LGBT Flash Mob of Hundreds at Grand Central October 8 die-in dramatizes violence, bullying facing queer community, need for full civil rights protections
Published: Friday, October 8, 2010 9:55 PM CDT BY PAUL SCHINDLER Print<http://www.chelseanow.com/articles/2010/10/08/gay_city_news/news/doc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.prt> E-mail<http://www.chelseanow.com/articles/2010/10/08/gay_city_news/news/doc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.eml> Comment<http://www.chelseanow.com/articles/2010/10/08/gay_city_news/news/doc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.txt#top>(No comments posted.) Rate Text Size [image: del.icio.us]<http://del.icio.us/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chelseanow.com%2Farticles%2F2010%2F10%2F08%2Fgay_city_news%2Fnews%2Fdoc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.txt>[image: digg]<http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chelseanow.com%2Farticles%2F2010%2F10%2F08%2Fgay_city_news%2Fnews%2Fdoc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.txt>[image: NewsVine]<http://www.newsvine.com/_tools/seed&save?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chelseanow.com%2Farticles%2F2010%2F10%2F08%2Fgay_city_news%2Fnews%2Fdoc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.txt> [image: google]<http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=add&bkmk=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chelseanow.com%2Farticles%2F2010%2F10%2F08%2Fgay_city_news%2Fnews%2Fdoc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.txt> [image: facebook]<http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chelseanow.com%2Farticles%2F2010%2F10%2F08%2Fgay_city_news%2Fnews%2Fdoc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.txt> [image: *]<http://adsys.townnews.com/c8183535/creative/chelseanow.com/+tools/231542-1278096524.jpg?r=http://etf1928.org/> Several hundred LGBT New Yorkers gathered at Grand Central Terminal during evening rush hour on Friday, October 8 to conduct what organizers called a “Flash Mob: Homophobia Kills Die-In” in the center of the main concourse of the nation’s busiest transit hub. Several minutes after 6, activist Alan Bounville brought his fingers to his mouth to issue a loud whistle signaling the start of the action. A crowd of at least 300 immediately laid down on the floor, as Bounville and others unfurled a 12-foot by 12-foot yellow banner reading: END HOMO/ TRANSPHOBIC APARTHEID IN AMERICA.” The crowd created a blockade for thousands of commuters rushing to and from the subways and Metro North commuter trains in the terminal. Police ordered participants to disperse or face arrest, while Todd Fernandez and Eugene Lovendusky read the names of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victims of murder or of suicide prompted by bullying and violence. As the men called out each victim’s name, those on the floor shouted back the first name. As planned, after about three or four minutes on the floor, participants got back on their feet, and for several more minutes Fernandez, Lovendusky, and other organizers led the crowd in shouts of “Civil Rights Now.” Bounville and Iana Di Borna, another organizer of the protest, were arrested by Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) police and charged with misdemeanor obstruction of pedestrian traffic. The two were given desk appearance tickets and quickly released. Activist Ann Northrop said she witnessed a third demonstrator, who she knew only by the name Jeff, being taken away by police who said he was “inciting” the crowd. The MTA police said it arrested only two people, and the NYPD had no record of any arrest made by its officers. Detective Tim Duffy, the NYPD’s liaison officer to the LGBT community, said he witnessed MTA police escorting a man, without handcuffs, away from the crowd, and said he may have been the same individual Northrop saw. Duffy said the lack of handcuffs suggested he may not have been arrested. [image: *]<http://adsys.townnews.com/c78558000/creative/chelseanow.com/gay_city_news+instory/201220-1251816687.gif?r=http://www.chelseapiers.com/sc/> Fernandez said that MTA police officials had agreed to guidelines by which the demonstrators would be able to unfurl their banner from one of two balconies with steps leading down to the concourse. At 6 p.m. Friday evening, however, NYPD officers were stationed there, and organizers were not allowed to use that space. Fernandez also said that the police agreed the action could take place without arrests as long as the demonstrators limited the time they laid on the floor, as they did. The action came amidst a nationwide dialogue about a spate of recent suicides by young gay men — some as young as 13 — who experienced harassment and violence, generally at the hands of school classmates. Though experts say that suicides and suicide attempts by queer youth are a persistent problem, news that 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman, jumped off the George Washington Bridge on September 22, days after his roommate and a third student allegedly webcast an intimate dorm room encounter he had with another man, galvanized media attention on the issue. During the past week in Manhattan, at least four men were attacked in two separate anti-gay incidents<http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2010/10/08/gay_city_news/news/doc4cae272568b5b913662489.txt>— one at the iconic Stonewall Bar on Christopher Street in the West Village, and the other on Ninth Avenue in Chelsea. Ben Carver, a 34-year-old resident of Washington, DC, was called a “faggot” in a bathroom at the Stonewall before being pummeled by two attackers. In Chelsea, a group of men were told, “Go home faggots; this is our neighborhood,” before being attacked by a larger group who put two of them in the hospital. Two men arrested in the Stonewall attack and one in the Chelsea incident have been charged with hate crime assaults. Other suspects are sought in connection with the Chelsea attack. Just hours before the Grand Central action, the NYPD announced the arrests of seven young men in the Bronx , members of the Latin King Goonies gang, who allegedly held three men captive in an empty apartment, forced them to confess to homosexual behavior, and then tortured them, cutting one of them with a box cutter, and sodomizing two of them, one with a plunger, the other with a small baseball bat. In addition to the action’s focus on anti-LGBT violence and bullying, it also called attention to the organizers’ push for federal legislation to incorporate anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression into the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Bounville, Di Borna, Fernandez, and Lovendusky are involved with Queer SOS! <http://www.queersos.com/>and the American Equality Bill (AEB) Project<http://www.aebnow.com/>. For 12 days leading up to the Grand Central action, Queer SOS! and the AEB Project have held vigils outside the Manhattan election campaign office of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, demanding that she introduce legislation to amend the 1964 Act. At the conclusion of the Grand Central action, Fernandez, having witnessed two of his fellow activists taken away by police, said of the MTA’s conduct, “They have set a horrible precedent today. We will never negotiate with them again.” According to Fernandez, he and fellow activists had extensive discussions with top MTA police officials, including Chief Michael Coan and an attorney Coan tasked to talk to them. When the activists arrived at Grand Central, Fernandez said, it was clear that police intended to breach the agreement that had been reached. Civil rights attorney Yetta Kurland, who was among a group of legal observers, said that the MTA police had barricades and plastic handcuffs assembled outside the doors of its offices downstairs from the concourse, an indication to her that officials had “prior intent” to make arrests. Kurland also noted that flash mobs of all varieties have become commonplace in New York, and that there are “never, never, ever any arrests.” “What is most alarming,” she said, “is that the distinguishing factor here is that the demonstration has political content, which you would think would afford it greater free speech protection.” The MTA police press office did not respond to a request for comment and Coan did not respond to a Facebook message sent to him. LGBT activist in the Bronx are planning a protest at *19 Osbourne Place, near 179th Street,* where the gang assaults took place, on *Saturday, October 9 at 11 a.m.* Demonstrators plan to meet at the *Burnside Avenue station on the 4 line at 10:30 t*o walk to the site. Updates on the event will be posted to facebook.com/zonarosamagazine<http://www.facebook.com/zonarosamagazine> . On *Saturday evening, October 9*, the activist group Queer Rising is leading a march from *Ninth Avenue and 25th Street in Chelsea, *where one of the weekend attacks took place, to the Stonewall bar. Demonstrators will leave the Chelsea intersection at about *8:30 p.m*. Complete information is at facebook.com/zonarosamagazine#!/event.php?eid=123680477686130<http://www.facebook.com/zonarosamagazine#!/event.php?eid=123680477686130> . More: http://www.chelseanow.com/articles/2010/10/08/gay_city_news/news/doc4cafcde4ba72e389718721.txt -- Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time. Have a great day, Tommy -- Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time. Have a great day, Tommy -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
