Welcome
It feels like there have been massive changes already this year, and it is only just
creeping up to spring. We’ve had hurricanes and (relative) heat waves, a stick
man called ‘Bill’ has been telling us how to behave on the internet and sadly
several celebrities have passed away. One of the early departures from 2016 was
David Bowie, a man who once said he had been through so many changes that
he constantly lived in denial that he was ever an overweight Korean woman!
Of course he was joking (Bowie was certainly never overweight) but one thing
that the public always embraced about Bowie is his courage to change. And
courage is the right word because a lot of us don’t even have the courage to
change washing up powder, let alone our appearance or the bigger things in life
like our job or where we live. The difficulty is that change is a necessity in life.
Nobody is able to live in the past and in a way, they also don’t have the right
to. Many of the issues that LGBTs face depend on the past as a justification for
not granting new rights. Falling back on ‘traditional’ values is certainly an old
standby that we will be hearing more and more of in the run-up to the election.
LGBT History Month, which is in February, celebrates the people and events
which have effected massive changes in legislation and social attitudes to make
life more equal. Around the country there are events marking these important
landmarks in our history and celebrating the people who had the courage to
make such changes.
We also say a fond farewell to the retiring Peter Purton, who has over-seen the
fight for great changes over his career and who is often the controlling hand
behind the scenes of important campaigns. We interview him about his role
at the TUC and how his work has helped to bring about change, often in an
atmosphere of resistance.
We have resisted the urge to make this ‘The Bowie
Issue’, even though we are all big fans of the man’s
life and work here at Fyne. But in many ways we are
celebrating one of his lasting legacies; to take on change
and embrace it fully. Oh, bit there is of course a sneaky
tribute to the man himself in this issues’ Gay Great.
There was one famous figure from LGBT history that we
couldn’t help but include.....and it isn’t actually Bowie.
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