AMERICAblog: LAPD appears to beat pro-gay demonstrator repeatedly on film
unpoetaloco
· 1 year ago
John, I think we/you should start a campaign to ask Obama to choose Tammy Baldwin as chief of staff. She's smart, knows Congress, is a lawyer by training, and is openly gay. Obama could break two glass ceilings in one fell swoop: the first female and openly gay chief of staff. The Evangelicals would piss their pants.
HereinDC
· 1 year ago
Already picked one. Obama didn't wait till yesterday to just decided who to pick.
Bill Clinton told him he needed to think ahead of time and not wait till after the election.
houstonray
· 1 year ago
Yep, he's already picked one and he accepted (Rahm Emanuel)...
Also picked his Press Secty today (Robert Gibbs)...
I'm still hoping there is a place for Tammy, I think she would be a great addition to his admin.
High Crimes & Misdemeanors
· 1 year ago
wow, how terrible. I hope that person sues these jackbooted thugs....
foxy
· 1 year ago
2 pm today baby! We took to the streets last night in Hollywood and West Hollywood...
...and today at 2 they're marching right up to the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Blvd to have a nice little conversation.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
I'm there in spirit!
devis1
· 1 year ago
me too!
Butch1
· 1 year ago
Thank goodness other countries can still film the thugs in action, we have lost most of our right of assembly and it looks as though the police really enjoy beating up someone three against one. He obviously had no weapons. No! to police state antics.
Perhaps, it's time for another StoneWall street conversation. These steroid pumped up thugs think they're invincible and above the law.
nineBLUEdaisies
· 1 year ago
I live in Southern California and we saw it on the news here last night also. Shown quite a number of times too, and on more than one station.
Butch1
· 1 year ago
Unfortunately, there are no more "Officer Friendlies".
(if there ever were)
jobaby
· 1 year ago
I'm in the LA area. I voted No on 8, as did my boyfriend. His sister is gay and I have a gay cousin who is gay. I was so shocked and disappointed in my fellow Californians that voted to repeal another group' s civil rights! Sickening!
Here in Ca the advertising for prop 8 was relentless. Even with radio spots on the Air America affilliate, KTLK AM 1150., which truly turned my stomach that a supposedly "progressive" radio station would be such whores as to accept advertising dollars from these Prop8 bigots. That was sickening too.
But this beating is beyond sickening.
On the local LA news stations last night, they were reporting the protest march as being peaceful, and had said that there had only been 3 arrests. Do you know if there is any group forming where one can donate to help post bail for those arrested, or contribute legal fees for those who were arrested during a peaceful civil rights march. . I want to do something to help. Please tell those of us who want to support our gay and lesbian friends, brothers and sisters regain their civil rights!
I'm so saddened by this.
devis1
· 1 year ago
Would AAR have to air their ads? I'm not sure but they might be required to do so.
jobaby
· 1 year ago
Oh, that's a possibilty that i might have to research. But I gotta admit, here in LA the pro8 ads seemingly outnumbered the No on 8 ads by at least 3 to 1 (just my perception...not a verfied statisitic) .
And I wonder if the way the prop was worded could have confused people...it's one of those propositions where a "yes" vote really meant "no" to gay rights and a "No" vote really meant "yes" to gay rights. I think they purposely word these props that way to take advantage of the bulk of the population that is too stupid to read and is easily confused.
moreleesafer
· 1 year ago
They do word them that way intentionally. it easily confuses some votes. I'm sure there were some who thought they were voting the other way.
dula
· 1 year ago
Actually the No on 8 campaign succeeded in getting the language changed to properly reflect what the Prop was saying. In bold it says, "Eliminates right of same-sex couples to Marry", so how can saying Yes to that actually mean No in someone's mind? That reasoning is a cop out that those who voted Yes use to cover for the fact that they are being called out on their ignorance. BTW, JoBaby, thank you for your amazing support.
gwpriester
· 1 year ago
Why do the cops always attack the wrong people? The defend the rich who consistently vote against giving them more money and loathe and despise them as anything other as thugs who protect their persons and their possessions.
tmcbarnes
· 1 year ago
What? The LAPD pack-beating a citizen? This is unprecedented! At least we can rest assured that they will be held responsible for this. What next? Will they assault journalists? They did? Oh, nevermind.
devis1
· 1 year ago
Sadly, the euphoria is always short lived. Lots of work yet to do to change this country. Disgusting.
gumboman
· 1 year ago
OT but AP just announced Obama has won North Carolina
devis1
· 1 year ago
I can hear all the heads exploding from here in VA!!
Indigo
· 1 year ago
The chant is set:
What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? Now!
(When someone says "perhaps" to Stonewall, they're not ready to take to the streets. In that case, stay home. It's scary out there. This is for real.)
MaudGonne
· 1 year ago
Filed at 12:38 p.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Actor George Takei and longtime partner Brad Altman were the first to receive a marriage license in West Hollywood when a court cleared the way for gay marriage earlier this year. Best known for his role as Mr. Sulu on ''Star Trek,'' Takei on Wednesday was disappointed but philosophical about California voters' decision to yank that right by passing a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to heterosexual couples. 'There are going to be heartbreaks, setbacks and sacrifices to be made,'' he said, ''but we will soldier on.'' http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-G...
foxy
· 1 year ago
"Barack Obama asked gay bishop Gene Robinson what it was like to be 'first'"
lapd are: white. racist. bigoted. violent. evil. -they 'took over' from the chp with rodney king -remember? nothing changes for them.
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
This was why Bratton was hired as LAPD chief. He was bigoted, racist, gay hater in New York and that was the credentials that got him hired for the job in Los Angeles. The May Day riots were no accident, that was well planned and executed with the scapegoats already on the sacrificial block. The officers who went to prison for the Rodney King beating where given huge undercover cash gifts by the LAPD both before they were sent to prison and again when they got out. And although they are felons, at least one of them was hired by another local police department.
Blissable
· 1 year ago
I don't think that's true. He made a personal donation to the No on Prop 8 campaign as a wedding gift to Howard Bragman & Chuck O'Donnell.
Webster
· 1 year ago
To search the companies and contributors in your state who contributed to the "Yes on 8" campaign, you'll want to use this link:
Well sadly, this is actually a move towards equality for the Southern California Gay community. We here in LA have seen the police beat African Americans, Latinos, reporters during the May Day march, college students of multi ethnic backgrounds, homeless men young and old, Asians, and I have even seen them fight amongst LA County Sheriffs, so really, adding the gay & lesbian community into this mix is getting equal treatment served by LAPD standards.
vkobaya
· 1 year ago
There have been drive by shootings in LA of cops shooting at cops from other jurisdictions feeling they were horning in on their territory. These are nothing but thugs, street gangs, armed and paid by upper crust to oppress the people. If you think drug dealing by LAPD ended with Rampart, you are probably living on the East Coast. It also came out during Rampart that they not only were shooting Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities, they were also gunning down whites. During one of the police riots, the TV news cameras caught a video of the cops pulling a white girl off a fence and beating her senseless.
FunMe
· 1 year ago
Has the LAPD not learned their lessons from the past?
There was a HUGE lawsuit around 1997 by gay LAPD officer Mitch Grobeson (who was harrassed for being a gay person in the police dept) that required training of police officers about the gay community. The LAPD did not comply, and was sued again. The LA City Council settled again with Mitch just last year:
OK I know there are NEW and YOUNGER LAPD officers, but come on! They must at least remember the mega big lawsuit: Rodney King! Is the LAPD that stupid, in today's YOUTUBE environment and video in most cameras, to be openly beating someone who is not hitting back?
I hope he sues!
erick28
· 1 year ago
This is the same video used in CNN. I wonder what happened to that poor person. I hope that the demonstrator is okay.
foxy
· 1 year ago
You know, every news report commented on how it was a peaceful protest and march. And the cops cleared the way for us all along the rout. I heard there were only three arrests and that those were for drunk or disorderly conduct. The way you posted this it makes it look like they were out to get us or that we were rioting. It wasn't like that at all. But in any crowd you'll always have a few bad apples. Who knows what this guy was doing? Maybe he was hopped up on crystal? Maybe he was too excited. Like the one guy who jumped up on the cop car. If he got arrested then it was his own doing.
The thing that makes me sad is that this video will probably be used to show a message to the religious right that the gays rioted and had to be taken in by force. I would even feel bad if it was used to make the police look bad because the march wasn't planned, the police weren't given arrangements to block traffic. They came on their own and they took care of us. I even overheard one asking another if they should expect it to be bad and the other responded that it shouldn't be and that he was pretty sure the two of them could handle their station without problems.
protogenes
· 1 year ago
How dare newly made second class citizens protest their rights taken away. They deserve every beating.
woodroad34
· 1 year ago
I'm not condoning the police action, but what's missing from the very beginning of this is that one guy broke through the barricade and jumped on the police car. The second guy in the video above, broke through the barricade and pushed the policeman away--you don't see that. It's after that they start beating him.
But you're right, FunMe, they've just gone through another lawsuit with abusive cops during a Hispanic parade a couple of years ago. The LAPD has a real bad reputation with abuse.
FunMe
· 1 year ago
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
And they did settled.
Now it defies logic, especially having the police chief originally from NYC. He seems pretty cool. I would think he would have sent some kind of email or posting about being very careful about NOT abusing the protestors.
Even LA GL Center Lori Jean with the No On 8 campagin had some kind of communicaiton with the police on election day:
"Challenges in the Field One of the first problems I had to deal with this morning was that police officers were actually telling our volunteers that they had to leave various polling sites. The law is that we CAN do campaigning so long as we do not get closer than 100 feet to where people are actually casting their votes. But a number of officers around the city were unaware of the law and when Yes on 8 types complained, they were wrongly ejecting our volunteers.
Thanks to the current and former openly lesbian and gay members of the Police Commission (Rob Saltzman and Shelley Freeman), I was able to talk directly to First Deputy Chief of the entire LAPD, Jim McDonnell. The LAPD wants to make sure the election laws are enforced fairly so all precinct captains and shift captains were advised of the law, and those problems stopped."
missmarple
· 1 year ago
I proudly voted NO on 8 and was saddened by the level of hatred expressed by the children brought along by the YES on 8 campaigners. What amuses me however, is people married 3 and 4 times stating so solemnly, that marriage is sacred. Somewhere along the line, they forgot that they vowed to stick with their first spouse "Till Death Do Us Part". What a joke! I think that all marriages should be civil and if you want to follow it up with a Church ceremony - fine. However, once you make that religious commitment - that's it - No going back on your vows if we're going to use the sacred bit.
skwcw2001
· 1 year ago
ok people just took our right to live and be happy in this country away and we are talking about chants and crap hey go straight bash or mormon bash that is the only thing these people understand is violence and force. if a mormon comes to your house tell them to get the hell off the porch or they will be shot, write your local goverment to investigate the mormon cults tax exemption.
sfmikem
· 1 year ago
Is there ever an excuse to deliberately club another human being? This is certainly not a value that I share with the LAPD. I guess I need to grow up and accept that the train has left the station and that lesbian and gays have been left behind. This is California; remember what they did to the Japanese in WWII. Things don't really change that much although our property has not been confiscated yet.
All Comments
Obama didn't wait till yesterday to just decided who to pick.
Bill Clinton told him he needed to think ahead of time and not wait till after the election.
Also picked his Press Secty today (Robert Gibbs)...
I'm still hoping there is a place for Tammy, I think she would be a great addition to his admin.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-140048
...and today at 2 they're marching right up to the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Blvd to have a nice little conversation.
Perhaps, it's time for another StoneWall street conversation. These steroid pumped up thugs think they're invincible and above the law.
(if there ever were)
Here in Ca the advertising for prop 8 was relentless. Even with radio spots on the Air America affilliate, KTLK AM 1150., which truly turned my stomach that a supposedly "progressive" radio station would be such whores as to accept advertising dollars from these Prop8 bigots. That was sickening too.
But this beating is beyond sickening.
On the local LA news stations last night, they were reporting the protest march as being peaceful, and had said that there had only been 3 arrests. Do you know if there is any group forming where one can donate to help post bail for those arrested, or contribute legal fees for those who were arrested during a peaceful civil rights march.
.
I want to do something to help. Please tell those of us who want to support our gay and lesbian friends, brothers and sisters regain their civil rights!
I'm so saddened by this.
And I wonder if the way the prop was worded could have confused people...it's one of those propositions where a "yes" vote really meant "no" to gay rights and a "No" vote really meant "yes" to gay rights. I think they purposely word these props that way to take advantage of the bulk of the population that is too stupid to read and is easily confused.
What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? Now!
(When someone says "perhaps" to Stonewall, they're not ready to take to the streets. In that case, stay home. It's scary out there. This is for real.)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Actor George Takei and longtime partner Brad Altman were the first to receive a marriage license in West Hollywood when a court cleared the way for gay marriage earlier this year. Best known for his role as Mr. Sulu on ''Star Trek,'' Takei on Wednesday was disappointed but philosophical about California voters' decision to yank that right by passing a constitutional amendment restricting marriage to heterosexual couples. 'There are going to be heartbreaks, setbacks and sacrifices to be made,'' he said, ''but we will soldier on.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-G...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/...
http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/prop8/?Search+Again=
There was a HUGE lawsuit around 1997 by gay LAPD officer Mitch Grobeson (who was harrassed for being a gay person in the police dept) that required training of police officers about the gay community. The LAPD did not comply, and was sued again. The LA City Council settled again with Mitch just last year:
http://www.sgtmitch.com/newsarticles/latest/WeH...
OK I know there are NEW and YOUNGER LAPD officers, but come on! They must at least remember the mega big lawsuit: Rodney King! Is the LAPD that stupid, in today's YOUTUBE environment and video in most cameras, to be openly beating someone who is not hitting back?
I hope he sues!
The thing that makes me sad is that this video will probably be used to show a message to the religious right that the gays rioted and had to be taken in by force. I would even feel bad if it was used to make the police look bad because the march wasn't planned, the police weren't given arrangements to block traffic. They came on their own and they took care of us. I even overheard one asking another if they should expect it to be bad and the other responded that it shouldn't be and that he was pretty sure the two of them could handle their station without problems.
But you're right, FunMe, they've just gone through another lawsuit with abusive cops during a Hispanic parade a couple of years ago. The LAPD has a real bad reputation with abuse.
And they did settled.
Now it defies logic, especially having the police chief originally from NYC. He seems pretty cool. I would think he would have sent some kind of email or posting about being very careful about NOT abusing the protestors.
Even LA GL Center Lori Jean with the No On 8 campagin had some kind of communicaiton with the police on election day:
"Challenges in the Field
One of the first problems I had to deal with this morning was that police officers were actually telling our volunteers that they had to leave various polling sites. The law is that we CAN do campaigning so long as we do not get closer than 100 feet to where people are actually casting their votes. But a number of officers around the city were unaware of the law and when Yes on 8 types complained, they were wrongly ejecting our volunteers.
Thanks to the current and former openly lesbian and gay members of the Police Commission (Rob Saltzman and Shelley Freeman), I was able to talk directly to First Deputy Chief of the entire LAPD, Jim McDonnell. The LAPD wants to make sure the election laws are enforced fairly so all precinct captains and shift captains were advised of the law, and those problems stopped."
What amuses me however, is people married 3 and 4 times stating so solemnly, that marriage is sacred. Somewhere along the line, they forgot that they vowed to stick with their first spouse "Till Death Do Us Part". What a joke!
I think that all marriages should be civil and if you want to follow it up with a Church ceremony - fine. However, once you make that religious commitment - that's it - No going back on your vows if we're going to use the sacred bit.