I wish you'd been there when I was a boy growing up!
11 October 2003
The following address was delivered to the "Making a
Difference" conference celebrating a decade of
FFLAG (Families and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
There are a couple of empty chairs here, I just wish my parents were
sitting in them. Or that something like the groups that you represent had
existed when I was growing up near Manchester in the '40s and the '50. You
know, when it was still illegal to make love. I never got round to telling
them, but I know if I had they would have understood perhaps quicker than
most parents. They were activists in their own way and good Christian
people, and I think they would have been here with you.
Manchester, near where I come from, has been so important to the
founding of FFLAG, and I remember one of my earliest bits of activism was on
behalf of gay people with one of my oldest friends, and one of the people I
admire most in the world, Michael Cashman, and we walked through Manchester
against Section 28 and took over the town hall. It was a wonderful
experience and there were people like you around, perhaps some in this room.
The people of Manchester, some of them, don't seem to notice, well
certainly not the characters in Coronation Street. I mean finally two
men get to kiss in Coronation Street, although it's true one of them was
asleep at the time. How many years was it since Michael kissed a man on
Eastenders, 1988, and the lesbian love story in Brookside? Surely the
people who work on the programme must realise that it represents something
in our society, and for them to ignore such a sizeable minority as gay
people is rather ridiculous, particularly when so many of us are great fans
of the programme.
It's as if Queer As Folk had never happened. I mean what were
they talking about in the Rovers Return? Didn't they watch Queer
As Folk, or didn't they notice Euro Pride when the traffic stopped and
the best part of half a million Mancunians stood to watch gay people going
by declaring themselves openly. Well, of course, they didn't get on to the
national news, even though there were more people that day than there were
at the Notting Hill Carnival.
So, there we go, we are living in a wicked world, and the picture is
not entirely hopeful. There is confusion within the Anglican community, and
it isn't entirely a private argument they are having. I wish they could be
made more aware of the harm they do, not just to their own institutions but
to society as a whole. I know there are many Christians, probably in this
room, who are telling them.
But here's a quote. It is chiselled into marble on Thomas Jefferson's
memorial in Washington DC:-
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions,
but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the
human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new
discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions
change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also
to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still
the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever
under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
Well, that deals with Leviticus very nicely. But, of course,
politicians can speak well and act rather slowly, though finally Section 28,
glorious day, was repealed, but it did take an awful long time.
I don't think it will be enough just to leave things as they are.
We can't rely on the media to tell the truth and we can't rely on
politicians, hence the importance of FFLAG. It's at the cutting edge of
social change. It's about what matters most, individual lives, young lives,
families and friends. You deal with love and reconciliation, understanding
and outward joy.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE (From left) Mike Bradley, Jenny Broughton, Sir Ian
McKellen, Councillor Mohammed Afzal, Angela Mason and Michael Cashman
Click to enlarge
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