As I was videotaping the arrest, another officer came running at me with a can of mace or pepper spray or something and told me to get the hell out or I would be arrested too. I backed away but kept taping.
So all of the headlines this week that talked about this as an LGBT rally, might be wrong! It may have originated as that- a rally against homophobia within the Bloomfield community, but then it got co-opted? Taken over, or used by anarchists or queer anarchists for their own purpose which was to lash out at any sense of authority.
When there is so much anger, there is no solution- no way for these two “sides” to work together for the greater good, and from my experience here, this is one of the two big issues that the rally accentuates.
Lizzie Anderson of WRCT interviewed me/taped me at the homophobia rally Wednesday evening, and I understand it will be broadcast on Monday August 29th at 6PM . WRCT is at FM 88.3, or you can listen online at wrct.org.
What happened to Lauren could happen to any of us. Homophobes are out there, and when they are carrying guns it gets even scarier. It is essential that we are all willing to stand up and demand that this type of behaviour does not belong in our neighborhoods. We have every right to live and enjoy our lives no matter if we are gay, lesbian, bi, trans, queer, straight or any other way people self identify.
Note: post updated to include video links. Note: this is the 1st of multiple posts discussing the rally and issues that occurred on Wednesday evening in Bloomfield. I am going to write multiple short posts that talk about various parts of the whole of the evening. I know I will get negative comments on some (maybe all) of these posts. We all are entitled to our opinions. I thought about[Read More…]
Much to post about the rally tonight so watch the blog. Suffice to say as a start, that what started as a quiet and peaceful rally, turned nasty. I saw so much and videotaped quite a bit. Some will talk about tonight as if the police were the problem and they proved why so many within the LGBTQ community don’t trust the police. Others will say that young queers who have no respect for any[Read More…]
When police reportsd are filed and contain adequate information, it becomes easier for the police and other authorities to take action. In this current incident, a gun was pulled which is a real escalation in violence against a member of the community and that is a very big deal that should be taken very seriously.
Personal religious views are just that- personal. If same-sex marriage is opposed to a person’t religious views then, they shouldn’t have one. Salvation, which is the ultimate reason why Christians have faith and follow some doctrine, is an individual thing. What two men do in New York doesn’t harm this teacher’s salvation. He’ll still end up in heaven no matter what others are or are not doing. These personal religious views are what are protected in the First Amendment.
The anti-gay forces are fighting so hard because they know that the truth is a death blow to their hate. When individuals or any age learn abut the positive impact LGBT’s have made, their ability to paint us as demons and evil doers is diminished.