The Strange, Strange Story of the Gay Fascists

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Johann Hari
Posted October 21, 2008 | 06:16 PM (EST)

The news that Jorg Haider – the Austrian fascist leader – spent his final few hours in a gay bar with a hot blond has shocked some people. It hasn’t shocked me. This is a taboo topic for a gay left-wing man like me to touch, but there has always been a weird, disproportionate overlap between homosexuality and fascism. Take a deep breath; here goes.

Some 10,000 gay people were slaughtered in the Nazi death-camps. Many more were humiliated, jailed, deported, ethnically cleansed, or castrated. One gay survivor of the camps, LD Classen von Neudegg, has written about his experiences. A snapshot: “Three men had tried to escape one night. They were captured, and when they returned they had the word ‘homo’ scrawled across their clothing. They were placed on a block and whipped. Then they were forced to beat a drum and cheer, ‘Hurrah! We’re back! Hurrah!’ Then they were hanged.” This is one of the milder events documented in his book.

AFP: Amnesty: Protect freed gays

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April 28, 2009

DAKAR – AMNESTY International on Monday urged Senegal to ensure the safety of nine men freed last week after a court overturned jail convictions for homosexuality, saying they were at risk of homophobic attacks.

‘The decision of the court of appeal in Dakar to release them after they initially received an eight-year sentence is welcome. But it needs to be followed by concrete action from the authorities to ensure the men are safe from possible homophobic attacks,’ Veronique Aubert, deputy director of Amnesty’s Africa Progamme said in a press release.

Part of a group involved in HIV/Aids education, they were convicted of ‘indecent acts against nature’ and membership of a criminal organisation after their arrests in December at a private apartment in a Dakar suburb. Their convictions were overturned on legal technicalities in a move that angered many in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.

Homosexuality is illegal in Senegal where 95 per cent of the population is Muslim. Homosexual acts are punishable by up to five years in prison.

In the aftermath of their release on April 20 a number of newspapers and radio stations denounced the men as ‘vicious’ and ‘perverts.’ According to Amnesty, some radio stations called on the population to attack and throw stones at anyone they suspected of being homosexual. — AFP

Feature article on homophobia in Malaysian newspaper

Source: New Straits Times, (Malaysia)
16 Nov 2008

ISSUES: Why do you want to hurt me?

When we fear, can’t understand or accept something, we may try to ignore, change or lash out at the very thing or person we fear, often without thinking of the consequences, writes TAN CHOE CHOE

JAY was hospitalised for two weeks last year after he was attacked by a group of Mat Rempit at a public park that was fast gaining the reputation as a notorious gay-haunt.

It was around 10pm when he stepped out from his parked car for a smoke and saw three men heading towards him. His partner remained in the car.

Suddenly, they were all over him — bashing him with helmets and fists. He heard curses and he could smell the rank odour of alcohol on his assailants.

But that was all he could gather before he lost consciousness. His partner escaped the assault by locking himself in the car.

Orchard Towers gay bashing: 3 men get jail, caning

Source: ‘Today’ newspaper
7 November 2008

Editor’s note: Earlier press reports on this case can be found here and here.

Greater role, so trio get jail

Trio in the dock had each either punched or kicked victim on the head

By Teo Xuanwei

ALL six friends were involved in the brawl outside an Orchard Towers pub last November, but a district judge ruled yesterday that three of them had played greater roles in the fatal assault.

For that, a district judge sentenced Mr Muhammad Sufian Zainal, 21, and Mr Helmi Abdul Rahim, 20, each to four years’ jail and six strokes of the cane. Mr Ahmad Nur Helmy Ahmad Hamdan, 20, was given four-and-a-half years in jail and eight strokes of the cane.

Pub death: 3 sent to reform centre

Source: Straits Times
29 October 2008

Editor’s note: This is a follow-up story to Six young men kill flasher in toilet

Pub death: 3 sent to reform centre
3 others in Orchard Towers brawl will be sentenced Nov 6
By Sujin Thomas

BIRTHDAY party celebrations at an Orchard Towers pub last November turned ugly when six men ended up beating another to death.

After he was assaulted in the early hours of Nov 23, Suhaimi Sulong, 37, was taken unconscious to the Singapore General Hospital.

He died an hour later from head and neck injuries.

Yesterday, three of his attackers – Muhammad Ridhwan Mohd Roslan, 20, Ho Ching Boon, 17, and Lai Chee Kuen, 17 – were sent to the reformative training centre.

Six young men kill flasher in toilet

Source: TODAY newspaper
8 October 2008

BIRTHDAY BASH ENDS IN TRAGEDY
Six plead guilty to voluntarily causing grievous hurt:

Zul Othman

IT WAS a night of revelry, as six friends – all gang members aged from 17 to 28 – gathered at a pub in Orchard Towers on Nov 23 to celebrate a birthday.

But the gathering ended in tragedy: A brawl broke out, and by 6am, a 37-year-old stranger was pronounced dead after being kicked and punched by the six friends.

Berlin inaugurates memorial to gays persecuted by Nazis

Source: BBC
27 May 2008

Berlin remembers persecuted gays

Germany has inaugurated a 600,000 euro concrete memorial to honour the thousands of homosexuals persecuted by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.

The four-metre high monument, which has a window showing a film of two men kissing, was unveiled in Berlin.

The Nazis branded homosexuality an aberration threatening their perception of Germans as the master race, and 55,000 gay men were deemed criminals.