UCLA Project for the Psychological Study of Hate Violence and Pathological Bias

FBI TALLIES HATE CRIMES OFFENCES IN 2005

By Charles Montaldo

There were 7,163 criminal incidents involving 8,380 offenses labeled as hate crimes in the U.S. in 2005, according to statistics reported by the FBI.

FBI statistics are compiled from data submitted by city, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies. According to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program in 2005.

An analysis of the 7,160 single-bias incidents by bias motivation revealed that 54.7 percent were motivated by a racial bias.

17.1 percent were triggered by a religious bias.

14.2 percent were motivated by a sexual-orientation bias, and 13.2 percent of the incidents were motivated by an ethnicity/national origin bias.

Nearly 1 percent (0.7) involved bias against a disability.

POLICE WILL NOT PURSUE HATE CRIME

BY ANDREW STRICKLER

One of the suspects in a "cruel and sadistic" crime against a 21-year-old developmentally disabled man in the bathroom of a bowling alley in Shirley may have had a history of bullying the victim, police said.

Steven Rodriguez, 19, of Shirley, approached the victim outside the bowling alley Sunday evening and began picking on him, police said. The victim entered the AMF Shirley Lanes on the Green, off William Floyd Parkway, and was following by Rodriguez and another man, Michael Lunsford, 17, of Shirley.

Police said Lundsford held the victim down while Rodriguez sexually assaulted the victim with a metal toilet cleaning tool known as a plumbing snake.

Rodriguez was arrested Monday and arraigned Tuesday in First District Court, Central Islip. He was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail, or $200,000 bond, at the Riverhead jail. Lunsford was arrested yesterday and was being held at the Seventh Precinct for arraignment today in First District Court in Central Islip.

Both men faces charges of first-degree aggravated sexual abuse, a Class B felony, punishable upon conviction by up to 25 years' imprisonment, police said

Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said that the pair were not being charged with a hate crime.

TODAY IN SERBIA HATE CRIME TRIALS CONTINUE

In total, 17 suspects stand accused before the Novi Sad District Court. The suspects are members of the neo-Nazi organization “Nacionalni Stroj,” which disrupted an anti-fascist conference taking place at a Novi Sad university about one year ago.

According to reports, the suspects “abused and endangered the safety of those in attendance by promoting national and racial hatred.”

If the suspects are convicted, they could face in between one and eight years of prison time.

FBI RELEASE STATISTICS ON HATE CRIMES

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

New statistics show that hate crimes against gays and lesbians accounted for the third largest number of bias crimes in the country last year sparking a new push from LGBT rights groups for federal hate laws.

Overall the number of reported hate crimes was down by six percent. Crimes against people based on their race accounted for more than half of the incidents. Crimes based on religious bias were reported in 17 percent of the cases and attacks on members of the LGBT community came in third at 14.2 percent according to the FBI statistics.

The numbers are considered by many LGBT rights groups as low because not all gay victims report attacks on them for fearing of being outed publicly and because not all areas of the country track LGBT bias crimes.

The Human Rights Campaign called the new numbers ample proof of the need for passage of the bill and warned many local police departments do not take crimes against gays seriously.

Legislation that would have included crimes against gays and lesbians in federal hate crime laws passed the House but was dropped in the Senate in May.

FBI INFORMATION ON HATE CRIMES

Of the 6,804 known offenders reported in 2005,

60.5 percent were white, and 19.9 percent were black.

The race was unknown for 12.3 percent, and other races accounted for the remaining known offenders.

The majority (30.0 percent) of hate crime incidents in 2005 occurred in or near residences or homes;

18.3 percent of hate crimes were committed on highways, roads, alleys, or streets.

13.5 percent of hate crimes happened on or at colleges or schools; 6.6 percent in parking lots or garages; and 4.3 percent at churches, synagogues, or temples.

The remaining 27.3 percent of hate crime incidents occurred at other specified locations, multiple locations, or other/unknown locations.

EXPOSE BY RUSSIAN JOURNALIST ON ETHNIC MURDERS PROMPTS DEATH AS HER BYLINE.

Politkovskaya, 48, was a journalist with few equals in Russia. She was a special correspondent for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta and had become one of the country’s most prominent human-rights advocates, The NYT wrote.

In a recent radio interview, Politkovskaya said she was a witness in a criminal case against Kadyrov concerning his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of two civilians — an ethnic Russian and a Chechen — who were tortured and killed.

All leading organizations, politicians and writers have condemned her death. Only the Kremlin remained pronouncedly silent.

Russia has seen several high-profile murders of outspoken journalists over the past decade. Paul Klebnikov, the U.S.-born editor of the Russian edition of Forbes who had been investigating the murky business world in Russia, was gunned down on July 9, 2004 as he was leaving his Moscow office. Two ethnic Chechens accused of carrying out the murder were acquitted earlier this year.

Hundreds meanwhile rallied in Moscow’s Pushkin Square to protest her murder as well as the Russian crackdown on Georgians since a spy row erupted last week.

But her death, it appears, has had a sobering effect on the Russians. For several years now, blinded by growing economy and improving living standards, we grew to believed that Russia was becoming — albeit slowly — a more civilized, safer place to live in where disputes are taken to court rather than solved through violence.

SHE WAS 18 AND HE WAS 83

By JOHN VALENTI

In their two-year relationship, Natasha Marks, now 20, bilked Louis Bruno, now 85, out of almost $1 million, said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. The Flushing woman was arraigned in a Queens courtroom Thursday on fraud and theft charges, including a hate crime charge related to age-bias

The Queens DA said Marks was arrested earlier this week after she allegedly tried to dupe another elderly man, whom she had met at a Staples store in Queens, out of money.

In typical sweetheart swindler fashion, the defendent is accused of befriending elderly men and preying on their loneliness and vulnerability to scam them out of their life savings," Brown said. "Crimes involving the financial exploitation of the elderly, particularly those involving so-called sweetheart scams, are among the most devastating forms of elder abuse."

The lawyer representing Marks has denied all charges.

"Sandy" told Bruno she needed to pay medical bills, persuaded him to grant her power of attorney and used that to take out an estimated $550,000 mortgage on his house, prosecutors said.

A retired toll booth clerk and lifelong bachelor, Bruno said he had planned to give Marks an engagement ring.

CLAPING IS AN ANTI-AMISH SLUR

By RIC ROUTLEDGE

A Ball State University professor who has done studies of hate crimes against the Amish said Monday he was "shocked" by news of the shooting of Amish schoolgirls by a milk truck driver in Lancaster County, Pa.

What adds to the shock of this situation is that it happened in a rural one-room school house in an Amish area," said Bryan Byers, a former prosecutor's investigator in South Bend, now a professor of criminal justice and criminology at Ball State.

Byers has made a study of the behavior and the circumstances and the rationalizations used for anti-Amish hate crimes by offenders, which has happened so much over the years there is a specific term to describe it -- claping (pronounced klay-ping).

Why people commit such crimes, he said, "is the $64,000 question." His research suggests that people who commit hated crimes against the Amish don't believe that what they are doing is harmful to the Amish.

"They believed that the Amish were not the type of people who most people make them out to be. The individuals we studied who harassed the Amish profess to have a special knowledge about the Amish that other people wouldn't have.

AMISH NOT IMMUNE TO CRIMES OF HATE

By John Holusha

A lone gunman walked into a one-room schoolhouse in a largely Amish community in southeastern Pennsylvania today and shot as many as 10 girls.

The man, identified as Charles Carl Roberts, 32, lived in the area, and was evidently nursing a long-held grievance expressed in notes left for his wife and children, said Jeffrey Miller, commissioner of the Pennsylvania state police.

“He split them up, males and females," Commissioner Miller said. "He let the males go, some of the adults go. He bound the females at the blackboard, and apparently executed them."

Police officers said Roberts had walked his own children to a nearby bus stop before borrowing a relative's pickup truck and heading for the Amish school.

John Fisher, who owns a fencing company nearby, stood by the scene of the hostage situation, and also seemed stunned by the incongruity of the day’s events in this peaceful community.

WIKIPEDIA: THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA THAT ANYONE CAN EDIT.

Stereotypes of Central and Western Asians

Kazakhstan, once a generally unknown country in the West, has come under recent stereotyping, most notably, that of which has come from British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's Da Ali G Show character Borat. Borat is shown to be a crude, backward, misogynist racial Third-Worlder that hates Jews, Gypsies, and Homosexuals. Borat is often portrayed to be speaking Kazakh, while in reality, he is often speaking Hebrew or Polish. The Kazakhstani government has done everything it could to disassociate itself from Borat, even deleting his .Kz page

Turks are often portrayed in media, such as the movie Midnight Express (film) as violent oppressive, nationalists that hate and discriminate against Kurds, Armenians, and Greeks. This may have to do with Turkey's dismal Human Rights record. Many Kurds are calling for the creation of an independent Kurdistan and Armenians are now calling for reparations[

Mongolians are often portrayed as violent, barbarian nomads living in Yurts and living off of thier plunder and spoils of war. however, it is now true that Mongolia has had considerable impact on China, most notably in it's civil institutions

Kike is "most widespread" of the pejorative words for Jew and "has never lost its bite, and is not considered funny by contemporary Jews."[

Ching Chong is an ethnic slur directed at people of Chinese nationality or ancestry. It is most frequently encountered in the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

IRAN AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS.

There are at least seven women currently awaiting death in Iran, all tried in circumstances which would be unheard of in a secular court.

When in Islamic law, the testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man, as it is in cases under the Hudood Ordinances in Pakistan, there is no fairness, and there is no equality.

Article 76: The testimony of women alone or in conjunction with the testimony of only one just man shall not prove adultery but it shall constitute false accusation which is a punishable act.

Parisa Akbari kept in Adelabad prison in Shiraz, southern Iran was arrested in April 2004, while working as a prostitute. She confessed to the charge of adultery during interrogation. She claimed that had been forced into prostitution by her husband due to the family's poverty. During her trial in June 2004, she retracted her confession. On 21 June 2004, Branch 5 of the Fars province Criminal Court sentenced her to be stoned to death for adultery.

Kobra Rahmanpour was forced into marriage against her will by her parents, and had been the victim of domestic violence since her marriage. Kobra allegedly acted in self-defence after her mother-in-law tried to attack her with a kitchen knife. At an unknown date, she was tried by Branch 1608 of Tehran's Criminal Court, where she was sentenced to death. Her lawyer has reportedly complained that the court did not consider, nor conduct any investigation into, her claim that the murder was in self-defence. Her lawyer is believed to have alleged that wounds on Kobra Rahmanpour's right hand had been sustained due to pulling the knife from the hands of her mother-in-law.

Kobra Najjar is detained in Tabriz prison in northwestern Iran. She is at imminent risk of execution. She was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder of her husband, and execution by stoning for adultery. She was scheduled to be executed after serving her prison sentence, which was finished two years ago. She has reportedly written to the Judicial Commission for Amnesty to ask for her sentence of execution by stoning to be commuted, and is awaiting a reply.

BE ON YOUR GUARD

By: Lisa Backus

Police arrested a Berlin, Conneticutt, man Wednesday for allegedly committing more than a dozen hate crimes directed against the local Jewish community while on the job as a security guard.

Police said Eric K. Milne, 30, of 246 Berlin Turnpike, Berlin, was arrested by warrant without incident at his home after police discovered he was writing slurs aimed at the Jewish community nightly as he made his security rounds

He was employed by a security firm to check a building that housed several Jewish businesses at 9 p.m. every night," said Sgt. Thomas Trzaskos.

Milne was arrested on charges of 17 counts of intimidation based on bigotry or bias, 17 counts of desecration of property, 17 counts of breach of peace and criminal mischief. The arrest comes a few months after leaders of the Jewish community and state and local law enforcement and government officials decried several acts of desecration to a Holocaust memorial in West Hartford.

Milne was released on $10,000 non-surety bond and was scheduled to appear in Hartford Superior Court Sept. 28.

HATE CRIMES AGAINST ARMENIANS MAY BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY IN RUSSIA

By Karine Kalantarian

Russian law-enforcement authorities have stepped up their efforts to combat and avert racist attacks on Armenians and other non-Slavic immigrants, Russia’s Prosecutor-General Yuri Chayka said during a visit to Yerevan on Friday.

Seeking to allay growing concerns in Armenia about ethnic violence in Russia, he said his office now directly oversees criminal investigations into racially motivated murders of Armenians, which are regularly reported from various parts of the vast country.

The agency also formed recently a special unit tasked with monitoring the enforcement of Russian laws on “federal security and inter-ethnic relations,” he said.

The Russian law-enforcement bodies have been under fire in recent months for their failure to stop the increasingly endemic violence against darker-skinned immigrants from the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa.

Unlike Chayka, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev was more dismissive of the Armenian concerns as he visited Yerevan in late June. He claimed that the reported number of Armenians killed for racist motives in recent month is grossly exaggerated.

RAGE INCREASES AGAINST MUSLIMS IN NINE STATES AND WASHINGTON D.C.

By Associated Press

A national Islamic civil rights group says bias incidents against Muslims rose nearly one-third last year to a 12 year high, fueled by growing rhetoric against the group.

A study by the Council on American-Islamic Relations says civil rights complaints made by Muslims increased 29.6 percent. Those complaints include harassment, violence and discrimination.

Hate crimes rose 8.6 nationwide, nine states and Washington DC accounted for nearly 79 percent of all bias incidents reported to the group for 2005. Virginia accounted for seven percent of all incidents

The group's legal director blamed the jump on the growth of negative Islamic discussion on the Internet and talk radio after the Nine-Eleven terrorist attacks.

LIVING IN FEAR IN SCOTLAND

By Liam McDougall

Homophobic prejudice is deep-seated and widespread in Scotland, according to a major new report examining the scale of anti-gay sentiment in the housing sector.

The ground-breaking research, which looked at abuse in and around the home, found that gay, bisexual and transgender people had been the victims of hate campaigns at the hands of their neighbours for years

It also revealed disturbing evidence that, despite pleas to be moved out of an area or calls for action to be taken against perpetrators, homophobic abuse and intimidation was dismissed or downplayed by housing associations and other landlords

Those interviewed as part of the research – undertaken in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Highlands over the past three months – reported “living in fear”, being “harassed by late-night phone calls” and “becoming a prisoner in your own home, having to sneak in and out”.

Irving said that “historically” harassment on the basis of sexual orientation has been seen as less important than racist incidents.

THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD

Press Trust of India

Hindus living in the US capital were the least affected by the spate of hate crimes inflicted on South Asians following the September 11 attacks.

While Sikhs and Pakistani Muslims were among the worst affected groups, a new study in the Washington D.C areas shows.

In the aftermath of the attacks, only 15 per cent Indian Hindus say they were afraid of their physical safety compared to 41 per cent Pakistani Muslims and 64 per cent Sikh respondents.

But as many as 83 per cent Sikhs respondents say they or someone they knew personally had experienced a hate crime or incident and 35 per cent Pakistani Muslims say they considered leaving the United States because of hostile atmosphere created in the aftermath of the terrorists attacks.

The study was done by the Discrimination and National Security Initiative (DNSI), an affiliate of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University.

EASY TO PROVE ATTACKS BUT HARDER TO PROVE WHY

Norway's top legal official wants to usher in tougher penalties for those convicted of what he calls "hate crimes." A rise in violence against homosexuals and ethnic minorities is behind Knut Storberget's concern.

Justice Minister Storberget is promising more funding to battle hate crimes and a change in the law that he hopes would also tackle the problem.

Storberget proposes a so-called "hate paragraph" in Norway's criminal code that would allow judges to hand out tougher punishment to people convicted of "crimes that are grounded in others' religious beliefs, skin color, nationality or ethnic origins, homosexuality, lifestyle or orientation."

"It's extremely important that we fight this kind of crime," he told newspaper Aftenposten. "Some types of crime are on the wane in Norway, but this is still hanging around. and I fear it will occur more often and get more brutal."

As the government minister in charge of the courts and the police, Storberget will ask local police districts to chart crimes believed to be rooted in racism, homophobia or other forms of discrimination.

Gay activists were among those quick to applaud Storberget's initiative. "I think this is unconditionally positive, and about time," said Jon Reidar Øyan, leader of a national association for gays and lesbians (LLH).

THE MEANING OF HATE CRIMES HAS BECOME A JOKE

By John Burtis

CBC News reported Saturday that a masked individual, caught on a security camera, walked up to the doors of an Orthodox Jewish school in Montreal, and tossed a Molotov cocktail. The damage, as reported, was minimal. The article states that "the police have been unwilling to declare the attack a hate crime." It has been, however, declared an "unexplained" case of arson.

A few things were given. Hate was practiced by whites on a regular basis, just as it was continually practiced against gays. Hate was everywhere. It had to be reined in. Detestable oppressors were at large in the land. Hate would provide feathers in many caps.

So hate crimes became a joke. And cops, like those who sat around after the recent shooting spree in Seattle and took quite awhile to decide that it was a indeed hate crime, were viewed as slow on the uptake by a public who saw one plain as day and got a black eye for their efforts.

As a cop you see many senseless crimes. The whippings of children, the beatings of the elderly, and many times the excessive violence used would indicate to a reasonable person that hate must be involved. But no, there is no hate, because hate is a special crime, reserved for the destruction of certain individuals, who appear to be guilty of their special crimes from the get go.

Ah, hate crimes. - another liberal joke, floated with the idea that some crimes are more dreadful than others - fail to recognize the simple fact that all violent crimes, from assault to murder, represent some level of hate.

And the old police ways of determining which crimes to tackle and in which order ­ the flipping of coins, picking of cards, mental telepathy, telekinesis, stone/scissors/paper, leg or thumb wrestling, looking at the actual incident number ­ fly out the window because hate crime determination is now being made by the top brass in secret cabals due the political ramifications attached to the determination.

AMERICAN MUSLIMS FEEL INCREASINGLY ISOLATED

From Deutsche Presse Agentur

Washington- When Arab suicide hijackers slammed planes into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon five years ago, they also plunged Muslim Americans into a storm of suspicion that has yet to blow over.

Reports of assaults, harassment and other abuses against Arab Americans and US Muslims, while below the soaring levels right after the September 11, 2001 attacks, have risen again in the past two years, in part because of the US-led war on Iraq.

The active resentment is part of a climate of lingering distrust toward a slice of the US population, otherwise widely seen as much more assimilated into mainstream society than Muslims in Western Europe

Studies also found that Arab Americans are more than twice as prone to depression than average Americans and that their wages have fallen since 2001, especially in areas with high levels of hate crimes.

However, a recent investigation by the Washington Post came up with a different portrayal. It concluded that, while generally not radicalized, US Muslims "are becoming a people apart" who are increasingly seeking comfort in Islam rather than the American dream.

POLICE DENY ANY SERIOUS DISTURBANCES BY RUSSIAN RIGHT WING NATIONALISTS

By Mike Eckel

Moscow - Right-wing nationalists and residents in a northern Russian town clashed with riot police and destroyed a restaurant, activists and witnesses said Saturday

Thousands of people gathered in the center of Kondopoga, about 600 miles north of Moscow, and demanded police expel Chechens and people from Russia's Northern Caucasus or investigate them for criminal ties.

Russia has seen a marked rise in xenophobia and racism in recent years, with a series of attacks on foreigners, Jews and dark-skinned migrants from the impoverished Caucasus region and ex-Soviet Central Asia.(see Noteable Hate Crimes 2006)

Vekhorovsky, head of human rights center in Moscow, said dozens of residents and right-wing nationalists descended on Kondopoga over the course of the week. Late Friday, he said, groups attacked the restaurant with metal bars and firebombs and fought with riot police.

Police denied that any serious disturbances occurred in the past week.

NATIVE AMERICANS FACE SWELLING TIDE OF HATE CRIMES

By Evelyn Nieves

Once again, violent, racially charged incidents between whites and Navajos in Farmington, on the eastern edge of the sprawling Navajo reservation, have outraged Indian country. Once again, a city trying to shake its nickname as "the Selma, Ala., of the Southwest" is on the defensive.

This all started with a beating in Farmington in June. A 47-year-old Navajo man who was offered a ride by three white teenagers in Farmington was driven to the outskirts of town, beaten with a stick and punched and kicked. He said they used racial slurs as they pummeled him

The beating reminded everyone of the 1970s, the heyday of "Injun rollin'," where white youths in the border towns beat up Navajos (usually sleeping alcoholics they could easily "roll" around) as a rite of passage. In April 1974, when three white Farmington youths tortured, mutilated and bludgeoned three Navajo men, tossing their burned and broken bodies into a canyon, the Navajo Nation organized weeks of peaceful protests in Farmington. When marchers were denied a permit the day after the murderers were sentenced to reform school, clashes with police led to dozens of arrests.

The June beating could hardly compare to the torture murders of years ago. But six days after the beating, a 21-year-old Navajo man was killed by a police officer responding to a call about a domestic dispute at a Wal-Mart parking lot. When Farmington police declared the shooting a justifiable homicide and the FBI declined to investigate -- the agency is now reconsidering its decision -- Navajo leaders announced they would set aside $300,000 for the man's family to file a wrongful death suit against Farmington, and for an investigation of border-town racism.

With the spotlight back on hate crimes, tribal members from all over Indian country have been calling the Navajo, offering to join a boycott of border towns or join marches. Discrimination against Native Americans in towns bordering the large reservations in the country is a longstanding concern among the largest tribes in the country, including the Navajo and the Lakota, in Pine Ridge, S.D.

ARKANSAS HAS NO HATE CRIMES BECAUSE IN EVERY CRIME THEIR IS AN ELEMENT OF HATE

A northeast Arkansas man is accused of beating a teenager with a baseball bat. And police are calling it a racially motivated crime.

Some say the charges do not fit the crime. Because the state of Arkansas does not have any criminal codes that can be directly called a hate crime

It's a matter of perspective according to prosecuting attorney Larry Jegley, whose been able to prosecute hate crimes despite no uniformed law.

Arkansas is one of only a handful of states without definable criminal code. The issue's been addressed in the state legislature. It’s consistently passing in the State Senate and failing in the House.

There were 93 bias motivated incidents reported in 2004 for Arkansas, that’s according to the partners against hate.

Some, in the Arkansas legilature and judical system argue hate elements can be found in all crimes.

TEN PEOPLE KILLED BY HATE CRIME BOMB IN MOSCOW

The Russian capital’s top prosecutor today said that a bomb blast at a Moscow market that killed 10 people was most likely a hate crime, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Monday morning blast hit the Cherkizovsky market, where a large number of traders gather from Asia or the Caucasus regions – both ethnic groups have been victims of a growing wave of hate crimes in Russia.

Two suspects have been detained and reports say they are believed to be members of extremist organisations.

The dead have not been identified, but Russian news agencies reported that preliminary information showed five were Chinese and one was Vietnamese.

Moscow Prosecutor Yuri Syomin said belief the attack was motivated by hatred for ethnic minorities “is one of the theories and now is the dominant one”, Interfax reported.

HATE CRIME CON DISRESPECTS ELDERS

By Stephen Stirling

A South Ozone Park man who posed as a city worker in order to rob a string of elderly victims was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday, the Queens district attorney said.

A spokesman for the DA said that because Delmaro specifically targeted the elderly, his actions became eligible to be prosecuted as hate crimes.

The DA said that much like it does with other crimes, being convicted of burglary as a hate crime carries a higher sentence, in this case tacking on an extra three years to the initial prison term.

Police arrested Delmaro in his home after he was positively identified by security cameras and fingerprints left at the home of one of his victims.

OFFICIALLY TWO ATTACKS OCCURED IN RUSSIAN MARKET PLACE, HOWEVER, UNOFFICIALLY...

Over the course of the summer, several attacks on market traders from the Caucasus have taken place in the city of Yoshkar-Ola, Russia (Republic of Mari-El), but local authorities are allegedly trying to hush them up, according to an August 14, 2006 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center.

Police admit to two attacks on market traders, but unofficial sources of information assert that the attacks this summer number around four dozen.

These sources also tell Sova that racist graffiti appeared near the market shortly before the attacks, including death threats against “khachi” (a pejorative for people form the Caucasus) and swastikas.

However, the local press is allegedly covering the violence as if it were the result of consumers' anger over shabby products rather than hate crimes.

Officials are allegedly pressuring victims to refute that racist violence has taken place at the market.

CANADIANS DRAGGING FEET OVER GAY INTOLERANT WEB SITES

(Edmonton, Alberta) An Edmonton gay man says government agencies are not moving quickly enough to shut down a series of Web sites that he believes promote hatred of gays.

Both the Canadian and the Alberta human rights commissions have investigated the sites, operated by Craig Chandler, and found that some of the content is likely to expose gays and lesbians to hatred.

The commissions say they are taking further steps but have not said what that might be.

Under Canadian law it is illegal to promote hatred against minorities, including gays.

"Sometimes the truth hurts," Chandler told the broadcaster's Edmonton station.

In one program the Rev. Stephen Boisson says: "The homosexual lifestyle specifically is a deadly, deadly lifestyle and that is scientific fact. I hate the practice of homosexuality. It is lethal."

DEFENSE ATTORNEY LINKS GAY PRIDE EVENT TO CAUSING NON-HATE CRIME.

The defense attorney for a 15-year-old boy accused of participating in attacks on gay men said the incidents may not be hate crimes at all.

The juvenile has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and hate-crime allegations.

Friday's developments came on the same day that activists planned to hold a rally in Hillcrest to denounce the attacks.

In all, four people have been charged in the case, including the 15-year-old. He has not been identified because he is a minor.

At this point, based on some of the publicity I've seen, I have questions whether it's organized gang participation, and, secondly, unfortunately, it happened on gay pride day or pride weekend, and I think that had a definite effect on filing a hate crime allegation," Bourne said.

"They started yelling anti-gay comments to victims and running after them, and started beating them savagely with a baseball bat, and one victim ended up being stabbed, so he was clearly part of the attack on the victims."

HOME SWEET - RACIALLY CLEAN - HOME BRINGS LIFE IN PRISON.

Four members of a Highland Park gang, in Los Angeles, were convicted Tuesday of committing deadly hate crimes in a campaign to drive African Americans out of a heavily Latino neighborhood.

A federal jury deliberated for about two days before finding Gilbert "Lucky" Saldana, 27, Alejandro "Bird" Martinez, 28, Fernando "Sneaky" Cazares, 26, and Porfirio "Dreamer" Avila, 31, guilty of conspiring to interfere with the housing rights of black residents through threats and violence.

In addition to the housing rights count, Saldana, Martinez and Cazares were convicted of violating the federal hate crimes statute when they killed Wilson because of his race, and because he was using a public street. The three were also convicted of an additional count for the use of firearms during Wilson's murder.

Defense attorneys had accused two fellow Avenues members, who testified they were present during Wilson's murder, of fabricating their stories. The defense also disputed whether the crimes were actually committed for racial reasons

FROM THE MIDDLE EAST TO THE NORTHWEST OF SEATTLE

The gunman who forced his way into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on Friday afternoon put a gun at the back of a 13-year-old girl to gain entry to the building, police said this afternoon.

The man who described himself as a Muslim American angry with Israel then opened fire with two handguns, killing one woman and wounding five others before surrendering to police.

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said he waited for someone to come in to gain access into the office. When the 13-year-old girl walked up, he put a gun to her head and forced her to take him inside.

He rattled off anti-Israel slurs and commanded people not to dial 911.

Suspect Naveed Afzal Haq had recently lived in Everett. A law-enforcement source said Haq apparently has a history of mental illness. Haq, described as a studious loner, was raised in the Tri-Cities area and his family has close ties to the local Muslim community center. Court records show Haq has a charge of lewd conduct pending against him in Benton County."He said he hates Israel," said the source, who is part of the Seattle Joint Terrorism Task Force, which was called in to help investigate the shootings.

The shooting came a day after the FBI had warned Jewish organizations nationwide to be on alert after Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon and al-Qaida's second in command urged that the war raging in the Middle East be carried to the U.S

PROSECUTIONS RARE AS HOMOPHOBIC ATTACKS DOUBLE IN SWEDEN

The number of hate-crimes against gay people recorded in Sweden in recent years has increased, but only a few prosecutions have been brought, according to a new study.

It also says that the cases that do get to court are often considered by judges not to be hate-crimes.

In 2004, 614 homophobic hate crimes were reported to the police in Sweden, more than double the amount recorded the year before.

Reseachers say only 10 per cent of claims of assault, unlawlful threats and sexual assault led to prosecutions.

Most attacks are said to happen in the street, with the majority of both the victims and offenders being men.

NO PROOF HATE CRIME MOTIVATED AGGRAVATED BATTERY AND ROBBERY

By Gary Wisby

Prosecutors on Wednesday stood by their contention that the three teens who allegedly beat and robbed a 14-year-old Beverly boy won't be charged with a hate crime -- even though one of the trio told police they picked the boy because he was "a goofy-looking white boy."

They instead charged the three black teens with aggravated battery and robbery, both felonies. Bond was set Wednesday at $300,000 for Micha Eatman, 17, and two 16-year-olds were in juvenile detention

Still, at Eatman's bond hearing Wednesday, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said Ryan's race "appears not to be the motivating factor" in the attack at Beverly Park, 103rd and Campbell. They said they went there to take a bike," Scaduto said.

If I thought it was a hate crime, I would have filed it. They could have said 'a goofy girl.' What they said doesn't necessarily mean they were out to assault or rob a white person."

Police will continue to investigate the incident as a hate crime, which is a lesser felony than aggravated battery or robbery, spokesman Pat Camden said. If investigators conclude it was, a judge could consider that finding at sentencing.

COSTA MESA LOOKING FOR UNITY OF INTOLERANCE

By Matt Coker

On July 7, around 2:20 in the morning, a white man walked out of a Costa Mesa convenience store and punched a black man in a wheelchair.

The Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review (IHR) has been based in Costa Mesa for years. In October 2004, IHR director Mark Weber introduced infamous British historian David Irving to a crowd of about 70 in a Costa Mesa hotel. In February, 67-year-old Irving was found guilty in Vienna of denying the Holocaust of European Jewry and was sentenced to three years in prison.

In July 2002, Los Angeles Times columnist Dana Parsons traced an Aryan Baby Drive to a Costa Mesa post office box. Turns out that white babies with Hitler mustaches were not being given away. This was a one-woman baby-clothing drive for poor, racist honkys.

Thanks in part to the efforts of the Costa Mesa chapter of Women for Aryan Unity, word spread in 2001 about a Labor Day weekend concert featuring a slate of neo-Nazi bands at the old Shack in Anaheim.

“There is no question Costa Mesa is a microcosm of the worst that’s going on with immigration in this country,” said Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence.

FAITH VS. LGBT

By Michael Howie

HOMOPHOBIC crime is rising in many parts of Scotland, according to alarming figures which show that attacks on gays and lesbians have increased by as much as 100 per cent in the past year.

The figures obtained by The Scotsman have triggered fresh criticism of the Executive's decision last month not to extend the definition of hate crimes to include homophobia.

Over the past three years, recorded homophobic crimes and incidents have soared by about 150 per cent.

They also warned that laws protecting the expression of religious beliefs were being used as a cover to espouse homophobic views.

Chief Inspector George Denholm, of Lothian and Borders Police, who is responsible for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues at the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, said: "There is a huge level of under-reporting. The figures look like the problem is running out of control, but I think at least part of the reason for the increase is because the police are building more trust with the gay community."

David Lyle, Scottish co-ordinator for the Gay Police Association, said human rights legislation that allowed people to express religious views freely was being used to perpetrate attacks on gay people.

POLICE are investigating the Gay Police Association (GPA) after an advert it placed in a newspaper claimed a rise in homophobic attacks was due to religious belief. An advert, showing a Bible next to a pool of blood under the heading "in the name of the father", appeared in a national newspaper's supplement.

The Metropolitan Police said the inquiry "centres on whether the advert constitutes a faith crime".

TELEPHONE NUMBER FOR HATE CRIMES ONLY

By James Slack

Police are setting up a 24-hour hotline for victims of so-called 'hate' crimes only.

The free phoneline will deal primarily with racist crime, but will also cover homophobic offences or those targeted against the disabled.

Victims of crimes such as robbery, burglary or criminal damage will not be able to call - despite concerns members of the public can not get through to an officer to report these offences.

Critics last night said the Home Office should be improving the service given to all callers, not just those with a racist element.

The racist crime hotline will initially be piloted for six months in the Yorkshire and Humberside region, at a cost of £55,000.

STUDY SHOWS PUBLIC MORE AGGRESIVE ON HATE CRIME PERPS THAN JUSTICE

By Ted Siefer

A new study by Northeastern University’s Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict suggests that when it comes to prosecuting juveniles for hate crimes, the general public may be more willing to throw the book at offenders than prosecutors and detectives.

The findings of the study, which are being presented this week at a political psychology conference in Barcelona, run counter to the conventional wisdom that juveniles accused of hate crimes are only given “a slap on the wrist.”

When evidence indicates that a perpetrator was motivated by racial, ethnic or religious intolerance, “teenagers are treated not with tenderness but with toughness, not with kid gloves but with brass knuckles,” the study states.

The study looked at the outcomes of 110 hate crime cases around the country between 2002 and 2005 and found that 72 percent of juveniles – versus 63 percent of adults – ended up being found guilty of hate crimes.

The study also found that college students, in a separate component of the study, did not take into account a perpetrator’s age – whether adult or juvenile – in weighing whether a given attack constituted a hate crime.

For professor Jack Levin, the director of the Brudnick Center, the results were surprising and should send a message to law enforcement officials who might be reluctant to bring hate crime charges.

“From the point of view of prosecuting attorneys who think it’s not worthwhile to aggressively pursue hate crimes, they are wrong,” Levin said. “So many prosecutors say that taking hate crime charges to court is too burdensome, that they are unenforceable. But the study shows that most juveniles were not just convicted of hate offenses – many received prison sentences.”

GAYS INTOLERANT TO HETROSEXUALS

By Adrienne P. Samuels

Town leaders, from Provencetown, Massachusetts, a gay-friendly town, here are holding a public meeting today to air concerns about slurs and bigoted behavior. And this time, they say, it's gay people who are displaying intolerance.

Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called "breeders" by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend.

The town, which prizes its reputation for openness and tolerance, is taking the concerns seriously, though police say they do not consider the incidents hate crimes.

Gays have coexisted fairly peacefully alongside other residents in this community on Cape Cod's tip, home to a long-established Portuguese fishing colony.

On same-sex marriage, the clashes have occurred as the state Legislature grapples with whether the electorate should vote on a measure to limit marriage to heterosexuals.

HOMOPHOBIC ATTACK LEADS TO SUICIDE

A Blackpool man who suffered depression after a vicious homophobic attack that left him disfigured has plunged to his death from a railway bridge.

Stuart Windsor was said to have been left with deep mental and physical scars after he was slashed across the face by a former neighbour in a drug-fuelled homophobic attack.

The victim lost two pints of blood and needed 114 stitches in his face

Thomas Bampton, 47, formerly of Ashworth Court, Queens Park, was jailed for five years in April after pleading guilty to wounding with intent.

Preston Crown Court was told previous disagreements between Bampton and Mr Windsor led up to the attack. Bampton had been drinking and smoking crack cocaine prior to the incident.

WRITINGS ON AXE MADE VANDALISM A HATE CRIME.

By Lisa Gentes

Two of the three Southborough teens who allegedly smashed up the Police Department's radar board this weekend are being charged with a hate crime, according to police.

The boys took an ax to the $13,000 solar-powered radar board, which displays passing motorists' speeds, Police Chief William Webber said yesterday. The two are facing charges of malicious destruction of property over $250 and a hate crime, Webber said.

The hate crime charge stems from writing on the ax that the teens used to destroy the radar board, he said.

The ax had some writing on it, directing it at certain people," the chief said. The writing was "of a racial and gender (specific) nature."

The trio is known to police and is suspected in a string of vandalism incidents at the Mary Finn School on Richards Road, and of vandalizing mailboxes, according to the chief.

HATE LIFE STYLE DOESN'T MEAN HATE CRIMES WERE COMMITTED.

By Andrew Murr

Kenneth Wilson was murdered looking for a parking spot in Latino gang territory.

Driving in the working-class Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park in 1999, the African-American man passed a stolen van filled with members of the feared Avenues street gang.

Seeing Wilson, one of the Latino gangsters asked: "You wanna kill a n----r?" according to one gang member who has become an informant for federal prosecutors. "F--- it!" the others agreed, as three of them barreled out of the van and gunned down the 38-year-old.

Was Wilson killed because he was black? That's what federal prosecutors in L.A. contend, and they're taking the unusual approach of prosecuting four of the Avenues gang-bangers under a civil-rights-era statute and a hate-crime law based on the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.

The informants will attempt to connect the defendants to a series of two dozen assaults, threats and intimidations between 1995 and 2001—including the murders of two local black men, Chris Bowser and Anthony Prudhomme.

Defense attorneys acknowledge that their clients were members of the Avenues, a gang with roots reaching back four generations. But they maintain that the violence was part of gang life, not a vendetta against blacks. "It wasn't racially based," said attorney Mike Shannon,

Meanwhile, two of the defendants are already serving life sentences. If prosecutors have their way, all four will be behind bars for life—making the streets of Highland Park safer not only for blacks but for everyone.

SWEDEN CONVICTS EXTREMISTS

Four right wing extremists have been convicted under Sweden’s hate crime laws for handing out anti-gay pamphlets outside a school.

The case had been taken to the supreme court after the four men’s convictions at district court level had been overturned at the court of appeal.

The four were however given lower sentences than in the district court.

The men handed out leaflets with three others outside a school in Söderhamn, which is 250 kilometers north of Stockholm.

The leaflets claimed, among other things, that ”HIV and AIDS appeared early in homosexuals, and their promiscuous lifestyles have been one of the main reasons for this modern plague gaining a foothold.”

CROSS BURNING MAY NOT BE HATE CRIME BECAUSE VICTIM IS GAY

The Meigs County Sheriff's Department is investigating a possible hate crime after someone burned a cross at the home of a gay man.

The cross, between 6 and 8 feet tall, was discovered by Brandon Waters, along with a derogatory message late Thursday at his home.

"There are a lot of people that don't approve of it," the 23-year-old Waters told The Daily Post-Athenian, referring to being gay. "They are always bashing us. It makes me fearful of what could happen. I just want to live my life."

State fire officials were expected to arrive Monday to assist the sheriff's department in the investigation

Sheriff Walter Hickman said if the burning is determined to be a hate crime, it could warrant federal charges.

As far as he can recall, Hickman said the incident is the first of its kind in the county's history

ON INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND

By Thomas Lueck

Three 17-year-old Brooklyn residents were charged with hate crimes yesterday in an assault Monday night of two black teenagers who were riding their bikes in Gerritsen Beach, the police said.

The victims — boys who are 16 and 17 years old but whose identities were not disclosed — told investigators that they were threatened with racial epithets by three white assailants who got out of a brown car and attacked them.

The hate crime charges, including assault and aggravated harassment, were filed against Alessandro Cerciello, Christopher Rapuzzi and Joseph Desimone, all of Gerritsen Beach, the police said.

SHE TREATS EVERYBODY THE SAME

By Josh Richman

A Fresno, Calif., high school teacher has been charged with a hate crime more than a year after she allegedly pushed a Jewish woman to the ground, pulled her hair, kicked her and told her, "You should have burned in the oven with the rest of the Jews."

Donna Jean Hubbard, 45, was arrested on a weapons charge with a gang-affiliation allegation June 1 in front of students at Duncan Polytechnic High School. About a week later, assault and hate crime counts were filed against her.

She is free on $10,000 bail, pending her July 5 return to Madera County Superior Court.

The April 2005 incident in an Oakhurst, Calif., bank parking lot apparently stemmed from an encounter between Hubbard's daughter and the Jewish woman's daughter several days earlier at the girls' school.

Hubbard's daughter is reported to have verbally assailed the woman's daughter for wearing a Star of David.

Police served a search warrant on Hubbard at the rural Coarsegold, Calif., home she shares with her husband, Bobby Dean Hubbard, and their two children on Friday, May 26, as the family prepared to host Aryan Unity Fest '06 that weekend on their five-acre property. About 70 people attended the gathering.

The Fresno Bee newspaper reported that her students were shocked and that some were in tears; one told the newspaper that Hubbard "loves everyone and treats everyone the same."

NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS IN SCOTLAND BEGIN ANTI SECTARIANISM CAMPAIGN

Attending the National Union of Students' anti-sectarianism campaign launch today in Glasgow, Greens' Co-convener Robin Harper MSP has appealed for the Executive to not lose sight of the need to protect all minorities from hate crimes.

Today (Mon) Melanie Ward, NUS Scotland President, and the First Minister Jack McConnell will formally launch NUS Scotland's high-profile campaign aimed at tackling sectarianism in Scotland.

Greens welcome the initiative and call for all minority groups as recognized under European law, such as the LGBT community, older people and the disabled, to be given protection similar to those who are victims of sectarian crimes.

Today Mr. Harper, Rector of Aberdeen University, said, "I congratulate NUS Scotland for taking a stand on sectarianism. It still sets community against community, is dangerous and corrosive. The hate crimes against people on the grounds of their religion are now identified as such in Scots Law - yet we still await similar protection for other minority groups, in particular those suffering from disabilities and members of the LGBT community.

NUS Scotland is to use a range of publicity materials, training events and workshops to advertise the campaign and encourage activism on the issue.

RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTED TO FIGHT RACIST AND RELIGIOUS CRIME IN ENGLAND

A report recommending steps to improve the handling of racist and religious crimes right across the criminal justice system was published by the Attorney General this week.

The report of the Race for Justice Taskforce was commissioned by the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, to analyse how the Criminal Justice System deals with racist and religious crime.

The Taskforce was set up in response to recommendation eight points detailed in the 2003 Gus John Partnership report which examined the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) decision making for possible racial bias at each stage of the prosecution process.

Professor Gus John said that he was “very glad” the Taskforce report had been published and said he felt that it was thorough in its findings.

Quite often even though prosecutors were willing to bring racially aggravated cases forward, judges sometimes trivialised the matter.

The Government will be establishing a Delivery Board to drive forward the recommendations made by the Taskforce including improved training on hate crime issues for staff across the Criminal Justice system.

SOMETIMES PRIDE KEEPS YOU ALIVE

By Penny Weaver

The levity of Atlanta Pride and the gravity of the fight against anti-gay hate crimes may not seem to mesh.

But Judy Shepard said it’s important that the two emotions do meet, and that Pride includes more than partying.

“For a long time we didn’t do Pride — I did one and I felt like I was such a downer,” said Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in October 1998 in Laramie, Wyo., in what became one of the most famous anti-gay hate crimes in America.

“It’s been almost eight years now, so I don’t think it’s as much on everyone’s mind,” Shepard said. “Yes, it’s a serious issue, but you don’t learn from only things that are serious.

“My mission is not just to memorialize Matt but to celebrate his life,” she said. “I want to try to activate the people. Be involved. Care. Not just party. Notoriously, the gay community has stayed away from the polls, and it’s time for them to get with it.”

HE SWEARS HE'S NOT A RACIST

By Larry Welborn

Lawson, a 42-year-old black man, said he constantly replays in his mind how he was accosted on a Santa Ana street, repeatedly called the worst kind of racial slurs and then forced to dodge several knife thrusts.

Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly said Abel Castaneda's unprovoked attacked on Lawson last August is an example of why the state Legislature enacted hate crime laws.

Kelly then gave Castaneda a 10-year term in state prison.

"You deserve it for your hurtful conduct that day,” Kelly said.

Castaneda, who sat handcuffed in the 10th-floor courtroom, denied he was a racist.

The judge said Castaneda used the n-word 30 or 40 times during the midday encounter with Lawson, adding “that word is poisonous in our society.”

BURNING CROSSES LEFT TO FALL DOWN

By Miami Herald staff

For the second time this week, vandals have targeted a Fort Lauderdale church, finishing the job they started several days ago, according to Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4.

Several wooden crosses, on the front lawn of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, located at 2250 SW 31 Ave., were set on fire for a second time, CBS4 reported.

On Monday, vandals tried burning the same crosses and also spray painted cars in the neighborhood with expletives against God. Graffiti was also painted on a nearby public school.

One of the crosses is now toppled over and another is about to fall over.

Police are treating these crimes as felonies and may be classify them as hate crimes, pending further investigation.

PUBLIC INVESTIGATOR THINKS KILLINGS ARE HATE CRIMES, PROBABLY

By Jill Replogle

The mood was serious. Around the room, posters commemorated the dozens of cross-dressers who have died in Guatemala in recent years -- almost all brutally murdered or killed off by AIDS. One was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting just this past weekend.

A sex worker turned political activist who goes by the name of Fernanda Milán opened the forum by denouncing the lack of jobs, health, education and security for the gay and transgender population in this small Central American country.

At least 17 murders of transgenders have been reported in the Guatemalan media in the past five years, according to a study by OASIS. a Guatemalan gay-rights organization.

OASIS estimates that around 1,200 cross-dressers work as prostitutes in Guatemala, mostly in the capital. That makes the murder rate among this sub-population some 17 times higher than the already alarming national average -- 35 murders per 100,000 citizens.

Guillermo Alonzo, the public investigator in charge of the Paulina murder case, said that some of the killings probably are hate crimes.

NOW THAT ELECTIONS ARE OVER

Cracks have begun to emerge in Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's center-left government over the recognition of same-sex relationships.

On the weekend Barbara Pollastrini, the equal opportunities minister caused a storm by attending Turin's LGBT pride parade and issuing a letter to pride organizers that said she supports proposed legislation to give legal rights to gay gay and lesbian couples.

Immediately following the release of Pollastrini's letter Prodi spokesperson Silvio Sircana moved quickly to distance the coalition from her position telling reporters that Pollastrini was speaking only for herself.

The opposition was equally fast to react to Pollastrini. A spokesperson for Silvio Berlusconi’s rightist Forza Italia party called Pollastrini's letter an "attack on the Italian society, aimed at canceling the Christian vision."

Forza Italia is closely aligned with the Vatican.

Five LGBT candidates were elected to the Italian parliament - all members of Prodi's center-left - including the first transsexual to win national election in Italy.

POLICE LEARN AWARENESS OF SIKHS

By John Rossomando

Police Chief John DeMarco said while many in the township and surrounding community may not encounter Sikhs on a daily basis, his officers have, since members of the region’s Sikh community have begun moving into the township, notably in Chester Springs.

"Training about other people is of the highest importance for the police department," DeMarco said. "We need to learn about the community that we protect because we have a very diverse community, and we need to take a very proactive stance."

He said his department is in the "people business"; therefore, it is essential to learn about different ethnic and religious backgrounds for bridge-building purposes.

Sikhs, often confused with Arabs and Muslims by outsiders, come from the Punjab region, which today is split between Pakistan and India. This case of mistaken identity has resulted in numerous hate crimes being leveled against them across the country, especially since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Sikhs first arrived in America in the late 1890s, and they came from Hong Kong and China," said Baljeet Singh of Chester Springs, the lecturer at the June 12 meeting. "During the 1920s there was a reverse migration back to India to help in the struggle for freedom against the British."

Male members of the Sikh community place religious significance on their distinctive turbans; and kirpans, ceremonial daggers worn by Sikh men, have meaning similar to a cross for a Christians or a Star of David for Jews.

"Kirpan is an article of faith, and Sikhs wear it with no criminal intent," Singh said

TWO HUNDRED AND THIRY YEARS LATER AND COUNTING

By Venice Buhain

After three encounters with neo-Nazis in Olympia, local groups are planning what to do when the National Socialist Movement, a group trying to establish itself in Western Washington, comes to town for a rally July 3.

Previous encounters with the neo-Nazi group, including its appearance Sunday at the Downtown Neighborhood Association Street Fair, have resulted in shouting matches with locals angered by the group's messages in favor of white separatism.

Rather than setting up a confrontation on the steps of the Capitol, Unity in the Community is organizing a series of events to raise awareness and support for multiculturalism, including a diversity festival July 2. The community celebration in Sylvester Park downtown will include music, food and speakers who support diversity.

The July strategy is similar to April's, when Unity in the Community had a counter-rally at Heritage Park, away from the neo-Nazi rally planned for Sylvester Park so people could express their displeasure while avoiding heated confrontations.

"One of the good things about the neo-Nazis coming here is that you get around to doing things that you mean to do because you believe in it," she said.

ONE ASSAULTED HIS MOTHER, THE OTHER WAS A HERION ADDICT. BOTH KILL GAY MAN.

By Dominic Kennedy

Two homophobic killers who brutally murdered a gay man were jailed for 28 years each yesterday, on the day that a new law against hate crimes came into effect.

Jody Dobrowski, a barman, was beaten to death in woods popular with gays.

A judge at the Old Bailey said that Scott Walker and Thomas Pickford, both known criminals, went to Clapham Common to engage in “homophobic thuggery” against “those who were particularly vulnerable”.

Stonewall, the gay rights group that campaigned for extra penalties against homophobic hate crime, will now press ministers to outlaw incitement to hatred of gays.

Walker had been given early release on licence from a 15-month prison sentence for assaulting and threatening to kill his mother. She had been left with a swollen neck and unable to swallow after he attempted to strangle her, punched her face and bit her nose in an argument. His licence had ended the previous day

Pickford was a heroin addict with a history of petty burglaries.

The pair had beaten up a gay man in woods on the common two weeks earlier, punching him in the face and hitting him 30 times. He was left with concussion.

Another witness heard them shout homophobic insults. Pickford told police and kicked him like a football. that Walker had stuffed Mr Dobrowski’s sock into his mouth to choke him while hitting him with a shoe. He broke a beer bottle on his victim’s head.

A FORM OF COUNSELLING BRINGS VICTIMS AND CRIMINALS TOGETHER

A service is being set up in Scotland to help victims of rape, serious assault and the grieving families of murder victims meet those who committed the crimes. Based on an idea from Death Row in America, it's aimed to help the victims. Aye, so what do the killers and rapists get out of it? A feel-good factor?

Too many rapists and killers like to mull over the details of their crimes. Not to put too fine a point on it, they get off on reliving their own dirty deeds.

The project is run by Sacro, a very fine organisation doing great work with ex-offenders.

This scheme is designed to help victims, of course, and quite right too.

They will also have six months of counselling to make sure they are ready.

Such a scheme does work for some folk, helping them move on a little in life. There are even those whose, unconditional forgiveness of someone who has hurt them or I theirs badly is almost I saint-like. But could you I be so forgiving?

SCHOLARSHIPS GRANTED IN VICTIM'S HONOR FROM DEATH IN HATE CRIME

Since his death in 1982, Vincent Chin has become one of the icons for Asian American civil rights and intolerance of hate crimes. Through his death, his memory will not be forgotten through scholarships and grants.

Through this new scholarship made possible by Texas philanthropist Felix Chen, AAJA will be awarding $5,000 a year during 2006, 2007 and 2008 to a journalism student committed to keeping Vincent Chin's memory alive.

Scholarships of up to $2,500 are awarded to outstanding students interested in pursuing careers in print, broadcast or photojournalism

Minoru Yasui Memorial Scholarship is from a civil rights advocate and attorney, Minoru Yasui was one of three Nisei who challenged the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. This $2,000 scholarship is awarded to a promising Asian American male broadcaster.

The Asian American Journalists Association is a non-profit professional and educational organization with more than 2,000 members today. Founded in 1981, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry.

NOW THAT ELECTIONS ARE OVER

Cracks have begun to emerge in Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's center-left government over the recognition of same-sex relationships.

On the weekend Barbara Pollastrini, the equal opportunities minister caused a storm by attending Turin's LGBT pride parade and issuing a letter to pride organizers that said she supports proposed legislation to give legal rights to gay gay and lesbian couples.

Immediately following the release of Pollastrini's letter Prodi spokesperson Silvio Sircana moved quickly to distance the coalition from her position telling reporters that Pollastrini was speaking only for herself.

The opposition was equally fast to react to Pollastrini. A spokesperson for Silvio Berlusconi’s rightist Forza Italia party called Pollastrini's letter an "attack on the Italian society, aimed at canceling the Christian vision."

Forza Italia is closely aligned with the Vatican.

Five LGBT candidates were elected to the Italian parliament - all members of Prodi's center-left - including the first transsexual to win national election in Italy.

POLICE LEARN AWARENESS OF SIKHS

By John Rossomando

Police Chief John DeMarco said while many in the township and surrounding community may not encounter Sikhs on a daily basis, his officers have, since members of the region’s Sikh community have begun moving into the township, notably in Chester Springs.

"Training about other people is of the highest importance for the police department," DeMarco said. "We need to learn about the community that we protect because we have a very diverse community, and we need to take a very proactive stance."

He said his department is in the "people business"; therefore, it is essential to learn about different ethnic and religious backgrounds for bridge-building purposes.

Sikhs, often confused with Arabs and Muslims by outsiders, come from the Punjab region, which today is split between Pakistan and India. This case of mistaken identity has resulted in numerous hate crimes being leveled against them across the country, especially since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Sikhs first arrived in America in the late 1890s, and they came from Hong Kong and China," said Baljeet Singh of Chester Springs, the lecturer at the June 12 meeting. "During the 1920s there was a reverse migration back to India to help in the struggle for freedom against the British."

Male members of the Sikh community place religious significance on their distinctive turbans; and kirpans, ceremonial daggers worn by Sikh men, have meaning similar to a cross for a Christians or a Star of David for Jews.

"Kirpan is an article of faith, and Sikhs wear it with no criminal intent," Singh said

TWO HUNDRED AND THIRY YEARS LATER AND COUNTING

By Venice Buhain

After three encounters with neo-Nazis in Olympia, local groups are planning what to do when the National Socialist Movement, a group trying to establish itself in Western Washington, comes to town for a rally July 3.

Previous encounters with the neo-Nazi group, including its appearance Sunday at the Downtown Neighborhood Association Street Fair, have resulted in shouting matches with locals angered by the group's messages in favor of white separatism.

Rather than setting up a confrontation on the steps of the Capitol, Unity in the Community is organizing a series of events to raise awareness and support for multiculturalism, including a diversity festival July 2. The community celebration in Sylvester Park downtown will include music, food and speakers who support diversity.

The July strategy is similar to April's, when Unity in the Community had a counter-rally at Heritage Park, away from the neo-Nazi rally planned for Sylvester Park so people could express their displeasure while avoiding heated confrontations.

"One of the good things about the neo-Nazis coming here is that you get around to doing things that you mean to do because you believe in it," she said.

A FORM OF COUNSELLING BRINGS VICTIMS AND CRIMINALS TOGETHER

A service is being set up in Scotland to help victims of rape, serious assault and the grieving families of murder victims meet those who committed the crimes. Based on an idea from Death Row in America, it's aimed to help the victims. Aye, so what do the killers and rapists get out of it? A feel-good factor?

Too many rapists and killers like to mull over the details of their crimes. Not to put too fine a point on it, they get off on reliving their own dirty deeds.

The project is run by Sacro, a very fine organisation doing great work with ex-offenders.

This scheme is designed to help victims, of course, and quite right too.

They will also have six months of counselling to make sure they are ready.

Such a scheme does work for some folk, helping them move on a little in life. There are even those whose, unconditional forgiveness of someone who has hurt them or I theirs badly is almost I saint-like. But could you I be so forgiving?

SCHOLARSHIPS GRANTED IN VICTIM'S HONOR FROM DEATH IN HATE CRIME

Since his death in 1982, Vincent Chin has become one of the icons for Asian American civil rights and intolerance of hate crimes. Through his death, his memory will not be forgotten through scholarships and grants.

Through this new scholarship made possible by Texas philanthropist Felix Chen, AAJA will be awarding $5,000 a year during 2006, 2007 and 2008 to a journalism student committed to keeping Vincent Chin's memory alive.

Scholarships of up to $2,500 are awarded to outstanding students interested in pursuing careers in print, broadcast or photojournalism

Minoru Yasui Memorial Scholarship is from a civil rights advocate and attorney, Minoru Yasui was one of three Nisei who challenged the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. This $2,000 scholarship is awarded to a promising Asian American male broadcaster.

The Asian American Journalists Association is a non-profit professional and educational organization with more than 2,000 members today. Founded in 1981, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry.

THE LAW OF THE LAND

By Peter C. Mastrosimone

Four Rocky Point teenagers beat up and robbed two illegal immigrants who were fishing at Hagerman Landing Beach on the night of June 12, Suffolk County police allege.

The defendants face stiffer than usual penalties because the victims, both Mexicans, were targeted due to their lineage and were taunted with ethnic slurs during the attack, according to Detective Sergeant Robert Reecks of the Hate Crimes Bureau, which is handling the case.

Three of the defendants are adults: Nicholas Provenzano, 19, Jesse Lee Ward, 18, and Daniel Sturgis, 19. The fourth is 16 years old. Although he will be tried as an adult and police have released his name, The Village Beacon Record will not publish it.

TWO HATE CRIME ATTACKS, ONE DAY.

SANTA CRUZ Authorities are investigating two separate hate-related attacks that took place within 24 hours in Santa Cruz on Tuesday, the Santa Cruz Police Department reported Wednesday.

In the first attack, three Hispanic men, aged 18 to 48, jumped a 50-year-old Santa Cruz County man shortly after he left the Blue Lagoon Bar on Pacific Avenue to walk to his car. About four blocks from the bar, the three men punched him in his face and head while making comments that indicated they assumed he was gay, prompting both the victim and police to label the attack as a hate crime. They also rummaged through his wallet but did not take any belongings.

The second attack came nearly 22 hours later when a man began yelling at a group of three who were on their way to eat at a Jack in the Box restaurant at 640 Ocean St. around 10:55 p.m. One of the men in the group, which included an Asian-American man and woman and a Caucasian man, returned to his parked car to move it.

As the Asian-American man stepped out of his car, the suspect punched him several times in the face, knocking him to the ground, according to Santa Cruz police. The suspect yelled racial slurs throughout the attack, and also pushed the Asian-American woman, who was trying to help her friend by grabbing the suspect, against the car. Their Caucasian friend was unharmed, making the victims and police think that this attack was also motivated by hate.

The suspect in the second attack is white about 20 to 25 years old and stands about 6 feet 2 inches tall. He has short blonde/brown hair and was last seen wearing a baggie gray hooded sweatshirt and light-colored blue jeans.

THE NEED FOR PUNISHMENT OVERLOOKED BY CRIME

By William A. Gralnick

A few things must be understood about the crime to understand why the punishment is what is important.

Despite an increase in anti-Semitic incidents over the past year in Florida, as reported to the Anti-Defamation League, the gross numbers are small and so are most of the crimes.

It must also be understood that small increases in the gross numbers is very good news. We know a great deal about anti-Semitism and what triggers it.

One of those things is rapid diversification of population. By all accounts, South Florida should be a bubbling cauldron of anti-Semitism. So, small increases, while not welcome, show we're doing better with tolerance as a population than one might predict.

We also know that anti-Semitism is like a virus: It can make you slightly ill, very ill or kill you. It weakens the body politic and can destroy the strength to resist. Like a virus, anti-Semitism seems, to date, incurable. But one way to combat a virus is through education. Just as we are flooding the world with information about "bird flu" and just as we did some years ago with "mad cow," education is crucial to limiting outbreaks.

In-school programs like Hands Across the Campus and World of Difference and a host of others are important. Multicultural education is important, too. Celebrating differences, as well as similarities, from pre-K onward is vital.

But there the analogy ends. Viruses are caused by germs; anti-Semitism is caused by people. And guilty people must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

While we are educating our children, we must be educating our police to see these crimes and report these crimes for what they are. They are hate crimes.

We must educate our prosecutors to see and prosecute these crimes for what they are -- hate crimes, for which there are separate statutes.

And we must educate our judges to levy penalties in accordance with those statutes. The punishment must make the spray paint the most expensive paint per gallon imaginable, one that will cost the perpetrator money out of pocket and time out of life.

ARAB AMERICAN FEEL LACK OF TRUST WITH POLICE

A U.S. government study says Arab-Americans, post Sept. 11, 2001, are concerned more about racial profiling and immigration crackdown than hate crimes.

The two-year study, financed by the Justice Department, also found that police officers and federal agents are feeling the strain of combating terrorism under new federal policies that are poorly defined and inconsistently applied, The New York Times reports

The study also found police and federal agents are sometimes confused over their roles in enforcing immigration laws.

SINGER SUFFERS BROKEN JAW IN HATE RELATED CRIME

Kevin Aviance, 38, whose songs have topped the Billboard dance chart, is expected to be released Monday from the hospital where he underwent surgery, publicist Len Evans said.

Four people were arrested on hate-crime charges, police said.

A group of six or seven males attacked the singer early Saturday on a corner in Manhattan's East Village, Evans said. There were passers-by, but no one stopped to help as the attackers threw objects at him, Evans said.

The four people arrested ranged in age from 16 to 20.

SHE DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE AS TO WHO COULD DO THIS.

By Jeff Dankert

“Niggers get out.”

The words hit Christina Wevley so hard they churned her stomach. About 20 computer-printed flyers were strewn about her porch and front yard Tuesday night near Second Street and Mankato Avenue.

The notes brim with racial hate and include threats that the perpetrators would kill her and her children if they don’t leave the neighborhood. She handed them over to police.

The 26-year-old single white mother and her two black sons moved to the neighborhood a month ago from Fairway Woods, an apartment complex two miles south. Richard, 4, and Andre, 3, giggled and played on the porch, too young to understand the threat and their mother’s emerging nightmare.

Obviously we’re not going to put up with this kind of crap,” Pomeroy said. “I don’t know who’s behind it. It appears that you’ve got somebody who is ignorant and prejudiced and needs to be stopped and we will do everything that we can do to stop them.”

Hate crimes in Winona: From 1994 to 2004, Winona had 13 reported racial hate crimes, including a 1995 cross burning on the yard of a black family.

Statewide: There was a 12 percent increase in hate crimes from 2003 to 2004, and the number of victims increased 18 percent. Race bias accounted for two of every three hate crimes in 2004. State law requires police to report every hate crime, defined by the officers’ judgment and/or the victim’s opinion.

THE SHOPPING MALL WAS GROWING TOO WHITE

BY Lisa Munoz

Ranting that his local mall had become "too white," an unemployed Long Island man hurled a chunk of concrete at a minivan carrying a Caucasian woman and four young children as they entered the shopping center, cops said yesterday.

Carl Graves, 20, who is black, was charged with a hate crime after allegedly shattering the vehicle's windshield and denting the hood with the 6-inch slab about 3:15 p.m. Monday. No one was injured.

"This was racially motivated," Nassau County Police Lt. Karl Schoepp said. "He was enraged. He worked himself into a frenzy over the fact that he thought the mall was becoming too white."

Graves, of Amityville, and his buddies were hanging out near the mall, lamenting that some shops and the gaming arcade were closed, police said.

At some point, Graves picked up the piece of concrete and kept it in his jacket until he saw McCandless' minivan, cops said.

THE ATTITUDE OF A VICTIM

19 year-old Craig Matthews is out of the hospital and recovering at his home in Broseley after being brutally attacked April 5th in Corning. Matthews has been home for 3 weeks recovering from a beating that nearly took his life. Doctors gave Matthews little to no chance of surviving but now he is happy to be on the road to recovery.

Matthews was visiting his girlfriend in Corning when a confrontation arouse after a racial slur was used. The end result was Matthews being airlifted to a Cape Girardeau hospital after being hit in the head with a baseball bat.

38 year-old corning resident Don Groning has been charged in connection with this alleged hate crime.

According to Matthews this isn't the first time he has been confronted in Corning by racism. Matthews alleges racial slurs and other obscenities were yelled at him in the past, and April 15th one of Matthews' friends was also subjected to what the family feels is racism at the crime scene.

"No I don't forgive him or his family, from whatI understand he tried to kill me, so there is no reasonI should forgive them," said Matthews.

WITH HATE CRIMES YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE SIDES. YOU JUST CAN'T HATE EVERYBODY.

The last time Volker Beck participated in a demonstration for gay rights, he was punched in the face and arrested. But last Friday, the only danger to the openly-gay Green Party politician and member of Germany's parliament was that of being swamped by over-zealous camera teams.

Organized by the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany (LSVD) and attended by prominent German politicians and activists, the event was meant to draw attention to the repression of homosexuals in Russia and to a looming gay pride parade in Warsaw on June 10, which has just been given the green light by the authorities there.

After Moscow, Warsaw had to consider whether it wanted to be on Europe's side or whether it wanted to act like Putin's Russia," said Dworek of the LSVD, adding that Warsaw obviously opted to avoid the embarrassment of having prominent European politicians being beaten up in their city. "It also shows how important a networked Europe is."

The German government has to loudly and clearly raise its voice against the suppression of gays and lesbians in Russia and not create the impression that it's less interested in human rights than it is in gas pipelines from Russia to Germany," said Beck, adding that Chancellor Merkel had already sent the right signals during her recent visit to Moscow.

"But now actions have to follow and they have to be consistent."

SINCE THERE IS NO LEGISLATION FOR HATE CRIMES IN AUSTRIA, VICTIMS HAVE NO NEED TO FEAR OR NEED TREATMENT.

SIX months ago 5000 white Australian vigilantes swept through the beach suburb of Cronulla, swinging their fists and shouting words of hatred as they waged a war on the Lebanese community to regain control of "their" beach.

Since then, police have made 87 arrests and laid 239 charges. The most common charge for violent offenders was affray (31 per cent) and riot (27 per cent). Other charges include assaulting police, threatening violence, malicious damage and resisting arrest.

While only one person has been acquitted, the Director of Public Prosecutions has failed to prosecute 68 of those arrested. This means that 73 of those accused of a crime have eluded punishment.

The offences committed in Cronulla were crimes of hate. In some countries these crimes are called "hate crimes", that is, crimes committed because the victim belongs (or is perceived to belong) to a certain group, for example, assaulting someone because he or she appears to be of Middle Eastern appearance. Yet none of the offenders from Cronulla will face "hate crime" charges.

NSW has decided against hate crime legislation. Instead it has chosen to rely on the standard criminal law offences of assault, aggravated assault, grievous bodily harm or wounding to deal with any offender who commits a crime of violence, regardless of motivation.

However, the issue is much more complicated because the aftermath of hate violence can be far-reaching. Hate violence can lead to prolonged depression and anxiety among victims. The violence accompanying hate crimes is frequently more severe, leading to higher hospital admission rates. Victims of hate violence will often suffer permanent injuries and in a disproportionately high number of cases the victim is killed.

EXACTLY WHAT NATIVE AMERICANS THOUGHT WHEN THE EUROPEANS LANDED.

By Erin Texeira

As the fight over immigration reform drags on, an ominous undercurrent to the debate _ racism _ is becoming more pronounced.

From muttered ethnic slurs to violent attacks, activists say an anti-immigrant backlash seems to be growing in America's neighborhoods and workplaces. A few political leaders have called proposed immigration measures before Congress "racist."

"The climate has gotten demonstrably worse and it is racially charged," said Devin Burghart of the Center for New Community, which tracks anti-immigrant activity. "It's not simply a debate about immigration policy. ... It's about race and national identity and who and what we are as Americans."

Sociologist Gonzalo Santos of California State University at Bakersfield said immigration is just the latest example of social policy issues taking on racial overtones in America.

"People talk about immigration as if race doesn't matter, saying 'No, I don't have anything against immigrants or Mexicans, it's just the illegal part of it I don't like.' But those are code words," he said. "We experience race in this country through issues like welfare policy, anti-poverty programs and now immigration."

Increasingly, security is a concern. For the first time at its annual conference last year, La Raza offered a program to community groups on how to stay safe amid harassment.

THIS LAND IS MY LAND. THIS LAND IS MY LAND. THIS LAND WAS MADE FOR ME AND NOT YOU.

On May 6, the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held an anti-immigration rally in Russellville, Alabama, that drew more than 300 Klansmen and Klan supporters, including members of the neo-Nazi hate group Aryan Nations. At the rally, robed Klansmen burned a 22-foot-high cross and yelled, "Let's get rid of the Mexicans!"

Also on May 6, when Hispanic families in Tucson gathered in a park to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, anti-immigration extremist Roy Warden arrived, strapped with a pistol, and led a demonstration. "Listen up, Mexican invaders," Warden said. "We will not permit you, the ignorant, the savage, the unwashed, to overrun us, as happened in Rome...Land must be paid for in blood. If any invader tries to take this land from us we will wash this land and nurture our soil with oceans of their blood!" Warden later e-mailed a death threat to Isabel Garcia, a Tucson public defender who co-chairs the human rights group Derechos Humanos. The e-mail was titled, "Warden to Isabel Garcia: I will blow your freaking head off!"

On April 29 a neo-Nazi in East Hampton, New York, was arrested for threatening two Hispanic teenagers with a machete and chainsaw, holding the blade to the throat of one while threatening to kill them.

On March 27, New Jersey-based neo-Nazi radio host Hal Turner called for the mass murder of Hispanics and the assassination of U.S. senators who support guest worker programs. "All of you who think there's a peaceful solution to these invaders are wrong. We're going to have to start killing these people," Turner said. "I advocate using extreme violence against illegal aliens. Clean your guns. Have plenty of ammunition. Find out where the largest gathering of illegal aliens will be near you. Go to the area well in advance, scope out several places to position yourself and then do what has to be done." Turner directed his listeners to a website that provides detailed instructions on constructing pipe bombs, ammonium nitrate "fertilizer bombs," car bombs, chlorine gas bombs, and other homemade explosive devices.

This is what happens when you demonize an entire group of people as "the others." This violence, fueled in part by anti-immigrant rhetoric, targets all Lations, whether they're in the country legally or illegally. All Hispanics become targets.

Consider this as well: Latinos have been in Florida and the southwest before those regions became parts of the U.S. And yet, they'll face violence from the racist elements (many of which had ancestors "get off the boat" in the last 150 years) in the anti-immigration movement.

HATE DOESN'T CHANGE, JUST THE COMMUNITY DOES

Sixteen-year-old Andre Cooper of Stratford learned about the dangers of racial prejudice in school, but he never thought he would get a firsthand lesson when he got outside.

Cooper, of Agresta Terrace, left Stratford High School one day last week and was walking home with his friends on Euerele Street when, he said, a bright-red pickup truck drove by, brushing him with its mirror. Cooper said he wasn't injured, but the driver, Christopher Barker, an unemployed white man, stopped the truck, got out and, pointing to the bent mirror, yelled at Cooper, who is black.

Come fix this, you f — — — nigger," he shouted, according to police.

Over the past decade, the numbers of hate crime complaints have gone up in the state, from 105 in 1994 to 162 in 2004, the most recent year for which data is available.

Experts disagree as to why hate crimes occur, and even the accuracy of the statistics.

Donald Green, director of the Institute for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University, said while hate crimes are a problem in society, statistics can be misleading. "One of the problems is that there has been a tremendous variability in the reporting by towns," he said. "The trend is to see hate crimes in areas that experience demographic change, and we are seeing that in Connecticut.

We have people who have a nostalgic view of their neighborhood when it suddenly undergoes rapid integration. Or say a gay bar opens in the neighborhood. When things change, that causes hate crimes," he said.

In school, there are more opportunities to regress in front of peers. You can do it on the playground and get away with it because people will always put it down as 'boys will be boys,' " he said. But he predicted that in the future lawsuits would be filed against school systems that fail to pay attention to schoolyard hate crimes.

US VOTES FOR ACCREDITATION OF GAY GROUPS TO UN.

A coalition of radical homosexual groups put heavy pressure on the Bush administration to change its vote to allow accreditation of homosexual groups seeking UN recognition, the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) notes in its latest "Friday Fax.".

Although they were unsuccessful in gaining accreditation for the groups, the gay-rights groups are claiming credit on their web sites for getting the US to change what was a No vote to a Yes.

Claiming credit for the change in US policy are Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Committee (IGLHRC). "The United States' anti-gay vote was shocking. We are glad that the Administration heard our concern and reversed its position," said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC executive director.

Last January, the United States voted against granting official UN status to the Danish Association of Gays and Lesbians and to the International Gay and Lesbian Association, a group charged with allowing pedophile groups in its membership.

After that vote, a coalition of homosexual groups initiated a lobbying campaign and sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding an explanation of the US position. Homosexual activists also met with the members of the US delegation at the Commission on Human Rights in Switzerland to voice their anger.

Homosexual groups are becoming more active at the UN as annually they pressure the UN Human Rights Commission to include homosexuality in the interpretation and implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This would result in hate crimes charges being brought against Christian and others who oppose the homosexual agenda. The initiative has lost many years in a row owing largely to the Muslim countries.

CAUTIOUS ABOUT DROP IN COLORADO'S HATE CRIME INCIDENTS.

Hate crimes against members of Colorado's LGBT community dropped by an astounding 60% last year, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

Of the 13 cities and states tracked by the coalition, Colorado's was the biggest drop; the group reports that violence and harassment against gays fell nationally by almost 13%.

However, coalition members say the encouraging stats might not be entirely accurate.

The Denver-based Colorado Anti-Violence Program says the reduction in reports of antigay bias could just mean fewer incidents are being reported.

Program spokeswoman Veronica Garcia told The [Colorado Springs] Gazette, "For a lot of people it’s unsafe to even identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender," adding, "We’re definitely cautious in getting too excited about a drop in numbers.”

RACISM REACHES 15 YEAR HIGH IN BUSINESS ACROSS BELGIUM.

The Centre of Equal Opportunity and Opposition to Racism, in Brussels, Belgium recorded 1,022 reports of racism last year compared with 994 in 2004.

It said 15 percent of reports involved racism at the workplace; the highest figure in 15 years.

One-third of complaints of racism in the workplace involved discrimination in recruitment.

But the anti-racism bureau did not place the blame entirely on employers, pointing out that discrimination also occurs among employees.

Meanwhile, the bureau also demanded in its annual report that both the federal government and Parliament place priority on the approval of new anti-discrimination laws.

Further, it urged for improved registration of hate speech on the internet and crimes linked to racism, homophobia and discrimination.

AVOID PARKING ON SIDE STREETS IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA

Police said two groups of men were violently attacked and robbed as they left a popular Orlando gay club this week.

Mathew Allam and his partner Chad Cronon said they've spent many nights walking home from the Parliament House Resort on Orange Blossom Trail. But after what happened this week, they said they wouldn't be walking home again.

"I mean, he had a gun about two inches from my face," Matthew Allam said. "It was quite a traumatic experience."

Police said there was a similar attack on two other men leaving the Parliament House two hours later. Both attacks came just days before Orlando Gay Days, a major event for the night club.

The club is now asking patrons to avoid parking on side streets. And for Gay Days this week, Parliament House said it's renting out the Citrus Bowl for parking and providing busses to the club.

On Wednesday, Channel 9 Eyewitness News learned that though police were not calling the incidents hate crimes, the attacks did leave a lasting impression on their victims.

CRYING ALL THE WAY TO PRISON

By Sandra Stokley and John Welsh

A Riverside County jury recommended the death penalty Wednesday for Rialto residents Michael Forrest Thornton and Janeen Marie Snyder in the 2001 torture-murder of a 16-year-old Las Vegas teenager.

The verdicts in the murder of Michelle Curran capped a trial that ran more than five months and featured often-lurid testimony about the couple's drug-laced lifestyle and their sexual obsession with underage girls.

The trial also included testimony of their involvement in crimes against at least two other girls, who said they were held against their will and sexually assaulted. Thornton and Snyder were arrested in connection with one incident but later released for lack of evidence. The other girl did not contact the authorities.

Thornton, 50, showed little emotion, but Snyder, 26, lowered her head onto the defense table and began sobbing loudly. At one point she cried out, "I hate you, Michael," to her co-defendant.

"She wasn't crying when she lured the victims. She wasn't crying when she pulled the trigger. She wasn't crying when she tried to escape," he said. "I call them tears of the damned."

NO INVITATION NEEDED TO ATTEND JAIL FOR HATE CRIMES

By Pamela Manson

A self-proclaimed skinhead who beat and severely injured a black bicyclist in Salt Lake City last year in a racially motivated attack had struck a deal with prosecutors to serve about six years for his crime.

But U.S. District Judge David Sam on Wednesday said about nine years would be more appropriate for David Lance Gardner, who once beat a Latino man to death in California in a case that was similar to the Utah attack.

He also ordered Gardner to pay $22,000 in restitution.

Police and prosecutors say Gardner and two co-defendants - Robby Wayne Baalman, 22, of Sandy, and Keith Wayne Cotter, 25, of Draper - were drinking at various bars on the evening of March 12, 2005.

Baalman alleged in a written statement that Gardner told Cotter to "go get the n----- on the bike."

"Gardner indicated that this would be my initiation into a white supremacists organization, the American Front," Baalman wrote.

"I guarantee, no matter what, nothing like this will ever happen again in my life," he said.

"I have concerns about his ability to lead a lawful life," Sam said, pointing out that Gardner pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a beating years ago in Los Angeles that left a man dead.

POLITICIANS PANDERS TO XENOPHOBIA

By Raquel Alvarenga

In a dramatic introduction to Rep. J.D. Hayworth’s (R-Ariz.) latest book, Whatever It Takes, conservative talk-radio host Sean Hannity promises readers that the book will provide “the hard truths” in a thorough discussion of the controversial immigration debate.

Whatever It Takes is a poorly written tirade against immigration in particular and, more widely, against diversity and multiculturalism in America as a whole. It is filled with anti-immigrant propaganda and selective statistical evidence. Hayworth relinquishes his own immigrant past and condemns not only undocumented immigrants, but also their American-born children.

As the immigration controversy brings the national melting pot to a simmer, hate crimes against the undocumented have grown more common everywhere from major municipalities like Los Angeles to small towns like Farmingville, Long Island.

Far from revealing “hard truths,” Hayworth tries to prompt a gut reaction against immigration, appealing to the worst impulses of exclusion. Far to the right even of President Bush on immigration policy, Hayworth essentially advocates a blanket solution to a nuanced issue.

He erroneously presents immigration reform as having only two paths: “America has a choice. We can either take control of four borders and immigration policy or…”

DONUT KILL A DAY.

By Hamil R. Harris and Daniel de Vise

"Attention Bikers! No Colors, No Rags, No Club Attire, No Exceptions."

Barbara Sturgell posted the sign on the door of the Happy Harbor Inn in Deale four years ago after a fight between Hells Angels and Pagans ended in a cloud of pepper spray and bullets.

The 72-year-old business owner broke down and cried yesterday as she wondered why someone had altered the sign on the door by painting out certain letters and adding others to discourage black and gay patrons.

The Maryland Commission on Human Relations has launched an investigation into the incident after an inquiry from several news organizations.

Ted Harris, an African American who has frequented the restaurant since the 1960s, doesn't hold Sturgell blameless. He and a friend spotted the altered sign on the door during a visit May 3.

"It was all in the same ink. It was professionally done," he said. ". . . When we came back, it was painted over, but you still could see the 'E-D-S' from the word 'colored.' "

The county has logged more than its share of hate crimes in recent years, local civil rights leaders said. County police recorded 76 such crimes in 2005, compared with 66 in 2004. The Human Relations Commission has a Southern Maryland office in Leonardtown -- which handles southern Anne Arundel -- "and we are busy in that office," Bell said.

SEX PISTOLS

By Elizabeth Baier

Their motto is "Armed gays don't get bashed."

Joani McBride explains: "A., I'm female, and, B., I'm little. You know, I'm fairly defenseless. But honey, a .357 [Magnum] beats four aces every time."

A gun aficionado for three decades, McBride knows the difference between a Colt Commander .45 ACP and the Charter Arms Bulldog .44, her two favorite handguns. And she knows how to point them if she has to -- she did once, at a knife-wielding attacker in Colorado.

She is one of 25 members of the Wilton Manors chapter of the Pink Pistols, an international gay and lesbian gun advocacy group.

Pistols member Dan Dugan of Homestead was packing a Lorcin .380 semiautomatic pistol his father gave him for Christmas. It was his first time shooting. He wants to fight the perception that "gay people are wimps."

TWO INCIDENTS OF HATE VANDALISM FINALLY MOVE POLICE TO REACT.

By Scott Travis

Sheriff's investigators are trying to determine who painted swastikas and a hate-filled message on the windows of a Jewish book and gift shop.

The graffiti was found at YiddishKeit inside the Mission Bay Plaza at U.S. 441 and Glades Road, west of Boca Raton. There were four swastikas and a message that said, "Burn the Jews" drawn in white paint or shoe polish.

Similar messages were found on a Chrysler Voyager minivan in the shopping center parking lot. The car belonged to a florist in the shopping center who is not Jewish, sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said. The florist was out of town when the incident happened, Barbera said.

Store owner Joseph Brooks said this was the second time this year he's been the target of graffiti. He said in early March, vandals painted a small swastika on his window.

Brooks said he called the Sheriff's Office last time and filed a report but no officers came. He removed the image.

The annual ADL audit reported 199 anti-Semitic incidents in the state last year, up from 173 the year before, 102 in 2003 and 93 in 2002. Last year in South Florida, there were reports of anti-Semitic graffiti painted on a synagogue in Homestead; mezuzahs, which are traditional Jewish parchment scrolls, removed from the doorposts of private homes in Boca Raton; a swastika drawn on a public sidewalk in Boynton Beach and anti-Semitic graffiti painted on a gas station in Tamarac.

WHOLE POPULATIONS MOVE WHEN THEIR LIBERTIES ARE NOT PROTECTED.

If for no other reason than economic, state lawmakers in Columbus would be wise to examine a recent bias study that ranks Ohio dead last in the nation for tolerance toward certain minority groups.

To dismiss a report that puts the state below even Mississippi in anti-discrimination laws simply because it was done by an advocacy group for the gay community is shortsighted folly.

To learn from the data compiled by Equality Ohio is to understand, the group says, why there has been an exodus of 18-to-34-year-olds from the state, with serious economic repercussions.

They get the message that Ohio is intolerant - real or perceived - of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, and are choosing to live and work and raise their families elsewhere.

States were rated based on protections afforded the gay community. Ohio was the only state to score a minus 2, lower than Mississippi at zero.

Lynne Bowman, executive director of Equality Ohio, said the results of the report were astonishing to members themselves. "The state that used to be so proud to call itself 'the heart of it all' has lost its heart," she said.

HONG KONG PERMITS INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA.

The 2nd International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) Hong Kong Parade is scheduled to take place in Causeway Bay on May 21

Sixteen sexual minority-friendly groups have joined force to organise the event, entitled "Stand Up Against Prejudice", in hopes of increasing awareness about homophobia in the society.

Dr Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, a member of the Legislative Council, has accepted the invitation to be the guest of honour to open this year’s Hong Kong IDAHO.

Prominent sexual minority-friendly organisations from other parts of Greater China will be pres