The Guardian had this write up on that heartwarming story;
"The story of most gay people throughout modern history has been one of fear, denial, shame and misery. Treated like lepers and perverts by most societies, pursued and sometimes brutalised by agents of the state, persecuted by the bitter bigotry of their own neighbours. The desperation to conform – or even the internalisation of society’s rejection – leaves many with lives stripped of happiness, having been forced into relationships based by a desire for an easy life, lovers left as collateral damage. And all this because of one of the most basic human urges: to love and be loved.
That’s why the story of Alice “Nonie” Dubes and Vivian Boyack is so moving. The two fell almost instantly in love with each other in Iowa in 1942. In all too many corners of the United States today – or Britain, for that matter – the idea of two women having a loving, sexual relationship remains something to be rejected or ridiculed. But their story began in the middle of world war two, more than 25 years before the Stonewall riots, 36 years before Iowa’s anti-gay laws began to be repealed, when Harvey Milk was only a 12-year-old boy, and decades before superstars like Ellen DeGeneres or Drew Barrymore could happily describe themselves as lesbian or bisexual. Could they possibly have imagined that – nearly 75 years later – they would be legally able to be married in a church, deemed equal before the law, no longer treated by the state as objects of persecution, pity or hatred?
Alice and Vivian are important, because they show what struggle achieves. In the here and now, injustice often looks inevitable, too overwhelming and hegemonic to ever be swept away. The idea that their once forbidden love could be blessed in a church would – in 1940s America – have seemed like an impossible dream. And indeed the prejudice and repression faced by LGBT people did not sweep itself away; it was not a case of the powerful waking up, deciding as an act of compassion that equality should suddenly be granted from on high. Instead, people had to fight for it, often at great personal cost. We know of the inspirational American LGBT icons like Harvey Milk, but often those who all LGBT people owe for their liberation remain nameless, absent from the history books, but no less heroic.
In China we see the same testament to struggle – and a reminder of the fight that still remains. The marriage of Brian Davidson – the 55-year-old British consul-general to Shanghai – to his US partner, in the British ambassador to China’s official residence, became a social media sensation. In China itself, it spurred an online debate about whether the country should legalise gay marriage: a huge step, given that Chinese LGBT people still face persecution, including electroshock therapy. But an online poll for China’s microblogging site Weibo found that 89,000 supported equal marriage, with only 8,000 opposed.
There is still a long way for LGBT people to go. In much of the world, they remain persecuted by the state, even facing the prospect of death in countries like Saudi Arabia or Iraq. Transgendered people still confront legal repression and widespread social stigma, with more than 200 transgendered people killed across the world last year. Even in nations like our own – where lesbians and gays have been granted formal equality before the law – homophobia persists as an invisible authoritarian regime, with the constant fear of abuse or attack for simply publicly demonstrating affection with a partner. Because of how they are treated, LGBT people are more susceptible to mental distress and – horribly – suicide.
But, occasionally, it is important to take stock. Demonstrating how far we have come – and paying tribute to those who struggled against what seemed like insurmountable odds – helps to spur us on to finish the fight. Alice and Vivian – now both in their early 90s – are finally able to publicly confirm their love. And, as they do so, they stand on the shoulders of all those who fought against bigotry and persecution."
