News Bytes - Sept 2011

NEWS BYTES

By Denise Penn

LESBIAN COUPLE SAVES 40 LIVES DURING MASSACRE IN NORWAY

Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen are acknowledged as heroes all over the world. They are a married lesbian couple who were camping on the island of Utoya in Norway on July 22^nd when they heard the sounds of gunshots echoing across the fjord as a gunman stalked campers and fired over and over. The horrific shooting massacre that occurred in Norway stunned the world. Ultimately, 69 people were victims. Dalen, Hansen and the other rescuers got into their boats and managed to rescue around 150 who had escaped. They made four trips back and forth with bullets flying. Dalen and Hansen saved 40 of teens and risked their lives doing so.


LESBIAN HEALTHCARE ADVOCATE KILLED IN INDIANA STAGE COLLAPSE

Christina Santiago, a lesbian health advocate and activist was one of the five victims who were killed as a result of the August 13^th stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair.  Santiago was attending the Sugarland concert at the fairgrounds with her fiancée when a gust of strong wind suddenly swept in causing the three-tier stage to fall.

Of the five victims, all but one was a spectator. One stage hand was killed. According to the Indiana State Police, four people died Saturday and a fifth person died overnight at the hospital.

Christina Santiago was born and raised in the Bronx where she earned degrees in sociology and women's studies from SUNY Albany before moving to Chicago, where she became involved in LGBT, Health and Women’s issues. She was very committed to the city of Chicago and good at organizing and planning. She was hired as the Programming Manager at the Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago, a health-care center for LGBT clients. Subsequently, the Windy City Times named her in their "30 Under 30" of rising political stars in 2007. Santiago also helped organize the annual Dyke March Chicago and was given the Planned Parenthood of Illinois Bright Horizons Award, according to the Windy City Times.

“She was the mastermind of a lot of the support services we were offering for bisexual, transgender women," said Jamal Edwards, president of the Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago. Santiago’s partner of two years, Alisha Marie Brennon, was also injured. The couple recently celebrated their civil union in Chicago.

SEATTLE MAN WHO RAPED LESBIAN COUPLE; KILLING ONE GETS LIFE IN PRISON
Isaiah Kalebu, the man who viciously raped a lesbian couple in Seattle two years ago, killing one of the women, has been sentenced to life in prison without release. This was the only possible sentence because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Kalebu was convicted last month of aggravated murder in the attack on Teresa Butz and her partner, Jennifer Hopper. Because the names of sexual assault survivors are withheld in the press, Hopper wasn’t identified by name in media accounts until the penalty phase when she wrote an essay for the Seattle weekly newspaper The Stranger titled “I Would Like You to Know My Name.”
 Kalebu, who has a history of mental illness, climbed in the window of the couple’s home two years ago. He raped and stabbed both women, killing Teresa Butz.
Kalebu was strapped to a restraint chair during pretrial hearings. He interrupted proceedings and cursed the Judge. During the trial, he told the court he went into the couples’ home because he was told to by his god. Hopper spent nearly six hours on the witness stand reliving the assault on herself and her partner. The Seattle Times reports that Hopper addressed Kalebu in court Friday, saying, “I do wish you peace. I don’t hate you…I wish I could say to you that I have not been broken ... you took so much from me. I will fight every day the rest of my life to be whole again."


ANTI-LESBIAN HATE CRIME CHARGED: DC POLICE INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY
Christian Washington, 19, of Washington DC was charged with a hate crime this week after members of the LGBT community complained that police had not taken swift action after an attack on five lesbians occurred outside the Columbia Heights Metro station.
The attack occurred on July 30^th at about 3 o’clock in the morning. Yazzmen Morse, a 21 year old lesbian, was walking with friends when a group of men approached and made advances. The women rejected their advances, explaining that they were lesbians and continued walking.  Several men followed and yelled anti-gay slurs at them and challenged them to fight. Subsequently, Morse and the other women were hit, punched and thrown to the ground. According to the women, none of the seven officers arriving to the scene would take a report, and the attackers continued to taunt them after the officers arrived. Police Chief Lanier personally apologized to the victims after learning of the incident. She says an internal investigation is underway.

LESBIAN MARRIAGE ACTIVIST PAT BAKER DIES

Rhode Island Marriage Equality spokesperson, Patricia Baker, has died after a long battle with lung cancer. According to Marriage Equality Rhode Island, Baker died August 14^th at Kent Hospital. She was 55.
Baker had been struggling with the final stages of lung cancer, but testified on behalf of legalizing same sex marriage legislation even when she wasn’t feeling well at the Statehouse. Occasionally, she would use her oxygen tank to breathe during the hearings. Baker, a retired correctional officer, told lawmakers she was angry that her wife would not be able to receive benefits from the government after her death. She spent the last year of her life testifying on behalf of marriage equality.

Baker and her wife, Deborah Tevyaw, had married in Massachusetts but wanted their relationship recognized in their home state. Baker spent most of her adult life advocating for the right to get married in Rhode Island. Recently, Rhode Island approved a civil union law for same-sex couples. Nine couples were joined in a civil union in July, the first month civil union licenses were available.