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Stonewall: a story of hope and pride

BAGUIO CITY (June 25) — In the 19th century context, the word “stonewall” merely meant piled up stones built to make up a wall. But its meaning changed through time, and has politically evolved to mean “the engaging of parliamentary or other debate or discussions”.

A person labeled as a “stonewaller” is one who “deliberately creates delay or obstructions or employs delaying tactics”, according to Microsoft Encarta. But to the gay and lesbian community, its political significance lies in an event in 1969 which ensued at a place called Stonewall Inn, New York City. A “Stonewaller”, with a capital S, has another and historic meaning, referring to the veterans of the Stonewall Rebellion. (stonewallvets.org)

The series of violent dispersals and police harassments that happened in 1969 were just the tip of the hate campaigns against homosexuals during the era. The Stonewall Inn, where police forces brutally dispersed gay and lesbian bar-patrons, became a significant edifice symbolizing the struggle of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender and advocates to end institutionalized hatred against homosexuals.

Around this time, the gay rights movement was gaining support internationally along with the other growing people’s liberation movements, the anti-Vietnam war movement, the women’s liberation movement and the civil liberties movement. Many gay historians would describe the late part of the 60’s and the early part of the 70s as a fertile era for the birth of the modern gay movement. A year after the Stonewall event, protests reached its peak when organizations quickly spread its chapters throughout the US and other countries and launched the first ever “Gay Pride Liberation March” in the US.

Up to this day, gay and lesbian activists look back to the Stonewall event as a symbol of hope and pride. More and more gay people have come out to challenge oppressive traditions and practices that promote and reinforce hatred against homosexuals. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people (LGBT) have become more visible and vocal in the media. Oppressive laws have been challenged and scrapped. The debate on same-sex marriages persists in some countries and states. Sadly, however, while there are numerous gains to speak of, there is still a long way to go.

In a macho-feudal country like ours, we still hear or read about gays who get violently beaten-up by their boyfriends, or gays who are taken advantage of through theft and robbery. We hear about homosexuals who were forced into sex then brutally and mysteriously murdered. Everyday, we watch them being ridiculed in sitcoms or noontime TV shows, compelled to act funny and moronic next to Willie Revillame.

Worse, in this period of mass political hopelessness and economic misery, homosexuals are doubly disadvantaged because of homophobia. This, in the economic aspect, implies that homosexuals are one of those in the labor force as “the first to be fired and last to be hired” by virtue of their sexuality. The “masang bakla at tomboy” have to contend with the ever-rising cost of living, unemployment and underemployment, demolition jobs and homelessness, oil price hike, and onerous taxes.

This seemingly unending crisis spawned discontentment and uproar among some gays and lesbians and paved the way for the creation of the Gays and Lesbians for the Immediate Tsugi of Gloria (GALIT-GLORIA) in areas like Baguio City and the National Capital Region. To these militant gays and lesbians, the Stonewall hope and pride cannot be realized only through the fulfillment of individual human rights. The Stonewall spirit and essence thrive in the struggle of gays and lesbians to be part of an important Philippine political juncture.

Indeed, the progressive lesbian and gay community has set a more meaningful association to the word “stonewall” by “putting up an immovable barrier” against the worsening political and economic turmoil. # Julie Palaganas for NORDIS

The author is a member of LESBOND and GALIT-GLORIA

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