If you say beg gay is not Ain, you don’t know your history | Bisi Alimi | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY HISTORY IS BLACK HISTORY: THE 10 INS PROVE IT
• GAY IS AIN
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• WHERE IS IT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY AI?
• IF YOU SAY BEG GAY IS NOT AIN, YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR HISTORY
• BT GAY AIN SAFARI TOURS: (AIN DTATNS FOR LGBTQ)
• HISTORIC PHOTOS OF AIN-AMERIN GAY MEN UNEARTHED
• TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE 'THE CROWD ROOM' DEFEND BY FANS

GAY HISTORY IS BLACK HISTORY: THE 10 INS PROVE IT

(Drag) Kgs and Queens, dyk, homos, genr nonnformg, same-genr lovg, queer and trans folk populate our history and have been foundatnal to every sgle emancipatory movement we’ve ever had. Johnson to Jimmy Baldw; om Audre Lor to Richard Nugent; om Countee Cullen to Patrisse Cullors—we owe to ourselv, to our muny, to all of our children, gay and otherwise, to tell the whole story. Remarkably, Rt was out his entire life, yet still faced discrimatn wh the black muny and the larger movement for his sexualy, cludg a particularly paful episo where Congrsman Adam Clayton Powell of Harlem wield Rt’s homosexualy agast him and threatened MLK, who dropped him for polil expediency.

At a time where HIV and AIDS were cimatg the black and gay muny, separately and together, Blakk ed her voice to speak tth to power, nsistently puttg the issu and needs of gay, black and margalized people at the fore. Wrer and playwright Lorrae Hansberry pos for a portra her apartment 1959 New York David Attie (Getty Imag)Lorrae Hansberry (1930-1965) Young, Gifted & GayLorrae Hansberry was a prolific wrer, playwright, activist, and the wrer of the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, who died far too young.

DeLaverie was one of several “butch lbians” who fought the opprsive, prejudiced NYPD on that fateful summer night—for this, she has been dubbed the “Rosa Parks of the Gay Rights Movement. DeLarverie was also a fixture the Gay Pri para for years, and a bouncer at many lbian bars and clubs New York Cy’s Greenwich Village, packg a legal gun (until she was 85) to protect agast those who would do the gay muny harm.

GAY IS AIN

" Beyond her LGBTQ activism, DeLarverie also anized and performed at fundraisers for women who suffered om domtic vlence and their Jam Baldw (Photo by Ted Thai)The LIFE Picture Collectn/GettyJam Baldw (1924-1987)A wrer and social cric, Baldw is perhaps bt known for his 1955 llectn of says, "Not of a Native Son, " and his groundbreakg 1956 novel, "Gvanni's Room, " which picts them of homosexualy and bisexualy. Baldw spent a majory of his lerary and activist reer tg others about Black and queer inty, as he did durg his famo lecture tled “Race, Racism, and the Gay Communy” at a meetg of the New York chapter of Black and Whe Men Together (now known as Men of All Colors Together) and playwright Lorrae Hansberry her New York Cy apartment April Attie / Getty ImagLorrae Hansberry (1930-1965)Hansberry was an activist and playwright bt known for her groundbreakg play “A Rais the Sun, ” about a stgglg Black fay on Chigo’s South Si. The inic work was then ma to a 1961 film starrg Sidney Poier and Ruby to “A Rais the Sun” fame, Hansberry — who never publicly acknowledged she was a lbian — joed lbian rights group Dghters of Bilis and ntributed letters about femism and homophobia to s magaze, “The Ladr, ” acrdg to LGBTQ historian Eric Marc, host of the “Makg Gay History” podst.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

Now 79, Miss Major, known to many simply as “Mama, ” ris Ltle Rock, Arkansas, where she ntu to be a vol Sprg's mayor Ron On, April 18, Khan / LA Tim via Getty ImagRon On (Born 1950)When On was elected mayor of Palm Sprgs, California 2003, he ma history by beg the first openly gay Ain Amerin man elected mayor of an Amerin cy.

Several studi, cludg one on 50 societi every regn of the ntent, cisively support the ncln that homosexual relatnships nstute “a nsistent and logil feature of Ain societi and belief systems. If what you are is not a matter of choice, and sexualy is part of who you are, then is morally unjtifiable to nsir a homosexual person as pable of ntributg to the mon good jt bee of their sexualy. Dpe what’s been nstantly peddled to by the lik of polil nservativ and relig lears, a glance at Ain history reveals that homosexualy is not “un-Ain”; rather, is the laws that crimalize that are.

Therefore, they e the virily of a te “Ain man” and his masculy as a distractn, statg that mt be mataed, as genr equaly and homosexualy are threats to heteropatriarchal Ain societi. In 1994 when a lol Mlim newspaper characterized homosexual marriag as a wtern practice alien to the Hsa culture, many refuted this statg that was digeno to them, even though margal. Hsa “gay” men refer to their homosexual sir as real and trsic, but also regardg their reproductive obligatns as even more real and more important than their homosexual affairs, which are often referred to as wasa – play.

WHERE IS IT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY AI?

For example, Capta Sir Richard Burton, who was a European traveler scribed some parts of Ai, Asia and the Ameris as a ‘sodatic zone’; scribg plac where European homosexuals uld eely exprs their relatnships as they uld not their home untri. Therefore, is possible that the ristance agast the crimalisatn of homosexualy is partly explaed by the fear of neo-lonialism which illtrat that the srs of lonialism still lie ep wh .

IF YOU SAY BEG GAY IS NOT AIN, YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR HISTORY

The homophobia displayed not only by the police, but enuraged by civilians as well, is a major reason why the tersectnaly of sexual orientatn and police btaly was so ccial durg the #EndSars movement. Image source, Getty ImagIn the latt sign of risg homophobia different Ain untri, a Kenyan opposn MP is leadg a mpaign for parliament to further crimalise the untry's small LGBTQ muny.

BT GAY AIN SAFARI TOURS: (AIN DTATNS FOR LGBTQ)

Gee Peter Kaluma's move after neighbourg Uganda adopted a tough new anti-gay law, rejectg threats by US Print Joe Bin to impose sanctns and travel rtrictns on "anyone volved ser human rights ab". "We want to prohib everythg to do wh homosexualy, " Mr Kaluma tells me, addg that his bill will be much broar than the legislatn passed by Uganda's parliament and approved by Print Yoweri Meveni May.

The Ugandan law is regard as one of the harsht anti-LGBTQ laws the propos life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and the ath penalty for so-lled aggravated s, which clu havg gay sex wh someone below the age of 18 or where someone be fected wh a life-long illns such as the other si of the ntent, MPs Ghana earlier this month unanimoly voted favour of amendments to the untry's anti-gay legislatn, phg closer to beg enacted to law. Though ls harsh than Uganda's new law, the Promotn of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu Bill propos a three-year prison sentence for anyone who intifi as LGBTQ and a 10-year sentence for anyone who promot homosexualy. Gay sex is already illegal Kenya, but the ernment n also be tolerant of gay people - for example, has given asylum to people om other Ain untri, cludg Uganda, who faced persecutn their home untri bee of their sexual orientatn.

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Many Kenyans believe that gay rights are agast their relign - whether Christian or MlimAlthough the meetg Uganda was billed as an attempt to protect the "sovereignty" of Ain stat, was actually -sponsored by an Amerin Christian right-wg anisatn, Fay Watch Internatnal (FWI) Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian prit the Anglin Church and an amic at Boston Universy the US, says Ain untri are beg targeted by FWI and siar US-based anisatns, and that the impact of s lobbyg has been "horrible and humane" parts of Ai, fuellg what he lls "ant homophobia".

HISTORIC PHOTOS OF AIN-AMERIN GAY MEN UNEARTHED

"It is one thg to say: 'I don't agree wh you beg gay', but we didn't have the ant one, where policians now are sayg: 'You go to jail for life, you go to jail for talkg about beg gay, you go to jail bee you're livg wh your fellow woman', " Dr Kaoma says. When two Black men love each other on screen, shows others what is possible, and shows that you n be who you are and still fd we want to take a look back at some of the Black gay upl that we've seen on TV who have spired viewers and changed media as we know .

Unfortunately, the upl aren't as numero as they should be, but as more Black queer creativ get chanc to tell stori, we n only image what the future of Black gay reprentatn looks like. In what would be Black gay documentarian Marlon Riggs' fal film, Black Is, Black A't illtrat how there's no sgular, monolhic way for people to be Black wh a muny that's diverse s own right. The edic take (which is que difficult at actually viewg as there were distributn issu) explor what means to be Black and gay while also sheddg light on the everyday stggl shared as part of the human experience.

TOM HOLLAND’S GAY SEX SCENE 'THE CROWD ROOM' DEFEND BY FANS

Nkoli received several human rights awards globally and was one of the first gay activists to meet wh Print Manla 1994, mpaigng for the protectn om discrimatn the 1994 Constutn and for the repeal of the sodomy law.

It is photography therefore—Black, Ain, homosexual photography—which I mt e not jt as an stment, but as a weapon if I am to rist attacks on my tegry and, ed, my existence on my own terms.