Tricia Romano has an interesting piece in the Village Voice about the gay-bashing of drag performer extraordinaire Kevin Aviance.
In addition to paying tribute to Aviance's talent, she uses the crime to comment on the rise of anti-gay violence. She talks to drag queens, famed drag king Murray Hill and others about life in New York, and how it actually feels more dangerous now to some to walk down the street if you're queer.
It's doubly hard to square the frequency of gay bashings with the public perception that it's OK to be gay. "Just because we have gay TV shows and all that, these things are just a fantasy," [drag performer Honey] Dijon says. "It's like two different realities. It's like 'The Matrix.' There's the virtual reality and what's happening in the real world. And what's happening on the street is a reflection of what our larger government and religious institutions are doing. What's the difference between what the government did in Iraq and what they did to Kevin Aviance? One is sanctioned and the other is not?"
Although the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs cited a 13% decrease in reported incidents of anti-GLBT violence nationally in 2005 over 2004, the numbers for 2006 so far in New York are higher than last year, according to Romano's research.
The chasm between the perceived increase in acceptance by society and reports of an increase in gay-bashing is an interesting discrepancy to contemplate.
The question is: What do we do about it?
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5 comments:
If gay bashing is on the rise, and I suspect it is, look no further than the closeted gay administration in Washington D.C. Their homophobic rhetoric that gays are destroying our culture, families, military - fill in the blank - gives bashers a reason to bash and support for their behavior. By the way, never met a gay basher yet who wasn't a gay guy in denial.
Gays in the closet, like the President, are the worst enemies of the GLBT community. They need the gay community to stay in the closet - where they can safely and discretely play with them before going home to their chain smoking prozac wives.
There is a thing called pride! Now yet again we take pride to a whole new level. We want the hetro world to accept us and to treat us equals, well how do you expect them to do that if we are running around in costume, making out on the street, wearing fairy wings and g-strings. What is there to be proud of in that? This makes us look like a joke, as a bunch of uneducated, sex freaks. Is that what we are proud of? Please, this is where the increase of gay bashing comes from. We are never going to be accepted, understood or appreciated if we act like this. Why is this so hard to understand? Why don't we use our pride and actually show the good things that the "Gays" can do. Help communities; create shelters, aids AWARENESS educate. Show that we do contribute to society instead of being perceived as sex crazed, diseased, party junkies. That is how TV portrays us as well as gay pride weekend. Actually do something to be proud of. Seriously!
Robert
Robert, excuse me for saying this, but you're an idiot. First of all, drag queens, trannies, femmy guys and diesel dykes ALL deserve the right to walk down the street without getting the shi*t beat out of them (or killed.) Second, gay folks of every size, shape, color and description contribute PLENTY to many good causes, all the time -- not just guys who wear Abercrombie. Third, Kevin Aviance was dressed as a guy when thugs beat the crap out of him. But that's beside the point (see "first" above.) And finally, I don't know how we expect straight folks to learn tolerance of ALL PEOPLE when guys like you, in our own community, go around gay bashing with comments like you left here. We have so far to go. -- Kenneth
IN THIS DAY AND AGE IT IS REALLY SAD THAT POEPLE ARE STILL UNCOMFORTABLE WITH HOMOSEXUALITY! IF EVERYBODY WOULD MIND THERE OWN BUSINESS THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE! KEEP YOUR HEAD UP KEVIN, AND DONT STOP BEING FIERCE!
UNFORTUNATELY CRIME IS EVERYWHERE, WHY BLAME THE GAY COMMUNITY, THEY ARE PEOPLE BEING THEMSELVES, AND BEING HAPPY, WHICH MOST STRAIGHT PEOPLE ARE NOT!!!! "LIVE AND LET LIVE", BY THE WAY....GOD LOVES HIS CHILDREN ALL THE SAME, ITS THE HUMANS THAT ARE SO HATEFUL, WHICH IS A SIN.
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