Beautiful Thing review

Members of Out In The City attended the matinee of the play “Beautiful Thing” on 4 November. I haven’t seen the play yet as I was performing as part of the Community Company. We were waiting in the Green Room until our appearance at the end of the play.

Let’s not forget the play was written at a time when the age of consent for gay men was 21, Section 28 had yet to be repealed, and Aids was a threat that loomed large in people’s minds.

Here is the review from Pink News:

Hilarious and heartwarming revival uplifts gay Black love

The 30th anniversary revival of Jonathan Harvey’s 90s coming-of-age classic, Beautiful Thing, is a tenderly portrayed triumph.

On a council estate in south London, there are three houses filled with closely held secrets, lost hopes and wistful dreams. At one end of this row of homes – simply but elegantly captured on a walkway – Ste (Raphael Akuwudike), a football-loving teen living in an abusive household, finds sanctuary next door.

It’s here that we meet the hilariously sassy Sandra (Shvorne Marks), a fiercely protective mother who is never short of a witty remark. Her latest lover Tony (Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge), a desperately devoted middle-class artist, struggles in the face of Sandra’s fiery temper and ambition.

Then there is Leah (Scarlett Rayner), a constant presence at the end of the road since her expulsion from school, who harbours an intense obsession with singer Mama Cass and an ever-dwindling hopes to return to the education system.

At the centre of them all is Sandra’s son Jamie (Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran), a shy boy who prefers The Sound of Music to the football field and who happily welcomes a troubled Ste when he comes knocking. Against this lively backdrop, we watch Ste and Jamie slowly fall in love. 

Forced to share a bed on evenings when Ste is seeking refuge from his father, Akuwudike and Owokoniran craft an exquisite chemistry that leaves you rooting for their love to flourish.

Their dynamic delicately balances the tenderness of first love with the terrifying reality of being a gay Black boy in the 90s – captured best as Jamie lovingly tends to Ste’s bruises in the quiet of the night. Despite the challenges that face them, their bravery to choose love over fear is the warmth at the heart of the play.

Jonathan Harvey’s story, interpreted here by director Anthony Simpson-Pike, offers a much-needed portrayal of gay Black love defined by hope rather than trauma. The play’s most powerful moments are found in its most positive ones, from Sandra’s tear jerking acceptance of the boys’ relationship to Ste and Jamie’s gorgeously romantic final dance. 

Weighty scenes are perfectly punctuated with moments of humour, such as when the street is sent into a mad scramble to sober-up a high Leah in the middle of the night, or through well-timed one liners scattered throughout. 

In particular, Marks offers a standout performance, leaving the audience in fits of laughter and misty-eyed from one moment to the next.

One thing is for sure, Beautiful Thing remains not only a timely commentary on the struggles for working-class gay teens, but also a feel good triumph that leaves audience grinning as the lights go down.

With their joyful energy, the revival cast brilliantly pays homage to this eclectic cast of characters first unleashed on the world by Harvey three decades ago.

Beautiful Thing runs at HOME in Manchester until 11 November.

‘I had a panic the night my mum came to see it’: Jonathan Harvey on writing Beautiful Thing

Jonathan Harvey, playwright:

“I wrote Beautiful Thing quickly in the summer of 1992. It came from the heart. The age of consent debate was going on – back then, gay men had to be 21 to have sex. The rhetoric used in parliament was so archaic, with words like “buggery” and “sodomy”. I wanted to write a play about two boys falling in love, and give it a happy ending.

During the Aids crisis, it was unusual for a gay character to still be alive at the end of a drama. Class was important, too. Gay characters in Merchant Ivory films went punting, but if you were working class on screen, you would end up becoming a rent boy and selling your arse for 20 Woodbine cigarettes. My own experience, however, was that tolerance and acceptance were not just the privilege of the upper and middle classes.

I’d already had some plays staged but was still teaching, working near the Thamesmead estate in London where the play is set. My agent had just got rid of me, saying I wasn’t taking my writing seriously. That gave me a kick up the arse. I spent the first two weeks of the summer holidays writing Beautiful Thing in longhand, the second two typing it up and the last fortnight sending it out. By the end of the summer, I had a new agent – Alan Radcliffe, the father of Daniel, who played Harry Potter. I left my teaching job at Christmas.

All the new writing venues turned the play down, except the Bush in London. Dominic Dromgoole, who ran the theatre, told me: “It’s a really weird ending.” I said: “What, the dance?” He said: “What dance?” It turned out the agent’s assistant had sent it out to everybody with the last 40 pages missing. Dominic said: “I thought you were just being elliptical.”

They got Hettie Macdonald in as director, which was important because it needed some fine-tuning. It was on stage by the end of July 1993. People said we had the graveyard slot – all the reviewers were up in Edinburgh – but it sold out. The Bush was this tiny space above a pub: it seated 80 and was quite claustrophobic. But the play is about people living on top of each other, so when the two boys, Jamie and Ste, were in bed talking, you really felt as if you were in there with them. I had a feeling it was good, but to see the rapturous response was like drinking your first glass of champagne: it was effervescent. Philip Glenister was laugh-out-loud funny as Tony, the boyfriend of Jamie’s mum Sandra, played by Patricia Kerrigan. Patricia was scary but warm and full of heart. I had a panic the night my mum came to see it. She is nothing like Sandra but there are conversations I had with her that are in the play. After she saw the film version, she said: “Please don’t stop writing about the little people.” That really moved me. The play helped me find my theatrical voice. It was the first time I had been honest in my writing and it gave me the confidence to keep going.”

Bridgewater Hall

We were invited to a Community Members Day Focus Group at the Bridgewater Hall on 2 November.

The focus group was an opportunity to introduce the Department, and reflect on the previous Community Members Day in May 2022. It was also an opportunity to talk more about the scheme, and what we would like to get out of it.

A commitment was made that the Community Members Scheme would continue beyond May 2024.

Frank ‘Foo Foo Lammar’ – 20 year anniversary since his death

Born Francis Joseph Pearson in 1938, young Frank Pearson was an amateur boxer raised in a tough part of East Manchester. He was the son of a rag and bone merchant in the days when the term ‘gay’ meant happy.

He left school at 15 with no qualifications and got a job working at a paper-recycling centre. Whist working in this male environment he picked up a lot of industrial style banter, which would later serve him well as an entertainer. He enjoyed watching the glamour of Hollywood films and his favourite screen actress was Hedy Lammar. Frank created ‘Foo Foo Lammar’

In the evenings he started singing around the pubs of Ancoats, in Manchester. The story goes that his tough dad heard a rumour that his son was dressed in a frock signing in the Ancoats Arms. His dad stormed into the pub, went berserk and threw a bar stool at him whilst singing on the small stage. This was Frank’s first brush with dealing with rowdiness and tough crowds. As an amateur boxer he was able to stand up for himself on quite a few occasions. People quickly learned not to under estimate this tough guy in a dress!

In the 1960’s, drag was becoming popular in the northern clubs. The success of Danny La Rue had paved the way for other acts to break through. Comedians such as Larry Grayson long before his TV fame did half his act in drag and the second half in a suit. Before long, the name Foo Foo Lammar was established and in much demand throughout Manchester during the glorious days of cabaret entertainment. Entertainers could work seven nights a week year round.

In 1971 Frank opened his first club in Manchester named ‘The Picador’ at Shudehill in Manchester with “Connie the Queer” on the door. Due to its popularity he then opened ‘The Celebrity Club’. This same venue on Dale Street later became the infamous ‘Foo Foo’s Palace’ in the heart of the city of Manchester. Foo Foo’s Palace became ‘the in’ place. Coach parties would arrive in droves to visit this legendary plush cabaret palace. It became an entertainment institution – a popular venue for stag and hen nights out. It was also a regular haunt for the cast members of Coronation Street and Manchester United football players.

Foo Foo Lammar was of course a glamorous stage persona in expensive outfits. The offstage life and character of Frank was equally as colourful. He was a stylish man of presence who oozed that special star quality. He was a well known recognisable figure throughout Manchester and a respected and successful businessman. Following the success of the TV Show ‘Queer as Folk’ in 1999 which popularised Manchester’s Gay Village, Frank purchased several properties in ‘The Village’ around Canal Street, venues such as Napoleons and Cruz 101 night club. In equal measure he was generous with his time and money. Throughout his life in show business he helped raised millions of pounds for various charities. He was an ambassador most notably for The Royal Children’s Hospital in Manchester – a place he held dear to his heart.

Around 2001 Frank was diagnosed with cancer and suffered a battle until his death on 7 November 2003 aged 65. His funeral was a sad yet colourful day in the social history of Manchester. People lined the streets to pay their respects to mark the passing of their legend.

Frank ‘Foo Foo Lammar’ was true to his Manchester roots and became a self-made millionaire. He is remembered as perhaps the most popular female impersonator in the North Of England. His career spanned nearly 50 years.

Lammar was said to be “a familiar sight in his native city dressed in shiny suits and dripping in gaudy jewellery.” He owned a number of Rolls-Royce cars with the licence plate FOO 1, and enjoyed giving lifts to locals. He was “devoted” to his mother Leah, taking her shopping every day and having tea at the bungalow he had bought for her in Moston. I remember seeing him and his mother in the Arndale Centre. He loved life and was admired by all walks of life. In return Frank loved the attention he received from people. It’s a great pity he did not live long enough to have been awarded Royal recognition for his services to entertainment and charity. He certainly deserved it.

Statement from LGBT Consortium

We have come together with LGBTQI+ organisations and allies across the country to say enough! Trans people are people too.

We cannot allow our communities, particularly our Trans and Intersex communities, to be attacked in such inhumane and degrading ways as we have seen during the Conservative Party Conference in early October.

Rather than focusing on pressing issues affecting everyone, such as the cost of living, the climate crisis or getting timely healthcare, senior Government ministers, including the Prime Minister, sought to denigrate Trans and Intersex people, and increase the barriers they already face to accessing essential services and support. We are deeply concerned at the nature and tone of these remarks and policies.

Everyone has a right to live with dignity, free from discrimination and abuse, and to play an integral part in their local communities. That is the principle behind the Equality Act, which up until now has been supported by all parties. Government’s responsibility is to all its citizens and it should be working to proactively tackle life-limiting inequalities so that Trans people are safe to live their lives, respected and valued in society, and supported to thrive in what they do.

However, Trans and Intersex people and communities are being let down by a Government that wants to deny their existence and their safety.

For far too long now, we have seen Trans people and communities used in a culture war, mocked by those who are in positions of power, and inaccurately portrayed as a threat to others. People who support Trans people as friends, colleagues and family members are called ‘bullies’, and those questioning the Government’s new narrative in this area are removed from conversations. Announcements like the exclusion of Trans men and women from single-sex wards are made despite the NHS reporting no evidence of abuse by Trans people, and quite possibly with no consultation with those involved in providing or receiving those services. This suggests to the wider public that it is legitimate and appropriate to undertake harassment of Trans people and communities.

We call upon LGBT+ people, friends, allies, family members, businesses and voluntary sector organisations to stand up and say enough. Enough of erasing and attacking some of the most marginalised people and communities in our society, and putting the health, safety and lives of Trans people at risk. Trans people, and all LGBT+ people, are an asset to our country. Reducing inequalities should be our collective goal. If the Government can target one group of innocent people, and block them from necessary services, then it can do the same to anyone else.

LGBTQ+ History Month’s Founder Urges Unity Over Division

Rodney Wilson, the educator who envisioned LGBTQ+ History Month, delves into evolving inclusivity, tackling exclusionary trends, and the dire need for continuous education amid a changing political landscape.

In the US October is LGBTQ+ History Month, a time of reflection and celebration of the community’s past, underlined by a pressing discourse on the contemporary educational and political landscape surrounding LGBTQ+ rights. At the heart of this dialogue is Rodney Wilson, the pioneering educator behind the inception of LGBTQ+ History Month back in 1994.

Wilson’s journey began in a suburban St Louis high school classroom, where he envisioned a dedicated month to commemorate LGBTQ+ history, akin to the observances for African American and women’s history.

October was earmarked, aligning with significant LGBTQ+ milestones and the academic calendar. Over the years, the initiative garnered endorsements from various states and prominent LGBTQ+ organisations, evolving to embrace the diverse identities within the community.

Rodney Wilson addressed the ongoing contentious movement of “LGB without the TQ+,” which is made of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people who believe that transgender people and other identities should not be lumped in with the former.

“It’s hard to get my mind around it, honestly,” he said. “I don’t understand how anyone would want to quite literally cut a group out of a community. … But to take a knife and cut off a letter that symbolises an identity that we all need to be educated about, we all need to learn about, is so frustrating and sad to me.”

Wilson reminisced about the initial naming of the observance as Lesbian and Gay History Month in 1994 and reflected on the community’s growth.

“It did not cross my mind in 1994 to call it Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History Month. It just didn’t cross my mind. But we are supposed to learn and evolve and grow and continue to open ourselves up to new individuals, new understanding, new information, new identities,” he said.

Wilson envisioned continuous education and open dialogue to foster understanding and inclusivity.

“Adding a colour to the Gilbert Baker flag or adding a letter to our initialism does not detract from the worth or value of the colours and letters already present,” he added. “There’s strength in numbers, there’s strength in cohesion, there’s strength in community. There’s strength in having a wide variety of people with different experiences and the insight that comes from having different experiences,” Wilson said.

Out in the World

Just a small selection of stories from around the world:

Hungary

The far-right anti-LGBT+ government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has banned children under the age of 18 from visiting the World Press Photo exhibition at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest, citing LGBT+ content in some of the photos.

Since taking power, Orbán and his ruling party have waged an unceasing campaign to restrict the rights of LGBT+ Hungarians. In July 2021, the government passed a law that bans the promotion of homosexuality and sex-reassignment surgery to minors in the country.

This past summer Hungary’s second-largest bookstore chain was fined for violating the 2021 law that limits the access of minors to books, media content and advertisements that “promotes or portrays” the so-called “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality.”

The chain was fined for selling copies of British author Alice Oseman’s LGBT+ graphic novel series “Heartstopper,” a global phenomena due to the runaway hit Netflix show based on her books in the series.

Reuters reported that the museum stopped selling tickets for the photo exhibition for youngsters after the far-right Our Homeland party had initiated a government inquiry.

Japan

On 25 October 2023, Japan’s highest court ruled in a unanimous decision that the country’s law mandating sterilisation surgery for transgender people as a requirement for legal gender recognition was unconstitutional.

In the ruling, the 15 justices wrote: “Being forced to undergo sterilisation surgery … constitutes a significant constraint on freedom from invasive procedures” in violation of the Japanese Constitution.

Human Rights Watch Japanese Director Kanae Doi noted that since 2004, trans people in Japan who want to legally change their gender must appeal to a family court. Under the Gender Identity Disorder Special Cases Act, applicants must undergo a psychiatric evaluation, be surgically sterilised, and “have a physical form that is endowed with genitalia that closely resemble the physical form of an alternative gender.” They also must be single and without children who are younger than 18.

In May 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the right of a trans woman government employee to use the restrooms in accordance with her gender identity. In November 2022, the government in Japan’s Kanagawa prefecture awarded another trans woman workplace compensation after recognising her depression was the result of harassment she faced from her supervisor.

Earlier this month, a local family court ruled in favour of a trans man, Gen Suzuki, who requested to have his gender legally changed without undergoing the surgery.

The family court judge, Takehiro Sekiguchi, said the current law violated Article 13 of the constitution that stipulates all people shall be respected as individuals.

According to the Japanese government’s statistics, sexual minorities (LGBT+) make up for 3 to 8 percent of the population and that at most, the statistics estimate that around 0.7 percent of the population is trans. 

They are an overwhelming minority. The overwhelming majority of people do not know about trans people and various prejudices are widespread. 

The “LGBT Understanding Promotion Act,” which was passed by the Japanese Parliament in June 2023, includes the sentence “we will take care to ensure that all citizens can live their lives with peace of mind,” but according to Japanese trans activist Aya Nishida, the background to this is “If you say you are a woman at heart, you are a man. This is because some people have discriminatory views such as, “If transgender people’s human rights are recognised, women’s human rights will be threatened.” 

Nishida provides training on the human rights of trans people to local governments, about issues surrounding trans people.

While the Supreme Court has ruled against the sterilisation requirement, it has asked a lower court to review the requirement to have “genitalia that closely resemble the physical form of an alternative gender.” 

As of 1 October 2023, 26 local governments have enacted ordinances that codifies the prohibition of “outing,” which is the act of disclosing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity without their consent.

According to human rights groups and LGBT+ advocacy organisations, outing constitutes a serious human rights violation and it was defined as a form of abuse of power in the guidelines for legislation.

The harmful consequences of outing hit the national consciousness in 2015, when a graduate student of Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo died after plunging from a school building in an apparent suicide after being outed as gay.

Nigeria

Human rights activists are condemning Nigerian police after observing a recent rise in mass arrests targeting LGBT+ people.

Authorities have been accused of abusing Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act to arrest suspected members of the LGBT+ community “based on assumptions” rather than solid evidence or investigation.

Nigeria is one of over 30 African countries that heavily enforces a number of anti-LGBT+ laws. Among those is the criminalisation of homosexuality, which is punishable with up to 14 years in prison or, under Sharia law, death. Gay marriage, same-sex relationships and gay rights groups are also illegal.

At the same time, Nigeria’s constitution promises its citizens freedom from discrimination and the right to private and family life.

Arrests under Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, which has been criticised worldwide ever since it was introduced, have always been common. But in recent weeks, there has been a notable spike in mass arrests with little to no evidence, with many suspects claiming to be falsely accused.

Okechukwu Nwanguma, who leads the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, which advocates for police reforms in Nigeria, said that that Nigeria’s anti-gay law is currently being “exploited” by authorities without due process.

“They [law enforcement authorities] are exploiting the law to target people whether or not they are queer … There is a tendency to target them based on assumptions or allegations, not based on any investigation,” said Nwanguma

Just last week, Nigeria’s paramilitary arrested 76 people, claiming that they had been holding “homosexual birthdays” and intended to perform a “same-sex marriage” at the party. One of the prime suspects arrested, identified as Bashir Sani, has said that there were no such plans.

“There was no wedding, only birthday,” Sani told local media after the arrest.

Similarly, in August, more than 200 people were arrested in Nigeria’s southern Delta State over allegations that a gay wedding was due to take place.
These blanket arrests and media events pose a serious risk of further endangering people for their perceived sexual or gender orientation Nigeria’s Amnesty International Isa Sanusi warned.

“Since the signing of the Same Sex Prohibition Act into law in 2014 attacks, harassment, blackmail, and extortion of the LGBTQ+ community is rising, at disturbing speed. The Nigeria Police should be prioritising keeping everyone safe, not stoking more discrimination,” he said.

On the other side of the law, human rights groups have expressed concern that Nigerian law enforcement is ignoring reports of abuse against the LGBT+ community.

Chizelu Emejulu, an activist and lawyer who covers many cases involving LGBT+ people, claimed: “When we get the perpetrators arrested, the consistent thing we have noticed is that people always claim their victims are queer, and once they say that, the police begin to withdraw from these cases.

What the LGBTQ community in Nigeria is asking for is to be left alone to live their lives.”

South Korea

On 27 October 2023, the second highest court in South Korea upheld an earlier ruling for the fourth time, the Military Criminal Act, that criminalises same-sex relations in the military.

The Constitutional Court of South Korea, in a 5-4 vote, ruled that article 92-6 of the Military Criminal Act was constitutional. Justices in their ruling stated that same-sex activities might undermine discipline and harm the combat capabilities of the military. Same-sex activities between civilians however, is not a crime.

Human rights activists have noted that the South Korean military has invoked Article 92-6 to punish sexual acts between male servicemen with sentences of up to two years in prison — regardless of whether the acts were consensual or whether they happened within or outside of military facilities.

Several of South Korea’s allies including the US and the UK have repealed similar provisions in order to align with international obligations to protect against the discrimination of LGBT+ people.

The executive director of the Centre for Military Human Rights Korea, which provides legal assistance to soldiers including those accused of breaking the anti-sodomy law, Lim Tae-Hoon said the decision was “absurd, illogical, regressive and driven by prejudice.

While the world has been making progress in abolishing discrimination against minorities over the past 20 years, the minds of the judges have not advanced even a single step,” he added.

Uganda

The Biden-Harris administration has announced it plans to remove Uganda from a programme that allows sub-Saharan African countries to trade duty-free with the US.

Then-President Bill Clinton in 2000 signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows sub-Saharan African countries to access US markets.

President Joe Biden, in a letter, notes the Ugandan government “has engaged in gross violations of internationally recognised human rights.”

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on 29 May signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which contains a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality.” The Biden-Harris administration last week issued a business advisory for the country in response to the law. The White House will remove Gabon, Niger and the Central African Republic from the African Growth and Opportunity Act with effect from 1 January 2024.

Toxic

Members of Out In The City are big fans of Nathaniel Hall’s plays. We went to see “First Time” at Contact Theatre and this week, fifteen of us went to see “Toxic”, the new play at HOME’s Theatre 2.

Nathaniel is the playwright and stars in it alongside Josh-Susan Enright, the performer. This play is drawn from Nathaniel’s own life and experiences, and is a well-researched piece. It is set against a background of race riots, domestic violence, homophobia and HIV stigma.

The play is set in 2017 and spans the period from when Nathaniel and Josh meet, fell in love, to when they mess up and separate. The couple are HIV discordant – Nathaniel is HIV positive and Josh is HIV negative but on PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis). PrEP is a pill that can prevent HIV when taken before and after sexual intercourse.

The year that the play is set is significant as this is when we first heard about U=U (Undetectable = Untransmissable). A person whose viral load is undetectable cannot pass the HIV vIrus on to others. The protagonists think they’re invincible and condoms are dispensed with. Their relationship becomes toxic when they decide to have a threesome, with catastrophic consequences.

Toxic is a powerful piece, and very well acted, and will be going on tour next year.

Intersex Awareness Day

Intersex Awareness Day is an internationally observed awareness day each 26 October, designed to highlight human rights issues faced by intersex people. 

It is related to Intersex Day of Remembrance on 8 November.

A group of us from Out In The City will be going to a special preview screening of “Every Body” on Monday, 6 November ahead of its release in cinemas. Key contributor Sean Saifa Wall will be present for a Q&A after the film. This event is now fully booked up.

Here is Sean’s story:

Love, Complexity and Intersectionality

Whenever I talk about my intersex story, I cannot help but to talk about my parents. Although I was a “save-the-marriage” baby, in the true tradition of Roman Catholics, my parents got down on their knees and prayed for me. When I have talked to some intersex people, especially a couple of people in my family, they see their intersex trait as a curse, which is ironic given my conception; the universe saw fit to bless my parents with an intersex child.

When I arrived in the world with ambiguous genitalia and undescended testes, the doctors did not know how I should be assigned, but decided that I had what was known as Testicular Feminisation Syndrome, now known as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). Like my two older siblings who also have AIS, they assigned me female.

In essence, I was a girl child and an unborn son.

I grew up in The Bronx, the home of hip hop. This art form was born out of a city that had given up on its Black and Latinx youth living in the confines of the inner city. “White flight” out of the inner city took many to Long Island, upstate New York and Westchester. The Bronx was on fire. Literally. President Jimmy Carter brought his presidential motorcade through the South Bronx to witness abandoned and desolate neighbourhoods that rivalled many conditions in the global South. I grew up in the 1980s at a time when there was New Edition, shelltoes, high top fades, Michael Jackson, and if you were unlucky, jheri curls. My New York of the 1980s was marked by bombed (graffitied) subway cars, Twin Towers that were still standing on the New York skyline, housing projects, and Bernard Goetz, the subway vigilante who shot four young Black teens and crack cocaine.

For me, summertime involved parties in the park and hanging out on the stoop. I remember summer days filled with ice cream, laughter, and double-dutch. There was the smell of garlic that laced the hallways tinged with Sazon and Adobo against the backdrop of bachata, salsa, merengue and dancehall.

This was the Bronx.
This was home.

I was a rambunctious child, running around the house bare-chested with declarations that I would marry my sister’s friend or that I was a boy. In my own way, I began to seed what became a life-long resistance to what doctors thought I was and who I could be.

At the age of 13, though, I was confused by puberty. My body started betraying me; those soft features of a girl child were making room for a more angled jaw line, hairy arms and legs, broad shoulders and a deeper voice. People started to question my gender. At the same time as these changes were taking place, I had pain in my lower groin area, pain that would leave me on the floor aching and writhing in agony. My mom eventually brought me to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York where my undescended testes were removed. My hardening features now gave way to soft, feminine curves and fatty deposits brought on by oestrogen replacement therapy. Every day in high school, I took those little yellow pills, which my mom reminded me would make me look so “beautiful.”

But I didn’t want to be beautiful.

When I moved out to the Bay Area in 2003, I joined a community of trans brothers that forever changed my life. It must have been something special happening in the universe around 2004. So many of those relationships that began around that time have stayed with me until today. A group of us started taking testosterone and one by one, there was liftoff. Voices started to deepen, libidos either mellowed or went through the roof, whiskers poked through stubble and our group of brothers became men.

But as my FTM brothers were revelling in their changes, I was having adverse reactions to testosterone like nipple sensitivity, bloating and irritability. Medical providers were perplexed as to how to administer testosterone to someone who was partially resistant to testosterone. As some of my brothers were settling into their lives as men, the truth of my body could not be ignored anymore. At that point, I realised that I was intersex.

That realisation made sense to me but at the same time, I felt lonely. I longed for a community that understood and reflected who I was. I eventually connected with a group of intersex folks, but realised that there were very few people of colour in that space.

I am not just intersex.
I am Black and I am queer.

In this iteration of Black nationalism in the United States, the Movement for Black Lives has made clear the number of ways that Black people are impacted by state violence whether through interpersonal violence, police execution or by socioeconomic conditions that create violence. I was personally devastated by state violence when my father was incarcerated and also witnessing how the state has criminalised people in my family and community. As an intersex person, the parallels are clear – the state supports the medical establishment to delineate gender boundaries on the bodies of intersex children and adults. Although seemingly different subjects, they share the same common denominator, state-sponsored violence against marginalised individuals. What is also similar between these topics is that, like doctors, police officers are hired as guardians of social welfare. We look to doctors for guidance and in some ways, protection.

As a society, we have also codified which bodies are normal and protected. Black, Indigenous and Latinx bodies are more likely to be profiled, incarcerated and deported. Historically and at present, forced sterilisation has affected Black and Latina mothers on welfare and incarcerated women. For people born with medically diagnosed “non-normative” bodies such as those born intersex, those people are subjected to medically unnecessary invasive genital surgeries that often leave behind physical and emotional scars. Unfortunately, the system in which we are living has chosen who will live with safety and those who will live with chaos.

Despite society telling me that I am not enough as a man, a Black person, a queer person or an intersex person, I am determined to create a home in my body where I feel safe and loved. By doing that, I create space for other intersex people of colour to exist in a world that does not love them or is not ready for their greatness. In coming home to our bodies, I leave these words from Toni Morrison’s, Beloved:

“And no, they ain’t in love with your mouth. Yonder, out there, they will see it broken and break it again. What you say out of it they will not heed. What you scream from it they do not hear. What you put into it to nourish your body they will snatch away and give you leavins instead. No, they don’t love your mouth. You got to love it. This is flesh I’m talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved.”

– by Sean Saifa Wall, intersex activist, artist and writer.

I Choose Kindness

Manchester Pride has produced a short film entitled “I Choose Kindness” following concerns that anti-trans rhetoric from our current Prime Minister could encourage further action against the community.

The film premiered on 19 October, during National Hate Crime Awareness Week, in a bid to tackle the ongoing issue of hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community.

In the last three years, in Greater Manchester, hate crimes due to sexual orientation have increased by 69%, while hate crimes against transgender people surged by 115%. Manchester Pride has warned that this stark reality underscores the need for urgent action to ensure inclusivity, equality, and unwavering respect for all individuals, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“I Choose Kindness” opens with remarks from ex Prime Minister David Cameron championing the UK as the “best place in Europe to be LGBTQ+”, which comes in steep contrast to recent remarks regarding trans individuals made by current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. 

With transgender hate crimes surging by 11%, nationally, in the past 12 months, Manchester Pride has strongly condemned Mr Sunak’s views, and called for the need to confront the discrimination faced by trans people at the highest level of Government.

Manchester Pride’s film, which showcases real life victims of hate crimes, highlights the abuse, violence and intimidation faced by LGBTQ+ people and encourages people to ‘choose kindness’ and show each other compassion so everyone feels safe to be their true selves.

Mark Fletcher, CEO of Manchester Pride, said: “Nobody should be subject to verbal abuse, violent behaviour, physical attacks, or blackmail, especially not because of their sexual orientation or gender.

“I Choose Kindness” is a powerful tool in our fight against hate crime, as it emphasises the importance of community, solidarity, and allyship.”

The video forms part of Manchester Pride’s wider “I Choose Kindness” campaign, dedicated to promoting an inclusive and safe environment for the LGBTQ+ community. The campaign is dedicated to raising awareness of hate crime, providing resources for its victims and allies, and promoting a culture of kindness and respect throughout the celebration of LGBTQ+ expression and culture.

Watch the video here:

Great times at Bridgewater Hall:

Gladstone Pottery Museum

A small group of us travelled from Manchester to Longton, one of the six towns which amalgamated to form the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.

The district has a long history with the pottery industry and the Gladstone Pottery Museum features some of the few surviving bottle oven kilns in the UK.

Workers in the pottery industry had a particular job and a fixed place of work which was seldom left. They knew little of the people in other parts of the factory.

Most would get their first job by a relative “asking for them”. Once trained they could look for jobs posted at the lodge.

Men, women and children had different jobs in the factory. The average weekly wages in 1908 for a thrower was 27s 10d (£1.39) but this job was only available to men. The woman’s job of thrower’s attendant attracted a wage of only 12s 9d (64p). Children were attendants and mould runners. Boys were paid about 10s (50p) and girls 6s (30p).

Different jobs in the factory included: jiggers, jolleyers, throwers, turners, pressers, casters, felters and spongers. There was also a saggar maker and a saggar maker’s bottom knocker!

We had lunch in the Gladstone Café where we sampled the Staffordshire oatcakes – a flat savoury pancake served with a choice of fillings – as well as ham or cheese sandwiches.

The visit was very worthwhile and we particularly enjoyed the demonstration by the potter.

More photos can be seen here.

Around 900,000 older people will be eating alone on Christmas Day this year in the UK

Whilst many of us will sit down with family and friends to enjoy a Christmas meal together this December, it won’t be the case for everyone. With constant reminders of lost loved ones, and family gatherings of the past, Christmas can be an especially lonely and isolating time for older people, even more so than throughout the rest of the year. 

Re-engage have developed a service dedicated to ensuring that older LGBT+ people (aged 75 and over) do not feel alone over the festive season.

Community Christmas Call Companions offers lonely and isolated older people the opportunity to join their dedicated telephone befriending service throughout December.

Older people are matched with a trained volunteer call companion who is also LGBT+ and who has the skills to deal with the often more challenging conversations that can develop at this time of year, and as a result, help avert people falling into crisis.

The older person and volunteer will decide between them the regularity and length of calls usually around half an hour once a week throughout December, but they may agree to more or fewer calls depending on their needs.

These weekly calls with a dedicated volunteer will connect older people to the outside world, bringing conversation and human contact back into their lives. Lack of transport, mobility, and the cost-of-living crisis, all combine to limit an older person’s ability to socialise which can be particularly felt at this time of year.

The service is free and available to anyone wherever they are in the UK, with no need to travel. This is particularly important for older people who struggle to leave their homes in the winter months, leaving them particularly vulnerable to loneliness and isolation.

Thankfully, the service can bring them some joy, and a reminder that they are cared for, not forgotten. 

If you are interested please speak to Out In The City, so that we can refer you.

Every Body

FREE Special Preview Screening – Monday, 6 November – 6.00pm – HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester M15 4FN

Doors open 5.45pm for a 6.00pm start (run time 92 minutes).

Ahead of its release in cinemas, join us for a special preview screening of EVERY BODY, directed by Oscar nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen, followed by Q&A with key contributor Sean Saifa Wall.

EVERY BODY is a revelatory exploration of the lives of intersex people. The film tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non- consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and instead came out as their authentic selves.

Actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and PhD student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) are now leaders in a fast-growing global movement advocating for greater understanding of the intersex community and an end to unnecessary surgeries.

Woven into the story is a stranger-than-fiction case of medical abuse, featuring exclusive footage from the NBC News archives, which helps explain the modern-day treatment of intersex people.

At its core, the film’s main objective is to not only educate audiences on the long-standing issues and mistreatments faced by intersex people, but also highlight the joys and beauty of the intersex community as they continue their fight for equality.

If you want a ticket, please contact us here as soon as possible.

Same Gender Couples from History

“Behind every great man, there is a great woman,” or so the saying goes. But, in some cases, great men in history have been supported – and loved – by members of the same sex. Similarly, over the centuries, women have not always played second fiddle to men, with numerous examples of two women of literature or science forming loving bonds.

Of course, people weren’t always as accepting of same-sex relationships as they tend to be today. In many cases, such unions might have been kept secret or covered up to protect an individual’s reputation. However, some loves were just too great to be lost in the passages of time. Thanks to the clues they left behind, including diaries and letters to the objects of their affection, we can be pretty certain that some of the most notable figures of times past gave their hearts to members of the same sex. Here are just a few of those men and women:

Greta Garbo and Mercedes de Acosta

Swedish-born Greta Garbo may have been one of Hollywood’s greatest ever stars, but she was notoriously reserved in her private life. She shied away from publicity and, while she was adored by millions, preferred to live on her own. Despite having been in several relationships with men, she remained unmarried and childless and her sexuality was and continues to be, the source of much speculation. Above all, her relationship with the writer Mercedes de Acosta, an out and proud lesbian, was almost certainly more than simply platonic.

The pair met in 1931, four years after the end of Garbo’s most famous romance, her relationship with actor and frequent co-star John Gilbert. Over the course of three decades, the two women enjoyed a romance that was volatile, to say the least. However, for every fight, there was a reconciliation. It’s possible one reason for such volatility was the colourful love life of Acosta. As well as Garbo, she counted numerous Hollywood leading ladies among her lovers and eventually became known more for her affairs of the heart than for her prose. Moreover, while Garbo and many other Hollywood stars of the time preferred to keep their private lives out of the newspapers, Acosta openly flaunted her sexuality.

Despite Acosta showing no sign of wanting to settle down, Garbo continued to be infatuated with her. In fact, she sent more than 180 cards, letters and telegrams to the writer over the years, many of them believed to be romantic or even raunchy in nature. However, while these items of correspondence have survived and are housed in a special archive, the families of both women have only made fewer than half of them available, further fueling speculation that Acosta was far more than a friend and occasional professional collaborator.

Mercedes De Acosta died in 1968, having endured several years of ill health and financial struggles. Tragically, her later work was widely shunned by the literary world due largely to its alleged promotion of homosexuality. Garbo was to survive her former partner by 22 years, dying fabulously wealthy but alone. More than a decade after the screen icon’s death, relatives of the Swedish actress and theatre director Mimi Pollark released correspondence she received from Garbo, letters which suggest that the two women also enjoyed a romantic relationship that lasted for several years. In one, Garbo lamented: “We cannot help our nature, as God has created it. But I have always thought you and I belonged together.”

Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West

The Bloomsbury Group of writers and thinkers dominated the London cultural scene in the years between the wars. But despite their undoubted literary talents, at the time they were sometimes better known for their colourful private lives as they were for their novels, essays or poems. And few lives were as colourful as that of the author Virginia Woolf, widely acknowledged as one of the most important British writers of the twentieth century.

Born into an upper-class family and benefitting from an elite education, Virginia Stephen followed convention and married fellow writer Leonard Woolf, a key member of the Bloomsbury set, in 1912. By her own admission, the marriage was a happy one, though in true bohemian style, it was a relaxed union, with both free to pursue other romantic adventures. So, when Virginia met the gardener and aspiring writer Vita Sackville-West in 1922, she sensed they could be more than good friends.

While both women were married, they embarked on a sexual relationship. Interestingly, both of their husbands were aware of the affair but raised no objections. Indeed, the men even encouraged their partners to pursue their own happiness. As Sackville-West’s own letters testify, the relationship was only fully consummated on two occasions. However, the connection was more than merely sexual. At this time, Sackville-West was by far the better-known and more successful writer and she encouraged Woolf to believe in herself. She also offered emotional and practical support when Woolf suffered one of her many episodes of serious depression.

The romance came to an end at some point towards the end of the 1920s. However, the pair remained firm friends, with their bond only broken with the death by suicide of Woolf in 1941. After her death, Woolf was to receive the popular and critical acclaim many believed she deserved during her lifetime and is now regarded as a true literary pioneer. She is also held up as a pioneer in feminism. Sackville-West, meanwhile, died in 1962 at the age of 70. Their romance lives on, not just through the correspondence they shared, but also in the shape of theatre works and even movies telling the tale of their deep love.

Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas

Paris at the beginning of the twentieth century was the epitome of the bohemian good life. Among those American writers who made their home on the Left Bank was the novelist, poet and playwright Gertrude Stein. It was to the City of Light that Toklas, herself an aspiring artist, moved to in 1907. Just one day after arriving in the French capital, Toklas met Stein and one of the most celebrated romances in modern American literature was born.

The pair soon became a central part of the avant-garde movement. They hosted regular literary salons at the flat they occasionally shared, attracting such figures as Ernest Hemingway (who referred to Toklas as Stein’s ‘wife’) and the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. After two years together, while they spent time back in the United States and summered in Italy, Toklas moved in with Stein, adding a new level of commitment to the relationship. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, they were hardly ever apart, travelling Europe and the world together, as well as working side-by-side.

While for more than two decades Toklas was happy to remain in the background, serving as her lover’s cook and secretary as well as her muse and best critic, she was thrust into the limelight herself with the publication of her memoirs, The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas in 1933. From then on, the pair were both literary darlings and capitalised on their fame and fortune to travel extensively and lecture across America. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the pair were forced to relocate to a country house in the French mountains. While they were both Jewish, they escaped persecution thanks to the connections a mutual friend boasted in the Gestapo.

Toklas and Stein remained a committed couple right up until the latter’s death in 1946. Sadly, while Stein left the majority of her estate to her partner, their relationship was not recognised in French law, meaning Stein spent her remaining years struggling from financial troubles as well as from ill-health. In the 1980s, Yale University Library made public hundreds of love letters exchanged between the pair over the decades, revealing the true depth of their affection as well lots of smaller details, such as the cute nickname each had for the other.

Walt Whitman and Peter Doyle

In 1865, Walt Whitman was 45 and making a name for himself as one of America’s finest wordsmiths. Irish-born Peter Doyle, meanwhile, was just 21 and worked as a streetcar conductor on the streets of Washington DC. But, while they may have been poles apart, when their paths crossed, there was an immediate spark. So much so, in fact, that Whitman didn’t get off at his stop but carried on riding the streetcar so he could spend more time with Doyle. The pair even spent that first night together in a Georgetown hotel.

While Whitman might have enjoyed numerous relationships with men during his colourful life, his connection with Doyle was altogether more intense. For a full eight years, after they first met, the pair were inseparable, walking the streets of the capital and spending the nights in the city’s hotels. Though for understandable reasons, Whitman declined to make the relationship public, or even acknowledge his homosexual tendencies, his contemporaries had little doubt of the lifestyle he secretly led. Oscar Wilde was reportedly among those who, having met Whitman in America in 1882, believed the great poet to be gay.

For Whitman and Doyle, the age difference eventually began taking its toll. After Whitman suffered a stroke, Doyle helped nurse him back to health. After a second stroke, however, Whitman left Washington to live with his brother in New Jersey. Despite regular, often steamy letters, the relationship slowly came to an end.

Doyle did manage to see Whitman before the writer’s death and their partnership has been preserved for posterity through his homoerotic verses and the letters the pair exchanged over the years. In his own writings, Whitman would describe the decade he spent in Washington DC as the happiest years of his life, almost certainly due to this being the time he spent with Doyle, the love of his life.

Somerset Maugham and Gerald Haxton

Forget Hemingway or Fitzgerald; William Somerset Maugham is credited with being the highest-earning author of the 1930s. Certainly, he was one of the most interesting characters of this literary period, with much of his work influenced by his time serving as a Red Cross ambulance driver in France during the First World War. It was here, in the midst of the unimaginable carnage of the Western Front, that Maugham met Gerald Haxton, a San Francisco native almost 20 years his junior. The pair embarked on a romantic relationship almost immediately.

The partnership was far from straightforward. As Maugham exclaimed to his nephew. ‘I tried to persuade myself that I was only three-quarters normal and only a quarter of me was queer – whereas really it was the other way around’. However, this was no time to be ‘queer’. From the very start, both men had to remain guarded. The trial of Oscar Wilde, arrested and imprisoned for his homosexuality, meant that gay men were living in fear and stayed very much in the closet. Despite this being a time of extra caution, Haxton was arrested for engaging in ‘indecent behaviour’ with another man while on leave in London in 1915. He was ultimately deported from Britain back to his native California, bringing his relationship with the English writer to an abrupt end.

The bisexual Maugham, meanwhile, met Syrie Wellcome and persuaded her to leave her pharmaceutical magnate husband and wed him. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the eventual union was an unhappy one and the pair divorced after 13 years together, leaving Maugham free to travel and reunite with Haxton.

The pair settled on the French Riviera and were inseparable until the latter’s death in 1944. Thereafter, Maugham embarked on several same-sex relationships before settling down again with his long-time private secretary Alan Searle. This was to be the last affair of the great writer’s life and only ended when Maugham died in 1965.

A Festive Celebration of the LGBT+ Community – Monday, 18 December 7.00pm – 9.00pm

Manchester Cathedral – FREE – ticket needed – apply here.

The Proud Trust, akt, LGBT Foundation, George House Trust and Manchester Pride are coming together for a festive gathering of Greater Manchester’s LGBT+ community at Manchester Cathedral – a space for celebration and inclusion.

We are stronger when everyone is included, and this event will be a celebration of all within our wonderfully diverse LGBT+ community.

Please join us for a joyful evening of Carols and readings. This is a free event, with donations made on the evening supporting The Proud Trust, akt, LGBT Foundation and George House Trust charities, who work hard to keep our community safe and strong.

Rainbow Lottery Super Draw!

We’re thrilled to bring you another amazing prize! This October, one lucky supporter will win a £1,500 Luxury Theatre Trip: a voucher for theatre tickets, a hotel stay, and £500 spending money! For added flexibility, the winner can now choose to take the £1,500 cash, to spend on whatever they like!

The special prize draw will take place on Saturday 28 October. If you already have tickets, you don’t need to do anything extra, but you can always buy extra tickets.

Thank you and good luck!

Buy tickets here.

Today’s Forecast (thanks to Brian Bilston)

After a wet start, rain will give way

to intermittent showers, interspersed

with outbreaks of rain.

As the day progresses, rainclouds

will blow in from the west, bringing with them

the chance of rain-based precipitation

until the early evening,

when the weather will finally settle down

and it will rain constantly.

Tomorrow’s outlook: rain with occasional intervals of rain.