miscellany

Below is the opening of a lengthy article in the local paper this yesterday. I've not yet read it, but wanted to go on and get this post up about it. I imagine there will be a flurry of letters to the editor about it in the next few days and then the threads in the comments portion of the LTE online is bound to get wild. The article is here. However, should the link get broken, I have a PDF of it. Email me and I'll send it. Also, the N&R has posted two MP3 files of the writer reading her story and she and someone else discussing it. I also have those, should the link on N&R's page be taken down.

This is a significant piece of history to me and I'm grateful to Lorraine Ahearn for researching it and making its publication happen. I hope its being brought to light and the discussions it provokes help to prevent similar things from ever happening again.

Greensboro's untold story: The gay scare of '57
By Lorraine Ahearn
Staff Writer

On Feb. 4, 1957, a Guilford County grand jury emerged from its closed session and issued a bundle of indictments of a scope unlike any before or since -- against 32 men accused of being homosexual.

After witnesses named the men during police interrogations, the suspects were tried one by one in a Greensboro courtroom for crimes against nature, almost exclusively with consenting adults.

The now-obscure episode, which some longtime residents came to call "the purge," was the largest attempted roundup of homosexuals in Greensboro history and marked one of the most intense gay scares of the 1950s.

Unlike sweeps of subsequent decades, involving raids on public parks and gay bars, Greensboro's 1957 trials focused on private acts behind closed doors.

The purpose, in the words of the police chief, was to "remove these individuals from society who would prey upon our youth," and to protect the town from what a presiding judge called "a menace."

Some 32 trials in the winter and spring of 1957 would end in guilty verdicts, 24 of them resulting in prison terms of five to 20 years, with some defendants assigned to highway chain gangs.

Based on dozens of interviews over a four-week period with those who recall it, this is the story of what happened.

What a wonderful piece of work! "We're all just monkeys" by Ernest Cline is apparently a piece of spoken word he has expanded upon with this old-school reminiscent video. The final work is pretty damn cool. (I chuckled at his calling cities "monkey hives") He has several other spoken word pieces on his site here. I'm looking forward to checking them out, too.
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From the News & Record:

GREENSBORO -- Openly gay students Jessica Arvidson, Matt Hill Comer, Alex Nini and Stacey Booe tried to enlist in the U.S. Army this morning in an effort to challenge the 13-year-old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as part of a 30-city project called the Right to Serve campaign.

They weren't allowed to enlist and then took part in a sit-in along with several supporters inside the Army Recruiting Center on Merritt Drive in Greensboro.

I stopped by Matt's website and left the following comment:

Matt, I was so impressed with how you conducted yourself in the footage I saw on the noon Fox8 news today. Upon realizing it was you, I felt I should stop by and let you know. Thank you and your associates for your continuing efforts for equality for LGBT persons.

Warm regards,
Sam Moore

I've been on UNCG Pride's mailing list for awhile now and have known of Matt through that time. Though I've only participated in one of UNCG Pride's events (Elizabeth Birch & some right wingnut debate), I've appreciated the many things I've learned of through their emails. People like Matt and his associates are integral to fostering change in these States and I like how respectable these folk are. There are certainly times for yelling and getting angry. There are also times to be respectful and visible. I think these folks have a good idea of what, when and where. They've definitely got the why!

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