tasered, despite having her hands in the air and apparently posing no threat to the officers, as the video below shows.
s w s e N ief r B By Sergio N. Candido WNBA Star Arrested After Ex-Girlfriend Fight Retired women’s basketball star Chamique Holdsclaw was arrested on Nov. 15 after she allegedly attacked her ex-girlfriend Jennifer Lacy, a professional basketball player for the Tulsa Shock. Holdsclaw was charged with aggravated assault, criminal damage to property and reckless conduct after she broke a window in Lacy’s car with a baseball bat and fired a gun inside the vehicle, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Exactly what sparked the incident remains unclear. According to Yahoo! Sports, Lacy told police that Holdsclaw asked her to put some things in her car. When Lacy left to meet with a friend, Holdsclaw started following her and then the situation became violent. No one was injured in the incident. “I want to thank my family, friends, fans and Shock family for their concern during this difficult time. I have never felt more love from my fans in supporting me,” Lacy said in a released statement, according to the Associated Press. TMZ reports that Holdsclaw from jail earlier today with an ankle monitor. Her court date is scheduled for Nov. 30. Holdsclaw and Lacy were teammates on the Atlanta Dream in 2009. Holdsclaw was the No. 1 pick in the 1999 draft and played on the U.S. Olympic team in the 2000 Games. Her last team was the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2010. Trans Woman Tasered by California Ranger A transgender woman in California filed a lawsuit for excessive force against
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miami-dade judge william thomas
the U.S. Bureau of Land Management after getting tasered twice—once in the groin—in an incident last year. According to the lawsuit, Brooke Fantelli was doing a photo shoot with a group of people in the Imperial County desert, near the city of El Centro, when a BLM ranger approached her to find out what they were doing, UT San Diego reports. The lawsuit states Ranger J. Peter’s attitude changed when he looked at Fantelli’s ID, which still identified her as “Rodd.” “He was super nice, until he saw the ID,” Fantelli told UT San Diego. “He went from calling me ’ Miss’ and ‘Ma’am’ when it first started, to ‘Sir,’ ‘Dude’ and eventually calling me ‘it.’ ” The ranger called an Imperial County sheriff’s deputy to the scene. After around an hour, Fantelli approached the authorities asking them if they could leave because the models for the photo shoot were uncomfortable with their presence. The ranger then proceeded to arrest Fantelli for public drunkenness (Fantelli said she had had two beers but wasn’t intoxicated). At this point, someone in Fantelli’s group started to record the incident, which concluded with Fantelli getting
Miami Gay Black Judge Nominated as Federal Judge Miami-Dade Judge William Thomas could become the first openly gay black man to serve as a federal judge after being nominated by President Obama for the lifetime-tenured judiciary post. The White House made the announcement on Nov. 14, BuzzFeed reports. In a statement, Obama made reference to the diversity of Thomas and six other nominees. “They ... represent my continued commitment to ensure that the judiciary resembles the nation it serves,” he said. “These individuals have demonstrated the talent, expertise, and fair-mindedness Americans expect and deserve from their judicial system. I am grateful for their willingness to serve and confident that they will apply the law with the utmost impartiality and integrity. Too many of our courtrooms stand empty. I hope the Senate will promptly consider all of my nominees and ensure justice for everyday Americans.” If the Senate approves Thomas, he would be the second openly gay black judge after Judge Deborah Batts. Thomas has served as Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge since 2005. “We’re delighted in the president’s appointment of Judge Thomas, who we recommend as a patient and hardworking man of incredible character,” said Chuck Wolfe, CEO and president of the Victory Fund & Institute. “We believe he’s made an excellent jurist in Florida and will make an excellent federal jurist.” Utah Schools Sued Over Lesbians Book A mother is suing Utah’s Davis School District after a book featuring lesbian parents was removed from school library shelves and can only be checked out with parental permission. The book, called “In Our Mothers’ House” is about a lesbian couple raising their kids. According to theHuffington Post, it was added to five of the district’s 50 elementary schools in 2010. In April of this year, a teacher-parent committee voted to have to book remain behind the libraries’ counter instead of
on the shelves after a group of parents signed a petition against having the book in schools. The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Utah filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tina Weber on Nov. 13.They argue the First Amendment prohibits schools from removing books from libraries because officials or parents disagree with the materials. “Our job as parents is to make sure we teach our children about our values,” Weber said in a statement. “We can do that without imposing our personal views on the rest of the school community.”
Catholic Church Spent $2M in Gay Marriage Fight As a last resort effort to preserve what they believe to be the sanctity of marriage, the Roman Catholic Church contributed $2 million to unsuccessfully fight gay marriage in Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington. According to a report from the Human Rights Campaign, the Catholic Church, through its affiliate Knights of Columbus, spent over $1.3 million trying to get Minnesotans to approve a ban on gay marriage. The Church also spent $100,000 in Maine; $250,000 in Maryland; and $307,000 in Washington. Despite the cash boost, all their efforts failed and gay marriage triumphed in all four states. The HRC reports also points out that the National Organization for Marriage, an ultra-conservative religious group close to the Catholic Church spent more than $5.2 million fighting gay marriage this election. Anti-gay marriage in the four states totaled $11.3 million. “The American people went to the polls and affirmed one of the core values of the Roman Catholic Church: the belief that all humans are worthy of dignity, respect, and love,” said HRC President Chad Griffin in a statement. “The Church and NOM can continue pouring money into discriminating against LGBT people, but the writing is on the wall for their anti-equality agenda. The Roman Catholic hierarchy should be focusing on taking actions that actually improve people’s lives, not spending precious resources on spreading malicious lies aimed at tearing down an entire community of people.”
November 21, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com