Whatever position taken on the subject of Brexit, there is some agreement that on all sides of the discussion behaviours have led much to be desired. Neither lies nor fears projected during polarised arguments are attributes we should be aspiring to and yet we perhaps shouldn’t be surprised that these characteristics emerge.
Forgive them father. They know not what they did. Nor did they care by Craig Hanlon-Smith @craigscontinuum
And so at a gently ripe 46 years old, our protagonist is calm and content, a happy homosexual with, hopefully, half his life ahead of him. It’s now June 28, 2018, exactly 49 years to the date since the Stonewall riots of New York launched the LGBT+ civil rights movement and international Pride events were born.
IS THAT my tribe? Asked the awkward seven- year-old, skirting along the outer perimeter of the all-weather pitch on a 1970s wet spring Lancashire lunchtime. Envying the gaggles of energetic boys and their temporary but automatic friendship. Staring lost at their heptathlon of sports that he was certainly the master of none nor understood the appeal of fast bowls, off-cut plank cricket bats and grazed knees.
Russell Tovey announces his marriage and receives almost no Tom Daley-style vitriol from the gay community. It couldn’t be because we would all serious make a play for his rugby playing beau Steve Brockman, could it?
Within almost a month of meeting my then boyfriend, now husband, he became an uncle for the first time. I remember receiving the text from him, which screamed in capital letters; I AM AN UNCLE. My automatic, and I concede extremely unattractive response, was one of searing jealousy. I had, until this moment in life, managed to avoid boyfriends worth any mention (because if you don’t ‘feel’ it why bother, right?) but this one was serious and I did not intend to compete for him with a frickin’ baby.
A Christmas Tale or Baby Jesus Will Save Us (again) by Craig Hanlon-Smith @craigscontinuum. And lo, as another seasonal winter of good cheer loomed ahead like a Nazarean census, Joseph and his Mary set out once more on their quest to deliver the son of God to save mankind.
In the August edition of this magazine, I shared at length an experience, a hate-crime of sorts and the debacle that followed at the hands of the criminal justice system. I have no intention of recounting here, either the incident itself or the ensuing overall affair, it is a chapter I am closing.
As a youngster, I assumed the day would come when I would know all there was to know about life, love and happiness. The reflecting, the neglecting, the mistaking, the breaking, the betting, the fretting, the yearning, the learning would all eventually subside, and after the maelstrom of tortured youth, I would be ready to set out upon the road of life with all that I had gathered packed neatly away, ready to assist me in my adult years.
Gscene columnist Craig Hanlon-Smith explains why he will be running The Brighton Half-Marathon tomorrow (Sunday, February 26) in support of Terrence Higgins Trust UK.
