With the growing political tension and divide heating up in the US ahead of its presidential election in November, the usual suspects are being used as a proverbial football in the teeth-gnashing battle between WOKE/progressives and conservatives. Like many other minorities, the rights and freedoms of LGBTQAI+ communities have always been a political ball to be tossed about to show the bona fides of the champions of political or social divides. While for many this appears to be a new battleground, it is imperative that we learn the history of how we got here and the lessons from the past in regards to the basic human rights of acceptance, tolerance and inclusion.
The backlash that is framing a lot gay and trans issues is a disturbing trend. It flies in the face of those brave, battle-hardened gay and trans activists and warriors who fought so hard on our behalf for the sorts of rights that we can easily take for granted in Western countries today (with much more ground to be made, especially, but not exclusively, in the more conservative, dogmatic, religious dominated societies and countries of the world where human rights are often appalling). Throughout the last century, fights occurred to increase the rights and visibility of LGBTQIA+ people. One of the most famous of these battles occurred in New York in 1969.
Early in the morning of June 28, the Stonewall Inn, a gay club opened by the mafia, was raided by an arm of the New York police called the Public Morals Squad. After infiltrating the club with undercover officers earlier in the evening, the police raided the club and started to arrest, in particular, drag queens, transvestites and transgender male-to-female individuals and checked out everyone else’s identification. Gay women were being frisked inappropriately and anyone suspected of cross-dressing were taken to the toilets for a body search. That night the harassment was viewed as ‘enough is enough’ by many patrons. The late sixties were a battlefront for many minorities and the fight for equality and that night for the gay and trans community of New York, a stand was taken. Any perceived male dressed as female refused to go with the police and men refused to show ID. It all escalated from there and patrons got arrested and locals convened on the area. Violence perpetrated by the police enraged the situation and a riot ensued. For the next few days, crowds of people came to see the wreck of the Stonewall, which closed not long after, guarded by police, and the violence continued. In the aftermath, these sorts of raids continued on other establishments. Even though there were activists and groups already doing their best, this lead to the formation of more organised gay activism across the US, especially in the lead up to the first Gay Pride march on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riot. The whole anti-gay discrimination empowerment got its legs and we have been living in a far more tolerant world ever since.
This was not the first time during the 20th century that there was a flourishing of gay pride, though. Between the late 19th century and 1933, a pro-gay movement developed in Germany as a reaction to gay male criminalisation of the late 1890s. There, during the Weimar Republic after World War 1, censorship decreased and a number of gay, lesbian and trans publications were allowed to flourish. The German Friendship Society became the first mass gay organisation during this period and there was a halcyon window of unprecedented freedoms and relative tolerance for the gay, lesbian and trans community unlike ever seen before. This movement went hand in hand with a broader movement of sexuality and equality reformations ranging from gay rights to feminism, that were trying to use rational, scientific and compassionate means for understanding and tolerance, rather than the close-minded, overly conservative, narrow view from a religious stand that had pervaded society up until that point. This came crashing down in 1933 when the Nazi party came to power. The worst persecution of gay and trans individuals that has ever occurred followed, based on ignorance, scapegoating and religious conservatism. Can we see any analogies for our present times here?
The rise of the anti-WOKE movement is based on the old fears of non-acceptance of difference and change. When this inevitably occurs, large fluctuations occur between extremes of thought and action until a new balance is found. Socio-economic and political upheaval occurs in symbiosis with this change. When this occurs, there is a proclivity for some people to blame the most vulnerable and obvious targets in society for the troubles of the world. With a US election being held this year, the worrying similarities between the late Weimar Republic and post-Stonewall era of today is a major concern, given the repealing of trans rights and anti-abortion policies in Donald Trump’s Project 2025 manifesto. This is not of course confined to the US. The whole world can learn from the past, not just for gay, trans or any other minorities but for our broader societal health.
