History On Hold
By Keith Boykin, in sexuality
Monday, July 14 2003, 1:32PM
In a surprise decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did not rule today on whether to allow gay marriage. The court was expected to issue a ruling this morning. If the court ultimately rules in favor of the gay couples in the case, Massachusetts will become the first state in America to permit full-fledged gay marriage. While the gay community leaps forward on this issue, we are still struggling with the basic issue of hate crime and antigay violence.
Things have changed a lot in the gay community over the years. Nowhere is that change more evident than in New York city. Here, the west side of Greenwich Village along the gay strip of Christopher Street has become a popular hangout spot for black and Latino LGBT youth.
The pier at the end of Christopher Street, long a hot spot for gay teens, has been rebuilt and remodeled into a beautiful urban park with a grassy sun tanning lawn and with benches and outdoor tables and chairs. The LGBT youth were among the first to rediscover the new pier, and last Friday they were out in full force for a different purpose.
About 350 people turned up Friday afternoon in the pouring rain for a march and rally in honor of Sakia Gunn. Gunn, a 15-year-old girl, was slain on May 11 when she disclosed her sexual orientation to her attackers. She had spent the day in Manhattan hanging around Greenwich Village before she returned home to Newark where she was attacked by two men and stabbed.
On Friday, the people in the community took back the streets, chanting:
"We are the people too
A little bit louder three
We want justice for Sakia Gunn."
They marched from Sheridan Square, the site of the famous Stonewall Rebellion, west on Christopher Street to the pier. As the group got closer to the pier, the chant changed:
"We will not tol-er-ate
Your homophobic fucking hate."
The racially and generationally diverse audience then gathered at the end of the pier for a rally of speakers, poets, singers, performance artists, and a special appearance by one of Sakia Gunn's friends. With the Statue of Liberty as the backdrop, Sakia's friend Spanky, a young woman in jeans and a Sakia Gunn t-shirt, explained that gay teens in New Jersey have no place to go so they come to the Village to hang out.
"It's a shame that we have to walk down the street not knowing what's going to happen to us," Spanky said before she burst out in tears and left the stage. Without missing a beat, the audience began to chant "No justice, no peace."
Unfortunately, the attack on Sakia Gunn is not an isolated incident. Instead, it is a part of a larger culture of antigay violence in the country.
While Massachusetts weighs the issue of gay marriage, only last week a group of three teenage girls and one boy assaulted a lesbian woman at a July 4 celebration in Boston. The teenagers punched her to the ground and kicked her in the head so hard she suffered bleeding in her brain, as her partner and their young daughters looked on, according to the Boston Globe.
Just two weeks before that, two Morehouse College students were arrested June 23 after an alleged anti-gay incident in front of the school’s cafeteria. The arrests came only weeks after the conviction of Aaron Price for assaulting a gay student at that campus.
As Juan Smith, 22, a gay Morehouse student, passed by a group of guys on campus, “the boys began to jeer and jester towards them, stating things like, ‘Oh my God, that dude’s gay!’ and ‘faggot’ and ‘fruit ass nigger,’” according to the police report obtained by the Southern Voice newspaper.
Antigay violence will not end by the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court anymore than antiblack violence ended when the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in 1954. But armed with the decisions of the courts, gays and lesbians will soon have even more authority to confront their employers, their government and their families and demand the right to be respected.
No decision in Massachusetts today
Antigay incidents at Morehouse lead to arrests
July 4 assault in Boston viewed as antigay crime
Comments conceal
ronn
July 14 2003, 10:50AM
A ruling favoring equality will only add fuel to the fire of homophobic hate. I hope we're prepared for the backlash and that others will stand up for what's right. I don't expect it, just hope for it.
Paul T. Larocque
July 14 2003, 12:35PM
As a Canadian who greatly enjoys (and am informed by) your articles, I wish you well with today's decision. We have had same-sex marriage for a month now in Canada (hundreds now legally wed) and, you know what, the social structue is holding up just fine. Most reassuringly, apart fromn the "usual suspects"on the extreme religious right, there has been no backlash among the majority of Canadians.
Kim Pearson
July 14 2003, 1:32PM
This morning, Democracy Now! devoted most of its program to the murder of Sakia Gunn and the difficulties between activists and the the administration of Mayor Sharpe James. One aspect of the discussion had to do with the dearth of major media attention to the violence perpetrated against young glbt people. To hear or read about the Democracy Now! show, go to http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/14/1454250.
The result of my analysis of the media coverage is available on my site at http://professorkim.blogspot.com.
Thanks, Keith, for your ongoing coverage of these important stories.
alicia banks
July 16 2003, 1:28PM
ditto
i am also shocked by the delay...
like malcolm x said:
"there has never been a bloodless revolution"
see more on sakia gunn, closets, and what we may expect at my site
peace
ab
thril
July 17 2003, 9:05PM
Regarding a possible backlash against the gay community for gaining basic rights...
I am ready to face the angry mobs of ignorant bigots. They're kickin our asses everyday anyway, so this gives us the extra motivation to complete our journey to freedom.
Whether we achieve this by any means necessary, by turning the other cheek and concentrating on building our community, or by continuing to speak up against ignorance and for understanding.
I've been waiting for this moment for all my life.
BAQI JACKSON
November 10 2003, 12:40PM
"I'VE NEVER HEARD OF A CULT WHERE EVERYONE HAD TO WORSHIP THE LEADER'S CLITORIS."
-Quoted from the book titled: Full Exposure, by Susie Bright, 1999.
**The problem is that most of the New Age has examined the sexual prejudices of its faith just as poorly as any traditional religion. When sects pursue doctrine at the expense of contradictions-when they turn insights into delusions of superiority, or inspirations into idols-they're never going to get to the wellspring(a starting point for a phenomenon; origin; root; source) of sexual energy. Sexual honesty, let alone creativity, will never flourish among the conformists(someone who observes the gegulations; abide by; obey; comply; follow; similar in form or character) or the elilists(someone whos disparately-discrepancy, disagreement, applauds power based on ability; meritocratic; who are the most skilled of a group). We need something bigger, much bigger, to accomodate the spectrum(range;; scale; gamut; orderly goup of possibilities) of our erotic imagination. When people feel sullied(with damaged reputation;; slander;; slur; defame; to make impure; pollute; contaminate; taint; soil; befoul; adulterate;; corrupt; infect) by their passion, they often try to take the sex out of it, as if sex were the root of corruption. They find itl easier to talk about the greater glory of eros if they keep it cosmic, out of gender, historical, bathed in fairy tales and pink lights. I can
't accept the phoniness of a full-time, think-pink lifestyle. Eros is in the details, but those finer senses can bloom anywhere.
-Quoted from the book titled: Full Exposure,l by Sussie Bright, 1999.