You Live In “Trump Country” Now

Kevin Seymour and Kevin Paul Taylor were biking home from dinner in Key West when they were followed and harassed by a Donald Trump supporter.

Seymour and Taylor reported that a drunken moped driver started “calling us faggots and a slew of other anti-gay remarks.” Taylor posted on his Facebook page that “he kept stopping in front of us and swerving into us. Finally Kevin (Seymour) got ahead of him and the guy charges him with his scooter and runs into him and knocks him off his bike. Kevin is okay.”

The driver of the moped also taunted the couple by saying, “You live in Trump country now.”

The moped driver is described as a white man in his mid-to-late thirties with a southern accent.  The model of his moped was a black Eclipse.

A witness gave a statement to police backing the couple’s story and officers said there may be security video available from nearby businesses.

“I think the cops will be able to track him down,” Taylor said.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article134965699.html

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The Good Always Outweighs The Bad

As mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Alex Morse receives many letters, phone calls, tweets and Facebook messages that criticize how he runs the city. But last week, Morse received a letter at his home that was different. This letter targeted his sexuality and had a threatening tone. “Alex, you are one of the most selfish people that I know due to your ‘gay’ lifestyle,” the note began. “You are going down.” There was no return address, and no name at the bottom.

Morse, who is openly gay, said he decided to make the message public to bring awareness to what he sees as the challenges ahead, as hate crimes are on the rise since the Donald Trump won the presidential election. “It’s a more threatening message than usual, and given the context of the culture that seems to have been elevated since the Trump election, I thought it was important to shine a light on this language and behavior,” said Morse.

Since receiving the message, Morse said there has been an outpouring of support from his community. People have called and left messages at his office and expressed concern, he said. More than 400 people have left comments on Facebook, calling the note “sick” and “disgusting.”

“Like any community, be it in Holyoke, Mass., or anywhere else across the country, there are going to be people who are small-minded and bigoted,” he said. But, he added, “I know that the good always outweighs the bad.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/11/18/openly-gay-mayor-holyoke-receives-threatening-letter-you-are-going-down/R32wPx0cxP9Il3lcwXwGHP/story.html

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We Agree With Trump (kind of)

Yes, you read that right. We agree with President-Elect Trump on ONE issue, the safety of US citizens.

During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July and one month after a terrorist attack in a gay nightclub that killed 49 people, Trump promised to keep the LGBTQ community safe. “As president, I will do everything in my power to protect LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” Trump told the crowd at the Republican Convention.

Here at Hayden’s List, we agree that the President of the United States should do everything in his or her power to keep all Americans safe. But not just from foreign threats of terrorism but also from discrimination and hate crimes. We hope that President-elect Trump uses everything in his power to protect LGBTQ citizens from those threats also.

WATCH: Trump Makes Promise To Protect The LGBT Community

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Hate Can Rip Us Apart

For some people, when they hear the words hate crime, a young man named Matthew Shepard comes to mind. Lately when the word hate is uttered it is usually in connection with presidential nominee Donald Trump. Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew, is in a new ad denouncing Trump and his campaign of hate.

Judy says in the ad “When I see the hate that Donald Trump has brought to his campaign for president, it terrifies me. Words have an influence. Violence causes pain. Hate can rip us apart. I know what can happen as a result of hate, and Donald Trump should never be our president.”

Watch the ad here.

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LGBTQ Activist Killed in Turkey

Hande Kader was a twenty-two year old Turkish trans woman. In mid-August she was set on fire after being raped.

Kader was a fearless and well-known LGBTQ activist in Turkey. She had been photographed and filed participating in Gay Pride Istanbul in June 2015 where she was escorted by police after security used water cannons and rubber pellets to disperse the parade.

Organizations and protests have made noise about this brutal killing and have called for justice to end hate crimes against the LGBTQ community in Turkey. The hashtag #HandeKadereSesVer meaning “Give voice to Hande Kader” was trending on Twitter. The LGBTQ organizations, Pink Life Association and Istanbul LGBTI+ Network, both demanded justice for Kader and protection of the rights of transgender people.  Also hundreds of protesters attended a march to “raise their voice” against LGBTQ hate crimes in Turkey.

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