WHAT'S NEW

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has learned of an intimate partner violence-related fatality which occurred on Friday, January 1st in San Diego, California at Mercy Gardens, a low-income residential facility for individuals with disabilities. According to media reports, police responding to a domestic dispute shot and killed 30-year-old Joshua Adam Sisson who had allegedly held a knife to his boyfriend's throat earlier that day. Police sources speaking with the local press state that the alleged offender was shot when he did not comply with orders to drop the knife, and then moved aggressively towards the officer.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has learned of the possible hook-up related homicide of Howard Baker, age 75, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  According to media reports, Baker was found on the floor, naked and strangled with a belt, by a hotel housekeeper around 11 a.m. Monday inside a room at the Rodeway Inn on Walnut Street. Local papers report that Baker had checked into the hotel on Sunday and was visited by two different men that day. Police have arrested Manuel Baez, the second man to visit, in relation to this homicide.

This past weekend, the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) announced they will conclude major operations in 2016. As an organization working to make our state safer for LGBTQ people, the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) was surprised, as we're sure many of you were, to hear this news. For the last 25 years, ESPA has been an important statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization and its presence in Albany and throughout the state will be missed.

AVP has learned of an anti-LGBTQ hate violence incident which occurred on Monday, December 14th at the McDonalds at 57 Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights Brooklyn. According to DNAinfo, a 20-year-old man was ordering food, when a group of men began throwing things at him while hurling anti-gay slurs, before robbing him of his cell phone. The survivor recognized one of the alleged offenders as a former classmate who had harassed him online for being a member of the LGBTQ community and for posting videos about transgender issues. The incident is currently being investigated by the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force.