So here is a 20 minute highlight video by someone in the crowd at last Saturday’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras:
And on the night here in Wollongong my mind went back many years, leading to a series of posts here culminating in one that combined memories of Sydney Boys High School with the Parade, which in fact was still happening on my TV as the dialogue in that last post was occurring.
Yesterday I downloaded the 2020 edition of The Record, the magazine of Sydney Boys High. One image from that fits right in to this post.
Would never have even dreamed this possible in 1986 — good and all as much was then, as some of us have been recalling lately. “Wear it Purple Day is an annual LGBTIQA+ awareness day especially for young people, based in Australia. Supporters wear purple to celebrate diversity and young people from the LGBTIQA+ community. The Day is organised by Wear it Purple, a student run, not-for-profit organisation, providing presentations and workshops.”
I cast my mind back to the first years of this century, when I was still teaching/mentoring at Sydney High and was on the Welfare Committee. With that in mind I added a page to my English/ESL site — it became Neil Whitfield’s rather than Sydney High’s when I retired — and thought myself quite daring. Doubtless quite a few of the links there are now useless — I have not tested it for years. But I did include this video, which is still valid:
Since then there have been many such videos. This one from 2016 is very good:
Then I found myself drawn to posts from the early days of my blogging, posts that by December 2000 I knew were being read by a handful who had penetrated my “Ninglun” disguise (Mandarin for Neil) at Sydney High, where I still worked.
Saturday, December 2, 2000: Yesterday was World AIDS Day.
My little circle of friends has displayed over the past week an amazing range of emotions. We’ve had love gone wrong, love gone right…and so on. Quite dramatic really. Perhaps the dominant note, one way or another, has been love.
I have, I must say, found December rewarding so far.
One of my circle has an anniversary coming up of one of life’s turning-points. There are mixed emotions involved, which I, perhaps, understand better than most. The person involved may read this, and he knows my thoughts are with him.
No, I don’t remember exactly what that was about! Indulge me one more time:
Buddha’s Enlightenment: Friday, December 8, 2000
I have decided today will wind up the “love” theme for a while; so maybe the next entry will be really vicious and bitchy. However, in the meantime some more thoughts–bearing in mind they are just my thoughts, and not the last word on the subject.
You could call this A Romantic Old Queen’s Ten Ways to Experience Heaven on Earth–all a matter of taste really. These represent my taste. And that’s an important point. In my view self-esteem is an even more powerful need than sex. Not that there is necessarily an incompatibility between them, but we should always remember there is no blueprint for being a gay man (or woman). There are not certain things you must do or be before you are admitted to the “club”. Whatever is really outside your comfort zone is probably not for you. On the other hand, it does not do to be censorious of those, gay or straight, who act and think differently. So long as no-one’s potential for happiness is injured, so long as there is no subjugation of the other for one’s own ends, then all is cool as far as I am concerned. So here is my list–and yes, I have been lucky enough at times to have experienced all of them: not constantly, as life is not like that, but often enough to encourage one to go on.
If you are straight and reading this, you may well find you agree! I’d say what we are talking about here are human things, not just gay things.
1. Sharing the highs and lows of life with another, knowing your confidences won’t be betrayed.
2. Hugging and being hugged in such a way that the warmth of body contact is also the warmth of emotional contact.
3. Sharing simple experiences with a loved other–a meal, a drink, or just sitting.
4. Feeling the warmth of another through the night.
5. Seeing confirmation in another’s gaze.
6. A kiss that says more than words can, evaporating tensions or difficulties.
7. A touch that accepts you body and spirit–with all your faults.
8. A happy silence when words no longer seem necessary. (I tend sometimes to talk too much, filling such silences with unnecessary sound.)
9. Having one’s pain accepted, when one is down, without unnecessary probing. Most of us tend to probe; it is not always the best thing to do.
10. Sex, when the pleasure is truly shared–undemanding, celebratory, affirming. Such sex is more than physical release. Or, at times, no sex at all.
And capping an end of year list of things to have been thankful for in 2000 was this:
The privilege of continuing to live in Surry Hills, thereby breaking my record for being in one place. Happy Holiday Season all my readers–especially PK, Sirdan, Ian Smith, Simon H, Johnny Wu, Shanghai Bob*, Mitchell*, Delenio*, Master Fu*, Tony H*, RJS* (assuming you’ve been!), Tess*, Maisie, Simmy (if you visit), Yawning Bread, Nick J, any Talk City Chatters, ICQ visitors, Atakan, Terry in Birmingham, Citizens of Earth… and everyone out there. Thanks for your support during 2000
* Current (2000) or former SBHS students or staff.
Neil's Commonplace Book 