National Geographic

After enduring ugly anti-gay attacks from Christianists during her nomination hearing, open lesbian Barbara Lenk has won confirmation to the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

The Governor’s Council confirmed Lenk on a 5-3 vote. She is Governor Deval Patrick’s fourth appointment to the seven-member SJC, which issued the landmark 2003 ruling that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Lenk, who married her partner, Debra Krupp, after the ruling, has 18 years’ experience on the bench, a degree from Harvard Law School, and a doctorate in political philosophy from Yale. Patrick nominated her to replace Justice Judith A. Cowin, who is retiring. Lenk's confirmation hearing last week lasted more than seven hours, and was often contentious.

Lenk is the first openly gay justice to be seated on the state's highest court.

NYFD ladder trucks arrived in Times Square around 12:30am to the wild cheers of the ever-growing crowds. I tried to get down there myself to witness some history, but at this writing there's about 200 people frantically waving for cabs along my block on the Upper East Side.

NOTE: The above photos have been retweeted so many thousands of times tonight that attribution, for now, is impossible.

Openly gay Massachusetts Supreme Court nominee Barbara Lenk endured some Christianist assholery yesterday during her marathon seven hour confirmation hearing. Lenk is married to a woman and therefore placing her on the state's highest court will turn children gay. Or something.

During her confirmation hearing before the Governor’s Council, some critics testified that her marriage is part of a broader plan to give legitimacy to homosexuality in the public arena. “This will be a clarion call to all that want to indoctrinate our children into homosexuality,’’ testified Sally Naumann, who, like Lenk, lives in Carlisle. “How will we ever be able to say no to our children?" [snip] With her wife, lawyer Debra Krupp, and their two teenage daughters sitting behind her, Lenk was stone-faced during the criticism. Lenk vowed to be a judge who hews to the law and will not be what critics call an activist judge. She also balked when asked to list the cases she handled that dealt with gays or lesbians. “I don’t keep records that way,’’ she said. “I don’t regard these cases in any way of being homosexual or lesbian issues.’’

The neo-Nazi organizers of the violent anti-gay riot that broke out during last year's Belgrade Pride have been sentenced to prison. Over 200 people were arrested during the melee.

The Higher Court in Belgrade has sentenced far-right organization Obraz leader Mladen Obradović to two years for organizing riots during 2010 Pride Parade. His wife Jelena was sentenced to a year and Krsta Milovanović and Damir Grbić to a year and a half in prison. Remaining 13 accused persons received sentences ranging from eight months to a year and a half. They were sentenced to minimum sentences since the envisaged jail time for the criminal acts they committed is one to 12 years. Obradović and another 13 persons were accused of organizing a group which caused riots in the streets of Belgrade. The prosecution believes that the defense’s claim that the accused were defending the Orthodoxy is unacceptable and that this was discrimination and rioting.

VIDEO: Here's a clip of the riot.

(Tipped by JMG reade Alja)

On Friday a West Virginia jury refused to convict a man for spitting tobacco juice on Westboro Baptist Church leader Shirley Phelps-Roper. Westboro was in West Virginia last year to "celebrate" the deaths of miners killed in a cave-in.

An officer assigned to patrol the event witnessed Spade spitting and arrested him. The officer testified he saw Spade spit on the woman's chest. Spade told jurors he spit on her sign which she was holding above her shoulders. Charleston Police Sgt. Nick Null testified as he was leading Spade away, the victim Shirley Phelps-Roper said, "I'm glad you pigs finally did something." Phelps-Roper is the daughter of the church's controversial pastor Fred Phelps. The jury ruled in the case that Spade committed no crime when he spit on the woman, under the highly charged circumstances. The jury returned its not-guilty verdict in less than an hour.

Yesterday Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed the bill abolishing the death penalty in his state and commuting the sentences of prisoners on death row. Today Amnesty International updated their above map, which is interactive on their site. Among the 35 states still making executions, Texas has almost five times more prisoners on death row than the number two state, Virginia.

"Just had an intense day at jury duty. During voir dire we were asked who would not be impartial. I raised my hand and said, 'Since I can't get married or adopt a child in the state of New York, I can't possibly be an impartial judge of a citizen when I am considered a second class one in the eyes of this justice system.' You wouldn't believe how people in the room reacted." - NYC-based actor Jonathan Lovitz, who was then excused by the judge.

New York state does allow both single and coupled gays to adopt, but Lovitz' jury duty tactic is an interesting one.

Grammy winning reggae star Buju Banton, whose work has been called "murder music" for its calls for the executions of gay men, has been found guilty of three federal counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. Via the Jamaican Observer:

The artiste was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilogrammes of cocaine, attempted possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and using the wires to facilitate a drug-trafficking offence. However he was found not guilty of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offence. The artiste hugged his lawyer David Markus when the verdict was read. Many of the artiste's supporters left the courtroom crying. He has been detained and has had his bail revoked.

Banton's supporters and some of the Jamaican press have alleged that the drug charges came out of a conspiracy between the DEA and LGBT activists. The date for his sentencing has not been announced. Last week Banton won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album, stunning activists who last year published full-page music industry ads denouncing his nomination.

VIDEO: One of Banton's biggest hits, Boom Bye Bye, advocates shooting "nasty batty boys" in the head.

Some hefty justice has been doled out to the murderer of transwoman Ashely Santiago, whose brutally stabbed body was found in her Puerto Rico home last April. Michael Lavers reports at Edge News:

A Puerto Rican man who confessed to murdering a transgender woman in her Corozal home received a 111-year prison sentence on Monday, Feb. 7. Primera Hora reported Judge Jesús Peluyera imposed the sentence upon Emanuel Adorno Ayala, who confessed to stabbing Ashley Santiago more than a dozen times in April 2010. Primera Hora further reported Santiago’s mother, Carmen Ocasio, tearfully said "this pain will last for the rest of my life" after Peluyera sentenced Ayala.

Yesterday Ugandan LGBT activist David Kato was bludgeoned to death in his home just weeks after his photo was emblazoned on the cover of a local newspaper with the accompanying headline "HANG THEM!" The newspaper articles and Kato's murder came after months of international outrage over Uganda's proposed and still-pending "kill gays" bill, legislation that orders the death penalty for homosexuals in some cases and life imprisonment in others.

The inspiration for Uganda's gay death penalty bill, and surely, Kato's murder, arises from the work of American evangelists, chief among them the repulsive anti-gay activist Scott Lively, whose infamous book The Pink Swastika blames the rise of the Nazi Party and the Holocaust on gay men. One year ago, the New York Times profiled Lively's hand in Uganda's burgeoning pogrom against homosexuals, which began after Lively hosted a three-day meeting attended by thousands of Ugandan police, teachers, and politicians.

The three Americans who spoke at the conference — Scott Lively, a missionary who has written several books against homosexuality, including “7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads “healing seminars”; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, whose mission is “mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality” — are now trying to distance themselves from the bill.

“I feel duped,” Mr. Schmierer said, arguing that he had been invited to speak on “parenting skills” for families with gay children. He acknowledged telling audiences how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals, but he said he had no idea some Ugandans were contemplating the death penalty for homosexuality. “That’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said. “Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.”

Mr. Lively and Mr. Brundidge have made similar remarks in interviews or statements issued by their organizations. But the Ugandan organizers of the conference admit helping draft the bill, and Mr. Lively has acknowledged meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to discuss it. He even wrote on his blog in March that someone had likened their campaign to “a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda.” Later, when confronted with criticism, Mr. Lively said he was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh. Human rights advocates in Uganda say the visit by the three Americans helped set in motion what could be a very dangerous cycle. Gay Ugandans already describe a world of beatings, blackmail, death threats like “Die Sodomite!” scrawled on their homes, constant harassment and even so-called correctional rape.

Yesterday Scott Lively's "nuclear bomb" against Ugandan gays went off in the form of the iron bar which crushed the skull of David Kato. In some countries, it's possible that Lively would be under arrest today. Also complicit in this murder is Peter LaBarbera, who for years has worked to publicize and praise Scott Lively's evil agenda. Then there's Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council, who last year paid lobbyists $25,000 to convince members of Congress to block a planned resolution denouncing Uganda's gay death penalty bill. And let's not forget Pastor Rick Warren, who supported, funded, appeared with, and publicized the work of Uganda's leading anti-gay activist, Pastor Martin Ssempa.

Today we mourn David Kato, a brave LGBT activist who paid the ultimate price in defense of his brothers and sisters. But we've also got start looking at some serious legal remedies to the actions of American anti-gay activists in other countries. Outside of the United States, many legals systems are not so constrained by the American concept of freedom of speech. What can we do to leverage that difference to end this madness? Lawsuits? The Hague?

Daniel Rodriguez, 22, was yesterday sentenced to twelve years in prison for the brutal October 2009 gay bashing of Queens resident Jack Price, who spent days in a medically-induced coma after suffering two collapsed lungs, multiple broken ribs, spleen and liver damage. Rodriguez and his accomplice Daniel Aleman, 27, were captured on security cameras as they beat and kicked Price while shouting anti-gay slurs. Last month Aleman was sentenced to eight years in prison. Both men were convicted on hate crimes charges.