From NYC to San Francisco, America’s LGBT community marked the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) in a far different fashion than our international brothers and sisters.
May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) and once again was observed across the globe this year. IDAHO is an annual event marking the day the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its classification of diseases in 1990.
In years past the occasion has been used as a vehicle to demonstrate solidarity for those in countries where discrimination is rife, or where being gay or transgendered is punishable by death. From the murder of gays in Iraq to the murder of activists like David Kato in Uganda, IDAHO is not a celebration. It’s about creating awareness.
In a well-rounded overview on TNCRM, Vincent Warren, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), revisits the hate being exported to places like Uganda, reminding those of us in the U.S. committed to the full civil and human rights of all people, including LGBTQ people, that we have a particular obligation in this situation.
This year, to mark the occasion, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton issued a statement reaffirming the European Union’s “commitment to equality and nondiscrimination,” while EU Justice and Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding stated that homophobia and transphobia are “violations of human dignity.”
As expected, in places like Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital at least 17 people were injured by a violent outbreak before the start of a rally to mark IDAHO there. According to Radio Free Europe, “thousands of antigay demonstrators led by Orthodox priests broke through police lines and attacked gay-rights demonstrators, who had to be evacuated by police.†Yep, you read that right – lead by Orthodox priests. Men of God. Apparently.
But here in the United States, while unprecedented successes in marriage equality; the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; and the relaxing of attitudes in general suggest all is rosy, the situation is a lot more complicated. And not just in the typical bastions of red-State hate.
In New York, a rally was staged on May 16th by the organizations Queer Rising, GLAAD, and New York’s Anti-Violence Project, which although had nothing to do with IDAHO, (and which perhaps should have,) was an urgent response to an unusually violent spate of anti-gay hate in Manhattan.
And yes, even though a steady spate of transgender violence has not precipitated the kind of reaction we’re seeing in New York, the community response is nonetheless an important and necessary step. There is legitimate cause for concern, and New Yorkers are not taking these developments lying down.
In San Francisco, IDAHO seems to have taken on a very different meaning than in years past. And while San Francisco has also seen an alarming increase in anti-gay violence, this year, Gays Without Borders teamed with the Bradley Manning Support Network to observe IDAHO.
A simmering feud which erupted over SF Pride’s decision to rescind the selection of Bradley Manning as Grand Marshal of the June parade by former Grand Marshals, has raged on for weeks, galvanizing activists to form a coalition to get Manning reinstated, and resulting in a series of embarrassing missteps by SF Pride in their attempts to stem the hemorrhaging.
A group of activists, including David Waggoner, former President of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club and former Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild; Gary Virginia, Community Grand Marshal for 2012, and one of the Members of the Pride Electoral College that voted for Manning, filed a discrimination complaint against SF Pride with the City’s Human Rights Commission.
Manning is the army private accused of the greatest security breach in US history by giving hundreds of thousands of classified war and diplomatic documents to Wikileaks. Manning is currently in custody awaiting a Court Martial and facing 22 charges, ranging from the improper use of government computers, to the capital offense of aiding the enemy, and violating the Espionage Act of 1917. He pled guilty to the ten lesser offenses. Reports of unusually harsh interrogation techniques – the very type of abuse he sought to whistle blow over – have been cruelly justified as part of a suicide watch, and many, including the President, and many media outlets, have prematurely convicted him.
SF Pride’s decision has bitterly divided San Francisco’s community, and politicians who typically weigh in on any given opportunity have remained uncharacteristically mute. One SF Supervisor, David Campos weighed in about two weeks into the controversy, as mounting public distaste, the Human Rights Commission Complaint, staged protests outside SF Pride offices and widespread media interest has made it all but impossible to sit on the sidelines.
But it has also breathed life into an increasingly disenchanted segment of the community who are frustrated by the co-opting of the movement by an elite few, claiming to represent and speak for a community they apparently view with disdain. An attempt to shelve the issue until Gay Pride was over, and cancel a public meeting scheduled for May 12, 2013 resulted in a mock meeting outside their offices, where a crowd of protestors did a symbolic reinstatement of Manning as Grand Marshal in their absence. SF Pride’s admission in an exclusive interview with their virtual mouthpiece — the Bay Area Reporter — that they had “fired” a staffer for what was, by their own admission, the systemic failure of their own procedures, did as much to quell the community as President Obama’s firing of the acting IRS commissioner did to end the recent IRS scandal.
On Friday afteroon, the tone-deaf SF Pride CEO, Earl Plante announced the selection of Bebe Sweetbriar as Grand Marshal, stating that Sweetbriar “is a shining exemplar of how the power of local community talent can so positively impact the lives of so many near and far.â€
The San Francisco rally in Harvey Milk Plaza, was additionally symbolic. The bitter battle over control over the rainbow flag under which the protest will be held remains unresolved three years later. Attempts to lower the rainbow flag for previous IDAHO solidarity actions were unsuccessful, and the furor that arose last November when Veronika Fimbres had her request to fly the Transgender Pride flag for Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th refused.
With the support of Supervisor Scott Weiner, Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC) snubbed community requests to set up a transparent system to govern the process of dealing with requests related to the flag, instead killing the option altogether.
Last night’s IDAHO protest to reinstate Bradley Manning took place under the rainbow flag in all its glory.
Disclaimer. I am one of the signatories to the complaint filed with San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission against SF Pride. I am also part of the coalition of activists that has loosely formed in response to the events surrounding SF Pride and Bradley Manning. I have also met with city officials in San Francisco, including the Human Rights Commission, in relation to the legitimacy of MUMC’s claim of ownership of a flag on city property.
Image: Former Community Grand Marshal, Gary Virginia, expressing support for Manning on May 17’s IDAHO Rally in San Francisco. By Clinton Fein.