A Long Island man was arrested and faces hate crime charges for allegedly throwing a hot cup of coffee at another man outside a Starbucks.
Last week, police arrested Matthew Rowlinson, 26, of Port Washington, N.Y., charging him with third-degree assault as a hate crime and second-degree aggravated harassment as a hate crime. He was issued an appearance ticket and will appear in court for an arraignment on July 20, reports Patch.com.
According to police, on July 1, Rowlinson walked up to a 21-year-old man outside a Starbucks in Port Washington and threw a cup of coffee at the man’s chest. He then allegedly yelled an anti-gay slur before leaving the scene of the attack.
Port Washington police condemned the attack, saying there was “zero tolerance for hate crime” in their community.
It remains unclear what prompted Rowlinson to accost the other man.
Melannie D’Arrigo, the co-founder of the Long Island LGBTQ advocacy group Be The Rainbow, previously told Blank Slate Media that she had been in contact with the victim, whose identity she declined to reveal to protect their privacy.
D’Arrigo said the victim told her the attack was unprovoked and that there had been no engagement between the victim and Rowlinson prior to the incident.
“The victim was standing there as any other resident of the town might be, minding their own business,” D’Arrigo said.
She added that she was “deeply saddened, angry, and horrified” to learn of the attack, which she condemned.
In that case, the high court ruled that people who make or provide custom-made goods or services may refuse to serve a person if doing so would violate their personal religious or moral beliefs, and have a First Amendment right to broadcast their intention to discriminate in whom they serve.
D’Arrigo personally believes the timing of the attack — coming on the heels of a very high-profile case dealing with potentially contentious issues, such as same-sex marriage, free speech rights, and religious-based refusals — was not a coincidence.
“National politics have an effect on us locally,” she said. “It is so important that we locally act and that we make sure on a local level we are building the kind of community that makes us proud. That’s consistent with the work Be The Rainbow has done, and it will be consistent with the work moving forward.”
She also said that she believes the rise in anti-LGBTQ sentiment — like that which led to the attack outside Starbucks — is being exacerbated by a slew of bills in various states seeking to restrict LGBTQ rights, such as access to gender-affirming facilities, access to gender-affirming care, and expressions of LGBTQ identity.
“These are the effects of that hatred,” she said.
D’Arrigo said Be The Rainbow is looking at ways to prevent similar attacks, and is in conversations with North Hempstead Town Councilwoman Mariann Dalimonte about a possible co-sponsored town event on how to stand up for LGBTQ people.
She added: “Port Washington has always been a diverse place, it’s always been an accepting place and we will always work and continue to work hard to make sure that that remains the case.”
In an attempt to avoid backlash from anti-LGBTQ and conservative critics, retail giant Target will not carry Pride merchandise in some stores and will limit the quantity and type of Pride-themed merchandise offered in others.
The company said decisions about where to stock Pride-themed products, including adult apparel, home goods, foods, and beverages, would be based on "guest insights and consumer research."
Target operates about 2,000 stores across the country. While Target has declined to say which stores will carry limited Pride-themed merchandise, its online store will offer a wider assortment of Pride-branded items.
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman seeking to block New York Attorney General Letitia James from taking legal action against the county and Blakeman for an executive order he issued barring transgender women from playing sports at county-owned facilities.
U.S. District Court Judge Nusrat Choudhury, of the Eastern District of New York, tossed out Blakeman's lawsuit, which preemptively sought to prevent James from suing him or Nassau County over the transgender exclusion policy.
Under the ban, issued by Blakeman in February, county officials will deny permits for all athletic facilities -- including pools, fields, courts, or auditoriums -- to any female-designated sports teams that cannot provide evidence, including original birth certificates, proving that every single one of their members was assigned female at birth.
The Who's rock opera Tommy is back on Broadway, and the result is a high-speed, full-throttle revival that leaves audiences so riveted they need hours to unwind.
Unquestionably, there's been a ton of mileage used for this franchise. After the critically acclaimed album's release in 1969, it went on to become a ballet, an opera, a symphonic version, a motion picture (featuring Elton John and Tina Turner), and several iterations of stage shows, first in 1993 (Broadway and national tour), later in 2013 at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and now, back on Broadway after a lauded run at Chicago's Goodman Theatre last year. Why all the hype?
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