Sydney’s gay hate murrs: Dark secret behd glterg beach culture | — Atralia’s leadg news se

Contents:

• ‘TENNCY TO ASSLT HOMOSEXUALS’: ALLEGED KILLER GAY BEAT CRIME GRANTED BAIL
• NSW POLICE LOSE URT BID TO EXCLU STT JOHNSON KILLG OM GAY HATE QUIRY
• MAN RPONSIBLE FOR ATH OF STT JOHNSON AT MANLY GAY BEAT SENTENCED TO NE YEARS JAIL
• FAY CALLS FOR MAXIMUM SENTENCE AS MAN ADMS TO KILLG MATHEMATICIAN SYDNEY GAY BEAT
• GUILTY VERDICT FOR 1987 MURR SYDNEY 'GAY BEAT'
• ELRLY MAN GUILTY OF BEATG SYDNEY FATHER TO ATH AT SYDNEY 'GAY BEAT' 1987
• NSW POLICE: HUNTG GAY MEN AT BEATS
• SYDNEY MAN JAILED THREE S AFTER KILLG STT JOHNSON AT GAY BEAT
• THE 5 BEST SYDNEY GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS SYDNEY

‘TENNCY TO ASSLT HOMOSEXUALS’: ALLEGED KILLER GAY BEAT CRIME GRANTED BAIL

A 76-year-old man acced of murrg a father of four at a known gay beat Sydney’s eastern suburbs 35 years ago has been granted bail on a $1 ln surety. Raymond Keam was found wh head juri Sydney’s east park had a reputatn for beg a gay beat, the NSW Supreme Court heard on Friday.

People who were homosexual who attend that park”. A bid by New South Wal police to exclu a high-profile killg om a gay hate quiry has been ath of US mathematician Stt Johnson is one of dozens of s unr the spotlight at a special missn of quiry to spected gay hate crim Sydney between 1970 and 27-year-old died after he was punched at a gay beat on Sydney’s northern beach. A 2017 qut termed his ath was a homici, wh fdgs that he “died as a rult of a gay hate attack” viewed by some police as a “feat”.

In the latt velopment, Stt Phillip Whe plead guilty to throwg the punch that ultimately ed Johnson to fall to his month, jtice Robert Beech-Jon dismissed “what appears to be an absurd suggtn [by police] that Dr Johnson killed himself” when sentencg Whe to ne years past newsletter promotnafter newsletter promotnNSW police had argued Johnson’s ath was outsi the current quiry’s terms of reference on the basis the matter was not unsolved, the man rponsible for his ath intified as gay and a sentencg judge did not fd the ath to be motivated by gay the quiry’s missner, jtice John Sackar, on Tuday led s terms of reference were much wir and answers to qutns such as how and why Johnson died were still not urt did not make a fdg beyond reasonable doubt that Whe was motivated by gay hate, but did not le out the possibily, he is due to hand down his fal report next month. The man rponsible for the ath of a gay Amerin mathematician who had “everythg to live for” has been sentenced to ne years already served part of his sentence, Stt Phillip Whe will be eligible for release 2026 for punchg Stt Johnson, leadg him to fall to his ath the late 1980s Sydney. “Not much is known of the ath beyond a punch on a cliff, a fall om a cliff and s of pa and grief that followed, ” Jtice Robert Beech-Jon said durg sentencg the supreme urt on 10 December, 1988, Whe met Johnson at a hotel and the pair went for a walk around North Head which was known at the time to be a gay, then 18 years old, threw a punch at Johnson the heat of an argument g the 27-year-old to stagger backwards and fall to his ath over the Amerin was close to receivg his doctorate om the Atralian Natnal Universy, which he has sce been award posthumoly.

NSW POLICE LOSE URT BID TO EXCLU STT JOHNSON KILLG OM GAY HATE QUIRY

”Origally thought of as a suici, NSW police eventually opened an vtigatn to what they thought was a gay hate crime her now overturned judgment on the murr nvictn, Jtice Helen Wilson found there was not enough evince to show the attack was motivated by Johnson’s said he uld not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the crime was a “gay hate crime”. In a urtroom proceedg, the brother of Amerin mathematician Stt Johnson, who was tragilly killed 1988 at a Sydney gay beat, unequivolly mand that the perpetrator receive the harsht possible sentence.

Raymond Keam was fatally bashed 1987 a Sydney park known as a gay beat. (PR HANDOUT IMAGE PHOTO)A 36-year-old ld se is nearg s long-overdue ncln after a jury returned a guilty verdict for murr at a well-known gay beat Sydney's east. A NSW Supreme Court jury returned s guilty verdict on Wednday after hearg that Early had attacked the 43-year-old martial arts expert Randwick's Alison Park spectg he was homosexual.

MAN RPONSIBLE FOR ATH OF STT JOHNSON AT MANLY GAY BEAT SENTENCED TO NE YEARS JAIL

A post-mortem examatn revealed he died om severe head juri and a 1988 qut found Mr Keam died after beg stck by a person or persons Park had a reputatn for beg a gay beat, crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC told the jury as the trial verdict spe a wholly circumstantial se beg brought agast Early wh no wns seeg he had any ntact wh Mr June 2021 a $1 ln reward was offered for rmatn about the was arrted at a home Clayton, Victoria two months later and was extraded to NSW where he remaed for the Keam's hherto unsolved ath was one of 88 killgs between 1976 and 2000 recently reviewed by police probg potential gay-hate vlence and allegatns of prr intified as heterosexual, was divorced om one woman and a facto relatnship wh another, havg a child wh each. Latt News On Gay Beat Sydney Metro Wt hangs by a thread as Mns flags project reviewMetro Wt hangs by a thread as Mns flags project review9 hours ago Read more... A 36-year-old ld se is nearg s long-overdue ncln after a jury returned a guilty verdict for murr at a well-known gay beat Sydney's east.

Raymond Keam was fatally bashed 1987 a Sydney park known as a "gay beat". (PR HANDOUT IMAGE PHOTO)A post-mortem examatn revealed he died om severe head juri and a 1988 qut found Keam died after beg stck by a person or persons Park had a reputatn for beg a gay beat, crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC told the jury as the trial verdict spe a wholly circumstantial se beg brought agast Early wh no wns seeg he had any ntact wh June 2021 a $1 ln reward was offered for rmatn about the was arrted at a home Clayton, Victoria two months later and was extraded to NSW where he remaed for the Police offered a $1 ln reward for rmatn to the murr of Raymond Keam more than 34 years ago.

FAY CALLS FOR MAXIMUM SENTENCE AS MAN ADMS TO KILLG MATHEMATICIAN SYDNEY GAY BEAT

(NSW Police Force)Keam's hherto unsolved ath was one of 88 killgs between 1976 and 2000 recently reviewed by police probg potential gay-hate vlence and allegatns of prr intified as heterosexual, was divorced om one woman and a facto relatnship wh another, havg a child wh each.

Beats ed to be a place where men uld meet before gay pri movements won the right to meet pubs and clubs. Beat ers have reported hourly patrols by several police vehicl, vert patrols on foot, the wrongful "banng" people om the area for 28 days, rogatory personal ments, threats to e pepper spray, e of unnecsary force, arrt whout charge and other homophobic behavur.

GUILTY VERDICT FOR 1987 MURR SYDNEY 'GAY BEAT'

In a letter to cy admistrators, LECD says that by regulatg sex public, the safety of homosexuals om "queer-bashers" n be better guaranteed. Communy Actn Agast Homophobia (CAAH) is mpaigng to end harassment of men Sydney beats and will provi onle rmatn for beat ers to bee better rmed of their rights when approached by police. ”Steve Johnson would return to Atralia several tim, doggedly termed to prove his brother uld not have killed the way, Steve and a team of supporters and vtigators would learn of chillgly siar aths other astal of young men were turng up at the bottom of cliffs, not only at Blue Fish Pot where Stt had been found, but at another betiful astal spot the harbour cy’s the men simply vanished, their bodi never to be found, at a place lled Marks Park, which the 1980s was a killg ground for a gang of youths aged as young as 15 huntg gay Stt Johnson died, he had left his cloth neatly fold at the top of Blue Fish Pot.

“Took off his cloth, laid down, and so somebody probably walked up to Stt while he was there and proposed sex, proposed somethg, ” Steve told Atralian began vtigatg whether Blue Fish Pot, like Marks Park, was a known as a beat among Sydney’s gay muny. Homosexualy was only crimalised Atralia the two s between the start of the 1970s and the end of the 1980s, up to 88 gay men Sydney’s east and metro areas were documented to have disappeared spic circumstanc, or were the victims of 1985, 27-year-old French natnal Gill Mattai was livg was last seen walkg along the astal walkg track at Tamarama on September 15 that year by a neighbour.

ELRLY MAN GUILTY OF BEATG SYDNEY FATHER TO ATH AT SYDNEY 'GAY BEAT' 1987

Between 1989 and 1999 around 46 known gay hate murrs took place New South Wal, many of them still one month alone 1990, 38 gay-related beatgs were reported to Surry Hills or Kgs Cross 2000, rpondg to pleas om fai of the murred or missg, NSW Police reopened thoands of s and took more than 400 2002, they prented a brief to then-Deputy State Coroner Jacquele Milledge. “We’ve found that there were gangs volved gay bashgs, ” Sergeant Page said.

’“In that era there was a culture of hatred by some youths who would form gangs and target the gay muny.

“Usg a pack mentaly they [gay-hate gangs] would target people that were unable to fend themselv agast the numbers of offenrs and there was a lot of vlence flicted agast the victims. “Emotnal for the gay muny. “For whom, Stt had e to symbolise the many dozens of other gay men who lost their liv the 1980s and 90s a world full of anti-gay prejudice and hatred.

NSW POLICE: HUNTG GAY MEN AT BEATS

“I hope the iends and fai of the other dozens of gay men who lost their liv fd solace what’s happened today. It's an achievement won through s of rearch, mpaigns, treatments, and the hard work of the most vulnerable muni: sex workers, dg ers and, of urse, the gay Harvey has this story.

The fay of an Amerin mathematician murred at a Sydney gay beat 1988 has thanked the judge for a “fair” sentencg, after his killer was orred to serve a mimum of eight years and three months behd bars. Jtice Helen Wilson on Tuday found that a hostile act Stt Whe had punched Stt Johnson at North Head Manly, g Johnson to fall to his found there was not enough evince to prove to a crimal level that the killg was a gay hate crime, even if was “very likely” to have been motivated by the victim’s oute ends a long-nng oral for Johnson’s fay who pursued jtice for more than three s, refg to believe an ial police qut which found the ath was a Johnson’s body was found at the bottom of North Head Sydney December 1988. “[Whe] did a vlent act and that act is the direct e of Dr Johnson leavg the clifftop terror, ” the judge explaed the asslt had been done wh a reckls difference to human life, notg the punch occurred atop an unguard cliff and Whe never alerted police after Johnson noted migatg factors that stopped her om handg down a life sentence clud Whe’s guilty plea, his challengg childhood, mental health issu and long-term alhol Johnson’s fay had hoped the se would be led a gay hate crime, sister Rebec hoped would serve as a bean for other fai who lost men around the same time siar circumstanc, and prove to police the s were worth pursug s later.

SYDNEY MAN JAILED THREE S AFTER KILLG STT JOHNSON AT GAY BEAT

The unvarnished fact is that late at night, Marks Park, a grassy verge ppg the headland and the ncrete pathway skirtg the cliff face, had been a gay beat – a place where homosexual men would socialise and hook up – sce at least the late 1920s.

Gangs like the Bondi Boys (otherwise known by their graffi tag PTK, or People that Kill) would prowl here, rryg out brazen acts of vlence; ’s likely that at least a few were serial offenrs; perpetrators of an anti-gay murr spree that swept across Sydney at the is no simple whodunn; volv a tangled tale of hate crim volvg multiple spects, gangs prisg up to 30 members, some of whom circulated among other gangs across Sydney, posg a dark mosaic of murr. This is a lot more than n be said for the other men killed here, or for that matter, the vast majory of other murrs of gay men blightg Sydney at the a year to the day earlier, on another eezg night July 1989, Ross Warren, a handsome, charismatic weatherman and newsrear om WIN-TV Wollongong, vanished on this headland the early hours of a Saturday morng.

”In what was perhaps another watershed moment this year, a 75-year-old man was arrted for the murr of Raymond Keam, a martial arts expert and father of two who was found beaten to ath January 1987 at Alison Park, Randwick, then a well-known gay beat Sydney’s east. As Sue Thompson, a former state ombudsman’s vtigator who joed the police force 1990 to ordate s liaison wh the gay and lbian muny, tells me the podst: “Cliffs were the easit weapon; you didn’t have to rry anythg wh you. ”“Thgs did not change magilly 1984 [when homosexualy was crimalised NSW].

THE 5 BEST SYDNEY GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS SYDNEY

”For Thompson, beg a liaison officer was eply personal: one of her close iends, a gay man, had been murred only months before she took the role, and she was ls than imprsed wh the police rponse. The gay muny’s mistst of police at the time wasn’t helpg to quell the vlence.

“Thgs did not change magilly 1984 [when homosexualy was crimalised NSW], ” Thompson outled one of her reports. It was my job to brg peace between police and the gay and lbian muni and effect anisatnal change police culture. ”If there remas any doubt that gay men’s liv were seen as of ls value at that time, look at how the murrs were vtigated by the Bondi police.

In the late 1980s and early ’90s, Sydney’s gay and lbian muny was unr siege (bashgs and murrs of gay men were also happeng Melbourne, Brisbane and Alai, but not on the same sle). Activists splattered red pat over 11 cy buildgs, cludg state parliament, the Downg Centre urt plex, and the headquarters of Channel 10 and The Sydney Morng Herald, then loted Jon Street, class were sprgg up ner-cy gyms and muny groups, and a group of gay volunteers – some of them former members of the army, navy and police force – began foot patrols along Oxford Street and Darlghurst Street foot patrol RtersStill, the murrs ntued. In May, one of their own, social science teacher Wayne Tonks, was murred his Artarmon apartment by two young men (not his stunts) was outrage when the so-lled gay panic fence, a cel wrkle the law that enabled killers to claim an alleged sexual advance provoked them to a murro rage, was ed the murr trial of Christopher McKnon, arrted for killg Mrice McCarty, a technician wh the Atralian Ballet, April 1991.