Southern Poverty Law Center

Gay Couple Suing Republican Lawmaker In Colorado For Using Engagement Picture In Campaign

Damn, these politicians stay smearing, and unfortunately this gay couple from Jersey is the butt of one Colorado smear campaign.

According to The Denver Channel:

A gay couple from New Jersey is suing a group that used their engagement photo in an attack mailer against a Republican Colorado state lawmaker who supported civil unions this year. Brian Edwards and Tom Privitere, and their attorneys, talked about the lawsuit Wednesday outside federal court in Denver.
“It brought back feelings of bullying in my childhood, which was startling to us,” Edward said. “Tom and I both cringe now when we see our engagement photo, a photo which will forever live on the Internet as a message of hate.” The Southern Poverty Law Center is filing the lawsuit on behalf of the couple against the Virginia-based Public Advocate of the United States.
The couple was originally photographed kissing with a New York City skyline as a backdrop. The couple shared the engagement photo with family and friends through Edwards’ blog, along with photos of the couple’s wedding ceremony. The photo was altered and the couple was superimposed against a snowy backdrop with the words “State Senator Jean White’s Idea Of ‘Family Values?’”
The photo was used in mailers in a June primary election involving Republicans Jean White of Hayden and Jeff Hare of Greeley. White was one of a handful of Republicans who supported a civil union bill that was blocked in the state House. “I cringe every time I look at what once was one of our favorite photos,” Edwards said. “All I see now is the defiled image used to attack our family and our community. All we want is justice for the pain that Public Advocate has caused us.”
“This case is about the defilement of a beautiful moment by a group known for demonizing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community,” said Christine P. Sun, SPLC deputy legal director. “This was just a cheap way for Public Advocate to avoid having to pay for a stock photo to use in their hateful anti-gay attack ad. It was nothing short of theft.” The SPLC has labeled Public Advocate as a hate group.

SMH.

Mississippi School Handcuffs Students To Railing For Disciplinary Reasons-Not Anymore!!!

Public schools in Jackson, Miss., will no longer be allowed to handcuff students to poles or other objects, under a settlement with the Southern Poverty Law Center reached in U.S. District Court. Jody Owens, director of the Mississippi office of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the Capital City Alternatives school in Mississippi’s largest district must immediately stop handcuffing students, a practice used to punish even such things as dress-code violations.
“The focus should be education, not incarceration and it’s tantamount to child abuse when children are handcuffed to railings for something as simple as not having the appropriate belt or inappropriate shoe strings,” Owens said. The way students had been disciplined in the school was abusive, she said. “We have some students who have gone on record to say it’s happened to them three or four days in a row,” Owens said. “We know there are some students who actually had to eat their lunch with one hand handcuffed to a railing.”
According to the settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee, district employees will stop handcuffing students younger than 13, and can only handcuff older students for crimes, and no student may be handcuffed to railings, poles, desks, chairs or other objects. “It’s apparent there were severe problems that we hope now are being addressed and will be alleviated,” Lee told lawyers in court Friday, just before signing the settlement order.
CCA Principal Marie Harris said in her deposition that some did handcuff students, but that it was done for student safety. The ruling requires the school to change its approach in dealing with emotionally challenged students. The school was ordered to conduct a “climate assessment” that includes students, parents and teachers, as well as a mandate that all teachers be trained to deal with students with emotional and behavioral management problems, Owens said.

Smh-Carzy.

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