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The Age
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘It's a scary climate': America's LGBTQ community begins the fightback
Walking into a bar run by the Mafia in Greenwich Village was an entree into a world Mark Segal scarcely knew existed before moving to New York more than five decades ago. But for an 18-year-old 'boy next door' from Philadelphia, stepping behind the red curtains and into the Stonewall Inn felt like he'd found a place he could be himself. The year was 1969, a time when homosexuality was officially considered a psychiatric disorder, gay people were banned from federal government jobs, and their lives were often scarred by harassment, beatings and arrests. 'When you entered Stonewall, an illegal bar that served watered-down drinks, we didn't care about all that,' Segal recalls. 'What we cared about was we could be ourselves. It was the only place you could hold hands or dance together. It was like being home.' That sense of safety and belonging was shattered on June 28, 1969, just six weeks after Segal moved to New York. He remembers dancing to The 5th Dimension's Let the Sunshine In before police burst in. Raids on illegal bars were common, but Segal soon realised this was different: 'They barged through the doors. They started smashing up the bar, throwing people up against the wall, throwing bottles of liquor at people. It was the most violent thing I'd ever seen in my life, and I was scared.' Outside the bar he joined a crowd of Stonewall regulars – trans people, gay men and lesbians, street kids – as they began throwing stones, drink cans and anything else they could find at officers, who retreated inside. As police reinforcements arrived and began hauling people into vans, a friend handed Segal a piece of chalk, instructing him to write 'Tomorrow night Stonewall' on the footpaths. Days of protests followed, igniting a movement that would lead to radical changes in the treatment of LGBTQ people. 'I became an activist,' says Segal. 'I knew at that moment that's what I'd be doing for the rest of my life.' Last year, he returned to Stonewall for the 55th anniversary of the riots and the opening of a centre that tells the story of that pivotal night. After a star-studded ceremony featuring Elton John, the then-US president Joe Biden invited Segal, the centre's curator, and his husband to the Oval Office, in what Segal describes as an 'amazing turnaround'. He adds, 'That night, I was frightened and afraid of being arrested and now I'm here, being hugged by the president of the United States on the exact spot where I used to dance.' How the world keeps turning. A year after Segal celebrated with one president, another president is leading what Amnesty International describes as a 'huge step backwards' for equality that sends a dangerous message to the rest of the world. In the days after US President Donald Trump was sworn back into office, he came out swinging the wrecking ball at hard-won protections that the LGBTQ community has gained, from the rights of transgender troops to serve in the military to gender-affirming medical treatment. Loading Activists say his actions and rhetoric are stoking a growing climate of hostility. But with Pride month celebrations in full swing, they're adamant they will not be forced back into the shadows. In New York, where rainbow flags are fluttering from light poles, people will gather under the theme 'Rise Up: Pride in Protest' for the annual march on June 29. First held a year after the Stonewall riots, the event has inspired incarnations around the globe, from Sydney to Istanbul and Taipei. But 55 years later, advocates say there's no shortage of reasons to protest in Trump's America. 'NYC's Pride March has grown into a powerful global symbol of queer resilience, advocacy and unity, and that show of strength and unity is more important now than ever,' says the march's spokesperson, Kevin Kilbride. 'History has taught us that when we're being targeted and erased, our community shows up big to make it clear: we're here, we're queer and we're not going anywhere.' President Trump fired the opening salvo in his war on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on inauguration day on January 20, vowing to 'end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life'. He declared: 'As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.' And with that, his renewed efforts to wind back the clock on how America's LGBTQ community is treated got under way. Trump signed an executive order that states the government will only recognise two sexes – male or female – rather than the gender people identify with. The policy contradicts a widely held view among academic and medical communities, including the American Medical Association, that sex and gender should not be interpreted through this binary lens. It was the first of a raft of orders directing government agencies to make changes advocates say amount to discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people, from the workplace to schools and healthcare. Federal prisons and detention centres would be required to house people based on their sex assigned at birth. Other orders aim to stop gender-affirming treatment for anyone under the age of 19, and to prevent transgender women and girls from competing in women's sports, particularly in schools. 'Bathrooms bans' have been called for on federal properties, which would require people to use the bathroom that matches their sex assigned at birth. Many of these orders are being challenged in the courts, but some have already taken effect. The US military announced in February it would no longer allow transgender people to enlist, reinstating a ban Trump introduced during his first term. Reports emerged in early May that the Pentagon would immediately begin moving service members who openly identify as transgender out of the military. Transgender references have been removed from government websites, and the name of a gay rights activist stripped from a navy ship. Many see Trump's actions as building on what he started in his first term, which activists say gave others the green light to ramp up efforts to roll back LGBTQ rights. More than 125 laws relating to the LGBTQ community were passed at the state level in 2023 and 2024, with most targeting transgender people, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the country's largest LGBTQ rights organisation. Books featuring gay and trans characters have been pulled from school libraries and state politicians have tried to introduce measures to roll back same-sex marriage rights. The HRC has recorded more cases of violence and killings of transgender people and other LGBTQ community members in recent years. 'You see politicians and people in positions of authority trying to marginalise and speak ill of trans people,' says HRC spokesperson Laurel Powell. 'That makes us less accepted in society, which makes us more vulnerable to harassment, which ends up creating more instances of violence.' Activists say Trump's latest orders are fuelling division. 'It serves no other purpose than to hurt our communities and our families and try to spread the message that we can be treated differently than all other Americans,' Powell says. 'Even if many of these orders are blocked in court, they send a message … that LGBTQ-plus people are under attack from the White House, from the president.' Ciora Thomas sees the impact of this climate of hostility every day in Pittsburgh, where she runs a non-profit organisation, Sisters PGH, providing housing and support services for the transgender community. Her centre is helping an influx of trans people from Republican-controlled states who say they decided to move after experiencing harassment and struggling to access gender-affirming care. (This remains available in Thomas' state of Pennsylvania.) 'In the south it's really bad, particularly for black and brown trans folks,' she says. 'We've been calling it a trans migration.' Thomas, who was a homeless teenage sex worker before becoming an activist and starting her non-profit, says the Trump administration's actions are creating anger and fear. 'They decided to use us as scapegoats for hatred.' Now 36, Thomas worries most about the impact on young trans people. 'It's terrifying, but I want them to know they have a community out here that will fight hard for them … We have the collective tools to survive even the darkest days.' As preparations crank up for Pride marches across the US, the administration's treatment of LGBTQ people also appears to be infiltrating boardrooms, influencing how companies spend sponsorship dollars. Organisers of marches around the country have reported that they are struggling for funding. Loading In New York, home to the country's largest march, a quarter of its corporate partners have 'scaled back, pulled or reallocated sponsorship dollars this year, leaving us with a roughly $US750,000 budget shortfall', spokesperson Kevin Kilbride tells Good Weekend. He says while many companies have cited economic considerations, 'others have expressed concern about potential blowback from the current administration for publicly supporting Pride and other DEI initiatives'. Kilbride says the parade, which last year saw 75,000 people march in front of 2.5 million spectators, comes at a pivotal moment. 'It's a scary climate, but it reaffirms the importance of this year's theme: Pride began as a protest, and it remains a protest today.' On a recent Sunday morning, I walked over a rainbow pedestrian crossing in Greenwich Village and headed inside the place where the spirit of Pride was born. Tourists filtered through the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre, where the words and photographs of those who were there that night in 1969 are on display. Alongside their stories is a quote from former president Barack Obama: 'From this place and time, building on the work of many before, the nation started the march – not yet finished – toward securing equality and respect for LGBT people'. Today, that finish line may seem further away, but Mark Segal remains hopeful. Now 74, he's been there through crucial moments in the struggle for equality, from the first Pride march to the devastation of the AIDS epidemic – when he struggled to find an undertaker who would take his friend's body – and to the joyous moment he married his partner after the legalisation of same-sex marriage. While today is like a 'back to the future' moment for Segal, he's not totally surprised. 'Every time we make a little progress, there is a backlash. Why I'm optimistic is, at the end of each one of these backlashes, we are stronger as a community.' And, he adds, 'This time we're not fighting alone.'
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘It's a scary climate': America's LGBTQ community begins the fightback
Walking into a bar run by the Mafia in Greenwich Village was an entree into a world Mark Segal scarcely knew existed before moving to New York more than five decades ago. But for an 18-year-old 'boy next door' from Philadelphia, stepping behind the red curtains and into the Stonewall Inn felt like he'd found a place he could be himself. The year was 1969, a time when homosexuality was officially considered a psychiatric disorder, gay people were banned from federal government jobs, and their lives were often scarred by harassment, beatings and arrests. 'When you entered Stonewall, an illegal bar that served watered-down drinks, we didn't care about all that,' Segal recalls. 'What we cared about was we could be ourselves. It was the only place you could hold hands or dance together. It was like being home.' That sense of safety and belonging was shattered on June 28, 1969, just six weeks after Segal moved to New York. He remembers dancing to The 5th Dimension's Let the Sunshine In before police burst in. Raids on illegal bars were common, but Segal soon realised this was different: 'They barged through the doors. They started smashing up the bar, throwing people up against the wall, throwing bottles of liquor at people. It was the most violent thing I'd ever seen in my life, and I was scared.' Outside the bar he joined a crowd of Stonewall regulars – trans people, gay men and lesbians, street kids – as they began throwing stones, drink cans and anything else they could find at officers, who retreated inside. As police reinforcements arrived and began hauling people into vans, a friend handed Segal a piece of chalk, instructing him to write 'Tomorrow night Stonewall' on the footpaths. Days of protests followed, igniting a movement that would lead to radical changes in the treatment of LGBTQ people. 'I became an activist,' says Segal. 'I knew at that moment that's what I'd be doing for the rest of my life.' Last year, he returned to Stonewall for the 55th anniversary of the riots and the opening of a centre that tells the story of that pivotal night. After a star-studded ceremony featuring Elton John, the then-US president Joe Biden invited Segal, the centre's curator, and his husband to the Oval Office, in what Segal describes as an 'amazing turnaround'. He adds, 'That night, I was frightened and afraid of being arrested and now I'm here, being hugged by the president of the United States on the exact spot where I used to dance.' How the world keeps turning. A year after Segal celebrated with one president, another president is leading what Amnesty International describes as a 'huge step backwards' for equality that sends a dangerous message to the rest of the world. In the days after US President Donald Trump was sworn back into office, he came out swinging the wrecking ball at hard-won protections that the LGBTQ community has gained, from the rights of transgender troops to serve in the military to gender-affirming medical treatment. Loading Activists say his actions and rhetoric are stoking a growing climate of hostility. But with Pride month celebrations in full swing, they're adamant they will not be forced back into the shadows. In New York, where rainbow flags are fluttering from light poles, people will gather under the theme 'Rise Up: Pride in Protest' for the annual march on June 29. First held a year after the Stonewall riots, the event has inspired incarnations around the globe, from Sydney to Istanbul and Taipei. But 55 years later, advocates say there's no shortage of reasons to protest in Trump's America. 'NYC's Pride March has grown into a powerful global symbol of queer resilience, advocacy and unity, and that show of strength and unity is more important now than ever,' says the march's spokesperson, Kevin Kilbride. 'History has taught us that when we're being targeted and erased, our community shows up big to make it clear: we're here, we're queer and we're not going anywhere.' President Trump fired the opening salvo in his war on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on inauguration day on January 20, vowing to 'end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life'. He declared: 'As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.' And with that, his renewed efforts to wind back the clock on how America's LGBTQ community is treated got under way. Trump signed an executive order that states the government will only recognise two sexes – male or female – rather than the gender people identify with. The policy contradicts a widely held view among academic and medical communities, including the American Medical Association, that sex and gender should not be interpreted through this binary lens. It was the first of a raft of orders directing government agencies to make changes advocates say amount to discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people, from the workplace to schools and healthcare. Federal prisons and detention centres would be required to house people based on their sex assigned at birth. Other orders aim to stop gender-affirming treatment for anyone under the age of 19, and to prevent transgender women and girls from competing in women's sports, particularly in schools. 'Bathrooms bans' have been called for on federal properties, which would require people to use the bathroom that matches their sex assigned at birth. Many of these orders are being challenged in the courts, but some have already taken effect. The US military announced in February it would no longer allow transgender people to enlist, reinstating a ban Trump introduced during his first term. Reports emerged in early May that the Pentagon would immediately begin moving service members who openly identify as transgender out of the military. Transgender references have been removed from government websites, and the name of a gay rights activist stripped from a navy ship. Many see Trump's actions as building on what he started in his first term, which activists say gave others the green light to ramp up efforts to roll back LGBTQ rights. More than 125 laws relating to the LGBTQ community were passed at the state level in 2023 and 2024, with most targeting transgender people, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the country's largest LGBTQ rights organisation. Books featuring gay and trans characters have been pulled from school libraries and state politicians have tried to introduce measures to roll back same-sex marriage rights. The HRC has recorded more cases of violence and killings of transgender people and other LGBTQ community members in recent years. 'You see politicians and people in positions of authority trying to marginalise and speak ill of trans people,' says HRC spokesperson Laurel Powell. 'That makes us less accepted in society, which makes us more vulnerable to harassment, which ends up creating more instances of violence.' Activists say Trump's latest orders are fuelling division. 'It serves no other purpose than to hurt our communities and our families and try to spread the message that we can be treated differently than all other Americans,' Powell says. 'Even if many of these orders are blocked in court, they send a message … that LGBTQ-plus people are under attack from the White House, from the president.' Ciora Thomas sees the impact of this climate of hostility every day in Pittsburgh, where she runs a non-profit organisation, Sisters PGH, providing housing and support services for the transgender community. Her centre is helping an influx of trans people from Republican-controlled states who say they decided to move after experiencing harassment and struggling to access gender-affirming care. (This remains available in Thomas' state of Pennsylvania.) 'In the south it's really bad, particularly for black and brown trans folks,' she says. 'We've been calling it a trans migration.' Thomas, who was a homeless teenage sex worker before becoming an activist and starting her non-profit, says the Trump administration's actions are creating anger and fear. 'They decided to use us as scapegoats for hatred.' Now 36, Thomas worries most about the impact on young trans people. 'It's terrifying, but I want them to know they have a community out here that will fight hard for them … We have the collective tools to survive even the darkest days.' As preparations crank up for Pride marches across the US, the administration's treatment of LGBTQ people also appears to be infiltrating boardrooms, influencing how companies spend sponsorship dollars. Organisers of marches around the country have reported that they are struggling for funding. Loading In New York, home to the country's largest march, a quarter of its corporate partners have 'scaled back, pulled or reallocated sponsorship dollars this year, leaving us with a roughly $US750,000 budget shortfall', spokesperson Kevin Kilbride tells Good Weekend. He says while many companies have cited economic considerations, 'others have expressed concern about potential blowback from the current administration for publicly supporting Pride and other DEI initiatives'. Kilbride says the parade, which last year saw 75,000 people march in front of 2.5 million spectators, comes at a pivotal moment. 'It's a scary climate, but it reaffirms the importance of this year's theme: Pride began as a protest, and it remains a protest today.' On a recent Sunday morning, I walked over a rainbow pedestrian crossing in Greenwich Village and headed inside the place where the spirit of Pride was born. Tourists filtered through the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Centre, where the words and photographs of those who were there that night in 1969 are on display. Alongside their stories is a quote from former president Barack Obama: 'From this place and time, building on the work of many before, the nation started the march – not yet finished – toward securing equality and respect for LGBT people'. Today, that finish line may seem further away, but Mark Segal remains hopeful. Now 74, he's been there through crucial moments in the struggle for equality, from the first Pride march to the devastation of the AIDS epidemic – when he struggled to find an undertaker who would take his friend's body – and to the joyous moment he married his partner after the legalisation of same-sex marriage. While today is like a 'back to the future' moment for Segal, he's not totally surprised. 'Every time we make a little progress, there is a backlash. Why I'm optimistic is, at the end of each one of these backlashes, we are stronger as a community.' And, he adds, 'This time we're not fighting alone.'
