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Mystery surrounds DOJ’s second gay hate crime case

Assault victim posted YouTube video describing attack

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Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan, gay news, Washington Blade

Witnesses failed to help as Everett Dwayne Avery shouted anti-gay epithets while attacking Justin Alesna as they waited in line at a Detroit gas station. Avery has plead guilty to a Federal hate crime. (photo by Carol Spears via Wikimedia)

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Aug. 29 that a 36-year-old Michigan man pleaded guilty in court in Detroit to a federal hate crime in connection with an assault against a man he believed to be gay in March 2011.

But the DOJ and Detroit police have yet to publicly disclose whether local authorities investigated the case between the time the attack took place on March 7, 2011 and the time federal officials charged the perpetrator with a hate crime on Aug. 10, 2012.

The DOJ announcement says Everett Dwayne Avery admitted he struck the victim in the face while the two were customers in a gas station convenience store in Detroit, causing the victim to suffer a fractured eye socket and other facial injuries. Documents filed by prosecutors in federal court say Avery shouted anti-gay names at the victim during the assault.

The case represents the second time federal authorities have invoked the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to prosecute someone for an anti-gay hate crime. Congress passed and President Obama signed the measure into law in 2009.

The act authorizes federal authorities to prosecute hate crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity if local authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute such a case or if local officials invite federal prosecutors to become involved in the case.

“Hate-fueled incidents have no place in a civilized society,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to using all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Have Crimes Prevention Act, to prosecute acts of violence motivated by hate.”

Spokespersons for the DOJ, the FBI, which investigated the case, and the Detroit police department said they could not immediately determine whether Avery had been apprehended and prosecuted by the police before federal officials filed the hate crime charge against him on Aug. 10.

The DOJ also did not say why it chose not to disclose the victim’s name. The victim, Justin Alesna, 23, posted a YouTube video describing the anti-gay attack less than two weeks after it happened. More than 3,400 people have viewed the video since its posting, according to YouTube.

Alesna’s assertion in the video that the convenience store clerk and at least two customers in the store refused to come to his aid and the clerk refused to call police were widely reported by news media outlets in Detroit, including the local CBS affiliate.

DOJ spokesperson Mitchell Rivard said the FBI and federal prosecutors became involved in the case after being contacted by the statewide LGBT organization Equality Michigan. Rivard said local law enforcement officials supported the federal involvement because Michigan’s hate crimes law doesn’t cover hate based on someone’s sexual orientation.

Rivard said he couldn’t immediately determine whether local police and prosecutors attempted to charge Avery with a felony-related assault even though the state lacks a hate crimes law that covers anti-gay hate crimes. A Detroit police spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to queries from the Blade to determine whether police opened an investigation into the case.

Under the federal hate crimes law, Avery faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

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Queen Jean is Tony’s first transgender winner

Designer/activist wins for work on ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’

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Queen Jean (Screen capture via vulture/YouTube)

It was a historic night at the 79th annual Tony Awards on Sunday as Queen Jean won the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, making her the first out transgender person to win a Tony.

“This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people,” she said. “We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”

She won the award for her work on “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and was also nominated for best costume design of a play for “Liberation.”

In addition to her stage work, Queen Jean is the founder of Black Trans Liberation, an organization that supports trans and gender-nonconforming people in New York City.

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Madonna turns Times Square into massive dance floor

Pop icon celebrates Pride month with surprise performance

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Madonna surprised New York fans with an impromptu show in Times Square. (Photo by Alex Antonioni; courtesy Warner Records)


Pop icon Madonna celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday to the delight of 50,000 fans.

She performed for about 15 minutes high above street level, including several songs from her new album “Confessions II” due on July 3, along with a trio of songs from the first “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”

In addition to the brand new “Love Sensation,” she performed “I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love,” plus “Hung Up,” “Get Together” and “I Love New York.” She wished the crowd a happy Pride season; the event was shared with audiences through Grindr’s first-ever livestream. 

Madonna performs in Times Square on Thursday. (Photo by Alex Antonioni; courtesy Warner Records)
(Photo by Ricardo Gomes; courtesy Warner Records)

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Gallup finds LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping

Marriage equality support lowest since 2016

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Progress rainbow flag and trans flag flying. (Washington Blade Photo by Michael Key)

Gallup, one of the leading organizations in public opinion polling, has found that LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping.

The poll, whose data was collected using Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, was conducted in May and was published on Wednesday. The data was collected through telephone interviews from a sample of more than 1,000 adults living in all 50 states and D.C. using random digit dialing. 

It highlights declining attitudes surrounding LGBTQ issues in multiple areas — from support for same-sex marriage to views on gender identity and the morality of one’s sexuality.

One of the most striking findings was that support for marriage equality fell six points from its 2022-2023 high.

The survey also found that 62 percent of Americans view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, the lowest level since 2016 just after same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

One newer question on the poll found that the perceived morality of changing one’s gender has dropped eight points since 2021, indicating the American public is less supportive of transgender people.

New data from Gallup shows a decline in LGBTQ support. (Graph courtesy of Gallup)

The data attributes much of the decline to shifting Republican views alongside the party itself. Conservative leaders have pushed back against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that were intended to foster greater acceptance of LGBTQ people and other historically disadvantaged groups.

President Donald Trump has been a guiding force behind waves of anti-LGBTQ sentiment, particularly when it comes to trans rights. The president has enacted multiple executive orders, including Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which mandates that gender be defined by one’s sex assigned at birth. He also signed Executive Order 14183, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which barred qualified trans applicants from joining the military and led to the removal of trans service members already serving in the armed forces.

Additionally, he signed Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which prohibits trans female athletes from participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams.

In February, Gallup found that an estimated 9 percent of Americans identified as part of the LGBTQ community in some form.

The organization also found that 23 percent of adults under age 30 identify as LGBTQ, compared with 10 percent of those ages 30 to 49 and 3 percent or less among those ages 50 and older.

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