"Faggot!"

That was the derogatory word James Nickola heard spat at him by
three men behind him as he crossed Bridge Street onto Lakeview
Avenue in Lowell at 2:45 a.m. on June 2.

Nickola, who is transgender and was wearing a pony tail and women's
jeans, became nervous. A native of the Centralville neighborhood,
Nickola knew there was a police station a short distance up Bridge
Street.

He started to walk faster.

Nickola was 200 yards from the precinct when he was hit on the head
from behind. Prosecutor Kerry Ahern said Nickola turned around to
see the same three males who had yelled at him minutes earlier,
punching him.

As the three men beat him about the face, they screamed "faggot''
and said, "We don't like your kind in our neighborhood, faggot.''

Pushed to the ground and beaten until his lip was nearly torn off,
Nickola's attackers finally fled. Nickola walked to the precinct
where he reported the attack. One police officer noted the victim's
bottom lip appeared to be hanging off.

Nickola gave police a description of his attackers, who were located
a block away from the precinct. Nickola identified Lowell residents
Jonathan M. Artis, of 201 White St., Jeffrey J. Buchannan, of 378
Adams St., No. 52, and Jules Ruggs., of West Fourth Street, all 19,
as his attackers.

In Lowell Superior Court yesterday, they all pleaded innocent to
charges of assault and battery to intimidate with bodily injury,
civil-rights violation with injury, and assault and battery.

Nickola did not attend yesterday's arraignment.

Judge Jane Haggerty released the three men without bail with the
same conditions imposed in district court: They must stay away from
the victim, report to probation weekly and obey a curfew. Buchannan
and Ruggs have a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., while Artis, who has a
job, has a 1 a.m. curfew weekdays and the same curfew as the other
two defendants on the weekends.

http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_6469833

Opening Statement in Trans Medical Deduction Denial Case

Attorney Karen Loewy delivered GLAD's opening statement this morning
in O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue:

"Rhiannon O'Donnabhain is entitled to a deduction for her expenses as
medical care under section 213 of the Internal Revenue code because
she was diagnosed by a qualified mental health practitioner with a
medical condition recognized by the medical community, and she pursued
a course of treatment for that condition."

Link to GLAD press release 

CHESHIRE - A mother and her two daughters were killed during a home invasion Monday morning that ended with the arrest of two suspects who rammed several police cars as they tried to escape, authorities said.

A fourth family member -- the woman's husband and the father of the girls -- was badly beaten in the hours-long invasion. He was in serious but stable condition at St. Mary's Hospital in Waterbury.

Sources identified the victims as Jennifer Hawke-Petit, a nurse at Cheshire Academy; William A. Petit Jr., a doctor at New Britain General Hospital; and their two daughters, Hayley and Michaela. "This is a very sad day for us. This is a horrible tragedy," a somber Michael Milone, Cheshire's town manager, said at an afternoon press conference.