Tabassage homophobe pendant la fête de la reine *

Le rédacteur en chef du magazine gay américain The Washington Blade, Chris Crain, a été tabassé pendant la fête de la reine (Koninginnedag) à Amsterdam alors qu'il marchait main dans la main avec son copain, et l'a fait savoir dans un éditorial cette semaine, avec photo à l'appui. Ils ont reçu un crachat en pleine figure, ont été traités de "fucking fags" (pédés de merde) par deux hommes, après quoi sept personnes les ont roué de coups alors qu'ils étaient à terre. Personne ne les a aidés. Crain a eu le nez cassé. La police amstellodamoise a fait savoir qu'elle ne pouvait pas faire grand chose car les sept n'ont pas été identifiés.
"Je n'oublierai jamais leur regard. C'était du dégoût plus que de la haine, mais c'était bien là, sans doute aucun. J'espère que nos amis gays de Hollande se rendent compte qu'il est encore trop tôt pour déclarer la victoire et rentrer chez eux, maintenant qu'ils ont gagné leurs batailles juridiques. Gagner les coeurs et les esprits des gens s'annonce être une tâche bien plus périlleuse" déclare Crain dans son éditorial.
Cet événement a fait grand bruit aux Pays-Bas, où la télévision s'est penché sur le problème en prime time, avec Job Cohen, le maire de la ville, en invité surprise. D'après le porte-parole de la police, Gerard Vrooland, il s'agit d'un incident isolé, la violence homophobe ne progressant pas en ville, et a même refusé de signaler "l'incident" aux média: "Il se passe tellement de choses en ville, il faudrait créer une section spéciale pour informer le public." Les associations n'ont encore rien déclaré officiellement, mais on y entend le refrain connu du "on vous l'avait bien dit".
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La niouze ennuyeuse, et difficile à expliquer en une seule phrase dans Têtu, c'est que ces sept hommes sont d'origine marocaine, mais non seulement on ne sait pas qui ils sont, mais en plus le sujet prête à controverse. D'une part c'est vrai que l'essentiel de la violence homophobe à Amsterdam est causée par des jeunes d'origine marocaine, mais de l'autre les Kreukreux sont tellement prêts à faire le procès de l'immigration et de l'Islam que ça devient difficile d'en parler.
Je pense que les jeunes cons existent dans toutes les cultures, mais que le déracinement permet un certain assouplissement du contrôle social. C'est parce que les jeunes Kreukreux ont droit à une éducation de meilleure qualité (incluant des cours de préparation à la possibilité d'être homo ou d'avoir un(e) camarade homo) et qu'ils grandissent dans un environnement plus structuré et moins à même d'avoir "la haine" (ils pensent naïvement que seul le travail les ammène à obtenir une position sociale enviable!!!) qu'ils seront moins tentés de tabasser des pédés américains amoureux. C'est avant tout l'échec de l'éducation néerlandaise, à mon avis. Mais aussi la responsabilité de ces jeunes, qui ont agi connement, il ne faut pas l'ignorer.
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En cadeau, l'éditorial de Cain...

“Looking hate in the face
Holding hands with your boyfriend can earn you a beating, even in the country with the gay-friendliest laws on earth.
Friday, May 06, 2005

IF YOU WOULD have told me when I first came out that at some point in my life I would be beaten up for being gay, I would never have imagined it like this. As a child of the South, where “fag” and “queer” were everyday insults, I would have expected a fist to the face somewhere back home for sure.For years now, in big cities and small, I suppose I’ve tempted fate, living my life as I have always seen everyone else live theirs.If the mood strikes me to hold my boyfriend’s hand, I do it. If a chill in the air makes me want to put my arm around his shoulders, I do that, too. If he says something romantic that deserves a peck on the lips, he can expect that’s coming, too.As it happens, I tempted fate one too many times in arguably the “gay-friendliest” place on the planet.By almost any measure, the equality movement in the Netherlands was won years ago. There are laws protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation, there are hate crime laws, and Holland is one of only a handful of countries where gay couples can legally marry.What’s more, there are few times of the year more welcoming than Queen’s Day, not so named for the gays who flock by the thousands to Amsterdam for the holiday, but for the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix, who last Saturday celebrated a quarter century on the throne. In her annual address to the nation, she said she was disturbed by a rising tide of intolerance in this most tolerant of countries. Early Saturday morning, I got a firsthand look at what she meant.
I WAS WALKING through central Amsterdam with my boyfriend back to our hotel. People were still milling about on the sidewalks from Friday night’s revelry. We were only blocks from the most popular gay areas; and we were holding hands. As we passed two men standing on the side of the street, one of them deliberately spat on us, mainly hitting me in the face. Without saying a word, we stood our ground. We stopped, turned around, and asked why.Within seconds, the two somehow turned into seven — and five of them were ganging up on me, probably because at 6-foot-7 I’m a good bit bigger than my boyfriend. It seemed like every direction I turned, I got another punch to the face, and when they kicked me to the ground, time seemed to stop. My heart still pounds as I write about it now. I remember feeling almost helpless.Then just as quickly, it was over. I was standing up on my own, and our attackers were fleeing. There had been dozens of people on the street corner, but none of them had acted or even said anything. My boyfriend had escaped his attackers and had come to my aid, and that finally convinced the others to run. I was badly bruised and covered in blood, but I got lucky. There was no permanent damage, although my nose was broken.

EVEN MORE THAN the physical wounds, the attack on my boyfriend and me felt like an attack on us for living our lives openly and for having the temerity to stand up for ourselves. On the ambulance ride to the hospital, I beat myself up emotionally as much as my attackers had. Should we have been walking hand-in-hand late at night, especially on a party weekend? Should we have just shrugged and kept going after the initial spit?I could see that night in my boyfriend’s face the fear that I might be seriously hurt. He had no visible injuries, but the whole nightmare for him had been worse. He saw me surrounded by five men, being beaten and kicked and covered in blood. I decided the next evening, as we walked together down that same street, that I was not going to second-guess our decisions anymore. Standing up for ourselves can have consequences, but not standing up for ourselves can, too. I filed formal charges with the police, who had come to the scene quickly. At the station the next day, they agreed readily that we had been victims of a bias crime.Of course we all know that we cannot legislate away the hate some people feel about us for openly and honestly living our lives. For as long as I live, I will never forget the looks in their faces. It was more disgust than hate, but it was there, and it was unmistakable.I hope our gay friends in Holland realize that it’s a bit too soon to declare victory and go home, now that they’ve won their legal battles. Winning the hearts and minds of the people will be a much more challenging task. And as we walked down that same street the next night, the sidewalks still crowded with Queen’s Day partiers, I wore sunglasses covering my worst injuries.As so many strangers brushed past, I even reached out for my boyfriend’s hand a few times — but this time only just to squeeze it for support."