Controversial poet Amiri Baraka lost his daughter in a murder that may have been a gay hate crime.
For the fifth year, advocates marched across Brooklyn Bridge for Marriage Equality. Yet this event was different.
Majority Leader Dean Skelos attended Log Cabin’s fall fundraiser, where he backed the first openly gay Senate hopeful, John Chromczak.
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Friday, August 22, 2003
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — At a court appearance for the man suspected of fatally
shooting Amiri Baraka’s daughter, Shani and the woman some say was her
girlfriend, Rayshon Holmes on Tuesday, August 12, family members’ anger
turned to grief, according to the Newark Star-Ledger. At a vigil after the arraignment
on Tuesday, August 19, 100 people rallied to stop violence against women. Some
questioned whether homophobia was a motive for the slayings. Earlier at the arraignment,
witnesses heard obscenities under suspect James Coleman’s breath directed
toward the victim’s father, poet Amiri Baraka. Coleman has not yet been
charged with the death of Shani Baraka, 31, and Rayshon Holmes, 30, who were
found shot multiple times in the house of Baraka’s sister, Pasha. Pasha
threw Coleman out of the house in January and obtained a restraining order against
him in April. Shana Baraka, a Newark teacher, had been staying with her sister
in Piscataway. She later returned home with Holmes last week to collect some
belongings when they were shot, authorities said. Coleman, 35, surrendered to
Piscataway police about 1 p.m. Sunday, August 17. “You know damn well you
did it,” said Amina Baraka. “You’re a coward!” shouted
a relative of Baraka to Coleman. Family members fearing for Pasha’s safety
are upset that Coleman would be released if he posts $250,000 bail set Monday,
August 18. “This man is an obvious perpetrator of a double homicide and
these charges need to be upgraded immediately,” said Amiri Baraka who was
poet laureate until his title was eliminated this year because of a controversial
poem he wrote. Hassen Abdellah, Coleman’s attorney said, “To date,
there’s been no documentation that links my client to the crime scene,” he
said. “As far as I’m concerned, there are no murder charges.”
Empire State Pride Agenda announced its 2003 primary endorsements in 15 local
races across the state — 11 of them for candidates running for New
York City Council seats and the other four in races in Suffolk County and
Upstate. ESPA’s emphasis on incumbents reflected the support council
members have provided on gay-related issues. “I consider this to be
the strongest City Council ever on gay, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
issues and our endorsements in primary races reflect that fact,” Alan
Van Capelle, ESPA’s executive director. Candidates were asked to respond
to questions on a number of domestic partnership issues, safe schools and
bias-based harassment in schools, transgender discrimination and government
funding for health and human services (both HIV/AIDS-related and non-HIV/AIDS-related
ones). Of the New York City Council endorsements in Manhattan, ESPA supports
Alan Jay Gershon of the 1st district, Eva Moskowitz of the 4th District,
Philip Reed on the 8th District, Bill Perkins of the 9th District and Miguel
Martinez of the 10th District. In the Bronx, ESPA endorses Maria Baez, Jose
Serrano and Annabel Palma. Hiram Monserrate and Eric Gioia were those ESPA
selected form Queens. Vivian Viloria-Fisher and Jon Cooper are endorsed in
Suffolk County.
A Port Authority police officer who went on national television for a style
makeover is under some scrutiny for allowing his uniform to make an appearance
on somebody else. On Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” Officer
John Verdi, 29, appeared on the show to change his image with the help of
the Fab Five. During the show, which was first shown on Tuesday, August 19,
two of the program’s five stylists and advisors wore Verdi’s
uniform while touring his Staten Island apartment, according to the Daily
News. “We are looking into the matter,” said Greg Trevor, a Port
Authority spokesperson. “It was good entertainment,” Gus Danese,
president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association. “What
he did, he did on his own time. He didn’t portray the Port Authority
in a bad light. It was harmless.” The episode is scheduled to be re-aired
on NBC, Thursday, August 28 at 10 p.m.
HARTFORD (AP) — Ministers from across the state marched on the Episcopal
Diocese of Connecticut Tuesday, August 19, to protest the recent election of
a gay bishop. About 50 marchers protested the recent election of New Hampshire
Bishop-elect Gene Robinson. Protestors sang songs and read passages from the
Bible as they marched toward the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut,
where they met an even greater number of Robinson’s supporters. “We
are sorry that Rev. Carter does not recognize the overwhelming election of
Bishop Robinson or that our children are well-served when a milestone of this
type is reached,” said Alice Leeds, spokesperson for PFLAG. “We
are making a statement that an open gay-practicing bishop goes against the
Bible,” said Nora Wyatt, an elder from Mount Olive Church Ministries
in Hartford. “We believe that this has started a breakdown in family,
the way it was originally described in the Bible.”
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