The bond was set today in Fulton Magistrate Court. O'Donovan did not appear in the courtroom but some 25 of his family and friends gathered at the courthouse to show support. When they learned of his release from O'Donovan's attorney Greg Schwarz, they cheered in the hallway outside the courtroom.
The Atlanta Police Department is investigating if Luke O'Donovan, 19, was a victim in the fight in which he and five others were stabbed in the early morning of New Year's Day. Currently, O'Donovan sits in the Fulton County Jail without bond facing five felony charges of aggravated assault, but his friends say he was fighting back against a “queerbashing.”
O'Donovan's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 16, and is one of hundreds of cases on the docket.
"Wednesday is the preliminary hearing and hopefully we will have a chance to seek bond at that time," said Noah Pines, attorney for O'Donovan.
Supporters of Luke O'Donovan, 19, who faces five charges of aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing several men at a New Year's party, have set up a website and issued a statement that O'Donovan was a victim of homophobia.
From the website:
The motivations of the attack on Luke seem to originate in the fact that he had been seen dancing with and kissing other men earlier at the party. Luke was repeatedly insulted with homophobic slurs throughout the night. The men who attacked Luke are known to have exhibited homophobic language and behavior in the past. Luke was called a faggot during the fight. This provides clear evidence that the attack on Luke was in some way motivated by homophobia and perpetrated by multiple men while Luke was alone.
An Atlanta Police report released to the GA Voice Thursday states that a fight broke out in the early morning hours of Jan. 1 "over a discussion regarding sexuality" that allegedly led to several men being stabbed.
As the author of a book titled “The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise,” Hanne Blank is not one to make a New Year's resolution to lose 10, 15, 20 or however many pounds. She reads and signs this book at Charis Books & More on Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m.
The event is sponsored by Charis Circle's Founding Future of Feminism Program and a $5 suggested donation is asked.
Blank is one to encourage movement, though, and learning to love and respect the body you have. She is the author of other books including “Straight: The Surprisingly Short Story of Heterosexuality,” “Big Big Love: Relationships Guides for People of Size (And People Who Love Them) as well as an editor of “Best Transgender Erotica.” She is also a classically trained musician and has taught at Brandeis University and Tufts University.
Oscar Gittemeier, a library professional in Atlanta, has put together a 2013 calendar featuring some of Atlanta's queer literary devotees and their allies.
The calendar is called “Libraries Are Such A Drag” and all proceeds from its sale will go to the Georgia Library Association's Beard Scholarship. The calendar can be purchased at local Decatur coffee shop Java Monkey and will be available on Amazon Dec. 1.
“I had received a scholarship from the Georgia Library Association and I wanted to give back to the organization,” Gittemeier said today by phone. “A lot of my friends love the library and I love the library.”
October is LGBT History Month. The month of observance was first organized in 1994 by high school teacher Rodney Wilson to coincide with National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11) and was meant to highlight the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement.
In 2006, the Equality Forum began promoting the annual commemoration by featuring a different LGBT icon each day.
“This is the 7th anniversary of LGBT History Month. There are a total of 217 Icons that inspire pride in our heroes and our impressive national and international accomplishments,” said Malcolm Lazin, Equality Forum executive director, in a statement released today.
More than 150 LGBTQ young people of color from states in the Deep South are gathering in Atlanta this weekend for the first-ever “Ignite 2012 Queer and Trans Youth of Color Convening” that will include networking, workshops, resources and, perhaps most important of all, providing a place for LGBTQ young people living in rural communities to realize they are not alone.
Organized by Atlanta-based SPARK, which works for reproductive justice in Georgia and the South, the convening will bring together youth from Virginia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, New Orleans, Tennessee and Texas as well as Georgia.
Sarah Terez Rosenblum's lives with a werewolf. But that's not what this article is about. This article is about her debut novel, "Herself When She's Missing" and her reading from that novel on Thursday, July 5, at Charis Books & More beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Some background on Rosenblum: her age is "younger than Jesus was when he died." She was born in Milwaukee, Wisc., and now lives in Chicago. She's cool with being referred to as lesbian or queer.
The bio from her website states: "A writer with an MFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sarah Terez Rosenblum freelances for publications and sites including The Chicago Sun Times and Pop Matters. Her fiction has appeared in literary magazines such as “kill author” and “Underground Voices,” and she was a 2011 recipient of Carve Magazine's Esoteric Fiction Award. Her debut novel, "Herself When She's Missing" was published in June 2012 by Soft Skull Press. When not writing, Sarah supports herself as a figure model, Spinning Instructor and creative writing teacher at Chicago’s StoryStudio. Inevitably one day she will find herself lecturing naked on a spinning bike. She’s kind of looking forward to it, actually."
LGBT activists say they are planning a protest of Sharon Needles' appearance in Atlanta on Wednesday, claiming the winner of "RuPaul's Drag Race" is guilty of racist and bigoted comments. But Needles has defended her work and the host of her Atlanta appearance said he has not been able to document instances of offensive behavior.
Needles, who hails from Pittsburgh, Pa., performs Wednesday at Jungle as part of the Fantasy Girls show. A nonviolent demonstration is being planned to educate those attending the show about Needles' racist comments, said Cortez Wright, an organizer of the protest.
"We want to show that not everyone supports what Sharon Needles is doing," said Wright, a person of color who identifies as queer.