Sharon Benson is named in a lawsuit for allegedly defaming a teacher she is set to have power over.
A last-minute appearance by Dr. Jill Biden at this year’s Flagstaff Pride left community members to lash out against their local Pride organization.
The considerable shift to the right locally showed many that the work to attain civil rights is far from over.
Gregory Dickens was sentenced to death for murder. Was it actually because he was gay?
Hi LOOKOUT newsletter readers! In case you didn't read our executive director's email on Monday, we're testing out some new things in our newsletters over the next six months.
There are a few reasons for this: First, we're only a year old, and when we started LOOKOUT, we were operating off of what we thought was best practices. We've continued that path, but now that we have more than 2,000 subscribers, we have a big enough audience where we can test things out and see what works for you all.
Second, we always want to give our readers exactly what they want. And that means sometimes figuring out things that do—or don't—work.
What does that mean for you? Well, nothing really. You're still going to get the same LGBTQ+-forward newsletter you've been getting since we launched in Dec. 2022. You just might notice there is a difference in the way you get this news. Essentially, we're trying to answer some questions: Are two newsletters better than one? What kind of language works best? Can we do advertising (or even should we do advertising?) Do people like fewer or more words?
These are just some of the things we're testing out. So please keep opening and reading our work, playing our weekly games, and do not feel shy to reply back to this email and give us pointers, your thoughts, or if you think we're missing anything—or including too much!
With all that said, welcome to your midweek "The LOOKOUT Newsletter". On Fridays, stay tuned for our second newsletter, "The Weekly Kiki," which will highlight all the events happening around Arizona to make sure you know where your community is at.
-Joseph Darius Jaafari
Bias on the Bench: More than three decades ago, Gregory Dickens and his teenaged lover Travis Amaral were tried for the shooting and murder of a couple outside of Yuma, Arizona. Amaral, who executed the couple traveling to California for school, received a life sentence for the crime.
But Gregory Dickens, who didn't kill anyone and wasn't even around when the shooting happened, received the death penalty.
It's a consequence of Arizona's "felony murder" rule, which says that anyone associated with a murder in any form can be guilty of the first degree felony that carries the death penalty. (Dickens and Amaral pulled over at the rest stop where the couple was killed, the two argued, and Amaral left Dickens's vehicle before shooting the couple. Dickens saw Amaral on the side of the road and picked him up, later on, and was designated the "getaway driver.")
But according to Dickens's lawyers in appeal, along with hundreds of pages of court documents reviewed by LOOKOUT, the judge overseeing Dickens's case had a long and violent history of homophobia, which may have played into the sentencing decision.
LOOKOUT'S TAKE: Queer people are ensnared in the criminal justice system more often than their straight counterparts on a variety of issues, from criminal trespassing to illegal sex work.
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonpartisan think tank and research organization on prisons and jails, a few examples include how LGBTQ+ people are overrepresented in juvenile justice—20% of imprisoned youth identify as part of the community—or how lesbians and bisexuals are more often imprisoned for their crimes in comparison to straight people.
There's a lot to understand about why LGBTQ+ people are overrepresented; we can point to social issues, financial hardships, and the link between homelessness and queer people being forced into the streets.
But in Gregory Dickens's case, the situation appears to be straightforward: a judge who had a history of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments (which is putting it lightly when a grown man calls his son a slur and tells him to die) oversaw a case and had the final decision in how long another gay man should be imprisoned for his crime.
DID YOU KNOW...
The Arizona Corporation Commission race could affect the LGBTQ+ community in ways you may not have thought about.
Interviews with 24 people show consistent concerns about Phoenix Pride.
If a small rural city can find common ground, maybe we all can.
A private web meeting last week showed how a far-right religious organization is trying to teach families to challenge schools, causing a chilling a chilling effect.
If you like independent and accountability-driven queer news, then you'll love LOOKOUT's weekly newsletter.
LOOKOUT Publications is a federally recognized nonprofit news outlet. EIN Number:92-3129757
