ISSUE: DNA #271 – Fashion Special | Buy
As we come to the end of another Pride season, there are a few notable moments and events I think it’s important to recap.
The first is the scariest. In June, a group of white supremacists were arrested at Pride In The Park, an annual event held by North Idaho Pride Alliance. A witness called police after noticing suspicious activity – dozens of masked men in army gear loading into a U-Haul truck at an intersection near Pride In The Park. Thankfully, police stopped the truck just minutes later.
The local sheriff said the men were, “dressed like a small army”. He also noted: “There were people walking around the event with long guns and handguns and bear spray and all kinds of things… that is legal in Idaho.”
The group of 31 were all from the extremist Patriot Front and were charged with conspiracy to riot. But if it had not been for the witness and the fast-acting police, this could have been a very different story, and a tragic one.
LGBTQIA+ people should feel safe at Pride events, but increasingly they don’t. A couple of weeks later, crowds panicked at New York City’s Pride march, mistaking fireworks for gunshots.
Videos posted online show hundreds of Pridegoers rushing for cover. Americans, more than most, have reason to fear gun crime, but we’re all vulnerable.
The day before New York, a lone gunman walked into Oslo’s London Pub, a gay venue, and opened fire, claiming the lives of two people and injuring 21 more. It was the eve of Norway’s schedule Pride week which, of course, was cancelled. Nevertheless, the community marched through central Oslo chanting, “We’re here, we’re queer, we won’t disappear.”
In early July, Turkey intensified its growing oppression of the LGBTQIA+ community. At Istanbul’s Pride march, police took over 300 people into custody; 34 of them were, according to reports, under 18. A week later, authorities in the Turkish capital, Ankara, banned a scheduled Pride march, but the community turned out in defiance anyway. The response from police was swift and frightening. They attacked the peaceful gathering with teargas and pepper spray. Ominously, video posted on social media showed plain-clothed police arresting marchers and throwing them into vans. Over 36 people were detained.
So, if that pesky family member or work colleague ever says, “Why do you still have Pride marches? You’ve got marriage equality and equal rights,” remind them that not all LGBTQIA+ people have the same rights, some have none at all, and those of us who do are constantly having to defend them. And admirably, that’s what happened at several Pride events this year.
In London, the Pride March was heckled by a couple of Christian evangelists who broadcast warnings of fire and brimstone.
But the adorable cast of teen-romance series Heartstopper, Joe Locke, Sebastian Croft and Kit Connor were having none of it and decided that, in response, they would dance gleefully and defiantly. The boys have posted video of the moment on their Twitter accounts. Later, it’s been reported, someone plugged into the homophobes’ sound system and replaced their hate-filled messages with The Weather Girls’ It’s Raining Men!
Meanwhile, in the Polish city of Poznan, the community had good cause to celebrate: Poland’s “LGBT-free” zones were ruled unlawful. And while Kiev was unable to host Pride this year due to the war in Ukraine, the event was “guest hosted” by Warsaw in neighbouring Poland. It’s great to see the community rising to the challenges we face.
Just like the pioneering gay and lesbian activist in our feature story this month, Gay Is Good. We often think that LGBTQIA+ rights began with the Stonewall Riots in 1969.
However, for decades before, there were Americans working quietly and lawfully to overturn discrimination in employment and working to achieve civil rights. Known as The Mattachines, they’ve been somewhat overshadowed by Stonewall, but their story is no less compelling. We go back to the 1940s and ’50s to rediscover these forgotten leaders.
I have no doubt they would be stunned but overjoyed to read our account of A Big Gay Indian Wedding, in which two Indian men, one Hindu, one Sikh, celebrated their wedding with family and friends in a traditional-but-unique ceremony – and possibly a world-first.
Elsewhere in this issue we chat with Dr Norman Swan, Jason Om and Wil Anderson and bring you three hot fashion stories from Rufskin, Ethan James and Roberto Chiovitti.
I hope you enjoy this issue. I look forward to your thoughts and feedback. And, as always, be kind, especially to yourself.
Andrew Creagh
Founding Editor
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