Gauge: The news of Desi Deschaine's death spread like wildfire Tuesday morning in both the real and virtual worlds. By noon, July 14, there were more than a hundred posts to his Facebook page, rapidly becoming an online memorial. The apparent drowning of Deschaine, a 29-year-old gay Washingtonian who served as director of communications for Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), has stunned the District's gay community and beyond.
"We're just in shock, totally in grief," said Jeff Coudriet Tuesday morning, who worked with Deschaine as committee clerk of the City Council Committee on Finance & Revenue, which Evans chairs. "He was always involved, incredibly good-natured. I can't think of anybody who doesn't like Desi. He really loved the notion of public service."
Desi Deschaine, right, with Christopher Dyer, at a May 15, 2009, Whitman-Walker Clinic fundraiser
(Photo by Ward Morrison/file photo) Deschaine spent Sunday, July 12, boating with friends in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, but went missing after walking off the boat Sunday evening, friends say. Baltimore Police confirmed Tuesday that a missing-person report had been filed, but would not confirm that a body found in Baltimore Harbor was Deschaine's. Community activist Phil Attey, who knew Deschaine, however, said Tuesday that he'd spoken with Deschaine's family who confirmed the body was Deschaine's. ...more
"We're just in shock, totally in grief," said Jeff Coudriet Tuesday morning, who worked with Deschaine as committee clerk of the City Council Committee on Finance & Revenue, which Evans chairs. "He was always involved, incredibly good-natured. I can't think of anybody who doesn't like Desi. He really loved the notion of public service."
Desi Deschaine, right, with Christopher Dyer, at a May 15, 2009, Whitman-Walker Clinic fundraiser
(Photo by Ward Morrison/file photo) Deschaine spent Sunday, July 12, boating with friends in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, but went missing after walking off the boat Sunday evening, friends say. Baltimore Police confirmed Tuesday that a missing-person report had been filed, but would not confirm that a body found in Baltimore Harbor was Deschaine's. Community activist Phil Attey, who knew Deschaine, however, said Tuesday that he'd spoken with Deschaine's family who confirmed the body was Deschaine's. ...more
Gauge:
Rob McGuire
(Photo by Yusef Najafi) Organizers of the second annual "Bring Your Own Everything Family Picnic" were pleased with the comfortably sunny weather on Saturday, July 11. That day the NOVA Gay & Lesbian Professionals joined forces with Burgundy Crescent Volunteers, the DC Ice Breakers and the DC Lesbian Singles at Great Falls National Park in McLean, Va., for a picnic.
“We are here, and if you did not know that we were queer, I don’t think you would find any difference between our landscape and many of the other groups that are out here right now,” said Marguerite Bardone of NOVA GLP.
“We did a similar joint event at Nellie’s Sports Bar, and I was almost afraid we were going to break the deck,” she added with a laugh. ...more
Rob McGuire
(Photo by Yusef Najafi) Organizers of the second annual "Bring Your Own Everything Family Picnic" were pleased with the comfortably sunny weather on Saturday, July 11. That day the NOVA Gay & Lesbian Professionals joined forces with Burgundy Crescent Volunteers, the DC Ice Breakers and the DC Lesbian Singles at Great Falls National Park in McLean, Va., for a picnic.
“We are here, and if you did not know that we were queer, I don’t think you would find any difference between our landscape and many of the other groups that are out here right now,” said Marguerite Bardone of NOVA GLP.
“We did a similar joint event at Nellie’s Sports Bar, and I was almost afraid we were going to break the deck,” she added with a laugh. ...more
Gauge: One way to look at bi-national couples, couples of differing nationalities, is as a booming business. Enter "mail order brides" into nearly any search engine and it will return a bounty of hits from companies offering to facilitate introductions and dialogue -- for a fee. Some even offer helpful immigration advice, such as the Rose Brides site: "(I)f done correctly and with the right patience and necessary evidence, paperwork, and steps, filing for and having your Russian bride enter the United States is relatively simple."
Under different circumstances, such a Web site might even amuse Joe and Steve. But with the clock ticking, and the federal government poised to extinguish their nine-year relationship -- which it legally refuses to acknowledge to any degree, despite their D.C. domestic partnership and Connecticut marriage -- nobody's laughing. Instead, Joe and Steve are scrambling as the hourglass empties and Joe faces expulsion to his native Indonesia, and back into the closet of this majority-Muslim nation.
Steve and Joe "I feel like a third-class citizen," says Steve, who met Joe in Pittsburgh nearly a decade ago, as Joe attended school, eventually earning a doctoral degree in structural engineering. "We don't have the same rights as heterosexual couples. We also don't have the same rights as gay couples who are born in this country." ...more
Under different circumstances, such a Web site might even amuse Joe and Steve. But with the clock ticking, and the federal government poised to extinguish their nine-year relationship -- which it legally refuses to acknowledge to any degree, despite their D.C. domestic partnership and Connecticut marriage -- nobody's laughing. Instead, Joe and Steve are scrambling as the hourglass empties and Joe faces expulsion to his native Indonesia, and back into the closet of this majority-Muslim nation.
Steve and Joe "I feel like a third-class citizen," says Steve, who met Joe in Pittsburgh nearly a decade ago, as Joe attended school, eventually earning a doctoral degree in structural engineering. "We don't have the same rights as heterosexual couples. We also don't have the same rights as gay couples who are born in this country." ...more
NEW YORK (AP)Two prosecution witnesses who were at a New York house party when a transgendered woman was murdered testified the man accused of the killing had directed an anti-gay slur at the victim.
Neither of the witnesses at the trial of Dwight DeLee said they saw him fire the shot that killed 22-year-old Lateisha Green in November.
The pair testified Wednesday that DeLee called Green a "faggot."
DeLee is being tried on a Numerous applicants were denied entry to the department's Honors Program and the summer intern program starting in 2006 because of their previous work in what were deemed to be liberal organizations, according to an internal Justice Department report issued last year. The practice occurred while Attorney General Alberto Gonzales led the department. The Blade recently learned that among the blacklisted groups was Immigration Equality, w ...
By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade
Applicants for Justice Department internships and honors programs may have been rejected based on their membership in LGBT groups during the Bush administration, the Blade has learned.
By REBECCA ARMENDARIZ, Washington BladeA feud between D.C. City Council members David Catania and Marion Barry erupted anew this week as Barry accused Catania of targeting him for investigation because Barry opposes same-sex marriage.
Catania canceled a hearing this week that was scheduled to address allegations that Barry has directed taxpayer funds to organizations that appear to be run by his staff members.
Instead, Catania is calling for the Office of the Inspector General to investigate the allegations against Barry, first raised in a report by the Washington City Paper.
“If these allegations are true, and in light of the fac ...
Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, an LGBT-focused business advisory group based in San Francisco, has scored a major get for its annual summit this fall: John Berry, the openly gay director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today picked Ronald E. Albers for a judgeship on the San Francisco County Superior Court.
Theresa Sparks, the transgender woman who has served two terms as president of the city’s police commission, has ruled out running for a third term. When she first won the coveted seat by one vote back in 2007, Sparks became the first transgender person to head a city oversight panel. But her ascension led to [...]
During the thir d day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the associate justice hopeful was asked -- in a sideways manner -- about the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 
Gay activists were booted from a Fort Worth City Council meeting on Tuesday after they demanded more answers regarding the violent raid on a Fort Worth gay bar that took place on June 28, the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion. 
Call her the antiâ€"Ann Coulter, the antiâ€"Rush Limbaugh -- both compliments, as far as Meghan McCain is concerned. As the socially liberal mouthpiece of the McCain family, the unapologetic Republican talks with Out magazine about her efforts to get the GOP to lighten up a little with regard to gay rights. 
by Kristina Cummings Staff writer Connie Waters is on a mission. She intends to get the people of Memphis to come together and have an open conversation about marriage equality. Waters, who is on the path to become an ordained minister of the United...
Event will benefit the Comprehensive Care Center. The Music City AIDS Gala, benefiting the Comprehensive Care Center and the life-saving care it provides to thousands of Middle Tennesseans with HIV and AIDS, will be held on Friday, August 7, at the Vanderbilt...
To continue reading, please visit www.sovo.com
To continue reading, please visit www.sovo.com
To continue reading, please visit www.sovo.com
Two openly gay men are among the seven socialites featured in cable channel Bravo's new 'Miami Social' reality show
Gay rights advocate Desi Deschaine found dead in Baltimore's inner harbor
A Utah police report on a gay kissing incident appears to side with gay couple
No comments:
Post a Comment