Gays and Beats - FoundSF

Contents:

• GAY BASHGS, HOMOPHOBIA: FORMER P RELLS HORROR YEARS NSW POLICE FORCE
• NSW POLICE: HUNTG GAY MEN AT BEATS
• EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS SURRY HILLS
• SGT. D. MSG POLICE P.R. AT 51 HOLT ST. SURRY HILLS GAY MEETG OVER POLICE RAID ON GAY BAR.
• GAY DOG RTRANT A WORLD FIRST FOR SURRY HILLS

GAY BASHGS, HOMOPHOBIA: FORMER P RELLS HORROR YEARS NSW POLICE FORCE

A gay uple were allegedly approached by a 21-year-old and 19-year-old man before secury om a nearby licensed premise separated them on Sunday 23. ”Mark Higgbotham has revealed police bashgs of gay men the 1980s. ”The notor former police officer, Roger Rogerson, was based at the statn at the time, but the now-faiar stori of protectn money, pay-offs om crime boss and ps on the take at Darlghurst, Surry Hills and Kgs Cross police statns have missed another, arguably more signifint story: how police were allegedly bashg gay men.

Higgbotham was wns to this at one gay beat Moore Park. ”Higgbotham was mystified by the anger directed towards gay men by the officers, “which isn’t what you would have expected the middle of a gay area”.

The pth of that anger beme abundantly clear to Higgbotham when he arrted a man for a gay bashg that happened only blocks away om the statn. “I do remember thkg he was gay and askg him what had happened. After the victim, the edor of a gay newspaper, wrote a posive story about Higgbotham and the Darlghurst police, he was seen as some kd of avenger and protector for the gay muny by at least two senr staff at the statn, who subjected him to a soul-stroyg bullyg mpaign, at s nastit durg the ‘taskg para’ at the mencement of each shift, when jobs were alloted.

NSW POLICE: HUNTG GAY MEN AT BEATS

‘” Higgbotham was not sulted by beg labelled a homosexual by his tormentors – for the rerd Higgbotham is heterosexual – but bee they were g that word to try to mean and stroy him.

He has been wh the Victorian police for 29 years, pneerg work improvg practic for supportg sex crime victims the urt early as next week, a cisn will be ma on whether a judicial quiry will proceed to the large number of unsolved s of spected gay and transgenr hate crime aths between 1970 and 2010.

“Time is nng out on the murrs and asslts, ” says Mallard, who has been a victim of a homophobic asslt himself. This is unfished bs for the gay, lbian and transgenr muny, which llectively still mourns the crim. As early as next week, a cisn will be ma on whether a judicial quiry will proceed to the large number of unsolved s of spected gay and transgenr hate crime aths between 1970 and gby league footballer, now actor, Ian Roberts, says the horrific anti-gay crime spree rollg across Sydney the late 1980s and early 1990s ntributed to his cisn to postpone his g out as gay (he had planned to e out at the end of 1989 football season, but didn’t fally do so until 1994) Roberts layed g out partially bee of the gay bashgs and murrs occurrg Wolter Peeters“The public backlash agast soccer player Jt Fashanu (who me out October 1990) also ma me hate, ” says Roberts.

EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS SURRY HILLS

“I wnsed bashgs durg that perd and was myself the target of attacks when I was out wh gay iends on Oxford Street. ”Higgbotham’s story, as well as Ian Roberts’ memori of the anti-gay crime wave Sydney the late 1980s, n be heard episo five of The Sydney Morng Herald and The Age’s podst, Bondi Badlands.

Thanks for jog on the webse of the Gay And Married Men’s Associatn – GAMMA. 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.

SGT. D. MSG POLICE P.R. AT 51 HOLT ST. SURRY HILLS GAY MEETG OVER POLICE RAID ON GAY BAR.

The Beats, pecially around Gsberg, laid the foundatn for later synergi created by gay poets.

After the Send World War, San Francis slowly beme home to both a gay bar subculture and a homophile activist movement, which mostly operated isolatn om each other. There was a burgeong Beat culture North Beach, two homosexual bar payola sndals volvg the police partment and the mayor, and an vasive police crackdown agast gay bars that lasted three years. The San Francis Beats and the gays had a symbtic relatnship.

" One uld say the same about the unrground culture of gay leathermen that was about to emerge. Homosexualy was part of the North Beach scene.

GAY DOG RTRANT A WORLD FIRST FOR SURRY HILLS

Many of the Beats were homosexual, cludg Gsberg, Jack Spicer, Robert Dunn, and Rob Blaser. Gsberg slashed through gay stereotyp of gay male sexualy wh Howl's celebratn of joyo and even holy sexual unn. He served as a bridge between the tolerant lerary world and the emergg gay polil scene.