Last Thursday evening we went to the National Film Theatre to see a talk by Cleve Jones, he of NAMES Project fame, and right hand man to Harvey Milk. It was part of the 23rd Lesbian & Gay Film Festival that's currently being held in London.
The talk took the form of an informal interview in front of a packed house, with Cleve talking through how he came to move to San Francisco and meet Harvey, how he dealt with Harvey's assassination and the repercussions, how the NAMES Project came about, and then how the film biopic "Milk" finally came to fruition.
After a slightly slow start Cleve quickly opened up and became incredibly friendly and eloquent, and by the end of it seemed like he would have happily chatted the night away. He came across as terribly humble, and very, very inspirational. The more this guy talks to young queerlings about their history and their legacy the better.
He likes to describe himself, as well as Milk and others like them, as ordinary men. The point he made was that we're all born the same and die the same but what we do in between is up to us. And we need to make a difference.
When talking about the AIDS Quilt he actually became very upset and broke down when recalling the friends that he lost in the early days, and as a result it was incredibly moving.
He was also actually very humorous, and you can still see the young man that is portrayed in "Milk". And he seemed to describe almost every man he'd met as "hot", including Dustin Lance Black who he escorted to the Oscars, and who's acceptance speech is a modern iconic moment in gay history.
Overall I came away challenged and inspired, and could have listened to him all night long. If ever I get the chance to say thank you in person for everything thing he has done for us then I should not hesitate one jot.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Thursday, April 02, 2009
What The London Demo's Were Really Good For
Because of the "trouble" in London practically every company in the City are allowing staff to dress down for a couple of days, even so far as wearing jeans. It's so we can better blend in with the protesters and cause trouble without people realising we work for the institutions we're throwing rocks at.
Luckily my office wasn't in the thick of it yesterday, but feeling left out I cajoled a couple of my staff into wandering down to Bank at lunch-time with me to "get in on the action". As I said to one of the girls, "There might be a little bit of history happening just down the road - when people ask about it do you really want to say you stayed in at lunch with a jacket potato?".
The police at Bank wouldn't let us through into the demonstration area, but we stood just behind the police cordon and were thus only a few feet away from the action. As usual with these things it all looked mainly peaceful, with a minority out to cause trouble. And I doubt the minority really cared about the idea of the demo', they just wanted to cause trouble; it was just an excuse to throw things and make a scene. Apparently some people don't have anything else to do with their lives.
The police seemed to handle things very well, and were quite passive in the face of people screaming at them and calling them all sorts. I feel a strange camaraderie with the police force, and for a long time in my teens I really wanted to join them, but at the time there were height restrictions which I unfortunately didn't pass. A friend of mine joined the force in his mid-30's and loved it, so I guess I could still join, although the pay's awful and I'd have to take a big cut. Perhaps, when I'm feeling more grown-up, I could help out as a Special or something in my spare time. Obviously this is before I retire to help orphaned Orang-utans in Borneo, which is what I've always said I'll do if I win the lottery. I know, you didn't have me as the compassionate type, right?
Anyway, the main reason I wanted to go to the demo' was to see if there were any hot policemen, particularly those in riot gear, but I was sadly disappointed. Perhaps they kept all the good-looking ones back for later, as a surprise weapon. However, the very relaxed dress down at work has provided a little glimpse into what some of the men look like without full business attire. Wandering around our building is quite enlightening, and actually some of the men look kinda cute in normal clothing. In fact, some of the clothing seem to be revealing some of the men to be rather better built than their suits would imply. And it's always nice to see an open collar with some chest hair poking out.
So thank you demonstrators for giving me a couple of days of gratuitous chest hair in the office. All your hard "work" was worth it.
Luckily my office wasn't in the thick of it yesterday, but feeling left out I cajoled a couple of my staff into wandering down to Bank at lunch-time with me to "get in on the action". As I said to one of the girls, "There might be a little bit of history happening just down the road - when people ask about it do you really want to say you stayed in at lunch with a jacket potato?".
The police at Bank wouldn't let us through into the demonstration area, but we stood just behind the police cordon and were thus only a few feet away from the action. As usual with these things it all looked mainly peaceful, with a minority out to cause trouble. And I doubt the minority really cared about the idea of the demo', they just wanted to cause trouble; it was just an excuse to throw things and make a scene. Apparently some people don't have anything else to do with their lives.
The police seemed to handle things very well, and were quite passive in the face of people screaming at them and calling them all sorts. I feel a strange camaraderie with the police force, and for a long time in my teens I really wanted to join them, but at the time there were height restrictions which I unfortunately didn't pass. A friend of mine joined the force in his mid-30's and loved it, so I guess I could still join, although the pay's awful and I'd have to take a big cut. Perhaps, when I'm feeling more grown-up, I could help out as a Special or something in my spare time. Obviously this is before I retire to help orphaned Orang-utans in Borneo, which is what I've always said I'll do if I win the lottery. I know, you didn't have me as the compassionate type, right?
Anyway, the main reason I wanted to go to the demo' was to see if there were any hot policemen, particularly those in riot gear, but I was sadly disappointed. Perhaps they kept all the good-looking ones back for later, as a surprise weapon. However, the very relaxed dress down at work has provided a little glimpse into what some of the men look like without full business attire. Wandering around our building is quite enlightening, and actually some of the men look kinda cute in normal clothing. In fact, some of the clothing seem to be revealing some of the men to be rather better built than their suits would imply. And it's always nice to see an open collar with some chest hair poking out.
So thank you demonstrators for giving me a couple of days of gratuitous chest hair in the office. All your hard "work" was worth it.
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