A first attack
For the International
Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia #IDAHOBIT celebrated every May
the 17th, I was between thoughts about what to write. [Wikipedia]
In my many encounters
with homophobia, I remember two specific events in the early 1990s, I had met
this lovely guy at Bang! disco and we decided to go back to my place. We
got the bus from the London West End and alighted at a bus stop some
300 metres from my apartment around 2:00 AM.
As we walked back to
my place, two men called after us, we ignored them, then they began to
shout and hurl abuse at us, we knew we were in danger and so took
flight, but they were already upon us, tackled us and relieved us of our
possessions. We came to no harm and soon after getting home we
called the police who visited but offered no support, it was 1991. Shaken we
were, we lived, and beyond that had a 4-month relationship before we broke
up.
A fearful existence
A few years after, I
was having a walk in Finsbury
Park, it is was quiet and calm, two guys approached me; I saw the
glint of a knife blade as he motioned towards me. ‘Give me your wallet,’ he
said, ‘And we’ll let you go.’ There was no hesitation, I emptied my pockets, and they left over a bridge into a labyrinth of alleyways. By
the time, I found a beefcake to tell of my ordeal, they had long gone.
These were times when a lot of what was called ‘Queer bashing’ happened
around London, I was fortunate not to suffer any injuries in my encounters,
times I have had to run for dear life because a group of men with the intent to
inflict grievous bodily harm set out to find gays and beat them up, even kill
them.
My local librarian,
who resourcefully and progressively stocked our library with LGBTQ+ literature,
Christopher
Dunn, lost his life at the hands of a serial killer who targeted gays. Hardly two weeks before, on holiday with my partner in a Brighton Bed
& Breakfast, he was a fellow guest. On noticing him one evening, we wondered about why anyone
would wear such tight Lycra shorts, we were just being sententious.
Breaking the silence
The theme for IDAHOBIT 2020
is Breaking The Silence; I would have preferred to talk more about other
LGBTQ+ people in places, circumstances, and environments unlike mine today, where I
have the freedom to express myself, a long way from the experiences of the 1990s. I can visit South Africa to rendezvous with my partner Brian, and not be
ashamed to demand that we have a double bed rather than twin beds or separate
rooms.
This is the first time I have written about my queer-bashing experience, yet, I must appreciate how long we have travelled from those times, acknowledging there is still more
to do here and abroad.
For the past 5 IDAHOBIT anniversaries, I have donned the colour of the day, purple, and today, I went for a walk before taking
a celebratory picture at Whitworth Park. [May17]
I commend this day to
all, for the freedom to live, to express, to celebrate, to our allies, to the voices
that are yet to be heard, the lives that are hidden from fulfilment, to the victims,
to the powerless, to those who think they are alone, and to the souls sadly
departed. We will rise.
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