Washington Blade - December 23, 2005

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Three men killed a leading Jamaican AIDS activist while robbing his home on the eve of World AIDS Day, Reuters reported. Steve Harvey of Christian Aid partner, Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, ran a program to offer support for gay men and sex workers. Three armed men broke into Harvey's home, demanded money and forced him to carry valuables to the JASL car parked outside, Reuters reported. One of the men allegedly said to Harvey and his two housemates, "We hear that you are gay." Two of them denied it, and they were tied up and left in the house. The suspects drove off with Harvey in their car, and he was found two hours later, shot to death. Homophobia is rampant in Jamaica, where violent crimes also are commonplace.

Killer of trans teen to serve no more than six years

HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) - One of four men charged in the beating and strangulation of transgender teenager Gwen Araujo pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter last week. Juries had deadlocked in the defendant's two previous murder trials. Under the plea agreement, Jason Cazares, 25, will spend no more than six years in prison, according to prosecutors. His sentencing is Jan. 27. Araujo, 17, was beaten, tied up and strangled on Oct. 4, 2002, after men she had had sexual encounters with learned she was biologically male, according to authorities. Cazares claimed he was outside the house when his friends killed Araujo and only helped bury the body in the Sierra Nevada foothills. A jury convicted Michael Magidson and Jose Merel, both 25, in September of second-degree murder but deadlocked 9-3 on the same charge for Cazares, prompting the judge to declare a second mistrial in his case. The fourth man charged in the case, Jaron Nabors, 22, was allowed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against the others.

Four British youth convicted in beating death of gay man

LONDON (AP) - Four youths were convicted of manslaughter last week for beating to death a man who had survived the fatal nail-bombing of a British gay pub six years ago. Barman David Morley, 37, was beaten to death by a gang of youths in central London in October 2004. A jury at London's Central Criminal Court found a 15-year-old girl and three men aged 17 to 21 innocent of murder but convicted them of manslaughter and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. The four - Reece Sargeant, 21; Darren Case, 18; a 17-year-old boy and the 15-year-old girl, neither of whom can be identified because of their age - are due to be sentenced on Jan. 23. Two other youths were acquitted of all charges. Prosecutor Richard Horwell said the gang, seeking "violence for its own sake," beat and kicked eight people in five separate attacks within an hour on Oct. 30, 2004. Morley was working at the Admiral Duncan gay pub in London's Soho district when it was bombed in April 1999.

French lawmaker faces jail after anti-gay comments

PARIS - Saying that gays represent a "threat to humanity" has a French lawmaker in court on charges that he offended gays, the U.K. News-Telegraph reported. Gay rights groups took Christian Vanneste to court after his comments, and he now faces jail and a heavy fine. The case is the first criminal prosecution under a law, modified last year, that forbids insults based on gender or sexual orientation and provides punishment of up to six months in prison and an approximately $26,000 fine. Vanneste will be sentenced Jan. 24. The gay groups SOS Homophobie, Act Up-Paris and Sneg, a gay business group, jointly requested the prosecution after Vanneste allegedly repeated comments he made in Parliament to two newspapers. A professor of philosophy, Vanneste, 58, denies that he broke the law.

Police probe link between murders of Texas gay men

DALLAS - The unsolved killings of five gay men during the past few years have Dallas Police Department officials exploring the possibility that the murders are connected, WFAA-TV reported. Dallas Planning & Zoning Commissioner Lawrence Wheat, 42, died in June 2004 after he was beaten in his home. A witness saw a man leave Wheat's home. Now Dallas police are considering links between Wheat's murder and the killings of four other gay men since December 2000. "We are looking at those cases [and] comparing those cases to see if there are any similarities," Sgt. Kenneth Lecesne said. A connection to a sixth killing, in nearby Arlington, also is being investigated. There, Samuel Lea, 28, a University of Texas student, was found strangled to death on Halloween. "Based on the investigation we had so far, the similarities have been the lifestyles of... the victims," Lecesne told WFAA-TV.

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