Atlanta Joins North Carolina Travel Ban Over HB 2

At last count, the cities and states with travel bans to North Carolina - over the anti-LGBT HB 2 legislation - include Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, New York City, New York state, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Washington state.

You can now add Atlanta to the list:

Atlanta’s mayor has issued a travel ban to North Carolina. This comes after controversy over a nondiscrimination bill that some believe allows for discrimination.

Mayor Kasim Reed’s office issued the following statement Monday: “As a result of Governor Pat McCrory’s decision to sign discriminatory and unnecessary legislation into law, effective today I am directing all City departments to stop non-essential, publicly-funded employee travel to the State of North Carolina.

“I extend my support to Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, who worked to enhance protections for the city’s LGBT population, as well as to the LGBT residents of North Carolina. Every person, regardless of their gender, gender expression or sexuality is a valued member of our community.”

Atlanta: FBI Opens Hate Crime Investigation Into Boiling Water Attack On Two Gay Men

Anthony Gooden

Two gay men in Atlanta suffered second and third degree burns last month when the boyfriend of one of the two men poured boiling hot water on them while they slept.

Now, the FBI has opened a hate-crime investigation which could lead to more severe charges.

Authorities say 48-year-old Martin Blackwell, the boyfriend of the mother of victim Anthony Gooden, told investigators he was disgusted with Gooden's relationship with Marquez Tolbert and poured "a little hot water on them."

Tolbert was hospitalized for 10 days and had to undergo surgery. Gooden was released from a hospital two weeks ago.

Blackwell has been charged with two counts of aggravated battery. It's unclear whether he has an attorney.

Blackwell remains in jail and faces two charges of aggravated battery.

Gooden's mother, Kim Foster, has said in interviews that Blackwell did not approve of her son being gay. “He got hatred in his heart and God’s gonna deal with him,” Foster said.

In the aftermath of the attack, Gooden spent two weeks in a coma and Tobert spent 10 days in the hospital.

Years of treatment and recovery lay ahead of both men.

Two separate GoFundMe campaigns have been set up - one for Gooden here, and another for Tolbert here. More than $60,000 has been raised for each of the men at this writing.

Marquez Tolbert

Brenda Wood Of Atlanta Gets It In On-Air Editorial

For all those "Christians" (that's people who THINK they act Christ-like but really don't), Brenda Wood spells it all out for you.

Please take note - Ms. Wood in on point here.

Brenda Wood 11Alive looks back at the fast-moving and historic events of last week in Monday's Last Word -- "Same-sex marriage: Judgement Day."More Last Words: http://on.11alive.com/1HdzAkU

Posted by 11Alive on Monday, June 29, 2015

Fired Atlanta Fire Chief Files Religious Discrimination Charges

Fired Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran has filed a complaint against the city of Atlanta for religious discrimination, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Kelvin became a national story recently because he was terminated for proselytizing subordinates at work by handing out a faith-based self-published book condemning homosexual acts as “vile, vulgar and inappropriate.”

During a month-long suspension, Cochran was warned not to speak out about the issue while it was being investigated. He did so anyway.

At the time of the firing, Mayor Reed said, “His religious (beliefs) are not the basis of the problem. His judgment is the basis of the problem.”

Cochran swore out the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by the City of Atlanta on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Attorney Jonathan Crumly filed an EEOC complaint Wednesday on behalf of Cochran, who was fired this month after complaints about his self-published 2013 book, “Who Told You You Are Naked?” “Americans are guaranteed the freedom to live without fear of losing their jobs because of their beliefs and thoughts. We are continuing to evaluate all available legal options to vindicate Chief Cochran after his unjust termination,” said Crumly, who is allied with the group Alliance Defending Freedom that has rallied to Cochran’s defense.

Talking Points Memo reports Mayor Reed had this to say about the complaint:

"He can get all of the lawyers he wants so that he can continue to have publicity and sell books, but he's going to lose the legal case," Reed told local TV station WAGA. "What is not disputed is he never communicated with me, the chief executive officer, prior to the publication of the book. It's clearly out of bounds."

Tony Perkins Compares Gay Activists To Charlie Hebdo Terrorists

During an appearance on "Washington Watch" yesterday, hate group leader Tony Perkins compared Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s decision to terminate the city’s fire chief for violating city employment practices by distributed to his employees a self-published book containing condemnations of homosexuality to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris:

"Look, what happened there in Paris was designed to intimidate and silence. What happened here in Georgia, it wasn't terrorists, it was a mayor; it wasn't a gun he fired, but it was the chief he fired. And the intent was the same: it was to silence and to intimidate people of faith."

(via Right Wing Watch)

Erick Erickson Calls Atlanta LGBT Activists "Terrorists"

Erick Erickson of RedState, writing on his personal blog, compared LGBT activists in Atlanta who brought attention to a fire chief who distributed his anti-gay book to employees to the terrorists who killed 12 in Paris today.

From Media Matters:

On January 6, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed dismantled conservatives' claims that Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran was fired over a book that he wrote which contains anti-gay remarks, explaining that Cochran's lack of judgment in distributing the book to his employees, and not following instructions regarding his month-long suspension over publishing the book without notice to the city, is what led to his termination.

On January 7, hours after a horrific terrorist attack against staffers of the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris that left 12 people dead, Erickson wrote a blog post that likened the LGBT community to terrorists for objecting to the former Atlanta fire chief's book, and stated that "the terrorists won."

Erick Erickson wrote this on his site:

A publisher published something that offended. It mocked, it offended, and it showed the fallacy of a religion. It angered.

So the terrorists decided they needed to publicly destroy and ruin the publisher in a way that would not only make that destruction a public spectacle, but do it so spectacularly that others would think twice before publishing or saying anything similar.

The terrorist wants to sow fear. The destruction of an individual is not just meant to be a tool of vengeance, but a tool of instruction. It shows others what will happen to them if they dare do the same. It is generates self-regulating peer pressure. Others, fearing the fall out, will being to self-police and self-regulate. They will silence others on behalf of the terrorists. Out of fear, they will drive the ideas from the public square and society will make them off limits.

[snip]

So when a publisher published something that mocked and offended a group prone to offense at such things, something had to happen.

The terrorists did what had to be done to publicly destroy and ruin the offender.

So they demanded the Mayor of Atlanta fire the Chief of the Fire Department for daring to write that his first duty was to “glory God” and that any sex outside of heterosexual marriage was a sin.

And the terrorists won in Atlanta.

UPDATE: Erickson read his "op-ed" on his radio show today. You can him read the piece at the 3:00 mark below. He prefaces the reading saying he knows he'll offend people.  At least he got that part right.

Georgia: Young gay turned out by family directs donations to local homeless shelter

A Georgia man, Daniel Ashley Pierce, who's video depicting physical abuse by family members during his coming out went viral, has seen a crowd-funding campaign set up in his name soar to almost $100,000 in funds to help him.

Now, Daniel has asked his friends to stop donating to the campaign and direct donations to an Atlanta-based LGBT homeless shelter.  From Daniel:

Thank you to everyone from around America and all over the world for your support in the past several days. This has been a rough time for me and I never imagined that so many people would show such overwhelming compassion and generosity.

[snip]

I’ve asked my friends to discontinue donations to the GoFundMe page, but if you would still like to give money and help the LGBTQ youth homeless crisis, please visit the Lost-n-Found Youth website at www.Lost-n-Found.org for more information on how you can make a difference for the many other kids in the world like me.

Rick Westbrook, Executive Director for Lost-n-Found, says the organization has received approximately $10,000 in funds from Daniel's request.

Atlanta: Transgender women beaten on train as passengers watch

Disturbing news from Atlanta as a video recording shows two trans women being harassed and beaten on a MARTA train.  Not only does the video capture the violent attack on the women, but the fact that no one on the train moved to help.  Instead, many stood by recording the attack on their phones.

The altercation began when the two trans women were verbally abused by men on the train.  The exchange quickly escalated into kicking and punching, leaving one of the women stripped and completely naked.

From the Advocate:

"[They] just kept of asking us was we real," Janell Crosby, one of the women involved in the attack told WSB TV. "Like really trying to get us. 'Are you real?' 'Are y'all this or that?' Just trying to embarass us."

"They were trying to find out if we are men or women," Tyra Woods told reporters, noting that the verbal harassment began while the women were waiting for the train to arrive. "I shouldn't have to disclose who I am to an innocent person who I'm not even interested in talking to."

"Nobody tried to help. They were all standing up on chairs videotaping," Crosby told the GA Voice. "That's how it ended up on so many [web]sites. I told one cop who was following us to the gate. He acted like he didn't want to hear from us. He didn't write any statement or anything."

According to transit authority spokesman Lyle Harris, an investigation into the incident is under way, albeit with less than full cooperation.

“We will not tolerate this kind of behavior on MARTA,” said MARTA spokesperson Lyle Harris. “We are now taking this under investigation. The MARTA Police Department is looking at what happened on that tape to see if we can determine who was involved and what happened and we will take every action.”

The viral exposure of the video has apparently led to the arrest of one of the men, 34 year old Luther L. Thomas.

I really urge people to watch the original unedited version of the video, which can be seen here. While disturbing, it's important that Americans understand the degree of humiliation transgender people face every day.

Watch the WSB TV report below.