kengr

... in a city far away.

1:20 am EDT, June 28, 1969

The NYC police raid an obscure bar in Greenwich Village. Things start out as usual as they start harassing the "queers" in the Stonewall Inn.

But then things start going awry. They aren't co-operating. And as they slowly release the ones they aren't going to charge, instead of dispersing, they gather with others on the streets outside.

At last a flash point is reached. The Stonewall Riots have begun. And things will never be the same again

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

According to a New York Time article that looks at the distribution of gay couples based on census data, Multnomah County is number 4 in the country.

One of the really common arguments you'll hear is that it is necessary to ban same-sex marriage to "protect" "traditional marriage".

This argument has been demolished again and again. Heck, in the Prop 8 trial in CA, their own expert witnesses couldn't come up with evidence that stopping gays from marrying would have any effect on whether or not non-gays would marry.

Yet they continue to assert this is every state that they are fighting the issue.

But just a bit ago, something reminded me of this argument and something clicked.

The argument against them is flawed because of a basic premise, a fundamental postulate if you will, that differs between them and us.

Quite simply, we assume that if you aren't attracted to the opposite sex, there's no sensible reason for you to marry one.

But to *them* men and women *need* to be married. Men need to have a wife and women need to have husbands. It's both a "personal" issue and a *social* one.

Besides the idea of women needing a man to "guide" (read: "control") it also reinforces their desired social order in many ways.

Add in the fact that many of them *still* believe that gays can be "cured" and they definitely have reason to think that it's better for a gay man or women to be in a loveless marriage with a member of the opposite sex, than for them to be single, much less married to a member of their own sex, and their arguments make sense.

Alas, no court is going to be able to allow those arguments because they are either based on "facts" that science has disproven ("gays can be cured") or they are based on religious/cultural beliefs that run counter to things like equality for women.

This means that they are going to get a lot more desperate and a lot shriller as they keep losing and any victories they get are going to be short lived unless they get really lucky.

And since they are "right" anybody opposing them must be being deliberately evil.

So expect things to get a lot uglier as they lose ground.

Happened to get March of Cambreadth on my playlist while reading one of the Horseclans books.

Works pretty good, Since the first time I'd heard the marxch was long after Adams died,, I'd never thought of the two together.

On the other hand, as I read more of the books (I hadn't been able to get at them since the early 90s) I'm having my face rubbed in Adam's homophobia.

The bad guy characters are quite often gay. The nasty sort. Non-con, men forcing boys, women forcing women, and *every* gay character is evil/sick/etc.

Even back in the 80s there were comments about it. a quarter century later, it's something I just remind myself to treat as any other "period literature".

... but we've had another gay bashing here in Portland.

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2010/12/02/breaking-hate-crime-reported-in-seman-percived-as-gay-beaten-while-walking-home

Also, why did it take a *month* for it to hit the news.

'Don't ask, don't tell' ruled unconstitutional

(swiped from filkertom)

Analysis, and .pdf of the opinion.

Reading griffen's journal entry about gay history made me decide that I should post this little historical note of my own.

Back in 1974, I was an 18 year-old fresh from living for most of a year on a farm, and before that living in Spokane, Washington, which a friend who worked there for a while aptly described as "the biggest 'small town' I ever saw".

I'd met a guy at Portland Community College. He was fun to be around and at some point, I found out that he was gay. I don't remember the details. I do remember winding up with quite a crush on him.

He was pretty good about it, though we never had sex (in spite of my trying rather hard a few times :-). We are still friends.

But I still remember one day when we were in downtown Portland. I was blissfully enjoying being in my love's presence. And tried to kiss him...

He took me aside and gently explained that even holding hands could get us beaten up or worse. This was a bit of a shock to my poor naive self.

I'd like it if the day came when no other young men had to be told that.

ps. You *can* see the occasional male couple holding hands in downtown Portland now. And I don't mean during Pride. We've made progress. But we could use more.

I spent several hours at Portland Pride this afternoon/evening. And I'll be going back tomorrow.

I ran into a number of folks I know. And bought a lot of stuff.

Some mildly adult content follows.

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WHEN YOU MEET GAY & LESBIAN PEOPLE; HINTS FOR HETEROSEXUALS

1. Do not run screaming from the room. This is rude.
2. If you do have to back away, do so slowly and with discretion.
3. Do not assume they are attracted to you.
4. Do not assume they are not attracted to you.
5. Do not expect them to be as excited about meeting a
heterosexual as you may be about meeting a gay person.
6. Do not immediately start talking about your boy/girlfriend or
husband/wife in order to make it clear that you are straight.
7. Do not ask them how they got that way. Instead ask yourself how
you got the way you are.
8. Do not assume they are dying to talk about being gay.
9. Do not expect them to refrain from talking about being gay.
10. Do not trivialize their experience by assuming it is a bedroom
issue only. They are gay 24 hours a day.