After years of progrs on gay rights, how did the US bee so anti-LGBTQ+? | US news | The Guardian

Contents:

• DGGGS, DEATHS AND ROBBERI PUT NEW YORK’S GAY COMMUNY ON EDGE
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• 2022 LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER AND INTERSEX PRI MONTH MSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

DGGGS, DEATHS AND ROBBERI PUT NEW YORK’S GAY COMMUNY ON EDGE

In the San Francis Bay Area, a group of men displayg Proud Boy lors stormed a Drag Queen Story Hour at the San Lorenzo Library shoutg homophobic and transphobic threats after anti-LGBTQ LibsofTikTok swl Chaya Raichik posted rmatn about the event onle. The 42-year-old spect, Zaniar Matapour, has been an active member an Islamic extremist work wh ti to Arfan Bhatti, a Norwegian Islamic radil wh strong anti-gay views.

Image source, Fay PhotoImage ptn, A vigil will be held for Dr Gary Jenks Cardiff on SundayTolerance agast the LGBT+ muny is "gog backwards" amid risg hate crim, an anti-homophobia mpaigner has said. " Image ptn, Lisa Power says homophobic attacks happen "all too often"Acrdg to Home Office figur, hate crim agast people based on sexual orientatn have risen every year England and Wal om 2016/17 to 2020/21.

Ms Power said she had seen the rise figur reflected the experienc of people Cardiff, and mentned a homophobic asslt on former Wal and Brish & Irish Lns gby pta Gareth Thomas, who me out as gay 2009.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

Individually, reports of such cints rose 38% Avon and Somerset, 72% Glouctershire and 149% Wiltshire durg the two-year hate crim target the sexual orientatn or genr inty of people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or ptn, Tim Birkbeck said the LGBT muny tend to enurage each other to report hate crimAndy Shilton, who -prents the Shout Out rad show wh Ms Bart, said he would not hold his hband's hand public due to fears of abe. "I wish was somethg that would go away but even a few weeks ago we were Old Market, which is known as the gay quarter of Bristol, and a r drove past and [the people si] shouted offensive language at out the wdow, " he said.

2022 LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER AND INTERSEX PRI MONTH MSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

"It's jt not a good climate at the moment for the trans muny, they're takg a big h, " she ptn, Ms Bart believ right-wg polics have led to worseng attus towards transgenr peopleTim Birkbeck, the LGBT lead for Stand Agast Racism and Inequaly (SARI) said: "We're seeg more people g out as gay or non-bary celebry culture, which trickl down to what we see general society.

What we do know that is that rerd homophobic and transphobic hate crim have jumped every year sce 2015, and yet wh an timated four five still gog unreported, the already grisly figur only ht at a far bleaker cints vary nature and severy: om abe hurled at someone intified as LGBTQ bee of their appearance, or mannerisms, or a fleetg or profound show of affectn towards a partner; to gay men beg beaten and robbed, as happened a spected homophobic attack on the streets of Edburgh last month, or a trans man savagely attacked Bournemouth earlier this year. A whe, middle-class, gay, cis man – that is, someone generally at one wh their genr assigned at birth – an urban area is likely to suffer far ls meangful opprsn than other groups. Beyond the fear of holdg hands wh their partner public, their ma grievanc tend to centre on the psychologil srs left by the often suffotgly homophobic environment of their school n lead to lastg trma, which largely explas the higher rat of mental distrs and abive relatnships wh alhol and dgs among LGBTQ people.

The most damaged are equently those whose fathers and mothers vlated the most sacred prciple of parenthood – unndnal love – ference to their own bigotry, often implantg a tickg time bomb their children that may tonate later life, be the form of emotnal breakdown or dg a young gay black man, homophobia may lli wh creased risk of police harassment and racist behavur om other LGBTQ people: victims n be perpetrators, too, sometim believg their own mistreatment mak impossible to opprs as Shon Faye’s brilliant new book The Transgenr Issue unrl, is trans people – the T the LGBTQ – now sufferg the most severe onslght. Today’s relentls mpaign agast trans people seems a near-rbon py of the prevly wispread monsterg of gay and bisexual people, wh all the same trop repeated: that they are would-be sexual predators, that they seek to brawash and rec children, that blogy is sty, that this is a whimsil liftyle choice, that they are fed by mental illns or a creepy fetish that impos an tolerable burn on the “normal” the 1980s and 1990s, many supposed liberals participated the anti-gay offensive, lamentg that the se for gay rights was beg unrmed by “ant homosexuals” makg unreasonable mands on the rt of society, such as askg newspapers not to ll them “poofters”.

Supporters of the LGB Alliance – many of whom are straight – promptly took to Twter to nounce this cint as homophobia and even gay-bashg by the queer protters – some of whom will evably have suffered actual hate crim. The man beme somethg of a e célèbre, an cint that has been marshalled to support the creasgly mon claim that the trans rights movement is homophobic; a “woke homophobia” as a GB News prenter put , renrg LGBTQ people the real homophobic as reported hate crim surge, Stonewall – by far the largt LGBTQ civil rights anisatn – fds self targeted by a McCarthye mpaign agast s fence of trans rights.