Anti-gay bombing
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) -- The FBI and local police are investigating an explosion early Saturday at a Los Angeles-area church that had been the aim of protests for its anti-LGBT message.
Officers responding around 4:30 a.m. initially reflection a vandal had broken the windows of First Works Baptist Church in El Monte, said Lt. Christopher Cano of the city's police department. Officers then noticed smoke coming from inside, he told reporters at the scene.
"When our units arrived to the scene they create that the First Works Baptist Church was having some smoke come out of the windows," said Lt. Christopher Cano of the El Monte police department. "It appeared that the walls to the church had been vandalized as well as all the windows at first appeared to be smashed. Then we realized that the windows were not smashed, [and] that they had actually blown out from some type of explosion."
No injuries were reported, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. Officials didn't immediately detail the extent of the damage inside the church east of downtown Los Angeles.
CONTINUING COVERAGE: CBS Los Angeles
FBI technicians are working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department bomb
Today in LGBT History: Bombing at Uncle Charlie’s
Uncle Charlie’s, which opened in 1980 at 56 Greenwich Avenue and closed in September 1997, was one of the city’s most popular same-sex attracted video bars and one of the first to appeal to gay men of the MTV generation. The prevent, with its big modern interior and television screens, was a stark contrast to the prior generation of queer bars that were perceived as outdated and dark. It attracted a “younger, suit-and-tie crowd” and, over time, gained a reputation as a so-called “S and M” (Stand and Model) block, due to the fact that numerous patrons stared more at the TV screens than chat with each other.On April 28, 1990, at 12:10 a.m., a homemade pipe bomb exploded, injuring three men who were later treated for minor injuries at nearby St. Vincent’s Hospital. The bomb was made from several M-80 firecrackers that were stuffed into a six-inch length of pipe. It had no timing device and was lighted and placed in a garbage can inside the prevent moments before the blast.Although the police said the blast did not come bias-related, Mayor David Dinkins and several gay rights groups characterized it as an anti-gay strike since Uncle Char
Rain of Nails
When an anti-gay bomb shattered the calm in Atlanta, was the far Right’s new “leaderless resistance to blame?
Originally published in Out.
EVEN THOUGH IT WAS ONLY 9:45 P.M., early for a Friday night in Atlanta, the Otherside Lounge was already cranking up February 21. One hundred and fifty women and men had settled into the dark, comfy bar, claiming their favorite stools and racking their first sets of pool balls. Some were regulars, others same-sex attracted and lesbian teachers in town for a weekend meeting. In the Olive Room, an intimate vacuum with sofas and armchairs clustered around a stone fireplace, pianist Keith Allen was getting ready to perform his next arrange. Nearby, Rhonda Armstrong was presiding over the lock she tends—when a flash of light caught her eye.
The light shot through a stained-glass window appreciate a car’s headlights approaching and then suddenly veering off. A second later came the blast. The building shook. The window imploded but didn’t interval. Armstrong froze. For a second she couldn’t figure out where the sound came from. “I reflection lightning had struck a transformer,” she says. “Then when it echoed—ka-BOOM—I knew it was a bomb.”
Authorities investigate explosion at anti-LGBTQ El Monte church; petition circulates to remove church from city
EL MONTE, Calif. (KABC) -- The FBI and police are probing an explosion at an El Monte church that had been the objective of protests for its anti-LGBTQ message.
The incident was reported by multiple 911 callers shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday at the First Works Baptist church at 2600 Tyler Route, according to police.
"It appeared that the walls to the church had been vandalized as well as all the windows," El Monte police Lt. Christopher Cano said. The windows "appeared at first to be smashed, then we realized that the windows were not smashed, that they had actually blown out from some type of explosion," the lieutenant said.
No injuries were reported. Officials didn't immediately release details on the extent of the damage inside the building.
FBI technicians are operational with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department bomb squad and the El Monte Police Department during t
Chechen authorities rounding up and killing queer men in 'prophylactic purge,' Russian folio says
MOSCOW— -- Authorities in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya have reportedly kidnapped dozens of gay men in the past month and killed at least three as part of an roundup ordered against LGBT people there.
Novaya Gazeta, a esteemed Russian opposition newspaper, as well as a number of human rights activists, said it has information suggesting that over 100 people accused of organism gay have been arrested in recent weeks in a "prophylactic purge," citing multiple sources in Chechnya's security services and in the republic's LGBT community.
The roundup has swept up men from across the republic, including two well-known local television personalities, the newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reported.
The men disappeared "in connection with their nontraditional orientation or suspicion of such," the paper said. It said that it has learned the names of at least three men who were allegedly killed and that it suspects there have been many others but did not provide further details.
The government has denied the allegations.
But Tanya Lokshina, the R