Good As You On Vocal And Everywhere

I was looking through the Vocal communities and noticed the most unsubscribed one was Pride , 388 stories from 297 contributors. Now it may be a relatively new community, but if we look at others , contributors are in their thousands.

You don’t have to be gay (I am heterosexual, not through choice , that’s the way I am , but I have been ‘ shall we say ,stirred by certain gay friends and icons) to contribute , but the gay community is great , varied and has been oppressed for so long that some may find it difficult to actually engage with others. On the excellent advice of a very good friend I recently removed four stories from my profile , and they wouldn’t really hurt me (the stories are being moved, not deleted), but when someone posts anything gay or LGBTQIA+ related stories , prejudiced people can sometimes pressure you, sometimes very hurtfully.

I have been many times accused of being homosexual in a denigrative fashion for sharing supportive posts on Facebook and the like. When someone came out at a previous place I said that’s great really happy for him and his partner , to which I got a lot of homophobic insults. Luckily I am a very large person and pointed out in no uncertain terms that GAY is a TLA (three letter acronym) for “GOOD AS YOU” .

Although 388 posts is more than I will read in a week , I could actually see myself reading all of them. I post mostly in BEATS and POETS and there is no way I will ever read everything there, and the fact I have topped a hundred posts on my profile I know no one will read all mine, but my output is frequent and varied.

Since STONEWALL (link is to organization rather that the justified and necessary riots) the LGBTQIA+ community have found voices and support from all communities but also still are seen as an easy target for bullies, and violent , especially right wing groups , who are also usually very misogynistic in their actions and attitudes.

I remember in the 1970’s the Tom Robinson Band were very in your face GAY in attitude and remember going into a biker pub and seeing “Glad To Be Gay” on the Jukebox. Well I had to didn’t I?

“Who the fvck , put that on? Fvcking Q***rs”

“I did , it’s a fvcking good record”

I was bigger than all them , and it does have a great sing along chorus.

Then me and four friends (all big strapping lads) went to see Bill Bryson touring his new book, “A Short History of Nearly Everything” in Newcastle's Centre For Life . While we were waiting to see him we partook in drinks in the Barons (I think that’s what it was called then) , sort of forgetting we were in Newcastle’s “Pink Triangle”.

A girl came up to us and said “My friend was looking at you and was wondering if you wer all gay”

We laughed and all said variations on “Oh definitely darling”

All my close friends are fine and supportive of all sexual definitions.

They are just two stories from my past , and I stand up and defend everyone’s right to be who they are.

We still see so much discrimination with homophobia , misogyny , racism , bullying and more , and we need to stand against everywhere that this happens.

PRIDE is fun

PRIDE is colour

PRIDE is inclusion

Though it’s a pity that we NEED PRIDE (for some of the reasons I listed above) , it is a wonderfully beautiful rainbow in our lives and I love seeing it flourishing and growing.

And with this post I become an above average contributor to the VOCAL PRIDE community, I hope that doesn’t stay like that for long.

Neil Ardley's "A Kaleidoscope of Rainbows" based on a Balinese Music scale is an appropriately named musical lead in for this piece.