penwing.site

So, I live in Warrington - this is a town half way between Manchester and Liverpool with a public transport system courtesy of the fairy godmother - the trains turn into carrots at midnight. As such I don't know the gay scene very well at either city and consequently have very few gay friends. This has little actual bearing at what's coming up, it's just a general moan. Manchester is obviously well known for it's gay village and annual pride event.

Every time someone describes something as "so gay" my heart sinks. It bothers me that 'gay' - an identity many people struggle with - growing up in a culture where 'gay' is negative, is derogatory, is demeaning. It's part of the culture which leads to internalised homophobia, depression and other problems for queer youth as described in Stonewall's media depiction report and a US study of queer youth and the benefits of relationships.

Yesterday the UK Supreme Court issued a ruling in an asylum deportation case. The court decided that asking people to hide their sexuality (as the Home Office had been suggesting) was not appropriate. A Win! That was about all I knew.

The Consenting Adults Action Network (CAAN) have just published a book (booklet?) by Jane Fae Ozimek (one of the last projects written as John Ozimek) - Beyond the Circle. I got my copy of it the other week and have read it over the past couple of days (the joy of a nicely timed work commute).

I've not blogged much recently despite wanting to say quite a bit. Other voices can sometimes say it better than I can and I do try and share those voices on my twitter stream.

David Laws resigned from the cabinet the other week after the Telegraph revealed he had been claiming expenses for rent paid to his partner against the rules. They claim that they weren't intending to reveal that his partner was male and therefore pull Laws out of the closet but it's hard to see how that could work in any meaningful way.

Those of you who know me or follow me on twitter or here will know I like my music. This year alone I have been to 8 gigs, seeing 19 bands and a set by @mitchbenn at Eastercon. I love my local music scene although would like to be more involved in it and I know that Manchester and Liverpool are also really exciting places musically right now.

This is not a blog post I had planned to write - especially in the middle of an election, but blogging, for me, is meant to be about things you find interesting as you find them interesting. Nor is this a blog post which will answer the questions it poses - I don't think there are answers to some of the questions.

This morning a couple of ReTweets came up in my twitter stream from @glynmoody.

RT @alexanderhanff preparing a criminal complaint against Canonical over privacy concerns raised by logging/publishing of online chatrooms

I live in the Warrington North constituency (since the boundary changes). A quick look at YourNextMP shows I have 4 candidates to choose from (this will be confirmed once nominations have closed):

• Derek Clark - UKIP (until very recentl YNMP was suggesting Jack Kirkham) [UPDATE: No UKIP Candidate listed on the formal Warrington North List]
• Paul Campbell - Conservatives

So, with the elections coming up, it's time to start thinking about who I want to vote for. And therein lies a problem. I'm embarassed by all the parties (that is a polite understatement of my true feelings) and live in an ultra-safe constituency. On the one hand, there is Labour who have produced a more and more authoratarian, Orwellian state and who appear to equate liberation with equality with quotas, who abuse parliament and hold the public in utter contempt. On the other are the Conservatives.

So, March... no, wait, February. I forgot someone. One of the support acts for Ocean Colour Scene was The Moons. I actually picked up their CD I enjoyed them that much. And I forgot about them in my last entry. Consider this me fixing that mistake.