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This arrived in my inbox. I think Yonatan asks some very pertinent questions.
Letter from Yonatan Gher
On the night of the 27th of June 1969, the New York Police Department raided the small LGBT bar, “Stonewall." This raid was nothing new; the New York LGTB community was used to such raids on an almost weekly basis. During these raids, policemen would arrive at LGBT-community hangouts and use their batons to harass and sometimes arrest the patrons, while taking their photos and publishing them. But this time the police fell upon a crowd in a foul mood. Judy Garland, a prominent gay icon, passed away two days before. The mournful mood, as well as being fed up with police brutality, let the patrons at the Stonewall Inn to violently resist the raid. Arrival of more police forces only fed the fire and soon the residents of Christopher st., followed by the entire Village and eventually LGTBs from all across the city, set out to the streets. The riots, spearheaded by transgenders and drag queens, lasted three days. The key m! essage issued from these rioters was: “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it!” These events were the first spark, igniting the process that led to the World Pride movement.
Forty years later, forty years of struggle, during which the legal prohibition of homosexual activities was cancelled in most countries in the world, homosexuality has long since been removed from the book of mental disorders. Also, a few weeks ago the French government removed transexuality from being considered a mental disorder. Almost-equal rights to same-gender couples are gained in many places in the world, and laws are passed that grant us a certain equality at the workplace, and stating that violence towards us is a hate-crime. And here we stand today, at the face of another pride march in Jerusalem, after last year´s being the first without the levels of violence, threats, and incitement to which we were exposed in the previous years.
Forty years give us a chance to examine what we have achieved; is the right to get married our goal (or being acknowledged as common-law partners), or does this “right” force us into the rules of the hetero-sexist society from which we are trying to evade? Does the right to be a parent create illegitimate expectations towards us from our families who left us alone on the matter until now? American congress members passed the law of equal-opportunity at the work-place for gays and lesbians, and using the “salami method” they left transgenders out. Is this the beginning of a rift forming between our two communities, or does the opposition to this law by so many LGTBs demonstrate the strength of our communal solidarity? And is the fight for equal-rights justified, knowing that it also increases homophobic rhetoric, followed by verbal abuse and physical violence toward us?
Forty years is a fitting time to remember and celebrate past activists and their struggles. While we march tomorrow, we should try and look as far as possible, and think: where do we want to march to? Will being LGTB become a non-issue just like being left-handed? Or, will we always want to preserve our common unique identity, our culture and heritage which we have historically developed, especially during the last forty years?
And lets not forget our history here in Jerusalem: The many years during which Independence Park was the closest thing to a Jerusalem Open House, in which the LGBT community suffered severe harassment at the hands of Jerusalem police, quite similar to that faced by our New York brethren.
Do the forty Jerusalem border-patrol policemen who, while touring the route of Pride with us requested to come up to the Open House and learn more about our community, signify that the the spirit of Stonewall has finally prevailed?
I invite you to take part in our pride march tomorrow and in any and all of the Pride events in Jerusalem, in which marking forty year anniversary of Stonewall will raise all these open ended questions.
Happy Pride!
Yonatan Gher,
Executive Director
The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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Macky
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Really getting into it |
Location: USA
Registered: November 2008
Messages: 973
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Has anyone ever written a history of the gays through the ages? I wonder if there is even enough documentation to write an authoritive history.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Ps 133:1 NASB
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In Berlin there is a gay museum which is serious and erudite.
Hugs
N
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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I think lots of people have tried, Macky, but you have to choose what suits you. I can recommend 'Homosexuals in History' by A L Rowse. It's trustworthy and typical of a kind of Oxford don and wit. He is, for instance, scathing about those people who think Shakespeare was gay.
Love,
Anthony
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Macky, would this link help you?
http://www.androphile.org/
Hugs
N
I dream of boys with big bulges in their trousers,
Never of girls with big bulges in their blouses.
…and look forward to meeting you in Cóito.
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Macky
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Really getting into it |
Location: USA
Registered: November 2008
Messages: 973
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Hey, That's perfect Nigel. Thanks!
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Ps 133:1 NASB
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