Tasty Tuesday

Summer camp caters to gay teens



DETROIT -- Steven Howard is looking forward to summer camp, where the 15-year-old hopes to ride horses, hike in the woods -- and learn to advocate for gay rights.

Steven, a ninth-grader at the Detroit School for Performing Arts, is among several Metro Detroit youths who plan to attend "Camping.Out," a weeklong summer camp organized by the Triangle Foundation that aims to teach youths to become political activists for gay rights.

Steven, who lives on the east side of Detroit, said he's looking forward to getting out of his urban neighborhood for a week. "I really want to go horseback riding," he said, "but I'm interested in the political stuff, too."

The camp is the first of its kind in Michigan, said Greg Varnum, the Triangle Foundation's youth initiatives coordinator. It will feature workshops and visits by national gay rights leaders who will talk about how teens can become politically active.

"This is a unique program," Varnum said. "In Michigan, there haven't been any camps for gay youths that I'm aware of. There are camps in other states that cater to gay youths, but they focus more on traditional camping. What makes this camp unique is the focus on activism."

Camping.Out comes at a time when gay teens are organizing more than ever before. Support groups for gay youths are being formed in high schools across the country, said Martha Fugate, director and founder of the Yes Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit organization that educates school officials and clergy on gay issues.

"When I started this organization in 1995, there were no gay-straight alliances in high schools, and very few gay-oriented programs in schools," Fugate said. "But the culture is changing rapidly. There's still a long way to go, but these programs are allowing more kids to see that it's OK to come out; that they don't have to alter their lives just to be who they are."

At the same time, summer youth camps have become more specialized. There are Christian camps, soccer camps, drama camps, band camps and baseball camps, to name a few.

"This camp will be no different than, say, YMCA youth camps that give leadership training to kids," said Grace McClelland, executive director of the Ruth Ellis Center, a program that offers various social services to gay youths. "We have to train and cultivate our young people."

The camp, which will be held Aug. 13-18 at an undisclosed location in western Michigan, is offered to eighth- to 12th-graders. Varnum said about a dozen teens are registered so far for the $475 camp. Scholarships will be available for those who cannot afford the fee.

"We're going to keep the location of the camp a secret," Varnum said. "We don't want protesters to ruin what should be a fun experience for these kids."

Critics expressed several concerns about the camp, including the age of the participants, and the sleeping arrangements, in which teens who could potentially be attracted to each other will stay in the same rooms.

"Would you ever have a camp where you allowed teenage boys to be housed with girls? Or, would you allow camp counselors who are men to be housed with young girls? This is the same kind of situation -- it's a time bomb," said Linda Harvey, director of Mission America, an Ohio-based nonprofit Christian organization that studies youth homosexuality. Those concerns have been taken into consideration, McClelland said. She said the program will send a group of kids to Camping.Out.

"In a straight camp you'd separate the boys from the girls, because these are teenagers after all," McClelland said. "We've taken the necessary steps. We're going to send one adult for every two youths."

Corey Howard, Steven's father, said he thinks the camp is a good idea.

"I think it will be a positive experience," he said. "I'll admit -- I'm not a big fan of homosexuality, and I wasn't happy when he told me he was gay. But I'm his father, first and foremost, so I support him. I don't love him because of his sexual preference, I love him because he's my son."

Varnum, who said he has 20 years of experience working in various camps, and who sits on the board of directors of the American Camp Association's Michigan Branch, said special precautions are being taken with selecting volunteers to monitor the kids.

"We have people who are way overqualified who have volunteered to be camp counselors. There are directors of organizations, leaders in the field of child psychology -- it's like a dream team of camp professionals," Varnum said.

Steven said the concerns about sexual activity are unfounded.

"People think all gay people think about is sex," he said. "But that's wrong."



Hawaii To Pay $625,000 To Mistreated Gay Teens In Prison System
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Honolulu, Hawaii) In the first case in the country to specifically address the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in juvenile facilities, the state of Hawaii will by pay $625,000 to end a federal lawsuit by the ACLU on behalf of three LGBT young people.

The agreement was announced Thursday by the ACLU.

In March a federal judge found that conditions at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility are dangerous, that harassment is pervasive, and that the facility is "in a state of chaos."

Judge Seabright said the case was "replete with documents and testimonial evidence demonstrating verbal harassment and abuse'' of inmates by prison officials.

The suit said that youth correctional officers routinely told a lesbian ward and her girlfriend that their relationship was "bad" and that they were going to hell and referred to the couple's relationship as "this butchie shit." Other guards routinely made lewd and humiliating remarks to the couple, including, "You two eating fish earlier? At least you're not finger-banging yourselves in the TV room."

Male wards in the facility allegedly surrounded a teen who was perceived to be gay in the shower, threatening him with rape, and once rubbed semen into his face in the bathroom. When the young man reported the incidents, HYCF did nothing the suit claims.

Last April, according to the lawsuit, the head administrator at HYCF called a special meeting of all the girls and staff at one of the units in the facility for the specific purpose of singling out a lesbian couple to belittle them about their relationship. The administrator told the couple that their relationship was "disgusting," then required the other wards to create a list of rules for the couple; the wards decided that the girls shouldn't be allowed to even speak to each other under threat of disciplinary measures, including lockdown.

In another instance cited in the suit, a male-to-female transgender student was repeatedly verbally abused and preached to by guards who called her "wrong" and "unnatural" and threatened to cut off her hair. After she was transferred to the boys' unit, she was physically assaulted and groped, often in front of guards who did nothing. Rather than attempting to ensure her safety, HYCF segregated her for almost two months, and did not allow her to interact at all with other wards.

"What has happened here in Hawaii should put juvenile systems nationwide on notice," said Tamara Lange, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project.

"If other states don't take decisive action to stop anti-gay and anti-transgender abuse and harassment, then they can expect to have to answer for it in court as well."

In addition to the $625,000 settlement the state also agreed to pay court costs in the case and to cover the costs of a court-appointed consultant to train staff, help craft new prison policies, and create a functioning grievance system for wards who need to report abuse.

"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young people are often abused in their schools, abandoned by their families, and end up on the streets, so it's no surprise that many of these youth enter the juvenile justice system," said Lois Perrin, Legal Director of the ACLU of Hawaii.

"Young people who end up in state care should be rehabilitated, fostered, and nurtured, whether they're gay or straight - not singled out for cruelty and mistreatment because of who they are."



Camp closed because he's gay, Loney says
Ex-hostage worked at Catholic camp
Knights of Columbus deny his charge

PHINJO GOMBU
STAFF REPORTER

Former Iraq hostage James Loney says his homosexuality is behind a decision by Ontario's Knights of Columbus to close a Catholic youth leadership camp.

Loney and the Christian Peacemakers Team claim in a statement released yesterday that his decision to disclose his relationship with partner Dan Hunt after his release prompted the closure of the camp where he is a staff member.

The Ontario Catholic Youth Leadership Camp, near Orillia, was to operate this year between Aug. 21 and Aug. 26.

Reached at his Peterborough home last night Jack Clancey, a Knights of Columbus official, said the decision to close the camp had nothing to do with the organization's views on homosexuality.

"That statement is totally out of left field," said Clancey. "We closed down that leadership camp because we needed to review the way we were going and the curriculum that we were teaching."

Loney plans a news conference today. But his statement yesterday drew a connection between the decision to close the camp and apparent concerns it was "promoting a homosexual lifestyle."

Loney and Hunt are being given the "Fearless" award at a fundraising gala and awards dinner tonight as part of Toronto's Pride Week festivities in recognition of their perseverance during the hostage ordeal.

The Knights of Columbus is a Catholic fraternal organization. Its website says it has more than 1.7 million members in nine countries and was described by the late Pope John Paul II as the "right arm of the Church."

The website says the decision to close the camp camp was made April 8 "as part of its routine policy review." Loney, a Roman Catholic who helped found Toronto's Catholic Worker community, hit international headlines when he was kidnapped along with three colleagues in Baghdad last November.

He was held for four months before being released.

The fact that Loney was gay was kept a secret by family and friends for fear that, if his captors found out, it would endanger him.

"I was worried that if the captors did find out, that it would substantially change my treatment or would, or could, endanger my life," Loney later said.

The Knights of Columbus has made headlines in the past with its strong views opposing same-sex marriage.

Last year, the Elliot Lake chapter in Northern Ontario weighed in on the issue of same-sex marriage, distributing thousands of postcards opposing the unions, and urged residents to mail them to their member of Parliament.

In British Columbia, another chapter made the decision to cancel a wedding reception in its hall after finding out that it had been rented by a lesbian couple.

A British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ruled last year the organization had acted illegally and ordered it to pay the couple the cost of printing new invitations and booking another hall.

The Knights of Columbus have stated they want Ottawa to re-introduce legislation to "recognize, protect and re-affirm the definition of marriage as a voluntary union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others."

In the United States, at the behest of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Knights of Columbus printed 10 million postcards addressed to U.S. senators to support a constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage.



Police say man's death possibly a hate crime
Fort Bend victim met suspects in a gay bar before he was robbed and killed, officials say

By ERIC HANSON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

RICHMOND - Police are trying to determine whether suspects wanted in the brutal beating death and robbery of a Fort Bend County man last month targeted the victim because he was gay.

Arnulfo Q. Aguilar, 43, was killed in his home after meeting the suspects at a Houston gay bar, police said.

One suspect, Alberto Ramos, 17, of Houston, has been arrested while two others remain at large.

"It is too early to tell from the information I have. It very well could be a hate crime or it could just be that they figured he would be an easy target and weren't really motivated because he was gay," Chief Deputy Craig Brady of the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

Ramos was arrested Friday night and has been charged with murder in connection with the slaying at the victim's home in the 10200 block of Kent Towne Lane. He is being held in the county jail without bail.

Aguilar had been tied up and beaten, probably with a baseball bat, and his house ransacked, Brady said.

His body was found a few minutes after midnight May 28 by friends who stopped by to check on him.

Police said Ramos and two others met Aguilar at a gay bar in the 800 block of Pacific. Personal items were taken from the home as well as the victim's 1997 red Jeep Cherokee.

Because property was stolen during the commission of the slaying, the charge could be upgraded later to capital murder, Brady said.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Terriann Carlson said Houston police stopped the Jeep on a traffic violation Friday night. One of the occupants of the vehicle was Ramos, who gave investigators a statement admitting to the crime.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office at 281-341-4665 or Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers at 281-342- TIPS.