This Week: Subway Baby, Labour Apologies & Career Fears

I wanted to share this story here because it really filled my heart with joy. I didn’t want to get too mushy about it but I can’t help it. I wouldn’t say that I am a particularly ‘spiritual’ person but this is one of those occasions where I truly believe that this was some kind of destiny or fate at play. The universe wanted this to happen. When I think of the many different ways it could have gone but it didn’t. 20 years later and they are still a family and by the sounds of things Kevin is truly thriving. It just makes me all warm and fuzzy.

It is always lovely to hear how LGBTQ+ families have come together and like I say, this story really touched me. Mercurio has now written a children’s book, called Our Subway Baby, detailing their experience of finding Kevin in a subway station and being gay dads. The book is now available and I recommend grabbing a copy from independent book shop Queer Lit

A Labour Apology

Keir Starmer finally apologised for his homophobic church visit this week. He visited the notoriously homophobic church ‘Jesus House’ on April 2nd and later shared a video in which he praised them for being a “wonderful example” of a church serving its local community.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I totally appreciate the fact that the church is currently a vaccination centre. That part of it is positive. I can also appreciate the apology from Starmer. It is great that he recognises that as a party that supposedly champions LGBTQ+ rights, it isn’t a good look. However, in his apology, he also claims that he was not aware of the Jesus House beliefs on LGBTQ+ rights. I find that incredibly hard to believe, especially because there was a similar level of backlash when then Prime Minister Teresa May visited in 2017. Even if, prior to his visit, Starmer truly had no idea about the backlash from when May visited, or even the fact that the church Pastor Agu Irukwu is particularly vocal with his anti-LGBTQ sentiments, then that it is very worrying. You have to wonder whether Starmer or any of his team did even the remotest piece of research before agreeing to a visit. A simple google search of the church would tell you all you need to know.

From my perspective, this means he is possibly being disingenuous in claiming ignorance. Claiming to know nothing of the Jesus House beliefs and rhetoric around LGBTQ+ and equality rights also implies that neither his team nor he himself did any research before planning the visit. If they did do any research and planning ahead, there is no way that it could have been missed, which would then suggest that they did know, and it was ignored. he wouldn’t be able to claim he didn’t know. So, in summary, it is either

a) a disingenuous apology,
b) it was a complete failure to research what he was visiting, praising and effectively endorsing or
c) they ignored the beliefs and rhetoric which is in contravention of what is supposed to be a Labour Party position and made the visit anyway.

Whichever way you look at it, it doesn’t bode well for a man who is the leader of the opposition party. We are familiar with this kind of ‘speaking from both sides of the mouth’ when it comes to politics, so it isn’t anything new but still. For me, it means this whole incident is definitely something to consider when it comes to choosing who I support. I don’t feel at all comfortable supporting a man or a party that praises an organisation that would quite happily strip me and my community of our rights.

Still, disingenuous or not, I suppose credit should be given for at least making the apology. That is far more than the actual Prime Minister has ever managed to do when it comes to statements he has made about a multitude of communities… I really hate the fact that politics in the UK seems to have boiled down to a choice between the lesser of two evils but that is another conversation for another day.

I should also note that there is a particular irony in the fact that Jesus House is now claiming that they are being ‘cyberbullied’ following Keir Starmer’s apology. 

Career Fears

Kate Winslet has recently spoken out about how closeted gay actors are terrified to come out due to the stigma that is still so prevalent in Hollywood. In an interview with The Sunday Times, she spoke of how agents encourage their talent not to publicise their sexuality. She also spoke about how Hollywood in general questions “Can he play straight because, apparently, he’s gay?’

This is an extension of the conversation that has already been a hot topic which I wrote about earlier this year in ‘Playing Gay. Should there be a rule?’ In it, I suggested that until there was less homophobia in the major Hollywood industry, perhaps it would only be fair if even for representation's sake, to consider gay people for gay roles. I spoke about how whilst there are a few exceptions to the rule, generally speaking, there still appears to be a lot of stigma around gay men playing straight and the fear that it will damage a productions box office potential. Winslet speaking about this suggests that the stigma is still very much alive and well.

As I said in that piece, I totally agree that acting is exactly that and it is part of the job to ‘be something you are not’ however, it is very clear that LGBTQ+ actors are being persuaded to stay in the closet for fear of their sexuality destroying their career and box office potential.

The way this looks right now is that Hollywood isn’t too keen on having gay performers play straight roles and is actively discouraging them from coming out whilst frequently casting straight actors in gay roles too. If that doesn’t suggest latent homophobia in the industry then I really don’t know what else to say.