A man who was injured in a homophobic attack close to Trafalgar Square has died in hospital. Ian Baynham had travelled to London for a night out.

Ian Baynham, 62, was punched and kicked to the ground on 25 September.

He suffered head injuries and died in hospital on Tuesday. A 30-year-old man who was with him suffered minor injuries.

Police have started a murder inquiry and have appealed for information about CCTV images of two women who were in the area at the time.

Officers said Mr Bayman and his friend were initially verbally abused by a woman as they got off a bus near Duncannon Street. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Anti-harassment project launched

Melbourne Community Voice – October 6, 2009

A new project which aims to reduce the incidence of homophobic harassment in Victoria has been launched by an amalgamation of community groups.

The ALSO Foundation, with partners TransGender Victoria (TGV), Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (VGLRL) and Anti Violence Project (AVP), announced the commencement of the first stage of the initiative last week.

Funded by the Department of Justice, the initial stage of the project aims to develop a framework to reduce the incidence of homophobic harassment in Victoria by changing homophobic community attitudes and behaviours.

A further aim of the project is to increase the capacity of GLBTIQ people to respond to homophobic harassment and encourage reporting of homophobic incidence. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Victoria targets gay hate crimes

MCV – September 22, 2009

Gay community leaders have applauded the move by Victoria’s state government to amend the Sentencing Act to recognise the impact of hate crimes.

Last Tuesday, the Sentencing Amendment Bill 2009 was introduced to Parliament. The bill will implement recommendations made by the Sentencing Advisory Council.

In July the council included in their list of recommendations:

“Section 5(2) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) should be amended to provide that in sentencing an offender a court must have regard to whether the offence was motivated (wholly or partially) by hatred for or prejudice against a group of people with common characteristics with which the victim was associated or with which the offender believed the victim was associated.”

Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls (pictured) said Victoria’s sentencing laws will be amended to explicitly recognise the significant damage that crimes motivated by hate cause victims and the wider community.

“In June, I asked the Council for urgent advice on tackling crimes motivated by hatred or prejudice,” Hulls said.

“This means that where the motivation for a crime was hatred or prejudice, or victims are targeted by offenders because of the offender’s prejudice, or their conduct indicated that prejudice was the motivation, the courts will specifically take that into account when sentencing.”

The Attorney-General said that crimes motivated by a victim’s race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity or language were “especially abhorrent and damaging.”

“The trauma is far-reaching, affecting not only victims and their families, but all members of that group,” he said.

“In a multicultural society, which celebrates diversity and encourages all groups to live together in harmony and with equality, hate crime undermines the fundamental values of the community.

“Our courts must have regard to whether offences are motivated by hate for or prejudice against a particular group of people with common characteristics.

“This will send a clear message that attacks against any Victorian based on these factors cannot and will not be tolerated.”

Lyn Morgain, CEO of the ALSO Foundation, applauded the government for taking steps to tackle prejudice motivated crime.

“Leadership on this issue is vital to the continuing effort to reduce homophobic vilification, harassment and abuse,” Morgain said.

“There remains a long way to go and our community has been explicit in our expectation that further protection is required for affected groups; nonetheless, this demonstrates the government recognises there is a problem and is committed to helping to solve it.”

Greg Adkins from the Anti-Violence Project said the changes were “fantastic for the LGBT community”.

“We know that verbal attacks can escalate into physical violence very quickly.

“This is definitely about the degree of the crime. It moves premeditated hate crime up the scale and it positions the LGBT community to that of any other group where hatred forms a range of impacts that they experience in a derogatory way.”

Adkins said the amendment sends a clear message to those who harbour hatred towards minority groups.

“It says that people who aren’t able to get keep their ignorant views in their own homes, those that bring those views out onto the streets, that the government won’t tolerate it and that they are listening to community.”

______________________________________________________________________________________

Gay community calls for justice over banjo killing

New Zealand Herald – July 10, 2009

Ferdinand Ambach was found guilty of manslaughter but not guilty of murder – Victim’s family condemn ‘archaic’ law

A just sentence rather than revenge is what the gay community would want handed down to a Hungarian tourist who bashed a man to death, a gay rights advocate said today.

Ferdinand Ambach, 32, a dive master, was last night found not guilty of murdering Ronald Brown, 69, but guilty of manslaughter.

He faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment when he is sentenced next month. Read Article

______________________________________________________________________________________

Catholic aide claims gay men are to blame for paedophilia

Pink News • May 26, 2009

An aide of the Archbishop of Cardiff has claimed that gay men are the main perpetrators of paedophilia in the Catholic Church.

In the wake of recent exposures of widespread cases of paedophilia within the Catholic church, controversy has been renewed by Father John Owen.

Speaking on BBC1′s Big Questions programme on Sunday, the communications officer for the archdiocese of Cardiff stated that “most of the offences are being committed by homosexuals”. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

100 arrested in hate crime raids across London

Pink News • May 20, 2009

One hundred people were arrested today as part of a police swoop on hate crimes in London.

The Metropolitan Police Service began a series of raids on addresses across the capital this morning to crack down on domestic, homophobic, transphobic, race and other forms of hate crime.

A police spokesman confirmed that as of 1.30pm, 100 arrests had been made relating to domestic violence and hate crimes such as homophobia and transphobia.

He added that police had focused on offenders who were known to them or who had evaded arrest. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Vigilantes ‘patrolling woods with chainsaws’ to discourage cottaging

Pink News • May 20, 2009

A group of vigilantes apparently armed with chainsaws and shotguns have been patrolling a Derbyshire wood to discourage gay men meeting for sex.

The report comes in the same week that Colin Haw, a self-styled ‘protector of morals’, was prosecuted for posting footage of men meeting for sex on a Lincolnshire website. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Vigilante who filmed men cottaging is spared jail

Pink News • May 19, 2009

A self-styled ‘protector of morals’ who filmed gay men having sex in a woodland was spared jail yesterday.

Colin Haw, 47, led a group of men who dressed in balaclavas and combat kit to patrol a wood near Sleaford in Lincolnshire.

They would film men meeting and post the footage on a local website, often accompanied with music such as YMCA by the Village People and the nursery rhyme Teddy Bear’s Picnic. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Backflip: curry company apologises

SX • May 6, 2009

Mudgeeraba Spices and Curry Blends, the company at the centre of allegations regarding an attack on a gay couple at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, has issued a “heartfelt apology” over the incident.

On April 12, the pair was verbally abused and had a pot of curry thrown at them by a Mudgeeraba Spices employee who deduced that they were a couple.

Last week, Marissa Moore, Managing Director of the company, denied that the incident took place when speaking to SX. In a separate interview with ninemsn, she acknowledged that an incident had occurred, but said the couple were the aggressors, who became abusive when they weren’t served promptly.

This week, Moore said she had spoken to one half of the couple, Richard, and was sorry for what had happened.

“Whilst I am unable to qualify any actions which might be considered discriminatory, I am quite aware that the customer feels he was treated badly,” she said in a statement to SX. “I therefore offer my heartfelt apology to the customer and offer every assurance that all actions have been taken to avoid any similar incidence in the future. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Iraqi gay torture claim

SSO • May 1, 2009

Police are torturing gay Iraqis to death by gluing their anuses shut and inducing diarrhea, according to reports emerging from Iraq.

The reports, which originate from the Emirates-based media network Al-Arabiya, indicate that some captured gay men are having a type of super-glue squirted into their anuses. The glue bonds skin instantly and requires surgery to remove. The gay man is then allegedly forced to drink a liquid that induces diarrhea, causing a slow and agonising death. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Curry company denies homophobic attack

SX • April 29, 2009

A curry vendor has refuted claims that one of its employees attacked a gay couple at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Marissa Moore, Managing Director of Mudgeeraba Spices and Curry Blends, denied that an employee at the company’s stand told the couple to “get lost” and threw a pot of curry at them on April 12, in a homophobic attack.

“I have investigated the complaint and refute the allegations made concerning this incident,” Moore told SX. “In particular, the descriptions as to the facts are untrue, and the issue has been blown out of all proportion. The staff in attendance … acted politely and responsibly.

“We have no issue with dealing with adult customers of all persuasions,” she said. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Gay couple attacked at Royal Easter Show

SX • April 22, 2009

A gay couple has been attacked by a stallholder in the Woolworths Food Dome while visiting the Sydney Royal Easter Show at Homebush Bay on Sunday, April 12.

A male complainant, who wished to be identified in this report only by his first name, Richard, told SX that he and his partner were verbally abused and had a pot of curry thrown at them while visiting a stall run by Mudgeeraba Spices and Curry Blends.

Richard said that when the couple went to try one of the sauces offered for public taste testing, they were told by a female worker at the stall: “No, it’s only for mums and dads. It’s only for people who have families.”

______________________________________________________________________________________

Northern NSW Bashing

Queensland Pride • April 22, 2009

A twenty-year-old man from the Northern NSW township of Wollongbar is recovering in Lismore Base Hospital after being bashed because of his sexuality.

Sean Rich, who works in Brisbane as a social worker, was attacked and thrown through a glass plate window River Street, Ballina on Tuesday, April 7 according to The Northern Star.

“It was a straight out hate crime,” Rich said. “They were calling me a faggot.”

A nurse caring for Rich at Lismore Base Hospital said he was lucky to be alive – a major cut on Rich’s thigh was five centimetres from a major artery. Read more and comment

______________________________________________________________________________________

Australia raises Iraq’s gay killings

SSO • April 21, 2009

The Rudd Government has sought answers to claims that 25 men and boys were killed in anti-gay attacks in Baghdad in the last month.

“Concerned by media reports that homosexual men have been the target of violence and extra-judicial killings in Iraq, officials in Canberra have raised these concerns with the Iraqi Ambassador to Australia [Ghanim Al Shibli],” a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

“Australia is a principled advocate of human rights for all and supported the statement on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation at the 63rd United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 2008.” Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Should we stay or should we go

SSO Soap Box • April 21, 2009

Earlier this month came more shocking news from Iraq with the discovery of the bodies of 25 gay men and teens, killed by Islamic death squads — many with pieces of paper with the Arabic word for pervert pinned to their chests.

Under the secular Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein, gays were largely left alone by authorities despite facing widespread discrimination, and there were parks where they knew they could find each other.

The killings began quickly in the lawless years following Saddam’s removal, with victims often tried in absentia by local religious tribunals without any legal authority.

Yet as order returns to the country, the sexual cleansing of Iraq has only accelerated. Read more

______________________________________________________________________________________

Hate Bashing In Ballina

SameSame • April 14, 2009

Last Tuesday a 20 year old gay man from Wollongbar was attacked and thrown through a glass shop front in River Street, Ballina.

“It was a straight out hate crime,” said Sean Rich, the victim of the attack. “They were calling me a faggot.”

Ballina police have charged a 17 year old local male, and investigations into the involvement of others are ongoing.

Rich was still in hospital on Thursday, recovering from a 12 cm gash to his upper thigh, a 15 cm wound across his upper arm, a deep gash to his left hand and various cuts and bruises.Read more and comment

______________________________________________________________________________________

Wollongbar man bashed because he is gay

Northern Star • April 11, 2009

BASHING victim Sean Rich is no stranger to violence.

At the age of just 13 he was bashed by a gang in Brisbane, and two years ago he and his sister were with their father when he was bashed and stabbed in Brisbane.

On Tuesday night the violence became a recurring nightmare when the 20-year-old gay man, from Wollongbar, was attacked and thrown through a glass shop front in River Street, Ballina.

“It was a straight out hate crime,” Mr Rich said. “They were calling me a faggot.”

Mr Rich suffered a 12cm gash to his upper thigh, a 15cm wound across his upper arm, another deep gash to his left hand, a bruise in the shape of a thumb print on his neck, plus other cuts and abrasions. Read more