Orlando shooting

Most Countries Score Terribly on the LGBT Human Rights Protection Front

The Global Barometer of Gay Rights (GBGR) ranks countries on their level of protection of LGBT rights, and unsurprisingly, a majority of the countries, including the US, score extremely low on it.

June is Gay Pride Month, but the sobering reality is that most countries, including the US, do not protect sexual minorities.

Our research gives most countries in the world a failing grade in LGBTQ rights, reflecting widespread persecution of sexual minorities. Only one country in 10 actively protects the human rights of sexual minorities.

From persecution to protection

The Franklin & Marshall Global Barometer of Gay Rights (GBGR), started in 2011, ranks countries based on 29 factors that quantify how much a country protects human rights.

It looks not only at constitutional protections, but also societal indicators, political opinion, civil society and economic factors. For example, we look at whether the majority of citizens are accepting of sexual minorities and if gay rights organizations can peacefully and safely assemble.

Countries are then graded on a five-point scale, from F (“persecuting”) to A (“protecting”).

The extremes are stunning. In 2017, 23 countries have legalised same-sex marriage, yet 71 countries still criminalise same-sex acts.

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen score lowest on our scale, with an overall GBGR score of three out of a possible score of 100, while Luxembourg, Malta and New Zealand score highest, with 100 %. A score of 100 % doesn’t mean a country is perfect in its treatment of LGBT individuals, but it does mean they protect LGBTQ rights.

South America shows the most striking variation in protection or persecution of sexual minorities. Uruguay is a leader in protecting sexual minorities, as the second South American country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2013, preceded by Argentina in 2010. Meanwhile, gays are largely not legally protected in Paraguay, Peru or Bolivia.

The African continent has the least variation. Every country, with the exception of South Africa, is considered a persecutor. Although South Africa is one of the first countries to approve same-sex marriage, in 2006, it resists assuring LGBT human rights – particularly in the violence toward sexual minorities, such as “corrective rapes.”

How do we account for such variation between countries and regions?

Our initial findings suggest that higher income, lower rates of religiosity, higher life expectancy, a higher freedom rating by nonprofit Freedom House and having a democratic political system are the best predictors of how much a country respects or abuses the rights of sexual minorities.

This suggests that a country’s attitude toward gay rights is strongly related to its level of socioeconomic development, political development and religiosity. That makes the US‘ low score an even greater anomaly.

The US lags behind

While the US Supreme Court upheld the right to same-sex marriage in 2015, we do not consider the US a nation that’s protective of gay rights.

We class the US as “rights-resistant,” putting it in the same category as nations like Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Mexico and South Africa.

Examples of resistance to gay rights are abundant in the US For example, last year in Mississippi, a Picayune funeral home refused to provide cremation services to a gay man because “we don’t deal with their kind,” and claimed a right to refuse service based on religious freedom.

As a nation, we found the federal government falls short on workplace and housing protections and joint adoption rights for sexual minorities. As a society, hate crimes against sexual minorities are a persistent problem.

Some may believe the US is accepting and supportive of sexual minorities, but the reality is that we are behind most developed nations, which consistently earn a protecting or tolerant grade.

While we may be more tolerant of gay rights than in places like Indonesia, where gays can be caned, or like Nigeria, where gays can be stoned to death, we believe the US needs to do far more to protect the rights of sexual minorities.

Americans tend to believe that individual rights and freedoms are more important here than they are in any other nation in the world.

Yet even though global trends indicate an overall improvement in GBGR scores, incidents like last year’s Orlando shooting underscore the unfortunate reality that the world, even the US, is far from a safe place for sexual minorities.

Our tool is a reminder of how far we have to go as a nation to secure basic human rights for our own sexual minorities.

Written by Susan Dicklitch-Nelson, Professor of Government and Chair of the Government Department, Franklin & Marshall College; Berwood Yost, Director of the Center for Opinion Research, Franklin & Marshall College, and Scottie Thompson, Project and Data Specialist, Franklin & Marshall College.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

A Year on, Orlando Shooting Victims Remembered With Love and Rainbows

On the anniversary of the Orlando nightclub shooting that took 49 lives, mourners showed solidarity in vigils and memorials planned all over the country.

An attendee reacts while visiting the memorial outside the Pulse Nightclub on the one-year anniversary of the shooting in Orlando, Florida, U.S., June 12, 2017. Credits: Reuters/Scott Audette

Orlando, Florida: The names of the 49 people killed at a Florida gay nightclub where a gunman turned a dance party into a massacre last year were read aloud on Monday at ceremonies marked by rainbow-hued memorials and guarded by supporters dressed as angels.

On the first anniversary of the worst mass shooting in modern US history, officials asked Americans to join in acts of “love and kindness” to honour victims of the three-hour June 12, 2016 rampage at the now-shuttered Pulse club, including survivors still reeling from emotional and physical wounds.

Vigils and rallies were planned across the US in a show of solidarity with victims of the attack, which authorities called a hateful act against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

“People have asked me what has changed in my life. I tell them everything,” Pulse owner Barbara Poma told several hundred people gathered for a midday ceremony outside the club. “We are all changed.”

Choking back sobs, Poma said she missed everything about Pulse, whose site will become a permanent memorial.

Forty-nine pale yellow wreaths emblazoned with the victims’ names adorned a wall at the nightclub on Monday, and many people at the ceremony wore T-shirts bearing messages such as “we will not let hate win.”

Two women, one with a rainbow flag in her hair, embraced as the names of the victims were read aloud.

“We just had to come here today,” said Joe Moy, 56, of Orlando, who has two gay children and attended the event with his wife. “It was a tremendous outpouring of love.”

Survivors and victims had gathered privately at Pulse at 2:02 am (EST) to mark the exact moment that gunman Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire during the club’s popular Latin night. He shot patrons on the dance floor and sprayed bullets at others cowering in bathroom stalls.

Holding hostages during his standoff with police, Mateen claimed allegiance to a leader of the ISIS militant group before he was killed in an exchange of gunfire with authorities.

His widow, Noor Salman, is charged in federal court with aiding and abetting Mateen’s attack and lying to authorities. She was not present for the shooting and has pleaded not guilty.

With the massacre, more LGBT people were killed in the US in 2016 than any of the 20 years since such record-keeping began, according to a report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

(Reuters)

One Year On, Victims of Florida Club Shooting Honoured

A year after the shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub took 49 lives, the victims were honoured in a pre-dawn ceremony led by the citizens of Orlando.

The parking lot at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, is seen with mementos and displays honouring the 49 people who were killed one year ago during the mass shooting, in Orlando, Florida, US on April 25, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Letitia Stein/Files

Orlando, Florida: The names of the 49 people killed in a Florida nightclub last June were read aloud early on Monday in a pre-dawn remembrance marking the exact moment a year earlier when a gunman transformed a dance party into a massacre.

The private gathering at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub at 2:02 am (0602 GMT) was the first in a series of events at which victims’ names will be memorialised with performances, prayers and candlelight vigils across the country on ‘Orlando United Day.’

On the first anniversary of the worst mass shooting in modern US history, officials asked Americans to join in acts of “love and kindness” to honour victims of the three-hour June 12 rampage at the now-shuttered gay club, including survivors still reeling from emotional and physical wounds.

“Following the Pulse tragedy, we showed the world that Orlando would not be defined by the act of a hate-filled killer, but instead defined by our response of love, compassion and unity,” Mayor Buddy Dyer wrote in a blog post.

Hundreds gathered outside the club late Sunday and early Monday, including scores of people dressed in white with angels wings and carrying lanterns. The “angels” first appeared in the wake of the tragedy to protect and support family and friends of the victims.

“We will make sure the world is a better place because of our 49 angels,” WKMG-TV quoted Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs as saying at the service before a performer sang ‘Over the Rainbow’ to close the service as many on hand sobbed.

“Everybody’s really come together,” Matt Heavey, of Orlando, told WKMG. “We kind of embraced differences,” he said. “We’ve embraced diversity that makes this city really go forward.”

Many who came to pay respects said they were there for the first time since the shooting, with the tragedy still too raw.

The gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire shortly after the last call for drinks on the club’s popular Latin night. He gunned down patrons on the dance floor and sprayed bullets at others cowering in bathroom stalls.

Holding hostages during his standoff with police, Mateen claimed allegiance to a leader of the ISIS militant group before he was killed in an exchange of gunfire with authorities.

His widow, Noor Salman, was arrested in January on federal charges of aiding and abetting Mateen’s attempt to provide material support to a terrorist organisation, and lying to authorities investigating the massacre. She was not present for the attack and has pleaded not guilty.

Along with the events in Orlando, vigils and rallies were planned across the US in a show of solidarity with victims of the attack, which authorities called a hateful act against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

On social media, supporters sought to call attention to their legacy with a campaign using the tag #HonorThemWithAction.

The Center, an LGBT advocacy group in Orlando, asked supporters to post photos of their events so survivors and the relatives of victims could see they had not been forgotten.

“A big part of the healing process is to see, ‘I am not alone in this’,” said Terry DeCarlo, its executive director.

(Reuters)

Can You Dance With Joy?

On the brother-sister bond – and how to be open about love

“I can’t do it.”

I’m standing at the edge of the pool, staring at the electric blue water that stretches below like a block of coloured concrete.

“Yes, you can,” says Zakir, like he always does. My brother is nothing if not optimistic. “You swim perfectly well now, Aloo.”

Easy for him to say. Zak has won the Swimming Federation Championship three years in a row. He’s a rare nerd who’s also a jock, which makes him a huge heartthrob at school, though he’s way more interested in books and sports than girls. Did I mention he’s our star batsman, and he scored a perfect 2400 in his SATs? Yup, that’s Zakir for you. I should hate him, right?

“But what if I die?” I squeak, my eyes fixated on the bottomless blue below. “That will be seriously tragic as I won’t get to show my new bangs to Ria. Or go on our trip to Disney World!” My voice quavers.

“Drama Queen!” laughs Zak. “Come on, Aliya. Take a deep breath and jump!”

“Yes, you can,” says Zakir, like he always does. My brother is nothing if not optimistic. Did I mention he scored a perfect 2400 in his SATs? I should hate him, right?”. Illustration: Ita Mehrotra

“What if I bash my face and get so bruised that nobody asks me to the Summer Social?” Truth be told, I wasn’t thinking of ‘nobody.’ I was thinking of Joy. I’d seen Joy at school for years, but it was only this spring that I crashed headlong into this huge crush on him, when he joined our club for Pool Hour. I watched him dive one evening, flying through the twilight sky like a very special bird (fluttering his biceps rather than wings). And I signed up for extra swimming lessons, hoping I’d impress him one day. Joy isn’t a star student but he’s a mean-ass bowler on the pitch, has the deepest dimples, and brings extra chapatis for the street dogs every day.

“I will bash your face myself unless you stop being such an annoying little princess,” Zak rolls his eyes. “Disney World this, Summer Dance that!”

Just so you know, Zak is the gentlest soul on earth. The image of him bashing anyone is so absurd that I have to smile. Then I shoot a quick glance around the poolside, making sure that Joy isn’t there to witness my moment of un-glory with his unsettlingly beautiful eyes. Joy’s lashes are almost as long as the distance between me and the water.

“Aloo!” yells Zakir. “I know you can do it. Just say yes!”

And I do.

And Zak is right, as always – I don’t drown to death or split my skull open. I silently thank God for making sure that Joy didn’t see my ungainly splash, nor my prolonged terror before it. Also for having a super-bro like Zak. Honestly, I don’t know how I’ll manage when he starts in Princeton this fall.

“I still can’t believe you’re going to college right after Disney World,” I tell Zak as we walk back home. I stop to take a selfie of us, and WhatsApp it to Ria.

“And I still can’t believe we’re going to Disney World,” laughs Zakir. “How did you ever get Dad to agree? You’d expect a High Court Judge to be more sensible, wouldn’t you?”

Frankly, I’d been surprised by that too. Don’t get me wrong – our Dad isn’t a toughie like some Dads are. In fact, he’s known for being one of the more lenient judges in Hyderabad. But unlike Ammi, Dad isn’t into amusement parks. He doesn’t amuse easy, our Dad.

So, this is how I scored Disney World: I caught Dad at a weak moment. When I told him I failed Biology, he slammed his teacup down so hard – the delicate china one I’d got him for Eid – that it shattered into bits. I burst into tears. And Dad started looking rather guilty.

“How will you become a doctor if you fail bio, Aliya?” Dad had sighed in that half conciliatory, half I’m-still-upset voice of his.

“But I want to be an actor!” I’d bawled. Dad looked like he wanted to break the teapot too (and possibly the milk jug), but caught himself just in time.

“Listen, no daughter of mine will ever be an actress.” A vein on Dad’s temple had started to throb. “Being a doctor is a very proper thing for a young lady from this family. Just like your mother. You’ll take biology lessons all summer long…’

“But you know we want to go to Disney World this summer… And Khala keeps asking us all to visit Miami, which is so close!” I’d wailed.

“That’s true, Azhar,” Ammi had chimed in from her desk in the study. God bless Ammi.

As I race Zakir up the stairs, I wonder what Joy is doing right this minute. I really hope he asks me to the Summer Social, but I haven’t admitted this to Zak yet. My brother and I talk about practically everything, but I’ve noticed that he isn’t interested in the topic of Joy at all. The night I saw Joy fly, I’d asked Zak what Joy was like in school. “He’s all right,” Zak had mumbled, noisily switching on his 27” iMac. Joy and Zak are in the same class, and both on the cricket team, so I’m not sure why they aren’t friends. Perhaps it’s the competitive streak in Zakir? Unlike me, he has never failed any subject. In fact, the only thing he miserably fails at is to not top his class every year. Zak has to be best at everything and Joy is, after all, the other star on the cricket team – the trickiest spin bowler in high-school cricket, famous for his wrist speed. I’m sure Joy is stiff competition in terms of the attention he gets. So… when Zakir saw me chatting with Joy outside the library last week, he asked me rather curtly what that was all about.

PING! WhatsApp from Ria: “Ur hair looks funny esp that wet mess stickin 2 ur forehead. Did J ask u 2 the dance?”

“He wasn’t at the pool 2dy,” I text back, gutted that she doesn’t like my new haircut.

“Okk gotta go good luck w SAT prep” Ria vanishes from my phone.

“There are hardly any love stories you’ll find that could actually happen to teenagers like me. I mean, the stuff you see on film or TV has nothing to do with the way we fall in love.” Illustration: Ita Mehrotra

Ah, yes, SAT prep. I bring out my book with ten practice tests. Unlike Zak, I’m not remotely fussed about a perfect score, but I do want to get into Brandeis, which has a good theatre-arts program and decent financial aid. SAT math wasn’t too bad, but the language stuff was hard even for me, although I keep hearing that my vocab is fab. Joy was most impressed yesterday when I used the word “amorous” while explaining why I wasn’t allowed to watch “Game of Thrones.” Then we spent an hour comparing notes on our favourite movie love-confessions.

I can’t stop thinking about Joy, so I switch on the TV, craving something age-appropriately “amorous.” The thing is, there are hardly any love stories you’ll find here that could actually happen to teenagers like me. I mean, the stuff you see on film or TV has nothing to do with the way we fall in love. For one thing, everyone looks so incredibly perfect, and for another, their dramas are so very pat (and colour-coordinated) they make you want to barf.

End credits roll for “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” – shoot, missed it. I flip through channels, forgetting the SAT.

An endless stream of soaps, frothing with wives and mistresses wielding heavy jewelry and heavier makeup while they cook, clean, and conspire against each other.

A film with three old men dressed like teenagers chasing girls just a bit older than me who wear teeny-weeny dresses and gigantic false lashes.

An action film in which dizzying stunts are intercut with a blue-eyed beauty-queen clasping a gleaming pistol to her heart like it’s the love of her life.

A dance contest packed with little girls mouthing love-songs with exaggerated expressions while weirdly gyrating their little hips and flat chests, looking like stunted Bollywood divas.

A news report of an acid attack on a schoolgirl by a spurned classmate, which has left her blind in one eye. God, how horrifying…

“So, how’s that test coming along?” Zak breezes in bearing chili cheese toasts. Did I tell you he’s just wow in the kitchen, especially for a 17-year-old lad? Whenever Ma works late in hospital, he fixes us a properly delicious snack.

“Ugh,” I groan, staring at the first of ten tests. “I’ll never finish these before we leave for Florida. I can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can,” declares Zak like he always does, switching the TV off.

“How? Look at all these words I have to memorize that no one ever uses! ‘Pulchritude’? ‘Obfuscate’? ‘Unimpeachable’? Who talks like that anyway?”

“Where are those flash-cards you made? Let me quiz you with those.”

“Don’t bother. I’m sure I don’t remember any of them.”

“Oh Aloo,” Zakir sounds exasperated. “I bet you do. Just say yes!”

And I do.

“Joy has never been a sparkling conversationalist, but he’s a good-hearted hunk who sets my heart off on a marathon every time he looks at me through those scandalously long lashes.”
Illustration: Ita Mehrotra

And again, Zak is right. Once he establishes that I even remember what “dissembling” and “pernickety” mean, Zak goes back downstairs. My thoughts immediately return to Joy, of course. I can’t be absolutely sure that he’ll ask me to the Social, but I do know that I’m the only girl he spends any time with, so he must like me a bit. He always hangs around the club when we’re there, and insists on walking me home from the library. Even when we run out of things to say, Joy tries hard to keep the conversation going by asking fully random questions like, “So, what’s Zakir up to these days?” Joy has never been a sparkling conversationalist, but he’s a good-hearted hunk who sets my heart off on a marathon every time he looks at me through those scandalously long lashes.

In fact, it feels weird that I haven’t seen Joy at all today. I get this sudden, uncontrollable urge to see his dimply smile, and wish I’d taken a selfie with him too. Wait, doesn’t Zakir have photos of his cricket team stacked away somewhere? I look through his desk. No luck. They’re not on his shelf either. Hmm… Zak couldn’t have tossed them, he’s crazy about his team… Could they be in his Box of Special Things? The one he keeps next to his bed?

I open the box. Zak’s journal, which I don’t touch, fills up most of it. Also, a baby picture of me, Zak feeding me cake. A fish-fossil we’d found together on Kovalam beach. And – yes! – those cricket photos, wrapped up in grey tissue. Joy sparkles in all of them, of course. For nothing in the world can obfuscate his unimpeachable pulchritude – I giggle to myself.

God, I’ll miss Joy so much on our trip. Will he still like me when I get back? And what if I forget how to swim while I’m gone? That would be a disaster! Maybe our hotel has a pool I could practice in?

I run downstairs to ask Zak. He has no idea. We find Dad in the study, watching the news.

“Dad, does our Disney World hotel have a pool?”

“We may not be going to Disney World, Aliya.”

I’m devastated to hear this. Zak looks startled too. I mean, everything about this trip has been perfectly planned for ages.

“It’s not safe,” Dad explains. “At least 40 people were shot dead in Orlando early this morning. Probably more. They’re still counting.”

“What happened?” I whisper.

“A madman. I’d rather not talk about it, but then again, it’ll be all over your social media.”

“Who were they, Dad?” asks Zak. “Where were they, so early in the morning?”

“So late at night is more like it. In a nightclub. They were men, mostly. Young men. Gruesome affair.”

More than 40 shot dead, just like that? It didn’t make any sense.

“Why were they shot?” I ask. “What were they doing?”

“The men were – well – dancing with one another, I suppose,” Dad clears his throat awkwardly. “Of course it’s uncomfortable to think about such a weird scene sitting here, but at least in India they are not marrying each other, like they do in the States.”

Zak stares at Dad, cheese toast frozen in his hand.

“Still, this shooting is very sad,” Dad sits up straight. “Even those people have a right to live, of course.”

“I think… I think everyone should have the right to marry who they want,” Zak says slowly.

“Do you, now? You think they should be allowed to marry and have children?” That vein on Dad’s temple is throbbing again. “Men with men, women with women? Just like normal people?”

“I’m sure they were normal people, Dad… Those 40 who were killed today.” Zak’s voice is shaking but he looks Dad straight in the eye.

“Don’t argue with me, Zakir!” Dad bangs the remote down on the coffee table. “You know I oppose violence of any kind, and what happened today is tragic. That aside, marriage is a sacred union, and parenthood – “

As if by divine intervention, the doorbell rings at that moment. “Zakir!” I yell, interrupting Dad for once. “We have to get the door!” I drag Zak as far away from the study as I can.

Illustration: Ita Mehrotra

Joy stands on the doorstep. Judging by the way Joy’s face lights up, he hasn’t heard the Orlando news yet. We hear Dad pump up the TV volume, like he always does when he’s mad.

“Sorry I couldn’t make it to Pool Hour… So… I thought I’d stop by to… well… to ask about the Summer Social.”

There it is, finally! The moment I’ve been waiting for. My hand shoots up to smooth my half-wet bangs down. Joy steps in gingerly as he speaks.

“I was wondering if… if you’d like to come with me to the dance… Zakir?”

Zak’s mouth falls open. Literally.

So does mine.

Joy keeps speaking, shy but kind of awesomely fearless.

“You’re going away to college soon and I’ve… I’ve always liked you, you see…”

Zak’s mouth closes itself, but his eyes fill up with tears.

Oh my god. It’s all starting to make sense.

Why Zak has never had a girlfriend.

Why Joy joined the swim club.

Why Zak feels so awkward talking about Joy.

Why Joy insists on walking me back all the way to my doorstep.

Why Zak keeps Joy’s photos in his Box of Special Things.

I’d got it so wrong. It’s not that Zakir and Joy don’t like each other. They like each other too much to be buddies.

Zak stares at Joy, eyes still brimming, unable to utter a word. He swallows hard as Joy speaks.

“So… I thought I should just… well… ask if maybe we could go to this Social together?”

“I… I can’t… Joy… ” Zak begins to speak, his voice trapped in tears.

“Yes, you can,” I hear myself say, not letting him finish.

I’ve never seen Zakir like this before, so trembly and confused. I’m the emotional one, not Zak, so we’ve always been told. But I’ve nursed my crush for just a few weeks. Zak has hidden his for years.

“Zak,” I whisper. “Just say yes.”

And he does.

Nandana Dev Sen is a writer, actor, and child-rights activist. She writes books for children, and works closely with RAHI, Operation Smile and UNICEF to fight against child abuse.

The author tweets as @nandanadevsen and is on Facebook. Her Youthquake stories will appear in The Wire every month.

Muslim Cleric And Aide Shot Dead After Leaving Mosque in New York

The motive for the shooting was not immediately known and no evidence has been uncovered that the two men were targeted because of their faith, says police.

Members of the New York City police department establish a crime scene at the spot where Imam Alala Uddin Akongi was killed in the Queens borough of New York City, August 13, 2016. Credit: Reuters/Stephanie Keith.

New York: A Muslim cleric and an associate were fatally shot by a lone gunman on Saturday while walking together following afternoon prayers at a mosque in the New York City borough of Queens, authorities said.

The gunman approached the men from behind and shot both in the head at close range at about 1:50 pm on a blistering hot afternoon in the Ozone Park neighbourhood, police said in a statement, adding that no arrests had been made.

The motive for the shooting was not immediately known and no evidence has been uncovered that the two men were targeted because of their faith, said Tiffany Phillips, a spokeswoman for the New York City police department. Even so, police were not ruling out any possibility, she added.

The victims, identified as Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, were both wearing religious garb at the time of shooting, police said. Police had initially identified Uddin as Tharam.

The men were transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Centre where they died, hospital spokesman Andrew Rubin said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group known by the acronym CAIR, said Uddin was an associate of the imam.

“These were two very beloved people,” Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of CAIR, told Reuters. “These were community leaders.”

“There is a deep sense of mourning and an overwhelming cry for justice to be served,” Nasher said. “There is a very loud cry, too, for the NYPD to investigate fully, with the total amount of their resources, the incident that happened today.”

The organisation held a news conference on Saturday evening in front of the mosque, the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid, where the two men had prayed.

“We are calling for all people, of all faiths, to rally with compassion and with a sense of vigilance so that justice can be served,” Nasher said. ““You can’t go up to a person and shoot them in the head and not be motivated by hatred.”

The suspect was seen by witnesses fleeing the scene with a gun in his hand, police said.

“We are currently conducting an extensive canvass of the area for video and additional witnesses,” deputy inspector Henry Sautner said in a statement.

Eric Phillips, a press secretary for New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, said the mayor was closely monitoring the police investigation into the shootings.

“While it is too early to tell what led to these murders, it is certain that the NYPD will stop at nothing to ensure justice is served,” Phillips said in a statement.

Akonjee was described as a peaceful man who was beloved within Ozone Park’s large Muslim community.

“He would not hurt a fly,” his nephew Rahi Majid, 26, told the New York Daily News. “You would watch him come down the street and watch the peace he brings.”

Video footage posted on YouTube showed dozens of men gathered near the site of the shooting, with one of them telling the crowd that it appeared to be a hate crime, even as police said the motive was still unknown.

“We feel really insecure and unsafe in a moment like this,” Millat Uddin, an Ozone Park resident told CBS television in New York. “It’s really threatening to us, threatening to our future, threatening to our mobility in our neighbourhood, and we’re looking for the justice.”

In June, CAIR issued a statement calling for Muslim community leaders to consider increasing security after the Orlando massacre and incidents that it said had targeted Muslims and Islamic houses of worship.

A gunman who called himself an ‘Islamic soldier’ killed 49 people in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub on June 12.

(Reuters)

Gay Leaders Solidify Alliance with Gun Control Activists After Orlando Shooting

Civil rights activists plan to mobilise the same grassroots machinery that moved marriage equality from political pipe dream to reality in a matter of years, this time in the name of gun safety.

A member of the National Park Service walks by a memorial to the victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting outside The Stonewall Inn following a ceremony officially designating The Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park as a national monument in the Manhattan borough of New York, US, June 27, 2016. Credit:Reuters/Andrew Kelly/Files

New York: Dozens of leading civil rights activists gathered earlier this summer at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York, the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender synagogue in the United States.

It was two days after the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando. But they weren’t there to mourn. The group that included Evan Wolfson, often described as the architect of the modern same-sex marriage movement, was there for action.

The participants discussed how to mobilise the same grassroots machinery that moved marriage equality from political pipe dream to reality in a matter of years, this time in the name of gun safety.

That meeting was the first of many solidifying an alliance between advocates for gun control and gay rights. Prominent leaders in both movements have created a working group, hashed out strategy and are planning a Washington, DC, rally that aims to capitalise on one of the hallmarks of the gay rights movement – street-level activism.

Veteran gay activists are helping manage campaigns for state ballot measures this fall that would expand background checks for gun buyers. Representatives of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest US gay advocacy group, plan to lobby for gun safety laws in visits with members of Congress during their recess this month and with state lawmakers when they return to session next year.

Gun control advocates, who have seen legislative efforts repeatedly stymied by a reluctant Congress and the gun lobby, said they welcomed the help from a community that Wolfson described in an interview as a “sleeping giant that has been awakened.”

But Orlando was catalytic for gays on both sides of the gun issue. Since the shooting, membership swelled 500% to more than 8,000 in Pink Pistols, a pro-gun gay group with the motto: “Armed queers don’t get bashed.”

A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association declined to comment on how gay rights groups were approaching gun control. The gun lobbying group has encouraged gays and other minorities to use guns for self defence.

Taking ideas and talents

The Orlando shooting bolstered ongoing efforts by the gun control movement to borrow from the same-sex marriage playbook: take the fight to the states and build grassroots support.

“In many ways, we took a page right from the political arc of marriage equality,” said John Feinblatt, director of Everytown for Gun Safety, the anti-gun violence group founded by billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “Is it going to win overnight like a light switch? Absolutely not – but neither did marriage equality.”

Like Mark Glaze, his predecessor at Everytown, Feinblatt is a gay advocate whose involvement has reinforced the strategic ties between the two movements.

Similarly, Zach Silk, who helped lead the successful 2012 Washington State same-sex marriage ballot initiative, went to work on gun safety weeks after the Newtown, Connecticut school massacre that same year. In 2014, he helped pass a referendum on expanded background checks, and he is currently working for a comparable initiative in Nevada.

Matt McTighe, a veteran strategist for same-sex marriage ballot initiatives, is working with Everytown as a consultant on a background checks referendum in Maine this fall.

The ballot measures attempt to capitalise on something the same-sex marriage movement didn’t enjoy at the outset: broad public support. Polls show modest measures, such as expanded background checks, are overwhelmingly popular.

Several federal courts have upheld state limits, such as military-style assault weapons bans, that go beyond the background checks in pending ballot measures.

The legal terrain is defined by the landmark 2008 US Supreme Court decision known as Heller, which ruled the 2nd amendment of the US constitution protects the right to own guns.

“It’s hard to see what item on the gun control agenda would be barred under Heller,” said Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America.

Gun control supporters have adopted another tactic from the same-sex marriage movement: putting a human face on the issue.

Everytown has been building a survivors’ network so victims can share their stories.

“Freedom to marry came from storytelling – meeting people in love who wanted to have families like everyone else,” Feinblatt said. “We have a 1,000-member network who are turning grief into political action.”

Gay rights groups, like the National LGBTQ Task Force, plan to draw on deep ties they have developed with state and federal lawmakers through years of lobbying.

Still, leaders worry progress could stall as the raw emotions surrounding Orlando fade. To that end, some groups are emphasising the gay community’s vulnerability to hate crimes and domestic violence.

“This is an everyday issue for our community,” said Meghan Maury, the senior policy counsel for the National LGBTQ Task Force. “It won’t be sustainable if we only talk about this in the context of Orlando.”

(Reuters)

Florida Nightclub Shooting: Suspects Sought For Killing Two Teens

Florida police is searching for additional suspects responsible for the shooting at a nightclub in Fort Myers that killed two teenagers and injured several other people.

Fort Myers police officers walk in the parking lot of Club Blu after a shooting attack in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S., July 25, 2016. Reuters/Files

Fort Myers: Florida police said on Monday that they had taken three people into custody, but were searching for additional suspects in connection with a shooting outside a nightclub just after midnight that left two teenagers dead and more than a dozen people wounded.

The shooting took place shortly after 12:30 a.m. EDT (0430 GMT) on Monday, in the parking lot of Club Blu, which was hosting an event open to teenagers, the Fort Myers Police Department said.

Police said Stef’An Strawder, an 18-year-old high school basketball star, and Sean Archilles, 14, were killed. Two other people were critically wounded.

Police officials in Fort Myers, located on Florida’s Gulf Coast, said terrorism was not a factor in the state’s latest outburst of gun violence this summer, but provided no details about a possible motive.

The three young men were arrested after fleeing the scene in two vehicles and were charged in connection to that pursuit, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on Facebook.

According to the statement Derrick Church, 19, was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer after accelerating his vehicle toward a sheriff’s deputy. Church was shot in the stomach by the deputy during that altercation, but was treated and had been released from a hospital, the sheriff’s department said.

Demetrius O’Neal, 19, and Tajze Battle, 22, were taken into custody on suspicion of resisting arrest, according to the statement.

“This was not a terrorist act,” Fort Myers interim Police Chief Dennis Eads said at a news conference.

He said officers responding to the shooting found chaos at the scene.

“No one really knew what was going on or what happened,” Eads said.

Officers provided first aid to victims, bandaging some with tourniquets to stop bleeding, he said. Paramedics took some victims to the hospital while others drove themselves.

At least 19 people, ranging from 12- to 27-years-old, were treated at local hospitals, said Lisa Sgarlata, chief administrative officer for Lee Memorial Hospital.

Three patients remained hospitalised at Lee Memorial as of Monday afternoon, two of whom were in critical condition.

The shooting came six weeks after a massacre at a nightclub in Orlando, in central Florida, where a gunman who sympathised with Islamist extremist groups killed 49 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Despite the recent violence, Florida governor Rick Scott said the state’s crime rates were at a 45-year low.

Fort Myers, about 150 miles southwest of Orlando, was the scene of another shooting incident last October when one person was killed and several wounded by gunfire at a festival that attracts thousands of people in zombie costumes.

All-ages party

Before the latest shooting, Club Blu, located in a partially vacant strip mall, was hosting a ‘swimsuit glow party’ for people of all ages, according to a flyer posted on Twitter by television station WINK.

The nightclub said on its Facebook page that the shooting occurred when the venue was closing and parents were picking up their children. The page later appeared to have been removed.

“We tried to give the teens what we thought was a safe place to have a good time,” the nightclub’s post said, adding that armed security guards were present inside and outside the club. “It was not kids at the party that did this despicable act.”

Jean Archilles, 37, the father of the 14-year-old killed, said his son loved sports, especially basketball.

“It happened for a reason. I don’t know what the reason is,” he said in a telephone interview, adding that he had not been told details about his son’s death.

Sean Archilles was due to enter eighth grade at Royal Palm Exceptional Centre, while Strawder was to start his senior year at Lehigh Senior High School, according to the Lee County School District.

Strawder’s mother, Stephanie White, told the News-Press newspaper that her son was shot in his right shoulder as he walked out of the club and was pronounced dead at the hospital. His 19-year-old sister survived a gunshot wound in the leg, White said.

Police said shots were also fired at a nearby residence, where there was one minor injury.

In a video interview, Syreeta Gary said her daughter and a friend ran for cover. Her daughter escaped unscathed, but a bullet struck a friend in the leg.

(Reuters)

Canada Exploring Use of Gender-Neutral Identity Cards, Says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Countries including Australia, New Zealand and Nepal already allow the use of the X gender indicator.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with spectators during Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, July 1. Credit: Reuters/Chris Wattie

Toronto: Canada is exploring the use of gender-neutral options on identity cards, Justin Trudeau told a television station on July 3 as he became the first Canadian prime minister to march in a gay pride parade.

Trudeau, who participated in the downtown Toronto parade along with other politicians, did not give details, saying only the government was exploring the “best way” and studying other jurisdictions.

“That’s part of the great arc of history sweeping towards justice,” he told CP24.

Last week, the Canadian province of Ontario said it would allow the use of a third gender indicator, X, for driver’s licenses, which are commonly used in North America to provide identification.

Countries including Australia, New Zealand and Nepal already allow the use of the X gender indicator.

Trudeau also said last month’s relaxation of Canadian blood-donation restrictions on men who have sex with other men was “not good enough,” saying the government was going to work toward easing it further.

According to Canadian Blood Services, men who have sex with other men can now donate after one year of abstinence, down from five years previously.

Trudeau said Toronto’s annual parade was made more poignant this year by the shooting rampage that killed 49 people last month at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

“We have to remember the importance of safe spaces and safe communities, like the Pulse was, is something to uphold,” he said.

Muslim Man Beaten Outside Mosque in Florida

The sheriff’s office of St. Lucie county and a Florida Muslim civil rights group disagree over whether the attack was racially motivated.

The Islamic Centre of Fort Pierce is shown as worshippers take part in a service to offer prayers for victims of the Orlando shooting, in Fort Pierce, Florida, US on June 12, 2016. Credit: Reuters/Joe Skipper/Files

Florida: A Muslim man was beaten on Saturday outside a Florida mosque attended by the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub, though authorities and a Muslim civil rights group differed as to whether the attack was racially motivated.

The St. Lucie county sheriff’s office said the assault outside the Fort Pierce Islamic Centre was reported around 4:11 am local time and that deputies found the victim, who had been punched in the head and face, bleeding from the mouth.

The suspect, 25-year-old Taylor Anthony Mazzanti, was arrested shortly thereafter and booked on a charge of felony battery, the office said.

“Interviews by the deputies and supervisors on scene and a written witness statement completed by the victim do not indicate any racially-motivated comments were made by the suspect prior to, during or after the incident,” sheriff Ken Mascara said in a statement.

Mascara said the investigation was ongoing.

The Florida branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) gave a different account of the incident.

The organisation said a senior official with the Muslim non-profit, ICNA Relief, was with the victim and that the attacker approached spouting racial slurs and other offensive language.

CAIR said the attacker, who is white, allegedly said, “You Muslims need to get back to your country”, before assaulting the victim, who was not identified by CAIR or authorities. CAIR said the victim was Muslim and attended the Islamic Centre.

The Islamic Centre’s imam had requested extra security following the mass shooting last month by Omar Mateen at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, about 120 miles to the north, according to CAIR and mosque spokesman Wilfredo Ruiz.

Ruiz said Mateen had infrequently attended the mosque.

Mateen, who was killed by police after a three-hour siege inside the club, declared himself to be an “Islamic soldier” and pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State militant group, according to emergency call transcripts released by the FBI last month.

Ruiz criticised the sheriff’s office for not giving them additional security, saying: “This should not have happened.”

Sheriff Mascara said statements on the attack made by mosque officials and CAIR included “untruthful rhetoric.”

(Reuters)

US House of Representatives to Vote on Gun-Control Legislation

After the Orlando shooting that killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at a gay nightclub, gun-control proponents ratcheted up pressure for meaningful legislation.

US House Speaker Paul Ryan speaks about the House Democrats’ sit-in over gun-control laws, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, June 23. Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas

Washington: The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives, under mounting pressure to advance gun-control legislation, will vote next week on a measure to keep guns out of the hands of people on government terrorism watch lists.

Republican and gun lobby sources said the legislation, due to be introduced as part of a terrorism package, was likely to be a National Rifle Association (NRA)-backed bill brought by representative Lee Zeldin of New York as the companion to a senate Republican measure from senator John Cornyn of Texas.

House Democrats, who last week staged a 25-hour sit-in on the House floor to push for gun control after the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, condemned the Cornyn-Zeldin measure as the handiwork of the NRA. Senate Democrats blocked the same legislation last week.

“House Democrats will keep up our efforts to push for the majority to allow a vote on gun violence legislation, but bringing up a bill authored by the NRA just isn’t going to cut it,” said Drew Hammill, an aide to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. The NRA denied writing the legislation.

House speaker Paul Ryan announced the plan in a conference call with lawmakers. Republican leadership aides declined to provide details. One said the package was still being negotiated.

After the Orlando, Florida, shooting that killed 49 people and wounded 53 more at a gay nightclub, gun-control proponents ratcheted up pressure for meaningful legislation.

“We are going to get something done this year, I predict,” Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told reporters. “I think we’re going to take a bite out of the NRA.”

Reid said he was hopeful for a bill introduced by Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine, and a bipartisan House companion bill backed by Republicans including representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida, to prevent gun sales to anyone on the government’s “No Fly List” for terrorism suspects or the “Selectee List” for extra airport screening.

Before June 30 announcement, representative Bob Dold of Illinois, a Republican backer of the Collins-Curbelo bill, urged Ryan and House majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to opt for the bipartisan measure, according to a Dold aide.

But hopes for a vote on that measure could be dashed if House Republicans move first on the Cornyn-Zeldin bill, which would allow party leaders to say they had acted on gun control.

“It would really be a sharp blow,” said Representative Scott Rigell, a Virginia Republican and NRA member who supports the Collins-Curbelo measure.

The NRA-backed measure would give officials three days to decide whether a gun sale should be blocked. Democrats argue the timetable is insufficient and say the government would have to persuade a court that a would-be buyer “has committed or will commit an act of terrorism” before it could block a gun sale.

Under the Collins-Curbelo bills, a court would have 14 days to decide on appeals.

(Reuters)