‘I was totally gripped wh fear’: quiry exam 40 years of gay hate crim | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• ‘I WAS TOTALLY GRIPPED WH FEAR’: QUIRY EXAM 40 YEARS OF GAY HATE CRIM
• TRIBUT FLOW FOR MAN WHO INSTALLED GLORY HOL IN NEWSTLE’S GAY BEATS
• NSW POLICE: HUNTG GAY MEN AT BEATS
• PARLIAMENTARY QUIRY TO GAY AND TRANSGENR HATE CRIM TO REMEND HEARG NEWSTLE
• ‘MEN WERE STTERG EVERYWHERE’: QUIRY HEARS OF STRG OF VLENT CINTS AT SYDNEY GAY BEATS
• INQUIRY HEARS OF VLENCE AT GAY BEATS
• GRANDAD KILLED 'WARDLY' ATTACK: GAY HATE QUIRY
• THE BEST NEWSTLE UPON TYNE GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NEWSTLE UPON TYNE
• THE BEST NEWSTLE UPON TYNE GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NEWSTLE UPON TYNE

‘I WAS TOTALLY GRIPPED WH FEAR’: QUIRY EXAM 40 YEARS OF GAY HATE CRIM

Now 88, Peterk told the special missn of quiry to LGBTQ+ hate crim Sydney this week that he’d been targeted for beg gay as far back as the 1950s, when he was arrted by unrver police at a known meet-up spot. His acunt gave a glimpse to the experienc of a ral gay man whose life spans the quiry’s reference dat, 1970 to jt a few days of heargs, the broast snapshot ever of ral and regnal LGBTQ+ hate crim has e to light.

TRIBUT FLOW FOR MAN WHO INSTALLED GLORY HOL IN NEWSTLE’S GAY BEATS

In the 1950s he moved to Sydney to take up teachg 1956, 28 years before homosexualy was crimalised NSW, he was arrted by a police officer posg as a gay man at a North Sydney ‘beat’, a public toilet or other public place equented by men seekg ntact, often sexual, wh same-sex attracted men.

Homophobic people knew that homosexual men would attend a public toilet and would lie wa. ”Country men killed spected hate crime attacksThe quiry has listed two unsolved aths of gay men om regnal areas who may have been killed. Both men later died of signifint head Miller, om Orange the New South Wal central wt, attend the annual Sydney Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras March 1997.

NSW POLICE: HUNTG GAY MEN AT BEATS

Parrabell also looked at the ath of 33-year-old Rsell Payne, who was found ad his home at Inverell 1989; and the ath of 36-year-old Graham Paynter, whose body was disvered at the base of a cliff at Tathra on the state’s far-south ast the same ’s ath was tegorised as a spected crime of “bias”, but the Parrabell report stated that evince of gay hate was eher not found the other ral s, or there was sufficient rmatn llected durg ial police quiri to now tegorise any motive for them. Payne’s ath was not vtigated as a least one ral killg of a gay man rulted a nvictn. The motive of gay-hatred was raised but not tablished durg the subsequent trial, although the Parrabell vtigatn tegorised the 67-year-old’s ath as a spected bias crime.

A 2020 parliamentary quiry report stated that the NSW police had “failed s rponsibili to properly vtigate” gay and transgenr hate current special missn will quire to unsolved Parrabell s, and unsolved aths where the victim was om the LGBTQ+ muny and the cint was prevly vtigated by NSW police.

PARLIAMENTARY QUIRY TO GAY AND TRANSGENR HATE CRIM TO REMEND HEARG NEWSTLE

Michael Burge’s but novel Tank Water (MidnightSun Publishg) explor the subject of gay-hate crim ral Atralia. His article Backwards to Bourke: Bulldt about Gays the Bh was published the Journal of Atralian Studi. Reddors have paid tribute to a man who rved out glory hol gay beats around Newstle for s.

‘MEN WERE STTERG EVERYWHERE’: QUIRY HEARS OF STRG OF VLENT CINTS AT SYDNEY GAY BEATS

Beats ed to be a place where men uld meet before gay pri movements won the right to meet pubs and clubs. Beat ers have reported hourly patrols by several police vehicl, vert patrols on foot, the wrongful "banng" people om the area for 28 days, rogatory personal ments, threats to e pepper spray, e of unnecsary force, arrt whout charge and other homophobic behavur. In a letter to cy admistrators, LECD says that by regulatg sex public, the safety of homosexuals om "queer-bashers" n be better guaranteed.

Communy Actn Agast Homophobia (CAAH) is mpaigng to end harassment of men Sydney beats and will provi onle rmatn for beat ers to bee better rmed of their rights when approached by police.

Photograph of Newstle Beach, an area well-known the gay muny for s beats, the 1950s.

INQUIRY HEARS OF VLENCE AT GAY BEATS

Much of my rearch for this project me om the book Out the Valley: Hunter gay and lbian histori[7] (2010), which is one of the most substantial, and well rearched wrten acunts of Newstle’s queer history. I also ed the Atralian Lbian and Gay archiv[8] as a mol for wrg queer history. Below is one of my favour, that acted as a nstant remr that queer people serve more than a history nfed to homophobic newspaper articl:.

‘Up until the 1990s, when the hunter gay and lbian muny began to publish s own news magaz, the ocsnal newspaper article was the only evince homosexuals of the regn uld fd to tell them that their existence and history had not been pletely erased om the nscns of the muny which they lived. The negative articl at least enabled lol homosexuals to see prt the kds of views about them that were held by the people who were part of their world. Hunter gay and lbian histori.

GRANDAD KILLED 'WARDLY' ATTACK: GAY HATE QUIRY

Lbian and Gay Archiv | Sce 1978, llectg and prervg Atralia’s. gay and lbian histori.

Pictur: Simone De PeakThe chair of a parliamentary quiry to gay and transgenr hate crim  NSW says an upg report will remend the quiry ntu after the state electn to nduct heargs regnal muni, cludg Newstle. Submissns to the legislative uncil quiry allege multiple s of homophobic vlence the Hunter as well as biased nduct by members of the jtice system  the reference perd of 1970 to 2010.

Submissns to the quiry clu one report om a muny group claimg a seri of attacks at a gay beat Lake Macquarie between 2011 and 2015 were not acted upon by police, cludg verbal threats, men throwg fireworks and one man beg h over the head wh a tail cints of street harassment and asslt  Newstle sce 1990, one as recent as Allen Gee, a lecturer soc-legal studi who has nducted rearch on anti-gay vlence the Hunter, said he supported the quiry ntug bee was “impossible” to quantify historic rat of vlence teh regn as cints were generally not reported to police. He said terviews he had nducted suggted the gay and lbian muny was subject to attacks between the 70s and 90s.

THE BEST NEWSTLE UPON TYNE GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NEWSTLE UPON TYNE

”One applint to the quiry said they were punched “by a man who was targetg anyone that was walkg to the door of a gay nightclub” Newstle 1990. ”Another applint claims she was told “not to go out alone to any gay venu anywhere the state” durg Mardi Gras after alleged attacks on men om Newstle.

An article om the Newstle Herald about the murr of Alan Edge, which sparked a "wch hunt" which police qutned hundreds of gay men the cy. Dr Gee said police relatns wh the gay muny the cy were also “not good” before a cultural shift the 90s prompted by the crimalisatn of homosexual acts 1984. Police harassment the cy gaed attentn 1978 when journalist David Marr reported the Natnal Tim that officers had terviewed and rerd the personal tails of hundreds of gay men  relatn to a murr Police’s review of the five murrs, found no evince of anti-gay bias volved the crim.

A further submissn to the quiry, however, argu that another murr that occurred  Merriwa 1978 was downgrad to a se of manslghter due to the e of a “gay panic fence” Mallard said the terim report on the quiry to gay and transgenr hate crim between 1970 and 2010 will be published on the NSW Parliament webse.

THE BEST NEWSTLE UPON TYNE GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NEWSTLE UPON TYNE

As Garry Wotherspoon observ: “[H]omosexuals have been imagative creatg other for a range of stutns … sce the ways which heterosexuals n meet each other openly are not available to homosexuals. Brought to you by the Atralian Lbian and Gay Archiv.