Pierce noted that Los Angeles gets 25 percent of its electricity from Arizona and challenged the mayor to cut off that supply. "If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so that Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation," Pierce said in the letter. "If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona's economy." The letter was sent to Villaraigosa on Tuesday and provided to Reuters by Pierce's office. Villaraigosa, who was in Washington on Wednesday for the visit of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, issued a statement in which he declined to take up Pierce's challenge directly. "The Mayor stands strongly behind the city council on this issue and will not respond to threats from a state which has isolated itself from the America that values freedom, liberty and basic civil rights," Villaraigosa said in the statement.

Last week Los Angeles became the largest municipality to break business ties with Arizona.

UPDATE: LA officials respond: "Suck it, we OWN your damn power plants."

(Tipped by JMG reader Peter and Ed)

Former LA Police Chief Darryl Gates Dies

Former Los Angeles police chief Darryl Gates, whose legacy includes his disastrous handling of the Rodney King beating and subsequent citywide riots, has died at the age of 83.

As chief during the 1980s, Gates earned a reputation for dealing with gangs, drugs and street crime with a mix of tough, paramilitary force and innovation, establishing the first Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, unit and deploying helicopters to help patrol the sprawling city. But he came under fierce criticism after the violent March 3, 1991, arrest of Rodney King, a black parolee whose beating by Los Angeles police was captured on videotape and broadcast around the world as evidence of LAPD racism and brutality. Four of the officers were put on trial for King's beating and their acquittal in April 1992 by an all-white jury touched off three days of the worst urban riots in modern U.S. history, leaving 53 people dead. Gates, who was roundly criticized for attending a fund-raising dinner in the first hours of rioting, came under heavy pressure to resign and stepped down in June of that year.

Veteran Los Angeles-based gay reporter Karen Ocamb recalls Gates' notorious homophobia.

[T]he hell experienced by gay officers inside the LAPD was made public when Mitch Grobeson filed his famous lawsuit in 1988, describing harassment and being left without back up in a dangerous situation. Gay attorney Jon Davidson, now Legal Director for Lambda Legal, made sure Grobeson and other gays testified before Christopher Commission about the harassment they faced under Gate’s command – and the abuse the LGBT community suffered at the hand of LAPD cops. One interesting point from the Christopher Commission Report – which Gates threw down and stomped on – was this little tidbit: one of the Mobile Digital Transmissions (MDTs) referred to gays as “NHI” – “No Human Involved.”

Read Ocamb's exhaustive recounting of Gates' career. It's a fascinating look at the evolution of gay-police relations in Los Angeles.