Navy officer ousted over antigay videos
CNN. com reports that Navy Capt. Owen Honors, who produced profanity- and slur-laden videos while second in command of the USS Enterprise, has been relieved of his command of the veseel, a senior defense official said Tuesday.
Excerpts from the videos and descriptions of their content were first published Saturday by The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va.
Honors roadcast to his crew a series of comedy sketches in which he uses gay slurs, mimics masturbation and opens the shower curtain on women pretending to bathe together.
The videos on the paper’s website, reviewed by CNN, feature a man identified by two Navy officials and The Virginian-Pilot as Honors, who at the time was the executive officer, or second in command, of the aircraft carrier. He recently took command of the vessel, winning one of the most coveted assignments in the U.S. Navy, which has only 11 aircraft carriers.
Navy spokesperson Cmdr. Chris Sims said the videos, which were shown to the crew of the Enterprise while on deployment to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, are “inappropriate.”
Advocates press for rights in Ogden
Utah’s Deseret News reports gay advocates in Ogden plan to press the city’s mayor for a new local ordinance to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Brandie Balken, executive director of Equality Utah, said she’s hoping to make progress on legal issues during the Jan. 7 meeting.
Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey declined to comment on the issues.
Balken said she plans to press for an ordinance rather than a resolution because she wants any new law to have teeth.
The proposal, first brought by Ogden resident James Humphreys, is similar to laws passed in Salt Lake City and other Utah cities. It would prevent many employers and landlords from discriminating based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Task force to target gay-youth suicide
Yahoo News reports the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is creating a new task force to handle suicide prevention efforts among LGBT youth, the group announced Dec. 30.
Leaders of the task force will be Kevin Jennings, who heads the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and Charles Robbins, executive director of The Trevor Project.
“This task force will bring together the best minds in the country to combat suicide and make sure that every LGBT youth has the opportunity to grow up in a supportive, accepting community and to enter adulthood safely,” Robbins said in a press release.
Studies indicate that LGBT youth are anywhere from 1.5 to seven times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.
— Larry Nichols