You gotta have pride

So on Sunday it was pride march in Melbourne town - more of the Midsumma madness. Andy & I sent our regrets as we were gardening that day. Before you say why we were not in attendance I figured I can miss a gay march after being out of the closet for almost 20 years [this year readers] & seen a few sights in that 20 years in the community & I didn’t need to go and see more. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the march with the many groups represented such as the bears nor PFLAG/dykes on bikes/gay parents/mature men nudists [wearing g’s no less – or they’ll get arrested] nor a support group for trannies of Dimboola or lesbian separatists Baptist church [Ah[Wo]men!]- Its just that they represent groups that I don’t relate to.

So it’s only apt that I was reading a blog article titled Create a Unifying Term for the Community in the Queers united blog [http://queersunited.blogspot.com ] basically calling for a united name for the GLBTIQA – Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Questioning ( I know - how the fuck did that one get in - NB some know this as Queer but in OZ its Questioning) and Asexual. Why don’t we just call it GLBTIQASupercalifragilisticexpialidociousfuckingstupidname community as the adding of the letters has become too ridiculous for...words.

Now I totally agree with one unified name for the community however where do you start? Queer on the face of it seems to fit the bill but it’s just too queer for words and too 1970’s. Same with those nicknames of ‘Nancy’ &‘Mary’ as they are old ladies names now. Faggot rhymes with maggot too much & poofs reeks of the 1960’s Carry on Films [actually I don’t mind that one really as you can make it poofie, poofta, wooly woofter, woofter & my latest poofer however even I concede that this may be a bit of a setback for the community at large]. Bent really means you're a criminal. Friends of Dorothy missed the bus ride years ago or should I say the house ride. Queen refers to her majesty [we are NOT a republic yet]. Funny, that way inclined & effeminate is just that & let’s face it gay really refers to homosexual men. Well all I have mentioned do relate to gay men as gay men even when being oppressed need to have the spotlight[s].

Maybe then it’s time we split the community into groups instead of unifying. Do lesbians & gays really need or want to share the dinner table? Do transsexuals really want asexuals sharing their upstairs/downstairs flat too? Do bisexuals want to mix with intersexes over cocktails & canapes? And where do we put the "questionables" – give them a map to Gaytown with a exit back to Normalville when they have had enough? Let alone all the others we are yet to include? In this global community is it not time that we have enough players to stand alone? You would think so if you trawl through all those specific groups in Face book - Stick to your own kind day say I ? Or Do I.

Before declaring that I’m becoming a gay separatist on the Isle of Brett the Gay Poofer Gardener bar & grill theme park I was drawn back to an Aesop tale – The Bundle of sticks from the 6th century [ taken from From http://www.bartleby.com/17/1/72.html ]

AN OLD man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered his servants to bring in a faggot of sticks, and said to his eldest son: “Break it.” The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the Bundle. The other sons also tried, but none of them was successful. “Untie the faggots,” said the father, “and each of you take a stick.” When they had done so, he called out to them: “Now, break,” and each stick was easily broken. “You see my meaning,” said their father.

Interesting as it mentions ‘broken faggots’ and the moral being how united we stand but divided we fall. There is a real need for the community to still march down the street affirming our identity while accepting our diversity too.

I think we need more time on the name. Now that’s a conversation for the 21st century - Oh Boy/girl/ladyboy/unassigned !

T dance and the snappy happy crowd

Well Midsumma's T-dance was a boon this year - yes the weather was far better last year [storm clouds were toying with us all afternoon and into the evening] - but the company was as just as thrilling. The line up was pretty good too. I do remember seeing Inaya Day for only a brief moment but clearly I was losing track of time. Especially given the days celebrations [Carnival and the entire Midsumma festival can be very taxing]. The patrons, like previous years, were great. Well in the paid area anyway.

Now having accquired the iphone very recently [as with every other poof in the park] everyone was a bit snap happy. And my photos were not the best. However a rather lovely young man called Oliver we all met was was taking pics of all and sundry. He managed to snap a very nice one of us [I'm on the end in the aqua/teal/insert affected colour here].

Well it turns out this young man is a photographer [in between his day job in our airways] and has a rather wonderful blog himself called FLY FROM NEARBY http://flyfromnearby.tumblr.com - as he states in the description - A photo blog of my first 365 days of being a non-smoker.I take a photo every day, of anything and anyone. He regularly updates the blog with new and very interesting snaps. Each one is a snapshot of his life. Hard day in the office.They are bizarre, interesting and rather wonderful pictures. These are just a sample.
Oliver is clearly inspired by his mates.
I love this - its like a marathon runner tossed it in when arriving at the beach. And here is Oliver with the Satorialist no less. Patron & apprentice?

Skater vs urban chic?
And The girls at T- dance - this one made it in! Lucy, Claire and the English gals. This snap summed up the day very well for me. Thankfully he wasn't taking snaps of us at the end of the night. Well at least the light is more forgiving then.

b

Midsumma (is) Madness Part 2

Ok so maybe I was a little hasty with the Carnival & the T-dance...a friend just emailed me these...
Bless - the Two Andies - Andy A and (my) Andy P

Lao-la, Andy A, Andy P and Bek ( I can't believe Bek isnt suckin' down a Marlboro in this one)

Me and Damo - actually looks like we are having a good time - is it too late to retract the first post???

Midsumma (is) Madness...Part 1

Well it's official...Midsumma is over for another year... and usually I'm a little sad but I'm more relieved this year... I wish I could say I was more supportive of the festival...OK so this year I only went to Carnival (which by the way i have only missed one since 1997, in 2000 when I was working)...that now I'm older...and whether its because I have seen it all before and have been to enough parties...this year was...well..not up to scratch...

OK so I do accept that the 'community' is varied & diverse one...but I have either I have become very mainstream...so have most of my friends whether gay or straight or whatever...but to me there was A LOT OF FREAKS in attendance...Yes there was drag queens and bears and twinks and dykes-on-bikes- and leather men and lipstick les and bians and suburban gay and power gay and even average types which is all good - BUT the freaks really stood out this year...it's like there is a new catergory in gayland - 'FREAK' - they just are that - maybe they have always been there and I haven't cared to notice it...or maybe it hasn't freaked me out as much...but I, as well as a lot of my friends noticed and commented on the car crash that was carnival...

OK so maybe that's a little mean(ahem)...

The t-dance (usually in my mind one of the highlights of Midsumma) was pretty ordinary as well... I mean why ALL THE QUEUES TO THE LOO AND WORSE THE BLOODY BARS!!!! I swear I was in line for more than 25 minutes at one stage...

But probably what is my biggest complaint was not the crazies or the queues...it was the fact that for the first time there was too many people missing - usually the Carnival & T-dance our extended group of friends we have known for years are all in attendance...Alby, Daz, Ammo & KP are all living in BrisVegas now...The Kimmy's are in Londontown, likewise the Gooch...God only knows about P & M and the rest of the kids...too many fun people were missing...

(however saying that...the friends who were there were ACE and made the night for me)

Jesus if this is what I'm like at Midsumma - Sydney watch out when I'm up there for Mardi Gras....(I'm so going to be killed with my non-pc views....ah well someones got to be the big mouth)