CRIME
Man Gets 23 Years in Prison for Grindr Attacks
Daniel Jenkins was one of three attackers in LGBTQ dating app scheme
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
A Texas man has been
sentenced to 23 years
in federal prison for his
role in a scheme that
targeted LGBTQ men on the dating
app Grindr.
Daniel Jenkins, 22, of Dallas,
Texas, pleaded guilty on October 13
to committing violent crimes such
as kidnapping, carjacking, and hate
crimes against victims he perceived
as gay on the app, the Department
of Justice (DOJ) said in a written
statement. Jenkins was the last to
be sentenced in a group of defendants,
including Michael Atkinson,
Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon, and Daryl
Henry, the DOJ said.
In December 2017, Jenkins and
other coconspirators began luring
gay men on the app to an apartment
complex, where he robbed
them at gunpoint and assaulted
A Texas man has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for targeting queer men on Grindr.
them, according to the defendant’s
guilty plea. The attackers
also forced the victims to withdraw
money from their ATM accounts.
REUTERS/ALY SONG/ILLUSTRATION/FILE PHOTO
In Jenkins’ guilty plea,
he admitted that members of the
group spewed anti-LGBTQ slurs
at the men, and at least one member
attempted to sexually assault
a victim.
“This defendant targeted innocent
victims for violent crimes simply
because he believed they were
gay,” Assistant Attorney General
Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil
Rights Division said in a statement.
In the wake of the sentencing,
Chad Meacham, the acting US attorney
for the Northern District of
Texas, urged for users on Grindr
“to remain vigilant.”
In a statement to Gay City News,
a spokesperson for Grindr encouraged
users to “report criminal allegations
to local authorities.”
“We are always saddened to hear
about the diffi cult and sometimes
tragic experiences that our community
members have experienced
both online and off,” a spokesperson
for Grindr said in a statement
to Gay City News.
North Carolina Lt. Governor Calls LGBTQ People “Filth”
Leader’s insensitive comments prompt widespread calls to resign
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
North Carolina Lieutenant
Governor Mark Robinson,
a Republican, is
facing calls to resign
following a leaked video from June
that shows him calling the LGBTQ
community “fi lth.”
The video, obtained by the People
for the American Way’s Right
Wing Watch project, shows Robinson
spewing a hate-fi lled rant
about LGBTQ-inclusive education
over the summer at the Asbury
Baptist Church in Seagrove, North
Carolina. In the viral one-minute
clip of Robinson’s speech, he also
used outdated and homophobic
language to refer to the queer and
trans community.
“I’m saying this now, and I’ve
been saying it, and I don’t care
who likes it: Those issues have no
place in a school. There’s no reason
North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is under fi re for making anti-LGBTQ remarks.
anybody anywhere in America
should be telling any child about
transgenderism, homosexuality —
any of that fi lth,” Robinson told the
congregation.
He added, “And yes, I called
FACEBOOK/MARK ROBINSON
it fi lth. And if you don’t like it
that I called it fi lth, come see
me, and I’ll explain it to you. It’s
time for us to stop letting these
children be abused in schools,
and it’s not going to happen till
the people of God stand up and
demand different, same ones
that established those schools,
to begin with.”
The lieutenant governor, who
holds one of the highest posts in
the state, is second in the line of
succession to North Carolina Governor
Roy Cooper.
National and state-based LGBTQ
organizations are also calling
for Robinson’s resignation, including
the Human Rights Campaign
and Equality North Carolina.
“Equality NC condemns this
dangerous rhetoric from Lt. Governor
Robinson,” Equality North
Carolina said in a written statement
on Facebook. “At a time when
LGBTQ people, especially those
with multiple layers of marginalization,
need a supportive state,
need a supportive state, Robinson
offered transphobia and homophobia
instead.
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