Polari Brighton

The Polari Literary Salon is an LGBTQ literary performance workshop that is generally London-based but makes outings to other parts of the UK. The Arts Council England has presented the organisers with a grant to fund a nationwide tour to mark their tenth anniversary, and so last night Polari came to Brighton.

I didn't know anything about Polari until my partner Suz and I met the wonderful Cerys Evans at a very Brightonian barbecue in the summer (lots of vegan sausages on offer). Cerys is a writer and performer (and has just started her own website), and is instantly a hit with everyone she meets. We made sure we were free to come see her perform at the Marlborough Pub and Theatre, a cosy little venue on the edge of Kemptown. It turned out Suz's friend John McCullough, a talented poet, was also performing that night. So naturally we absolutely had to make this.

We still managed to be late, and missed Cerys's first poem, which is frankly unforgiveable, but she still wowed us with some amazing readings of her own, very personal, very moving work. John was up during the second half reading from his latest book, Spacecraft, and giving us a sneak peak of his work in progress. John's poetry can be moving, powerful, funny - the gamut. And he likes to sneak in Doctor Who references.

It wasn't all local peeps, though. V. G. Lee, five time novelist and short story writer, read one of her stories from her collection As You Step Outside, and I loved it so much I went and bought the book straight away. Playwright Alexis Gregory performed part of his upcoming work which deals with pivotal moments and periods in the gay community throughout the twentieth century. He gave us the opening piece, a performance of a memoir from a man who was present at the Stonewall Uprising in 1969. It was an astonishingly powerful and moving piece, bringing to life an event that was long enough ago to feel historical, even mythic, to us now.

Each step of the tour includes a writing workshop, and one person is chosen from each to perform their piece at the event. A new writer read her poem #MeToo, a powerful hit of painful experience. The event finished with Sylvia Brownrigg reading from her new novel Pages for Her, which was beautiful, although I feel I ought to read the previous Pages for You from 2002 first. The evening was hosted by top-hatted raconteur Paul Burston and sign-interpreted by Natalie MacGarvie. It was a wonderful experience, and I'm glad that I'm learning to appreciate poetry at last - something I never really "got" until lately, and a lot of that is down to Suz.

We stayed out chatting with talented people and making new friends. Just a wonderful night. There's still time to see Polari on tour in London and Newcastle, and beyond.

Doctor Who and the Fear of Queer Equality

So, predictably, the BBC has been attacked for showing a lesbian kiss in Saturday's Doctor Who episode Deep Breath. "Attacked," in this case, meaning a handful of homophobic morons have kicked up a fuss. Still, it's always the loudest arseholes who get the most attention, and so a number of outlets have reported on the issue, including Pink News.

It is, of course, fabulously stupid. Vastra and Jenny have been portrayed as existing in a same-sex relationship since they first appeared, and have been married for most of that. Not only that, but Doctor Who featured its first same-sex kiss nine years ago, in the first season finale The Parting of the Ways, when Jack briefly kissed the Doctor goodbye. This caused a tiny uproar itself, but nothing much. Here though, it seems that two women kissing is somehow obscene to some people, with the comments lifted exposing deep-seated hatred of homosexual practice. It's very revealing that these individuals have no problem with a family programme showing heterosexual kissing, but consider a lesbian kiss to be "pornographic" or "inappropriate for a children's programme." Only one quote focused on what is surely more questionable, the fact that the two women involved are of different species. Of course, that's just dressing up. It seems this is no problem, but two women sharing a brief kiss on screen is.

I saw Deep Breath at the Orion Cinema with many children in attendance, and not one seemed remotely shocked or upset by the kiss. Chaste homosexual romance is not inappropriate for a children's programme. Homophobia is inappropriate for a human being. Avert your eyes, bigots.

Yes, I'm feeling Bamboozled

The majority of my readers - yes, all twelve of you - are based in the UK or US, but I do have a number of Australian readers, and, in any case, this could do with a more global exposure.

The winner of Tropfest, the Sydney-based global short film festival, has caused a great deal of controversy. The theme for this year's festival was change, and the winner, Bamboozled, appears to embrace this by telling a story about transexuality. To begin with, the film appears to take a humorous but sensitive look at the awkwardness that can ensue when meeting an old friend or acquaintance who has undergone gender reassignment. That's before you reach the punchline.

The best thing is to watch the film. It's only seven minutes long.
TRIGGER WARNING - HOMOPHOBIA, TRANSPHOBIA AND RAPE.

A lot of people have been offended by the ending of this film, accusing it of transphobia, homophobia and misandrony. Matt Hadrie, the star and creator of the film, claims that the film is satirical. I can see both sides of the argument. The punchline to the film can be taken as a satire on both the all-pervading influence of popular media and reality TV, and western society's attitudes to homosexuality and transexuality.

On the other hand, in doing so it is perpetuating those attitudes, reducing the complexities of transgender life to a stereotype, suitable only for comedy. The risk is that the majority of people who watch this will not see a satirical edge, only a joke. It risks perpetuating the idea that homosexuality in men is somehow shameful, and that for a man, being 'outed' as having had sex with a man to whom you are attracted is humiliating. There's also a nasty undercurrent of rape apologism here, something that pervades out culture, although primarily with women as its target. The idea seems to be that if a man is coerced into sex under false pretenses, there is nothing wrong with it. It's just a guy having sex, oh look, he's naked and everyone's laughing at him. Never mind the feelings of the man involved. I despise this kind of thing, and it's becoming more and more common in film and TV. There is an undercurrent that suggests that it is perfectly acceptable to do whatever you like to man. Try swapping the sexes of the characters in the film and see how it changes how it plays.

I understand the goal to make a satirical film, but for me, it doesn't come off. In any case, a number of people have been offended by it, and the general response by many is to shout them down. Get over it, it's just a joke. Don't be so easily offended. Art should provoke debate, and simply shouting people down when they disagree with you is the antithesis of that. On the part of Hardie, I understand the intentions, but intentions do not provide a 'get out of jail free' card when it comes to how people react to a given piece.

Change.org is hosting a petition to ask Matt Hardie, and the organisers of Tropfest, to issue an apology to those they have offended. I have signed it; I don't think the film should be taken down or the prize revoked, but those involved must accept that they have caused offence to a number of people, and that queer and genderqueer issues should be handled with more sensitivity.