My Blog

Those In Glass Houses...

22/12/2012 11:09:00

Yesterday, the Pope used his Christmas message to attack gay people and same sex marriage, before going on to tear into gender identity and the ‘manipulation of nature’.

Whilst this comes as no surprise to most, what I do find surprising is that the Pope has given valuable air time to shout about hatred and inequality, instead of using the platform to call for world peace, the end of famine in the third world and goodwill to all. A faith that’s apparently based on love surely would prefer to concentrate on these far more important objectives. After all, nobody’s going to die from equal marriage?

His tirade of hate is another example of how the Catholic Church has become more and more a hotbed of intolerance, further pushing itself into irrelevance.

“There is no denying the crisis that threatens the family to its foundations – especially in the Western world,” Pope Benedict XVI, Friday 21 Dec.

The Pope ought to be constantly reminded about the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church to its very foundations over the past fifty years... that’s more of a real threat to ‘the family’ than anything. The abuse thousands of young boys have endured has proven that the problem is not isolated, but in fact something that is embedded deep within the church’s very make up, at all levels, in all sections of the faith. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out this is far more hurtful to the wider society than the freedom that comes with equal marriage. Instead of praying for us, the Pope should be praying for himself.

His further attack on Gender Identity and the equality of people who have gone through gender transition shows more that the Pope and the Catholic church he presides over is not CURRENT and a thousand miles away from being RELEVANT.

You’d think the Pope would know better than anyone the dangers that can lead from discriminating against a group of people, making them the subject of specific and targeted hatred. By singling gay and trans people out, the Pope is spreading hatred in the hope that it catches on. The Pope’s aim is to strip the rights of all LGBT people, pushing us all back to the year dot in terms of equality. I’m sure he’d be delighted if we were all rounded up and imprisoned.

The Pope’s Christmas message yesterday represents all that is evil in the world... I wish for once he’d just shut his mouth and eat some turkey.

GREAT NEWS... If you're not a member of the Church of England!

12/12/2012 14:18:00

Yesterday’s announcement of the introduction of Equal Marriage was completely over shadowed by the fact that members of the Church of England would be excluded from the plans from the offset.
In an attempt to ring home the bells of true equality, the Tory plans have instead created a subsection community, offering different levels of freedom depending on what part of society one fits.
By being born into the Church of England and then duly christened a member before I can even remember, I’m now automatically excluded from the Equal Marriage plans leaving me in exactly the same place I was before the announcement.

I don’t ever remember having the choice to becoming a member of the Church of England. Whilst serving in Iraq I remember looking down at my ‘Dog Tags’ and seeing the letters ‘CoE’ inscribed just below my blood group and thinking, 'how the hell did this happen?' I guess it was just a natural thing, just part of who I am... a lot like my sexuality.

Of course, I could take a civil marriage in a non-religious setting, and one has to consider whether one wants to celebrate such an important occasion in an environment that on the whole has been generally hostile towards the gay community, but to simply be expelled from the plans before they’ve been properly introduced is unfair and outrageous.
The term ‘Equality’ means, believe it or not... EQUAL! People in every part of society should be offered the same opportunities. Everyone should be treated FAIRLY and with RESPECT. The Government should’t be setting different bars in equality. One rule for some, one rule for others. It defies the whole point.

I’m baffled that the Catholic Church in England and Wales will now at least have the opportunity to celebrate Same Sex Marriage, which is incredible and I hope the powers that run such organisation embrace the offer. The Church of England, by kicking off enough of a fuss over the plans mostly through its C4M campaign, have placed enough pressure on the Government for them to buckle under the stress and will now remain in the dark ages as far as modern equality is concerned.

Frankly, the Church of England has continued to push itself into it’s corner of discrimination. Woman Bishops. Gay Marriage. What next? Disabled people?

And after the results of the 2011 Census have revealed that Christianity in the UK is now less popular than it was 10 years ago, I’m left thinking... How relevant is the Church of England today? By basing values on an ancient text that’s over two thousand years old, the organisation is digging it’s heels into the mud and refusing to move with the times.

What do we really expect from a bunch of people who believe the earth was created in 7 days?

We’ve come so far... Got so far left to go, too!

13/07/2012 19:24:00

I was delighted to have been asked to join London Titans FC, a gay friendly football team based in South West London for the annual London Gay Pride parade, which was host to this year’s World Pride.

Without getting myself lost in the politics of said occasion which I think has been highlighted enough by others; I realised that joining a sports organisation was fully relevant in todays murky climate of modern equality.

Last year I was asked to sign the Homophobia in Sport Charter at 10 Downing Street which I of course did, in the company of many of my personal sporting heroes. I have also watched with interest how the F.A. have handled and responded to racism and homophobia in British football over the past 12 months and drawn myself to the conclusion that equality in sport is lacking, failing it’s athletes as well as it’s audience.

It has to be said that this year, Chelsea FC sent the Titans a personal letter of support for World Pride which was gratefully accepted by the players and the coaching staff. It’s also important to note that this year at Liverpool Pride, Liverpool FC will march proudly as a team showing their support to gay rights in their home city. They will be the first British football team to do so; an incredible move.

I usually join the LGBT contingent of the British Army at Gay Pride, however this year I felt it was more important to join a group of people who are trying to make a difference in the sporting field, something by signing the Charter, I am also committed to.

Whilst walking the parade route with the footballers of London Titans FC, I was pleased to see so many other organisations coming together in the name of equality. I saw Stonewall walking with youngsters who had travelled to London from around the country that morning to have their presence and their voices heard. I saw LGBT supporters from across the three main political parties, all keen to show their support to gay rights; and I also saw gay men and women from across the public services including my own- the Army, who have come incredibly far in a short time with regard to gay equality.

Some people argue that Pride marches are irrelevant and not necessary in todays world, which I think is utter rubbish. In 2012, we still have no sportsmen in any British football league who feels able to say the words I’m gay. We have youngsters in our our schools who are bullied and harassed on a daily basis on the presumption of being gay, some as we know are driven to suicide; and in some countries being gay is still punishable by death.

When we come together as a community like we did last Saturday at World Pride, we come together to campaign and acknowledge these very truths. We come together to say we understand how far we’ve come in recent years but we also need the world to understand we’ve got so far still to go.

Equal Marriage. Teen suicides. Homophobia in sport. Homophobia in schools. These things can only change when we as a gay community, with our powerful straight friends alongside, march and campaign for our own right to be accepted.

Organisations like London Titans FC are paving the way for sporting teams to be diverse and accepting. To have the chance to spend a few hours with them at World Pride was a huge honour for me... and I thank them deeply for it. I’m looking forward to working further with them.

London Titans FC are hosting a fund raising event in aid of the Food Chain at the Two Brewers in Clapham, next Sunday 22nd July from 5pm.

See you all there!

Some future news

12/06/2012 23:15:00

At the end of this year, I will be leaving the army, and moving on to different things.

I'm leaving to concentrate on opportunities that suit my desire to make more of a difference in life, and ultimately allow me the chance to support my loved ones more.

After almost a decade in the Army, I'd like to put my family, in particular my husband, more central in my life, and not have to operate with the continuing worry of being separated for several months at a time. Constantly having to put him second, is something I no longer wish to do.

I've had an absolute blast during my time in the Army, and have not taken this decision lightly... but I know it's now time to move on.

I would fully recommend a career in the British Army to anyone.

Many thanks

JRW

What About the Gay Kids?

25/03/2012 13:09:00

Originally Published on HuffingtonPost.com

A family friend recently sounded me out for some important advice. Her son, at the fragile age of 15, had decided to inform her that he felt more attraction to his male classmates, than he did to his female classmates.

Without going all out and exclaiming he is gay, he asked his mum to understand the situation, and invited advice in return.

My friend, who I know and love well, told him not to worry about these feelings, that it is completely normal, and whatever becomes apparent in the future, he will be deeply loved and celebrated either way.

I don't think i could have handled the situation better myself. She showed her son that his happiness is paramount, and that her love to him will be unchanged whether he discovers he is gay or not.

It's a response that many of us could have only dreamed of, and he is very fortunate indeed... but I worry for him, still.

The protection his mother provides, the remainder of his family and even friends like me, is merely limited to a slight extent in this 21st century world we find ourselves living in. He isn't able to let his guard down yet; and the problem I fear, has a danger to escalate more so now than at any other point in recent times.

Imagine...you're 15. You're in a fragile state. Puberty brings many problems; problems that perhaps many of us have grown to forget. You go to school and you get teased for 'looking' gay; for 'sounding' gay. You run home after school to escape. In the safety of your own home, you switch on the TV and see people describing gay relationships as 'grotesque' or 'vile.' There seems to be no escape.

Can you imagine how this must feel?

Worse yet, imagine being the vile thug who bullies the same person for 'looking' or 'sounding' gay. You taunt him all day in the classroom. You make his life a misery. Then you go home, switch on the TV and see figureheads of the faith communities and politicians making the same homophobic statements that you've been handing out on the playground. It justifies your actions. Almost makes it okay. You feel good about it.

The two boys meet the following morning and the bullying continues.

You see, there is a great danger here. And this danger is something the opposition to equal marriage, mostly the church, has overlooked - the affect on gay people, but in particular, the affect on young gay people. The people who are most vulnerable.

I remember feeling isolated whilst I was going through my mid teenage years, and I know I'm not alone. I remember having these huge feelings that were completely impossible to ignore;
Fully out of my own control. I wish I'd had access to support, either through the internet or somewhere else. A gay friend perhaps? I wish there was a youth group for me to belong, who I could discuss my feelings and problems with safely. I wish I'd had the courage that my friend's son had last week, when he decided to let his feelings be known to his mother.

Yet I'm lucky that I didn't have to come out whilst a very public and very hurtful debate about gay relationships was being fought on a daily basis in the media, with people whom I might have once trusted, or looked up to brandishing me grotesque.

In a none judgemental way, I was asked earlier this week whether or not I thought the debate on equal marriage actually meant anything to us (as a community). The gentleman's personal approach to the subject was that whilst this debate was on going, we might be taking our focus off other important issues, one of which being homophobia in schools. I couldn't have disagreed more.

In my opinion, homophobia in schools goes hand in hand with the debate surrounding equal marriage.

Homophobia stems from ignorance; from a belief that gay people are less important than straight people.

Stating publicly that being in love and wanting to validate that love through marriage is okay for straight people, but not okay for gay people, is exactly the same as stating that gay people are less important than straight people. It is, in my opinion, the same as saying to my dear friend's son, "it's not okay for you to be gay", but also saying at the same time to a homophobic thug in a classroom, "well done, keep bullying gay people. It's wrong. Your actions are correct."

I challenge anybody to show me where it says in the Bible that it's okay to bully somebody. To single out somebody and make them feel less important than than the rest of society. To make their life a complete misery.

I was always taught that religion, Christianity in particular, is all about loving thy neighbour. About treating people with respect and that love and charity far out weigh hate and discrimination. Seemingly the complete opposite to the displays of faith, currently on offer in this country.

Before long, there will be victims out of this, and those victims will be our most vulnerable...Our youth.

And the church will once again, have blood on its hands.

Gay Pride, What's the Point?

15/03/2012 13:08:00

Originally posted on HuffingtonPost.co.uk

I was fortunate enough to be part of National Student Pride last weekend in Brighton.Now in its seventh year- student pride returned to the city for the fourth time, bringing together students from across the country and in some cases, from far flung learning institutions across oceans and seas.All these people came together to debate, discuss, network and most of all celebrate student life within the LGBT community; and I was delighted to be right in the middle of such an event.

I found myself on the Question Time debate, hosted byAttitude's Matt Todd and with fellow panelists including Dan G Sells of The Feeling, BBC News presenter Jane Hill, Actress Sophie Ward, England Cricketer Steven Davies, Ex-NBA Basketball player John Amaechi and the legendary human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

Throughout the debate, I was struck by how incredibly politically motivated the audience was, bearing in mind that most were in their late teens or early twenties. These young adults had all grouped together in Brighton to celebrate and branch out - which the club night in Revenge would later ensure, but before all of that, there was important business to deal with.

The day continued into the night, and the students who had come together far and wide, let their hair down and celebrated fully in venues across the city.

Whilst enjoying the day event, I was asked by an elderly gentleman "what's all the fuss about?" to which I naturally presented an answer.

The look on the man's face suggested bewilderment, and I knew he was either about to throw out some horrendous homophobia, or continue to quiz me over the celebrations...

"But why do they need to wave it in everybody's face?"

I could tell that the gentleman was speaking in rhetoric, and immediately moved on before I could counter his comments anyway... but it lead me to think, 'why' indeed?

I'd love to say that this is the first time I've been on the receiving end of such a question, but it's sadly not. It appears, there are quite a few people in our country who don't quite understand the meaning of Pride and why the events are so important

With Pride events soon to be getting fully under way around the UK; North Wales Mardi Gras in April, and a host of events including Birmingham pride, Blackpool pride and Oxford pride in June before the huge main event of World Pride in the capital on the 7 July; it's extremely important we fully understand exactly why these events are held nationally and the history that has passed before them.

We have all been on the receiving end of discrimination at some point in our lives, none more so than the public homophobic messages being handed out by Lord Carey, and just this weekend by the Head of the Catholic Church in Scotland- Cardinal O' Brien.

This pathetic pair, along with a handful of politicians and other church figures have backed the Coalition for Marriage petition calling for a stop to the introduction of equal marriage in the UK.

We still live in a world in which a professional footballer will tweet homophobic messages to thousands of followers and not think of the consequences; will also still live in a world where people are being hung because they are gay. There's clearly a fight still to be won, and events such as National Student Pride underline this very fact.

Of course, the answer to these problems aren't going to be solved simply by marching around places like Brighton and London making lots of noise; but along with political pressure and professional campaigning by groups such as Stonewall and the online petition of C4EM, we will come through this victorious.

Pride is not about "Waving it in people faces", but is about remembering the great things we as a community have achieved over the past 50 years. It's about meeting new people, forging relationships and coming together. It's about celebrating the gay community and our contribution to the United Kingdom.

But most importantly, it's about continuing the fight for equality!

The more noise that outdated generation of Daily Mail readers make about us as a group of people, the more noise we need to continue making in response to their blatant, overt and offensive homophobia. That's the point!

Who Died and Made the Church God?

24/02/2012 01:16:00

Gay marriage is coming... And thank the lord!

When I had my civil partnership in 2010, it was simply the happiest day of my life. My husband and I sealed our relationship, forever, in the company of the people we loved the most, with words we had chosen especially for that occasion. Dressed in full state uniform, usually reserved for the Royal Family, I married my man proudly and with true meaning.

But would I have chosen a religious ceremony, if I'd have had the choice?

You bet I would!

Why should a man and a women have the exclusive right, and indeed honour, of exchanging their lifelong promise to each other in the presence of God? What makes me different? I say my prayers. I join in at 'heterosexual' weddings by wishing newlyweds the very best, even saying a prayer for them. I even swore an oath to God that I'd protect Queen and Country as a young 16-year-old boy facing military service. Why shouldn't I be afforded the same respect from a faith that I have served so well?

The answer is... I should be. And I'm very confident that people like me - a gay person who chooses to get married, soon will be allowed to do so. Just because a few people who have appointed themselves spokespeople of the divine have to drag us through a quite hurtful protest about 'their' rights along the way. What about our rights?

Lets think back to 2004 when the Civil Partnership Act was being introduced. Those same bigots who exclaim our 'lifestyle choices' infringe their human rights, kicked up exactly the same fuss as we see the Coalition For Marriage (C4M) doing today. Even an (Ex) Archbishop has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the argument, leading C4M's calls for legal intervention. I wonder if they have asked for 'Divine Intervention' yet? I bet you they've tried.

Unsurprisingly, the Daily Mail has all but publicly announced its support of the group, describing it as 'a new grassroots organisation', and even permitted (Ex) Archbishop, Lord Carey, to blog about it on their own Mail blogging site, RightMinds.

So what is the problem? What will it actually mean to Lord Carey if this act goes through?

Can anybody offer a fair and just answer to this question? Is this going to affect straight people who are getting married? Well according to the C4M homepage, it just might, and one or two other things also... "If marriage is redefined, those who believe in traditional marriage will be sidelined. People's careers could be harmed, couples seeking to adopt or foster could be excluded, and schools would inevitably have to teach the new definition to children. If marriage is redefined once, what is to stop it being redefined to allow polygamy?"

So, as it states... if gay marriage is passed, straight people are going to be out of work. Nothing like a threat to jobs in a time of increasing job losses. Some very straight forward individuals, the sort that read the Daily Mail perhaps, will read that and actually believe it. And C4M know this... that's why they have put it in there! And what about the image they have chosen to use as their campaign logo? A white man, a white woman, and their two children -one boy and one girl, of course.

I'm very grateful to have a number of gay friends who have either gone fully through the adoption process and now provide a very safe home and environment to a child that was once not so fortunate to have such a thing, and a number of friends who are still awaiting either approval or child placement. This sight reflects family life in the 19th century. As do the views of Lord Carey.

Thanks to a number of high profile individuals, including prime minister David Cameron, there is a growing likelihood and belief that C4M's petition and campaigning will not deter the bill being passed in the House of Lords; but with the views of Lord Carey and other faith leaders across the land, it makes the prospect uncertain, still.

Lord Carey and his C4M bunch should be more sympathetic to the realities of the modern world in 2012. Instead of circulating 19th century propaganda and outdated ideologies. More so, they should think a little more about how this makes other human beings feel. If they enjoy bringing stress and misery to other men and women; if they enjoy discriminating against other people just on the basis of who they love, and if they want to make the church even more excluding of individuals than it already is, then they ought to be spending more time and energy questioning their own faiths.

Originally posted on HuffingtonPost.co.uk

Joe's Story

07/02/2012 22:28:00

I was first introduced to Joe Paterson at Manchester Pride, last year, and was told prior to meeting him just how exceptionally committed he was to supporting LGB peers in his local community and beyond.

As a 16 year old, his achievements are unbelievable. His reach is extremely far and he has no intentions of stopping yet. I'm sure we're going to see a lot of success from Joe in the near future.

As you will read, Joe's had a rough time. A really difficult experience. And you'll also read how deeply it affected him.

He was pulled from the spiral of misery by the one person in the world who will stand by Joe, no matter what- his Mother.

Mums... They aren't all bad!

My name is Joe Paterson.

I am a boy – but I don’t enjoy playing sports.

I facebook. I foursquare. I tumbl(tumblr). I tweet (@thejoepaterson)

I’m 16 – but I’m not having sex every waking hour of my life, nor do I hang out in dark alleyways in a hoodie stabbing people.

I also don’t get drunk or take drugs every day. And I also don’t wear my jeans halfway down my arse (well, not all the time).

I'm a 16 year old boy who enjoys drama, music and singing, dancing, and all things performance-themed. I am a 16 year old boy who likes girls, and boys. I’ve been this way since I was born, but only realised it when I was 13.

Over the past two years, I’ve come to realise I like boys more than girls, but I remain (and will for the foreseeable future) bisexual.

I came out to my fellow peers pretty much as soon as I realised I was bisexual. As it slowly spread through my school, I initially denied what I knew to be true for fear of judgment. But eventually I reached a point where I said to myself ‘You know what? F*** it! I might as well be honest and get it out of the way.’ So I stopped denying it. I said ‘Yes, I am bisexual, and so what?’

As you can imagine this created somewhat of a controversy at my school - name calling, whispering and tripping up in the corridors was soon a regular occurrence in my daily school life, and I know it’s the same for everyone who is bullied – you feel like a useless piece of crap that nobody gives a damn about. But again, I also know that it feels like nobody has ever experienced what you’re going through.

I suppose the worst piece of abuse I ever received was that I’m “a disgusting c*** and that I’ll burn in hell sucking d*ck forevermore.” If I’m 100% honest, I was mildly surprised that the individual who said this to me even knew what the word ‘forevermore’ meant.

This bullying continued for a good year or so, and it was like a massive weight being pressed down on my shoulders, getting heavier every day, making me isolated and depressed. I started to self-harm.

The self harming continued for several months. It got to the point where it didn’t even hurt and I wasn’t consciously doing it – it was like a ritual – get home from school or whatever, go to my room, shut the door, cut, go downstairs for dinner (wearing long sleeves), back upstairs, cut, sleep. Every day. It was insane looking back. If it hadn’t have been for forgetting to wear long sleeves one day and my parents seeing, I’d probably still be doing it today.

My mum, obviously horrified by what she'd found, gave me the courage to speak with teachers and get the problems sorted. My mother's help even gave me the courage to confront the bullies head on… I did assemblies on the Lesbian/Gay Foundation’s Enough Is Enough! Action Against Homophobia Campaign, and they must have listened… Coz I've not been bullied since!

Since then I’ve appeared on iTV’s This Morning and the Tonight show- Bullies Online. I've made numerous appearances on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Stephen Nolan show, and I have no plans of stopping what I’m doing. I’ve also just been elected as Young Leader for my area of Daventry. I’m a Prefect at my school, and I’m running for Head Boy next year. Forgive the cliché, but it really, really, really does get better. It gets better because we DON'T HAVE TO LIVE IN FEAR! We can make a real difference, if we just try. Thats all I've done.

Northamptonshire (my home county) has no gay scene whatsoever. I can’t wait to get to Uni (if I can afford being at least £30,000 in debt at age 21/22) and see the LGBT world in all its bright pink glory.

Oh, and if you’re gay or bi reading this and you wear skinny jeans, watch out – you’re just my type.

See you around,

Joe.

Coming Out- An Ongoing Process

17/10/2011 21:08:00

My dear friend, Alex Hopkins, the Associate Editor of

Out There magazine and freelance writer, has very kindly agreed to write a guest article for my blog.

I asked Alex, who primarily writes about the arts, human rights and LGBT issues, to put a piece together about anything he liked... Knowing he would write something which was both fabulous as well as thought provoking and relevant.

What I didn't expect, was to be left with feelings of nostalgia. Not only feelings of relevance, but an actual personal empathy for the subject covered.

I certainly didn't expect such a direct striking arrow, hitting feelings and memories I have, for the most, stored away at the back of my mind.

Its easy for us settled gay folk, to forget exactly just how fragile our coming out period really was...

Coming Out – An Ongoing Process

Last week was International Coming Out Day – an opportunity to celebrate and support gay people coming out all over the world. Every gay person remembers the day that they came out. It is often the most important, life-changing event in their life; the time that they can proudly proclaim that they are going to live life on their terms.

Coming out is different for everyone. For some it may mean telling a friend that you are gay. More often than not it involves the deeply courageous moment that you reveal your sexuality to your parents. Media reports last week debated whether it would be acceptable to come out on facebook. The point is that there are no rules – it is a deeply personal action and everyone has the right to choose how they do it.For all gay men and women coming out is also an ongoing process. It is something you continue to do all of your life, whenever you meet a new person or start a new job. As we move forward with equality legislation and tolerance in the U.K. this should become a much easier process.

The reality, however, is rather different. If more people than ever are accepting homosexuality, there are still those who hate us. There are those who think nothing of kicking us to death in central London, attacking us in the streets, or hurling casual insults in the school playground. As long as prejudice exists we must continue to fight for our right to love the person we choose.

Older gay people have a responsibility to support gay youngsters as they try and find the strength to stand tall and proud. Teen suicides are a major issue as is the lack of consistent support for gay youths from our schools. There is much work still to be done in these areas and lethargy will be our undoing.

Yet while there is still mainstream prejudice to fight there are also major problems that we need to address within the gay community. Once a young gay person has come out they are flung into the unknown. The gay scene can be a daunting place and many young people need a helping hand to show them the way.

Many teenagers arriving in a city like London for the first time are saddled with deep seated feelings of unworthiness from childhood bullying and complex relationships with their heterosexual roots. Low self-esteem is prevalent and can lead to drug-taking, unsafe sex and a wildly hedonistic lifestyle as these young people desperately search for the validation they have always lacked.

They may have come out about their sexuality, but they now need to come to terms with it. Many are at risk of losing their way as they overcompensate for all of those years of victimisation. As they stumble around our commercial gay scene they are not sure what they are looking for. Frequently their only role models are vacuous club hostesses, DJs and porn stars.

A sense of a supportive, vibrant gay community is often lacking in urban environments and young people can feel very alone. They have frequently exchanged one outsider status for another and may take risks as they cling to some sense of belonging. It is no coincidence that HIV infection is spiralling among young gay men.

The sentiment behind the “It Gets Better Campaign” aimed at LGBT youth is a noble one and it has been touching and inspiring to see so many celebrities throw their weight behind it. If we are going to ensure that the next generation of gay people grow into well-adjusted, happy individuals, however, it is up to the ordinary gay person in the street to truly show them that life does indeed get better. The support needs to be ongoing as the teenager becomes an adult.We need to lead by example and at the moment some of thetemplates available to young gay people are very dubious. The nauseating over-sexualisation of gay culture is turning troubled, once innocent young gay men into selfish body fascists whose fragile sense of self-worth is obtained from guest entry to a superficial club and in a vial of GHB. We owe them more than this.

Given the internal issues in our gay community – the recklessness, the lack of care and the self-hatred we can see in any gay village on a Friday night - we have to ask ourselves if we can honestly tell a young gay person that life does get better for them. And if we can’t then it is time to start reassessing how we relate to one another and putting the support mechanisms in place to become the mentors that these young people truly deserve. We want a 30 year old gay man to be able to turn back and think that the day he came out was when he embarked upon an exciting new journey into a fulfilled life and not the moment that he moved from one miserable, empty space to another.

Alex Hopkins is a freelance journalist and writer. He regularly shares his thoughts on his blog Dissident Musings (www.alexhopkins.wordpress.com) and can be contacted at a_hopkins1978@yahoo.co.uk

Apple... Not just your average iconic logo???

06/10/2011 20:34:00

I have been compelled to write this after the events of the past 24 hours and in response to the very moving tributes being paid to Steve Jobs, who very sadly died last night after a long battle with Pancreatic Cancer.

I'm not going to write about the many achievements Jobs has been responsible for. I don't need to.

I'd bet most people today became aware of his unfortunate death through a device that he was directly responsible for.

This, I think is a fitting tribute in itself.

Instead, I want to just write about something which I have only recently became aware of.

Its a tale of how two men, who lived in different times shared one very important appetite for science.

The story starts almost 100 years ago...

Alan Mathison Turing was born on 23 June 1912 in England.

He grew up to become known as the father of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, after being the driving force behind the code breaking war against the Germans, the turning point of World War Two.

Post war, after his heroic work at Bletchley Park with Enigma, he created the first design for the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) which many leading experts in the modern world of computer science regard as the first ever P.C.

It was groundbreaking, and it propelled Turing to the forefront of computer science in the late 40's.

To this day, Turings designes for the ACE are still used in modern technology. Bill Gates and indeed Steve Jobs, would not have been able to create the masterpieces so many of us enjoy today, without his pioneering work.

After all this service and commitment to the country, in 1952 Alan Turing was prosecuted for Homosexuality.

In passing judgment, the courts gave Turing the option of either jail, or accepting Chemical Castration.

Unable to face the horrors of 50's prison life, Turing chose to be 'treated' alternatively, and was chemically castrated the following day.

A sad point to note through all of this is that Turing was actually seeking help from the police after a lover of his had stolen and attacked him in his home.

When he explained to the police that the suspect was actually his lover, they no longer pursued the other man for his crimes, instead they turned to Turing for his own actions and seeked a prosecution against him.

It seemed, Turing had been left alone. The country had turned its back on him, regardless of his services during the war and to modern science.

Turing committed suicide two years after his conviction of Homosexuality, and was found dead on his bed. He'd died of cyanide poisoning which he'd ingested by lacing an apple with the substance and taking a bite out of it.

Steve Jobs, as we all agree, has been the master of his field. Our life in 2011 has been designed by Apple. Everywhere I look, even as I'm typing this very article, there's that iconic symbol of an apple with a chunk bitten out of it. He has changed the world. And in doing so, he's given a nod of respect to Turing for his groundbreaking platform, from which all of Apple's success has been built upon.

I think it will be an awfully long time before the next Steve Jobs comes along.

Rest in Peace.

Thanks to my dear friend Bruce for taking the time to tell me this story recently!!