Is This China’s Very Own Stonewall?

According to a post on The Examiner:

When the police descend on People’s Park and shoo away the gay men gathered there, the men usually scatter to avoid trouble. But recently, about 50 or so confronted five officers who began a sweep and finally forced a police retreat after a heated but nonviolent standoff.

“I told them they might not like us, but they can’t stop us from coming here,” said AIDS activist Xiao Mu, who was handing out condoms and pamphlets about safe sex when the police arrived on Aug. 25. “We have a right to be in the park.”

Though mostly ignored by state-run media, news of the incident in the southern city of Guangzhou — also known as Canton — spread quickly on the Internet and became a hot topic in gay chat forums nationwide. Some in China’s gay community see it as a sign of a new sense of empowerment and a burgeoning awareness of their rights.

Members of the community have had minor confrontations with the authorities before in other cities. But usually the disputes play out in a low-key way, without much resistance to sweeps, said Lu Jun, founder of a Beijing-based group that fights discrimination against people with hepatitis B.

“I’ve never heard of something like this happening anywhere else,” Lu said about the Guangzhou incident. “I think what happened marks great progress for homosexuals.”

So has China taken a giant step forward in fighting for equality and inclusion?  Prior to the events of Stonewall, it was illegal in many U.S. cities for more than 3 LGBT people to congregate in one place at one time, which was the legal grounds for many of raids across the nation.  Although Stonewall is arguably the best known incident, raids against gay establishments occurred on a regular basis in cities far outside of New York, but was the riots at Stonewall which served as the catalyst to stop the injustices being done.

I believe what has happened in China has the opportunity to have a much greater global impact than Stonewall did.  In 1969, the press and media wasn’t as wide spread.  News of events that took place didn’t travel as fast, nor did it present near the opportunity to have a global impact as events today.  With so many countries outside of the U.S., struggling with basic issued of decriminalizing homosexuality, I think this movement, if it becomes one, in China will have a much greater impact.

Unfortunately, with every uprising against discrimination and injustice, there are those, much like the tea-baggers and anti-gay organizations in the U.S., who push back just as hard, if not harder, to hold back progress, and ugly truth of that resistance is hate, intolerance and bigotry.  It can be masked behind maintaining sanctity or concern for government control, but the base line is resistance to change, and fear that change will somehow take power and authority away from those who have held it for so long.

I sincerely hope the seemingly small incident in China, has a much greater impact world-wide.  I hope it demonstrates to others how if real justice is to be had, it’s going to take a lot of brave effort.  I hope this will become China’s “Stonewall” and I hope it will have a positive impact on the world.

Time to Demand Full Equality

The National Equality March, Jones pointed out, has a single demand of “full equality for all LGBT people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. Now.” The narrowing of expectations to only individual piecemeal rights, Jones said, actually represents a failed strategy that he and other believe needs to be shifted.

With a broadening left and public opinion moving in favor of LGBT rights, he said, this is “prime time” for the movement to demand full equality.

Jones recalled the fight to defeat the Briggs Initiative in California in 1978–an attempt to ban gays and lesbians from working in public schools. The victory was won by a grassroots movement that shifted public opinion by going door to door in communities across the state and marching in the streets demanding equal rights.

Read the entire post at: SocialistWorker.org!

The Radical Queer/Trans Movement

This year the 40th anniversary of Stonewall was celebrated; quite less radically, I might add, than the actual riots of 40 years ago. Many consider Stonewall to be the launch of the modern gay rights movement—a rebellion that has since splintered into idealism for some, apathy for others, and activism and radicalism for many. This divergence from the “one way to fight for gay rights” concept is rooted in our history.

Read more at: Ramon’s Gay Life Blog at About.com

500,000 Attend German Gay Pride Event

According to various reports, and estimated half-a-million people gathered in the center of Cologne, Germany on  Sunday for the annual Christopher Street Day, the city’s Gay Pride fest which is named after NY’s Stonewall riots of 1969 .

The parade included more than 90 floats as LGBT citizens lined the streets.

Berlin’s Gay Pride, which was last week, reported attracted about the same number of people.

It’s great to see Gay Pride events celebrated world-wide…truly an American revolution that’s become a global tradition.

Christopher Street Pride Fest: Cologne, Germany

A Routine Life Shows Gains Gays Have Made

I was born on the day of the Stonewall riots – June 27, 1969 – so my life is an individual history of the 40-year-old modern gay-rights movement. What makes my story particularly representative is just how conventional my life has become.

I grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. My parents were liberal college professors, but I was aware in high school – in the 1980s, when there was no treatment for AIDS and hatred for gays reached a fever pitch – that they wanted both of their boys to be heterosexual. Logically, it seemed to be the only path to a happy, successful life. I knew I was gay, but said nothing.

I applied only to urban universities, seeing the city as a place to find other people like myself. When I decided toward the end of college that it was time to “come out,” it seemed like a big deal – as any grand declaration would be. Back then, you couldn’t just live your life. You had to say, “I’m gay!” and hope to be accepted, or learn to live with the rejection.

Read more at Philly.com!

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