Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Exclusive: National Memorial for LGBT Hate Crime Victims is Launched

  Published: August 9, 2007, 3:37 pm

  Tags: Barney Frank, Chip Arndt, Crime, Frank Kameny, Gay Rights, Michael Sandy, News, Ryan Keith Skipper

  Scott Hall, longtime activist Frank Kameny, US. Representative Barney Frank and Amazing Race winner and activist Chip Arndt are spearheading the launch of Gay American Heroes, a national memorial to honor LGBT people murdered because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Supporting them are a large number of gay and straight public

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• News: Lesbian Bishop, Mika, Iranian Gays, Daniel Radcliffe

  Published: September 7, 2007, 12:47 pm

  Tags: Andrew Sullivan, Daniel Radcliffe, Episcopal Church, Iran, Mariah Carey, Michael Sandy, Mika, Music, News, Provincetown

  with grace." At the Michael Sandy murder trial in New York, revelations that the killers joked about attack: "Some of the young men now accused of killing him gathered in an apartment and read newspaper accounts of the attack, the youngest one told investigators. In street slang referring to murder, the oldest one joked, 'So, do you want

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• Michael Sandy Trial Shocker: Killer Says He Too is Gay

  Published: September 18, 2007, 8:20 am

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  violated the plan and caused Sandy's death." The fourth and youngest defendant Timmins has received a sentence of four years in exchange for his testimony. For all our coverage of the Michael Sandy murder, click here.... As Sandy Murder Trial Opens, One Defendant Asserts He's Gay [gay city news] Lawyer Claims Defendant in Hate Crime Is

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• Defense: Screen Names, Sexuality, Suicide at Michael Sandy Trial

  Published: September 19, 2007, 8:55 am

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  to show that the plot to rob Michael Sandy (who, of course, was eventually killed in the botched attempt) "was part of a confused effort to experiment with homosexuality." Judge Konviser-Levine, who allowed the screen names but said the suicide attempt evidence was not relevant, expressed doubt as to how Fortunato's being gay was a factor in

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• Jurors Hear of Instant Messages in Michael Sandy Trial

  Published: September 20, 2007, 11:45 am

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  for like ($)100 8 hrs." Sandy replied, "No don't have loot." Fortunato's defense lawyer Gerald Di Chiara has been attempting to use Fortunato's recent disclosure that he is gay as a potential shield against a hate crime conviction in Sandy's murder. Recently Defense: Screen Names, Sexuality, Suicide at Michael Sandy Trial [tr]

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• Fourth Suspect Fingers Friends in Michael Sandy Trial

  Published: September 24, 2007, 10:43 am

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  launched their plot against Sandy in the Plumb Beach parking lot. Advised Timmins: "Just don't let him touch you or none of that." Witness Describes Chat With Gay Victim [nyt] Recently Jurors Hear of Instant Messages in Michael Sandy Trial [tr] Defense: Screen Names, Sexuality, Suicide at Michael Sandy Trial [tr] Michael Sandy Trial

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• "Gay" Defense in Michael Sandy Trial Hit by 'Girlfriend' Details

  Published: September 25, 2007, 4:48 pm

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  'Gay' Defendant in Sandy Murder Trial Has a Girlfriend [gay city news] Brooklyn: Defendant Cites Gay Pornography [nyt] Background Fourth Suspect Fingers Friends in Michael Sandy Trial [tr] Jurors Hear of Instant Messages in Michael Sandy Trial [tr] Defense: Screen Names, Sexuality, Suicide at Michael Sandy Trial [tr] Michael

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• Defendant's Kinky Gay Liaisons Revealed at Michael Sandy Trial

  Published: October 2, 2007, 10:45 am

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  Anthony Fortunato, on trial in the Michael Sandy case,

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• Prosecutor Cross-Examines in Michael Sandy Trial

  Published: October 3, 2007, 4:52 pm

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  on hate crime charges in the Michael Sandy trial by asserting that his client is gay, has chosen to testify in his own defense. The assistant district attorney Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi had her turn with him yesterday. The New York Times was clearly impressed with her performance: "Working from a typed outline organized by category, she asked

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• Defendant's Confession Challenged in Michael Sandy Trial

  Published: October 4, 2007, 11:19 am

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  the main focus of the Michael Sandy case has been on Anthony Fortunato for the past week, attention has now turned to defendant John Fox, and prosecutors believe that Fox could be convicted of murder as a hate crime based on his videotaped confession alone. Fox's lawyer John Patten is trying to make the argument that Fox's confession was

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• Defendant in Michael Sandy Murder Convicted

  Published: October 8, 2007, 8:08 am

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  in the October 2006 death of Michael Sandy, was convicted of manslaughter and attempted robbery as a hate crime on Friday. He was acquitted of the charge of murder. Sentencing is set for October 24. Fox and three others lured Michael Sandy via an internet chat room to a beach near Brooklyn's Belt Parkway, where a botched robbery led to the

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• Anthony Fortunato Convicted of Hate Crime in Michael Sandy Death

  Published: October 11, 2007, 5:57 pm

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  a hate crime in the death of Michael Sandy because he too was gay, has been convicted of manslaughter in the second degree as a hate crime as well as petty larceny. The jury deliberated for four days. Fortunato, Fox, and two others lured Michael Sandy via an internet chat room to a beach near Brooklyn's Belt Parkway, where a botched robbery

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• Legislating against hate crimes, or against religious freedom?

  Published: October 13, 2007, 11:22 am

  Tags: Feminism Gender, Law, Religion Spirituality, First Amendment, Free Speech, Hate Crimes, Matthew Shepard, Michael Sandy

  killing of another gay man, Michael Sandy, who died about a year ago today. What do you think? Related: CivilRights.org: Resource List 37days: Go Beyond Remembering FemmeNoir: New Jersey Triple Murder May Be a Hate Crime LaShawn Barber: Hate e-mail and Hate

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• At Plumb Beach, a Vigil for Michael Sandy

  Published: October 15, 2007, 3:40 pm

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  Brooklyn interior designer Michael Sandy on Sunday at Plumb Beach, near the rest stop off the Belt Parkway where a year earlier Sandy was killed after a botched robbery and subsequent chase sent him running into traffic on the busy freeway. Sandy's parents apoke at the event, the New York Daily News reports: "'He was something special,'

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• Inside the Hate Crime Killing of Michael Sandy

  Published: November 5, 2007, 8:15 am

  Tags: Crime, Michael Sandy, New York, News

  prison about the death of Michael Sandy, for which Fortunato was convicted of manslaughter in the second degree as a hate crime as well as petty larceny. In the most detailed account of Sandy's murder published to date, the magazine looks at Fortunato's I'm-gay-so-it-couldn't-have-been-a-hate-crime defense, and asks if the state's hate

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