[Update June 10th 2017: Theresa May has joined forces wit the DUP in order to stay in office. In one sense, I don't have too much of a problem with this as I still think she is the best person to get the UK the best deal in Brexit negotiations.Post-Brexit, though, will be another story altogether as, among other things, the DUP are known to be anti-gay and anti-abortion. The experience May can bring to Brexit negotiations will be invaluable. Once we have left the EU, I would, though, hope for and expect another General Election. Several readers have been in touch to ask who I blame for the current political chaos in the UK. Well, playing the blame game never got anyone anywhere fast. I will say this, though; if all those people who voted to remain in the EU truly believed in democracy, they would have accepted the result of the referendum. How can you say you believe in something ...but only when you are getting your own way? Jeremy Corbyn went for the populist vote and it paid off, but populism will not get the national debt down, nor will it help the UK in Brexit negotiations.] RT
Changing the
subject drastically, prominent Cameroon gay rights activist Eric Lembembe was
murdered in the Cameroon last week..
This man’s murder
follows several attacks on the offices of human rights workers, including those
working for equal rights for gay people. In a statement Human Rights Watch
said: "We don’t know who killed Eric Lembembe, or why he was killed, but
one thing is clear: the Cameroonian authorities’ utter failure to stem
homophobic violence sends the message that these attacks can be carried out
with impunity."
So much for the
reader who recently got in touch to say he dipped into my gay blog, doesn’t
understand why I bother with it, and suggests I ‘should stop celebrating my
sexuality or whining about homophobia and just be grateful that gay people have
never had it so good.’ In some parts of the world, yes, and in gay-friendly
environments, but in other parts…
Did you know that
seventy-six countries continue to criminalise ‘homosexual conduct’, punishable
with prison sentences and hard labour? In five countries, the death penalty
still applies.
Gay Rights have
achieved much in the West although we dare not be complacent as there is much
still to do to change attitudes written on tablets of stone for the less enlightened among the heterosexual majority worldwide.
Meanwhile…
Now, this is a
very early poem that I wrote in 1987, included in my very first major
collection in 2001, and have only recently updated. Much has changed since then
regarding the politics of sexuality, and I am as grateful for that as anyone, but
remain unconvinced there has been as much
social change as we are asked to believe. Homophobia is alive and
kicking, even in the UK, which is perhaps why (in spite of gay-friendly
legislation) so many gay men and women (especially men) in the public eye
(politicians, armed forces personnel, police, sports celebrities and the like)
don’t feel they can be openly gay in case it has an adverse effect on their
career prospects.
PROFILING
A SLIPPERY YELLOW BRICK ROAD
Dancing,
yelling,
making
music, our naked joy
on
show, celebrating
the
latest unsubtle variation
of
Dorothy’s rainbow
as
released on a DVD stocked
by
music store managers
recently
'outed' ‘for daring
to
throw open mind-body-spirit
to
all-comers
Jury’s still out, and the synods
I
hear God’s keeping
an
open mind, can't be unkind
to
all those who like to take
bread
and wine when they can
while
suffering pricks
of
indecision when it comes
to
religion for gay men
and
women whom modernity
dares
suggest are ordinary people
getting
a life
So,
what or who to believe...?
It’s
only to be expected.
(they
say) in a world where men
dye
their hair, are known
to
wear body spray, and society
pulls
out all its stops
else
Equal Ops caught napping
on
the front benches, and it can’t do
election
counts any harm
to
side with Gay Pride 's millions
if
only by the way
Copyright R. N. Taber 1987; 2012
[Note:
An earlier draft of this poem appears under the title 'Dorothy Who?' in Love and Human Remains by
R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2000.]
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