A Gay Old World – Hello Curns

Being gay each day

When it comes to understanding the impact of sexual preference on our daily lives we are – unsurprisingly – not like our straight counterparts at all.

A year ago I noted that Armistead Maupin, author of the Tales of the City series, “helped me understand a bigger world where gay people live and have fun but are, deep down, just like their straight counterparts”. There’s an interesting debate over at plasticbag.org about when you should – or should not – declare you sexuality. It all started when Tom drew up a “Tongue-in-cheek-ish slightly-bored early-evening version of what I would kind of like my business card to be like” which spawned other conversations relating sexuality. It appears, kids, that when it comes to understanding the impact of sexual preference on our daily lives we are – unsurprisingly – not like our straight counterparts at all.

Saturday News

A coule of interesting stories from this morning’s Guardian newspaper.

I think perhaps I am now behind the times. Apparently, this should be a video site:

Mr Bouwman is the vanguard of the latest internet trend: video logging or vlogging. One step up from the now familiar internet blogger, vloggers upload personal video clips of everything from the US Democratic convention to what they had for their tea, via rants about tax rises and conspiracy theories.
[The Guardian]

Luckily for you, I’m no good with movie cameras. However, if I were, perhaps I would head for Hull (you know that northern town famous for The Housemartins and the Deputy Prime Minister). Do I hear you ask, Why Hull? Well, apparently, some bright sparks want to make it the new gay capital as it, apparently, has the fastest growing gay scene in the whole of Europe’.

The city council has already consulted with its hoteliers to ensure that they will welcome all visitors, and next week it will host a weekend trip for journalists from the gay media.
[The Guardian]

Now I wanted to joke about it, but I can’t really think of any reason to do so.

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Originally posted at musak.org | Wayback – original | Wayback

Mayor Of London

June 10th 2004 is the date that we’ll all be voting for the mayor of London. Ken, Simon or Steve are the main candidates. But then there’s Darren, Ivan and – erm – Frank.

The race to be the Mayor of London is on again, and it appears that some big names are trying to run the Capital for next few years.Ken Livingstone is, of course, the current Mayor and – I think – stands a good chance of getting in again. For the first few years people wondered what he had actually done (apart from give us bendy buses), but it all seems to have come good for him recently. The Liberal Democrats are fielding Simon Hughes and Steve Norris is standing as Conservative. The Green’s candidate (Darren Johnson) is gay and my financial advisor –Ivan Massow– is standing for some reason. The UK Independence Party pops up every now and then, and their candidate is Frank Maloney who, according to this story at The Gay Vote, won’t campaign to areas where there are too many gays. Maybe London isn’t the city for him then.

Honestly, I am torn between a couple of the candidates. Of the three main players, I think they all represent the best bits of their respective parties which is interesting. Still some time to go until I have to make up my mind. Vote for the London Mayor on 10th June.

Go Out

I’m not the most active member of this community, but I certainly feel it is a community and one I am happy to be part of.

This morning the postman knocked more than once. PY, who always jumps out of bed for parcels and post, decided to answer the door, where he discovered a large parcel from Out– my lovely black fleece had arrived (from OutOnTheStreets to be precise). This event, and Tom’s post(which I highlighted the other day and started out as a response to this), set me thinking about notions of community.

Now Out is an online community of (mainly) gay men from around the world – although at the moment it’s predominantly UK-based. It’s a great place to be and very unlike many of the other commercial gay sites. It’s all about social interactions and not about sex (like some) nor about profit (like others). It funds itself through a non-compulsory licence fee and sells merchandise to supplement that. It encourages real-world events and traditional social interaction.

Now, I have never attended one of the events, and I don’t log on every day (like some). I don’t count many of my friends (online or otherwise) as being members, and I can’t say I have made any lasting friendships on Out – although many have.

However, it is still a community, and I am still part of it. I choose to contribute financially, and I should do more in real life. There are many issues raised by Out that I shall discuss in more detail at some point soon (paying for online content; the concept of zero exploitation and the concept of online communities), but at this point all I want to say is that I feel similarly about blogging. I do it primarily for my own record/entertainment/amusement. As a by-product, I get to tell the world how I feel about things and strike up some interesting discussions and relationships along the way. It’s a place for me to express myself and, most importantly, it’s another community that I belong to. Again, I’m not the most active member of this community, but I certainly feel it is a community and one I am happy to be part of.

Old Compton Street At Night

Late on a Tuesday night, Old Compton Street was relaxed, friendly and fun. Maybe I should be less judgemental about the place.

So, I have just told you how having an American in London with me has made me see London in a new light. Once again, I love it. Last night we went to dinner again (with some other people this time) on Old Compton Street. Sometimes, I have a problem with Old Compton Street, and I am not sure why. As a gay man, I should be able to celebrate the area for the visibility and safety that it brings to London’s gay community. My problem is that I find I am not a scene-loving gay man, and so I am generally made to feel alienated by the people there. I also feel slightly wary of taking straight friends to Old Compton Street in case they feel I am either trying to make some kind of point or that I am, somehow, testing their acceptance of me. All of the above is, of course, personal paranoia and my own insecurities, which a therapist, of some sort, would take lots of money off me to talk about. Instead, I blog it.

Anyway, back to the point. We were on Old Compton Street. It was late-ish (for me, not for Old Compton Street) and the place was alive. It being a Tuesday night I suspect that the worst aspects of the weekend drinking crowd were not to be seen which made it a pleasant, friendly place to be. It was a wonderful feeling to walk out of a restaurant into a heaving mass of happy people. It was cool, but not cold, and (as OCS Queens will) people were sitting at tables outside. Maybe I should be less judgemental about Old Compton Street. The mood was relaxed and fun; people were smiling and chatting and even the music drifting onto the street seemed appropriate and not excessive.

I seem to be painting a picture of a pack of hysterical, laughing people. Of course, it was not like that. It was just that the mood was great, people seemed relaxed and it made me feel positive about life when so much of this city has been making me feel depressed of late. Isn’t life sweet?

Around The World

Two contrasting stories from around the world.

Two contrasting stories:

South Africa’s highest court ruled Tuesday that gay and lesbian couples can adopt children, becoming one of only a handful of countries to sanction the step [CNN].
A recent report by Los Angeles County shows that hate crimes were up in 2001, with the bulk of new attacks based on Sept. 11 backlash and an increased number of assaults against the GLBT community [PlanetOut]