The Stonewall Riots Haven't Stopped - They've Gone Global
It is now forty years since the start of a riot for freedom in a small tavern in New York City -- and the riot has never stopped. It is spreading slowly across the world, to every continent, to Mumbai and Shanghai and Dubai. Everywhere it goes, it wins, in time. Yet on June 28th 1969, it seemed only like another sixties ruck in the muck against corrupt cops.
The Stonewall Tavern was a bar in Greenwich Village where gay people huddled together to find friends and lovers in a hostile country on a hostile planet. It was a hang-out for everyone from macho bikers to drag queens making the pilgrimage from Ohio and Iowa and Kansas. One of the regulars said that until he discovered the bar, "I felt like I was the only one... I only knew enough to hide." The regulars were harming nobody; they were only enjoying themselves. But the local police force was fond of busting the bar, and beating and imprisoning the clientele. They only allowed the bar to stay open at all because they were being bribed by local gay gangsters.
But one day, gay people decided they had had enough of cowering and hiding and being told they were sick. On the day of Judy Garland's funeral, the police smashed their way into the Stonewall. The historian Martin Duberman distills what happened next into a single image: "A leg, poured into nylons and sporting a high heel, shot out of a paddy wagon into the chest of a cop, throwing him backwards." The drag queen yelled: "Nobody's gonna fuck with me no more!" And the global riot began.
It was the turning point in the fight for equality for gay people. Within four decades, goals that would have seemed impossible to those fighters that night were achieved: openly gay Prime Ministers, gay marriage in Europe and parts of the US, legal bans on discrimination. The gay rights movement was a cry for the right to love in the darkness. It is a model of democratic pressure: a minority peacefully appealing to the decency of the majority, and prevailing. It's the strongest antidote to cynicism that I know.
The conversation about gay people has been so soaked in theology for so long that it's important to state some hard empirical facts. Homosexuality is a naturally occurring phenomenon that happens in every human society. Everywhere, around 2-5 percent of human beings prefer to have sex with their own gender. It occurs at the heart of nature: only last week, a major study by Professors Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk of the University of California found: "The variety and ubiquity of same-sex sexual behavior in animals is impressive -- many thousands of instances of same-sex courtship, pair bonding and copulation have been observed in a wide range of species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, mollusks and nematodes."
Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. It doesn't mean anything. It is a harmless genetic quirk. It has always happened, and it always will. The only question is: do you want to be spiteful to gay people, or let them express their most natural urges peacefully?
In the US and Europe, steadily and remarkably quickly, the civilizing voices are winning. There is still a lot to do -- gay teenagers are six times more likely to commit suicide than their straight siblings -- but the trajectory is ever-upwards. In much of the developing world, gay equality is inching forward too. After extraordinarily brave men and women fought back, India is poised to decriminalize homosexuality this year, and China has just seen its first ever Gay Pride parade.
But there are three great swathes of humanity still untouched by the spirit of Stonewall -- and terrified, terrorized gay people there are screaming for help. In the Caribbean, majority-Muslim countries, and most of Africa, being gay is a death sentence -- yet many people who should be showing solidarity choose not to see it.
Jamaica is Taliban Afghanistan for gay people. If caught, gays and lesbians face ten years' hard labor -- but they are more likely to be lynched. The cases documented by Dr Robert Carr of the University of the West Indies fill whole books. Here's two from a single week. A father found a picture of a naked man in his 16 year old son's rucksack, so he produced it in the playground and called on his classmates to encouraged them to beat him to death -- which they promptly did. Nobody was ever charged. In Montego Bay, a man was caught checking out another man -- so the crowd lynched him. When the police arrived, they joined in. Hospitals routinely refuse to treat the victims of gay bashings, leaving them to die.
There is a Matthew Sheppard there every day, but people who wouldn't have dreamed of holidaying in Apartheid South Africa flock to Jamaica's beaches. A heroic Jamaican called Brian Williamson set up an organization called J-FLAG to campaign for the rights of gay Jamaicans. His body was found stabbed and slashed over seventy times. The police did nothing. The most popular song in Jamaica in recent years -- by Beenie Man -- choruses: "I'm dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays... Take dem by surprise/ Get dem in the head."
Throughout Muslim countries, gay people are routinely jailed, tortured and hanged. Mahmoud Ahmadinejadh denies there are any gay people in Iran, but is happy to have them executed in public squares. In post-invasion Iraq, there has been a homo-cidal pogrom of gay people being led by private Islamist "morality squads." In the past two months, over 25 corpses of gay men have been found in one slum, Sadr City, alone, mutilated, with notes saying "pervert" pinned to their chests. Ayatollah Ali-Al Sistani, the country's leading religious cleric, says gays should be killed "in the worst way possible" -- and they are obeying. Men are now being killed by having their anuses glued shut.
In Africa, one country has been a beacon for gay rights: post-Apartheid South Africa even gay equality written into its constitution. Yet even it is now headed by a man, Jacob Zuma, who brags about beating up gay men in his youth.
The gay people cowering in these countries are asking for our support -- by funding their underground organizations, by putting gay rights on the diplomatic agenda, and by consistently granting asylum to the victims of homophobic persecution. Today, some gay people seeking safety are given the right to remain, while others are told to go back and hide their sexuality.
But too many people avert their gaze from the murderous homophobic persecution happening now -- and, even more shockingly, some condemn the people who are trying to stop it. Peter Tatchell, one of the great figures of the fight for gay equality, has for years been organizing practical support for gay Jamaicans, Muslims, and Africans. They have been incredibly grateful -- but he has been pilloried by people who pretend to be left-wingers here as "racist" and "imperialist."
How is it "racist" to side with black and Muslim people who are being hunted down and murdered by other black and Muslim people? How is it "imperialist" to peacefully support their struggle, as they are begging us to? Should we say to the successors of Brian Williamson -- sorry, but we can't help you today, because the descendants of your torturers and murderers were subject to British imperial rape a century ago?
That would be real racism: to cheer a Stonewall for white people on the streets of New York City, but to ignore it on the streets of Kingston or Cairo or Kinshasa, just because the homophobic cops there happen to be black or Arab.
Homosexuality happens everywhere, so gay people fight for the freedom to be themselves everywhere. The Stonewall riot -- and its high-heeled kick -- isn't over. In many places, it's only just begun.
Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent. To read more of his articles, click here . You can email him at johann -at- johannhari.com
You can support gay rights organizations in the most homophobic parts of the world. To support gay Iraqis, donate here. To support gay Jamaicans, donate here. To support Peter Tatchell extraordinary campaigns against homophobic discrimination everywhere, click here.
To read Johann Hari's latest article for Slate magazine - about the life and death of the Asian babe - click here.
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I agree. Much more needs to be done. Especially for the people of these countries.
God made man in his own image?
Does that mean he was gay?
Well, I guess by your very antiquated philiosophy it does.
It's legal now, what more do the buggers want?
Nothing less than the complete rights enjoyed by heterosexuals.
i think this discussion is a joke. you live in america. focus on america. its much easier to focus on others instead of looking inthe mirror.
its absolutely no different here. NONE. if you boycott jamaica, boycott your own country too. your military so blatantly tells you that you will be shunned out of service for being gay. but you can die for the military in a war? but you cant be gay?
gays get beat here just the same. your religion shuns it also. your country is devided on the issue.
DONT FOCUS ON JAMAICA OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY. face the issue in your own country. it amazes me how americans show such hypocrisy. almost everything you accuse others of, the same applies to you.
Sounds like someone touched a nerve with you and Jamaica! We fight for gay rights here in the US all the time. That doesn't mean we can't also go to bat for those oppressed gays in other countries. Rather than being offended, I think gay Jamaicans would be happy to hear that citizens of other countries were publicizing their fate and coming to their aid. Besides, nobody said America was perfect! Lighten up.
Give me a break. Gay Americans are fully aware of our unequal legal status in this country - we live it. That hardly means we can't reach out to gays and lesbians in foreign countries whose situation is even worse. What nonsense.
Interesting article. And we clearly have alot of work ahead of us. Thank you.
Cheers, Joe Mustich, Justice of the Peace, Washington CT
Thank you. I'll be donating to Iragi LGBT, J-Flag and Peter Tatchell and making myself better informed. It's all too easy for many of us, embroiled in our seemingly unending battles here, to forget the horrific plight of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters throughout much of the world. This must end. Thank you, again.
"It's all too easy for many of us, embroiled in our seemingly unending battles here..." So true! American gays often talk on these threads like they're the most oppressed people around. I also live in a country where the situation US gays have would be an unimaginable dream.
One Love. Come to Jamaica and it will be allright -- but if you are gay, you get lynched, beaten, imprisoned and killed. Boycott Jamaica. Jamaica sucks and so doe their people.
I boycott you. You could boycott Jamaica, the Caribbean, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and most of Asia because the gay lifestyle is not acceptable and in most cases forbidden in these areas. The gay people who live there know that. I think you suck. You choose to force your lifestyle on others. As a young adult I was not welcome in many of my family's homes because they knew I had friends who were gay. I did not understand until I got older that it is a cultural mindset that most are not willing or trying to change. Even if the laws changed (which is doubtful), the mindset will not. You will never win this battle in other lands. You could barely win it here in America. You want people to stop hating on you, but you are hating on others.
How's that supposed to make sense?
Injustice anywhere is still injustice.
Not sure why my first comment wasn't posted. Let me try again.
Global homophobia is real problem and a serious one. It is thus unfortunate that the part of this article on Jamaica is counterproductive to the cause since it misleads, exaggerates offensively and demonstrates ignorance.
It speaks of 2 terrible incidents happening "in a single week" although the provided link tells us that one happened in February and the other in June.
It makes the crazy claim that "there is a Matthew Sheppard there every day" (which I am sure Dr. Carr would take issue with, since he documents cases of attacks and thus would be unlikely to trivialize/lie in this way).
It calls a decade-old song that was never that big "the most popular song in Jamaica in recent years". Why talk about what you don't know about?
The article asks how it is racist to side with black and Muslim people who are being "hunted down and murdered by other black and Muslim people". It's not. But you WILL be perceived as racist if you are unable to state the problem, as bad as it already is, without going the extra mile to make black people seem as bloodthirsty as possible!
Thank you for posting about the plight of gays internationally. Much more attention must be brought to this topic, and you excellent post does just that. I have just one issue with how you decribe homosexuality as a genetic "quirk". I feel the word "quirk" has a negative connotation. In fact, in Webster's, the words "peculiar" and "accident" are in the definition. I just hate to give fodder to anyone who tries to argue that gay people are not "normal". I think you are 100% correct that homosexuality is a naturally occuring phenomenon in all species including human and we should pay careful attention to the words we use to fight our cause.
How ironic that the very societies that need homosexuality the most are the ones most likely to condemn it. If the evolutionary paradigm is essentially correct, then how is it that something so hated and feared by so many people continues to exist? Isn't the most logical answer that it serves a powerful evolutionary purpose? And that its evolutionary purpose is, quite simply, to help put a check on overpopulation? Or does that make too much sense for people to accept? But then, if they accepted that, they would also have to accept that nature abhors a species that destroys itself by overpopulating - as the human species is doing. If nature fails to control population at the source - sexuality - then it will find other, far less efficient - and far less benign - ways to control it. One doesn't have to look far to see those other population controls in action.
Interestin
UPDATE. Fort Worth Texas incident.
The Police Chief Jeff Halstead, said Gays were not targeted for harassment so here are the questions. Here are the questions from the DoJ.
He says these raids were the result of complaints. If so can he produce evidence of these complaints?
If you were not targeting Gays for harassment and abuse, then why did you enter 3 gay bars? What did you expect to find there, straights?
How many straight bars did you raid that same night?
None?
The DoJ should immediately confiscate all internal emails and communications from the Fort Worth PD as part of the discovery process and to establish a pattern, prior knowledge and conspiracy to violate Civil Rights. This would go a long way in rooting out the KKK from law enforcement in North Texas. Lots of work but doable.
We have to be vigilant in the USA, too. A young man is in the hospital from a bleeding brain from a raid in Texas that happened on the anniversary of Stonewall.
Things like the DOMA brief don't help. How can we be a beacon of hope to the rest of the world when we ban gay people from marrying, ban them from serving openly in the military, and have crumbs thrown at us to coat a hate brief?
Lets hope the DoJ does its part in monitoring and investigating these thugs in law enforcement.
Even while Obama's DOJ compares homosexuality to incest in its DOMA defense. Change you can believe in (if you're a Republican).
I thought Pim Fortuyn made some valid points in favor of slowing down immigration and ending the excessive accommodation of immigrants who seemed not to care much for the social norms of their host country.
I love Amsterdam and I don't want it changed by conservative angstivists. Sweden is responding well to ultra-conservative immigrants by making their own society more liberal.
Certain Jamaican musicians went so far away from the benevolence of Bob Marley and his sons, I can't listen to them. I used to enjoy Shabba Ranks and Buju Banton. If they'd seriously repudiate their deadly words I'd spin "Love Punany Bad" at a party.
Regardless, I've found very entertaining Jamaican MCs performing Drum n Bass. As a long-time fan of Jamaican music, it's good to hear a new sound. They keep it real, exclaiming "bumbaclot" and "Ras Tafari" but they don't talk about killing gays. The DJs also sample some excellent science fiction and action film samples.
Great article, I had no idea about Jamaica,Certainly not a place that will ever again get my vacation dollars
Just to let you know, while Stonewall was a catalyst, it was by no means the only riot, nor THE riot. There were gay rights protests in Philly before Stonewall. Also thanks for mentioning the Judy connection, but you missed one important connection: Judy was (and to a small extent still is) an important idol of the gay community. When she died, those men where shocked and were already emotionaly unstable. The cops pushed them over the edge.
Oh by the way, "...it seemed only like another sixties ruck in the muck against corrupt cops..." is slightly offensive. Those weren't corrupt cops, those were vice squad cops. It was against the law for people of the same sex to be together in New York at that time. I don't think straight people realize that we have only been able to legaly be together for a very short ammount of time. I don't think straight people understand the meaning of the f word, and the historical attrocites gay people have been put through. I'm glad you wrote about Stonewall, but this article came off a bit patronizing.
We have come a long way, but we still can't walk down the street hand in hand without fear of our saftey.
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