Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Meet Gambian President Jammeh, the Human Rights Violator Next Door

This week, HRC ran a full-page advertisement in the local Potomac, MD newspaper The Gazette highlighting the horrific anti-LGBT human rights abuses of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh owns a home in the suburban community that is reported to be worth $3.5 million. 

“The citizens of Potomac should know that an individual with a truly horrific anti-LGBT human rights record lives just a few doors down from them,” said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global. “Those who target LGBT people, throw them in prison, and subject them to torture should not be welcome in our towns, our neighborhoods, or our country. We hope that this ad raises awareness about President Jammeh and the state of human rights in The Gambia.”

In November, HRC condemned the passage of draconian new anti-LGBT legislation that could lead to life in prison for LGBT people in The Gambia. Immediately after signing this into law, Jammeh’s security forces began detaining those they suspected of being LGBT, and torturing them to provide “names” of others. Three LGBT people now await trial for “committing unnatural offenses,” while others have fled.

In December 2014, HRC presented a petition with over 18,000 signatures to the White House, calling on the Obama Administration to take action against President Jammeh, in December 2014. HRC’s call was accompanied by a videohighlighting the abuses of President Jammeh and his anti-LGBT rhetoric. 

Later that month, the White House announced that it had suspended The Gambia’s eligibility for trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA). A White House spokesperson confirmed to BuzzFeed News the connection between that suspension and the human rights situation in The Gambia.

“The United States must send a message to all Gambians -- and others around the world -- that it does not support the human rights abuses being committed by President Yahya Jammeh’s regime,” said Ty Cobb, Director of HRC Global. "The U.S. government can send this critical messages by immediately implementing visa bans on Gambian officials involved in these abuses, and investigating whether the Department of Justice has legal authority to freeze their assets in the United States.”

In January, HRC joined 13 other human rights groups in urging the Obama Administration to take additional action against Gambian leaders following the regime’s ongoing crackdown and persecution of LGBT citizens, and called on it to demand that the Gambian government provide more information about the health and safety of individuals who have been detained on the basis of their sexual orientation.The letter also called on the U.S. government to to bar President Jammeh and his associates from entry to the U.S.; and to consider freezing his assets currently held in the U.S.

Nonetheless, President Jammeh continues to act with impunity, imprisoning an unknown number of LGBT people without charge, while spreading fear throughout his country. He appears to be following up on his declaration last year that “we will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively.”

Maryland's Martin O'Malley Signs Transgender Protections Bill

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley on Thursday signed a law outlawing discrimination against transgender people.

“Signed the Fairness for All Marylanders Act today,” O'Malley tweeted to his nearly 52,000 followers.

He added in a second message: “In MD, we've passed marriage equality, outlawed discrimination against transgender MDers, and extended health benefits to same-sex couples.”

The Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2014 (SB 212) prohibits discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, credit and public accommodations on the basis of gender identity or expression.

Senator Richard S. Madaleno, an openly gay Montgomery County Democrat who for eight years championed the bill in the Senate, was handed the pen O'Malley used to sign the transgender protection law.

“It provides important protections for people who are just trying to live their lives,” Madaleno said after the ceremony.

Last month, a group of Republican lawmakers opposed to the measure launched a ballot initiative to repeal the law. Opponents have dubbed the legislation the “Bathroom Bill” and its repeal campaign includes imagery of a stick-figure man climbing over a bathroom stall to reach a stick-figure woman.

Delegate Neil C. Parrott said repeal was needed because the law “opens it up to predators … who will take advantage and go into the opposite-sex bathroom.”

However, a last-minute amendment to the bill added to counter such claims defines gender identity as being “sincerely held as part of the person's core identity.”

First Same-Sex Wedding Held At US Naval Academy

The very first gay wedding at the US Naval Academy took place Saturday afternoon in the school's famed chapel. The couple, David Bucher and Bruce Moats, were wed in front of 100 guests, including their own two children. Bucher graduated from the Maryland Academy over 20 years ago.

According to NBC News, even though the Academy did not oppose the ceremony, the two still faced some challenges. 

But Academy Chaplain Lt. John Connolly, who officiated the ceremony, said the run-up to the memorable day wasn't all smooth sailing.

“Not everyone agrees that this should be happening and it took a significant amount of discernment on my own part as well as this couple’s as they were preparing for the day,” Connolly said.

But as he got to know Bucher and Moats, he understood how in love they were. “The more I met with this couple, the happier I was to be presiding today,” he added.

Said Moats about their decision to marry at the Academy: "The question was; should we do it, are we advocating, are we here to make a political message? We're not. We're here to break political barriers for sure, but it's also about taking advantage of the rights that we have."

Martin O’Malley Brilliantly Rages Against Tea Party Idiots Paul Ryan and Scott Walker

Have you heard of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley? In 2002 he was named by Esquire “The Best Young Mayor in the Country,” and in 2005 one of America’s “Top 5 Big City Mayors” by TIME. Still, even though he’s publicly considering a run for the Democratic nomination in 2016 (if Hillary doesn’t make up her mind soon), he’s not exactly a first-name figure for most. That just changed, at least in Wisconsin.

As the keynote speaker for 2014′s Democratic Founders Day Gala, O’Malley absolutely skewered several prominent Republican figures; most notably, Paul Ryan. He said of Ryan’s budget, which narrowly passed the House Budget Committee chamber this week:

“When Pope Francis urged American Catholics to fight poverty, Congressman Ryan thought he said, ‘Fight the poor.’ ” 

Ryan’s budget, which comes by its supposed “$5 trillion over ten years” in “savings” primarily by cutting everything that might in any way benefit the poor. And, of course, that includes repealing Obamacare. However, Ryan wasn’t afraid to count on the taxes or Medicare cost shifting that is part of Obamacare, but wouldn’t exist under his plan. One Kentucky Republican (who was one of the 12 who voted against it) said of Ryan’s numbers fudging ”I’m not sure that’s honest accounting.”

O’Malley reserved some of his harshest words for hometown boy Wisconson Gov. Scott Walker. Walker has consistently opposed wage increases in Wisconsin, which i was a cause championed by O’Malley in Maryland. He called Walker a “devoted follower of trickle-down economics if ever there was one,” and dropped the K-Bomb with:

“If your goal is to hold down wages and turn Wisconsin into a subsidiary of Koch Industries, then Governor Walker’s your guy.”

You might be wondering why O’Malley chose to target Walker, right on his home soil; or even why he was in Wisconsin in the first place. Lots of Wisconsonites have probably asked themselves the same question. But O’Malley wasn’t there for the beer and cheese: He was there for Walker. Walker has expressed some intent to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016…he already has some name recognition, after all.

Unfortunately, that recognition came from a series of massively racist emails circulated around his office, which were uncovered during a previous criminal probe. And he’s still under investigation for a second criminal charge. He’s also not only refused $11 billion from the Fed to expand Medicaid, he actually CUT $500 million from the state’s Medicaid budget.

He’s passed the usual battery of voter ID laws, and more recently, broadened Wisconson’s gun laws, two days later shelling out $175,000 to pay for a new “ShotSpotter” system for the police. ShotSpotter is an acoustic system that helps military and police personnel to pinpoint the location of gunfire and calculate the trajectory of bullets…which is probably a little more important after you throw open the door to residents purchasing out-of-state rifles.

So, pretty standard Republican.

Maryland State Delegate Says Trans Rights Bill Would 'Normalize Abnormal Behavior'

In a recent letter to her constituents, Republican Maryland State Representative Kathy Afzali said that she is “completely and unequivocally opposed” to the “Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2014" (aka House Bill 1265) — a bill which would prohibit gender identity discrimination in all housing, employment and public accommodations — because it “doesn’t aim to end discrimination, but to normalize abnormal behavior.”

The Washington Blade has more of her remarks:

“HB 1265 seeks to create a new class of protected individuals in the state’s anti-discrimination statute… It is important that Maryland does not separate one’s ‘gender identity’ and their ‘assigned sex at birth’ as noted in the bill.

“Like the majority of Marylanders, I share the view that this redefinition rejects our society’s understanding of human nature. So ladies if you happen to see a guy in a dress in the restaurant bathroom, you’ll know the bill passed and that I voted no.”

Afzali's rhetoric uses the tired right-wing scare tactic of conflating transgender bathroom users to sexual predators and rapists even though such sexual assaults have never ever occurred, even in states that have passed similar bills.

The Blade also notes that Afzali has also said that gay men make bad parents and spoke at a rally where a pastor said that Superstorm Sandy struck New York City because then-mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $250,000 in support of Maryland’s same-sex marriage law.

Maryland House Bill already passed the senate on March 4th and has the support of 71 percent of all Marylanders.