It opened: I was there (so was Rylan:P)
Monolithically(for a change..)lgbtq
We did!
We began to make progress…….
We WERE open… not many came(yet…); but our Pride/LGBTQ family began….
I set out our (Merseyside LGBTQ) stall(first version)
We got a sign pointing upwards to our stall (and all the others)……..
I waited…….
Ratte drew two radiant birds: Peacock and Phoenix; this was starting to look like an intensely-hued rainbow…….This was beginning to feel like Home; specifically, an lgbtq home
In one room was an exhibition of lgbt peoples’ homes, of yore; a trace, a lineage……
The Proud Marys came to sing: just the way you looked tonight, will you still love me tomorrow….
The Bookshop was next to us: an inspiring, heartwarming selection of children and young adults’ books, which, poignantly, we wished WE had had(to encourage and solace us when WE were younger…)
The book was gay; we queered up; and we were a rainbow parade
Jeremy and Ratte ran fabtastic workshops; Ratte’s ‘zines adorned our table.
Bach, Tschaikowski(gay) and Metallica appeared in our “songs/music{not necessarily Eurovision} that inspire you” as our phoenix feathers;and (pictured)Ratte’s extravagantly, flamboyantly radiant bird
then, as suddenly as it started, it ended: in sad exchange of hugs….and…a rush of strangers to the toilets(for the Eurovision final); a series of hurried photos of each other.
Now, the Pride House is part of MY house; I am trying, with all my heart and soul, to make it transfer to my bricks and mortar (-hopefully) more permanent home; it is hard: betwixt and between/athwart homes; it is complex for lgbtq people:
In the hallway to my home, Pride House(home) lives-if in representation;it lives on my bedroom/archive door too.
Home-and Pride-are mooted, mediated psycho-geographical spaces for lgbtq people.
I would LOVE/I NEED a longlasting LGBTQ home: of camaraderie and harmony(noting differences). It may be a dream: I- currently,anyway- have not the energy to make it happen(I need all that-contradictorily- to maintain our (semi-)Nomadic, half-sporadic Merseyside LGBTQ Groups’ spaces and events.) One day?…..
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Meanwhile thanks to all the (volunteer!)Merseyside LGBTQ Organisers, Hosts and members who staffed the stall, with care and commitment; we had -(lgbtq)-family; we had fun:)
Thanks,also, to LCR Pride, RIBA North and Ninja Coffee and everyone who made it happen; those 12 days were some of the happiest of my life.
As Siegfried Sassoon wrote:
“O but everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done”
towardsutopia 