Sandi Toksvig gave this year’s Alan Turing Lecture. I urge you to watch it. She is thought-provoking about the nature of bias and the creeping stultification of thought that seems to be pervading Western societies.
The Mappa Mundi Project that she is involved with is also very interesting. It has the simple but essential goal of telling the stories of women. There’s a Chinese Proverb (probably apocryphal) that “women hold up half the sky”, but women only account for 0.5% of recorded human history.
On a related note, the book “Half the Sky” by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is worth reading…
I remember visiting the warehouse in San Francisco where the Aids Memorial Quilt is stored in 1992, and then seeing the Dutch contributions to the quilt laid out in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam during the 1998 Gay Games.
Edmund White has died. He was a great author and biographer who chronicled our gay lives and times – and who gave us “The Joy of Gay Sex” as a handbook.
Addendum: If you’ve never read any of Edmund White’s 36 books and would like to know where to start, here’s author Neil Bartlett’s excellent guide to the books.
The 1961 film Victim was very probably influential in leading to a change in British law in 1967. Same-sex relations were not decriminalised in the Isle of Man until 1992.
Matt Baume gives an excellent exposition on how courageous and influential the makers and actors of that film were.
We live in the region of the Netherlands known as the Achterhoek. The name literally means the rear corner – because of its geographical position. It has its own flag – that was developed in 2018, and has since become very popular – you see it flying everywhere.
Since 2006, when we came to live here, we’ve been flying the Rainbow flag in the garden, but a couple of years ago, I learned that Thessa Banning from Zieuwent had developed an Achterhoekse version. Now, at last, courtesy of Marion from the local LGBTQ group we have one raised on the flagpole in the garden…
By way of contrast, last Wednesday evening, I went along to an event organised by our Local Authority, which essentially asked its LGBTQ+ community: “What can we do better for you all?”
I heard personal stories from members of the community, songs from our local gay choir: Shansons, and was able to contribute ideas for improvement to the local authority for consideration.
I know which society I want to live in – and I’m there now.
Uganda’s President has signed the anti-LGBTQ+ law, which allows the death penalty for homosexual acts and up to 20 years in prison for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”.
An appalling act from an appalling President that will damage the lives of innocent people. The witch-hunts will continue and grow in ferocity.
I had read about a new series on Netflix called Heartstopper, the coming-of-age story of a gay teenage boy. It’s based on a webcomic by Alice Oseman.
Martin and I sat down to watch the first episode, and were delighted by it. It’s warm and funny, and shows the joy and angst of teenagers beginning to navigate their way through relationships.
Two things struck me. The first being how “normal” it seemed; Charlie, a 15-year old boy, is out at school, and being gay is not “a statement”, but just part of him, like his hair colour. He’s got a small group of supportive friends, and he’s able to ask an openly-gay teacher for advice.
The other thing was that the very normality was so very different from what I experienced growing up gay, and it made me somewhat sad to think back on how much I had missed out of life as a teenager.
Heartstopper is a little marvel – I hope that it shows some LGBTQ teenagers that they do not need to hate themselves, and that things will get better.
Addendum 27 May 2022: I just found out today that Joe Locke – who plays Charlie in Heartstopper – is another gay Manx lad! More power to your elbow Mr. Locke. You’ve made this old gay Manxman very proud of what you and your fellow actors and crew have achieved with Heartstopper.
That’s the title of a documentary about the LGBT+ activist Peter Tatchell, which is now available on Netflix.
It is very good and well worth watching.
I have always liked and admired the strength of Tatchell’s convictions and his willingness to keep on battling against all odds. Seeing the rerun in the documentary of the time of Thatcher’s Britain with AIDS and Section 28 and that awful woman was painful.
It was only the activities of Outrage and people like Peter and Derek Jarman who really got things moving to repeal Section 28. I used to be a member of CHE back in the 1970s, but I always remember that it was the UK’s GLF that galvanised me into becoming a soft activist, doing what I could in my small way.
Peter is rightly celebrated in this film. He’s paid for his actions with his health, but long may he continue to speak truth to power.
That’s the title of a five-part TV series written by Russell T. Davies. Spanning the years 1981 to 1991, and set in London, it charts the impact of the AIDS crisis on a group of friends.
It is, quite simply, a stunning piece of work, a masterpiece. A strong cast, inspired directing, and RTD’s writing combine to give explosions of joy, horror, and homophobia.
Watching it together with Martin brought all those times back to us. The friendships we made, the friends we lost, the callousness of Thatcher’s government, and the homophobia in British society, fanned by the tabloid press.
RTD’s writing draws upon all of this – there are references to the infamous Section 28 legislation, and he puts the word “cesspit” into the mouth of a policeman in one scene that directly references the utterance by the then Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, James Anderton, who said that homosexuals, drug addicts and prostitutes who had HIV/AIDS were “swirling in a human cesspit of their own making”.
As well as the wider references, RTD has drawn upon his own memories of the friends he knew to create his central characters. The character of Jill Baxter is modelled on his actress friend Jill Nalder, who herself plays the role of Jill Baxter’s mother in the series.
As I say, watching the events unfold brought all the best and the worst of those times flooding back. These days, while HIV/AIDS is not the automatic death sentence that it once was, it is still not something that should be treated casually. I hope that the series will be watched by the younger gay generations to learn something of what we went through and the awakening of our political action.
It struck me that RTD and his team have produced a work that completely fulfils Lord Reith’s directive to the BBC that its programming should “inform, educate and entertain”. The irony is that it ended up, not on the BBC, but on its commercial rival, Channel 4…
The title of Mohsin Zaidi’s memoir of his journey to self-acceptance. There were times when I was growing up when I thought being gay and different was hard, but, believe me, it was as nothing as compared to Mohsin’s experience. That he’s made it, and that his family have made it, is wonderful.
This memoir is so heartfelt, emotional and really funny. I picked it up because I wanted to know about different cultural experiences of what it is to be queer, especially when religion is involved. If you’re Muslim and you’re gay, I can’t fathom what that entails – how you corroborate that in your head, how you approach your family, friends and community for acceptance. This book is very candid and it really educated and entertained me.
Larry Kramer has died. His obituary is here, but perhaps this eulogy by Matthew Lopez says more about him in this time of Covid-19.
I have a copy of Kramer’s Reports from the Holocaust in the library, in which he coruscates the US government’s failure to deal with the AIDS crisis. Dr. Anthony Fauci figures in the book. Kramer is his nemesis, and indeed Dr. Fauci came over time to recognise that he was wrong and Kramer was right.
And then there’s Faggots – Kramer’s 1987 novel that caused a furore in the male gay community. That’s also in the library. Time for a re-read, I think.
The cover illustration is by the artist Michael Leonard. Many years ago, I posed as a model, together with a good friend, Kerry, for him – but that’s another story…
Of the 69 countries around the world that still criminalize same sex relationships, 32 are in Africa. In many countries, violence and discrimination is a part of the every-day life of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people and LGBT activism is banned.
The UN Free & Equal project of the UN Human Rights Office has launched a new campaign: Voices for Equality. Take a look.
That’s the title of an excellent article by Tom Crewe in the London Review of Books about the history of the Aids crisis.
It seems so long ago now, and I count myself amongst the lucky survivors, but we lost so many friends and lovers in that dark period. It should not be forgotten.
That reminded me that I must still have a box containing a small collection of my own. Sure enough, a rummage in a cupboard produced:
A few of these come from the 1970’s. The Campaign for Homosexual Equality badge may well date from 1974, when I helped organise the second annual CHE conference, which was held in Malvern, Worcestershire. I suspect the GLF badge will date from the mid 1970’s, whilst the Heaven badge was produced to celebrate the opening of the Heaven nightclub in 1979.
I attended a number of marches in those days. The early Pride marches, of course, but also anti-Fascist marches and Women’s Rights marches. This photo of me and my mother was taken in June 1975, shortly after I had finished marching (along with 20,000 others) in the demonstration organised by the National Abortion Campaign.
In November 1990 LIFE magazine published a photograph of a young man named David Kirby. I remember the photo very well. It still moves me to tears, and evokes memories of friends who went far too soon. Here’s the story behind the photo.
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