crown heights tolerant of queers?

Here's an old thread on this.

http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2219&highlight=gays

and another:

http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5724&highlight=favorite+crown+heights

i have to say i feel a bit uncomfortable holding hands or being very obvious in the neighborhood, but that may just be my own paranoia rather than an actual danger.

after working in the village and living in park slope for a few years, the lack of queers everywhere makes me feel a bit on edge .

My partner and I have been on Sterling at Nostrand for 1 year now and the reception has been good if somewhat muted. We don't hold hands or show too much public affection -- I just don't think this is the neighborhood for it. I'm a member of the block association and Crown Heights North Association and things have been cool so far. My partner does get a homophobic comment from time to time, generally from one of the teenager boys on a corner. We had a petite, young, blond queer woman as a tenant and she didn't have much trouble on the street either. Once when she was carrying some items home from the store a local said under his breath, 'there goes the neighborhood.' He could have meant anything....

Being of West Indian parentage, I can say that generally West Indians -- who comprise a good portion of CH -- are very homophobic. However, I'm not sure how that really plays out on a day-to-day basis in CH. The worst that I have heard of regarding homophobia in the West Indian community is the horrible dancehall songs promoting gaybashing -- those songs tend to be targeted, almost exclusively, to gay males. But I've never been privy to any actual confrontation or violence or anything like that. It could very well happen, I've just never heard of an incident.

I haven't either, although there must have been.
While the dancehall tunes and West Indian culture have an upfront homophobia, I never found that expressed to individuals. (My girlfriend used to live there, so I was in the nabe for a few years.)
I was at some big women-only backyard parties on Park Pl that were mostly and clearly lesbian, and the neighboring West Indian church ladies that turned up for a time were totally cool with us and down with the same sex thing in their own way. I'd say there's a pretty strong culture of hospitality and minding one's own biz.
Let's not forget there's a lot of Queer West Indians in Crown Heights, and the oldest gay bar in Brooklyn.

Although I hear some of the young dudes around the neighborhood use the word "faggot" quite frequently. I mean, it's usually just these guys talking shit to each other, but still.

CHDiva wrote: There is an article in today's Daily News regarding a gay male who was stabbed to death on St. Marks and Brooklyn Avenues on May 12th. The alleged killer was also charged with a hate crime yesterday.

Here's the story:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/06/15/2007-06-15_hatecrime_rap_for_teen_in_fatal_stab.html

Hate-crime rap for teen in fatal stab

Friday, June 15th 2007, 4:00 AM

A 17-year-old held in the stabbing death of a Brooklyn man plunged a knife into the victim's back because he was gay, authorities said yesterday.

An indictment filed yesterday added a hate-crime rap to the murder charge against Omar Willock - crimes punishable by life in prison.

Willock, who is being held without bail in the slaying of Roberto Duncanson, 20, allegedly snarled at the victim, "What are you looking at, f----r?" when their paths crossed on St. Marks Ave. in Crown Heights on May 12, sources said.

Willock unleashed a salvo of anti-gay slurs because he thought Duncanson was flirting with him, they said.

Although Duncanson walked away and stopped to see a cousin near Brooklyn Ave., Willock was waiting with more insults when the victim emerged from the apartment, cops said.

Heated words turned into a fight, and the teen allegedly whipped out a knife and stabbed Duncanson four times. Duncanson died at Kings County Hospital - where he was born - about an hour later.

"He had the heart of a lion," Karen Sterling-Palmer said of her charismatic son, who managed the photo department of a Manhattan CVS drugstore. "Roberto was a respectful kid, but if you offended him, he would retaliate."

The mother said her son never told her he was gay and that she didn't believe he was.

But co-workers at the Chelsea CVS said Duncanson's homosexuality was common knowledge and he didn't try to hide it.

"He was loud, crazy, loved his fashion and liked to have fun," said Sara Perry, 19. "He was a very optimistic person, too. He always put a smile your face."

Perry added that Duncanson had made a lot of friends during his 18 months at the store, "and now we're all affected by his death. There's a silence here."

"You know he was supposed to go to Miami at the beginning of this month to celebrate his 21st birthday. And he was planning to go back to school to be an X-ray technician. This was just horrible, very horrible."

Oren Yaniv, Kerry Burke and Robert F. Moore

Anonymous wrote: please! lets not start a whole gay movement, stick to Chelsea.

It's 2007. Get over it already. They're here, they're queer, get used to it.

This is NYC, not some conservative backwater.

brooklynleather, i have never been there and can't answer your question, but every time i see your avatar i think it's my cats! they have the exact same coloring. though mine would never get that close to each other without some bloodshed.

I only really went to Starlite in the afternoon, not at night, but when I go it's very mixed, friendly, and casual. Mostly men, but usually a few women too. But I never saw it busy at all, so I don't know how it is when it gets hopping. I'm very comfortable there--I like it!
Edited to add that I'm a woman.

that "guest" commented on every single post. it's just a troll.

Anonymous wrote: Hey, I live in Crown Heights, and I and the people that I know are NOT tolerant of queers, if i want to hang around homo's i go to the village, otherwise, just prepare to get lots of dirty looks from me, and people like me (alot), no i will not say a word, but i am disgusted by any acts done in public... Let's keep CH str8 :!:

well, there you go. One anonymous poster at 3 in the morning, bumping a months old thread is preparing to give CH queers a dirty look, and as disgusted as this anonymous person is, will not say a word.
Good deal!

Let's keep CH free of h8trs.

Hey Guest. What is your problem???
I'm cetain that who and what ever you are is accepted and revered by all (Not, not and not again).
Get in the real world and stop the negativity.
Geez.....
Isn't the world a tough enough place as it is without threats and lack of acceptance for anyone different than you??? :evil:

Welcome guest!

guest wrote: I'm a straight black guy, married, in my 40s and a homeowner in Crown Heights. I welcome all gay people who willing to live in and be part of the neighborhood. If you're cool, I'm cool.