Right…… I’ve been entrusted with a column. This seems grown up and responsible. But I’m writing it. So perhaps not quite so grown up and responsible.
Once I knew this was going to be happening, there were questions I needed to ask myself. What would the column be about? How do I present myself? Will it be personal? I’ve answered these questions as follows…. Stuff. Laid back, and Kinda.
I’ll clarify things. I’m Jon, Brighton born and bred and a member of Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus. Not that that has anything to do with the column but I thought it best to present my ‘Gay Society Credentials’.
I’ve been writing stuff since I was sixteen and been doing creative things since first choreographing some dance routines for a group of five year olds in a church hall in Balfour Road.
Like you do. I write stuff for the Chorus and things for my blog.
I’m writing this in a mildly trendy coffee shop in Hove. I know it’s trendy because there are filament bulbs in the window and I can see three laptops open in front of people working away as they sip their moccafrappowhatsits. There’s some ladies who lunch tucking into something sourdoughy. There’s parsley sprinkled on their fried eggs. It’s that sort of place. I have a pot of tea. And normal tea mind. None of this ‘infusion’ nonsense. I’ve seen tea that had beetroot in it. How we’ve reached the point where drinking hot beetroot juice is a thing I’m not sure. I’ve treated myself to a piece of cake. This is the sort of typical ‘Life on the Edge’ behaviour you can expect from me.
So, what to scribble about? There’s Pride obviously. I didn’t do the park last year. There’s only so much standing around with a plastic beer glass you can do. Am doing the park this year cos, well, Kylie. I’m hoping for a modern take on her classic Word Is Out but suspect I’m in a minority there.
There’s the usual hoo hah about Pride. “It’s too corporate”; “Why aren’t certain corporations
supporting it?”; “It’s not the same”; “It’s all the same”; “It’s too commercialised” and so on.
I’m kinda relaxed about the whole thing. As a Chorus we have a float in the parade which is the best part of the day, then a mooch about the park, check the cabaret tent, head home. With beer and food. The Sunday is a chilled day chatting with mates outside pubs. And that’s Pride for me.
I don’t take it too seriously, which is fine. Some take it very seriously which is fine too.
I’ve seen lots of merchandise about with shops putting rainbows on everything. There’s some
criticism that the shops don’t donate a part of money they make off such things to LGBTQ charities.
This, to me, kinda means we’ve made it. Pride is just another thing to make money from. The same shops don’t give money from Fathers Day products to Fathers For Justice; from Mothers Day to Refuge or to The Samaritans from Christmas paraphernalia. Merch drives visibility and acceptance too. I know there’s other arguments about it all but that’s my vaguely political point.
Being vaguely political isn’t something I do particularly. I’m just a bit vague.
So, just to confirm things, this is a column about not much, written by a single guy who’s currently out of work, who deals with anxiety and depression and writes whatever pops into his head. That’s how rip roaringly exciting things will get. You have been vaguely warned.
To read Jon’s blogg, click here: