American Marsha P Johnson may not be a name some of you are familiar with. Johnson was an prominent gay rights activist who founded and co-founded several groups promoting rights in the LGBT community who passed away in 1992.
Living as a drag queen, Johnson pushed the boundaries of acceptance when she started visiting a gay man’s bar dressed in drag. Realising the efforts had paid off, the revolution began. June 1969 would see the onset of riots which continued for around a week.
Johnson has denied being the one who initiated the backlash after claiming she had arrived after the turmoil had started.
Stonewall have come a long way with their campaign for rights on LGBT issues and are at the forefront of equality in their specialist field in the workplace.
Causing offence nowadays is punished more than in days gone by. But what should constitute as civil law compared to criminal law?
During the Leveson Inquiry, Chris Bryant MP gave testimony in relation to what he claims was a homophobic attack on his character by the editor of The Sun – Rebekah Wade (Brooks). During a Labour party conference in 2004 Bryant had given a speech raising concerns about Rupert Murdoch’s level of control in the media sector. Brooks – it is believed, expressed her disapproval by way of approaching Mr Bryant and saying; “It’s after dark, shouldn’t you be on Clapham Common?”
Clapham Common is known for being a gay hotspot. So, the reference was seen as rather obvious in its meaning. It was Brooks husband at the time (Ross Kemp) who responded to his wife by saying “Shut up you homophobic cow.”
Brooks appeared to play down the confrontation during her testimony at Leveson by saying Bryant hadn’t told the event as it happened – to her knowledge. She also added that she knew what her husband had said and it wasn’t quite as Bryant described.
To date, we have not heard Ross Kemps side of the story.
To date…
It makes me wonder what Stonewall are doing about it.
The World Of Murky Black 