repression Archives

Reprinted from GLBT News

In: Carousel, GLBT News
On: April 12, 2015

By John Mack Freeman
The headquarters of LGBT group Labrys was attacked with explosives in Kyrgyzstan on April 10, 2015. The attack comes amid a climate that is rapidly becoming more hostile towards LGBT people. Kyrgyzstan is considering a “gay propaganda” law similar to the one on the books in Russia. The attacked organization has said they have seen an increase in anti-LGBT violence since the proposal of the law.
Via PinkNews:

Senior Policy director Richard Köhler said in a statement: “Space for civil society is shrinking in many states of the former Soviet Union. We watch this trend with growing concern, as authorities deliberately fail to protect minority groups.
“Debating homo- and transphobic laws creates the atmosphere to hunt trans and LGBTIQ people and put their lives at risk.”
Co-chair Alecks Recher says: “We expect the Kyrgyz government to clearly speak out against homo- and transphobic hatred, assert that LGBTIQ people equally belong to Kyrgyz society, and to withdraw the proposed law. The Council of Europe should do everything in its power to budge its democratic partner to ensure safety and human rights for different groups in Kyrgyz society, including LGBTIQ people.”

Consenting Adult by Laura Z Hobson Auth: Laura Z Hobson
Pub: Warner Books, 1975

Consenting Adult is ‘a warm-hearted mother-and-son novel with a significant difference: this is about a mother and a homosexual son’ (John Barkham review).

The novel is written to cover the 1960s: that period of the homosexual revolutionary explosion, both in terms of the fight for rights and (more importantly) the medical fraternity’s acceptance that being homosexual is (and was) not a ‘medical problem.’

Though I did not read this book until the 1980s, its importance to me, a child (now a man) who grew up in that time frame cannot be expressed. This book brought home to me the problems I had had while growing up and allied to this the horrors of growing up without having access to information about being gay – the repression that 1 had as a personality, and its effect on my whole development.

It may well be that people will ask what relevance this book has, in these times of enlightenment and information. I believe it is of vital importance, as the government has denied access to information in schools for gays, and in other ways. Also, the local campaign by some factions to stop counselling centres from opening, shows that bigots still abound, and ignorance on homosexual matters persists.

This book should be on the shelves of every school and local library, and also on the shelf of every reputable counsellor!

I also recommend it without reservation to every homosexual, whether in or out: it is a riveting read.

Links:

Kyrgyz LGBT center victim of arson attack

CONSENTING ADULT

Consenting Adult is ‘a warm-hearted mother-and-son novel with a significant difference: this is about a mother and a homosexual son’ (John Barkham review).