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Viva Las Vegas!
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Kinsey shtick
DADT repeal certified
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 41 • No. 30 • July 28-August 3, 2011
EQCA to fight SB 48 referendum
DA charges suspect in gay man’s murder
by Cynthia Laird
by Matthew S. Bajko
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T
he suspected killer of a gay San Francisco man whose burned body was found in Buena Vista Park was expected to be arraigned Wednesday, July 27 on four felony counts that included murder and robbery charges. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón’s office announced Courtesy SF Police Department Tuesday, July 26 that Suspect David it had charged David Munoz Diaz, 22, with Munoz Diaz allegedly murdering Freddy Roberto Canul-Arguello, 23, who was found dead at 4:39 a.m. Friday, June 10 in the park near the city’s famed Haight Street neighborhood. In addition to the felony counts of murder and robbery, Diaz has also been charged with one felony count of arson of a recycling bin and one felony count of mutilating/maiming/ disfiguring a body, as Canul-Arguello’s body was left either in or near a garbage receptacle. Diaz is also charged with one misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence. The D.A.’s office also announced that Harry Dorfman, an assistant district attorney, is currently handling the prosecution of the case. D.A. spokeswoman Erica Derryck declined to say if Diaz identifies as gay when asked about his sexual orientation by the Bay Area Reporter. She did disclose that he has not been charged with a hate crime because there is no evidence to suggest animus toward the victim based on his sexual orientation. As the B.A.R. noted in a Saturday, July 23 blog post, San Francisco police homicide inspectors arrested Diaz, a San Francisco resident, at the city’s Hall of Justice Friday, July 22. What led police to arrest Diaz and his being charged this week, said Derryck, was a combination of reviewing the crime scene, phone records, and conversations with Diaz. “Various items of personal property belonging to the victim were not found when police searched the crime scene,” she said, referring to Canul-Arguello’s wallet and cell phone. So far, few details have been released about how the two men met that night, if they were friends or lovers, and how Canul-Arguello was killed. Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman,
Hundreds of couples wed in New York
oping to prevent a referendum repealing the state’s new Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act from reaching the ballot, Equality California and about 40 other organizations will join forces to mount a decline to sign campaign, officials said Wednesday, July 27. “We are definitely doing a decline to sign campaign, getting ready Lydia Gonzales to launch a website, and Roland Palencia will be doing a social media decline to sign campaign as well,” EQCA communications director Rebekah Orr told the Bay Area Reporter. On Monday, opponents of the FAIR Act, or SB 48, were given the go-ahead by the secretary of state’s office to begin collecting signatures in See page 13 >>
Mary Richards
New York City residents Bryan Gregory, left, and Mike Humberstone, got their marriage license Sunday in Lower Manhattan; the couple plans an August wedding.
by Chuck Colbert
T
he marriage equality movement enjoyed a burst of new energy on Sunday, July 24, as jubilant samesex couples across New York state began marrying under a new law that took effect at midnight. From Niagara Falls to Albany to New York City hundreds of gay and lesbians applied for marriage licenses – and wed.
“Today those families were told they matter and that the state of New York cares about them as much as anyone else,” New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who is openly gay, told NBC Nightly News. The first couple to marry under the new law was Kitty Lambert, 54, and Cheryle Rudd, 53, of Buffalo, who exchanged vows in a religious ceremony at honeymoon See page 12 >>
LGBTs praise CA high court pick by Matthew S. Bajko
G
Mary Richards
Dineathea Graves Jackson, left, and her spouse, Dawn Laverne Jackson-Graves, held their dogs as they left the clerk’s office in Lower Manhattan following their wedding ceremony.
overnor Jerry Brown’s pick for a seat on the state Supreme Court, Goodwin Liu, is winning high praise from LGBT leaders in California. Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the nation’s oldest and largest LGBT bar organization, told the Bay Area Reporter following the announcement Tuesday, July 26 that, “We are proud that the governor is committed Goodwin Liu to having a judiciary that reflects the diversity of the citizens of California.” Out lesbian Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, (D-San Diego), who sits on the Assembly Judiciary Committee, told the B.A.R. that Liu See page 10 >>
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