HOMOPHOBIC ATTACKS

Every witless or intelligence driven homophobic attack however slight remains as fresh as the first one I ever received- I have not in forty five years developed a thick skin defence mechanism against them. I do not think it would be good for me if I did. I don’t wish to become so inured to homophobic bigotry that I always fail to recognise it in all its many varied subtle shades and deceitful disguises. I want to know my enemy and I have found, to my cost, that they can be lurking among my real friends and my virtual reality social networking friends. They can indeed be close to my chest- the phrase says that is where they might be best kept. In my utopian dreams I don’t want these enemies to exist. The reality is that they do; they do so in vast numbers, far greater numbers than any survey of social attitudes would suggest.

It would not be an exaggeration to fly this kite- as liberal and modern as we imagine we are I contend we are only ever a mere three degrees of separation away from conversion to social fascism. There are powers that be twitching to ghettoise many factions of our generally loathed multi-cultural society and, the GLBT community- for all its campaigning efforts for acceptance and integration, is way up at the top of the list alongside the derided ‘illegal’ immigrants. This is THE BRITISH ISLES- we have real spare islands waiting to be set aside for us and pseudo islands such as The Isle Of Dogs. Such thinking lurks on the desks of every tabloid and it has infested every look of disgust we receive, every slight however slight, every spitefully propelled gobbit of phlegm.

When I see such things or read their sad equivalent- a plump, blonde, middle-aged, educated American woman writer, referring to postings on the Facebook fanpage of THE QUEER MESSIAH as ‘yet more gay crap’ I smell the ill will on the wind. It is no small thing. It is a hate crime.

Every time it hurts as did the first when being cast aside and separateness hit like stonings do- all the bleeding happened inside. It could have been different. It is on the exact same sliding scale to Gay Mugging and ultimately murder. Zero tolerance is the only way.

Speak out always. Never allow the perpetrators to get away with it. The merest insult builds until it is tomorrow’s killing. I am just not willing to live my life with that inevitability lurking in it whilst I passively do nothing out of fear or ignorance or apathy or pure selfishness. THE SAD THING IS- THERE ARE FAR TOO MANY OF OUR COMMUNITY WHO DO. And that is why the future looks fucking grim and why the bridges that connect the mainland to The Isle Of Dogs are biding their time waiting for the tippy tap of a gazillion pairs of ruby slippers. CM  

Fascist concentration camp label