Earlier this week, blog posts on the Advocate's website and Towleroad.com reported that radical gay anarchist group Bash Back had taken credit for the September vandalism of a Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center (MGLCC) billboard at Poplar and High downtown.

But a local representative from Bash Back Memphis told the Flyer that his group had nothing to do with the action. Their perceived involvement was likely implied from a blog post praising the vandalism on Bash Back News, the group's national website.

• Bash Back

Bash Back, a group of self-proclaimed "radical transfolk, queers and allies," is critical of the mainstream LGBT movement, which it sees as trying to assimilate with heterosexual culture. Though it does not appear that the group is actually claiming responsibility for vandalism on its website, a Bash Back blogger had this to say praising the vandalism of the billboard featuring a gay Marine:

"First, sending gays to be military fodder is NOT pro-gay or conclusive whatsoever to gay liberation. State militarism only reinforces the dominant structures, and the racism/heterosexism they perpetuate, as well as reducing the number of gay people in the world (both those in Amerikkka and the countries Amerikkka is colonizing/conquering)."

The billboard was one of five National Coming Out Day advertisements paid for by private donations to the MGLCC. It featured gay local former Marine Tim Smith in uniform and read, "I'm gay and I protected your freedom." The billboard was ripped down about a week after it went up in mid-September.

The Bash Back post goes on to criticize MGLCC as "racist, anti-queer, and anti-trans" and it criticizes the center for spending $3,500 for a billboard that Bash Back claims promotes militarism in a poor African American neighborhood.

MGLCC director Will Batts says he's open to discussing the group's concerns if they are willing to sit down and talk. Says Batts: "We have an open door policy here for anybody that has issues with how we conduct business."

Ross Burton, the 23-year-old arrested early Wednesday morning in an attempt to burn the gay pride flag at the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center (MGLCC), is a member of the Memphis-based 164th airlift wing of the Tennessee Air National Guard.

• Ross Burton

Burton was arrested after plainclothes Memphis police officers spotted him and another man attempting to set fire to the rope that holds the rainbow flag in front of the MGLCC.

Burton and the other suspect struggled with the police and even tried to disarm an officer. The police received minor cuts and bruises in the fight, and the suspects fled the scene. Burton was located about an hour later and charged with aggravated assault and vandalism over $500. The other man got away, but a police spokesperson says they now have another person in custody for questioning. No charges have been filed against that person at this time.

Though there is no known connection at press time, an MGLCC billboard depicting gay local former Marine Tim Smith was destroyed in September. The billboard, located at Poplar and High, read, "I'm gay and I protected your freedom."

Memphis Police arrested 23-year-old Ross Burton early Wednesday morning after he attempted to burn the gay pride flag at the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center (MGLCC) at 892 S. Cooper.

• Thomas Simmons
• Partially burned flag pole rope

Plainclothes officers observed Burton and another man — who fled the scene and remains at large — attempting to set fire to the rope that runs up the flag pole in front of the MGLCC. When police officers approached the men, an altercation ensued, and one suspect attempted to disarm an officer. Additional police were dispatched and some reportedly received lacerations and abrasions from the struggle. The suspects fled, but Burton was located and arrested.

• Ross Burton

Burton is being charged with aggravated assault and vandalism under $500.

This event marks the second act of vandalism against the MGLCC in two months. In September, an MGLCC National Coming Out Day billboard at Poplar and High was destroyed. No word on whether the two crimes were related.

Said MGLCC director Will Batts: "Public incidents such as this shed light on the larger issue of intolerance and hatred that our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens face every day. Once again, attempts to silence or frighten our community will not succeed, but will make us more determined to fight for equality. We appreciate the support of the community in this struggle."

In case you missed the story in this week's Memphis Flyer, here's a piece I wrote on a hate crimes panel discussion that took place on the University of Memphis campus last week.
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Equality Project
by Bianca Phillips

Just one day after President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard Act, expanding the federal hate crimes law to include sexual orientation and gender identity, local lawmakers and University of Memphis law students discussed efforts to enhance the hate crimes law in Tennessee.

In a panel discussion at the U of M's Cecil B. Humphreys Law School last Thursday, state representative Jeanne Richardson and state senator Beverly Marrero discussed a bill they're co-sponsoring that would add "gender identity and expression" to existing state law. Attorney Murray Wells, Tennessee Equality Project board member Darlene Fike, and hate crime victim Jack Robinson also were on the panel.

• Jeanne Richardson

Though "sexual orientation" was added to the state hate crimes law in 2001, Richardson introduced a bill last February to enhance the law with protections for transgender people.

"One of my colleagues actually said to me, 'I don't like [expletive] queers,'" Richardson told the panel. "I've been a lifelong Midtowner and downtowner and I haven't heard those kinds of comments about gay people in years. But they're alive and well."

If the bill makes it out of the House, Marrero will have to convince her colleagues in the Senate to pass it as well.

"When I was teaching my kids right from wrong years ago, I never would have imagined that we'd still be dealing with this issue in 2009," Marrero said.

Even though the federal law encompasses transgender people, Wells said a state law would offer stronger protections.

"At the state level, we're far more equipped to deal with assaults. That's the sort of thing the Shelby County district attorney's office does, not the feds," Wells said.

Locally, Wells represented Duanna Johnson, a transgender woman who was beaten by former Memphis police officer Bridges McRae in the Shelby County Jail. McRae hit Johnson on the head with handcuffs after she refused to answer to "he/she" and "faggot."

McRae cannot be charged with a hate crime under state law yet, but he will face a judge on a federal civil rights violation on December 14th.

Richardson encouraged those who support adding transgender protections to state law to contact their representatives.

"Don't make it easy for people to do the wrong thing," Richardson said. "The more people who contact them about this issue, the more likely it is to pass."

In July, the Memphis City Council voted to postpone discussion of a citywide non-discrimination ordinance protecting LGBT city workers until after a new mayor was elected. The item was re-scheduled for November 3rd.

But the council won't hear the matter tomorrow. Mayor AC Wharton has opted to postpone non-discrimination legislation until his administration completes a review of the ordinance's impact. It should be noted that Wharton supported a Shelby County non-discrimination ordinance during his time as county mayor.

Congressman Pete Stark of California has proposed a federal bill — the Every Child Deserves a Family Act — that would deny funding to states that pass bills banning adoption by gay, transgender, or unmarried heterosexual parents.

• Pete Stark

According to Stark: "This legislation would simply prohibit any entity that receives federal child welfare funds from denying or delaying adoption or foster care placements based solely on the prospective parent’s marital status or sexual orientation. States and child welfare agencies that fail to end discriminatory practices would face financial penalties. This is the same approach that put an end to race discrimination in adoption and foster care placements."

Former Tennessee state senator Paul Stanley and Representative John DeBerry (both from Shelby County) proposed state legislation earlier this year that would ban adoption by any couple co-habitating in a sexual relationship outside of marriage. There hasn't been much action on that bill since last February.

The Tennessee Equality Project is urging LGBT advocates to be ready to fight the state adoption bill again when the legislature re-convenes.

For more information, check out this post on Grand Divisions: News and Comment from TN Politics.

Local gay rights activist Tommy Simmons served as the lead organizer of the statewide delegation for the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. last Sunday. He took a few moments to tell the Flyer about his experience.

• Simmons (left) displays Tennessee's Equality March banner with Hunter Johnston.

Flyer: What was your overall impression of the march?

Simmons: Immediate success of a march can be gauged, in part, by the shear number of people who attended the march. I thought the turnout (most estimates between 150,000 and 200,000) was very impressive considering the few weeks we had to plan the event. Between 100 and 125 from Tennessee marched together under a Tennessee banner and a giant State of Tennessee flag.

What was the highlight of the event for you?

For me, the highlight was witnessing the large number of students at the march. For example, over 20 students marched together from the University of Tennessee and around 15 from Rhodes College. The future of the LGBT movement is in good hands.

Do you feel like President Barack Obama really got the message the march was intended to send?

Based on comments and actions (or lack thereof) prior to and immediately after the march, I am concerned that, not only President Obama, but members of Congress (both gay and straight ally), do not realize the magnitude of many LGBT voter’s frustrations and anger.

Since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we have lost ground in our fight for equality. Most of the ground lost was during the Clinton administration when both the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell were passed. The message the president and members of Congress need to get is this: We will no longer accept compromises and fractions of equality.

What’s next for the local delegation?

Equality Across America, the group that planned the National Equality March, is a grassroots network of organizers in all 435 Congressional Districts. The local delegation will coalesce into the new Equality Across America — Mid-South Congressional Districts Action Team. We will take actions, build coalitions, change hearts and minds, and demand equality from our local federal leadership (US House and Senate).

For more information on the local chapter of Equality Across America, check out their Facebook page.