Vodka an' All That!

LGBTQ

I

I’M DELIGHTED. We now have 50 Likes. Many thanks to those first 50!  It's always good when we see public reaction in a positive light.

There are 10 copies gifted to the Lesbian & Gay Foundation [i], and the Foundation is running a Competition for the ten best descriptions of what, to individuals, the double decker bus title Being Gay Being Bi Whatever (BGBBW) means to readers.

We will judge the entries during the weekend of Manchester Pride and those ten copies of the print edition will be duly dispatched to the winners from the LGF offices in Manchester.

This is no ordinary gay anthology. It is nails the rainbow flag to the mast.

II

IT IS AN International Flag (and I speak now as ex-forces) of which I am intensely proud, as proud as any and every day I took the salute upon the raising and lowering of my Squadron’s ensign at sunrise and sunset.

This Flag represents everything that all of us in the GLBTQ community have been through in varying degrees over a century and which, as we see with current discrimination in Russia, marks a renewed and sinister clampdown on what is natural and normal but which only the narrow-minded see as unnatural and abnormal.

Sometimes I reflect upon BGBBW and wonder whether I've gone over the top.

III

THEN something happens somewhere to someone or to a group of people, to remind me that BGBBW had to be written and stands testimony to the worldwide GLBTQ Community. I sigh relief.

I haven't over-reacted. All I’ve done is to record a lifetime of personal incidents, observations of situations to which I am not party, and interwoven actual events into fictitious scenarios to deliver our message.

We must be direct and to the point with any form of hate crime.

Bullying is intolerable and if I see a bully in the street, even now, I will confront. As they say, 'once a copper always a copper' . I cannot lay aside a lifetime's teaching and training because I'm no longer in uniform, no longer a constable. But I am a full member of the National Association of Retired Police Officers and I draw a very small police medical pension, which helps me to maintain active links with the police.

IV

BGBBW is dedicated to the memory of Michael Causer who lost his life at the age of 18 as a result of homophobic bullying and a resultant vicious attack.

The Michael Causer Foundation is working hard through his parents and the trustees, to create shelters for homeless young gay people in North West England. Vital work. It reflects the work of similar foundations around the world.

Homophobia still rages in globally - medieval, Machiavellian. I could go into all the usual adjectives but that serves no useful purpose.

All of us, whether we know it or not, know people who are gay, bisexual, whatever. It took me almost a lifetime to work that out!

V

Let us all break free of outdated prejudices, petty hatreds, and double-standards - the closet homophobe - and adopt the maxim that we all like to live by - 'live and let live'.

I value and respect a person’s right to remain in the closet. But do not conceal the closet by attacking the very people you want to be with on the quiet, or under the shade of dark trees or dingy city alleys at night. In the poem They Came in the Night, here we see this in the character of Dieter’s erstwhile friend Medwin.

VI

Sometimes firm action is required. It is no good writing to heads of government unless in the form of a petition. We have politicians to do that. That is why we elect them.

What we, the men and women in the street can do, is to hit the bullies and absuers where it hurts most : in their pockets.

VII

Take for instance, Russia. Vodka is a very popular drink everywhere. But linked as it is to a regime that is now embarked upon a campaign of intolerance and outright persecution, hit that regime where it hurts it most - in nation’s economy.

Imagine the impact if we all stopped drinking vodka simply by choosing something else.

I was talking the other evening and fascinated by a friend, explaining to me how easy it would be to make a similar drink for sale through our own breweries, but distilled and bottled here, in the United Kingdom.

I like that. Do it!

So, come on everyone. Hoist the Rainbow Flag full blown to the wind. Set our course. Hold firm the tiller. We can navigate any waters we find ourselves in. TRULY!

31 July 2013
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© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2021