Georgia
Athens Pride group to attend state capitol event advocating for LGBTQ rights
An Athens-based LGBTQ rights group plans to join similar organizations in Atlanta on Tuesday to network with state lawmakers and advocate for more equitable treatment.
Athens Pride and Queer Collective will join The Human Rights Campaign, Georgia Equality, Atlanta Pride, OUT GA Business Alliance and other advocacy organizations for “Pride to the Capitol,” a lobbying event scheduled to take place at the Georgia Capitol building.
The groups will meet at 8 a.m., when a legislative session begins that will decide whether to enact House Bill 1128, a bill dubbed the “Georgia Women’s Bill of Rights” that seeks to remove the term “gender” and replace it with “sex” in Georgia law.
State Rep. Jodi Lott (R-Evans), one of the six Republicans who sponsored HB 1128, told the Banner-Herald that the intent of the bill is to restore clarity and meaning to the term “woman” in current Georgia code.
“The word ‘gender’ is a fluid term that has taken on a very different meaning,” said Lott. “It is no longer appropriate in the majority of the code sections that it is in, and it does not match the original intent of the legislation,” she said. “(HB 1128) defines the word ‘woman’ so that if a business owner puts ‘women’ on a locker room or restroom, we know exactly what that means.”
APQC President Emerita Danielle Bonanno told the Banner-Herald that redefining gender as biological sex in legal documents directly targets the rights and freedoms of the LGBTQ+ community in Georgia, and impacts official state identification, public facilities access, and hate crime reporting, by removing gender identity from protected categories.
‘HB 1128 is basically a mandate to discriminate,” said Bonanno. “There is power in numbers and Pride to the Capitol is an opportunity to mobilize people so that we can show up in a significant way.”
The formal portion of the lobbying event will take place 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, but the HRC and other coalition members will be present at the capitol until the legislative session ends.
ATHENS, Ga. – A 19-year-old is facing assault-related charges after police said he raped a University of Georgia student early Saturday morning while she was walking home.
What we know:
Tydarius Wingfield of Athens allegedly approached the student in the area of 400 North Thomas Street just before 1:40 a.m. and asked to walk her home.
Wingfield and the victim did not know each other.
Wingfield then forced the woman behind a building where he sexually assaulted her, police said.
Investigators used the Real Time Crime Center’s camera system to see where the assault happened and track the victim and Wingfield’s movements. Officers continued tracking Wingfield until his arrest and positively identified him using the RTCC technology.
He is charged with rape, kidnapping, aggravated sexual battery and battery.
An investigation is ongoing.
What we don’t know:
It is unclear whether the victim was taken to the hospital after being attacked.
What you can do:
Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact Detective Burgamy at Charles.Burgamy@accgov.com or 762-400-7173.
The Source: Information in this report comes from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.
ATLANTA – As conflict intensifies between the United States, Israel and Iran, reactions are pouring in across the Atlanta metro area after President Donald Trump confirmed the death of Iran’s supreme leader.
The president confirmed on Truth Social that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a joint strike led by the U.S. and Israel.
What they’re saying:
“I have been waiting to hear this news for the last 20 years,” said Dr. Sasan Tavassoli, an Atlanta-based pastor born in Iran.
“Ayatollah Khamenei has been responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Iranians over the last three decades. He has been a very evil dictator and a very oppressive tyrant.”
Other local Iranians, like Shohreh Mir, expressed a long-standing desire for internal change rather than outside intervention.
“This was an imposed war,” Mir said. “We still very much would like for Iranian people to change the regime by themselves.”
What’s next:
Tavassoli said the Ayatollah’s death now creates a new issue.
“Ayatollah Khamenei never invested in raising a succession after himself,” he said, “so the crisis of the Iranian revolution and the Iranian regime is there is no legitimate successor.”
While the long-term duration of the conflict remains unknown, Iran has already begun launching retaliatory strikes following the attack.
“This is a huge development for day one, but the war is not over,” Tavassoli noted. “There are still many ways that things can become even more bloody and destructive in the coming days and weeks.”
The Source: Information in this article came from FOX 5’s Rey Llerena speaking with Iranian Americans across Georgia.
ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) – A person was found dead in the 5200 block of Radium Springs Road on Saturday morning, according to Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler.
Fowler said the call came in as a water rescue. The body was recovered early Saturday, Feb. 28.
The coroner confirmed the person found was male. His identity and age remain unknown.
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