Holocaust Memorial Day 2022

Holocaust Memorial Day 2022

 

 Throughout recorded history Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transexual non binary and non gender conforming people have been persecuted by religious groups, political groups and the community in general.

People fear what they don't understand, people fear what they don't like and that makes my community the LGBT+ community an easy target for persecution.

All through the centuries the LGBT+ like other minorities have been blamed, targeted and persecuted for not conforming to society's norms as laid down by the majorities.

There have been periods of history where LGBT+ people raised their heads and showed themselves in public, at certain times in the past it seemed that for a small window of time there was an acceptance of our lifestyle.

Every time my community had been crushed and forced back into the closet.

Yet statistics show that the number of LGBT+ people in any country anywhere in the world is consistently between 10-15% of the population, a higher % of the citizens than most other minority groups. No matter which country, no matter where in the world we are, we are in most families, most workplaces. The LGBT+ community is all around us, yet we continue to be oppressed, persecuted, jailed and murdered.

The theme of today's gathering is One Day.

The 28th June 1969 was one day.

In New York the Police raided the Stonewall Inn a popular meeting place for the LGBT+ community.

On the morning of the 28th of June, the New York Police raided the Stonewall Inn and arrested 13 patrons.

At one point the Police hit a Lesbian over the head with a baton while putting her into a van, the assaulted Lesbian shouted to the growing crowd to incite a riot, within minutes the onlookers began to throw bottles, cobble stones and other objects at the Police.

A full-scale riot soon ensued, the disruption, and protests carried on for 5 days in the area before eventually being brought under control.

The Stonewall uprising on one day didn't start the Gay Right movement, what it did was to galvanise my community into realising that we did have rights, we did have the right to live without fear, the right not to be persecuted for being ourselves, for wanting to live the lives we deserved.

One riot on one day didn't change anything but it did set in place the start of reform, it's taken a very long time to reach the situation today where in a number of countries. LGBT+ people are able to live their lives without fear of persecution, but that freedom is slipping away.

Reports of hate crimes against Transgender people in the UK in the last year alone have risen by 76%, intolerance to all members of the LGBT+ community is on the rise in Sheffield the reports of Hate Crime towards members of my community is on a steep increase since the lockdown restrictions were lifted.

Across the world today LGBT+ people are prosecuted, murdered, harassed, attacked by their Governments. there is no sign of this easing.

The Council of Europe released a statement this week condemning the 'extensive and often virulent attacks on the rights of LGBT+ people that have been occurring for several year in amongst other countries, Hungary, Poland, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

We must keep on fighting for the rights of all people to live their lives free from persecution to love whom they wish, to worship as they wish and to be free.

To quote William Wallace, the great Scottish Freedom Fighter.

'Fight and you may die, run and you'll live, at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take our Freedom.

This day of all days let us remember all those people who have died because their fellow human beings didn't like their religion, race or their sexuality.