74-year-old Fred Sargeant was one of the original activists for gay rights. He organized the first gay rights march in New York City in the 70s and was a participant in the Stonewall riots. Despite what you may think of gay activism or Stonewall, Sargeant is no newcomer to the gay movement. He was, one could say, gay when gay wasn’t cool. Of course, gay isn’t cool anymore. Trans is cool. And Sargeant is not part of the trans movement. This may explain why he was so viciously assaulted this weekend.
National Review reports that Sargeant is a member of the LGB Alliance, which is a gay rights group that is opposed to the trans/queer movement. He attended a Pride parade in Burlington, Vt., on Sunday. He silently held a sign that read “Gay, Not Queer” and handed out pamphlets outlining objections to the trans movement. For this transgression, he was hit, knocked to the ground, and had coffee poured over his head. His sign was taken, and he walked with the aid of his cane down the street to retrieve it. At that point, the above-mentioned beat-down was administered. In addition to the attack, parade participants stole roughly $600 of Sargeant’s personal property.
Sargeant was taken to the hospital where he had a CT scan and was released. He told National Review, “The concern I have is that the movement that I knew, the gay liberation movement, has metamorphosized into a gender identity movement that is quite misogynistic, homophobic – values that I can’t share…I don’t recognize it any longer.” He added, “For some reason in society today, while no one would dare go in black face and expect to be taken seriously in the future, drag is celebrated, and I think that’s wrong…I think it’s disrespectful for women.”
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Sargeant is yet the latest victim of the culture wars. Gay people have been forced to become non-binary or trans, and twist themselves into the multitude of pronouns and costumes that accompany those assorted identities. And that in turn has become a product and a cultural marker, much in the manner that UMass has turned it into a vehicle for school spirit. Anything that is “not straight” has become more than a means of identification, or even a fad or caricature. Trans has become the new shibboleth, or worse yet, the Passover mark that allows safe passage by a society that has lost all touch with reality and couldn’t care less.
That Sargeant was beaten up by the very people who are standing on his shoulders is indicative of the state of our society. It is not a society that is concerned with rights, dignity, or responsibility, but rather one that is consumed by narcissism and the expectation that the world must form itself around the whims of an individual. And such a society cannot be expected to endure.
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