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https://medium.com/@jactomlins/visibility-connection-and-community-how-we-create-change-and-stay-safe-in-a-hostile-political-cfb55c27ae5f>
"
This is an edited version of a speech I gave at the Pride in the North
Summit: Beyond the Rainbow Lanyard in Melbourne, November, 2023
I think, right now, my community is tired. I think we are feeling a little on
the back foot, a little overwhelmed, a little defeated even. Some days, we
scroll through our news feed and wonder what’s happened to the hard-fought
gains we’ve made and feel like we don’t have the energy to fight for them
again. I think we are anxious about what’s happening overseas, especially in
the States, and we worry that those attacks on queer communities are heading
our way — or that they’re already here.
So, I want to talk a little about that bigger picture — about how we create
safety for our communities in a challenging social and political climate, and
about how we continue to create positive change when some days it feels like
all our energy is focused on just holding the line. I’ve been around the traps
a while, so I tend to take a longer-term view of these things and I thought I’d
start by sharing a story from a while back…
It’s 1986 and I am 24 years old and working in my first job as a high school
teacher in London. It’s an incredibly political time. The hyper-conservative
Margaret Thatcher is Prime Minister and is preparing to enact some explicitly
anti-gay legislation. It is also, of course, the height of the AIDS epidemic.
But it’s the end of June — Pride Month in the Northern hemisphere — and I am
heading out to my very first Pride march. I leave my share house in the rather
insalubrious suburb of Willesden Green. I think ‘sketchy’ is the word my kids
would use and it’s certainly that. I’ve got a Pride badge, but it’s deep down
in my pocket and it’ll be staying there for the time being.
At the train station, I step onto the tube and glance up and down the carriage
and I feel like I’m pretty much on my own — there’s not a lot of queers in
Willesden Green. But a few stops along, a young guy steps on and we catch each
other’s eye just quietly, and at the next stop, two couples alight — not
holding hands or anything, but I’m guessing they’re together — and they send a
smile our way. Two more stops and a big group of older folks carrying a
rolled-up banner get on and occupy the space in the middle of the carriage.
They’re a bit more confident, chatty, noisy even.
And as we get closer and closer to central London, more and more marchers get
on and by the time we reach Hyde Park Corner station, the carriage is chock
full of queers and as I step off the train and look up the platform, I can’t
quite believe what I’m seeing. There are more gay people than I have ever seen
in my life, and I take my badge out of my pocket and pin it to my shirt. Even
now, after all this time, that still gives me a buzz.
As we exit the station, the banners are unfurled, the flags waved, the signs
raised, and I see hundreds, thousands, of queer people everywhere.
And in that moment, I learn something."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
