SGL Café

Newark Pride Week -- June 8 - 14th!

NewarkEssexPride.org

Help stop Entrapment of Gays and minorities!

Plea from Out IN Jersey magazine editor, Toby Grace: Dear OIJ People: Most of you will recall that we did an investigative article and a follow-up regarding entrapment of gays by Palisades Park Police. This practice has continued, as well as blatant entrapment and harrasement of Afro-Americans, Hassidic Jews and others in phoney motor vehicle charges and otherwise. Our sources indicate this is simply an effort to pump up officer's income via overtime generated by having to attend court sessions regarding the charges they have written. One officer who has made a career out of charging men he arrests in the Park with having made "indecent advances" on him, has arrested as many as 4 in one day (if only we could bottle what he must have!) and has over 50 civilian complaints on record against him. Regardless of the complaints and the ludicrous nature of his arrests, the park police continue to support him and others who pursue the same methods. The whole set-up in Palisdades is designed to entrap as many as possible. The court (Alpine NJ) only holds about 40 people but at least 100 are schedualed to be heard at every session. The parking lot is quickly filled and the rest must park on the street, where they are then given more tickets while in court. This is routine practice. Gay men arrested in the park are given the choice of a quick heavy fine or a long, very expensive court battle. Most plead guilty, pay the fine and go away, with an unfair conviction on their records. Click here for more info. I had a long talk with a member of the NJ Assembly, John Rooney who has proposed a bill to disband the Palisades Park police force and have their duties taken over by Tthe Bergan County Sheriff's Office. We have a chance here to make a real impact and put a proven homophobic police dept - one that has hurt a lot of gays as well as other minorities - OUT OF BUSINESS. Rooney's Bill (Assembly Bill #3712) needs public support. You may hear from Garden State Equality about this in the near future but in the meantime, I ask each of you to write a letter in support of Rooney's bill. This is important. Write an email expressing support for Assembly Bill #3712 sposored by Assemblyman Rooney. Explain that you, as a citizen of New Jersey, object to a police force as unprofessional and clearly bigoted against and exploitative of minority groups as Palisade's Parks's record shows them to be. Put it in your own wrods, It doersn't have to be War & Peace - a paragraph will do. Send it to the editor of the area newspaper, in Bergan county: The Record Frank Burgos, Managing Editor burgos@northjersey.com Send a copy to Assemblyman Rooney at NJ1JR@aol.com This is an excellent chance to follow up on a serious problem Out In Jersey first brought to print (followed by Gay city News and the ACLU and others) and help produce a real change. Any questions? Thanks, Toby

Jersey City Pride 2008: Keeping the Vision Alive!

Yeah -- Pride with a view. Jersey City Pride was awesome in the extreme! Produced by Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach (JCLGO) -- a multicultural effort that shines brighter every year -- plans are already in the works for 2009 ... you ain't seen nothin' yet. The weather was perfect, which -- though certain fundie religious groups pray our events are rained out or struck by Katrina – proves God really does love us. I met so many beautiful people. I have tons of pics to tweak and sort through (400!), check back and click on photos to go my Flickr album. New pics will be added daily.

Photo du jour -- No niggers

"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." — William Faulkner Went for a walk today, as was suggested on D-Place -- and of course, I took my camera. I got some intriguing images of immigrant petrified luggage adorning the light rail station which I'd never noticed before. More about that after I unload the pics to Flickr. Bayside Park is next to the station, and it has lots of memories for me. Played there as a kid. Even had my first grope there, if I recall correctly. Anyway, its in the heart of a Jersey City neighborhood that has been 95% black since I can remember. That's why the graffiti on this sign confounded me. I didn't notice it until I downloaded the pics. Since I don't personally know any niggers, I guess the 'artist' is correct. The other disturbing thing on this sign is the Nazi lightning bolt SS above the what I thought was 'WAFFEA'. I had to google that and got a lot of German websites and this PDF of the History of the Holocaust, which talks about WAFFEN-SS '...(or armed SS, established in '39 as Himmler's private army and had a special hand in all the notorious Nazi war crimes. In 1940 non-German Aryans could join ... and by 1945 20 of the 38 Waffen SS divisions were comprised mostly, if not completely, of non-Germans.' Funny, in the summer of 2008, I've just been concerned with the global rise in gay bashings. I guess its all fruit of the same rotten tree. Faulkner was SO right.

Rally Against Homophobia -- downtown Jersey City!

Homophobic attacks are on the rise in Jersey City and around Hudson County and the time to stop them is now! This is what both our leaders and our communities must hear in a resounding voice. Homophobia will not be tolerated in any form. Recently, we have seen a surge in bias attacks against LGBT people locally and there is increasing concern over the safety of our streets, our homes, and our persons. We must act now to tell the Mayor, the City Council and the Chief of Police that we will not be victimized. Please join us to rally to send this important message. Hudson Diversity Action Council, in conjunction with Jersey City Lesbian + Gay Outreach, Hudson Pride Connections, the Pride Connections Center of New Jersey, and Garden State Equality will host a rally on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday, July 15th at 7:00 PM to send a message that something MUST be done. Please join us and make your voice heard! [ City Hall is just south of the Grove St. PATH station ]

A moment of PRIDE in Newark!

It was more of a march than a parade. There were no garish floats, just a brave contingent who gathered to cap off a week’s worth of activities for Newark-Essex Pride Coalition's first gay pride parade through the streets of downtown Newark. Mere blocks from where 15 year old Sakia Gunn met a violent end for being a proud lesbian, and also a stone’s throw from City Hall where for a second year in a row the rainbow flag waved for pride week, June Dowell-Burton (founder of NEPC) describes it as a “ ... Symbol of hope that our LGBTQQ sisters and brothers will be able to walk the streets of Newark safely, worship in affirming places and attend schools where their identity won’t be ignored.” You can read about Newark-Essex Pride Week in the next issue of Out IN Jersey magazine. But you can see the full photo stream right now on Flickr.

Sakia Gunn: When Intolerance Breeds Murder

(Thanks, Big Rod!) In addition to reading the article below, please check out the NewFest 2008: The 20th Anniversary NY LGBT Film Festival which will be screening the documentary Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Film Project. This hyperlink will put you on NewFest's page with all the films starting with the letter "D". Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and look for Sakia's film which is the third from the bottom. This film will only be screened once as part of the film festival. Patronizing NewFest over the years, I can tell you that it is NOT a cliche when I say that tickets sell out quickly. Hop on it if you want to see the film at: AMC Loews 34th Street in Theater 10 (34th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in NYC) Theater 10 Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 @ 6PM Tickets: $13.00 SAKIA GUNN: When Intolerance breeds murder By Krystal Freeman, Special to BlackVoices. com It never occurred to me that having such insider knowledge was enough to get me killed, until I read about the brutal murder of Sakia Gunn. Five years ago, Sakia, a 15-year old girl who "dressed like a boy," was attacked while waiting for a Newark, New Jersey bus after a night out with friends. The girls were approached by two men in a car who made uninvited sexual advances. When the girls declined, stating that they were lesbians, 30-year old Richard McCullough fatally stabbed Sakia while shouting homophobic slurs. She bled out at the intersection of Broad and Market during the wee hours of Mother's Day morning. This May is the fifth anniversary of the murder of Sakia Gunn. She would have just celebrated her 20th birthday. Too few of us know Sakia's name, but we all know girls like her -- young women like me who are often mistaken for teenage boys because we have the courage to dress the way we feel inside. We are your daughters, sisters and nieces. We are also young black lesbians who, in having the courage to live authentically, make our communities uncomfortable. Sadly, the lives of many black youth have been taken because of intolerance and that very courage. Their names are also unknown. There's Ronnie Antonio Paris, dead at 3 from brain injuries inflicted by his dad who boxed with him so he wouldn't become gay. And openly gay Rashawn Brazell, 19, who's dismembered body parts were found in garbage bags strewn throughout Brooklyn. Simmie Williams, 17. Nireah Johnson, 17. Stephanie Thomas, 18. Ukea Davis,19. And many more. Each and every one of them belonged to someone. My family doesn't understand why I'm more comfortable in button-ups instead of blouses or why I'd choose a pair of "dunks" over stilettos. Nor are they comfortable with my attraction to women, but I belong to them too. In his bigoted sexual aggression, McCullough never stopped to think that Sakia belonged to someone. She was someone's family member and, more importantly, someone's child. We may conclude that McCullough was motivated by his own homophobia. But we must also acknowledge that he was implicitly encouraged by our community's typical stance on issues of sexuality. Homophobic beliefs are somehow justified by people like my family and yours, who claim their gay relatives selectively, and stand silent in the company of bigoted conversation that endangers the very gay children they love. My mother has always bragged to her friends about my academic achievements. My dad loved to tease his friends about how his daughter could "school" their sons on the basketball court. But there were no words of support when it became clear that I was a lesbian. It was okay that I wasn't crazy about boys, if it meant I focused on school. And my perceived masculinity was tolerable, if it made me a solid competitor on the court. The catch: I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about my attraction to girls. The silence was crippling. My family was tight-lipped about same-sex attraction, but what they did say was damaging. As a result, I learned to be resilient in the presence of loved ones who thought being gay was a "white thing" or that I was going through a phase. I still shuffle with unease whenever relatives say things like "I wouldn't mind so much if they didn't put it in our faces." I know that "they" alludes to those "effeminate" men and "mannish" lesbians walking in gay pride parades. I also know that the "they" my family despises includes some part of me. Almost every time a person is murdered for being gay, they are met with hateful language I've heard my family use - these same family members would be devastated if my life were taken. They advise me to be careful, suggesting that I spare myself by dressing more like a girl. They don't see the harm in refusing to affirm me as I am. Their position contributes to the climate that allowed for the senseless murder of Sakia and so many others. Their silence endangers me also. To my family and to my community, I need you to love and claim all of me, even when others speak out against me. You can help prevent another murder like Sakia's. Your voice and your courage can make our communities safer for young people like Sakia, young people like me. A native New Yorker now based in Los Angeles, Krystal Freeman is a Media Fellow for Communities of African Descent at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. She holds a B.A. in Urban & Environmental Policy with a minor in Critical Theory & Social Justice from Occidental College.

For More on how to help keep Sakia's legacy alive go to www.SakiaGunnFilmProject.com

JCLGO's annual White Party

... was a smash success. Any and everyone cool was there. View photos here. All this is in preparation for JCLGO's annual LGBT Pride festival in August. Mark your calenders -- 8.23.08

"God damn" something, that's for sure ...

On a day when I'm absorbed in writing about the latest developments in Newark's playground murders for Out IN Jersey magazine, and on a day when calls to boycott Jamaica for its homophobia are making the cyber circuit, the world's attention is once again drawn to the fiery oratory of Jeremiah Wright. There has been a lot of apologizing and side-stepping landmines in this campaign. I'd hoped that Rev. Wright's recent appearance on Bill Moyers would have put the crazy pastor stories to rest. It was a brilliant and informative interview. But Wright keeps talking, keeps performing, keeps doing what he does -- and now, like a Macy parade float gone wild in a high wind, Barack has cut the animated pastor loose for the greater good. We as black folks are always the ones apologizing. Why is that? Why shouldn't we just be proud of America and shut the fuck up about the past? Michele Obama clarifying her statement about at times not being proud of her country, when every black American knew what she was talking about already. This country has given us--who's blood and sweat and tears built this great land--its ass to kiss for a long time now. We never even got a casino. Michele knew that. Jeremiah Wright knows that as well. Yeah, he's a character. But he's also right. Now Barack being forced to vehemently distance himself to assuage white America is just the latest example of us apologizing for noticing the unpleasant truths about our country, things we shouldn't have to write-off, get over or explain to white folks. Sad, painful, but completely understandable in Barack Obama's position. I'd never be one to say God damn America, but I'm quite comfortable saying God damn Jamaica for its blatant and institutionalized homophobia, God damn Newark for not wanting to tackle the possibility that gay people do exist and are sometimes killed for existing, God damn a system which allows Sean Bell's assassins to walk out of court and home to their wives, and God damn the media for wasting air time feigning outrage over Rev. Wright's comments, which are way too true for anyone to ever admit. Yeah. God damn all that shit. But America (wink, wink), love it or leave it.

Scenes from Jersey City ~ Double-Dutch boy

He wanted his turn. But little boys don't jump rope. Yeah, "Unless you're a fag," his sister said. Still, he wanted to. So he jumped on the sidelines anyway, but no one paid attention. He knew he could do it better, given a chance. But he wasn't. So he just watched, an early lesson learned.