pridelife.com ISSUE 25 WINTER 2018
Your Pride Your Life /Pridelifemagazine @ pridelife
PRIDES REVIEW How we partied this year
The
Travel THIS WOMAN’S WORK
The genius of Kate Bush
Issue
SEEK I NG T H E SU N I N 2019
LGBT+ stand-up comedians International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association
ISSUE 25 £3.95 WHERE SOLD
COMIC TURNS
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Your ultimate holiday awaits you with tantalizing flavors, Mediterranean beaches, electric nightlife, and a vibrant culture in Tel Aviv. The world’s best gay city is waiting for you. 25 Tel Aviv REVISED AD USE THIS ONE CORRECTED.indd 2
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WELCOME W
elcome to the winter issue of Pride Life magazine. As the dark and cold winter nights draw in, it’s time to start thinking of planning your next vacation and in this bumper travel issue we look at some of the most LGBT+-friendly travel destinations both here and abroad. Which one will you choose? As a community, we spend more on travel than our straight friends and allies. It’s estimated that globally we spend over 211 billion dollars a year on city breaks, beach holidays, long-haul flights and luxury cruises. That means we’re big business, and we have a right to be treated just like everyone else. But we’re tired of companies just “pink-washing” and claiming to support our community come Pride week as a way of making a quick buck, and not continuing their support for the rest of the year. Our travel destinations in this issue actively support our community not just for Pride but throughout the year. Next year is going to be a fantastic year for LGBT+ travel as 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City which was effectively the beginning of the modern-day LGBT+ rights movement. As a community, we have come a long way in those 50 years, so what better than to celebrate at one of the many wonderful Prides across the globe. World Pride will take place in New York in June 2019, but there are thousands of Prides
happening all over the world, on every continent (well, apart from Antarctica, that is, although we suspect that Polar Pride is only a matter of time). Talking of Prides, this year has been one of the most successful Prides seasons in the UK with so many Prides celebrating our vibrant and diverse community that, frankly, we’ve lost count of them all. In this issue we take a look back at some of those Prides from intimate family-friendly celebrations to the big city hands-in-the-air tops-off megabashes, and we look forward to some of the great events waiting for us in 2019. And if earthbound travel isn’t enough for you, we head off into the universe to see how everyone’s favourite Time Lord treats diversity and sexuality in the Tardis. And we also take a trip into the magical world of Kate Bush. Have a great holiday, and look forward to a marvellous Pride year in 2019.
Nigel Robinson Editor in Chief
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CONTENTS
UNITED KINGDOM / EUROPEAN UNION
009 WINTER DIARY
PRESIDENT/ GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING STEVE SOHAL +44 (0) 20 7580 4345
All your cultural musts and maybes
015 PRIDES REVIEW
031
How we partied in 2018
VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC RELATIONS GEORGE MIZEL +44 (0) 20 7062 2271
031 PULL OF THE BUSH
The magic that is Kate Bush
VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS LEO MAGGI +44 (0) 20 7121 5003
037 OUT LIVES
It’s great to be out and gay
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE BOARD KATE NELSON +44 (0) 20 7637 3859
043 WHO’S THAT GIRL
Gender and sexuality in the Tardis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NIGEL ROBINSON
047 COMIC TURNS
ART DIRECTOR MATT ALABASTER
The best of LGBT+ comedy
054 POSTIVE THINKING
The work of the Terrence Higgins Trust
UNITED STATES
057 GOD ONLY KNOWS
EDITORIAL
Gays of Faith
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF BRIAN GOOD
062 GLOBALLY GAY
ART DIRECTOR WARREN MASON
Where now for LGBT+ travel?
064 THE JEWEL OF THE MED
POLITICAL EDITOR ANNE-CHRISTINE D’ADESKY
Pride on the Med in Tel Aviv
HEALTH EDITOR ADAM BIBLE
070 GO, GOTHENBURG!
Taking it gay and easy in Sweden’s second city
LIFESTYLE EDITOR CAT PERRY ADVERTISING AND SALES
096
078 SITGES PRIDE
As if you can be too gay
SALES MANAGER AND EDITORIAL ADVISOR JOE JERVIS +1 646 512 1687
083 NEW WAVE 0F NEWQUAY The tide is high for the home of Cornwall Pride
PRIDE LIFE.COM MANAGER OF DIGITAL CONTENT PATRICK VARGAS
086 WELL, HELLO, DOLLY!
The honeymoon highlife with the Queen of Country
CORPORATE OFFICES PRIDELIFE COMPANY LLC 401 COOPER LANDING ROAD C-18 CHERRY HILL, NJ 08002 +1 856 779 8990
092 FEELING THE LOVE
Enjoying the Pink Week in Slovenia
096 SWISS DELIGHT
MANAGING DIRECTOR DAVE METTILLE
Geneva is an unexpected delight
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCE TOM SOWINSKI
043
103 BIG ON JAPAN
Enchantment in the Land of the Rising Sun
111 JUST ADD WATER
WORLDWIDE EXECUTIVE OFFICES
Wild water swimming in Mexico
PRIDELIFE LIMITED SECOND FLOOR 52 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD LONDON W1T 2EH +44 (0) 20 7637 3859
111
113 NEW WAVE OF NEWQUAY
The tide is high for the home of Cornwall Pride
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER JEFF ALTMAN
PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS
MANGING DIRECTOR JACK MIZEL PRINTED IN THE UK BY ACORN WEB OFFSET LIMITED
Copyright Pride Life Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the copyright owners. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. In the interest of independence and impartiality, many features in Pride Life have been written on behalf of the publisher by third-party experts. It should be noted that any opinions and recommendations expressed therein are the views of the writers themselves and not necessarily those of pride life or its publisher.
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DIARY
Winter
DIARY FROM GROUND-BREAKING GAY DRAMA TO CAMP CLASSICS, AND FROM CHRISTMAS SNOWMEN TO JACK THE RIPPER, WE TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE CULTURAL MUST-SEES FOR YOUR DIARY
THE PLAY’S THE THING
THE INHERITANCE
TO 19 JANUARY 2019 NOËL COWARD THEATRE THE INHERITANCE
This epic drama, presented in two parts, follows the lives of a generation of gay New Yorkers living and loving after the peak of the AIDS crisis, and examining how much they owe to the gay men who lived and loved before them. Directed by the award-winning Stephen Daldry, this is one of the most moving and important gay plays of the past two decades. Go to: inheritanceplay.com
FROM 09 JANUARY TO 02 FEBRUARY 2019 TRAFALGAR STUDIO TWO, LONDON COMING CLEAN
Smash hit gay drama From Kevin Elyot, who wrote gay classic My Night with Reg. Tony and Greg are in a committed relationship, even though they occasionally have a little bit on the side. Their only rule is never to sleep with the same man twice. And then the gorgeous Robert walks into each of their lives… Go to: trafalgarentertainment.com
FROM 12 FEBRUARY TO 11 MAY 2019 NOËL COWARD THEATRE ALL ABOUT EVE
Fasten your seat belts for this quickfire new adaptation of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Oscarwinning film with Gillian Anderson starring in the Bette Davis role of an aging Broadway star. Go to: noelcowardtheatre.co.uk
COMING CLEAN
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CHRISTMAS
ELMGREEN AND DRAGSET: THIS IS HOW WE BITE OUR TONGUE
FROM 13 TO 30 DECEMBER 2018 COLISEUM, LONDON THE NUTCRACKER
Tchaikovsky’s Christmas ballet classic including The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Go to: eno.org
TO 06 JANUARY 2019 HYDE PARK, LONDON WINTER WONDERLAND
Hyde Park comes over all festive for their annual Yuletide extravaganza with lots of new attractions including Peter Pan on ice and the Teletubbies Christmas Show, a Bavarian village plus the UK’s biggest ice-skating rink. Entry to the park is free, but other attractions have a charge. Go to: hydeparkwinterwonderland.com
TO JANUARY 2019 CHRISTMAS MARKETS
There are Christmas markets throughout the country including the Frankfurt Christmas market in Birmingham which claims to be the largest authentic German Christmas market outside Germany. Go to: germanchristmasmarketbirmingham.com Or try the real thing and hop on a cheap flight to Germany where you’ll find gay Christmas markets in cities like Cologne and Frankfurt. Go to: christmasmarketsgermany.com
TO 05 JANUARY 2019 SPIEGELTENT, LEICESTER SQUARE, LONDON GALS ALOUD: NOT THE TUCKING KIND
The ultimate drag tribute to Girls Aloud returns with a full show packed with the hits of Girls Aloud, solo singles, hilarious TV appearances, costumes, and a few surprises along the way. Go to: christmasinleicestersquare.com
TO 06 JANUARY 2019 PEACOCK THEATRE, LONDON THE SNOWMAN
ART ATTACKS TO 13 JANUARY 2019 WHITECHAPEL GALLERY, LONDON ELMGREEN AND DRAGSET: THIS IS HOW WE BITE OUR TONGUE
Classic Christmas tale based on the Raymond Briggs’ book about a boy and his snowman and featuring the song Walking in the Air. Go to: sadlerswells.org.uk
Exhibition of the work of gay artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset exploring sexual and social politics and the power structures that can be found in the everyday designs surrounding us. Go to: whitechapelgallery.org
TO 12 JANUARY 2019 ABOVE THE STAG, LONDON MOTHER GOOSE CRACKS ONE OUT
TO 24 FEBRUARY 2019 TATE BRITAIN, LONDON EDWARD BURNE-JONES
The award-winning Above The Stag team serve up yet another delicious serving of fabulously filthy adult panto. Get into that camp Christmas spirit and join Mother Goose and her son, Gay Tommy as they find a goose that lays golden eggs and starts a battle for Mother Goose’s soul. Go to: abovethestag.com
TO 13 JANUARY 2019 LONDON PALLADIUM SNOW WHITE
Dawn French stars as the Wicked Queen alongside Julian Clary as the Man in the Mirror in this year’s spectacular Palladium panto. Go to: snowwhitepalladium.com 010
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BRIEFS
Over 150 objects cover the work of Edward Burne-Jones, one of the last of the PreRaphaelites, who brought imaginary worlds to life in paintings, stained glass windows, drawings and tapestries. Go to: tate.org.uk
TO 14 JULY 2019 TATE MODERN, LONDON MAGIC REALISM: ART IN WEIMAR GERMANY 1919 - 1933
A rare chance to see German artworks not normally on public display from the country’s decadent Weimar era, including works From Otto Dix, Georg Grosz and Albert Bickle. Go to: tate.org.uk
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COME TO THE CABARET TO 29 DECEMBER 2018 LEICESTER SQUARE, LONDON CLUB BRIEFS
Late night variety and trashy, glamorous circus club night with performances From the Briefs boyz and guest cabaret and circus acts. Part of the Leicester Square Christmas celebrations. Go to: christmasinleicestersquare.com
TO 03 JANUARY 2019 SPIEGELTENT, LEICESTER SQUARE, LONDON BRIEFS: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS Hold on to your baubles as the world’s hottest all-male boylesque group return with a glittering brand of circus, drag, burlesque and comedy. Part of the Christmas celebrations in Leicester Square. Go to: christmasinleicestersquare.com
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DIARY
COMIC TURNS TO 06 JANUARY 2019 MAUREEN LIPMAN IS UP FOR IT
After a smash sell-out at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, the new Queen of Coronation Street presents a rollicking one-woman show about her life with musical accompaniment from Jacqui Dankworth and Charlie Wood. Go to: southbankcentre.co.uk MAUREEN LIPMAN
DANCING IN THE CITY
FASHION
TO 27 JANUARY 2019 SADLER’S WELLS, LONDON MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE
Matthew Bourne reimagines his classic ballet work featuring an all-male and sexy corps de ballet. Go to: sadlerswells.org.uk
FROM 29 JANUARY TO 15 FEBRUARY 2019 THE PEACOCK, LONDON GERMAN CORNEJO’S TANGO FIRE
TO SUMMER 2019 BRIGHTON MUSEUM QUEER LOOKS
Fascinating display of outfits and oral histories from LGBT+ people from Sussex from the 1960s to the present day looking at the way individuals express themselves and the community through the clothes they wear. Go to: brightonmuseums.org.uk QUEER LOOKS
A sizzling and sexy show starring Argentinean tango superstars German Cornejo and Gisela Galeassi and a cast of red-hot tango dancers celebrating the history of authentic Argentinean tango. Go to: sadlerswells.org.uk
TO 28 APRIL 2019 THEATRE AT THE HIPPODROME CASINO, LONDON MAGIC MIKE LIVE
A fun stage adaptation of the smash-hit Magic Mike movies, and co-directed by the original Magic Mike himself, Channing Tatum, based on his own experiences as a male stripper. Expect the hottest hunks and gorgeous go-go boys in this sexy and spectacular dance and acrobatic spectacular. Go to: hippodromecasino.com MAGIC MIKE LIVE
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GOTTA SING! GOTTA DANCE!
SEUSSICAL
TO 29 DECEMBER 2018 SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE, LONDON SEUSSICAL
Larger than life and feel-good musical extravaganza based on the tales of Doctor Seuss, with a score featuring funk, big band, rock ‘n roll and musical theatre accompanying the antics of characters such as the Cat in the Hat, Gertrude McFuzz and Horton the Elephant. Go to: southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
HADESTOWN
TO 26 JANUARY 2019 OLIVIER THEATRE, LONDON HADESTOWN
Modern-day take on the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, which sees the two lovers entering the depths of industrial Hadestown where their love will be put to the test. Go to: nationaltheatre.org.uk
FROM 23 TO 27 JANUARY 2019 COLISEUM, LONDON NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
The smash-hit French musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame comes to the Coliseum for seven performances only. Go to: eno.org
TO 16 MARCH 2019 THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET, LONDON AND ON TOUR THE BAND
Featuring the music of Take That this hit show follows the lives of five 16-year-old girls over 25 years as they try to fulfil their dream of meeting the boy band they’ve fallen in love with. Check website for performance details. Go to: thebandmusical.com
THE BAND
TO 30 MARCH 2019 GIELGUD THEATRE, LONDON COMPANY
Broadway legend Patti LuPone steals the show in a new gender-switched production of Stephen Sondheim classic musical about modern relationships, and which, for the first time in the show’s history, features a gay married couple. Go to: companymusical.co.uk
TO 06 JANUARY 2019 HOME, 2 TONY WILSON PLACE, MANCHESTER JOHN WALTER: CAPSID A major new film commission, A Virus Walks into a Bar, follows the journey of a Capsid, the protein shell that helps protect and deliver viruses to host cells during infection. But imagine if this took place in the Queen Vic from EastEnders, standing in for a cell under attack, with a bunch of angry locals as the immune system… Go to: homemcr.org
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Musical adaptation of the award-winning TV mini-series based on the early career of Scouse songbird CillaBlack. Starring Kara Lily Hayworth and featuring Cilla classics such as Anyone Who Had A Heart and Alfie, as well as 60s hits From The Beatles and The Mamas and the Papas. Go to: cillathemusical.com
FROM 29 JANUARY TO 31 AUGUST 2019 SAVOY THEATRE, LONDON 9 TO 5 - THE MUSICAL
Inspired by the cult Dolly Parton film and brought to the West End by the lady herself, this smash-hit musical features the workday lives of Doralee, Violet and Judy as they turn the tables on their sexist and egotistical boss. Starring Bonnie Langford and Brian Conley. Go to: 9to5themusical.co.uk
FROM 30 JANUARY TO 25 MAY 2019 PHOENIX THEATRE, LONDON COME FROM AWAY
Broadway musical based on events after the 9/11 attacks in America when 38 planes were ordered to land in a small Canadian town, and how the townspeople helped the 7,000 stranded visitors. Go to: comefromawaylondon.co.uk
FROM 08 FEBRUARY TO 25 MAY 2019 ADELPHI, THEATRE, LONDON WAITRESS
Transferring from Broadway where it gained rave reviews, this uplifting musical tells the story of waitress Jenna, an expert pie maker who enters a local bakery contest as a way of getting out of her small town and lovelessmarriage. Bake-off it’s not, but a rousing celebration of friendship, motherhood and well-made pies. Go to: waitressthemusical.co.uk
FROM 14 FEBRUARY TO 26 MARCH 2019 OLIVIER THEATRE, LONDON FOLLIES
This award-winning production of Stephen Sondheim’s legendary showbiz musical returns to the National Theatre, starring Janna Riding, Janie Dee and Tracie Bennet. Go to: nationaltheatre.org
TO 06 APRIL 2019 PLAYHOUSE, LONDON CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
ON FILM
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FROM 15 JANUARY TO 15 MAY 2019 VENUE TO BE ANNOUNCED CILLA: THE MUSICAL
Sharon D Clarke reprises her role as the black maidservant of a wealthy Jewish family in the 1960s, in this sung-through musical written by Tony Kushner (Angels in America). Go to: carolineorchange.co.uk COMPANY
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DIARY
OPERATICS TO 22 FEBRUARY 2019 COLISEUM, LONDON LA BOHÈME
The fortieth anniversary of Jonathan Miller’s classic production of Puccini’s opera about the doomed love between Mimi and Rodolfo in the Bohemian world of 18th-century Paris. Go to: eno.org
FROM 11 FEBRUARY TO 07 MARCH 2019 COLISEUM, LONDON AKHNATEN
GAME ON TO 24 FEBRUARY 2019 VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON VIDEOGAMES: DESIGN/ PLAY/ DISRUPT Exhibition looking the design process behind a selection of ground breaking videogames, showcasing design work alongside large-scale immersive installations and interactives. Go to: vam.ac.uk VIDEO GAMES: DESIGN/PLAY/DISRUPT
Stunning production of Philip Glass’s opera on the life ofEgyptian Pharaoh Akhnaten, which makes use of ancient hymns, prayers and inscriptions, all of which are in the original Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian. Go to: eno.org
FROM 30 MARCH TO 12 APRIL 2019 COLISEUM, LONDON JACK THE RIPPER - THE WOMEN OF WHITECHAPEL
World premiere of Iain Bell’s controversial new opera focussing on the women of Whitechapel as they struggle to build and unite a community in the face of Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror in London’s East End. Go to: eno.org COME FROM AWAY
AKHNATEN CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
WAITRESS
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Feel at home with Knight Frank  Proudly supporting your global property aspirations. Connecting people and property, perfectly.
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13/06/2017 09:26
FEATURE
FOR THE RIGHT TO PARTY TO BE HONEST WE’VE LOST COUNT OF THE NUMBER OF FABTASTIC AND ALL-INCLUSIVE PRIDE EVENTS THIS YEAR NATIONWIDE, BUT THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT 2018 HAS BEEN A BUMPER YEAR FOR CELEBRATING THE AMAZING DIVERSITY OF OUR FANTASTIC LGBT+ COMMUNITY, AS WELL AS FIGHTING FOR OUR RIGHTS BOTH HERE IN THE UK AND ABROAD. WE ALSO PUT ON ABSOLUTELY THE BEST PARTIES OF THE YEAR, BUT WE GUESS YOU PROBABLY KNEW THAT ALREADY. FROM INTIMATE PRIDES, TO FAMILY-FRIENDLY FESTIVITIES, AND TO THE BIG METROPOLITAN MEGABASHES WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT HOW WE MADE 2018 A PRIDE YEAR TO REMEMBER. AND DON’T FORGET TO CHECK PRIDELIFE.COM AND UKPON.LGBT ON A REGULAR BASIS FOR DETAILS OF ALL THE EXCITING UPCOMING PRIDES FOR 2019. THEY’RE YOUR PRIDES. AND IT’S YOUR LIFE
MESSAGE FROM THE UK & IRELAND PRIDE ORGANISERS NETWORK From UK Pride on the Isle of Wight to our AGM Conference in Glasgow it’s been a dynamic year for the UK Pride Organisers Network (UKPON) as we continue to grow and support the network of amazing dedicated volunteers that organise Prides. Throughout 2018 there was an approximate engagement of 6 million people across Pride events registered with UKPON and, with over 150 Prides now, we’re aiming for the biggest year ever in 2019. Following Pride in Newry winning the bid to host our next annual
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GIAN AND MAZZ, CO-CHAIRS OF UKPON AT GLASGOW PRIDE
flagship event, the UKPON Board agreed to rebrand the event as UK & Ireland Pride 2019. This is to show the unprecedented support of our Members towards the political situation in Northern Ireland and stand with them in solidarity. With 2019 being a significant year in LGBT+ history as the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, recognised as the birth of the Pride movement, the Members of UKPON aim to work even closer to build for an engagement of 10 million plus! Get involved and support your local Pride. Together we make Pride.
The UKPON Board www.ukpon.lgbt
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B O LT ON P RIDE It was all the fun of the circus as the fourth Bolton Pride chose movie The Greatest Showman as its theme and the town’s streets were packed with people dressed as ringmasters and clowns, and others wearing rainbow capes and multi-coloured wigs. The party continued with a great onstage line of top entertainment including Gareth Gates and the amazing Rock Choir. For more pictures go to: boltonpride.co.uk
B RI S T O L P RIDE This year was Bristol’s biggest Pride yet with over 36,000 up-for-it party-goers taking part in the celebrations, and a whopping 12,000 joining in the parade. Next year is their tenth anniversary so expect some big and exciting events! For more pictures go to: bristolpride.co.uk
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FEATURE
B RIGH T ON & HO V E P RIDE It was the most fun you could have with your clothes on at the UK’s brashest and most popular Pride and this year saw the amazing Britney Spears headlining the celebrations and the Wild Fruit tent pulling them all in and wowing the crowds in Preston Park while back in the gay village the parties went on into the early hours – and even later! For more pictures go to: brighton-pride.org
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COR N WA L L P RIDE It was all glitter and glitz at the West Country’s biggest Pride celebration with a proud and vibrant parade through the streets of Newquay followed by an all-day Rainbow Fest of entertainment and live events, plus a community market place, and amazing nighttime party. For more pictures go to: cornwallpride.org
CU M B RI A P RIDE The Border town of Carlisle gave a warm welcome to revellers with family events, circus acts, fairground rides, and rainbow stalls. For more pictures go to: cumbriapride.org
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FEATURE
L ONDON P RIDE Two weeks of LGBT+ arts events were the lead up to one of the best London Prides ever when over a million people joined in the rainbowcoloured parade and celebrated in Soho and Trafalgar Square, as well as at some of the hottest party events in the capital. For more pictures go to: prideinlondon.org
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DONCASTER PRIDE One of the friendliest and most welcoming Prides in South Yorkshire, “Donnie” Pride continues to grow and grow offering the very best of local and national entertainment. For more pictures go to: doncasterpride.co.uk
DURHAM PRIDE From tiny beginnings in 2014, Durham Pride has rapidly increased in size with more than 10,000 proud revellers increasing LGBT+ visibility in County Durham. For more pictures go to: durhamprideuk.org
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FEATURE
DUNDE E P RIDE
NE W RY P RIDE
Dundee’s very first Pride exceeded all expectations and was a great success with over 10,000 people hopping on the rainbow bus for some of the very best in LGBT+ entertainment. For more pictures go to: dundeepride.com
Proud of who they are and proud of where they’re from, those Irish eyes were definitely smiling as Newry Pride did us proud with a marvellous Pride event. As next year’s UK and Ireland Pride, they will be giving you one of the best Prides in the UK! For more pictures go to: prideinnewry.com
GR A M PI A N P RIDE Welcoming everyone from North East Scotland and the rest of the UK, Grampian Pride in Aberdeen has big plans for 2019! For more pictures go to: grampianpride.org
CY M RU P RIDE Cymru Pride was Wales’ biggest Pride celebration with over 18,000 people taking part in the parade through the centre of Cardiff and over 40,000 participating across the weekend. 2019 sees its 20th anniversary and plans are under way to make it the biggest and most spectacular event in its history. For more pictures go to: pridecymru.co.uk
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RAINBOW RIDING
THIS YEAR, THE MAYOR OF LONDON, SADIQ KHAN, AND TRANSPORT FOR LONDON (TfL) GOT INTO THE SPIRIT FOR PRIDE BY TRANSFORMING THE CAPITAL’S TRANSPORT NETWORK WITH THE COLOURS OF THE PRIDE AND TRANS FLAGS
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tations across London were adorned with striking new rainbow roundels to celebrate the LGBT+ community. And for the first ever time, a brand-new roundel in pink, blue and white, inspired by the trans flag, was created as well. Anyone hiring a Santander Cycle had the chance to ride on one of the limited-edition cycles that had been decorated with rainbow livery on their rear mudguards. This year TfL also launched a LGBT+ Allies group for members of staff wanting to learn
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more about LGBT+ issues and support the LGBT+ community. This group will increase awareness and provide employees with a forum to ask questions and share advice, which will lead to a more inclusive environment for its staff and customers. The group will work with OUTbound, TfL’s LGBT+ staff network group, which offers LGBT+ colleagues the opportunity to meet with other like-minded people in the organisation, who they might not usually get the chance to talk to and discuss their experiences.
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SPONSORED FEATURE
PICTURES: TRANSPORT FOR LONDON
“The group will work with OUTbound, TfL’s LGBT+ staff network group, which offers LGBT+ colleagues the opportunity to meet with other likeminded people”
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HU L L P RIDE Pride in Hull put on their dancing shoes with 50,000 people turning up in Queen’s Garden and another 2,500 taking to the city streets in a massive Technicolor parade, making this the most successful ever Pride in Hull and the North’s largest free celebration of LGBT+ culture. For more pictures go to: prideinhull.co.uk
WA R W ICK S HIR E P RIDE They well and truly raised their rainbow flags in this year’s Warwickshire Pride in Leamington Spa with an amazing selection of talent on the main stage, a buzzing rainbow villageand a huge and free after party. For more pictures go to: warwickshirepride.co.uk
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FEATURE
M ANCHES TER PRIDE You’re always guaranteed a warm welcome up North and once again Manchester Pride delivered one of the country’s best and biggest Pride events, with star names like Jake Shears and Rita Ora headlining the party. Traditionally centred on the historic gay village around Canal Street, there are big and radical plans for next year’s Big Weekend – but rest assured that the whole of the city will be joining in the madness and magic of Manchester Pride For more pictures go to: manchesterpride.com
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OX F OR D P RIDE
I S L E OF W IGH T It was a Pride not to be forgotten as Eurovision winner Conchita headlined 2018’s official UK Pride. Expect more fantastic fun next year in 2019! For more pictures go to: iwpride.org
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PICTURES: BOLTON,BOLTON PRIDE; BRIGHTON,© CHRIS JEPSON; BRISTOL,VORALINA CLARKE AND NEIL JAMES BRAIN (LEFT); CORNWALL,CORNWALL PRIDE; CUMBRIA,CUMBRIA PRIDE; LONDON PRIDE,PRIDE IN LONDON; DONCASTER,DONCASTER PRIDE; DUNDEE,DUNDEE PRIDE; DURHAM,DURHAM PRIDE; GRAMPIAN,GRAMPIAN PRIDE; HULL,PRIDE IN HULL/ BTO; MANCHESTER,MANCHESTER PRIDE; WARWICKSHIRE,WARWICKSHIRE PRIDE; OXFORD,MAZZIMAGE.COM
Proud members of the LGBT+ community came out in their true colours and vibrantly bathed those dreaming spires with the colours of the rainbow flag as thousands of people took to the historic streets of the University town. For more pictures go to: oxfordpride.org.uk
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GRAMPIAN,GRAMPIAN PRIDE; HULL,PRIDE IN HULL/ BTO; MANCHESTER,MANCHESTER PRIDE; WARWICKSHIRE,WARWICKSHIRE PRIDE; OXFORD,MAZZIMAGE.COM
FEATURE
PRIDES OF 2019 26 January February (all month) 16 February 22 -24 February 23 February 09 March 15 – 16 March 30 March April (all month) 13 April 04 May 04 May 11 May 25 – 26 May 25 May 25 – 26 May 01 June 01 June 01 June 01 June 01 June 01 June 08 June 08 – 09 June 08 June 08 June 15 June 15 June 15 June 15 June 15 June 23 June 23 June 23 June 23 June 23 June 29 June 29 June 29 June 29 June 06 July 06 July 06 July 12 – 14 July 13 July 13 July 13 July 13 – 14 July 13 July 13 July 13 July 19 – 21 July 19 – 21 July 19 – 21 July 20 July 20 July 20 July 20 July 20 July 20 July 20 July 21 July 22 – 28 July 27 - 28 July 27 – 28 July 27 July 27 July 27 July 27 July
Winter Pride Pride Saltire, East Lothian Black Country Pride Student Pride Hampshire Pride BI Pride Bristol Leather Fetish Pride Trans Pride Scotland Digital Pride Bury Pride Swansea Pride Northampton Pride Exeter Pride Birmingham Pride Grampian Pride Durham Pride Oxford Pride Hebridean Pride Witney Pride Northumberland Pride Trans Pride NI Bradford Pride Blackpool Pride Coventry Pride York Pride Canterbury Pride Edinburgh Pride Midsomer Norton Pride Stoke on Trent Pride Harrowgate Pride in Diversity Essex Pride Exmouth Pride Salford Pride Lancaster Pride Salisbury Pride Faversham Pride Dublin Pride Colchester Pride Crewe Pride in the Park Forest Gate Pride Pride in London Fife Pride Worksop Pride Sparkle Bristol Pride Croydon Pride Worthing Pride Glasgow Pride Barking & Dagenham Pride Southend-on-Sea Pride Bourne Free, Bournemouth Northern Pride L Fest Trans Pride, Brighton Isle of Wight Pride Pride in Hull Morecambe Pride Folkestone Pride Bute Pride Eastbourne Pride Scuba Pride Chesterfield Pride Happy Valley Pride (Hebden Bridge) Weston-super-Mare Liverpool Pride Sheffield Pride Norwich Pride Weymouth and Portland Pride Oldham Pride
studentpride.co.uk hampshirepride.com
facebook.comevents/345393482587722/ exeterpride.co.uk birminghampride.com grampianpride.org durhamprideuk.org pinksaltire.com northumberlandpride.org.uk facebook.comevents/152321712166359/ coventrypride.org.uk yorkpride.org.uk canterburypride.co.uk prideedinburgh.org.ukpride-edinburgh-2018/ stokeontrentpride.org.uk facebook.comevents/1735421333215609/ essexpride.org exmouthpride.co.uk pinkpicnic.org.uk lancasterpride.co.uk pride-faversham.com dublinpride.ie prideinthepark.com prideinlondon.org en-gb.facebook.comfifepride/ worksoppride.co.uk bristolpride.co.uk croydonpride.org.uk worthingpride.co.uk pride.scot facebook.comSouthendonSeaPride/ bournefree.co.uk northern-pride.com lfest.co.uk transpridebrighton.org iwpride.org prideinhull.co.ukpih/ folkestonepride.com pinksaltire.com eastbournepride.co.uk chesterfield.co.ukevents/chesterfield-pride happyvalleypride.com wsmpride.com liverpoolpride.co.uk pridesheffield.org norwichpride.org.uk
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Connecting with Pride We’re proud to connect all of our people on LGBT+ matters at work and in the community. #PrideinVodafone
Vodafone Power to you
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FEATURE 27 July West Lothian Pride westlothianpride.org 27 July Nottinghamshire Pride nottinghamshirepride.co.uk 27 July Sheppey Pride 28 July Stockport Pride stockportpride.co.uk 28 July Macclesfield Pride 03 August Belfast Pride belfastpride.com 03 August Brighton Pride brighton-pride.org 04 August Leeds Pride leedspride.com 04 August Cork Pride corkpride.com 09 -11 August Wellingborough Pridefacebook.comevents/700215866846398 10 August Surrey Pride 10 August Plymouth Pride prideinplymouth.org.uk 10 August Swindon & Wiltshire Pride swindonwiltshirepride.co.uk 10 August Chester Pride chesterpride.co.uk 10 August Wigan Pride 10 August Ely Pride 10 August Margate Pride facebook.comevents/1549207755165704/ 10 August Perthshire Pride 11 August Wakefield Pride facebook.comwakefieldpride/ 12 August Darlington Pride Doncaster Pride doncasterpride.co.uk 17 August 17 August Warwickshire Pride warwickshirepride.co.uk 17 August Wythenshawe Pride facebook.comWythenshawePride/ 17 August King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Pride 17 August Colchester Pride 17 August Folkestone Pride folkestonepride.com 17 August Tunbridge Wells Prideen-gb.facebook.comevents/792657027574171/ 23 – 25 August Pride Cymru pridecymru.co.uk 23 – 25 August Manchester Pride manchesterpride.com 24 August Cornwall Pride cornwallpride.org 24 August Southampton Pride southamptonpride.org Foyle Pride 24 August 24 August Walsall Pride walsallpride.org High Wycombe Pride 25 August 25 August Hastings Pride hastingspride.org.uk 25 August Dorchester Pride 31 August UK and Ireland Pride (Newry) prideinnewry.com 31 August Reading Pride readingpride.co.uk Llantwit Major Pride 31 August 31 August – 01 September Leicester Pride leicesterpride.com 01 September Barnsley Pride en-gb.facebook.comevents/2018898238380952/ 07 September Eastleigh Pride 07 September Derby Pride derbyshirepride.co.uk Totnes Pride totnespride.co.uk 07 September 07 September Channel Islands Pride channelislandspride.org 07 September Herts Pride hertspride.co.uk 14 September Gloucestershire Pride prideinglos.org.uk 14 September Dumfries & Galloway Pride 14 September Telford Pride 21 September Herefordshire Pride 21 – 22 September Bolton Pride boltonpride.co.uk 21 September Dundee Pride dundeepride.com 21 September Kettering Pride 22 September Sunderland Pride sunderlandpridegroup.com 28 September Worcestershire Pride worcestershirepride.org 28 September Lincoln Pride lincolnpride.co.uk 28 September Cumbria Pride cumbriapride.org 28 September Preston Pride en-gb.facebook.comprestonpride/ Proud Ness (Inverness) 05 October 23 – 24 November Trans Pride SW proudout.compo-event/trans-pride-south-west/ 30 November Winter Pride Scotland Please note that some of these dates may be liable to change. Please check the individual Pride or Facebook pages for further details.
AND CHECK OUT THESE PRIDES AS WELL Alloa Pride Banbury Pride Basingstoke Pride Bath Pride Bideford Pride BlackCountry Pride Bridgewater Pride Burnley Pride
Cambridge Pride Dudley Pride Forth Valley Pride Huddersfield Pride Isle of Man Pride Milton Keynes Pride Monmouth Youth Pride Newport Pride
Oban Pride Peak Distrct Pride Portsmouth Pride Pride in Cheltenham Puppy Pride Rotherham Pride Stourbridge Pride Stroud Pride WINTER 2018
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SUPPORTING PRIDE IN OUR COMMUNITIES Building new groups and networks
Communities and volunteers are the heart of the RNLI. We aspire to be an inclusive organisation, where every volunteer feels comfortable to be themselves and give their best. The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charity registered in England and Wales (209603) and Scotland (SC037736). Registered charity number 20003326 in the Republic of Ireland.
RNLI.org/pride
FEATURE
The Pull of the
BUSH WITH THE PUBLICATION OF HER SELECTED LYRICS AND THE RELEASE OF REMASTERS OF ALL HER STUDIO ALBUMS, NICHOLAS PEGG TAKES A LOOK AT THE SONGS AND MAGIC OF KATE BUSH
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“I
found a book on how to be invisible,” Kate Bush once sang – and now, in a splendidly metatextual flourish, she has published an actual book called How To Be Invisible. Taken from a track on her 2005 album Aerial, the title of Faber’s new anthology of selected lyrics is an appropriate one: not just because Kate Bush famously knows a thing or two about how to be invisible, but also because the song in question encapsulates so much about her art. Slinky and dark, sinister and droll, the song How To Be Invisible is at once a fairy tale, a talismanic spell, an ontological reverie on the infinite complexity of existence – and, oh yes, a sublimely beautiful piece of music. Like every great artist, Kate Bush has tended over the years to explore and re-explore her own particular territory. From The Kick Inside to Hounds of Love to 50 Words for Snow, the modes of expression may have evolved and matured, but the themes and motifs remain remarkably consistent. Items on the agenda in a typical Kate Bush lyric might include sexuality, classical mythology, femininity, biblical allusion, puberty, self-actualisation, our relationship with nature, reaching out for the unreachable, and the possibility of discovering the divine in the everyday. If this all sounds a bit heavy, an abiding wonder of Kate’s work is the miraculous lightness of touch with which she spins it all together. Alight, for example, on Suspended in Gaffa, a track from her 1982 masterpiece The Dreaming which manages to tackle all of the above topics in a little under four minutes while remaining the prettiest, bounciest, loveliest pop song you could hope to hear. Kate’s song writing has always moved fluidly between the abstract and the narrative: on The Dreaming as on all her albums, esoteric philosophical investigations like Gaffa rub shoulders with impressionistic vignettes and straightforward short stories. The title track addresses the plight of indigenous Australians at the hands of white men; Houdini finds the escapologist’s widow trying to contact him at a séance; Pull Out The Pin eavesdrops on the emotions of a Viet Cong soldier going into battle; and Get Out Of My House is a frenzied labyrinth of metaphor which rebuilds its 032
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emotionally damaged narrator as a shuttered, besieged house, obsessively repelling intrusion by the outside world. These are the kinds of wild abstractions you can expect to find in a Kate Bush lyric, but there are other, calmer currents too: a Keatsian insistence on the beauty of truth and the truth of beauty, bound up in a comprehensive awareness of the literary, poetic and musical traditions to which Kate is heir. Amid the exotic trips to Egypt, Malta and Baghdad, there’s no shortage of Englishness: her lyrics brim with Shakespeare, Delius, Peter Pan, Tennyson, summer afternoons, trees, birds and flowers (Night Scented Stock, a wordless vocal confection on 1980’s Never For Ever, celebrates one of the quintessential flowers in the traditional English garden). And then, of course, there’s a certain Emily Brontë novel. Literature, music and art are Kate’s constant companions. An Architect’s Dream marvels at the craft of the painter; Violin pays tribute to Paganini; December Will Be Magic Again – surely the greatest Christmas pop song ever – tips its hat to Oscar Wilde; and The Sensual World is a gorgeous adaptation of Molly Bloom’s closing soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses. The literature, music and folklore of Ireland loom large: born to an English father and an Irish mother, Kate grew up surrounded by folksong and fairy tale, by the fiddles, bodhráns and uilleann pipes that would later enrich her music. The appropriation of that passage from Ulysses highlights a theme which, more than any other, runs like a seam of gold through her entire oeuvre. “The more I think about sex, the better it gets,” Kate sings on Symphony in Blue, and if her lyrics are anything to go by, she thinks about sex a great deal. But this isn’t the saucy seaside postcard sex of repressed curtain-twitchers and sniggering tabloids: this is sex as our profoundest purpose in life, sex as an expression of our deepest emotions, hopes and fears. That’s what we find in the Joycean lovemaking of The Sensual World, in the marital fairy tale of Babooshka, in the pansexual calypso of Eat the Music, and in the tender insecurities of Hounds of Love and The Man With the Child in his Eyes. In these and in dozens more, Kate Bush sings at the transformative crossroads where sex meets love, and where we plunge headlong into it all. Explicit songs of sexual adventure, of which @ pridelife
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there are many, sometimes veer into transgressive territory. Inspired by the traditional folk ballad of Lizie Wan, the title track of Kate’s 1978 debut album The Kick Inside concerns an incestuous pregnancy. On the same year’s Lionheart, Kashka From Baghdad celebrates the joy of a gay couple at a time when most songwriters were still steering clear of such subject matter, and Wow has that celebrated line about “hitting the Vaseline”. Most startling of all her taboo songs is The Infant Kiss from 1980’s Never For Ever: referencing a famously unsettling scene in the
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FEATURE
“There’s no shortage of Englishness: her lyrics brim with Shakespeare, Delius, Peter Pan, Tennyson, summer afternoons, trees, birds and flowers… and a certain Emily Brontë novel”
1961 film The Innocents, the song bristles with febrile tension as its protagonist wrestles with her inappropriate feelings for a young boy. Here is as good a point as any to observe that Kate Bush’s songs are not self-portraits. She’s a storyteller, and has cautioned against interpreting her lyrics as autobiographical, something which ought to be obvious to anyone familiar with the likes of There Goes a Tenner (a heist caper, sung in a Cockney accent), Ran Tan Waltz (a kitchen-sink comedy in which daddy is left holding the baby while mummy goes out on the lash), Heads We’re Dancing (a period piece
about an encounter with a charming stranger who turns out to be Adolf Hitler), or Coffee Homeground (a delirious murder ballad in Brechtian cabaret style, complete with an outrageous German accent from Kate). Like one of her idols, David Bowie, Bush’s work thrives on the drama and the distancing of its own strong sense of theatricality. Just as important is its playfulness: however weighty the topic, there’s always a twinkle in those great big eyes. Kate has always had a taste for the corny pun, whether lyrical (in Hammer Horror she sings “I’ve got a hunch that you’re following me, to get your own WINTER 2018
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back on me”) or visual (in the video of The Dreaming, the line “pull of the bush” is accompanied by Bush being literally pulled to and fro by her dancers). The title track of 50 Words for Snow finds guest vocalist Stephen Fry enumerating just that: half a hundred snowy synonyms of escalating daftness, from “blackbird braille” and “phlegm de neige” to “creaky-creaky” and “boomerangablanca”. On Pi, a celebration of the “circle of infinity”, Kate sings the mathematical constant to its 137th decimal place. Nothing, however preposterous, is off limits. 034
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Of course, there’s no light without shade, and the shadows here are long ones. Another recurrent theme is grief, particularly the grief of bereavement. In her early work there’s a sense that she is writing about such topics at second hand, imagining herself into the role of a grieving mother in Army Dreamers, or a ghost looking down on her loved ones in Watching You Without Me. By the time of 1993’s The Red Shoes, perhaps her most underrated album and certainly her saddest, personal loss has begun to infiltrate the lyrics. The Red Shoes is dedicated
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FEATURE
“Born to an English father and an Irish mother, Kate grew up surrounded by folksong and fairy tale”
BEFORE THE DAWN; PICTURE CREATIVE COMMONS: FLICKR PAUL CARLESS
to Kate’s mother Hannah, who died during the album’s development, and its standout track Moments of Pleasure, in which she gently invokes her mother’s words and recalls other departed friends including her long-time guitarist Alan Murphy, is almost unbearably poignant. So, too, is You’re the One, quite simply the saddest break-up song you’ll ever hear; Kate’s relationship with her long-time partner and bassist Del Palmer had recently ended, and here the loss feels like another bereavement. Twelve years later on Aerial, the pain is less raw
AND SO IS LOVE VIDEO: YOUTUBE
but the emotion runs, if anything, even deeper. Mrs Bartolozzi, at first glance a kooky song about a washing machine, discloses itself upon closer inspection to be a hypnotically moving portrait of a woman grieving for her lover; and A Coral Room is one of Kate’s quiet masterpieces, a monumental meditation on the waves of time and the keenly felt absence of her mother. Family is a crucial element in Kate Bush’s work: the narrative songs might not be autobiographical, but the personal touches are clear. Kate’s brothers have made countless vocal and instrumental contributions over the years, and, with exquisite poignancy, she enlisted her father to provide the spoken voice on 1989’s The Fog, a song which uses the image of a parent teaching his daughter to swim (“Just put your feet down, child, cos you’re all grown up now”) as a jumping-off point to address the mingled emotions of pride and loss that come with watching a child fly the nest. Two decades later, Kate duetted with her own son, Albert, on the opening track of 50 Words for Snow: then aged thirteen and singing the role of a snowflake falling to earth, the ephemerality of Albert’s soon-to-break treble intertwining with Kate’s motherly timbre achieves an extraordinary pathos. Talking of Albert, perhaps the least abstract of all Kate’s lyrics is Bertie, her 2005 encomium to her son, then just seven. Like David Bowie’s Kooks or Thin Lizzy’s Sarah, Bertie is a song of such unalloyed loveliness that only the most hard-hearted could fail to be moved; significantly, it also brightens the darker shades of Aerial, countering the desolation of A Coral Room and helping to establish the more complex framework of the album’s second half. A Sky of Honey is perhaps Kate Bush’s greatest achievement to date: a symphony of light and dark, a coming together of all the themes and motifs which had populated her work since its earliest days, and the most extravagant and profoundly imagined yet of her rhapsodies on the transformative power of beauty, sensuality, art and nature. One extraordinary moment among many is a short piece called Aerial Tal on which Kate duets with a blackbird, mimicking the strophes of its twilight song in perfect unison. Birds feature heavily throughout Aerial, whose sleeve artwork depicts the waveform of a blackbird’s song; and once again, it’s a fascination which echoes throughout Kate’s earlier work. “I turn into a bird,” she fantasises in Get Out Of My House; “Help this blackbird, there’s a stone around my leg!” she howls in Waking the Witch; “Would you break even my wings?” she demands in Night of the Swallow; WINTER 2018
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“Who knows who wrote that song of summer that blackbirds sing at dusk?” she muses in Sunset. From the bird-infested sleeve of Never For Ever to the dying blackbird in the video of And So is Love, there’s an ongoing preoccupation with birds, and with blackbirds in particular: their beauty, their freedom, their fecundity, their ruthlessness, their fragility. The bird fixation came to a head in Kate’s 2014 live spectacular Before the Dawn, which included a complete staging of A Sky of Honey. The backdrop was awash with projected images of birds in flight; Kate sang her blackbird duet live; a puppet bird entranced the audience before meeting a grisly fate; and in the shamanic climax of the final number, Kate and her band transformed into birds before the audience’s eyes while giant trees smashed into the stage. It was dark, emotive, beautiful and strange, and it cut to the quick of everything that’s great about Kate. At the heart of her work, intertwined with the celebration of beauty and love and sensuality, there’s an ever-present edge of mania. It’s always been there, from Wuthering Heights to Sat In Your Lap, from Running Up That Hill to King of the Mountain – those wild eyes darting left and right, those explosive banshee shrieks, that hint of something dark and murderous lurking beneath the surface of life. “You stand in front of a million doors,” she reminds us in How To Be Invisible, “and each one holds a million more.” There are mysteries here: deep, dark mysteries that will never be solved. Nor should they be. That’s the magic of Kate.
How To Be Invisible: Selected Lyrics by Kate Bush is published by Faber & Faber and is out now Kate Bush Remastered is out now
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Barnardo’s Registered Charity Nos. 216250 and SC037605 18728sd17
“
... just go for it, you will get beyond the initial apprehension and will be given all the answers you need.” Yvonne and Amanda, Barnardo’s Foster Carers
Form your family with Barnardo’s Whether you are single, or part of a couple, there are many ways you can start your family as an LGBT person. By choosing to foster or adopt, you could give a child who has had a difficult start in life the chance to fulfil his or her potential. We believe you can do it. And so should you. For more information, please get in touch with Barnardo’s Fostering and Adoption team on 0800 0277 280 or visit www.barnardos.org.uk/fosteringandadoption
Proud organisational member of
FEATURE
OUT LIVES WOULD OUR LIVES BE BETTER OR EASIER IF WE WEREN’T GAY, WONDERS XAV JUDD
B
enjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, once opined: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Yet it is just as undeniable that at least 5 to 10 percent of us will be gay. In Britain, our community can count itself extremely fortunate: homosexuality was legalised in 1967; the age of consent is equal (2001); and our rights are protected in the workplace. However, large sections of the media and society in general can still be considered to be homophobic, and growing up being perceived as “different” is never easy. Therefore, Pride Life decided to ask some members of the public whether they believe their lives would have been easier or better now if they were heterosexual.
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ALAIN ULRICH
ALAIN ULRICH: CATHOLIC
“My local congregation and priest have always welcomed me with open arms”
Despite being a Catholic from way back when I was baptised as an infant, it’s only since I was about 9 or 10 that I’ve been a devout Christian. At that time, my grandmother got cancer, and I saw just how much her faith helped her cope with her illness – that was proof for me that God exists. Notwithstanding, as I got older and became more aware, it wasn’t always easy to combine my religion with the development of my sexuality, because some people in the church hold negative opinions about individuals who are gay. I’ve even sat through sermons by priests with questionable views, saying homosexuals should “suffer and do penance”. Yet apart from the odd idiot parishioner, in general my local congregation and priest have always welcomed me with open arms. So I don’t entertain the notion that a heterosexual life would have been simpler or more fulfilling. Indeed, the fact that I actually am part of a minority has made me want to stand up for all others who are thought to be inferior because they don’t fit into some stereotypical box.
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ALEX THURSBY: THE ARTS It’s hard to quantify “better or easier”; I believe you’ve just got to handle the cards you’re dealt, even if it’s an almighty struggle. What complicates my story is that I was sexually abused by my brother a few times when I was 8 or 9 years of age. At the time I didn’t realise what he had done was wrong, but as I got older and reached puberty, what had happened left me distressed, isolated and very confused. Indeed, this horrendous experience caused immense difficulties as I tried to wrestle with my sexuality, because I supposed I was only attracted to men due to what he had done. When you add in that homosexuals were portrayed virtually as freaks by the media in the period when I grew up, it’s no surprise that I became incalculably repressed and even suicidal. However, going through cognitive therapy helped me come to terms with everything. I’ve never been much of a deep thinker, but Nietzsche said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” I did survive, and it’s made me the determined and resourceful person I am today.
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FEATURE DAVID SIGFRIDSSON: DANCER
DAVID SIGFRIDSSON
I feel no desire in my everyday life to change my sexuality. Nowadays, I’m able to openly kiss another man in public without shame, express myself and my love, and do it with pride, in a way that I haven’t always been able to. That has taken me time, even though I’m lucky enough to live in Sweden, a country that has during my lifetime evolved into acceptance and equality. I am employed in an environment where homosexuality is considered normal, and my family has never shown any signs that they had a problem in accepting my sexual preference, although I’m convinced it took them some time to adjust to the thought of it. I think being what is regarded as different has aided me to reflect on how this society works, and has probably triggered me to start making my own choices in life and not just go with the most obvious ones. I can wonder, though, if I wasn’t gay, would my life be easier because my personality would have been different? That burden of rather unspecified existential shame I’m just carrying around, sometimes quite heavily… would that have been smaller? I don’t know what it has done to me, that elusive perpetual message I’ve been marinated in all through my growing up, that this is wrong.
For anonymity, one of the names in this piece has been changed.
“I think being what is regarded as different has aided me to reflect on how this society works”
“If I had been straight I would not have had the experiences that I have had ”
TIM ANDREWS: ENTREPRENEUR Actually, I guess I’d be married with a couple of kids if I was straight. And, you know, there’s no doubt that we face many extra challenges and prejudices as gay people, but I’m very lucky that I’ve always had the support of my family and friends. With regard to my company, sexuality sort of has and hasn’t made a difference. I haven’t built the business on the premise of being gay. Nonetheless, for sure, if I had been straight I would not have had the experiences that I have had, such as LGBT+ networking and the opportunities it has opened, so I wouldn’t be doing what I am now. Notwithstanding, I never discuss my orientation with prospective business partners or clients. And I don’t really think whether you are heterosexual or not makes you a better businessman. It’s all about whether you can deliver your product or service. So, the short answer to your question, I don’t know that being gay has either been better or worse for me, but it has certainly had an influence. WINTER 2018
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Proudly Diverse Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) NHS Trust has a long history of working with our diverse local population to deliver accessible, safe, fair care for all. We have comprehensive services, support and resources for staff members and service users covering the wide spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities. In recognition of our work in equality and diversity, Barbara (Babs) Harris (Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) and Simon Anjoyeb (Equality Project Manager) jointly won the Kent, Surrey and Sussex NHS Leader of Inclusivity Award. Trust policies and statutory and mandatory training are inclusive of different sexual orientations and gender identities. The Trust was one of the first to recognise non-binary identities, to enable people to use inclusive titles on the patient administration system, to have guidance on caring for trans patients and introducing processes to support staff to transition in the workplace. Through our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team we have helped the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital (RACH) to deliver improved care to trans patients through an ongoing programme of training for all staff. The Trust is a Stonewall Diversity Champion and this year will be taking stock of processes, policies and practices and entering the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. The Trust is privileged to be involved for another year with the Annual Brighton Trans, Non-Binary and Intersex Conference (July 2018) and has continued to work with city-wide partnerships to implement learning to improve services. In March the Trust joined the city-wide campaign of awareness-raising in the run up to the International Transgender Day of Visibility and are proud to support the pronoun badges initiative. The Trust is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in everything we do, for the benefit of staff, patients and the communities we serve. We wish everyone the very best for Pride this year. Our Department of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion leads on training, research, forging ties with community groups, providing guidance, celebrating the diversity of staff and patients and much more. You can contact us at Equality@bsuh.nhs.uk or through our website www.equalityhub.org or write to us at the Department of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, BSUH NHS Trust, St Mary’s Hall, Main Building, Eastern Road, Brighton BN2 5JJ. Connect with us on Twitter @BSUHEquality. BSUH NHS Trust is a diverse employer. For more information and vacancies see www.bsuh.nhs.uk.
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15/06/2018 12:02
SPONSORED FEATURE
Out in
BRIGHTON AND SUSSEX NICK GROVES IS THE CONVENOR OF THE LGBTQ+ NETWORK OF BRIGHTON AND SUSSEX UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS TRUST. HE TELLS PRIDE LIFE WHY SUPPORTING LGBTQ+ STAFF IS SO IMPORTANT
NICK GROVES
You are the Chair of BSUH’s LGBTQ+ network. What does your role involve? I like Convenor – that’s really what the role’s been about, bringing people together. We’ve got a great Network Core Team of about 15 people now, and we’ve tried to design it so they get involved in what they’re most interested in, and where we can support their personal/ professional development. We don’t have “paid time” for Network work as such, we’re all volunteers. But managers are generally very WINTER 2018
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supportive, and increasingly see getting involved in the Network as a development opportunity. We also have a new leadership team at the Trust, led by CEO Marianne Griffiths, and a clear ambition to be a Stonewall Top 100 Employer. So, a lot of our work is supporting that goal – making sure the experience of LGBTQ+ staff is consistently positive and inclusive. It’s a win-win: progressive workplace practices are shown to lead to better patient outcomes and experience, and that’s our “True North” as an organisation. What are the objectives of the LGBTQ+ network? We’re an employee network, so open to all LGBTQ+ staff in our workforce of about 8,200, plus the 500+ volunteers, and others working on site. It’s been great to have more people involved, including some of the 2,000 students and trainees BSUH hosts every academic year as a University Teaching Hospital. As a Network we’re really aiming to do four things: • Give our LGBTQ+ staff (and allies) an opportunity to meet, network, provide advice and support
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09/12/2018 12:39
SPONSORED FEATURE
“Having staff at all levels, and in all roles, who feel comfortable being out sends a clear message that it really is OK to be your authentic self at work” •P rovide a channel for senior leaders to engage with LGBTQ+ staff on issues that are particularly relevant (over and above normal line management) • Act as “internal experts”, using the diverse experience and expertise we bring as LGBTQ+ people to help BSUH be the best and most inclusive it can be – as care provider, employer, teaching hospital, and community partner. We’ve very aligned to the goals and ambitions of the wider organisation •M ake sure we keep learning ourselves. We want to be inclusive within the wider LGBTQ+ umbrella (e.g. recognising the additional challenges BAME LGBTQ+ people and disabled LGBTQ+ people face, and the increasing number of staff who identify as nonbinary or are intersex) Supporting LGBTQ+ staff, working with allies, being an inclusive employer is the right thing to do – the social case. It’s a legal and regulatory requirement – the legal case. But it also makes good business sense – drawing on the widest pool of talent in who we recruit, enabling our LGBTQ+ staff to bring their best and authentic selves to work, retaining our best talent How important is it to be out at work? Stonewall’s 2018 LGBT in Britain: Work Report shows just how much more progress needs to be made before every LGBTQ+ person in Britain feels accepted for who they are at work.
Unfortunately, health and social care is not immune, as reports like Unhealthy Attitudes (2015) show. LGBTQ+ staff, and Staff Networks, are in a great position to help. Part of this is being willing to step up – and step out. I think Krishna Omkar talked at this year’s Workplace Equality Conference about having “a platform and a privilege” to be a role model and ally. Having staff at all levels, and in all roles, who feel comfortable being out sends a clear message that it really is OK to be your authentic self at work. And if our LGBTQ+ patients know that’s how we are with our staff, I think they’ll be confident about how they’ll be cared for as patients/ service users. What activities does the LGBTQ+ network take part in – both professionally and socially? The network’s around 300 LGBTQ+ staff and allies, and growing all the time. We make sure every new starter hears about us and has a chance to get involved, or just stay in touch. A lot say they’re just pleased to know we’re there, and that’s the sort of inclusive organisation they’ve joined. Some of the things we do: • Social and sports activities – this year including a Brighton Fringe show, a Sunday Roast (and to cheer on our Brighton Marathon/ BSUH Charity runners), and our first Volleyball Tournament. We also publicise other groups (like Out to Swim, Diverse City Bowlers, and BLAGSS, the Brighton LGBTQ+ Sports Society) • With our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team, we publicise key LGBTQ+ events (e.g. IDAHOT – the International Against Homophobia, Lesbian Day of Visibility, Trans Day of Visibility, Trans Remembrance Day). We also run specific events, like the “Telling Our Stories” soirée as part of our LGBTQ+ History Month programme • We have a monthly newsletter. As well as keeping our wider network up-to-date, it also has a digest of LGBTQ+ policy, health/ wellbeing issues, employment research. We’re a healthcare organisation and you can’t just “pop out” from a patient consultation, and staff work around the clock, so we have to be creative about keeping in touch • We help develop our HR/ employment policies,
so they keep pace with best practice and the increasing range of identities our staff, and patients, want to express • This year we’ve run campaigns on LGBTQ+ Health and Wellbeing, supported a LGBTQ+ Stop Smoking campaign (run by Brighton & Hove LGBTQ+ residents, LGBT Switchboard, and City Council), and linked with a National Numeracy “Take the Numeracy Challenge’”. We’ve also supported the Authentic Pronouns campaign. And we’ll be launching a new LGBTQ+ Mentoring Scheme in the next few months Brighton has a sizeable LGBTQ+ community. What interaction do you have with the local community? Will you be taking part in this year’s Brighton & Hove Pride? 2017 was a really proud year for us. Back in the Pride Parade with a BSUH float/ marchers, alongside other public sector organisations, and energetically led by our new Trust CEO, Marianne Griffiths. It was so positive hearing stories from people on the parade route about the good care they’d had at the Trust, and how pleased they were to see us there. We’re working on our Colour My World plans for 2018 now. I can’t say too much… but it’s an exciting partnership with Beth Salter and design/ graphics students at the University of Brighton. It’s also, of course, the NHS’s 70th birthday in July, so we’re looking forward to unveiling the design. We’ve also partnering with Laing O’Rourke (which is building the £485m redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital). And we’ll be out there recruiting – with 300,000+ visitors over the Pride weekend, there’ll be lots who’ll fall in love with our city and Sussex, and BSUH offers a wide range of jobs and apprenticeships. For the first year, we’ll also be formally supporting Trans-Pride by volunteering as march stewards, and a number of our healthcare teams are hoping to have stalls at the event. We’re also excited to be talking to Brighton Disability Pride. Being out and visible in our local community is really important. Having such clear leadership from our CEO sends a strong signal to our LGBTQ+ community that they’ll be treated with respect, dignity and recognising our diverse backgrounds. That’s what we’d want for our own health and social care.
“It was so positive hearing stories from people on the Brighton parade route about the good care they’d had at the Trust, and how pleased they were to see us there” 042
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WINTER 2018
09/12/2018 12:39
FEATURE
WHO’S
that girl
IN CASE YOU HAVENT NOTICED THERE’S A NEW DOCTOR IN THE TARDIS — BUT IS JODIE WHITTAKER REALLY REWRITING THE SHOW’S APPROACH TO GENDER AND SEXUALITY? PAUL F COCKBURN INVESTIGATES
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J
ust in case you’ve not noticed, Doctor Who is now a woman. The original announcement – made after the 2017 Wimbledon Men’s Final – horrified some people, surprised more, and was generally treated with the attention it deserved by everyone else. The world kept spinning and, for every “Doctor Who RIP” fanboy lost in the second stage of grief and loss, there were young girls on YouTube near-bursting with excitement. Forty years ago, in the autumn of 1978, things were a tad different—Doctor Who’s new lead, Jodie Whittaker, hadn’t even been born, for starters! Tom Baker was confidently embarking on his fifth season, accompanied by a new character which – according to Radio Times journalist Liz Hodgkinson – saw the companion evolve from screaming teenage girl into “the supreme position of Time Lady - “the Doctor’s equal”. It’s debatable whether Romana (played originally by Mary Tamm, and later Lalla Ward) ever truly was the Doctor’s equal, but she did confirm one thing: the Doctor’s race definitely had two genders. The Time Lords had been introduced into Doctor Who back in 1969, originally as an excuse to “regenerate” the second Doctor, as played by Patrick Troughton, into Jon Pertwee, and later to send the Doctor on extraterrestrial adventures. Each and every time they were played by men. Indeed, after nine years, some fans started wondering if Time Lords were only male — despite the fact that, when he had originally coughed his way onto our TV screens in 1963, the Doctor has been travelling with his granddaughter, Susan. Such a “boys-only” idea wasn’t inconceivable; a common trait of 20th-century Doctor Who aliens 044
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was that we only ever saw one gender — and the default was invariably “male”. The only exceptions were those aliens so similar to humans as to be indistinguishable; they could be – and sometimes were – played by both men and women. There were a few anomalies, of course; not least the Time Lords — at least until 1978. Arguably the most incredible, though, remains the “hermaphrodite hexapod” Alpha Centauri, a creature with the voice of a nervous girl-guide and a body resembling a giant green penis wrapped in a condom-like cape. The critic Elizabeth Sandifer, in her Eruditorum Press blog,
“Alternative sexuality was just ‘dancing’ — fun, natural, and normal” describes “it” as not just the show’s “first firmly genderqueer character” but also “one of the most bewildering sights in Doctor Who history”. Family-friendly entertainment was clearly quite different in 1972. It was even more so back in 1963, when the core DNA of Doctor Who was established; BBC executives still had firm ideas about what was – and wasn’t – appropriate for their new familyorientated, educationally-minded adventure series. Gender, sexuality and sexual relationships were not on the list. One unintended consequence of this – and an alleged reason why so many gay men would become fans of the show – was the Doctor’s asexual nature, @ pridelife
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despite, by the 1980s, him being as physically young and pretty as Peter Davison. That said, LGBT+ viewers looking for characters in Doctor Who who somehow resonated with their own experiences still had to read “between the lines”. When the BBC announced Russell T Davies as Doctor Who’s new “showrunner” in 2003, much of the initial media coverage focused on him being the brazenly gay writer responsible for 1999’s groundbreaking Channel 4 drama Queer As Folk. While Davies clearly proved he could write popular family drama, there was nevertheless criticism – including from some darker corners of Doctor Who fandom – about him bringing a “gay agenda” to Doctor Who. Davies may have denied the charge, but he never hid the fact that he frequently included non-heterosexual characters in the stories under his watch; indeed, as early as the revived show’s second episode – “The End of the World” – chief villain Cassandra was said to be transsexual. Then, mid-way through that first series, John Barrowman burst onto our screens as the omnisexual Captain Jack Harkness—a man whose desires crossed not just genders but species! He wasn’t presented as a monster to destroy, or a problem to be solved. Indeed, he proved to be one of the good guys, and later even picked up his own spin-off, Torchwood. Time and again under Davies’ tenure, characters were revealed to be non-heterosexual. Arguably, this was radical precisely because it was presented as being totally unimportant: alternative sexualities were no longer absent from Doctor Who, but they weren’t presented as being significant either. Alternative sexuality was just “dancing”— fun, natural, and normal. Although Captain Jack was clearly Davies’
WINTER 2018
10/12/2018 18:59
FEATURE invention, he was first introduced in a story written by Davies’ eventual successor. Curiously, new showrunner Steven Moffat, who is heterosexual, would also be criticised for having a “gay agenda”, albeit one in which he was sometimes accused of writing “lesbians for straight men”. Only now, though, do we know what Moffat’s most significant long term contribution to Doctor Who’s “canon” actually is, and it was there in the very first scene he ever wrote as showrunner—when eleventh Doctor Matt Smith’s newly regenerated Doctor briefly wondered if he was a girl. At the time it was seen as a throw-away joke; in hindsight, it was our first indication that Time Lords might actually be a “bit flexible on the whole man-woman thing”, as lesbian companion Bill would later point out. Though, of course, they still for the most part call themselves Time Lords. New showrunner Chris Chibnall cast Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, but it was Moffat who helped make it possible by seeding the concept into the programme. Again, in hindsight, it now seems almost inevitable, given the success of Missy – a female incarnation of the Doctor’s arch-enemy, and fellow renegade, the Master. The final proof of the reimagined Time Lords came in Peter Capaldi’s swansong, The Doctor Falls, when Missy (Michelle Gomez) was teamed up with the previous incarnation of the Master (John Simm). Few viewers had any problem accepting them as two aspects of the same character. “Is the future going to be all girl?” the Master asked. “We can only hope,” replied the Doctor. Prophetically, as it turned out.
PICTURES: ALL IMAGES BBC
The Doctor Who New Year special will be shown on New Year’s Day 2019 on BBC 1
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10/12/2018 18:59
Everybody has the right to have a workplace that they’re comfortable in.
Law around the world nortonrosefulbright.com
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12/06/2017 09:05
FEATURE
Comic
TURNS LIVE COMEDY IS THE NEW ROCK ‘N’ ROLL, DON’T YOU KNOW? AND NO-ONE ROCKS IT LIKE WE DO! CARY GEE TALKS TO FOUR OF THE FUNNIEST LGBT+ COMEDIANS OUT THERE, AND PICKS UP A FEW TIPS ON HOW TO SURVIVE THE HOLIDAYS
CLOCKWISE: SUZI RUFFELL; TOM ALLEN; STEPHEN BAILEY; STEPHEN K AMOS
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047
10/12/2018 18:58
STEPHEN K AMOS Hi Stephen, perhaps you could give us a quick résumé? I originally trained to be a criminal barrister. After spending a wonderful weekend with friends of mine, one said, “You’re very funny. Have you ever thought of doing comedy? When you think about it, doing comedy is very similar to being a barrister. You stand-up in a room full of complete strangers and tell lies!” You delayed coming out for quite a while. Was that due to cultural sensitivities, the times we were living in, or did you simply consider it was no one else’s business? It was no one else’s business. Being gay is simply one part, one side of being who I am. My comedy is drawn from all aspects, all experiences of my life, and what I find funny. Also, I don’t want to be pigeon-holed by anyone. I just want to be a comic. Do you think you’re funnier since you came out? I never really did come out. Something happened while I was away in Australia. I got back and there was a big news item about a body that had been found on Clapham Common. I glanced up and it was somebody I knew. It annoyed me that in London someone could be physically attacked to the point of death just because of someone else’s opinion. So, I wrote a show about him called All of Me. I just happened to say I’m attracted to men! I wasn’t thinking about coming out, though that’s how it was presented in the press. All of my friends and my family already knew. What it gave me was a fearlessness on stage. I could talk about anything, and not have people asking, “Is he? Isn’t he?” I could be honest and open. Did the homophobic murder on Clapham Common inspire your (2007) Channel 4 documentary Batty Boy, about homophobia in Britain’s black community? Indeed, it did. Have things got better since then or do you think the black community is still very homophobic? I think homophobia still exists in all communities. It’s a legacy of colonialism and the archaic laws and religious beliefs introduced in certain parts of the world, and in those countries. I think there is a long way to go. We live in the UK where things appear to have relaxed if you live in one our big cities. Elsewhere you can still hear extreme bigotry. Can comedy be a force for good as well as making us laugh? I absolutely do think that. I think there is room for politically active comedy at the moment. The UK boasts a very strong comedy scene. There’s something for everybody. I think that when you start describing someone as a gay comedian, or this or that kind of comedian, then you’re alienating people from the get-go. If you can just make people laugh they’ll forget about that and then you can say, ”Oh, by the way I’m attracted to men!” That’s really very powerful. You can change more minds and reach more people if you approach everyone with an open mind. Does being both black and gay present twice 048
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the opportunity or does it simply make the barriers you have to overcome twice as high? Twice as high, definitely. If you’re black, gay, a woman. Then you have to work twice as hard and be twice as funny. How far will you go for a laugh? Is there any subject off-limits? I don’t think there is anything off-limits. I think any subject in the right comedian’s hands is worth tackling and tackling well. I don’t do shock comedy for the sake of shock. I don’t swear for the sake of swearing. As long as it’s done in a clever way, not just in an ironic way. One subject we don’t talk about is grief. In the last 18 months I’ve lost two very important people in my life and in my show I do talk about it. Sometimes the audience are deeply affected, reduced to tears. In a weird way that’s good for the show, because you go home feeling that we are all the same. We all go through life with bouquets, happiness and joy and then life will still throw us all a curveball. It tends to make everyone stop, and think. How do you like your audience to feel after seeing one of your shows? I try to make sure they laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh. The gag rate is very high. However, within that I try and put in a few very important subjects that I think are worth making a social comment about. I like my audience to feel so free that they can share a story or a moment. Halfway through my Edinburgh run I had a group of 30, a youth theatre group aged about 15 – 22, there with their parents and teachers. I asked those who were heterosexual to applaud. Then I asked those who were gay to applaud. This young 15-year-old kid applauded, and the whole audience went “Wow!” I was thinking, we live in an era now where this young man is so confident about who he is that he is prepared to acknowledge it in a room full of strangers without fear from anyone. That is a positive thing.
somebody else. What really keeps me up at night is concern that we’ve not learned the lessons of the past and the world seems to be going backwards. What sends me to sleep is the knowledge that the younger generation has a chance. What is Christmas like in the Amos household? I still think my life (and Christmas) won’t be complete until I have a child of my own. Do you have a partner with whom to bring up a child? I am currently available and have been for three years, darling! What’s your best gay joke? I used to do a joke about being self-employed, doing a lot of work with my hands. I’m also gay and single, which means many of the skills I learned are transferable! Stephen K Amos is on tour now until 16 February 2019. Go to: stephenkamos.com
“I don’t want to be tolerated by anybody. You either accept me or you don’t”
Were you at all envious of this young man, given your own age and experience? I was literally moved to tears. I couldn’t have done that. There were other people in the room who couldn’t have done that. There are still people in parts of the world who can’t do that! As the audience who were cheering with love quietened down this boy’s dad turned to him and said, “That’s the first I’ve heard about this.” It was a brilliantly comedic moment! Have you performed in parts of the world which remain hostile to the LGBT+ community? I have performed in Eastern Europe where it’s still very frowned upon to be gay. I think I was able to get away with it, being the only black person there! Which shocked audiences most, seeing a gay man on stage or a black man on stage? You know what? I didn’t even ask! What, if anything keeps you awake at night? I’m very concerned about the verb “to tolerate”. I don’t want to be tolerated by anybody. You either accept me or you don’t. You don’t have to go through sadness yourself to feel empathy for @ pridelife
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WINTER 2018
10/12/2018 18:58
FEATURE
“It took a while to work out how to talk about being gay on stage. I didn’t want it necessarily to be the basis of my whole life”
want me to talk about. My parents come to see my “work in progress” shows before I take them out on the road. I wouldn’t talk about anything I thought was a secret, or anything that would make anyone feel uncomfortable.
SUZI RUFFELL Good morning, Suzi. Tell us a little about yourself. People may have seen me on the television and heard me on Radio 4. I’ve done a number of shows for Comedy Central, including Live from the Comedy Store and Stand-Up Central. I’m also the co-host of the LGBT+ podcast Like Minded Friends, with my friend, Tom Allen. Check it out. It’s brilliant, and better still, it’s free! We’re you out before you began your career in comedy, or did you come out on the job? I was already out when I started my career. I came out at 21, and went into comedy at about 24. Were the two things connected in any way? It took a while to work out how to talk about being gay on stage. I didn’t want it necessarily to be the basis of my whole life. But it’s not something I’d ever want to ignore about myself. It was about finding a balance between what I wanted to talk about and how to do that in a way that represented me. Is it possible for an LGBT+ comedian to be funny while remaining in the closet? I’ve got no idea. I can only speak for myself. You once described yourself as “a ball of anger”. Are you still feeling angry? I do get angry about some things, I talk about a lot of things on stage that make me angry. At the moment I talk about the whole lack of LGBT+ representation. I remember growing up, there was such a lack of representation I briefly thought I was an anomaly, that there was something wrong with me. There was very little to make me think, “I’m a gay person and that’s OK”.
Did you not see anyone on television and imagine that you could be them, or vice versa? Not at all. You’ve spoken a lot about class. Do you consider yourself a fully-fledged member of the middle class by now?’ My show last year was a lot about class. Yes, I guess I am middle-class now, though from working-class roots. In the way that a lot of people from my generation have been the first to leave home, or to enter a different profession, go to university. Are middle-class lesbians different apart from the fact that they have more money? I don’t know. Surely, they’re no different to any other middle-class people. Do you currently have a partner? Yes, I do. Does she expect you to be funny all the time? No. I think it would be quite unfair if I spoke all the time. How far into a date do you find yourself thinking, “This one definitely has comic potential”? I talk about my girlfriend a little bit on stage. It depends how much you want to share with the audience. I’m pretty honest all of the time on stage. I talk about my upbringing, my childhood, but not everyone necessarily wants every detail of their life doled out in front of a live audience. Are you equally circumspect when it comes to your family? Yeah, I don’t talk about anything my parents don’t WINTER 2018
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You’ve performed many times on behalf of the LGBT+ community. Why is that so important to you? It’s hugely important. I’m doing a gig tonight for Stonewall. I do it every year at the Comedy Store. As I said earlier, it’s hugely important that people don’t think they’re the only one out there. I don’t necessarily speak for people, but people need to be included in the conversation. It’s really important that I speak about LGBT+ rights. So comedy can be a real force for good as well as making us laugh? I always try to take on big subject matters over the course of my hour long live show. I’ll try and talk about slightly more important, political things. I don’t think comedy necessarily has to have a point. But I do think people can take away a lot more than laughter from a comedy show. How do you want your audiences to feel after seeing your live show? Primarily, it should be funny. Hopefully they’ll feel a connection to me, to something I’ve said. And joy. Going to a comedy gig should be a joyful experience. Do you enjoy the actual business of touring? It’s enormously fun. I love going on the road. I’ve toured with Tom (Allen), Josh (Widdicombe) and Romesh Raganathan. What does the New Year have in store for you? ‘I’ll start writing my new show while touring with the current show. Once that’s finished I’ll be back out within a week getting my new show ready for Edinburgh. It’s a cycle. I write a new show every year. There’s also TV and radio stuff coming up. So, no plans for a holiday? Yes. I’m going to New York for Christmas with my girlfriend. And I’ve a got a holiday with Tom Allen to look forward to. That’ll be a fun trip!! Nocturne, Suzi Ruffell’s five-star Edinburgh show, is touring the UK from February 2019. Go to: suzifuffell.com
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049
10/12/2018 18:58
TOM ALLEN
STEPHEN BAILEY
Unlike many comedians who came out quite late in their careers, I’m guessing you we’re never really in? Was that a conscious decision from the very beginning? Well, that’s not really true. I was never actually out when I started in comedy. I wasn’t out to my parents when I began in stand-up. It was just kind of implied, then one night a compere outed me while my parents were in the audience!
What’s your name and what do you do? My name’s Stephen, I’m a comedian and a presenter. I present a show on Channel Five called Celebs on the Farm. That’s it really. That’s me. At what stage in your career did you come out, or were you never in? I never really had to come to out, I guess, and this is a luxury compared to most people. I got a boyfriend and just kind of confirmed it! I just walked in one day and said, “Hi, Dad, this is my boyfriend” and just left them all to it.
Were your parents keen to have a conversation about it afterwards?’ No. I think, my background is such that we don’t say, “Let’s talk about our feelings.” My parents didn’t know anyone like that in their world. What kind of background are you describing? We were just quite ordinary Londoners. My dad’s a coach driver, my mum’s retired now. I think the idea that we’d talk about identity, or sexuality would be quite difficult for them. We were just brought up to go and get a job! I was channel hopping the other day and I saw you on three different channels at the same time. Yes, sorry about that. I’m sure there’s a load of people out there saying, “God, I can’t stand that bloke! Isn’t there somebody else they could put on!?’ At what point on a date, if any, do you decide this one definitely has comic potential, or do you prefer not to discuss your personal relationships on stage? Well, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a date and got out my notebook. It might seem a tad rude. I do talk a lot about personal experiences but I find audiences are more interested and laugh more on hearing how I messed up the date or on how achingly desperate failed personal relationships can be. If I was trying to make fun of someone on a date with me I think that would be a bit too mean. And comedy should be kind at the end of the day. Tom, at the time of writing, you’re about to play London’s iconic Palladium Theatre. How did that come about? I’ve played there before at the Royal Variety Show. I was planning on doing some shows at the Soho Theatre in London, where they’ve been really great to me, but they had all sold out really quickly, so then we thought maybe we should just get something bigger. The Palladium is quite a lot bigger! Yes, it’s hosted Bruce Forsyth, Judy Garland and Larry Grayson. I’m absolutely over the moon. I can’t believe it really. What can the audience expect from your show at the Palladium? It feels like the culmination of the tour I’ve been doing for about 18 months now so I’m very excited and also a tiny bit overwhelmed by it all. The show is about how I’ve been living with a couple. Called Dad and Mum. And so I talk about trying to be a fabulous 35-year-old man with a penchant for brunch but who is often reminded of his very normal upbringing. Because he is living the same 050
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”I don’t think I’ve ever been on a date and got out my notebook. It might seem a tad rude” life he had when he was eight. I also talk about experiencing road rage, children’s parties, a school trip to France and a misadventure on a water slide. So hopefully there’s something for everyone. Theresa May once ran through a field of wheat. What was the naughtiest thing you did as a child? I constantly got lost in supermarkets, so they’d have to put a call out for my mum. I loved hearing my name being said on the Tannoy. You describe yourself as coming from a very ordinary background but you sound quite middle-class to me. Yes, everybody wants to rebel! Not sounding like my family is my act of rebellion! Can comedy be a real force for good in people’s lives, or is it simply about giving people a good belly laugh? I think giving people a good laugh in this day and age is a force for good! Do you have any tips for our readers on how best to survive a family Christmas? I would say, demarcate yourself an area, something like table settings. Tell everyone that’s your thing and let everything else happen around that. Don’t say, “I want to have that tray of cocktails just Iike Nigella” or demand a Danish-inspired Christmas tree. Your family won’t thank you for it. Just say, “I’m in charge of the napkin folding” and everything will be fine. And what does 2019 have in store for Tom Allen? A short break, I’m hoping to take a holiday in January. That’s the main thing’. Go to: tomindeed.com @ pridelife
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Was there any reaction? No. They were just kind of “Oh.” I don’t really have anything to compare it to but it was just like meeting a girlfriend. It was really simple. I was very lucky. I’ve a couple of gay cousins as well, who came out before me. Is it easier to be gay in your line of work? Is that perhaps why you chose comedy as a career? It’s not why I pursued a career in comedy but I think it depends where in the world you are. In some places, straight white men, they may not be rude but you have to win them over, just like women have to prove they can be funny. You definitely have to win them over and say, “I don’t want to have sex with you, thank you very much!” There’s an arrogance among many straight men who think we just want to have sex with them. Are all comedians attention-seekers? I don’t think all comedians are, but I definitely need attention. I’m a nightmare boyfriend. You’ve done a lot of gigs for Stonewall, including hosting Stonewall’s 25th birthday bash. Is it important to you to give something back to the LGBT+ community? Yes, of course it is. Without Stonewall, and other organisations like it, progress won’t get made. Straight, white, middle-class people don’t give a f**k about us, so yes, If a charity asks me to do a gig, tell a few jokes, I’m very happy to do it. Is your working-class background as important to you as your being gay? Yes. I don’t think people talk about class enough. It’s not discussed in a similar way to people of colour, or women. Even when the conversation is around straight middle-class people it is all about privilege. You’ve been described in the press as an archbitch but I think you’re actually quite nice... I’m really nice! Reviewers just don’t speak very good English! Is it true you have a black belt in taekwondo? I do indeed have a black belt in taekwondo. I got all the way to a black belt then thought I’ll go and become a comedian! Would you recommend all gay men learn a martial art? I wouldn’t tell anyone what to do. Don’t follow my life choices! For me it was just a really good way as a shy kid to make friends. I started when I was 14, so I was put in the adults’ class which meant I was
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FEATURE surrounded by really good 20-year-olds. I think that’s why I never had a problem coming out. I had a lot of older friends, in addition to my gay cousins. Everyone should have a hobby. So, you’ve never had to employ your martial arts training to defend yourself? No, but if I had to, I’d win! Do you ever receive strange gifts from fans, in the post, or any hair-raising offers on Twitter? Nothing more hair-raising than you receive on Grindr! I’m more concerned with where the offers come from. I’m a single gay man in my 20s. After I’ve made a room with a majority gay audience laugh, it would be nice to get a gift from a nice man afterwards, or to wind up in bed! But it’s the old women, the mums, who come up to me and give me socks and Dairy Milk. Are you still on Grindr? Yes, I am. I joined it late. I’ve spoken about it on stage longer than I’ve actually done it. And how’s it working out for you? Not great. (Stephen dissolves into giggles). So how did you get the job presenting Celebs on the Farm? You don’t strike me as a natural choice. When you’ve been gigging for a long time you meet a lot of producers, who always say that when the right thing comes along they’ll put you in it. You’ve always pessimistic, thinking, “Yeah, I’ve heard this before.” But with this one they said they couldn’t think of anyone better: “You look like you shouldn’t be there, so let’s put you there.” Did you enjoy it? I loved every minute of it. I was lucky. As presenter I didn’t have to wash a pig or anything. The celebs were all really nice to me, the newbie. Could you have washed a pig if you’d been asked? I would’ve done. I loved the lambs. I wanted to eat them. You appeared in Coronation Street (as the emcee at a hairdressing awards show). Was that your dream job? When my agent asked if I wanted to do any acting I said, “I can’t act.” But, if a part for a chubby gay camp ginger northerner comes up it would be silly to miss out. And I’d really love to do Coronation Street. So, when I was asked if I wanted the meeting I said, “Yes. I bloody do. I grew up watching Coronation Street and thought that’s the one job I want to do.”
meltdown watching all these Mock the Week type shows. I just thought things have been so bad politically for the last couple of years, everyone’s thinking about it constantly. I just wanted to do the complete opposite. If you come to my room for an hour we’ll just laugh. Talk about the kind of things we talked about in Wetherspoons when I was 18. About guy’s penises not touching the sides! Just have a laugh for an hour. Who makes you laugh? Well, Coronation Street has some of the best comedy characters, like Sally Webster and Tracy Barlow. It’s much funnier than some comedy shows. But I like comedy inspirations. American women like Amy Schumer, Chelsea handler, and Joan Rivers. They just go there, with no nonsense. I like that in my comedy. Is there anyone you’d never want to work with again, or any town you’d never revisit? I worked in Sainsbury’s for six years. Now I feel I’ve the luckiest job in the world. So even a bad day doesn’t really feel like a bad day. I’d love to work with Piers Morgan. Why? I just think he’s really good at tête-à-tête. How would you describe yourself on a dating site? I’d say I’m going to be really bad for your reputation, and I’m looking so I don’t have to be on dating sites
anymore! I find it the hardest thing. I’m just one of those people you’ve got to enjoy in real life. You unleashed your inner elf on The Great Christmas Rant. What is it about Christmas that gets you going? One, I can actually take seven days off and not feel bad about it. Two, I have a really amazing family and my best friends are the same best friends I’ve had since I was eight or nine years old. It’s nice just to be with those people for a good week. And for people who aren’t luckily enough to have a family like yours? Book a nice holiday. Apart from the tour what does the New Year hold, and will you be making any resolutions? I never stick to them. But I will try to have more faith in myself. I came into this year with nothing in the diary, thinking it was all just bleak. And I’ve had the best year of my life. Instead of worrying that this comedian might not like me because I don’t talk about politics, or this boy doesn’t like me because I don’t have a six-pack, or this audience won’t like me because I’m camp, or this producer won’t like me because I don’t hang out with the cool kids, I’m going to try and have more confidence. Stephen Bailey tours the UK with Our Kid from February - June 2019. Go to: stephenbaileycomedy.co.uk
“I don’t think all comedians are attention-seekers, but I definitely need attention. I’m a nightmare boyfriend ”
Do you prefer telly or stand-up? I like TV because it’s a tight ship. You know what you’re getting, and you get paid on time. I never imagined I’d appear on TV, although I always hoped I would. But there’s nothing like a live audience. Every show is different and that’s exciting’. What can audiences expect from your upcoming show, Our Kid? I feel there have been a lot of shows about a cause, the Me-Too movement, or LGBT+ rights, which are all really important, but I had a bit of a WINTER 2018
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I’M STOPPING HIV. I’m on treatment.
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StartsWithMe.org.uk Produced by Terrence Higgins Trust for
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Terrence Higgins Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales (reg. no. 288527) and in Scotland (SC039986). Company reg.no. 1778149.
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Photography by THOMAS KNIGHTS
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08/03/2017 15:28
SPONSORED FEATURE
DOWN TO ZERO THE TERRENCE HIGGINS TRUST SAYS THAT WORLD AIDS DAY MAY BE OVER – BUT THE MISSION TO GET TO ZERO-HIV IS FAR FROM COMPLETE
S
ince 1988, World AIDS Day has given people across the world the opportunity to unite in the fight against HIV and show their support for people living with the virus. Aside from this, the day is also used to commemorate those who have lost their lives to AIDS-related illnesses. Terry Higgins was one of the first people to die from an AIDS-related illness in the UK, and since that fatal day back in 1982 Terrence Higgins Trust has dedicated their work to not only honouring the lives that have been lost, but to stopping at nothing to eradicate HIV transmissions in the UK. To mark the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day we spoke to a range of HIV activists who shared their knowledge, advice and experiences. We also wanted to get everyone talking about hitting #ZeroHIV transmissions and stigma here in the UK. From condoms, to PrEP, to treatment and testing, we now have a range of tools that can make HIV transmissions a thing of the past! Public Health England figures have showed a continued steep decline in diagnosis in gay and bisexual men in 2017. Furthermore gay and bisexual men also had the lowest proportion of late diagnosis in 2017. Late diagnosis means that you’ve tested positive for HIV after the virus has already started to damage your immune system. Although these figures show that we’re taking a step in the right direction, more needs to be
done! We encourage everyone to get tested and know their status all year round! As early diagnosis means you can get on treatment earlier. From postal test kits to pop up clinics and self test kits, there are many ways you can get tested nowadays so there is no excuse for not knowing
“We encourage everyone to get tested and know their status all year round! As early diagnosis means you can get on treatment earlier” your status. Find out more information about the various ways you can get tested for HIV on the website: tht.org.uk/hiv-and-sexual-health/ testing-hiv HIV is a medical condition that carries a lot of stigma, usually because people lack information about it or they make moral judgements about how someone has contracted HIV. Medical progress that’s been made over the WINTER 2018
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last 30 years has proven that people with the virus can live as long and healthily as anybody else. Effective treatment shrinks the amount of virus in the body to undetectable levels, which protects the immune system from damage and means HIV can’t be passed on to anyone else. Despite this progress, and the fact that people diagnosed with HIV today can thrive, misinformation around HIV still causes stigma, which impacts many people living with HIV. Our Stigma survey revealed that: “half (50%) of people living with HIV have experienced discrimination because of their HIV status.” You can help us put an end to HIV transmissions and stigma by knowing your status and educating yourselves and others about HIV and the importance of testing. The vision of Terrence Higgins Trust is a world where people with HIV live healthy lives free from prejudice and discrimination, and this vision could become a reality with your help! Go to: tht.org.uk
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As Smooth As A Romantic Song...
T
he winery has old vines (well over 70+ years), and has grown classic Tuscan varietals such as Sangiovese,
Canaiolo, Colorino, Malvasia, and Trebbiano, and through careful analysis, determined that their terroir was exceptionally suited for Cabernet Sauvignon. The Cabernet vines were planted 10 years ago, and are now producing exceptional fruit with distinctive elegance and “cool climate” character. The estate’s top wines now contain Sangiovese and Cabernet, and the white wine (primarily Trebbiano) is not exported, and made only for local consumption.
w w w.bocelli famil y w ines.com
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15/06/2017 16:28
FEATURE
PICTURE: ONTARIO TOURISM
GOD ONLY KNOWS FOR MANY OF US, EVEN THOUGH, IN THE UK, WE LIVE IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST LIBERAL COUNTRIES, COMING TO TERMS WITH OUR SEXUALITY CAN BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT, SAYS XAV JUDD
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F
or me, what made it particularly hard was that the struggle with my identity began as a teenager in the mid-1980s, at the height of the AIDS/HIV crisis. At the time, there was a media frenzy; and the disease was wrongly blamed on homosexuals who were vilified by the tabloids, “Britain threatened by gay virus plague”, the Daily Mail said in January 1985. Our LGBT community was also portrayed as being utterly immoral. “AIDS is the wrath of God, says vicar,” was a headline from the Sun in February 1985. Even though I was already an agnostic, the fact that the press linked queerness with sin meant I felt as if I was an abomination. And indeed, going against a perceived cultural norm, faith in the almighty, was part of the reason I couldn’t accept who I was for years. If I could be so affected even though I was from a secular background (my parents only went to church for weddings and funerals), I wondered what a non-heterosexual person with a religious upbringing – or who was partnered with one - might go through. Even more so, if their book of worship (the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, etc) perhaps condemned them for their very being. Consequently, I tracked down three such individuals to get their story…
SHELINA’S STORY
“Although I don’t think homophobia is more prevalent in my community than in any other section of society… it’s not to say that it doesn’t happen”
Shelina is a 24-year-old apprentice assessor, who was born in London, but her parents hail from Bangladesh. “Even though I’m a practising Muslim, I think I was very lucky when I came out a couple of years ago. My family were OK. Alright, I had to take my mum aside and sort of really explain everything to her, but after that she was fine. And my mates were great – it didn’t make any difference; indeed, I still talk about going on dates when I’m with my straight girlfriends and what I’m getting up to, it’s just that they understand I’m chatting about meeting other females. In a way, I suppose it’s a generational thing, with younger people being much more liberal these days when it comes to sexuality. “There’s a huge perception that the Muslim community has a problem with gay people, but I imagine this has got to do with the way we are portrayed in the media who are being sensationalist just to sell newspapers. One hundred and fifty years ago it would have been the Irish they were attacking, now it’s us. I mean, anybody in my faith would condemn ISIS, but the press have got to have a villain or bogeyman as it were.” Shelina has a point. Last year, the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) criticised a number of British media outlets, taking particular aim at the tabloid newspapers, for “offensive, discriminatory and provocative terminology”. Indeed, one only has to look at some of the front page headlines in the last decade to see why this body reached such a conclusion: ‘Muslims tell British: Go to hell’ (the Daily Express, November 2010); ‘Muslim Thugs Burn Poppies’ (the Daily Star, November 2010); “One in five Brit Muslims has sympathy for jihadis’
(the Sun, November 2015) – the Times, its sister paper, referred to this account in its own edition, ‘One in five British Muslims has sympathy for Isis’ (November 2015). In both of the latter two cases, the articles were censured by the watchdog responsible for the industry, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso): the Sun was forced to admit that its controversial story was ‘significantly misleading’, while a complaint was upheld against the Times. And, in fact, in the past year, this regulatory outfit had to investigate several further grievances: between November 2016 and January 2017, Miqdaad Versi, assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, has secured almost 20 corrections and retractions against the fourth estate for inaccurate reporting. Such a media onslaught has consequences; and, it is fair to suggest that it could lead to every aspect of Islamic culture being presented in the darkest light. “This can mean that my community is seen as really anti-gay, and if, say, an honour killing happens due to the fact that someone’s not straight, it can be magnified and blown completely out of proportion. But, as my own example and those of others I know testify, it isn’t necessarily the case that you can’t be out and totally accepted. In truth, it’s ironic that the UK press is saying what it is, as homosexual intercourse was made illegal in India in 1860 [Bangladesh, under its former name of West Bengal, was then part of that country], by the British Empire (Section 377 of the Penal Code),” states Shelina. “Although I don’t think homophobia is more prevalent in my community than in any other section of society, whether it be atheist, Christian or Jewish etc, it’s not to say that it doesn’t happen. That’s why I co-founded Hidayah - guidance in Arabic (hidayahlgbt.com). It’s a nation-wide organisation whose mission is to provide support and welfare for LGBT+ Muslims and promote social justice and education on their behalf, to counter discrimination, prejudice and injustice.”
DAVE
DAVE’S STORY Dave Shaw, who is a 31-year-old freelance marketing and PR consultant, grew up in the Belmont community (South West London) in a traditional United Synagogue family. Both his brother and he went to Jewish schools, and they lived in a kosher home. As soon he could, he attended the B’nei Akiva (BA) youth movement, a Hebrew organisation. “I knew that I was attracted to guys way before my bar mitzvah, but it took me a few years to realise what this meant and with so much orthodoxy being constructed around the conventional notion of relationships between men and women I had no reference point to even describe how I felt. When I was 15, I was invited to become a leader at a BA, an association I held in high esteem. The following summer I ‘came out’ - I sought to reconcile the Jewish and gay elements of my identity. The BA did not share this resolve – they didn’t want me back as a leader, upsetting and angering me because the community I had enthusiastically helped to build cast me out with no apparent 058
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FEATURE
“I knew that I was attracted to guys way before my bar mitzvah, but it took me a few years to realise what this meant”
explanation. Yet, I grasped it was due to my revelation - certain acts of sexual intimacy are prohibited by the Torah, including anal intercourse between two males.” “My parents only ever wanted the best for me, so sent me to a respected orthodox psychotherapist who said I could be ‘fixed’ with reparative therapy. Notwithstanding, I knew I couldn’t be the only person who felt the way I did so spent my 6th form years trying to find others like me, but there was no-one ‘out’ in the orthodox circles I moved in, so I had to step away from it all.” “Nonetheless, at university in London, things changed: I helped to reinvigorate BaGeLs (the Jewish LGBT+ network), and attended ‘Queer Shabbatton’ – a weekend cultural programme – in Amsterdam with non-straight Jews from across the world. Afterwards, I felt connected and valued again; I comprehended that it is impossible for anybody to keep all of the commandments in the Torah and just because I wasn’t able to have a wife, it didn’t mean that I should not see this central reference of Judaism as a guide to life and a broad, positive framework with which to view and help better the world.” “Later, I joined the committee of Gay Jews in London – a social organisation that was started predominantly for non-heterosexual men to meet likeminded others. And in 2010, a meeting was held for the representatives of the different Jewish LGBT+ groups in the capital with the aim of creating a forum where we could foster dialogue and share resources – and so, the charity KeshetUK (keshetuk. org) was born. It exists to ensure that no-one has to choose between their Jewish and LGBT+ identities, by working with schools, synagogues, youth movements, university campuses and other community organisations to deliver relevant education, training and advocacy.”
away, one of his parents said that we’d both been living in sin because of our religion (incidentally, Matt was born into a non-practising Church of England family and Naz also didn’t worship). They asked me not to tell anyone that their son liked men as it would bring ‘shame’ on their family.” “Because the man I loved more than anyone MATT’S STORY – he was so inspirational and caring and would do Matt Ogston, a 39-year-old web designer, met Nazim Mahmood (Naz), in Birmingham, in 2001. Maybe anything to help another person - had passed partly because they were both Brummies, they hit it off instantly and became soul mates. Nevertheless, away, I was grief-stricken; I went missing for two even after they’d been together for thirteen years, Naz, who eventually qualified as a doctor, hadn’t told his days, the police were called out to look for me, parents about his sexuality or that he was engaged. In 2014 he was confronted by his strict Muslim and my only thought was to leave the earth in parents. “They treated him like a disease and told him that he needed to go to a psychiatrist to be exactly the same way Naz had. What saved me, ‘cured’. Naz couldn’t cope with their reaction and rejection, so tragically, just two days after he’d come out, was a promise I made to him, not to let anybody climbed over the edge of the balcony of our shared flat, and ended his own life. The day after he passed else feel or go through the devastation that we had. Consequently, I set up a small charity dedicated to his memory, the Naz and Matt Foundation (nazandmattfoundation.org). Initially, I had no idea what it was going to do, how I it would run or who would be involved. However, one thing I knew was that I wanted to use our own life experiences as a guide to try and help other people. To this end, the organisation aims to empower and support LGBT+ individuals, their friends and family to work towards resolving challenges linked to sexuality or gender identity, MATT especially where religion has a pronounced influence.” “The foundation endeavours to assist individuals and groups irrespective of who they worship. Naz’s story has resonated with other gay Muslims as this forms part of our own journey, so that is where we have probably been most active. Intolerance and hatred can be related to somebody’s culture as well as religion - and it’s an issue that affects all religions, some more than others. Often somebody’s family will push a homophobic agenda due to their own prejudices and might even try and find passages or paragraphs in their religious texts to justify their stance.” “Importantly, if a person gets in touch with us who is struggling with their identity because they assume not being homosexual and following their religion are incompatible, we attempt to peel back the layers to isolate why they actually feel like that. And find that their core reasoning is not really what they believe, but the thoughts and rationales or other people – usually the ones closest to them. What’s vital in a case like this, is to build up this individual’s self-esteem, to impress on them that they are not doing anything wrong, and to tell them that it is their life journey to live as they choose and that they are responsible for their own happiness – they shouldn’t be (emotionally) controlled.” “As well as offering support to individuals (signposting them to established counselling services, if it’s deemed to be required), the foundation operates at grass roots level going into community centres, universities, colleges and schools. In the latter, which normally have a high percentage of a specific faith, we want to tackle bullying and homophobia that might have been triggered by religion and culture. So we give a talk that’s been tailored to encourage conversation and dialogue, hopefully leading to increased understanding and acceptance that humans are born LGBT+.”
“Intolerance and hatred can be related to somebody’s culture as well as religion” WINTER 2018
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JUNE 2019 NYCPRIDE.ORG/2019
PRODUCED BY
WORLDPRIDE LICENSOR
H O S T PA R T N E R
H O S T PA R T N E R
JUNE 2019 NYCPRIDE.ORG/2019
PRODUCED BY
WORLDPRIDE LICENSOR
H O S T PA R T N E R
H O S T PA R T N E R
JOHN TANZELLA
GLOBALLY GAY IGLTA, THE INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TRAVEL ASSOCIATION, IS A WORLDWIDE ORGANISATION DEDICATED TO THE PROMOTION OF LGBT TOURISM. ITS PRESIDENT AND CEO JOHN TANZELLA TALKS TO PRIDELIFE ABOUT ITS WORK AND THE FUTURE OF LGBT TRAVEL
IGLTA was founded in 1983. Why was there a need then to found an LGBT-focussed travel organisation? Think about the time. In 1983, the first AIDS discrimination lawsuit was filed in the United States. The destinations that were homophobic far outnumbered the welcoming ones. There was no Internet for travel research and booking. IGLTA was a way for LGBT guesthouse owners and travel agents to help their LGBT clients find safe places go on holiday and connect with likeminded people. What does IGLTA do? We are dedicated to advancing LGBT travel globally. We were founded as a way for LGBTowned and welcoming tourism businesses to connect, but over time have evolved into an organisation that not only facilitates networking, but also provides education for the global travel industry and resources and information for LGBT travellers. What do you think are IGLTA’s proudest achievements? 062
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Collaborating with the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) on global reports on LGBT tourism in 2012 and 2017, and then partnering with the European Tourism Commission on the Handbook for the LGBT Travel Segment this year. It’s remarkable to have so major mainstream tourism organisations seeking us out for partnership and advice. How did you personally get involved initially with IGLTA? I was working at the Washington, DC Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) and in 2004 the CVB was bidding on the 2006 IGLTA Annual Global Convention. DCwon the bid and I was very engaged with the association. When IGLTA’s president retired, the board asked if I would consider working for the association; I’ve been here for 12 years. What of your own personal achievements with IGLTA are you proudest of? Leading the way for the creation of our philanthropic IGLTA Foundation. IGLTAF focuses on education, research and leadership @ pridelife
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initiatives that further understanding of LGBT travel worldwide and assist LGBT business owners and hospitality students on their path to becoming the next generation of leading tourism professionals. We put an emphasis on supporting businesses in emerging or challenging LGBT destinations. For example, we brought a gay tour operator from Uganda to our Annual Global Convention in Toronto this year so that he could gain insight and support from our global network.
How do you think the LGBT travel market has changed in the 36 years since IGLTA was founded? There are far more destinations and businesses that want to show the world that they are LGBTwelcoming. We now have major mainstream corporate global partners like Delta, Disney Destinations, Hilton, and Marriott, which certainly wasn’t the case when we started. Also noteworthy is the diversification of the market, from simply “gay travel” to focuses on same-sex destination weddings, LGBT family travel, transgender travel, and lesbian travel. More
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FEATURE recently we’ve seen a shift toward inclusivity rather than all-LGBT enclaves. As a result, we’ve had increased engagement in IGLTA from less obvious places such as Colombia, Guam, Italy and Monaco. We’re also seeing LGBT tourism expand beyond major cities within countries that already have established LGBT markets, such as Brazil and Argentina. Surely there is no need in the 21st century for a LGBT-focussed travel organisation? Or is there? If you live in a place that champions equality it’s easy to forget that there are more than 70 countries where homosexuality is still criminalised. Being able to be yourself while travelling and connecting with other LGBT people shouldn’t be underestimated. Interestingly, in the study conducted for our IGLTAF and ETC project, the Handbook on the LGBT Travel Segment, we found that Pride and other LGBT events are a major travel motivator to and within Europe. Many of us take those events for granted, but in markets where Pride is minimal or even outlawed, they give travellers the chance to socialise and celebrate on their journey. The calendars of Prides and
LGBT events around the worldare among the most-visited pages on our website. What things should LGBT people take into account when planning their travel which heterosexual people may not have to? They need to do their homework and be aware of the culture and laws of the countries to which they are travelling, particularly in the places that actively persecute same-sex relationships. There can also be added layers of concern for travellers when their IDs don’t match their gender presentation. Of course, we encourage them to seek out LGBTwelcoming businesses on iglta.org! What is the future of IGLTA? We will continue to enhance and expand our resources for travellers. We currently have members in more than 80 countries that do business in over 100, but we’d like to identify even more LGBT-welcoming businesses to ensure we can help travellers plan a safe journey no matter where in the world they wish to explore. Any secret tips for up-and-coming LGBTfriendly destinations? I’ve just returned from Colombia, which has
“We’re seeing LGBT tourism expand beyond major cities within countries that already have established LGBT markets, such as Brazil and Argentina” certainly upped its outreach to LGBT travellers recently. From culture to cuisine to nightlife, there is a lot to discover. Going beyond Tokyo to see more of Japan is highly recommended. You’ll definitely receive a warm welcome. We also have our eyes on Hong Kong, since they’re hosting the Gay Games in 2022. Go to: iglta.org
International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association
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GAY JEWEL OF THE MED IN TEL AVIV FOR THIS YEAR’S PRIDE JOHN HOWARD FINDS ISRAEL’S SECOND CITY AN OASIS OF TOLERANCE
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n the beach in front of the Hilton, packed with international gay men in, erm, form-fitting Andrew Christian and Addicted swimwear, they are talking about it. In the cafés along the tree-shaded “Rambla” that is Rothschild Boulevard, they are talking about it over drinks. And in jumping gay bars like Shpagat (Nahalat Binyamin St 43,) and even at the mega-warehouse party sponsored by fashion brand Diesel that followed Pride, perhaps the biggest collection of shirtless gay muscle boys ever assembled in captivity, they were talking about it.
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TRAVEL
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Not so much maybe, what with the other distractions, but still talking about it. The subject? How Israel is not only a tale of two cities – that would be Tel Aviv and Jerusalem – but a tale of two mind-sets. For the last ten years or so, and following a campaign with quite a bit of welly behind it, gay men have been going to Tel Aviv to enjoy the weather, the food (globally famous and great for vegetarians), the architecture (the largest collection of Bauhaus modernist buildings in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site to boot) and, perhaps most surprisingly, the gay life. Set on the shores of the Mediterranean, Tel Aviv – scrappy, edgy, slightly rough-around-theedges Tel Aviv – is an oasis of tolerance. For the
“Perhaps the biggest collection of shirtless gay muscle boys ever assembled in captivity were talking about it” last ten years, the city has funded a gay centre, a beautiful, spacious building up there in the Meir Garden park, where you can see performances, have lunch or join discussions about stuff like being an older-generation gay person (the theme of this year’s Pride), while it decks the streets with rainbow flags come Pride and puts on a celebration that, in a town of just 400,000, attracts a quarter of a million people, including
old ladies, babies, the works. To go to Pride, to display your rainbow flag, to refer to it as Love Day are all signs that you’re liberal, not just gay-friendly, in a place where the battle lines are drawn between those who believe in personal freedom and those who live by the good book, whichever of those particular good books of yours happens to be. But even though that conversation is ongoing,
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TRAVEL CLOCKWISE: ROTHSCHILD BOULEVARD; MUSEUM OF ART; TEL AVIV SKYLINE
“Tel Aviv is perfectly placed for some very historical travel if that’s your thing”
you don’t have to enter into it to enjoy this jewel of the Mediterranean that stretches from Jaffa, a quaint, ancient and lively Arab town on the coast, to the sparkling skyscrapers of downtown Tel Aviv. You’re on holiday. Why would you want to get serious?
Stay in one of the growing number of slick hotels - from the Dan Tel Aviv (HaYarkon St 99, www3.danhotels.com), the rainbow-fronted number on the beach, or something swisher like The Norman (Nahmani St 23-25, thenorman.com) - and tuck into what seems a bit like Barcelona WINTER 2018
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before it became the Barcelona of the Olympics. You can wander along the pedestrian Rothschild with an ice cream like you can along the Ramblas and you can hang out in the mansoup of a beach just like you can at Barceloneta. And you can go to any one of the constantly changing menu of gay bars and clubs that veer from huge circuit parties – like the one at the water park just before Pride that apparently turned frisky come sundown – through smallscale bars where most of the action takes place in the street over drinks to out-there “cruise” parties like Beef: just because the country is the cradle of world religions, that doesn’t mean you can’t go out in underwear and indulge in inappropriate touching. In Tel Aviv at least. For sightseeing, well, Tel Aviv is only just 100 years old, a city carved out of the desert. Jaffa is ancient and a bit flea-bitten with markets and tiny galleries and is worth a morning and the area of Rothschild is teeming with once avant-garde modernist architecture, buildings that are still very much in use. But then Tel Aviv is perfectly placed for some very historical travel if that’s your thing. In less than an hour, you can be in Jerusalem, rich with ancient culture and with beautiful internationalstandard attractions like The Israel Museum (Derech Ruppin, imj.org.il/en), a lavish and lovely arts campus where they even do tours of works of gay interest. You’re also just a bus ride from Masada, Herod’s desert fortress on a hill with a real story to tell about Jewish resistance, as well as the Dead Sea. But there’s no real reason to leave Tel Aviv with its mega-buffet breakfasts that you might need a golf cart to do justice to, its gay beach (which rumour has it gets even livelier after dark) and its forward-looking, freedom-loving people many of whom - what with a two-year military service regime to get through - it must be said, are not that hard on the eye. Go to: goisrael.com
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SPONSORED FEATURE
Grange
HOTELS WE’VE GOT LONDON COVERED
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he historic city of London, with its abundance of cultural offerings, vibrant nightlife and world-famous landmarks, is the world’s top ranked destination for a reason – and Grange Hotels’ stunning range of private luxury hotels embody all the rich diversity of this exciting city. As the capital’s leading independent hotel group, Grange Hotels boast 16 four-star and fivestar luxury hotels in London’s most desirable locations. Their expansive portfolio ranges from classic luxury to contemporary opulence, with every hotel offering a distinct guest experience. For modern boys and girls about town, the Grange St. Paul’s and Grange Tower Bridge hotels offer luxurious five-star accommodation, dedicated business services and stunning views of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the City. Guest bedrooms and suites are spacious and sophisticated, with sumptuous marble bathrooms, hand-picked furnishings and contemporary amenities – including flat-screen digital TVs, Bluetoothenabled media hubs and in-built travel adaptors.
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Designed with the most energy-efficient materials and systems, the Grange Tower Bridge is also one of London’s most “green” hotels, giving eco-friendly travellers an added reason to check in. Other featured five-star properties include the Grange City Hotel in Tower Hill, and the Grange Holborn close to Theatreland and Covent Garden. Offering a delightful complement are 6 fourstar Georgian townhouses in literary Bloomsbury, which seamlessly blend period charm and local heritage with contemporary comfort. Room types vary in style from individually appointed guest bedrooms to self-contained studios; beautifully accented with carved wood furniture, ornate fireplaces and grand four-poster beds. The Grange Blooms Hotel also uniquely boasts 4 individually themed suites – the Pickwick, Lords, Theatre Royal and Dickens – which incorporate a charming collection of sporting, literary and theatrical memorabilia that invoke the vivid literary and cultural associations of the local area. Completing the collection are the Grange Fitzrovia and Grange Langham Court in the
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West End, the Grange Rochester in royal Westminster and the Grange Strathmore in sophisticated South Kensington. Also just an hour from London is the Grange Bracknell in Berkshire, located close to attractions including Royal Ascot and Windsor Castle, and a convenient 25 minutes away from London Heathrow airport. Food-lovers can choose from an array of restaurants and bars at each Grange Hotel, serving speciality international cuisine – including authentic Japanese, French and Mediterranean dishes – and the finest wines, spirits and Champagnes. Whether you choose to marvel at charismatic teppanyaki chefs juggling eggs and lighting fiery onion-ring volcanoes in Benihana St. Paul’s at Grange St. Paul’s, enjoy dinner under an glittering ceiling in Constellations restaurant at the Grange Holborn or put your feet up with a fine whisky in the Library Bar at the Grange Blooms, there are a host of drinking and dining options to be enjoyed at one’s convenience. Discerning travellers can also
take advantage of a fabulous selection of leisure services at every five-star hotel. These include state-of-the-art gymnasiums, stunning indoor pools and luxurious Ajala Spas, where guests can keep fit, enjoy a leisurely swim or be pampered head to toe by professional therapists. Residents of the Grange City Hotel can also unwind with a round of golf on the City Virtual Golf indoor simulator, which boasts 38 of the world’s leading international golfing courses. The flagship Ajala Spa at the Grange St. Paul’s offers an additional range of thermal suites for full-body rejuvenation – including a tepidarium with ceramic relaxation couches, an ambient dry heat laconium and a unique sun therapy lounge, which naturally and safely replicates natural sunlight. All health clubs incorporate a relaxing sauna and steam room too, to gently detoxify and revive tired limbs. And, if you prefer to soak up the local heritage, London’s most famous sights are never very far. A myriad of vibrant attractions, entertainment, and nightlife can be found on the respective doorstep of every Grange Hotel - with highlights including the West End’s best theatre productions, designer
“A myriad of vibrant attractions can be found on the doorstep of every Grange hotel”
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shopping in Knightsbridge and Soho’s renowned gay scene. The Grange City Hotel’s historic site even incorporates the last remaining part of the London Wall; formerly patrolled by Roman sentries at the peak of the Roman empire. Knowledgeable concierges are also on hand to book tickets to current theatre productions, or to recommend local sights. For more information about booking luxury accommodation at Grange Hotels, call Central Reservations on 020 7233 7888 or email reservations@grangehotels.com, and our team will be pleased to advise.
@ pridelife
London’s leading independent hotel group
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Go,
Gothenburg!
XAV JUDD TAKES IT EASY IN SWEDEN’S SECOND CITY, RIDES THE ROLLERCOASTERS IN SCANDINAVIA’S BIGGEST AMUSEMENT PARK, AND GOES FOR A SHIMMY AND A FIDDLE IN THE CITY’S LGBT+ BARS
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TRAVEL
P
ink streams of skylight flash across an interminable watery darkness. A huge cruiser with more layers than a celebrity wedding cake chugs towards a bridge in a harbour dotted with gigantic looming cranes. This spectacular view of Gothenburg reflects its status as Sweden’s historic, industrial heartland. It’s the largest port in Scandinavia - 11,000-plus ships pass through per annum, from over 140 global destinations - and a vital manufacturing hub. Situated on the west coast of Sweden and bisected by the soothing azure of the Göta älv river, the city was founded in 1621 by King
Gustavus Adolphus. Nowadays, there’s more fun to be had here than playing Peeping Tom outside a brothel window - whether it’s hopping across the stunning archipelago, going to the fantastic Liseberg amusement park, or popping into a string of art galleries and museums. A myriad of quaint, pastel-coloured wooden houses stand astride cobbled pavements sprouting with tufts of moss. In the backdrop, the slate-green spire of a magnificent 19thcentury stone church dominates the vista like a redwood in a sea of vines. Welcome to Haga, the oldest and most interesting district in Gothenburg, dating back to 1648. It’s WINTER 2018
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wonderfully crammed with specialist clothes and antique shops where you can buy everything from bowler hats and lace dresses (pity they didn’t have my size, in both cases) to rare silver cutlery and art deco furniture. Strolling around, I would never guess this beautiful quarter has had a more drastic makeover than Victoria Beckham post-Spice Girls. Indeed, for much of the 1800s, it was a notorious working class neighbourhood, and in the 1960s a rundown hangout for hardcore hippies. Yet, just 20 years later, buildings were either restored or demolished and replaced by post-modernistic replicas. So take it easy, and soak up the exquisite vibe. And while you do, as this locale is such a smörgåsbord of eclectic coffee outlets, enjoy the Swedish tradition of a fika: a break to have a beverage and a snack with family, buddies or colleagues. Drift back to a time when the Vikings still ruled this domain, with an excursion to the untouched scenery of Gothenburg’s fabulous north and south archipelagos. A staple of many Norse sagas, this chain of dozens of islands appear as dramatic pinpricks of yellow, green and brown caught up in an avalanche of deep blue: the Kattegat sea. The most engaging are accessible by ferry, and each one has a quintessential charm that makes it a pleasureseeker’s dream. Whether it’s Vrångö with its
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“This beautiful quarter has had a more drastic makeover than Victoria Beckham post-Spice Girls” pristine sandy beaches and nature reserve (Ternstigen); Donsö, a bucket list must if one’s into exceptional fishing, hiking or bathing; or Hönö, which contains a plethora of otherworldly (smallish) rock formations that are perfect for bouldering. For the excitement of all the fun of the fair, it’s possible to get a vintage tram – there’s an extensive network of more modern ones, too – along the town’s main drag, Kungsportsavenyen, to the Liseberg amusement park (Örgrytevägen 5, liseberg.com). The amusement park, which opened in 1923, has approximately three million visitors annually. There’s a botanical garden, horror maze, a number of arcade parlours, a host of various shows, and over 30 different rides - the standout being the Balder, a sprawling wooden rollercoaster on which speeds of 90 km/h can be attained. Some things that had the ability to travel even faster are now permanently stationed in the Volvo museum (Arendals Skans, volvomuseum.com). It traces the development of the 1927-created Swedish car - and buses, trucks and other branded commercial vehicles – from the classic models up until the present. Begun in 2007, the metropolis’s yearly LGBT+ super-event, which is an arts and culture festival, is called West Pride (westpride.se). Its vision “is to live in an equitable and inclusive world free from prejudice and discrimination”. To this end, every June their extravaganza – tens of thousands attend - includes concerts, films, readings, parties, workshops, and the colossal Rainbow parade. However, due to its size (population of 570,000 - the second highest in Sweden), to expect this municipality to have a massive gay scene is as logical as thinking that King Kong isn’t big where it counts. Nevertheless, there are some unmissable watering holes and shindigs. LGBT+ - friendly Haket (Första Långgatan 32, linnestaden.nu/Haket) is a cosy pub and eatery – they serve scrumptious grub such as burgers, sandwiches, vegan dishes and even sushi. As well as beer tastings, quizzes and karaoke, this place is ace for a fiddle; no, not that kind, they occasionally have violin performances.
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THIS PAGE FROM TOP: GOTHENBURG CITY CENTRE (PHOTO: WERNER NYSTRAND); CHRISTMAS IN GOTHEBURG (PHOTO: GÖRAN ASSNER); KISSES AT PRIDE, AND UNICORNS AT PRIDE (PHOTOS: SOFIA SABEL)
If you want to shimmy and stomp your feet like never before, rock up to the mixed, non-heterosexual blowout, Club Queer (in the venue Park Lane, Kungsportsavenyen 36, clubqueer.se). Normally held on the last Friday of each month, they gloriously entertain with pop, electronica and Schläger. Alternatively, taking its first name from the 1930s Nordic sex siren that was Garbo, the two-level nightspot Greta’s (Drottninggatan 35, goteborg. com/en/gretas) is just as much of a legend. Inside, amid the wacky sculptures, funky lights and mirror balls, Swedes with features more chiselled than Mount Rushmore get hot and bothered to all kinds of tunes. Though, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To actually start off the evening make a beeline for the restaurant-cum-drinking den, the Bee Kök & Bar (Stora Saluhallen, Kungstorget 13-15, beebar. se).Their dance floor is so tiny it would be filled by a couple of competing sumos. But after a weekend in Gothenburg, the only person I’d be fighting is anyone who told me I had to leave. @ pridelife
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“Swedes with features more chiselled than Mount Rushmore get hot and bothered to all kinds of tunes”
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TRAVEL CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: LISEBERG AMUSEMENT PARK (PHOTO: GÖRAN ASSNER); FIKA (PHOTO: TINA STRÁFEN); KUGGEN BUILDING (PHOTO: SOFIA SABEL)
WAY TO GO GETTING THERE British Airways (britishairways.com) have regular flights to Gothenburg (GOT) from London Heathrow (LHR) and Manchester (MAN). TOURIST INFO goteborg.com/en GAY INFO goteborg.com/en/lgbtq-gothenburg is a decent source for some basic info and facts. TOP TIP Buy a Gothenburg Card (gothenburgpass.com) as it allows FREE entry to over thirty attractions – the Botanical Garden, Liseberg, Universeum Science Centre, the Volvo museum, etc – and a substantial saving on others. It’s Available in 1, 2, 3 (cost 695 Swedish krona - about £58) or 5-day options, with another of its benefits being a free hop-on and hop-off bus tour.
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Love wins, la
Let Piemonte surprise you with its extraordinary heritage of culture, history and tradition. Start your visit in the charming city of Torino, the first capital of Italy, rich of art and cultural events. Then, discover the immense offer of Piemonte, from mountains to lakes, through rolling hills and evocative towns and villages. Relish Piemonte through its renowned cuisine and unique wine tradition and enjoy
Powered by
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s, landscapes inspire.
its outstanding nature and enchanting landscapes! Friendly Piemonte warmly welcomes all LGBT tourists and ensures you have the best
Thanks to committed professionals and travel experts, the great tourist offer of the region is now enriched with beautiful rainbow colours.
www.dalidea.com
travel experience in Torino and Piemonte.
know more on www.rainbowitaly.travel www.friendlypiemonte.it
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SPONSORED FEATURE
THE MAGIC OF PIEDMONT FROM BUSTLING BAROQUE TOWNS TO SOFTLY ROLLING VERDANT HILLS, AND FROM CRYSTALCLEAR LAKES TO THE SNOW-CAPPED ALPS, THE PIEDMONT REGION IN NORTHWEST ITALY IS A FIRST-CLASS TOURIST DESTINATION
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Y
our journey begins in Turin, the first capital of Italy, steeped in arts, culture and fine cuisine with the best the region has to offer. Sit in a charming historical café in one of the city’s Baroque squares and sip on a vermouth (appropriately enough, Turin was the birthplace of this classic apéritif) before indulging your LGBT+ shopping gene in the city’s legendary 18 kilometres of shopping arcades, showcasing the best in designer clothes and artist stores. Alternatively, visit the Mercato di Porta Palazzo, the biggest outdoor market in Europe with more than 1,000 stalls presenting a mouthwatering selection of the best local food produce, as well as flowers, clothes and household goods. Art and culture lovers won’t be disappointed CLOCKWISE: DRAG IN MONTAN; QUEEVER DANCE CLUB IN TURIN; LAKE MAGGIORE
either with Turin’s 80-plus must-see museums, including the Museo Egizio, or Egyptian Museum, the world’s most important collection of Egyptian artefacts outside of Egypt, and the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Castello di Rivoli, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which includes works by greats such as Tillmans, Emin and Newton. It’s no wonder that Turin, birthplace of the Fiat, is home to the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, with its dazzling collection of over 200 cars, everything from an 1892 Peugeot to a 1980 Ferrari 308. And for fans of the beautiful game, the Juventus Museum is a multimedia celebration of the football club’s history and triumphs. One of the most LGBT+ welcoming cities in Italy, Turin plays host to major LGBT+ events, such as the Lovers LGBT+ Film Festival, and the annual Pride Parade. You will find a lively LGBT+-friendly nightlife here, especially around the Quadrilatero district, in the city centre Should the pace of city life prove too much, the Italian Lakes are just a short journey away. Famed for its beauty and mild weather, Lake Maggiore is the second largest lake in Italy and is bordered by pretty manors which have been turned into welcoming hotels and B&Bs. Lake Orta, surrounded by lush green woodlands, is the perfect place for a romantic getaway and for exploring the charming Orta San Giulio village, with its local craft shops and delicatessens lining the narrow winding streets and steep stairways leading up to beautiful Baroque churches. WINTER 2018
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“The Lake District is a well-known international same-sex wedding location” It’s no great surprise that the Lake District is a well-known international same-sex wedding location. Stretching as far as the eye can see, the rich wine-growing areas of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato are an UNESCO World Heritage site. Over 43,000 hectares of vineyards produce some of the finest quality wines in the world just as they have been doing for centuries, and many of its hamlets, castles and wine cellars are open for wine and gourmet tastings. While you’re there, don’t miss the chance to savour the delicious Alba white truffle, the “white gold” of the Piedmont region, or treat yourself to a handful of Piedmont hazelnuts, so prized that they have been awarded a protected geographical status. And if you want to work off all that fine wining and gourmet dining, then the pristine slopes of the Alps are the perfect place for lovers of winter sports, with a huge variety of skiing opportunities for all levels from beginners to competitive skiers, and snowboarders to crosscountry ski lovers.
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TRAVEL
TOO GAY, TOO
SITGES CAN A HOLIDAY DESTINATION EVER BE TOO GAY? STEPHEN FURNESS VISITS SITGES PRIDE TO FIND OUT
“I
heard the drag queens there are f**king rough,” says Jordi, my bit of rough on this stretch of the Spanish Med and one of those people who doesn’t “do” gay places (apropos of which don’t get me f**king started). “But then I’ve not been to Sitges since I was a kid.” Don’t know about you, but places you haven’t been to since you were knee-high to a pop sock tend to shift in one’s consciousness as you reach adulthood – I mean, Lytham St Annes was the epitome of glamour for me circa 1989 and that was before I knew Les Dawson lived there in a dormer bungalow. “I mean, it’s just too gay!” Sitges – just 25 short miles south of Barcelona and much handier for the airport – has had a lot of fake news thrown at it over the years. Jordi – 078
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who lived in London for 15 years before legging it back to his homeland (like many) with the Brexit funk, would come out in welts at the whiff of the Old Compton Street outpost of Patisserie Valerie, let alone XXL, so his self-loathing (God, I hope he’s not reading this) can be taken with a pinch of chorizo – but it is an accusation that is thrown at the town with startling regularity. First off, they say “too gay” like it’s a bad thing. Secondly, let’s look at the evidence. A very pretty town with very decent beaches served by a very regular direct train from Spain’s second city/ Catalonia’s first/ that’s a whole other bag of “Spanish for worms” - with at least three decent beaches straddled by bar after bistro after chiringuito - is going to be quite the lure, regardless of whether you’re L, G, B, T, + or undecided. @ pridelife
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CLOCKWISE: POOL AT THE ME SITGES TERRAMAR; SITGES PRIDE; BEACH AT SITGES; SITGES PRIDE; ME SITGES TERRAMAR
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“They say ‘too gay’ like it’s a bad thing. Let’s look at the evidence”
And, if word count would allow it, I’d go into one on the whole anthropological/ self-loathing/ homophobia-lite side of things, but just imagine the memes of disbelief were a person of colour to describe somewhere as “just too black”. I rest my Louis Vuitton case, m’lud. Then there’s the “scene” which is pretty much everywhere, especially during the summer and especially in every food/ drink establishment along the front, and especially in and around Pic Nic (Passeig Marítim, restaurantpicnic.com), the fairly decent lunch spot that straddles the main gay beach. The other gay beach is a few minutes north of the church (everyone knows the church) and has a sweet chiringuito selling very cheap plonk, while there’s a third, ahem, naughtier one just past the new ME hotel, more on that later. (The hotel, not the naughty beach. This is a family show.) Then there are the gay bars proper, over in the “village” (head for Plaça Indústria), including Parrots, Carousel, Summer Lounge and (one for the cruisier among us) Bunker. Then there’s Sitges Pride, which is, in fact, more of a festival. A rambunctious, sometimes trashy (like that’s a bad thing), always fun, oft times silly, definitely attitude-free one that lasts for four days in the middle of June and takes over the most popular stretch of the promenade that runs alongside Passeig Marítim, with a main stage at its core and stalls and pop-up bars and other gay-related paraphernalia peppered about. And your entertainment runs the gamut from good (Boney M headlined this year, even though it was half-way through their set before we realised they weren’t in fact a tribute act) to, well, tribute acts, to ropey old drag queens. Like ropey is a bad thing. The parade, which is normally on the Sunday of said four-day mash-up, is remarkable for all the right reasons, with effort and imagination that many a capital city’s Pride lacks. Pretty much every bar/ restaurant/ dog worth its salt gets involved, with float after float fit to bursting with topless boys/ lip-syncing drag queens/ dogs in comedy bowties, enough to WINTER 2018
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create a good kilometre-long rainbow sea. Kicking off around 4pm, the mammoth street party – for that’s what it is or certainly becomes about ten minutes in – then segues into an allnighter, whether it’s up here on the promenade, down there on the beach, or up into town, in and around the gay bars. But there was always something missing with Sitges, and that was somewhere decent to stay. Airbnb’s aside – and finding one of those that doesn’t look like a serial killer’s pad is a feat in itself – there just wasn’t anywhere that came close to sophisticated. Until ME Sitges Terramar opened, that is (Passeig Marítim, 80, tinyurl.com/ycjqubds). Its big reveal in June was a breath of fresh, glamorous, boutique-y air, though it’s a bit too big to fit into the boutique category. A pool circled by breezy cabanas, outsize art on the walls, all the white-on-white you can manage and a restaurant that’s a (very) good alternative to the one everyone’s always trying to get into (Alfresco, Carrer d’en Pau Barrabeig, 4, alfrescorestaurante.es) and you have a hotel that, bingo!, is the (very) best in town. Sure, being at the far end of Passeig Marítim makes it a 20-minute schlepp to where you want to be, if you’re walking, so take the dinky train that runs in a loop along the sea front. It’s called the Ting Ting, it’s pennypricewise, is just as cute as it sounds – and was probably named by a gay man. In conclusion, dear reader, there’s just no such thing as too gay.
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WAY TO GO TOURIST INFO: visitsitges.com/en SITGES GAY PRIDE 1 – 10 JUNE 2019 gaysitgespride.com
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SPONSORED FEATURE
W E N E TH F O E V A W Y A U Q W NE RF F U E L L E D S U RID E E IN L A N E R P W AY S T O A D CO RN WA L L A T F E O G E M IC O T H N A HE F RO M RO M H IG H FO R T IS E ID T E H T S E S S IO N S ,
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T
he stunning seaside town of Newquay in Cornwall with its seven sensational beaches is going through a tipping-point moment with a whole raft of new and exciting businesses popping up doing great things. Whilst the summers are the most popular months for tourists, out-ofseason is ideal for romantic getaways in a relaxed environment where you get to experience the tranquillity of the vast and sweeping beaches. Quite recently it was also announced as the home to Spaceport Cornwall, received “plastic free” status, and celebrated its 10th anniversary of Cornwall Pride – it’s safe to say that if the town isn’t on your radar, it should be. Although the town has accommodation options for everyone, head to the Atlantic Hotel to spoil yourself in luxury from the moment you step inside the 125-year-old hotel. Harrods of London famously designed and furnished the cocktail lounge in 1935 and, although the hotel has received upgrades in later years, it still remains as stylish, chic and grandiose as it was back then. The extravagant rooms showcase mesmerising views of the Atlantic Ocean on either your own private balcony or through panoramic bay windows, complete with the option of glasses of champagne or your favourite cocktail to accompany the experience. Some of the rooms also
have stand-alone roll-top baths perfect for soaking in your favourite oils after a windswept walk on the coastal path or an adrenaline-fuelled surf lesson. The AA Rosette Award-winning Silks Bistro and Champagne Bar serves luscious meals and drinks throughout the day or guests can venture out to try award-winning eateries such as Harbour Fish and Grill, serving premium food with stunning sea views, before continuing into town for a specialist cocktail at the cool and quirky cocktail bar Tom Thumb. The LGBT+ community has been growing in the past few years and Newquay is now host to Cornwall Pride for the third year running, led by Matthew Kenworthy Gomes, John Burbridge, Nathaniel Kenworthy Gomes, Toby Best and Jamie Hudson. Founded in 2008, Cornwall Pride has grown bigger and better every year and is now a happening and not-to-be-missed event with visitors travelling from near and far to take part. Roger Taylor, the drummer of Queen, is the official patron of Cornwall Pride and, in addition to the high-spirited parade through town, there are also ticketed parties, live entertainment throughout the day and discounted prices in many of the town’s businesses. The date set for Cornwall Pride in 2019 is Saturday 24 August and you can reach the town by train, car or one of Newquay airport’s four daily flights direct to and from London.
“If the town isn’t on your radar, it should be”
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SPONSORED FEATURE CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: CORNWALL PRIDE; ATLANTIC HOTEL; ATLANTIC HOTEL; TOM THUMB; FISTRAL BEACH; CORNISH COAST; ATLANTIC HOTEL; CORNISH COAST; TOM THUMB
WAY TO GO ACCOMMODATION The Atlantic Hotel 1 Dane Rd, TR7 1EN atlantichotelnewquay.co.uk NIGHTLIFE Tom Thumb 27A East St, TR7 1DN tom-thumb.co.uk Harbour Fish and Grill N Quay Hill, TR7 1HF theharbourfishandgrill.com GAY INFO Cornwall Pride cornwallpride.org Love Newquay lovenqy.com
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Dolly!
WELL, HELLO,
FORCED TO FLEE FLORIDA AT THE START OF THEIR HONEYMOON, MATT NEWBURY AND HIS NEW HUSBAND ENDED UP SPENDING AN UNEXPECTED HOLIDAY IN THE HOMETOWN OF THE QUEEN OF COUNTRY
I
’m sure most other gay people will agree with me that Alabama isn’t the first place you’d choose to start a honeymoon with your new same-sex husband. It’s not exactly a state noted for welcoming diversity and advocating progressive thinking. Even their school biology textbooks are required to have a disclaimer stating that evolution is a “controversial theory, not fact” and that students should consider “unanswered questions” about the origins of life. Alabama is full-on Trumpsupporting/ Bible Belt/ Footloose country and yet we did indeed start our honeymoon there. I should make it clear, this wasn’t out of THIS PAGE: WILD EAGLE DRIVE AT DOLLYWOOD; FACING PAGE: DREAM MORE RESORT AT DOLLYWOOD
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choice, but the result of a series of unfortunate events that some of the pastors around those parts would love to use in one of their fire and brimstone sermons. You see, as we were packing our cases to leave for our honeymoon in the Bahamas (we’d planned to go to that little island from the Expedia advert where you can swim with pigs) we heard news of a hurricane causing devastation in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. And the Category Two hurricane was heading for the Bahamas and the Florida coast. Not a good thing to hear when you are about to board a plane for Orlando. Now, I’ve spent years making fun of religious fanatics and rogue UKIP candidates who have blamed extreme weather on gay marriage. After all, you never see Soho or The Castro or Sitges or Brighton flooding; although I do apologise if that suddenly happens before we go to print. However, the last thing I saw on my mobile phone before switching to flight mode was Hurricane Matthew (yes, a Category Five hurricane with my actual name…) heading right for our holiday destination. Arriving in Orlando we were advised to evacuate. Or if we really wanted to stay in the hotel we would need to sign a lengthy disclaimer and baton down the hatches. They even advised us to fill a bath tub with ice and water to keep food fresh for as long as possible, as power was likely to be lost, every store would be closed and we might not be able to get any supplies for days. Even the Walt Disney World resorts were closing, which had only happened at the theme parks four times since Disney World first opened in 1971 (and all for hurricane-related weather). Note: Hurricane Irma actually forced it to close for the second consecutive year last September, suggesting that Trump’s climate change denial is as intelligent as most of his other policies. @ pridelife
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After watching the news and seeing the hurricane batter the actual hotel we were supposed to be staying at in Nassau, with most of the guests being forced to take shelter in the hotel’s ballroom, we decided to hire a car and get the hell out of Dodge. Well, Kissimmee, actually and not quite as fast as we would have liked. While there are actual hurricane routes out of Florida, when two and a half million other people have the same idea, the interstate resembles something from a particularly slowmoving young adult dystopian drama, with refugees in overpacked cars all stuck in a queue. The other thing that happens when people are evacuating a state is that every hotel in the neighbouring states starts to fill up. So, when we finally reached Georgia, there was no room in the inn (either Holiday, Days, Fiesta or otherwise). The nearest place we could find with vacancies on any accommodation apps was in town called Summerville, on the border of Alabama. And hence how we started our honeymoon with a redneck proprietor telling us he only had one bed left and making a joke about putting pillows between us in case anything accidentally happened. I’d have usually walked out, but I was monumentally tired and desperate for a bed. Alabama is spectacularly beautiful, with the warm southern hospitality working in direct contrast to the undercurrent of bigotry that apparently exists. Not that we saw a single sign of it. People just loved our accents and demonstrated an alarming lack of world geography in equal measure. And we loved their accents too. We visited a charming artist community called Menton and swam in an amazing water hole called DeSoto Falls. That evening we headed to a local diner in Summerville called Jim’s Family Restaurant, where the entire menu was fried. It’s the sort
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TRAVEL
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of place the entire Walton Family would make their way down from the mountain for their annual family feast. It also had one of the best Trip Advisor reviews I have ever read: “I’m never going here again, they have banned guns. I’m not eating in a place where I can’t protect my family.” She had a point. What sort of family restaurant doesn’t let you pack weapons, just in case there’s a shootout over the size of the fried chicken wings? It was while sitting there, eating something called fried Hushpuppies (neither the waitress nor anyone else in the restaurant could tell us what the mysterious fried balls were made from) that a plan began to hatch. The young girl serving us sounded a bit like Dolly Parton. The country singer has a theme park called Dollywood. We had always joked we were going to get married in Dollywood. Okay, then let’s go there for our honeymoon. Dolly Parton loves the gays and we love country music. And rollercoasters. Yeehaw! So, the next day we made the 180-mile drive to Pigeon Forge in Tennessee, via Chattanooga and actually following the route of the famous choochoo. It’s a stunning drive through some gorgeous countryside that has inspired endless country songs. There were charming towns, attractive farms, trees turning to autumnal hues and so very many churches. And the only thing spoiling all that beautiful nature as we climbed towards the Smokey Mountains were frequent signs with bible quotes or ominous warnings: “Hell! You’d Forgotten About That, Hadn’t You!” Arriving in Pigeon Forge where Dollywood is based, was a bit surprising. The tiny village we were expecting (made up of saw mills and rustic shacks and rocky creeks where entire families bathed), turned out to be a country music version of Vegas. We were met with chain hotels and attractions including The Hollywood Wax Museum (with a huge King Kong climbing a skyscraper) and The Titanic Museum, featuring a replica of the ship you could explore. Fortunately we’d booked to stay in a romantic mountain lodge in nearby Wear Valley, right out in the sticks and properly in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. And much closer to what a lifetime of Dolly Parton lyrics had promised. “A Love Nest Cabin” was charming and rustic, with a four-poster bed and fireplace in the lounge and a hot tub on the wooden deck. It oozed country charm, with a framed welcome photo from Dolly on the wall (we think the owners may have faked her writing and signature) and the warnings about black bears just adding to the rural charm. It also proved to be the perfect base to both dip into the touristy fun of Pigeon Forge and the far more authentic and charming scenery of the Smokey Mountains we’d been expecting. Obviously our first expedition needed to be Dollywood itself and the reason why the area is such a tourism mecca. And I’m delighted to report it was as camp and fun and cheesy and ridiculous as you might hope. It’s a theme park recreation of an idyll that may or may not have ever existed, with shows and rides and the chance to see Dolly’s clothes and even explore her tour bus. The rollercoasters are also
unexpectedly impressive as well. Our visit also coincided with the Southern Gospel Jubilee, which meant we were surrounded by perfectly branded families of country music singers, with matching cowboy shirts and glistening white teeth and CDs to sell. Our evenings were spent venturing into town to enjoy some amazingly cheesy shows. One highlight was Dolly’s Lumberjack Adventure, where the audience were divided to support one of two rival lumberjack families, who proceeded to compete in a range of logging challenges. With a Dolly Parton soundtrack, they chopped logs and climbed trees and danced and sang before the grand finale, when the floor was rolled back to reveal a pool and the daring lumberjacks took part in a log rolling contest. And all while we were being served home-style chicken and mash and the teetotal family at our table glared as we ordered more beers. We also visited the Smoky Mountain Opry, a country music and variety show, which may very well be the campest stage show we have ever seen. It was like the world’s most outrageous am-dram director had been given an unlimited budget, featuring flying musicians, burning pianos, a flooding stage, doves flying over our heads and real lions and tigers during a Lion King tribute not cool, we know. However, it was during a ‘We Love America’ section of the show, where things really started losing the plot. Everyone stood up
“It was as camp and fun and cheesy and ridiculous as you might hope”
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and put their hands on their hearts (we thought we might be shot if we didn’t join in) while waving US flags and red, white and blue light sticks. We mimed along to the medley of patriotic songs (pretending we knew the words) while lasers and pyrotechnics lit up the stage. Dinner shows aside, the real highlight of our unexpected honeymoon was exploring the incredible countryside where Dolly grew up. Dollywood has a replica of the one-room cabin where the singer grew up, but we went on a mission to Locust Ridge to find her real childhood home. Things didn’t go quite as planned as we found ourselves being chased up a dirt track by the present owner and his dog, like something out of Deliverance. It didn’t stop us from taking a Dolly Dip in the creek where she used to swim as a child, obviously singing Islands in the Stream as we did. By far our favourite day out was a hike to Abrams Falls, which is located in the 11-mile historical Cades Cove loop drive. Along the way you are able to visit preserved homesteads and enjoy stunning views of the mountains. It’s was then a 2.5-mile hike to the falls, while keeping an eye out for black bears, ground hogs, coyotes, skunks and raccoons. Swimming at the falls was idyllic and could easily have inspired me to write a country song of my own. Walking back through this country paradise, we mused on what an unexpected honeymoon this has turned out to be and we couldn’t have planned it any better. Thanks, Dolly Parton. And Hurricane Matthew. Sometimes it’s good to go to wherever the wind takes you. Go to dollywood.com
TAKING A DOLLY DIP
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TRAVEL CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: WILD EAGLE DRIVE AT DOLLYWOOD; DREAM MORE RESORT AT DOLLYWOOD; DOLLY’S CABIN AT DOLLYWOOD
“Let’s go to Dollywood for our honeymoon. Dolly Parton loves the gays and we love country music. And rollercoasters. Yeehaw!” WINTER 2018
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Restore, relax and cherish your body surrounded by Sri Lanka’s natural beauty Offering a warm welcome and a retreat to really relax into, the Sen Wellness Sanctuary is the perfect retreat for those seeking to get away from it all and immerse themselves in the restorative benefits of nature. Nestled between a lagoon and the sea on the southern Sri Lankan coast, the Sanctuary building frames views of the tree tops and the lush nature reserve around it. The stylish minimal architecture invites a feeling of spaciousness and light as well as offering many quiet communal spaces, perfect for reading or relaxing in-between treatments. Offering an authentic retreat to balance a busy modern life, everything at the Sanctuary is directed towards a renewed connection with self. Deep relaxation, rest and a digital detox are encouraged. Take yourself for undisturbed walks along the idyllic undeveloped sandy beach without any crowds to discover the beauty and serenity of having it all to yourself. Built with respect for the natural surroundings and land, the Cabanas are reached by a raised wooden walkway that offers glimpses amongst the trees of a rich array of birds and wildlife. The comfortable rooms are artfully furnished with natural materials and locally crafted items. Visiting this tucked-away haven you can experience Ayurveda, yoga, meditation and spiritual enrichment, with a team of expert practitioners. The friendly and caring staff offer a warm and hospitable welcome at this 12 room resort which takes pride in its personal atmosphere and individualised treatment plans.
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The Ayurveda treatments at the Sanctuary are a core part of your retreat and wellness plan. The onsite Doctor does a diagnosis in consultation and prescribes a healing treatment plan that meets your personal health goals. Treatments includes oil and herbal massages, steam and body treatments as well as daily supplements and medications for those on longer stays. Mornings are spent in your robe as you blissfully move between treatment rooms to receive careful attention to your wellbeing. The holistic and transformative wellness programmes at the Sanctuary go beyond Ayurveda and daily Yoga to include mindfulness. Programmes include regular meditations with a visiting Buddhist monk, more in depth one-to-one yoga and meditation, and sound healing and gong baths for deep relaxation and energy clearing. A weekly schedule of local excursions are included in your stay and perfect for those afternoons you have free time. There are trips to the local market and a wonderful Buddhist rock temple as well as activities on site such as turtle watching on the beach and boat rides on the lagoon. Mealtimes are communal and food is vegetarian, with occasional locally caught fish offered on the side. Ingredients are locally sourced from the market and produce is field fresh and full of vitality. Everything is prepared with love and care in a Sri Lankan home style kitchen, and the meals feature the best of local cooking with delicious flavours all prepared to support the Ayurvedic programme. Fresh herbal teas are prepared daily and a King coconut is offered for optimal hydration after morning yoga. Genuinely nourishing, with very little wheat and dairy, the vibrant menu at the Sanctuary will support better health whilst being enjoyable. You will feel healthier, lighter and inspired by the ingredients. The kitchen opens up to guests offering cookery classes two afternoons a week.
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Discover Sri Lanka’s most welcoming and authentic retreat for relaxation and wellness.
Bespoke retreats run all through the year and Signature retreats are seasonal events which run for specified dates and durations. Bespoke retreats allow guests to arrive and have their wellness programme to dates and durations that best suit them. Signature retreats are a programme designed as a wellbeing journey, in keeping with the natural flow of the season, that bring together a group of guests, for ceremonies, group work and a spiritual focus. An International and multi-disciplinary team of practitioners work on these retreats who bring with them expertise in holistic therapies. Hosted by founder Sam Kankanamge, a renowned London Osteopath, Signature retreats include personal treatment sessions with Sam and additional support in pre and/or post retreat care.
To find out more about retreats at the Sen Wellness Sanctuary visit:
senwellnesssanctuary.com info@senwellnesssanctuary.com | 020 7486 3373
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LOVE in Slovenia ENJOYING SLOVENIA’S ANNUAL LGBT PINK WEEK, CARY GEE IS ENCHANTED BY THE COUNTRY THAT GOD GAVE AWAY
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PICTURE: ONTARIO TOURISM
Feeling the
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PICTURE: ONTARIO TOURISM
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“W
hen God created the world, he kept the most beautiful bit for himself,” our guide to Slovenia tells us. “And then God realised he had forgotten the people here, and so he gave it to us instead.” Wherever you go in the world, local people like to spin a similar yarn, and yet, here on the shores of Lake Bohinj (pronounced Bokinge), you could almost believe it’s true. Less crowded than its more famous neighbour Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj is a 5km glacial lake, located in the Trigva national park. Surrounded by forest, which offers camping right on the shores of the lake, and overlooked by the snow-capped Julian Alps, you can almost hear the sound of the violins that Stradivari made from wood he collected in the forest as you glide silently in a tourist boat across the crystal clear waters. The precipitous valley rises on all sides, but no view is more startling than the triple peaks of Mount Triglav, as seen on the Slovenian flag. It’s probably a wonderful hike up the mountain, but for those lacking time, or will, or the right shoes, don’t panic. Take the Vogel cable car ride to the ski hotel instead. It’s an exhilarating five minutes that afford magnificent views of the mountains reflected in the lake below. Even more fun is the stomach churning, rollercoaster whoosh back down afterwards! Although when I visited it was late May and the snows had mostly melted into the lake, I was assured that skiers were enjoying the slopes just a few weeks
previously - and at considerably less cost than in neighbouring Italy and Austria. After lunching on an utterly delicious sausage and barley stew we were driven through an enchanting landscape - from our minibus we could actually see trout swimming in the bluegreen streams below - to make the famous Bohinj cheese in a tradition that dates back centuries. I’m not sure who thought it would be a good idea to invite a dozen gay men (and one woman) to churn their own butter and cheese, but the afternoon, spent with the delightful Anica (of the Gartner Farm Stay) is an absolute scream, and the end result deliciously aromatic and spicy. It also provides a surprisingly good upper-body workout. Fun, “farm games” and a BBQ are enjoyed on welcoming local Ranch Mrcina, and we even got to make our own scarecrow - I trust the poor chap we dressed has finally removed the straw from his underwear – then it was all back to our “eco” hotel for a spin in its very own bowling alleys. There’s also a water park although sadly the outdoor pool and slide was closed when we stayed there. Despite the fact that we are definitely “not in Kansas anymore” we receive a warm welcome wherever we go. No one bats an eyelash at the sight of more gays than they’ve probably ever seen before converging upon their restaurant/ bar/ mountain. Back in our time machine, we are teleported to Disneyland, or at least to Lake Bled. If you’ve seen one photograph of Slovenia, it’s likely to be
of Bled. After a tour of Bled Castle, which nestles eyrie-like atop a vertiginous bluff and offers simply astonishing and ever-changing views of the luminous lake below, (the excellent local sparkling wine and honey I bought in the castle gift shop was much appreciated) we take a trip to Bled Island (the only island in Slovenia) in a flat bottomed Pletna boat. Sheltered from the sun by a candy-striped awning we are rowed to the island by a chap who appears to have been rowing standing-up for centuries at least. Climb the 99 steps to the Church of the Assumption and make a wish as you ring on the Wishing Bell, then enjoy a slice of Potica cake. Made with walnuts and served with heartstopping amounts of cream it’s Melania Trump’s favourite taste of home. Breathtakingly beautiful Lake Bled, (and Bled Island) has to be seen, well, just because it’s there. Slovenia has more than glacial lakes. It also boasts a short coastline. Picturesque Piran (Pirano if you’re Italian) is located on the tip of a narrow peninsula from where you can see Croatia, Austria and Italy. One of the best preserved towns on the Adriatic coast Piran, much quieter than neighbouring Portoroz, with its crowded beach and sparkly casinos, is a gem of Venetian Gothic architecture, narrow alleys, fishing boats, and a daily market, which takes place beneath the statuesque gaze of Piran’s most celebrated resident, Italian violin virtuoso Guiseppe Tartini. After the forests, lakes, and mountains of Slovenia, the coast comes as FLAT-BOTTOMED PLETNA BOATS ON LAKE BLED
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TRAVEL SLOVENIANS SAY THAT GOD GAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PART OF THE WORLD TO THEM
something of a surprise, albeit a very welcome one. What better way to cool down than with a cold Slovenian beer and a dish of freshly netted sardines in a harbourside tavern? Despite its apparent rush to modernity and liberalism you never actually feel hurried in Slovenia. This is equally true of capital Ljubljana. With a population of just 300,000 it is like the best of a bigger city with all the boring bits removed. What you are left with is essentially one long café terrace that cuts through the city either side of the peculiarly green waters of the Ljublianica river. Of course, having made the absolute most of an afternoon sampling the varied, uniformly excellent and remarkably reasonably priced Slovenian wines, I may not be the most reliable witness! For the more adventurous there is Klub Tiffany (tinyurl.com/ycewxpsw), Ljubljana’s no frills gay nightclub. Reminiscent of any small town club Tiffany is devoid of all non-essentials. Located in the Metelkova Mesto, a former
“Hang out in the central courtyard, where you are as likely to be offered a spliff as someone’s telephone number” military barracks that is now a sprawling squat cum cultural hub and home to a number of alternative nightspots you come to drink beer, meet new friends, and dance to decidedly oldschool music. Or to hang out in the central courtyard, where you are as likely to be offered a spliff as someone’s telephone number. It reminded me very much of evenings lost long WINTER 2018
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ago in Copenhagen’s Freetown Christiana. Our trip, organised by the lovely Mattejs of Slovenia’s annual Pink Week ended in the altogether more formal surroundings of the Dragon Ball, held, once again, in the 12th century castle which overlooks the city, and which, for this evening at least, has been illuminated in pink, so that the whole city knows the queers have come to visit. As we embarked from the funicular railway the great, the good, and the merely famous (in Slovenia) welcomed us onto a “pink carpet” rolled out in our honour. An unforgettable moment among many enjoyed in this most welcoming, LGBT-friendly republic. There really is a reason why Slovenia, the only country from the former Yugoslavia to have equal marriage rights, is also the only country in the world which boasts the word “love” in its name. Go to: pinkweek.eu All pictures by Cary Gee
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TRAVEL
Swiss DELIGHT
PICTURE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
FROM NARROW COBBLED STREETS AND OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD TECH TO KITSCH LGBT+ BARS AND THE BIGGEST FOUNTAIN IN SWITZERLAND, XAV JUDD FINDS GENEVA AN UNEXPECTED DELIGHT
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he first thing that comes to mind when most people consider Geneva is that it’s a major financial hub and a renowned centre of international diplomacy. In truth, however noble the latter may be, neither of these two attributes would put Switzerland’s second largest city in terms of population (195,000), on the average person’s bucket list. Yet, when one digs a little deeper, you find a place that’s a fascinating melange of bars, restaurants and cafés; quirky neighbourhoods and idyllic areas; and museums and galleries. Although Geneva, which is actually split into eight districts (quartiers), can trace its roots back to Roman times, the oldest private residence in the metropolis is Maison Tavel (Rue du PuitsSaint-Pierre 6). Initially fabricated in the 1100s but rebuilt after it was devastated by a fire in 1334, it’s now the engaging Museum of Urban History and Daily Life. This five-floored venue opens up a window into the past through a smorgasbord of exhibits and original objects from the medieval era up until the nineteenth century: maps, paintings, furniture, and even the blade of a guillotine. Notwithstanding, maybe the highlight is on the third level, the Magnin relief- a stunning, mid-1800s, 3D model of the cityscape. Just a 10-minute stroll away, so also in Old Town (Vieille Ville) – a charming milieu of snaking cobbled roads and picturesque squares lined with antique dealers, galleries and taverns – is the impressive Cathédrale St-Pierre. Situated at Place du Bourgde-Four 24 (cathedrale-geneve.ch), as well as having a Neo-Classical main façade, this 12thcentury-constructed edifice is blessed with a slategreen spire that’s so imposing, it looks like it’s trying to crack through the heavens. The cultural significance of this temple cannot be overstated, due to the fact that John Calvin used it (and the small next-door chapel) as a HQ to expand the Protestant Reformation. In the basement, there’s
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a must-see archaeological site that illustrates (using models, graphics, and audiovisual displays) how Christianity developed in this region, being that it contains the remains of various preceding churches - the earliest one dates back to the 4th century AD. Of particular note down here are Roman ruins, monk’s cells and an amazing Allobrogian tomb. As Geneva is on the northern shore of the lake it gave its name to (also known as Lac Léman), you’d be as crazy as a department store that hired a kleptomaniac as a security guard if you didn’t have a stab at several water-based activities. Of course, there are the usual suspects: kayaking, swimming, tubing, wakeboarding and windsurfing, etc. Nonetheless, top of the list and perhaps the ultimate in relaxation is to go boating in the dizzyingly blue calm of the aforementioned liquid expanse (genevaboats. com). Fish for trout, pike and perch or hire another type of vessel (from the same company) and sail, yacht or cruise – a 3-hour trip along the river Rhone past enchanting historic villages is to-die-for. To glimpse the same scenery from a different vantage point, it’s possible to glide through the skies in an air balloon (ballons-duleman.ch). The wind will ruffle your hair as one
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races up to 2500 metres in a 60-minute Discovery Flight, and, as you are in an open basket with a 360° view, expect to see a striking collage of rivers, villages and even mountains. Yes, the Swiss Alps are merely about an hour’s drive away, giving one an opportunity to take an excursion to the über-ski resort Chamonix (chamonix.net). As well as hurtling over the immaculate piste, try canyoning, dog sledding, hiking, horse riding and snowshoeing. In 1815, Geneva finally joined the Swiss Confederation. Partly as a celebration of the 600-year formation of that entity, which was a precursor of the modern state, Jet d’Eau (Quai Gustave-Ador) was erected in the Lac Léman district in the 1890s. To suggest that it’s simply a water fountain is like saying a great white shark is only a fish; this mega-super spurter shoots 500 litres of liquid per second up to an altitude of 140 metres. Nearly just as much of a spectacle can be observed in Quartier des Grottes, where there are a number of irregularly- fashioned residential properties, “les Schtroumpfs” (1982-1984), that are emblazoned with such an amount of colour they wouldn’t look out of place in a remake of The Wizard of Oz (1939). About a ten-minute tube journey away is the quintessentially, quaint quad, Plaine de Plainpalais. Grab a Felsenau Bärni, a Quöllfrisch or a Schützengarten (Swiss beers) then sit back and relax, as this diamondshaped parade is dotted with a slew of eclectic, cosy bars – Le Ferblanterie, L’Etabli, Barbershop and so forth. This area is also bustling because it serves as a farmers’ and then a flea market, every Saturday and Sunday respectively. In a world that seems more troubled than ever, Geneva is the headquarters of a couple of important global organisations that are attempting to tackle humanitarian crises. Firstly, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement showcases the valuable work it does
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in its thought-provoking museum (Avenue de la Paix 17, redcrossmuseum.ch). A standout is the permanent exhibition, whose trio of sections Defending Human Dignity, Reducing Natural Risks, and Restoring Family Links – draw attention to some of the gravest challenges facing society. Also of interest is ‘On the Spot’, which demonstrates this public-spirited body’s current campaigns and operations. Secondly, literally a meander halfway into the adjacent Ariana Park, another unique experience is to be had in the United Nations building, Palais des Nations (unog.ch). Constructed in 1925 in a classical style, a tour inside this sandy-shaded limestone behemoth – it’s 600 metres long and has over 2,800 offices – includes: the extraordinary José Sert-muraled Council Chamber, where many crucial negotiations have occurred in the past; the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room; and the bronzedoored, bas-relief-decorated, 2000-seater Assembly Hall. When it comes to LGBT+ rights, traditionally Switzerland is one of the most liberal countries on earth: same-sex acts between adults have been legal since the early 1940s, and the age of consent was equalised in 1992. Nevertheless, it’s fair to say that, in respect of a gay scene, Geneva can’t rival a bigger metropolis. But there are one or two worthwhile venues. Although it’s slightly on the wrong side of kitsch – envisage mirror balls, overbearingly glitzy lighting and plastic palm trees – Le Déclic (Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 28, ledeclic.ch) is still an interesting experience. The oldest non-heterosexual bar in town, its garrulous 20 to 40 crowd guarantee that there’s a friendly atmosphere. Don’t miss their croonyour-heart-out karaoke nights every Friday or a beverage list that’s got over 120 tipples. Indeed,
you’ll have an “Obsession” with their “Pom Pom Boys” despite it being “Tabou”, to name three of the most exotic cocktails. With vermilion walls, chandeliers and white sofas, new kid on the block Nathan’s Café (Avenue de Frontenex 34, swissgay.ch/nathan), which also doubles as a saloon, is a welcome addition to the city’s foodie establishments. While, for those of you with a kinky disposition, Cruising Canyon (Rue Dr Alfred-Vincent 15, cruisingcanyon.ch), as the name suggests, is a fetish club where all of one’s fantasies might be fulfilled! Inside a space that amounts to 350m², expect to find a drinking area, maze, cabins and a dark room, etc – they also put on theme parties. If you think the future is now, there’s nothing more out-of-this-world than The European Organisation for Nuclear Research - better known as CERN (Route de Meyrin 385, home. cern). Roughly a half-an-hour tram ride out of town, this institution is famed for housing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). And one can learn all about what is essentially the planet’s most powerful particle accelerator – in effect, it’s a 27-kilometre magnet-containing ring that smashes atoms together at a rate approaching the speed of light – in a free interactive exhibition, Microcosm. Switzerland is renowned for its eponymous watches, with Geneva especially being viewed as a global powerhouse when it comes to trendy, high quality models. The practice of innovation and excellence in this field dates back to the 1500s: Huguenots (French Protestants) escaping from religious oppression, brought their horological talents to what was a burgeoning settlement. A great place to catch sight of this remarkable heritage is the Patek Phillipe museum (Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers 7, patekmuseum.com) - it chronicles the more or WINTER 2018
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less five-century history of the ticker. However, if you do visit, as with the metropolis itself, you’ll be so absorbed that the seconds, minutes and even hours, will slip by in no time at all.
WAY TO GO GETTING THERE Flights from London to Geneva with EasyJet (easyjet.com) from £35 one-way. LOCAL INFO geneve.com 01229 097070 The Geneva Pass can be bought from the Geneva Tourism website (geneve.com) from £20 for a one day ticket. TOP TIP If you stay in a hotel, a youth hostel or at a campsite in the eponymous canton, you are given a Geneva Transport Card. It allows free public transit –buses, trains, trams, and yellow taxi-boats (mouettes), etc. - for the duration of your vacation. WHERE TO STAY La Cour des Augustins Located in the metropolis’ Latin Quarter, in two conjoined 19th-century buildings around an interior courtyard, this four-star boutique is a gem. The forty rooms have a minimalist aesthetic, and there’s also a small wellness centre with sauna and steam facilities, and weights and other exercise equipment. Double rooms from £155 Rue Jean Violette 15, lacourdesaugustins.com
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YouGov is committed to being as diverse as the audience we represent; we select talented people based on merit, and we have created an inclusive environment which supports individuality in all forms. Dare to be dierent, set yourself apart from others, and above all, be yourself.
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Data
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diversity YouGov is an international data and analytics group. Our core offering of opinion data is derived from our highly participative panel of 6 million people worldwide. This panel, like our world, is highly diverse, allowing our surveys to reach and represent the opinions of all individuals.. From our company’s founding, we have been driven by a simple idea: The more people are able to participate in the decisions made by the institutions that serve them, the better those decisions will be. Ensuring the inclusion of varied groups in our panel helps us provide these individuals with an equal opportunity to affect those decisions. The data provided by our panelists powers all of our data offerings, from our syndicated daily brand perception tracker to our planning and segmentation tool to our market-leading quick turnaround service and our custom research. Learn more about our panel and these offerings at yougov.co.uk.
SPONSORED FEATURE CHANTEL LE CARPENTIER
CHANTEL LE CARPENTIER IS THE CHAIR OF BE YOU, YOUGOV’S LGBT+ NETWORK AND BELIEVES THAT THERE IS A STRONG NEED TO HAVE LGBT+ NETWORKS IN ALL BUSINESSES You are the Chair of YouGov’s LGBT+ group. What does the role involve, and what are the objectives of an LGBT+ network? BeYou, YouGov’s LGBT+ network, has three key areas of work: Research, Internal and External. The first is all about making sure we are conducting research for our clients that is mindful of LGBT+ people. For example, making sure that our surveys don’t assume that respondents’ partners are a different gender to them. This not only makes LGBT+ people visible but makes our research and data even better. Internal is all about making our working environment as inclusive as possible; and External is all about promoting ourselves to potential applicants and clients as a diverse and welcoming place to work. My role is about bringing ideas together, organising best practice workshops and facilitating discussion. There is so much talent at YouGov so it’s a real honour and pleasure to be able to work with fellow YouGovers in this way. Apart from being the Chair of YouGov’s LGBT+ group, what is your background and your role with YouGov? My background is both in campaigning and research. I was the first openly gay woman to be President of the Students’ Union at the University of Essex and spent my time campaigning on issues like equal marriage, living wage and university policies relating to trans students. I also played an integral role in the national campaign against the Sun’s page three. Before coming to YouGov, I conducted two qualitative social research projects and had an original research piece on the League of Nations published in an academic journal. I joined YouGov last year as a Graduate Researcher, which is a year-long programme that allows me to work across the departments learning all aspects of research before finding a permanent position in one of the teams. Working with people from different departments has put me in a good position to lead BeYou, knowing most of the staff in the building and having a good working knowledge of what they do.
that we as LGBT+ people, like all other oppressed or minority groups in society, are not naturally always in a position to be able to openly call out activity that is homophobic or transphobic. BeYou is an open forum where issues can be brought up anonymously and has the support of senior members of staff so real change can be made. I think those outside the LGBT+ community in the liberal London bubble can often get complacent and small actions can hurt. LGBT+ networks are needed in all businesses, even in the most inclusive spaces, which I would say YouGov is. The second reason is about empowerment, and I think for a lot of us, once you leave the walls of university life or step into the office door each day, there’s often an unspoken removal of your LGBT+-ness, leaving your gay, trans, bi hat at the door. I think bringing all parts of your identity to work with you each day is powerful – you don’t stop being LGBT+ between the hours of nine and five and why shouldn’t your workplace celebrate all of its staff and do all it can to create an environment reflective of the world that we all wish to see? What activities does the YouGov LGBT+ network take part in – both professionally and socially? We launched in February this year with a presentation of some YouGov research on LGBT+ people’s experience as consumers. It was really well attended and I think it was important to start by showing how LGBT+ issues extend beyond equal marriage and that there really is a business case for companies to engage with and understand LGBT+ people in a meaningful way. Our activities include best practice workshops, open forums and discussion and are all open to allies as well. Socially, we plan to have informal meet-ups outside of the office; I think it’s important to have both a professional and social element so that as a group we can be free to be as open and honest as possible. How important is it to be out at work? It’s very important and that’s not to say that if you’re not out at work that you’re letting the LGBT+ campaign down. It can be hard to be out in even the most inclusive environments. However, being out is still a political act and you serve as a role model to colleagues struggling to
“Bringing all parts of your identity to work with you each day is powerful – you don’t stop being LGBT+ between the hours of nine and five” come out or unsure of their sexuality and/ or gender identity. The closet is not a comfortable place to be, even if it’s lying to colleagues by omission of the fact that you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, identify as a different gender, or that you spent Saturday night dancing to Britney Spears in Heaven in full drag. Just being out and visible at work can make others feel comfortable to be themselves. What positive steps is YouGov taking to promote Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace, especially in regard to LGBT+ employees? Aside from launching our LGBT+ network BeYou this year, YouGov took part in National Inclusion Week where all staff were given lanyards with the Pride colours on as well as hosting activities in the office for all YouGovers to come together. Lanyards can seem tokenistic but there are statistics that show that LGBT+ people are less likely to do well in job interviews, and so telling applicants that this is a place where it’s not only okay to be out but it’s celebrated is a really powerful thing. We are also a Stonewall Diversity Champion and this framework aids us in ensuring that we are working towards becoming the most diverse and inclusive employer possible.
Why is there a need for an LGBT+ network in the workplace? I think there are two broad reasons that we need LGBT+ networks in the workplace. The first is 102
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FROM BREATH-TAKING NATURAL WONDERS TO BUSTLING AND WELCOMING CITY LIFE, ANDY WASLEY AND HIS HUSBAND FOUND JAPAN THE PERFECT PLACE FOR THEIR HONEYMOON
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“Onsen occupy a special place in Japanese affections, as tightly bound up with the country’s identity as sushi and sake”
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y husband and I slipped into the steaming water of a private thermal pool, took deep breaths, and relaxed. The geothermically heated water lapped gently up to our necks, and dissolved minerals fizzed softly against our skin. A few metres away, a thundering river tore past, its silted water churned milky white over slick black stones as, overhead, wispy clouds drifted sedately across the forested mountainside. Here in Japan’s Iya Valley, miles from the frenetic hyper-sprawl of Tokyo and a week into our honeymoon, we took a moment to reflect on our journey – and to the two weeks still ahead. Japan is a complex enough place to all but guarantee you’ll finish a holiday wanting to stay to discover more. But given enough time it’s possible to plan a superb tour of at least some of this incredible country. We’d taken two years to plan and save for our three-week September honeymoon, and were able to visit many of the key attractions in the south of the country. Our
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visit to the Iya Valley was a high point. Iya Valley is a deep rift in the Shikoku Mountains, a range named for the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. Famous for its epically beautiful landscape – which burns orange with autumn foliage later in the year – its remoteness and relative lack of attention in tourist media means it has seemingly rare qualities in this otherwise crowded country: solitude and silence. We stayed at the superb Hotel Iyaonsen, an LGBT+-friendly luxury spa famed for the hot baths – onsen – in which we relaxed on our first night. Onsen occupy a special place in Japanese affections, as tightly bound up with the country’s identity as sushi and sake. As Iyaonsen’s planning director, Toshihiko Fujikawa, explained: “Japan is a workaholic country, and onsen help people rest and relax – they’re good for the skin and good for the soul. We see many visitors who take a rest here, far from the crowded cities; it’s a blissful place for them.” Onsen are almost hypnotically relaxing: @ pridelife
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sanctuaries for harried salarymen and visiting honeymooners to take a break from the world. For an introduction to onsen culture, Iyaonsen is hard to beat: the hotel is set up to make sure visitors are fully immersed in Japanese custom and tradition, from the steaming baths to the sumptuous nightly twelve-course tasting menus of traditional food and assorted sake. Iyaonsen was our luxury stay. Japan is an expensive country, so alongside our occasional blow-out visits we wanted to try to save our money for food and experiences. Thankfully the country has a hard-earned reputation for hospitality and offers a rich selection of reasonably inexpensive guest houses (ryokan). These offer visitors affordable opportunities to visit places that are far from the main hotel centres, opening up some of the country’s lesswidely publicised locations. The first stop of our tour was in such a spot: Yakushima, a tiny subtropical island south of Japan’s main island chain. There we stayed in a
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TRAVEL rainfall than anywhere else in Japan, and recent storms had left the trees glistening with fresh rainfall. Mushrooms and toadstools sprouted from the trees’ glossy limbs, which stretched over rivers punctuated by roaring waterfalls. Cicadas chirped loudly, accompanied by the less musical sound of Yakushima macaques. Lost in this mysterious place, we might as well have been playing our own roles in Princess Mononoke. We wanted to make the most of this kind of natural beauty. Yakushima and the Iya Valley are both top spots for forest trekking, rafting and hillwalking – but, as mountain lovers, our real draw was Kamikochi, a highland region deep inside Japan’s largest island, Honshu. Part of the Chūbu-Sangaku National Park, Kamikochi is dominated by the Hida Mountains – Japan’s “Northern Alps”. It’s a superb spot for serious mountaineers and recreational walkers alike and promised mountaintop views that would rival anything we’d seen on our travels, from the Canadian Rockies to the Himalayas. We took a demanding day walk to the summit of Mount Yake, an active volcano overlooking Kamikochi’s central valley. We found the volcano’s lower reaches dominated by thick forests, alive with butterflies. As we climbed higher the trees gave way to fields of bamboo; then all greenery disappeared, as the landscape gradually revealed the rocky trail to the summit. The bare rocks felt warm to the touch, and sulphur-yellow fissures hissed with superheated steam. Quickly, our ascent had turned from a mountain day walk to a close encounter with the planet’s deepest and most elemental forces. Japan has more than enough mountainous and forested terrain to keep any outdoor
CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: HOTEL IYAONSEN’S RIVERSIDE ONSEN; GOKURAKU-JI, A SHINGON BUDDHIST TEMPLE IN HONMURA, NAOSHIMA ISLAND; MOUNT HOTAKA AND RIVER AZUSA IN KAMIKOCHI
INTRODUCTION TO ONSEN Onsen – hot baths, often volcanically heated – can be found across Japan and should be on your to-do list for a taste of traditional Japanese culture. Many hotels have onsen or, at least, hot baths, and will provide advice on how to use them. People bathe naked, and must shower thoroughly before stepping in to the onsen. Note that tattoos – even small ones – are widely associated with organised crime in Japan, and for this reason many onsen will not admit people with tattoos.
enthusiast occupied. Equally, though, it offers plenty to those looking for cultural encounters or urban adventures. Nowhere is this more the case than in Kyoto, the country’s former capital – home to about 1,500 ancient temples. Here, more than anywhere else, planning ahead paid dividends. We found a good planning base – and plenty of advice – in Jam Jar, a stylish gay-run guest house close to Kyoto’s historic geisha district, Kamishichiken. Jam Jar’s owner Danny Matheson and his husband, Kazuo, have transformed a traditional machiya weaving house into a laid back and comfortable lounge with two traditional – and highly in-demand – traditional tatami mat rooms. A stay here allows visitors time to plan their temple tours and to help preserve a piece of Kyoto history (many of these beautiful machiyas are being torn down and replaced with apartment blocks). Danny offers tours of local temples – including the nearby Kitano Tenmangu, which offers same-sex wedding ceremonies – as well as food-and-drink themed guided walks. (He’s offering a 10 per cent discount on tours for Pride Life readers.) Some of Kyoto’s temples – notably its famous Golden Temple, Kinkaku-ji – are busy enough to have acquired a rather Disneyland feel. Thankfully, more serene places do exist. I slipped
traditional Japanese ryokan, Pension Blue Drop – a typically warm and welcoming spot, entirely gay-friendly and well within our budget. Blue Drop’s owner, Yuki, gave us a thorough introduction to the island’s food culture with a sashimi feast and home-made plum wine. Outside, as the island’s chorus of cicadas fell silent, the Milky Way arced spectacularly over the ryokan in pristine dark skies. Could there be a more romantic start to a honeymoon? Among Yakushima’s major attractions are its mossy cedar forests, which are said to have inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s 1997 Studio Ghibli masterpiece, Princess Mononoke. Studio Ghibli fans can immerse themselves in the Mononoke mood with a visit to Yakushima’s carefully maintained forest parks. We visited Shiratani Unsuikyo Ravine, a World Natural Heritage site with a number of well-marked trails. The ravine is a place of almost inexpressible beauty, full of mysterious, twisted tree roots and moss-clad boughs. Yakushima experiences more WINTER 2018
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WAY TO GO ACCOMMODATION Our top five LGBT+-friendly picks: Iya Valley: Hotel Iyaonsen, iyaonsen.jp. Luxury spot with a traditional – if decadent – air. Rooms start at ¥19,590pp (£135pp). Kyoto: Jam Jar Lounge & Inn, jamjar.com/en. Gay-run traditional guest house; owner Danny can arrange and lead tours of Kyoto (10 per cent discount for Pride Life readers). Rooms booked via Airbnb, starting at ¥12,000 per room during the low season (£80). Tokyo: Ryokan Sawanoya, sawanoya.com. Friendly traditional Japanese guest house. Rooms start at ¥5,616pp (£40pp). Naoshima: Tsutsuji-so yurt, tsutsujiso.com/ english. Kooky resort with Mongolian yurts overlooking the Inland Sea. Yurts sleep up to four guests and are seasonally priced at ¥3,780/¥4,320pp (£26/£30pp) Hakone: Ashinoko Hanaori, hanaori.jp/ashinoko/ en/. Modern lakeside hotel with an unmissable dinner buffet and sake menu. Rooms start at ¥21,060pp (£150pp). FOOD AND DRINK Osaka: Bar Nayuta, bar-nayuta.com. Bespoke cocktails and house rules insisting on relaxation and friendliness. Fukuoka: Bar Leichardt, Tel +81 92-215-1414. Key stop for whisky lovers, with more than 1,600 bottles to choose from. Close to yatai food stalls. Hiroshima: Koishi Sake Bar, koishi-sakebar.com. Excellent sushi paired with a selection of awardwinning sake. Tokyo: Jazz House Alfie, alfie.tokyo. Nightly jazz and cocktails with a great selection of Western-style food.
Naoshima: Sparky’s Coffee, Tel +81 87-8976606. Excellent coffee, filling rice dishes and desserts close to the island’s main port.
CLOCKWISE: A WATERFALL IN THE SHIRATANI UNSUIKYO RAVINE WORLD HERITAGE SITE, YAKUSHIMA; DANNY MATHESON, OWNER OF THE JAM JAR INN, KYOTO; YATAI FOOD STALL IN FUKUOKA; GIO-JI, KYOTO’S TRANQUIL MOSS-COVERED TEMPLE
GETTING THERE Flights to Japan can be very expensive, so shop around. We booked with Air France ten months before travel, for £450pp return flights. GETTING AROUND International visitors can purchase a Japan Rail Pass from authorised travel agents before leaving for Japan; these can save thousands of yen on rail travel. A two-week pass costs around £310 and covers travel on local and national rail networks including most shinkansen (bullet train) services. Metro and some bus travel can be paid for using pre-paid IC cards, available from most stations. Drivers need an international driving permit, available from many post office branches. TOURIST INFO seejapan.co.uk offers an itinerary builder and advice on key spots. Information about the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is available at tokyo2020.org/en GAY INFO Pride Life partners IGLTA offer advice on visiting Japan at iglta.org/asia-and-middle-east/japan. Tokyo’s Ni-chome district is home to Japan’s largest gay scene; tours and introductions to the district’s many small bars can be arranged with a number of providers listed with IGLTA. Tokyo Rainbow Pride is on 28-29 April 2019: tokyorainbowpride.com
away from the selfie groups in Kyoto’s northern Arashiyama District and visited three of the city’s quieter temples. Gio-ji is a true gem: a tiny, ancient temple entirely covered with moss. It lies next to two other ancient temples – Takiguchi-dera, with its narrow stone steps between silent statues and towering trees, and Danrin-ji’s incense-infused central pagoda and bamboo garden. Attendant staff and worshippers were more than happy to talk to me about each temple’s history and current use. The temples’ deep silence repaid itself in these brief encounters with people keen 106
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A L L P I C T U R E S : A N D Y WA S L E Y. C O M @ A N D Y WA S L E Y
“Our ascent had turned from a mountain day walk to a close encounter with the planet’s deepest and most elemental forces”
to share their culture: more so, perhaps, than spending time in a jostling queue for one of the “main attractions”. For visitors who need something a little livelier than mountains and temples, Japan promises a dizzying selection of bars, clubs and nights out. Gay culture is centred on Tokyo’s Ni-chome district, close to the city’s major shopping district, Shinjuku. With more than 300 small bars to choose from, some of which are almost proudly hard to find, it’s a must-see destination. Those who are less inclined to visit the scene will find plenty of alternative places to enjoy food
and drink. Many of our favourite places shared Ni-chome’s bars’ hard-to-find and proudly independent atmospheres. We loved Bar Nayuta, a tiny cocktail bar in Osaka where owner Hiro mixed bespoke drinks for us on request. Situated close to the city’s bustling American Quarter, Nayuta’s nondescript address lent it an air of exclusivity; a similar atmosphere filled Fukuoka’s superb Bar Leichardt, where owner Yu offered us an unrivalled selection of Japanese and international whiskies. Apart from the whisky, Fukuoka earned our affection as an outstanding place for food. Food lovers might find Japan’s incredible selection of excellent restaurants hard to tackle; often, we decided to stop trawling through review sites to just take a chance on the country’s many streetside ramen restaurants, cafes or sushi bars. Fukuoka’s famous yatai street food stalls were ideal places to visit with an open mind (and a little patience – they are very busy). In fact, even when we had settled on a particular restaurant but found it booked up or closed, we never failed to find an outstanding alternative. Our experience of Naoshima – a kooky, art-filled island in the Seito Inland Sea – was typical. After a long walk from our beachside yurt we found our top pick closed, and headed for the nearest café. WINTER 2018
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Umikko was by far the cheapest restaurant we visited, but its noodle pancakes (okonomiyaki) were some of the best comfort food we ate. Naoshima itself should be top of the list for anyone interested in seeing some of Japan’s finest galleries and public art. The island has built its reputation on offering visitors access to some of the country’s very best artworks, from Yayoi Kusama’s iconic polka-dot pumpkins to galleries full of traditional and contemporary works. The island’s Honmura district is home to the excellent Art House Project, a series of six historic buildings that have been adapted to house modern art installations. Nearby, the Chichu Art Museum is home to monumental works by Tadao Ando and James Turrell, alongside a series of Monet’s Water Lilies canvases. Over the course of three weeks in Japan we packed in a lot: amazing adventures, beautiful art, outstanding food, incredible drinks and more than a little retail therapy. Even so, we finished our visit to Japan feeling certain we’d barely begun to explore it properly. As the country prepares to welcome the Olympic Games in 2020 we already see an excuse to visit again. We took two years to plan our first visit to Japan, and it has left us looking ahead to a lifetime of wanting to see more.
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19/06/2018 15:14 09/12/2018 12:35
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TRAVEL
JUST ADD
WATER
MATT NEWBURY ESCAPES THE ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORTS OF MEXICO’S YUCATÁN PENINSULA TO DIVE INTO THE REGION’S AMAZING NATURAL SWIMMING HOLES
I
t’s not every day I’d be about to jump feet first into a portal to the underworld, just wearing a pair of shorts. But I throw caution to the wind and drop through a tiny hole into the dark depths of one of the most remarkable phenomena on the planet – a cenote. I’m at a spot called Cenote Calavera (or Temple of Doom Cenote), which from above resembles a huge skull, looking like something from the set of an Indiana Jones film. The idea is to jump through the right eye socket into the watery depths below. It’s a bat shit crazy thing to do. Literally. I can see bats flying past the entrance, but I hold my breath and jump. I feel like I’m flying through the air for far too long, before I hit the
refreshingly cool water below. I swim back to the surface and across to the floating platform exhilarated. There’s a step ladder that takes you back up through the mouth of the skull. I want to do it all over again. And I do. Several times... Found mainly in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, cenotes are natural swimming holes caused by the collapse of their limestone roofs. While swimming in subterranean water might not sound that appealing, cenotes are usually spectacular. Found in the jungle areas of this lush paradise part of Mexico, there are often high cliffs surrounding the fresh water pool, with thirsty vines reaching into the depths from the canopy above. They look like the sort of place WINTER 2018
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where Tarzan would take a dip, filled with catfish and turtles and in-the-know locals cooling down from the tropical heat. They are genuinely paradise on earth. As a swim tourist who is always looking for the most unusual and beautiful places to take a dip on the planet, cenotes have been on my very wet bucket list for years. There are believed to be more than 5,000 cenotes on the Yucatán Peninsula and the ancient Maya considered them to be the portal to the Netherworld. There are several types of cenotes – those that are completely underground (like Temple of Doom), those that are semiunderground, and those that are at land level, looking like stunning blue lakes. There are also
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“They look like the sort of place where Tarzan would take a dip, filled with catfish and turtles and in-the-know locals cooling down from the tropical heat”
the “screen saver” cenotes; the deep wells, overhung with tropical trees whose roots reach into the waters below. On our two-week holiday, we vowed to swim in as many as possible. Hunting down these natural waterparks is a great way of exploring the Yucatán Peninsula. We started by working our way down the Riviera Maya which stretches from Cancún in the north down to Tulum in the south. Our adventure began in Playa del Carmen, with a beachfront overlooking the Caribbean and a buzzing strip of bars, shops and restaurants called 5th Avenue. It’s also the perfect place to take a boat trip out to the island of Cozumel, a long thin island with spectacular beaches and amazing scuba diving. There are also a large number of cenotes that can be explored in the area and we aimed straight for a place called Azul. Just 20 minutes’ drive from Playa del Carmen, Cenote Azul is a genuinely phenomenal azurecoloured cenote, with some of the clearest water I have ever swam in. More like a lake, we visit on a Sunday lunchtime, when dozens of local families are swimming in the mineral-rich waters, exploring caves or diving from a natural platform, before sunbathing on rocks. It’s a million miles away from vegging on the sofa, watching rubbish repeats on the TV and wishing you hadn’t eaten that last roast potato. Next, we drove down to Tulum, famed for its spectacular clifftop Mayan ruins dating back to the 13th century. Once a seaport trading in turquoise and jade, it is the only Mayan city built on the coast and even boasts a beach to swim from, overlooked by the ruins and straight from the front cover of a Lonely Planet guidebook. A swim in the crashing Caribbean is a must. 112
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About two kilometres from the town centre you will find a hotel zone of cabañas hotels built in a traditional Mayan style, with rustic thatched palm roofs. Popular for yoga retreats and spa breaks, the eco resort welcomes alternative types and is particularly interesting at night. What little electricity there is must be provided by generators, meaning the bars and restaurants are lit by fire torches and candles and food is cooked using traditional methods. It’s a fascinating place There are some amazing cenotes in the area as well, many of which can be reached by bike. Gran Cenote and Dos Ojos (Two Eyes Cenote) are both popular with scuba divers, with vast underwater caverns waiting to be explored. If that’s not your thing (cave-diving is definitely a bit extreme for us too) it’s worth buying a snorkel and mask to explore the many caves and passages. Turtles are common, as are blind dog fish and tiny doctor fish ready to exfoliate your feet with a natural pedicure. You’ll also find whole caverns of harmless fruit bats flying between the stalactites. We also hunted down a place called Casa Cenote, which is a spring that flows out into the sea. It was an amazing place to swim, with mangroves on either side of the natural channel and the freshwater suddenly becoming salt water. The plan was to swim all the way to the sea, until we spotted an actual crocodile staring at us, unblinking, from the bank. Unable to exit the water, it was a long swim back, wondering if any of his family members may be below us. Having recovered from possibly the scariest wildlife encounter ever, we decided to head inland into the heart of the Mayan jungle. We stopped in the city of Valladolid (about an hour’s @ pridelife
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drive from Tulum), a charming place with a real colonial Spanish feel thanks to the colonnaded arcades, paving-stone streets and sun-splashed pastel coloured walls. It’s also the perfect place to base yourself for some more cenote exploring, especially as there is one pretty much in the middle of the city. The locals treat this as their local swimming baths, although sadly we couldn’t go in that day, as Rick Stein had taken it over, filming his series on Mexico. Instead we hunted down a littleknown cenote called Oxman, based at a haçienda on the outskirts of town. After winding our way down a long set of spiral steps, we arrived at an enchanting swimming hole, with a hole in the roof and vines reaching down into the waters. There’s a rope swing too, which I managed to slip off and belly flop into the refreshing water hole below. To reach the most impressive Mayan ruins, you need to drive deep into the jungle areas of the Yucatán Peninsula. The roads are long and straight, while the whole area is very flat. This is one of the reasons the Maya built pyramids, to reach above the treetops and the views are spectacular. Ek Balam (The Black Jaguar) is one of the few ruins that you are allowed to climb in the territory and ascending to the top of the 31 metre acropolis is a breath-taking experience, in every way. With no rivers in the entire region and just the underground water system, the Maya built their villages and pyramids near cenotes. At Ek Balam you can hire a bike to take you through the jungle to Cenote X’Canache, where your entrance fee also includes a zip wire above the cenote and then an abseil down into the water below. In the heat of
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TRAVEL
OUT IN MEXICO
the jungle, the swim is a very welcome treat. Most people aim for Chichén Itzá in the east of the state; the most famous of the Mayan ruins. With 2.6 million people visiting a year, including people from the various cruises arriving at both coasts of the region, it’s worth getting there very early. We checked into the Haçienda Chichén Resort and Yaxkin Spa, which has a private entrance into the ruins that allows you to visit an hour before they are open to the public. The main pyramid is genuinely impressive and if you happen to visit at the spring and autumn equinoxes, the northwest corner of the pyramid casts a shadow that evokes the appearance of a serpent wiggling down the steps. By arriving early, it also means you can get to the local cenotes before the cruise ship passengers. Il Kil Cenote is the most visited in the entire region and with good reason. It’s magical, with the jungle canopy overhanging the 60m wide opening at the roof of the sink hole, thirsty vines drinking from the waters below and some great jumping platforms. Indeed, Red Bull regularly hold cliff diving competitions here, with a height of 27 metres for divers to perform their stunts before plunging into a depth of 40 metres. I was just happy jumping about three metres. While Il Kil is the most popular, our favourite cenote of the whole trip was called Cenote Yokdzonot, about 18 kilometres west of Chichén Itzá. A group of Mayan women got together back in 2005 to find a way of earning a living, as working in the fields wasn’t making ends meet. The formed a co-operative to do up the cenote in their village and got a 50-year concession on the water hole and the land around it. Every day for two years, at 2pm, after they had
finished their housework, they went to the land to move rocks to form pathways and wooden stairs down to the water. They also built bathrooms and a restaurant and a fence around their business. Over the two years, many women got discouraged and quit and by the time the cenote was inaugurated in January 2007, 17 women (from the original 60) remained in the co-op. Membership is inheritable, meaning that each woman’s space will be handed on to her children. Today the group consists of 5 men and 12 women. The swimming hole is paradise on earth, with small fish darting all around you, birds singing in the jungle above and dragonflies fluttering above the water’s surface. It’s great to see that cenotes that have provided life for Mayan people for thousands of years can still provide a living for local people today. Hunting down cenotes also means you discover some of the best in Mexican street food. This particular cenote offered the most wonderful and inexpensive Yucatecan cuisine we tasted. The lime soup and chicken empanadas were to die for. For the less adventurous and if you don’t fancy travelling across country to sample cenotes, Puerto Morelos is the starting point for the Ruta de Los Cenotes (or the Cenotes Trail) that is only a short drive from Cancún. Here you will find around 10 cenotes along one long road. And if the whole thing still sounds far too wild, there are also two water parks called Xplor and Xcaret Park near Playa del Carmen that have been built to incorporate natural cenotes, but with all the infrastructure of a theme park.
For more information on gay venues across the region check out gaymexicomap.com CLOCKWISE FROM FAR LEFT: CENOTE YOKDZONOT; CHICHÉN ITZÁ; DOS OJOS; TURTLE AT DOS OJOS; DOS OJOS; CHICHÉN ITZÁ
“The swimming hole is paradise on earth, with small fish darting all around you and birds singing in the jungle above”
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LGBT+ travellers can feel perfectly safe in Mexico, with discrimination based on sexual orientation made illegal back in 1999. We avoided Cancún (where there are a couple of gay venues) and headed straight for Playa del Carmen, which is very laid back and integrated. Club 69 on Fifth Avenue is busy on weekends and hosts regular drag shows. For something a tad cooler, check out La Wall (Avenida 10 N y, Calle 4 Nte, lawallplaya.com) with its super funky roof terrace. The gayowned venue was built in response to Trump announcing he was going to build a wall between Mexico and the States. The owners decided to make a new wall, one that is made of “the love of life and the love to party”. If you happen to be in Playa (as the locals call it) in January, look out for the Arena Circuit Party (arena.mx), which is six days and 13 parties long. There is also a compact gay pride event in the town every June (playapride.com.mx). Should you be travelling across the region like we did, make sure to include a stop in the capital Mérida, which is the largest city on the Yucatán Peninsula. With colonial architecture, amazing museums and central plazas offering free traditional entertainment at night, the city is buzzing. There’s a sizeable gay scene and our top tips would be to head for the places with outside spaces. As the name suggests, Rush Bar Terraza boasts a sizeable outdoor terrace, while Bar Rafaris also has a pool. Our favourite was Mezcaleria, which is not actually a gay bar, but very gay-friendly. It’s worth it for the mescal cocktails alone!
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