General Chat

Not just a song by Tom Robinson ( not to be confused with the moron of similar name!) but because this came up on my news feed :-)

Each year on 17 May, the UK and countries across the world mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOTB).

IDAHOTB is celebrated in 130 countries across the world. It is celebrated on 17 May to mark the anniversary of the decision, in 1990, to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases published by the World Health Organisation.

Even today it is estimated that at least 81 UN Member States still criminalise same sex relationships. Of these, 10 still consider the death penalty for same sex acts. For many sexual and gender minorities across the world, basic human rights are denied to them.

The early 20th century saw Berlin become a liberal city where lesbian and gay organisations, cafes, bars and events thrived. However, repression against gay men and lesbians began just days after Hitler became Chancellor. An estimated 10-15,000 men were deported to concentration camps, and many were castrated and subjected to medical experiments.

On Holocaust Memorial Day, we remember the gay and lesbian victims of the Nazis, alongside all victims of Nazi persecution. "

In a world where we seem ( in my eyes anyway) to be tilting back into ignorance and prejudice, this is my very small effort to remind people that 'next time' the outsider could be YOU.

The next post on here is from the same source HMD, and is about mental health which is also in the news this week. No one has to read or respond, I'm posting because I can :-)

Tragic little story, amongst so many others.

"ANNA LEHNKERING
Researching her family history, Sigrid Falkenstein found her aunt’s name – Anna Lehnkering – on a list of 30,000 people who were murdered by the Nazis as part of the Aktion T4 project in the year 1940/1941. This spurred Sigrid on to find out more both about her Aunt and Aktion T4, the Nazi programme for sterilising and murdering those with mental or physical disabilities."

"Who, if not us, would be the most appropriate to give you back your identity and name, and therefore some of your dignity? "

https://tinyurl.com/y2jljf4p

What a sad and tragic story, Rose.

One of my aunts was admitted to Lancaster Moor Hospital in 1949 and died there in the late 1960's, at which time she was described as a 'voluntary inmate', presumably meaning that she had become institutionalised.

Because of the 100 year rule I never found out why she was admitted in the first place, but I do know that when we visited she was allowed to leave the 'hospital' for the day to go into Lancaster with us.

It is Allan. I'm sorry you couldn't find out why your aunt was in the hospital.

I had a little search a while ago for a gt aunt who, so the family story went, was 'put into' a mental home by her abusive husband, and who stayed voluntarily rather than go home to him. It does appear the story had some truth to it as I found she was in St Bernard's hospital, mental home on the 1939 register. I will be interested to see if she was already there much earlier, when the 1921 census comes out.

Allan,you could send for your Aunts death cert and it should say what she died of and how long and why she was in the hospital.

Just sent for one from 1915 and it gave all the details.

Sue, I have my Aunt's Death Certificate but it contains no information pertaining to why she was incarcerated initially. It just shows the cause of death, the date, and that she was a spinster with no occupation.

As my Aunt was born in 1907 and was admitted in 1949 she would have been aged approximately 42 at the time, so I think that 'bringing the family name into disrepute' can be discounted in this particular case.

Allan, that must be so frustrating!
I had a gg uncle in an asylum, in 1851.
Initially he was in a prison on a 2 year sentence, then he was declared 'insane' and put into an asylum.
Why? because, in a prison, the Government paid for it, in an asylum, the Parish where the offender came from paid for it!
Nothing much has changed :-|

Not frustrating, Maggie, it was just idle curiosity on my part.

There are so many brick walls (especially my grandfather) and skeletons hovering about my tree that one more hardly makes a difference :-D :-D

I'd want to know!
My gg uncle was 'missing' for years - then I found the correspondence between the asylum and the hierarchy.
He tried to escape once, was caught.
The second time he escaped they couldn't find him (he'd joined the army).
'They' then declared that, as he'd only been sentenced for 2 years, and 2 years had passed since he had been sentenced, he was now 'sane'!

Back to the original post about - IDAHOTB - people or this 'ilk' have never bothered me, why should I bother them?
Have to admit to being glad to move from Southampton to Portsmouth aged 17, because the 'view' in Portsmouth was less negative.
People are people - nice and nasty whoever.
I just like nice people. I don't really care what they get up to in private.
The word 'private' is a dead giveaway!! :-D :-D :-D

My dad raised me not to make snap judgements on anyone, that it was wrong to decide you didn't like someone because of their looks, race, sex, etc etc.

It was alright not to like someone after you had got to know them, but not otherwise

I've taken that advice to heart all my life.

I don't care where they come from, or what they get up to in private, as long as they and I/me/we are compatible and they are nice.

Unfortunately, my brother, who was a lot older, either did not get that same advice or decided not to heed because he was one of the most judgemental, racist, etc people that I have known :-(

The Justice Minister in a LIberal government, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, said it all back 62 years ago in May 1967 .......

....... "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation".

He said those words when introducing a bill that modernised reforms to the Criminal Code in 1967 to decriminalize homosexual acts.

I would change that to say there is no place for ANYONE in bedrooms of other people.

Of course, PET later went on to become Prime Minister of Canada in the next election in 1968, was then in office for over 15 years, and the father of our current PM, Justin Trudeau