Hundreds rally after gay-bar raid
The Southern Voice reports hundreds gathered Sept. 13 outside the Atlanta Eagle to protest a Sept. 10 police raid.
Patrons accused officers of harassment as well as using antigay epithets during the raid. Police arrested eight employees and forced 62 patrons to lie on the ground for up to an hour as officers performed background checks and individual searches.
Robby Kelley, co-owner of the bar and one of those arrested, said the Atlanta Eagle plans to file an official complaint and he will also file a personal complaint.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Kelley said of the show of support. He said the Lloyd Russell Foundation has made a $5,000 donation to the Eagle’s legal fees.
“The outpouring of support is unbelievable,” Eagle co-owner Richard Ramey said. “This is not just for the Atlanta Eagle, but for everyone.”
Ex-basketball player supports hotline
The Miami Herald reports former Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway, who in 2007 wrecked his post-basketball career by declaring on radio, “I hate gay people,” co-sponsored a South Beach fundraiser Sept. 13 for The Trevor Project, a national suicide-prevention group for gay youth.
“Gays and lesbians, we don’t have to accept the act, but we have to accept them as people. Especially children, we don’t want them to kill themselves. We want them to live their lives as they want to,” said Hardaway, who took several training sessions at YES Institute, a local anti-suicide group for gay youth.
After the antigay rant, Hardaway lost his advertising endorsements and income.
Santorum ponders presidential run
TheHill.com reports former Pennsylvania senator and gay-rights opponent Rick Santorum said he would consider running for president in 2012.
“I think that it’s something I would consider,” Santorum said during a Sept. 15 conference call organized by the Republican National Committee. “But I think that’s as far as I’m willing to go three years out.”
Santorum said that recent months had led him and other Republicans to eye a challenge to Obama, with the president seeming more vulnerable as debates over healthcare and other issues have taken a toll on his popularity.
— Larry Nichols