Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyMay 27th, 2012
TODAY’S AGENDA:
Protest Against “Electric Fence” Pastor: Newton, N.C. Pastor Charles Worley of of Providence Road Baptist Church near Newton, North Carolina, shocked the consciences of decent people everywhere last Sunday when he declared that he “figured a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers.” His final solution involved electrified fences and just waiting for everyone inside to die out. At least one church member appeared on CNN to back him up. Today, the civilized half of Newton will make itself heard, with a protest on the lawn of the Catawba County Government Center from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Cambridge/Kitchener/Waterloo ON; Dresden, Germany; Durban, South Africa; Düsseldorf, Germany; Eskilstuna, Sweden; Hanover, Germany; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Melbourne, FL; Moscow, Russia; Pensacola, FL and Washington, DC (Black Pride).
Other Events This Weekend: Bearpawcalypse, Chicago, IL; International Mr. Leather, Chicago, IL; Great Plains Rodeo, Oklahoma City, OK and Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, Toronto, ON.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
Homosexual Ring Broken Up: 1948. A veteran University of Missouri journalism professor was arrested and charged with sodomy as Prosecutor Howard B. Lang, Jr. described to reporters fantastical tales of “mad homosexual parties” in Columbia, Missouri. According to the Associated Press on the day of his arrest:
The prosecuting attorney said he had issued a warrant for the arrest of E.K. Johnston, for 24 years a member of the faculty of the university’s school of journalism, after a long investigation into abnormal sex orgies here and other central Missouri cities. Two other men were held in the Boone County jail on similar charges. They are Willie Coots, a gift shop employee here, and Warren W. Heathman, 35, Rolla, Mo., an itinerant instructor for the veteran administrations’s farm training program.
Lang siad both had singed statements, implicating Johnston as a principal in what he called a homosexual “ring” at Johnston’s apartment which Coots had shared for the last 15 or 16 years. At least of score of University of Missouri students and other residents here, Lang said, also are implicated in the ring. No charges have been filed against any one except Coots, Heathman and Johnston, but several are being held in jail for investigation or as material witnesses.
Heathman, Lang reported, told a near-fantastic story of “mad parties” at Johnston’s apartment and at a cabin near Salem, Mo., in which as many as 30 members of the “ring” gathered to boast of conquests and to indulge in homosexual practices.
Johnston was fired the next day. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of sodomy, but after the other two testified against him, he changed his plea to guilty in exchange for four years’ probation under a $2,000 bond. Terms of the probation included “cessation of homosexual practices.” The others also pleaded guilty and were placed on probation.
Russia Decriminalizes Homosexuality: 1993. President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree which repealed the law forbidding male homosexuality on this date. Since 2006, Moscow gay rights advocates have attempted to commemorate the anniversary of this historic event by conducting a gay pride march in Moscow. And every year, Moscow authorities have suppressed the march, usually violently. This year, the pattern remains the same: LTBT advocates have announced a gay pride march, and as always Russian authorities have vowed to prevent it from happening.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Chris Colfer: 1990. If you watch Fox’s Glee, you know him as Kurt Hummel, the fashionably gay kid who is routinely bullied in school. He had auditioned for the wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams, but the show’s creators were so impressed with Colfer that they created the role of Kurt especially for him. Colfer, who is gay himself, says that he was accepted by his family but often bullied in school.You can see Colfer’s video for the “It Gets Better” project here. On March 3, 2012, Colfer participated in the West Coast premiere of of a reading of Dustin Lance Black’s play “8”, based in the trial transcripts of the Federal Lawsuit that resulted in Prop 8 being declared unconstitutional. A recording of that performance will be available for download from iTunes and Amazon beginning on June 1, and will be broadcast on NPR the week of June 9.
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Charles
May 27th, 2012
Good Lord, Charles Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church has a considerable congregation …………… and they sat in the pews and heard this deplorable sermon and did not walk out? This not the Christianity that I recognize.
Ben in Oakland
May 27th, 2012
Many people forget that the reason Yeltsin scotched the sodomy law was because a gay editor of a Russian gay newspaper– I can’t really remember the name or the details– kept his press/radio station (god I hate getting old) open nd the lines of communication going. Thoug that gay man, Russia’s revolution might never have happened.
And the Russian people have forgotten this, preferring to bed down with antigays.
The more things change….
Lindoro Almaviva
May 27th, 2012
I have seen this ignored through the years and while I do not consider myself part if the community I think it needs to be added to future calendars. Memorial day weekend is the IML festival and paegant. imp stands fog International Mr. Leather and they have been in existence for over 20 years.
Whether you are into leather or not is inmaterial. The organization needs to be acknowledged in the calendar.
Jim Burroway
May 27th, 2012
Lindoro, you will find IML listed above under “Other Events This Weekend.” I’ve been listing it as an upcoming community event since Wednesday.
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