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warren c. e. austin
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Likes it here |
Location: Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 247
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Friday, June 27, 1969
Now that the last of the World's many, and varied, "Gay Pride" parades and celebrations are at a close for another year, I thought it might be especially rewarding for the youngest Members of A Place of Safety to awaken in the morning with our eldest Members perhaps sharing a remembrance, or two, of their memories of this watershed event in the "Canon" of Gay Counter-culture.
I actually was, with my lover Jon, in New York City that fateful evening. He and I had earlier been attending a Charitable function on behalf of MOMA, and had retired to enjoy the dubious spectacle offered at the "Continental Baths", when news of the battle being waged by the patrons of Christopher Street, in general, and the Sronewall Inn, in particular, against New York City's finest reached us. The audience at the Club was simply stunned at this revelation, and as Jon and I, and others, hastened to dress and join in the miele, everywhere was heard phrases and expressions in the order of "We are not going to take this anymore", or "They have to learn we have rights, too", or most prophetic of all "They want a fight, then let's damn well give them one".
When Jon and I reached the scene of the most virulent fighting, neither he or I could believe our eyes. LOL, the "Girls" were actually winning; the Police were embattled, and in retreat, and hundreds upon hundreds more sisters were thronging to aid in their rout.
The next, of several, days, the entire village area of New York City looked somewhat like a battlezone, with the Police reluctant to venture anywhere within without supporting numbers.
As Jon and I returned to our home in Southwestern Ontario, outside of Toronto, we couldn't help but wonder how this patent display of militantism, might affect he and I, other Gays, and Canadians at large.
We were soon to learn. It was not long after that the Supreme Court of Canada overturned "Sodomy" convictions for a goodly number of imperiled victims, with the Dominion Parliament then decriminalizing the behaviour for all time and a day.
It's been a long, long road, none-the-less for it, and I can't help but feel some regret that Jon had not lived to see the day earlier this month when the Appeals Court of Ontario ruled in favour of "Same-sex" Marriage, folowed shortly thereafter with the Canadian Government declaration that no appeal of the decision would be made, and in having done so guaranteeing it's becoming the Law of the Land.
I do truly think he might have so enjoyed being known as Mrs. Warren C. E. Austin; or perhaps it might have been the other way round, with my being Mrs. Jonas Witmer Ides; but, regardless of the "style", we both would have amused no end by the discomfort that it would have brought the neigh-sayers of our time.
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I remember "Stonewall", do you?
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Re: I remember "Stonewall", do you?
By: Guest on Mon, 30 June 2003 03:32 |
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Disrespect was neither intended, nor given.
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Re: Disrespect was neither intended, nor given.
By: Guest on Mon, 30 June 2003 08:20 |
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Your thoughts on this matter have been noted ...
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Thanks, Warren
By: smith on Mon, 30 June 2003 12:22 |
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Half on topic
By: timmy on Tue, 01 July 2003 23:07 |
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Re: I remember "Stonewall", do you?
By: marc on Wed, 02 July 2003 03:21 |
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