By Ramy Eletreby

Spirit of Hope Awards set for Sept. 9

This year, the 15th annual Spirit of Hope Awards, an evening of laughter and hope benefiting Being Alive, will feature entertainment by Leslie Jordan and an honoree list that includes Jeffery Bowman, producer and creator of Legendary Bingo; Dr. David Hardy, a leading physician in the treatment for HIV/AIDS; and Macy’s Passport, a partnership between Macy’s and the HIV/AIDS community, which has raised awareness and $25 million toward saving lives.

SilverScreen Theatre at the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., WeHo. Sunday, Sept. 9, 5–9 p.m. For more information and tickets, contact Being Alive at (310) 289-2551.

Feinstein casts tiebreaking vote for Southwick

On Aug. 2, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) cast the tiebreaking 10-9 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee for Judge Leslie Southwick, President George W. Bush’s nominee to a federal appeals court. The vote prompted an outpouring of anger from gays and other minority groups who believe Southwick is anti-gay and a racist.

Gays and lesbians “are not going to be silent about this,” said Becky Dansky of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. California Rep. Maxine Waters, a member of the Black Caucus, said there could be political consequences if Feinstein seeks re-election.

Critics site two specific cases they say reveal Southwick’s thinking, one in which a white employee was re-instated after calling a black co-worker a “good ol’ n-.” In the other case, the court referred to a bisexual mother’s “homosexual lifestyle” when it OK’d removing her 8-year-old child. Southwick described homosexuality as a choice with consequences.

In a letter to Feinstein, Southwick wrote that he regretted “the failure to express in more depth our repugnance of the use of this phrase (the ‘n-word’),” but he did not apologize for his anti-gay sentiment.  

In her committee remarks, Feinstein said, “Judge Southwick is a qualified, circumspect person. I don't believe he's a racist. ... I believe he made a mistake” in select opinions. In a subsequent statement, she said, “I strongly believe that Judge Southwick should not have joined the opinions in those cases as they were written. That is my view. But I also believe that they alone should not disqualify him for a federal judgeship.”

The nomination now goes to the full Senate where it is expected to pick up enough Democratic votes in the fall for confirmation. —K.O.

WeHo Sheriffs investigating assault against gay couple

West Hollywood Sheriff’s detectives are investigating an incident that at first appeared to be a hate crime but is now being considered an incident of road rage, Sgt. Joe Dempsey told IN Los Angeles. The incident occurred on Aug. 8 around 10 p.m. near Trunks bar on Santa Monica Boulevard and Palm Avenue.

In a letter to Frontiers, Eric Schmidt said that he and his lover were crossing the street when a “crazed guy” got out of his SUV and “rushed us both from behind and shoved my lover so hard on his back that he flew onto the sidewalk and hit the curb breaking three ribs.” Schmidt said he was also punched in the chest while the assailant yelled anti-gay insults. 

Dempsey said an independent eyewitness suggested that the altercation “was more road rage than a hate crime,” with the insults coming as part of the angry attack as opposed to signaling an intentional motivation.

Detectives are looking for a white male, around 5 feet 9 inches tall and approximately 180 pounds, who was driving a white SUV.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Randy Lopez at (310) 855-8850, ext. 461. —K.O.

Beverly Hills real estate agents indicted, suspended

Top producing Beverly Hills real estate agents Joseph Babajian and Kyle Grasso were recently indicted by the U.S. attorney's office on multiple counts of conspiracy, as well as bank and loan fraud, according to an Aug. 8 story in the Los Angeles Times.

The indictment alleges that the two real estate agents, who make money on commissions, and two co-indicted appraisers conspired to inflate the price of several homes in a complicated scheme designed to deceive banks into funding mortgage loans higher than the property actually cost, according to the Times, which also noted that the two agents denied any wrongdoing.

Following the indictment, the agents’ employer, Prudential California Realty, suspended the independent contractors until the matter is resolved. According to the Times, Babajian and Grasso had more than $65 million in residential properties listed for sale. —K.O.

Migden pleads ‘no contest’ to reckless driving

State Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) pleaded no contest in Solano County Superior Court on Aug. 10 to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge which the Solano County District Attorney’s office filed in response to her erratic driving incident on May 18.

According to several frantic calls to 911, Migden was driving in her state-issued SUV for 30 miles on Interstate 80 between Berkeley and Fairfield often coming close to hitting other vehicles, weaving in and out of multiple lanes of traffic, and repeatedly grazing her Toyota Highlander hybrid against the center median barrier before eventually crashing into another car on I-12 in Fairfield.

In a statement issued a few days after the incident, Migden said that she did not remember anything about the incident and that her memory loss and erratic driving may have been caused by medication she is taking for leukemia.

Firefighters charge San Diego Fire Department with sexual harassment

Four heterosexual firefighters in San Diego have filed a complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing asking to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD). The firefighters claim they were forced to participate in the city’s July 21 gay pride parade against their will, where they received sexually charged jeers from the crowd, reports The Associated Press.

According to an Aug. 6 statement, the firefighters said that SDFD Chief Tracy Jarman, a lesbian, ordered Capt. John Ghiotto, engineer Jason Hewett, and firefighters Chad Allison and Alex Kane to drive a fire truck through the parade or face disciplinary action if they refused.

“You could not even look at the crowd without getting some type of sexual gesture,” said an unnamed firefighter in the statement.

Jarman has since released a statement apologizing to the firefighters and promising that their complaints will be looked into. According to Jarman, the SDFD has participated in San Diego’s gay pride parade for the last 15 years without ever receiving a sexual harassment complaint.

Transgender detainee with AIDS dies from lack of care

A transgender detainee with AIDS died shackled to a hospital bed after she was denied life-saving medication for the months leading up to her death, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.

Fellow detainees say that when Victor Arellano, 23, known as Victoria, was locked up by immigration officials at the San Pedro detention center, her pleas for care and medicine went ignored.

“We all asked the guards for help, to take Victoria to the infirmary but no one did anything,” Oscar Santander, a fellow detainee, told the Times.

“She was so sick that if you tried to move her she would scream,” said Walter Ayala, another detainee.

“The consequences of taking someone off that medication is that within a few weeks a patient may unfortunately develop pneumonia and then not respond to treatment,” said Homayoon Khanlou, chief of medicine for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Arellano spent her final days vomiting and with terrible diarrhea, relying on her fellow detainees to ease her suffering by soaking towels in cool water to control her fever and helping her weak body to the bathroom.

There are an estimated 29,000 foreigners held in U.S. detention centers.

Merv Griffin dies at 82

Singer, innovative talk show host, game show creator and entrepreneur Merv Griffin died of prostate cancer Aug. 12 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was 82.

Griffin, who divorced his wife in 1976 after having one son, famously escorted Eva Gabor and was close with Nancy Reagan. But, the New York Times reported, he was also “dogged by sex scandals and insinuations that he was gay.” In 1991, one man sued him for sexual harassment while another filed a $200 million palimony lawsuit which Griffin characterized as “extortion.” Both suits were dismissed.

But Michelangelo Signorile revealed in his blog “the Gist” that while researching his 1993 book Queer in America, “several Hollywood gay men” shared experiences of workplace sexual harassment from Griffin, who Signorile identified as “The Mogul.”

“The word dichotomy was created for Merv,” says Griffin friend and IN Los Angeles columnist Dana Miller. “Years ago at [AIDS Project Los Angeles’] Commitment to Life, we were honoring Rosie [O’Donnell]. I asked Merv to present the award. As he was walking off stage, he handed me a giant cashiers check made out to APLA. No one knew but me where the donation came from. Merv liked it on the DL [down low].” —Karen Ocamb