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Gay Liberation
Although the fight for
gay rights can be traced back to the
mid-nineteenth century, 27 June 1969 marks
the birth of the modern gay liberation
movement that has continued to the present
day.
On that day New York City
police raided the Stonewall bar on
Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. The
gay men inside didn’t meekly comply, but
fought back. Two days of rioting ensued and
in July the Gay Liberation Front was born.
Unlike most gay-rights
activity in the UK and elsewhere today, what
there is of it, the GLF was a truly radical
organisation that had a vision of gay
radicalism that embraced the antiwar
movement, a far cry from the UK’s Stonewall
organisation, that undemocratic,
unaccountable corporate lickspittle of the
New Labour establishment.
That said, perhaps GLF
was a little too radical as it rapidly
decayed into disarray, as
John
Lauritsen describes in our
keynote feature “Gay Liberation”, which
recalls the Stonewall riots and what
followed.
Warren Allen Smith also writes in
“Gossip” of his memories of the Stonewall
riots and the setting up of the Stonewall
Riot Veterans. In what is an amazing and
little-known story, Smith describes how the
group’s president came out to him in 2006 as
a total fake! Smith continues the Stonewall
riots theme in our “Out of Print” article,
which first appeared in the print edition of
G&LH in 2004.
Although now forty years
old, the modern gay-rights movement is still
very far from its goal of full gay equality.
In fact, in many parts of the world –
especially in Islamic countries such as Iran
– little progress has been made at all and
homosexuals are often murdered by state
executioners for “crime” of being gay.
However, there are
definite signs that things are at last
beginning to change. The homosexual students
of a number of Iranian universities have put
their names to a groundbreaking letter to
the Student Movement of Iran calling for the
recognition of gay people and respect for
their rights and freedom. The letter, which
was translated into English by
Saghi
Ghahraman with the assistance of
Mike Foxwell, is reproduced here
in G&LH.
Even in many countries in
Europe, the road to universal gay rights has
a long way to go.
Colin
de la Motte-Sherman tells of this
other Europe in Part 1 of a three-part
article that explores in detail the national
and cultural differences within Europe.
Although progress is
being made here by the gay-rights movement,
he warns of the dangers of not understanding
cultural nuances that can lead foreign
campaigners to hinder, not help, the
indigenous gay-rights organisations in these
countries.
Sherman also reports on
the Riga Baltic Pride 2009 event, which was
held in the Latvian capital despite attempts
to stop it, albeit within the confines of a
completely fenced-in park!
While on the subject of
Europe, the Anglican Church pitched into the
recent European election campaign by calling
on the UK electorate not to vote for the
British National Party, a somewhat
hypocritical stance, as
Mike
Foxwell points out in “BNP
Bishops”.
Ordained minister
Neil
Richardson is also on the
political campaign trail and takes a closer
look at the Christian Party in the UK, which
causes him to question whether or not he
belongs in a church after all.
John
Hein, militant atheist and editor
of ScotsGay, also casts a jaundiced
eye over religion in “Kirk Session”, where
he takes a look at Scotland’s principal God
botherers at their annual jamboree on The
Mound.
Meanwhile,
Mark
Rees-Andersen tells in
“Philosophy Game” how a small Danish
publisher is being sued by the infamous
Catholic organisation Opus Dei over
trademark legalities surrounding its new
game.
Christian zealots have
been causing trouble too, in the Isle of
Man, where
Stuart
Hartill was barred from a local
Amnesty International meeting in the name of
free speech! Hartill tells us the full story
in “Amnesty”.
On a lighter note, we
feature a new book by
Crystal Tompkins titled Oh,
The Things Mommies Do!, which is a
celebration of lesbian mothers and their
children. In Airings
Evgeny
Afineevsky talks to us about his
new film Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!,
which tells the story of what happens when a
Jewish family try to get their gay son off
with another “perfect” girl.
Peter
Welleman’s cartoons have appeared
regularly in G&LH and this month we
get to know Welleman and his work a little
better in an interview with him conducted by
Eric Geers. We feature more of
Welleman’s work in our regular “ ’Toons”
page and also another in the popular
Jesus and Mo series.
And, of course,
Andy
Armitage takes his regular look
at what’s been happening on our Pink
Triangle blog. He also peruses what’s
been happening in the news recently in “News
Watch”, while
George
Broadhead casts a global eye over
the world’s news in “World Watch”.
If you missed any of our
previous online editions, go to our
archive.
Finally, as always, we
hope you’ll feel the urge to write for us if
you have something to say. Please see our
Contact page for details of how to get
in touch. We would be particularly
interested to hear from you if you have an
article or letter you would like published.
Whatever you have to say,
we’d love to hear from you.
Happy reading!
– Mike Foxwell
Editor
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