Letters from
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph and
Nottingham Evening Post
on November 10th
2011
Remember Rose, a great champion of young gays
As we approach November 11th, spare a thought for
Rose Robertson who died last August, age 94. She was a secret
agent in Nazi-occupied France, a member of the Special
Operations Executive suffering trauma and had great difficulty
talking about her wartime experiences.
However, she did reveal an incident which occurred in 1941.
Billeted with two young male French Resistance agents, Rose
entered their room and discovered them in an embrace. She knew
nothing of homosexuality, was curious and horrified to hear of
family prejudice and rejection. Their story affected her deeply.
She was shocked that ignorant parents could be so heartless to
their gay children.
In the years after the war, Rose set out to learn more about
people like me. She met distressed gay teens damaged by
self-hate from religious groups chanting biblical passages with
a homophobic interpretation. She met parents – like Mr and Mrs
Annable – who were variously distraught, angry, guilty, ashamed
and hostile towards their children’s ‘perversion’.
In 1965 she formed the Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays
– FFLAG – which seeks to mediate between parents and kids in an
effort to find understanding, acceptance and reconciliation.
Rose was an effective campaigner, an enlightened heterosexual
with a conscience impressing people who had been wary of
supporting teenagers of same-sex attraction. Gradually, police,
local authorities, irate mums and dads began to trust this
reassuring middle-aged figure with her family orientated
approach.
It all comes too late for Narvel. My parents are dead. To the
best of my knowledge, I have one sister living in the USA. We
have not spoken since 1963. Could Rose have made a difference?
Narvel Annable
Printed with a photograph of Sepp Blatter in the
Nottingham Evening Post,
November 22nd, 2011
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph, November 25th, 2011
Handshake is never enough / Handshake does not deal with the
causes of prejudice
The recent controversy over racism in football, hinged on the
significance of a handshake. This put me in mind of a parallel
incident when I was approached by two Mormons. They assured me
that I was loved by God but my homosexuality was unnatural and
unacceptable. I counted with the fact that my sexuality and the
host body were one and the same. We came as a package. We could
not be separated. Several minutes of heated negotiations ended,
as always in these cases, in stalemate.
One of them suggested that we should agree to disagree and
offered me his hand. I refused. I explained that accepting such
a gesture would condone centuries of ignorance and bigotry. I
argued against being a party to religious prejudice. A handshake
would not deal with the root cause of the problem which is
called homophobia. When the Mormons renounce and apologise for
their medieval beliefs and cruel conduct, at that point, I will
gladly shake a Mormon hand.
Homophobes and racists should look to the example of Sepp
Blatter who gave a fulsome and gracious apology when made aware
of his hurtful comments.
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
Nottingham Evening Post on October 21st 2011 and in
the Derby Telegraph
on October 22nd 2011.
Nick’s homophobic view shows he’s in a time warp
In 1998, I was delighted when Nick Seaton of the Campaign for
Real Education included my book Heanor Schooldays in his
list of ‘Recommended Publications’. Thirteen years on, I am now
embarrassed by that praise.
On BBC 1’s Sunday Morning Live, 16.10.11, he held forth
on ‘moral and family values’ criticising teachers who, in sex
education lessons, inform their pupils about same-sex attraction
in a ‘non-judgemental way’. He said teaching that homosexuality
was OK will ‘destroy society’.
Had it not been for a speedy intervention from the author,
historian and playwright Francis Beckett, this outburst of
appalling ignorance and homophobia would have gone unchallenged.
It should be remembered that schools are now required by law
to represent homosexuality in the same positive light as
heterosexuality. In other words, being gay is quite normal for
people born with same-sex attraction and homophobia is illegal
and unacceptable in just the same way as racism.
Mr Seaton is living in a time warp when the schoolmaster
condemned gay people as immoral, wicked and sinful at worse –
sick, abnormal and disordered at best. As in my own schooldays
in Heanor, LGBT children of the 1950s, afflicted with self hate,
hid inside of themselves and drifted into a secret world of fear
and insecurity.
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph and
the Nottingham Evening
Post on
November 3rd 2011
The ghost that walks
‘The Commonwealth is a comic-book phantom of international
organisations. It is the ghost that walks.’
This savage criticism was written by Greg Sheridan, the Foreign
Editor of The Western Australian to coincide with the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on October 30th
2011.
Such a ferocious attack on a loose association of 54 countries
is hardly surprising. In the teeth of a clear commitment from
the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, to
‘tolerance, respect and understanding in matters of sexual
orientation’: it is a disgrace that 36 member states continue to
treat same-sex relations as a serious criminal offence. Every
day gay people suffer vilification and punishment inflicted by
cruel laws dating from colonial days.
On BBC TV, 30.10.11, Andrew Marr reminded the Prime Minister
that people have looked to this conference to take a hard line
with the homophobic nations in Africa. He gave the example of
Uganda where homosexuals are routinely targeted with threats,
violence and endure sentences of up to ten years in brutal
prisons.
Thank you, Mr Marr. And I’m grateful to Mr Cameron for
confirming that British foreign aid will be withheld from
countries who continue to persecute their gay citizens.
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
Harrogate Advertiser
December 2nd
2011
Always a good place for men to come out
Further to Vicky Carr’s review of my book Secret Summer,
May 6th 2011, here is a comment on your item of
November 18th 2011 – Sexism row erupts over
Turkish Baths.
I
take issue with the Borough Council spokesman who said that
gentleman only sessions have a traditional low attendance.
Wrong. During the 1960s and 1970s when I visited the Royal Baths
on numerous occasions, it was full of men – gay men! In
those secretive dark and dangerous homophobic days, the
luxurious Turkish Baths were an ideal meeting place for those of
us who share same sex attraction. It was a comfortable and safe
venue for nondrinking homosexuals like me who hate pubs and
noisy clubs. Completely relaxed, we could chat over a pot of tea
and something nice to eat in a civilised atmosphere. Nostalgic
memories recall a warm place to make friends under the splendour
of medieval Moorish alcoves in what could have been a Cecil B
DeMille set for the Palace of Saladin.
As with the Derby Turkish Baths which closed in the late 1980s,
it is not an exaggeration to say that 90% of the men would be
gay or bisexual. In general, we were invisible. Our conduct was
very discreet and great care was taken not to offend any of the
heterosexual 10%.
Here in the 21st century, younger gay men are not
prepared to be as quiescent or fearful as the past generation.
They refuse to tiptoe around disapproving bigots and prefer to
spend their pink pounds at new gay saunas which have opened up
around the UK.
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
Nottingham Evening Post
on January 25th
2012
I
have been criticised for comparing Gay Rights with the 1960s
Civil Rights movement in the USA. Accordingly, in
Nottinghamshire’s February / March 2012 edition of Queer
Bulletin I was delighted to read the words of Coretta King –
‘Dr Martin Luther King would be a champion of gay rights if he
were alive. Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in
Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Georgia and St. Augustine,
Florida, and in many other campaigns of the Civil Rights
Movement. Many of these courageous men and women were fighting
for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for
their own. I salute their contribution.
‘Homophobia is like racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of
bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanise a large group of people,
to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets
the stage for further repression and violence that spread all
too easily to victimise the next minority group’
On this day [20.01.12] of all days when the news from Derby
Crown Court sends a powerful message to all homophobes who
threaten violence against the gay community, I am proud to have
made a decision to major in African American History at Eastern
Michigan University at a time when the Detroit race riots were
tearing that city apart.
I
thank Coretta King for her encouraging words and am grateful for
the good work of Bayard Rustin, a gay African American who was
the organisational ‘mastermind’ behind much of the Civil Rights
movement’s work.
Narvel Annable
Printed in
The Independent on August 23rd
2011
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph
and the
Nottingham Evening Post on August 29th
2011
I
thought that the Equality and Human Rights Commission protected
gay people from bigotry, prejudice and discrimination?
If so, why is this tax payer-funded organization
supporting four cases which are to appear before the European
Court of Human Rights to allow anti-gay workers to avoid serving
gay men and lesbians?
In other words, some bigoted people of faith are seeking
permission to break the law of this land.
I’m
appalled! It gets
worse! Christian
fundamentalists are lobbying Members of Parliament to back this
blatant homophobia.
So far, thirteen members have already signed a motion.
Quite rightly, there would be outrage if a similar motion
was proposed to victimise Jews or Muslims.
Christians
of African ancestry who hold ‘deep and sincere views’ like
Lillian Ladele, Eunice and Owen Johns would do well to remember
two important facts.
Men like me were born with same-sex attraction.
As with race, it can never be changed – not even with
electric aversion therapy which was offered to my partner Terry
in 1976 to ‘cure’ him of his homosexuality.
Here in the 21st century, we must be eternally
vigilant and resist all attempts to return to a primitive,
medieval mindset.
In work and
public service, orthodox Christians, Catholics and others who
think they occupy the moral high-ground are asking for the right
to turn back the clock and discriminate against the LGBT
community. They
should hang their heads in shame.
Narvel
Annable.
Printed in the
Nottingham Evening
Post June 9th
2011
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph
June 11th 2011
Courageous inmate sets an excellent example
Richard was
15 when first ‘sent down’.
He was beaten to a pulp because he was gay.
Eleven years on, he has become hard and strong.
I’d like to pay tribute to this courageous inmate who,
behind bars, has set up a support group for gay men.
That would be brave and difficult anywhere but,
infinitely more so, serving time at Her Majesty’s Pleasure at
HMP Armley in Leeds.
Richard came
to my attention in BENT
Magazine when he made a plea for books and magazines to better
inform the inmates in his group who have, on a daily basis,
endured appalling suffering, a target for prison bullies.
Some are not strong.
Some do self harm, some do worse and some have joined his
group seeking solidarity, education and self-respect no longer
tolerating insults like puff, queer or batty man.
Richard does
not ask for sympathy.
He asks for practical help for those who need to look out
for each other and meet for discussion and mutual support.
As part of that process, here we have an excellent
example of leadership and rehabilitation.
This prisoner knows his stuff!
His letters impress me with a finely honed critical
intelligence, a grasp of material relating to LGBT issues,
probing questions and capable responses.
He was quite
right to remind me that the Editor of
BENT and Armley’s Senior Diversity Officer should be apportioned due
credit for the establishment and success of that group.
Such good work is a team effort and things can only
improve when we all pull together.
Most of all,
Richard’s world of the inside strikes a chord with my own life
experience on the outside.
It was (and for many still is) a repressed world where
gay men, effectively, existed as outlaws dodging disapproval,
violent thugs and the dreaded plain clothes policeman.
Narvel
Annable.
Printed in the
Nottingham Evening
Post May 18th
2011
Time for
royals to approve
Forty years
ago, I would have criticised the Republican backlash to the
recent royal wedding.
Pining for the Derbyshire hills, I displayed a photograph
of The Queen in my Detroit home and longed for all things
British. The
mystique of Monarchy has become celebrity culture and soap
opera.
Perhaps the
better informed out-and-proud 65-year-old of 2011 has lost the
innocence of the ignorant closeted 24-year-old, as I was, back
in 1970. Peter
Tatchell said –
‘Never in
Queen Elizabeth’s 58-year reign has she ever acknowledge the
existence of the gay community.
Had she treated blacks or Asians in the same way, she’d
be denounced as a racist.’
Her Majesty
is the head of state for the homosexual minority just as much as
for the heterosexual majority, yet she banned gay palace
employees from bringing their partners to staff events until the
human rights group OutRage! protested.
Responding to a complaint about ‘too many homosexuals in
the palace’, the Queen Mother was heard to say – ‘Yes, but if we
dismissed them all, who will look after us?’
As yet, I am
not able to take that irrevocable step and join the call for a
Republic. I’m
hopeful for improvements for those who share same-sex attraction
from a future sovereign.
We have seen encouraging indications.
Recently, gay activists have been honoured with an MBE
and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have gay friends - albeit
never publicly acknowledged.
The US has
its first black President.
I look forward to a UK where Royals do not have to hide
behind sham marriages and where it is possible to be an openly
gay king or an openly lesbian queen.
Narvel
Annable.
Printed in the May 2011 edition of
Midlands
Zone Magazine
Printed in the
Nottingham Evening
Post on April 4th
2011
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph
on April 15th 2011
Homophobic
interpretation of the Bible leads to gay pain and suffering
Responding
to the national furore over Mr and Mrs Johns the homophobic
Pentecostal foster parents, Alan Walker from Stanley Common in
Derbyshire (the village of my birth) said that ‘unless you are
gay, you do not command any respect’.
He is ‘sick and tired of the coverage they get on TV and
in the papers’.
I sincerely
wish the LGBT community
did, indeed, command more respect.
I wish it was not necessary to continually fight our
corner in the media.
Mr Walker goes on to say that he has ‘nothing against gay
people’. However,
his homophobic interpretation of the Bible gives licence to gay
bashers who hang around gay venues looking to enjoy their
Saturday night sport.
Many
youngsters, who share same-sex attraction, fearing abuse or
violence, are afraid to go near these places and continue to be
lonely. Mr Walker
has no such problem.
He will be able to enter and leave his church without any threat
of humiliation. Due
to his intolerant religious doctrine, many older gay people are
also lonely and reclusive, isolated by the ignorance and
prejudice of homophobic relatives.
At long
last, the Equality and Diversity efforts of Derby City Council
are trying to undo centuries of emotional damage inflicted upon
a vulnerable minority.
Before the election, Nick Clegg proposed that all schools
should be required to teach that homosexuality is normal and OK.
Some are doing just that.
I agree with Mr Walker when he says ‘enough is
enough’! If all gay
people ‘stood up to be counted’ they, like Christians, would
‘gain the respect they deserve’.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the
Worksop Guardian
May 5th 2011
Let’s combat homophobia
I was
delighted to read the feature [March 11th] about
‘Worksop Out on Wednesday’ celebrating its first birthday party
at the Abbey Community Centre on February 16th.
I salute the
management and volunteers of Centre Place.
They have been supporting young lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender people for more than a year.
This is evidence of good organisation, dedication and
hard work from an excellent team who provide activities and
counselling for young people who are coming to terms with their
sexuality;
Having
taught history for 17 years at the Valley Comprehensive School
[1978-1995] - I am well acquainted with prejudice against
homosexuality in Worksop and Bassetlaw.
This
splendid event you described, full of fun and jubilation, came
into sharp focus when a profound silence descended.
In that heartrending interval, we heard from brave and
articulate youngsters who had suffered appalling problems.
We walked in their
shoes, endured the harsh realities, the trials and tribulations
of homosexual life and felt their pain.
We were reminded that human unhappiness has effects far
beyond the individual.
It reaches out to touch the lives of everyone.
Centre Place is one of the most successful groups of
its type. These
skilled specialists run an excellent service.
They rescue modern youngsters from the anxiety and shame
inflicted by a cruel and ignorant heterosexual majority.
True - there has been progress.
However, even today, 41% of gay pupils get beaten up and
are six times more likely to commit suicide.
The Samaritans have described this as a ‘national
scandal’.
Accordingly, we should all pull together to combat homophobia.
Narvel Annable
Narvel Annable was invited to address Worksop Out on
Wednesday on April 27th 2011.
He entertained the group by reading extracts from
Secret Summer appropriately edited for a young audience.
Three readings gave the boys and girls ample
opportunity to ask questions, exchange views and comment on a
variety of LGBT issues.
Printed in the Derby Telegraph
April 21st 2011
Neighbourhood will
miss this much-loved feline
The purr of
a cat is the most soothing sound you’ll ever hear.
Over the last 12 years, I have been calmed and comforted
on a regular basis by the purr of Sooty - the delight of
Dovedale Crescent, always greeting us with unconditional
affection.
Up at the
front window sill, she signals a demand for admission coupled
with a welcome interruption to work.
A quick cuddle, my face buried in that thick, lush, ebony
fur, is followed by a brief reconnaissance of each room
including a visit to my partner Terry, enhancing the quality of
both our days.
Never
outstaying her welcome, this friendly feline returns to my
window with a goodbye meow asking for exit.
I wouldn’t
compose a letter about any cat.
Sooty is different.
Over the years she has ran up (yes,
ran up) to greet local
children – many of them now grown up.
Such a character, such a pleasant demeanour owes much to
the kind nature of the good people who have cared for her over
the last 12 years.
Recently,
kindly; Sooty’s ‘mummy’ came to my door to share dreadful news.
Sadly, I will never hear that purr again.
The keyboard
before me swims with tears.
I mourn the passing of an affectionate pussy cat, loved
by neighbours, popular with passing children.
Good night,
Sooty; sleep well, fondly remembered friend.
Printed in the
Harrogate Advertiser May 20th
2011
Cameo will honour Big Bill memory
Thank you for reviewing my autobiographic novel –
Secret Summer in the
Weekend Book Club
06.05.11.
As Vicky Carr said, the last chapters are set in the
Old Swan Hotel where I met an obese American gentleman who, in
1966, was in permanent residence.
Called Big Bill Bulman in the book; his real name was
Bill Silvey - an anglophile with a love of Harrogate’s beauty
and charm, often expressing his feelings in a roaring Deep South
accent. Some of your
older readers will remember this colourful character.
He wrote me letters raving about the crocuses which were
- ‘as big as
tulips!’
In an effort to reduce his great weight, Bill was
also resident on a daily basis in the Harrogate Royal Baths
where he would return a standard riposte to any comment about
his size with –
‘I’m a landmark in these parts!’
Some time towards the late 1980s, I was surprised to
hear that he still lived in Harrogate at 34 Swinton Court.
The sad news of his death came shortly afterwards and I
wanted to honour his memory with a cameo in
Secret Summer.
As with so
many gay men who were born in the early years of the 20th
century, rabid homophobia caused Bill to suffer a repressed and
secretive life telling very little about himself.
Accordingly, if any of your readers have any information
about this kind and gentle man, I should be grateful to hear
from them.
Narvel
Annable.
Printed in the
Ripley & Heanor
News April 28th
2011
Tugging at the Memories
Regarding
your Memory Lane Tug-of-War feature 17.03.11 at Howitt Secondary
Modern School in Heanor: it was an emotional surge to recognise
myself as one of the ‘heave ho’ team members.
One
of the best summers any of us could remember: 1959 was the
happiest year of my life.
As described in
Lost Lad, after four miserable years suffering the
Dickensian cruelty of Mundy Street Boys School, Narvel had been
reinvented, rechristened as ‘Dobba’ and welcomed into a culture
of kindness by the good people you picture such as Peter Lambert
and Valerie Billet, the Captains of Dale House.
Fifth in
that line, I was probably the weakest puller, yet Dale House
won! Just months
before, my self esteem was zero.
Look closely at that photograph.
With good reason, you’ll see me smiling and tugging for
joy.
For the
first time in my life, here was an experience of true
camaraderie: the joy of being respected and valued, pulling
along with such leading lights, powerful hunks as [right to
left] Peter Lambert, David (Rocky) Martin, Geoffrey Wilton and (Ricca)
Ratcliffe. The boy
behind me, face obscured, is John Lavender.
More than half a century on, I send them greetings and
sincere gratitude.
Narvel
Annable (Dobba)
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph, February 23rd 2011
Gay marriage row
has echoes of segregation
On the Andrew Marr
programme – BBC1, 13.02.11 – the Archbishop of York, John
Sentamu was asked about new proposals for gay marriage. Dr
Sentamu said he had no problem with religions allowing the
marriage of LGBT people. However, with regard to ceremonies
under the auspices of the Church of England, he made his
disapproval quite clear.
He said churches
should have the right to marry couples of the same sex, but
those rights should not be imposed upon Anglicans and Catholics
who choose not to marry homosexuals.
Back in the 1950s
when segregation was commonplace, this same view was taken by
owners and managers of ‘white only’ American lunch counters.
“Negroes have
their own ‘all black’ lunch counters. Why should they make such
a nuisance of themselves by invading our eating places? Why
should their rights infringe our rights?
I recall these
voice-overs on American TV. We were horrified by the sight of
ignorant racists squirting ketchup over the heads of brave
African Americans suffering appalling humiliation.
Before advocating
discrimination against the LGBT community, John Sentamu would do
well to reflect on the bravery of those protesters who,
indirectly, made it possible for an African to become the
Archbishop of York.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph February 4th 2011 in the Soapbox
column
HOMOPHOBIC
MOTHERS
Written by
Christopher Street who works for an advertising agency in
London.
“You’re just
weak”.
“It’s drugs isn’t
it, he’s got you into drugs”.
“You can’t be
gay. All gay people have got that seedy look about their face”.
“But you’re good
looking, and sporty and you’ve always had girlfriends, how on
earth can you be attracted to someone old and wrinkly like
that”.
“But it’s so
unnatural. I mean, look at AIDS for example”.
This smattering
of quotes from my Mother, whom I will always love and respect
for everything she has done for me, is not what compelled me to
write. Whilst such demonstrations of ignorance and bigotry
incited anger and frustration, my first thought was not, “I must
write about this”. What compelled me to write was a letter that
I received from her, in which she recalled a local event that
she attended:
“Last Monday
we went to Matlock to a talk by local author Narvel Annable.”
“How nice”, I
thought.
“He was so
boring and turned out to be a gay rights activist so his books
and talk were all about homosexual activities. Many people
including myself walked out. 99% complained to hotel management
– a very sad and bitter person. Saturday was much better –
Barbara Dickson at Gawsworth – brilliant voice, excellent
variety of old and new.”
I was glad she
enjoyed Barbara. I was not so comfortable with her attack on
Narvel, who as far as I could see was a force for good who had
clearly suffered enough at the hands of such views. It was this
personal attack that compelled me to write. I wanted Narvel to
know what had been said about him. I’ve always found it
frustrating that we never know what people say about us when we
are not present. I wanted him to know. I wanted to tell him my
story.
For as long as I
have been sexually aware, I have experienced an attraction to
older men. With age came a growing sense of comfort and
acceptance of this within myself. Then I fell in love with
someone. It was at this point that I knew I had to declare it. I
was not going to put myself through the turmoil of denial or
deceit. It was July 2010 when I told my Mother. I was 25.
I wanted this to
be a liberating experience, a chance to involve her in my
personal life, to bring us closer together. What I was met with
from her shocked me, but is sadly something that still pervades
our society. I’ll use the words again: ignorance and bigotry.
Her exclamations demonstrated denial too, which I half expected.
What I was surprised at was the level of her misunderstanding.
To suggest that AIDS is a consequence of homosexuality best
captures her misunderstanding. To suggest that it was drugs that
had got me involved in it shows how people still couple
homosexuality with all that is antisocial and immoral. That my
partner does not drink, never has done, and certainly does not
take drugs could not change her mind. Her views are set. It is 6
months since I told her and there is still no sign of any
willingness to accept that perhaps her views are misplaced.
The most
infuriating thing about homophobia is not the views themselves,
but the lack of willingness to question them when confronted
with someone such as myself, or Narvel Annable.
Christopher Street
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph, February 18th 2011
I don’t recall
complaints after my talk at hotel
Regarding the
February 4th Soapbox, I thank Christopher Street for
taking the time and trouble to compose such a well written,
articulate and interesting item. I’m sorry his mother took a
negative view of my talk on August 2nd 2010 at the
New Bath Hotel in Matlock Bath.
Out of an audience
of about 60 people, my partner Terry recalls two people leaving
the room in the early part of my reading from Secret Summer.
At the time, he didn’t connect it with any disapproval. This
extract took up most of the hour. It was carefully edited,
chosen for that particular gathering.
LGBT issues are
woven into the storyline, but there was no sexual content.
Essentially it was a celebration of Matlock Bath’s beauty
inspired by my love of the area. Body language from some people
suggested interest and, indeed, enthusiasm. The event ended in
applause with several people staying behind to ask questions
about my work. I was paid and thanked by the hotel. To the best
of my knowledge, there were no complaints. It was my second
guest appearance at the New Bath Hotel.
This is a familiar
story. Untold numbers of gay people have had their lives
blighted by a homophobic reaction from an ignorant mother. The
man whose signature follows is a good example.
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph - December 11th 2010
Weather gave
respite from hurtful bullying
The snow has
brought cold, chaos, danger; to a few, even death. Others have
gained stolen time - time to enjoy lots of fun.
More than half a
century back, sudden snow gave one miserable boy a respite from
a daily routine of humiliation and despair.
In bed - even
before I opened my eyes – something was different. Softness had
descended upon a world which - mysteriously – magically - had
become still and completely quiet. On this special day, there
would be no school, no torment. The world was on hold.
I looked out onto
an alien landscape with sculptured curves of sparkling
brilliance. It used to be our garden; now it was fairy land.
Peace and tranquillity presided over a new enchantment of beauty
where everything had been purified, even the very air itself.
Like the boy in
The Snowman, I scrambled for wellingtons, warm clothes and
dashed out to enjoy freedom in an environment where shrubs and
dustbins has been adorned by a thick cover of gleaming ermine.
Crunching through deserted streets transformed into pretty
Christmas cards, I rejoiced at the fall of yet more snow! Huge
flakes gently descended, alighting and tickling my smiling face:
smiling because several days of freedom from hurtful
behaviour was now more likely.
That was 1957. How
much has changed? Homophobic bullying in our schools has reached
epidemic proportions. This recent enforced natural festival of
white and light has closed hundreds of schools. Snow will have
gladdened the hearts of thousands of pupils who are perceived to
be ‘different’.
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph, March 16th 2011
Vital to protect
children of all sexual orientation
On BBCs
Question Time from Derby - 03.03.11 - Liam Halligan
demonstrated appalling ignorance when he supported the
homophobic Pentecostal foster parents, Eunice and Owen Johns, in
their dispute with Derby City Council.
Mr Halligan stated
that a child of nine would have no sexual feelings and could not
possibly experience same sex desire. Wrong! At the age of nine I
was attracted to my teacher Mr Crofts at Mundy Street Boys
School. I knew I was ‘different’. That fact, subtly communicated
to other boys, nearly ended in a suicide attempt. Even today,
LGBT children are six times more likely to kill themselves than
heterosexual pupils.
Other members of
that panel pointed out that Mr and Mrs Johns had a record of
being caring foster parents. Mr and Mrs Annable were also caring
parents, but their entrenched gay hate demanded that Narvel
Annable should come into their family without his
homosexuality. Accordingly, that particular sexuality was deeply
repressed into self-hate, a damaging shameful secret. I could
not change my sexuality anymore that Mr and Mrs Johns could
change their skin colour. I ask them to think on that.
In taking this
matter as far as the Royal Courts of Justice, Derby City Council
were protecting the rights of gay children. They were
considering all LGBT children who might be severely harmed by
the ignorance and bigotry of Pentecostal Christians who are well
known for a strong homophobic prejudice which has no place on
the 21st century.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the
March edition of
Midlands Zone magazine with a large photograph of the
Rainbow Flag
Printed in the
Nottingham Evening Post, February 12th 2011 – with a
photograph of the Rainbow Flag
Having taught
history for 17 years at the Valley Comprehensive School
[1978-1995] - I am well acquainted with endemic homophobia in
Worksop and Bassetlaw.
Against that
background, I was horrified to hear that Bassetlaw District
Council has rejected Councillor Ian Campbell’s request to fly
the Rainbow Flag above Worksop and Retford Town Hall’s for LGBT
History Month, February 2011.
If my former
pupils and the people of Bassetlaw are prevented from learning
about the problems, the harsh realities, the trials and
tribulations of homosexual life – how can they ever be educated?
How can they recognise and combat homophobia? How can they
possibly know what it is like to be me? How can they feel my
pain: such as the time when a group of ignorant pupils once
shouted out at me, as loud as they could, in Worksop’s Tesco –
‘ANNABLE’S A GAY BASTARD’?
During those 17
years, this was one of several similar attacks. An unmarried
teacher who keeps his private life very private, a strict
traditional schoolmaster who was not afraid to make his students
work in silence – that schoolmaster is a tempting target to a
disruptive minority.
The suggested
compromise of an ‘internal’ display for history month is welcome
but hardly adequate. It will not reach the homophobes in North
Nottinghamshire. During this month many councils, police
stations, schools, hospitals and any number of public buildings
will be flying the Rainbow Flag. For my sake - and for the sake
of many more people like me who have yet to be born –
fly
that flag.
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
Nottingham Evening Post, January 11th 2011
Printed in the
Derby Telegraph, January 12th 2011
We are proud of
TONI MONTINARO
For most of my
life, the words ‘lesbian’ and ‘gay’ were never uttered in polite
company. ‘Homosexual’ was a dirty word. According to my mother,
they were - ‘No good to any woman. If I thought you were like
that, I’d strangle you.’
For decades, such
language describing this persecuted minority was taboo. It was
not mentioned in our house, or, indeed, any decent household –
until now. Very soon those ‘dirty’ words will be read out by the
Lord Chamberlain in the highest household of the land - Bucking
Palace. Isn’t that the same Lord Chamberlain’s office which
censored ‘homosexual’ plays in the 1960’s?
In the teeth of
hostility, ignorance, discrimination and bigotry, the manager of
Derbyshire Friend, Tony Montinaro, has been included in the New
Year’s Honour List for helping to improve the quality of life
for LGBT people in Derbyshire over the last four years.
My mother would
have been 100 years old on 10.01.11. I wish she had lived to
hear about Toni Montinaro being presented with an MBE for –
‘Services
promoting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people.’
Well done, Toni.
We are all proud of you.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the December 2010 / January 2011 edition of QB Magazine
Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage
www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
Looking back
51 years: what happened to Jack?
After several
years of enquiry trying to breach a wall of silence, I have
finally solved part of the mystery of the Stanley Common
postmaster, Jack Carrier, who disappeared suddenly in 1959.
It happened
when I was a frustrated, deeply repressed 14-year-old. The
shy and gentle man behind the counter of that Derbyshire post
office shop was there one day - and gone the next
‘What’s
happened to him?’ I asked mother.
‘That one! Huh! Good riddance,’ she snapped.
One of them funny sorts. No good to any woman,’ she
growled.
‘Well, ‘e were always nicely spoken and polite,’ sniffed Aunty
Brenda, taking another swig of tea.
The effect on
me? It was the same as the effect on hundreds of thousands
like me. I hid inside of myself. I became withdrawn
and tried to pretend to desire girls. I drifted into a
secret world of fear and insecurity.
Clearly Jack
had been discovered in some way, denounced and driven out by
ignorant homophobic outrage. In those dark days of rabid
gay hate, it was considered quite natural for a heterosexual to
‘chat up’ a woman. However, if a homosexual engaged
another man in conversation, that was seen as ‘soliciting
for an immoral purpose’. Many victims were entrapped by
the CID and humiliated in the local press. Did this happen
to Jack?
I don’t know,
but I know this; the Carriers had been postmasters in Stanley
Common since 1924 and John H Carrier, born in 1920, died in the
early 1960s - a broken man. Bravely, he had served his
King and Country and suffered appalling cruelty in a Japanese
POW camp. My informants speak of scars on his wrists.
This inoffensive and mild mannered gentleman returned home
damaged and morose. He was a model citizen harming nobody
until bigots in that close-knit colliery village unearthed his
homosexuality and hounded him out of their sight. In
effect, it was a gay hating lynch mob.
Narvel
Annable.
____________
Printed in the Nottingham Evening Post [with a
photograph] Monday, September 20th
Politicians need more openness
____________
Printed in the October edition of Midlands Zone magazine
Making it worse
On BBC Radio 4 [02.09.10] Max Clifford said –
“Why would a multi-millionaire need to share a hotel room with a
man nearly half his age?”
He
reminded us that Christopher Myers was poorly qualified for his
job as Special Advisor to the Foreign Secretary. By
issuing denials of homosexuality, William Hague has turned a
small problem into a massive problem. A few days ago, the
vast majority of the population would never have questioned the
heterosexual credentials of Mr Hague. His denunciation of
the rumour mongers has changed all that.
Why
do I get a feeling of déjà view? Former Chief Secretary to
the Treasury, David Laws precipitated a personal and political
tragedy in late May when he continued to be defensive and
closeted about his secret lover James Lundie. Such conduct
gives succour to homophobes who press the case that open
homosexuality is still damaging to people in the public eye.
I
wish Mr Hague well. I don’t know if he is a homosexual or
not. [He has said he is not]
As
a gay man myself, I had hoped that the David Laws debacle had
sent a strong message to all politicians who share same-sex
attraction. I say to them all - you have a duty to help
yourselves. You have a duty to help all LGBT people and
all the LGBT people to come. You have a special
responsibility to challenge bigotry and fight for gay equality
starting by being honest about your own sexuality.
Do us all a favour - ‘out’ yourself before being ‘outed’ by
others.
Narvel Annable.
___________
Printed in the Sheffield Star September 3rd
2010
Teach Common Sense and Love
____________
Printed in the Nottingham Evening Post November 3rd
2010
Shame on you, Archbishop
Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola declared that homosexuality
‘is clearly unbiblical, unnatural and definitely un-African’.
This so called ‘man of God’ needs to recruit people into his
flock. The gay community have no need to enlist new
members. They are born into the human population. I
was born homosexual just as Akinola was born black.
Neither of us can change our nature.
The
Bishop’s homophobic rhetoric has given the thumbs-up to thugs
who attacked the father of Leo Igew. He was brutally
beaten - subsequently his right eye had to be removed.
Leo, the Nigerian Humanist and gay rights activist, has several
times suffered violence following fearless campaigns in support
of LGBT rights.
In
2006 he made an impassioned appeal to the members of the
Nigerian National Assembly not to pass a Bill that would not
only criminalise gay marriage, but also impose a five-year jail
sentence on anyone who has a gay relationship or anyone who aids
or supports a gay marriage or relationship.
The
Nigerian Anglican Church should remember that Christianity is
supposed to teach common sense, thoughtfulness, knowledge, love,
tolerance, solidarity and empathy. Instead, to its ever
lasting shame, it encourages hate and homophobia.
Narvel Annable.
____________
Emailed to the Nottingham Evening Post on July 19th
2010
Nottingham City Council would do well to remember that human
unhappiness has effects far beyond the individual. It
reaches out to touch the lives of everyone. And, in the
process, can become very expensive! Accordingly,
they should reconsider an ill judged cut which will certainly
end up as an appalling false economy.
Providing activities, support and counselling for young people
who are coming to terms with their sexuality;
OUTBURST is one of
the most successful groups of its type in the UK. These
skilled specialists run an excellent service. They rescue
modern youngsters from the anxiety and shame inflicted on me by
a homophobic society a half century back.
True - there has been progress. However, even today 41% of
gay pupils get beaten up and are six times more likely to commit
suicide. The Samaritans have described this as a ‘national
scandal’.
Nottingham City Council would argue that LGBT children with
problems will be subsumed by the general youth services.
Unfortunately they are staffed by workers who are well meaning,
but ill informed. Some are indifferent and a few are
hostile to those who share same-sex attraction.
Heterosexual youngsters can usually turn to their parents for
advice and guidance. Alas the 1957 attitude of my parents
is still far too common today. They took the view that
Narvel had to face the rigours of real life and get ‘the
softness knocked out of him’. I was the family shame.
The Annables had been lumbered with a lad who was ‘not a proper
lad’. A son who could not defend himself with bare
knuckles in the playground brought dishonour upon a macho
working class father. It left a long shadow which darkened
both of our lives.
I beseech the City Council to THINK AGAIN.
Narvel Annable
____________
Emailed to the Derby Telegraph August 11th 2010
Belper’s Salvation Army Corp in the Market Place has closed
after 78 years due to a dwindling congregation. Many will
be sorry. My partner and I would also have been saddened –
but not now.
Just before Christmas 2008, a vulnerable man attended a
Salvation Army bible reading
group in north Derbyshire. By inclination he is
suggestible, easily manoeuvred, easily influenced, often bullied
and appears to have been influenced by a nest of homophobes who
are bigoted, prejudiced and ignorant. This gay man lost
his sense of humour and suffered a change of personality.
He said 'the Bible is anti-gay'. He trotted out several
well known homophobic passages frequently aimed at the
homosexual community.
We were
appalled that a group under the auspices of the Salvation Army -
the Salvation Army we have always respected - should harbour
such intolerance. These ‘teachers’ exploited self doubt
and induced self hate.
I
wrote to Major Jonathan Roberts at Chilwell about my concerns.
His reply was shocking!
“With regard to homosexuality, the Salvation Army takes the view
that people can’t help what they are – but they are responsible
for what they do.”
Effectively, he was saying that gay life is wrong and that the
bible group is right! Terry and I have been together for
34 years. Roberts was given a chance to amend / clarify
his views, but held firm to his main point. He was telling
us that we must be celibate if we are to receive full respect
and dignity in the eyes of the Salvation Army. This out of
date attitude is unacceptable and insulting to all who identify
with the LGBT community.
Narvel Annable.
____________
Printed in the Nottingham Evening Post – August 6th
2010
Debt owed to gay campaigner
In
1983, I was a teacher at the Valley Comprehensive School in
Worksop, quietly doing my job, keeping my head down, keeping my
private life very private and contributing nothing to the gay
cause. Like many other homosexual teachers, I was
isolated. I was terrified of being exposed as ‘a queer’.
I was frightened of being humiliated by ignorant pupils and
colleagues in a deeply conservative homophobic colliery
community.
In
1983 Richard McCance had just been elected to Nottingham City
Council as an out and proud gay man giving an enormous boost to
the fledgling Campaign for Homosexual Equality. He went on
to publish a gay and lesbian free sheet called Gay Nottingham,
then Metrogay and finally Outright which
eventually expanded to 16 pages with a circulation of 5000 which
must have given succour and hope to untold numbers in the LGBT
community. Well done! He did all this. I did
nothing.
I
would like to thank Richard for organising that excellent and
informative Public Meeting at Nottingham Pride on Saturday, July
31st. It was an emotional and significant day.
I’m also grateful to him for introducing me to the principal
speaker, my hero Peter Tatchell who has generously allowed his
good name to appear on the cover of my latest effort Secret
Summer.
Narvel
Annable.
____________
Printed in the Nottingham Evening Post - July 13th
2010
This letter received 33 responses on the Nottingham Evening
Post website
www.thisisnottingham.co.uk
Gay acceptance is just a dream
In
the run up to Peter Tatchell’s speech at Nottingham Pride on
July 31st, I found his recent assessment of the last
40 years of gay history, optimistic, informative, eloquently
moving yet - at times - deeply disturbing. Suffering in
silence, many were ashamed, hiding in a disapproving society
where LGBT people were condemned as immoral, wicked and sinful.
Peter painted a grim picture of self-hate - homosexuals
struggling with ‘internalised homophobia’. He highlighted
the medical profession which classified us as sick, abnormal and
disordered. I should know.
In
1961, self-hate drove me to an incompetent Derby psychiatrist.
He advised me to discover a heterosexual urge by dating pretty
girls and drinking beer! He insisted on this ‘cure’
despite my life-long aversion to alcohol and being revolted by
the sexual touch of a female. That advice could have been
given by almost any bloke in the Stanley Common Miners Welfare.
They took the view – ‘There’s something wrong with a lad who
can’t knock back a pint or fancy a lass.’
It
could have been worse. In 1976, electric shock aversion
therapy was a suggested as a ‘cure’ for the homosexuality of my
partner Terry.
Peter Tatchell looks forward to a society where no one cares who
is homo and who is hetro – a happy state of affairs which would
make the gay rights movement redundant. It’s a nice dream.
However, I suspect it’s more likely to happen in London than
here in Derbyshire. Up here in ‘the sticks’ gay people are
still blighted by a stubborn minority of the smug and the
respectable - the po-faced homophobes who still live in a 1950s
time warp.
Narvel Annable
____________
Printed in the Nottingham Evening Post – August 11th
2010
Voice against homophobia
Regarding the conduct of Kay Cutts at the Young People of the
Year Award last December, I assert my total confidence in the
veracity and integrity of Ian Campbell, Mayor of Retford and
youngest mayor in Britain. I nominated Ian for the YOPEY
Award, sat at his table and rejoiced in his success at County
Hall last December 11th 2009.
Having suffered appalling hardship and homophobia in his teenage
years, Ian has risen to be a powerful, articulate and effective
voice in the cry for justice for all gay people – young and old.
He is an excellent role model for the youthful LGBT community.
Councillor Cutts, the Conservative Leader of Nottinghamshire
County Council is no stranger to controversy. John Hess,
the Political Editor of BBC’s East Midlands Today, summed up
this abrasive woman in his item about her homophobia [06.08.10]
when he said –
‘She has a combative style. Her attack on Tony Gearing,
[the organiser of YOPEY] was the equivalent of a political
Exocet.’
The
appearance of young Ian Campbell on BBC television - convincing
in argument, resplendent in his mayoral chains and finery, being
admired by school children – will also be the equivalent of an
Exocet exploding ignorance, discrimination, bigotry and
prejudice against homosexuals.
Narvel Annable.
____________
Printed in
The Observer June 6th
2010
Printed in
The Independent June 1st
2010
Printed in the
Nottingham
Evening Post June 3rd
2010
Printed in the Derby
Telegraph June 8th
2010
Reading
about David Laws and his secret lover James Lundie put me in
mind of Alan Bates and his secret lover Peter Wyngarde who
complained -
“I’m told to walk two paces behind Alan.
If we go to a party, we can never arrive together.
I have to arrive earlier – or later.”
Fast forward
24 years. To
ecstatic cheering, the Labour MP Chris Smith bravely announced
‘I am gay’ to a rally
in Rugby.
Eventually he became a Cabinet minister reflecting honour
and pride on the LGBT community.
Continuing
to be defensive and closeted about his sexuality, the former
Chief Secretary to the Treasury allowed homophobic elements in
the heterosexual majority to portray being gay as a personality
flaw – or worse. Mr
Laws asserts that it was his right to keep his relationship with
Mr Lundie private – unknown even to family and friends.
No doubt he would tell me it is none of my business to
criticise. Wrong!
It is my
business. Over the
last ten years, his conduct has contributed to undermine and
undervalue the lives of millions of gay people like me, making
it more difficult to fight bigotry, discrimination and
ignorance.
The personal
and political tragedy unfolding on May 29th 2010 was
not only a great blow to the new Coalition; it was also a
reminder to all lesbians and gay men that the battle for gay
rights and gay equality, even in the 21st century -
is far from won.
Narvel
Annable.
____________
Printed in Nottinghamshire’s
Queer
Bulletin June / July 2010
Bob Faulkner - “Bigots because we don’t agree? No!” [Letters Derby
Telegraph March 27th]
– is wrong. He said
– “Just because someone thinks that something is wrong does not make that
person prejudiced.”
He also said - “It is inappropriate to teach children that homosexual relationships and
heterosexual relationships are of equal standing.”
These words remind me of racist language I often heard in 1960s Detroit when African-Americans were asserting
their civil rights.
During the bitter debates over the issue of ‘bussing’ to
integrate black and white children, respectable Christians like
Rob Faulkner took the view that it was perfectly acceptable to
‘disagree’ with black leaders who continued to repeat the mantra
– “We Negroes are as
Good As
You!” The
Detroit News was full
of letters arguing that it was
inappropriate to teach
children that people of African ancestry and people of European
ancestry were of equal standing.
Four decades on - as with black folks -
lesbians and gay men say to the world - We are as
Good
As
You
–
GAY.
Does that sound familiar Mr Faulkner?
You claim not to be prejudiced against homosexuals, yet
clearly you have pre-judged me and all who share same-sex
attraction. You say
that I’m confused.
Wrong. In the autumn
of my years, I have never seen people like you as clearly as I
see them now. Like
the Detroit dogmatists, you defend your right to
free speech in a ‘free country’.
However, in a modern civilised society, you have no moral
or legal right to deny equality to the gay community.
You speak of ‘millions of people in this country’ sharing your
opinions. Correct.
For generations, respectable up-right Christians like you
have robbed homosexuals of there confidence and self-esteem.
On the other hand, the good people of Derbyshire Friend and the Award-Winning Derby Pride
Committee are working hard to improve the image and restore self
respect to those who have been forced to hide their true
sexuality.
You deny having a grudge against homosexuals and would not wish
to see them persecuted.
For the most part, that is probably correct.
Notwithstanding, religious disapproval from the top gives the
nod to those below you who lurk outside gay venues waiting for
their chance to enjoy sadistic Saturday night sport.
You have invited me to enter your own venue - your church
- where I will be received with ‘love and respect’.
But how can that be if I have no
equal standing?
How can love and respect be reconciled with second class
citizenship?
Narvel Annable.
____________
Last Saturday, March 27th 2010, at Birmingham
Pride Ball, the Derby Pride Committee received the Midlands Zone
Readers Award for Outstanding Contribution to the LGBT
Community.
Midlands Zone is the
United Kingdom’s biggest
regional gay magazine.
____________
Printed in the Derby
Telegraph May 14th
2010
Self-respect tonic from a great night
Members of
the Derby Gay Pride Committee should be
congratulated on the successful ‘Glitz & Glamour Ball’ which played to a
full house at the
Stuart
Hotel on Saturday, May 8th.
That triumph will be adequate reward for all the weeks of
planning and hard work invested.
I take
pleasure in being nominated for the Jeffery Tillett Award and
will always treasure the handsome certificate in which my name -
one of several - is now associated with that venerable former
Mayor of Derby.
It is safe
to say that we all concur with the eventual winner who has done
so much to improve the quality of life for local gay people.
His insistence that the Jeffery Tillett Award be
presented to the whole Derbyshire
Friend
team of conscientious workers / volunteers - will add even more
respect and prestige to the good name of Toni Montinaro.
As
Councillor Robin Wood quite rightly said in his speech, we
should not ignore the big picture with regard to recent progress
in gay rights. A
Pride Ball - a large celebratory gathering of homosexuals
apportioning merit to leading lights who have promoted
homosexuality as an acceptable life style in the 21st
century – would have been unthinkable just a few decades before.
Robin reminded us that the hotel would have been raided
by the police, the Derby Pride Committee arrested, convicted and
imprisoned!
Instead, we
are all grateful to the award-winning organisers, for giving the
LGBT community an enjoyable night out, and - most important –
self respect.
Narvel
Annable.
Printed in the
Bradford
Telegraph & Argus
on May 4th 2010
Real Sense of Pride
I was dismayed to read the sneering,
sarcastic comments posted on your website following the item of
April 20th - “Event to
Celebrate
City’s Gay Community.”
Ignorant people like ‘Stan the Fan’
have driven untold numbers of gay men and women to don the cloak
of invisibility and take shelter inside the closet of an unhappy
marriage. Others,
like me, became withdrawn, pretended to like girls and drifted
into a secret world of fear and insecurity.
Before the advent of gay prides, now celebrated in
Centenary Square, many Bradford
lives would have been blighted by discrimination, prejudice,
ignorance and bigotry.
For too long, we homosexuals have been on the margins of
society. Until
recent years, we were the voiceless, powerless victims of those
who could inflict their humiliations with impunity.
We could not fight back because we were afraid to declare
ourselves, afraid to lift that cloak of invisibility.
As Peter Tatchell said –
“A mere four decades ago, ‘queers’ were almost
universally seen as mad, bad and sad.
Same sex relations were deemed a sin, a crime and a
sickness.”
Against that background, it is disappointing to hear
people disparaging the good work of
Bradford’s Equity Partnership.
Over the last few years, Rachel Nauwelaerts and her
conscientious team of volunteers have organised, managed,
promoted and hosted numerous interesting events which not only
improve the lives of the LGBT community – but also educate and
entertain the majority heterosexual community.
All are invited
on Saturday, May 22nd – even Stan the Fan.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the
Derby
Telegraph on May 11th
2010
Well done for your sensitive reporting
The Derby Telegraph is to be congratulated for the
sensitive, sympathetic and compassionate way it reported ‘Thugs
jailed for “vicious” attack on gay couple’ – May 1st
2010.
Quite rightly you identified the criminal trio and not their
victims. In past
years, if a homosexual was ‘knuckle dusted black and blue’, the
article often contained an implicit suggestion of - ‘He had it
coming. What do they
expect, indulging in that kind of an immoral life?’
You gave these unfortunate men and their trauma prominent
coverage on the front page supported by a generous, detailed
feature on page 2.
Some decades back, the sufferings of ‘queers’ would hardly be
reported at all.
I read the grim details with a sinking heart and hope they have
both made a complete physical recovery. In these situations, it
is common knowledge that the emotional damage will endure
longer. We can never know the full horror of that
terrifying and violent experience. Our hearts go out to
these inoffensive, gentle men who were kind enough to introduce
themselves at one of my talks in
Derby
last year.
It is some small comfort to hear that their evil assailants were
apprehended, found guilty and put away for several years.
Narvel Annable.
March 22nd
2010
Derby
Telegraph
We need
heroes. Jeffery
Tillett [1928-2008] was the Mayor of Derby in 1977 when The
Queen visited that town and made it a city.
He is an excellent role model for any youngster who
shares same-sex attraction.
Accordingly, it is entirely appropriate that Shaun Peaty
and the Derby Pride Committee have recently honoured that
quietly spoken, yet brave gentleman, by launching the Jeffery
Tillett Award.
www.derbypride.org.uk
It will be presented by Councillor Robin Wood to the
successful nominee acknowledging his or her achievement, work
and dedication to the LGBT Community of Derbyshire.
This event, the Derby Pride Ball, will take place at the
Stuart
Hotel, London Road at 7.30pm on May 8th
2010.
After 13
years in Detroit
- 1963-1976 - I recall being so proud seeing Jeffery,
resplendent in mayoral finery, walking with The Monarch in the
astounding knowledge –
‘He’s like
me! He is a
homosexual!
Perhaps he’ll look after us?
Make things better.
Wow!’
And he did
just that. Within
two years, Jeffery, with sterling support from his partner Robin
Wood, rescued gay people from the sneering snobs of the Friary
Hotel and the undignified crush of the seedy Corporation Hotel
passageway in the Cattle Market.
Against homophobic opposition, they welcomed us into the
Green
Lane Gallery,
a licensed venue as comfortable as a private home.
Because of their efforts, today, lesbians and gay men are pushing on an
open door.
Matthew
Parris described their courage in
The Times 2008 –
‘Quietly at
first, and, as the years went by, they became increasingly
openly gay.
Everybody knew, but nothing was said.
For an anxiously gay generation, Jeffery edged forward an
initially hesitant campaign.
He knew how far he could go.
He cut it very fine.’
Had it not
been for the valour of these political pioneers in a hostile
landscape, I would never have written this letter – let alone
three gay novels!
Narvel
Annable.
Ms Pauline Latham MP
Member for Mid Derbyshire
House of Commons
London
Congratulations on your recent
success.
So early into the job, I’m sorry to
trouble you so soon.
However, you may be aware of the homophobic outrage regarding -
Mr Steven Monjeza and Mr Tiwonge Chimbalanga
Prisoners
Chichiri Prison
PO Box
30117
Blantyre
3
Malawi
My partner Terry and I were dismayed
to read about the four month incarceration in prison for the
‘crime’ of loving each other!
In this day and age it is hardly believable.
Now they have been sentenced to a 14 year jail term.
These are very brave young men to
speak out, defy the authorities and suffer for those who, thanks
to their splendid example, will enjoy more freedom in
Africa
in years to come.
Ignorant people of Malawi
will have driven untold numbers of gay men and women to don the
cloak of invisibility and take shelter inside the closet of an
unhappy marriage.
Others will become withdrawn, pretend to be heterosexual and
drift into a secret world of fear and insecurity.
Before the advent of gay prides in this country, many
lives were blighted by discrimination, prejudice, ignorance and
bigotry. For too
long, we homosexuals have been on the margins of society.
Until recent years, we were the voiceless, powerless
victims of those who could inflict their humiliations with
impunity. We could
not fight back because we were afraid to declare ourselves,
afraid to lift that cloak of invisibility.
As Peter Tatchell said –
“A mere four decades ago, ‘queers’ were almost
universally seen as mad, bad and sad.
Same sex relations were deemed a sin, a crime and a
sickness.”
We have sent money to OutRage! with a request that it
be used for Steven and Tiwonge to buy extra food and, if
possible, ease the unacceptable conditions under which they are
being held. Like
many thousands here in the United Kingdom,
we were horrified to hear about their deteriorating health and
worrying descriptions of Steven being too thin and weak.
We sincerely hope that pressure from communications
such as this together with support from Amnesty International
and OutRage! will persuade the Malawian Government to review
their outdated homophobic attitudes and release them.
Please protest to the Malawian President and to the
Malawian High Commission in
London.
Also – please sign Early Day Motion 564.
In line with your ‘passion for education’, I enclose
a few sheets which draw attention to my own efforts to eradicate
homophobia in our own local schools.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the Sheffield Star February 24th
2010
Printed in the Nottingham Evening Post February 24th
2010
A
Turning Point in Gay History / Soft Target for Jan –
received 17 comments on the Nottingham Evening Post
website, nine were critical of the following letter, but eight
were supportive.
There were
25,000 complaints against Jan Moir’s sneers and false
allegations regarding the death of gay pop star Stephen Gately.
And yet, the Press Complaints Commission has ruled in her
favour! At the very least, she should have been
reprimanded for her cruel comments coming on the heels of an
outpouring of national grief from a younger generation who,
thank God, have become much less homophobic than that gay hating
columnist.
Had she made
similar comments about a black or Jewish person, Moir and the
Daily Mail would run the risk of being charged with inciting
racial hatred. Like the thugs who hang around the entrance
to a gay venue looking for sport - she played safe. Her
outburst was aimed at a soft target – a dead homosexual.
Nice one Jan.
After long
deliberation, it would seem that the Public Complaints
Commission was prepared to overlook her insensitive untruths
about ‘an unnatural lonely death’ and a ‘happy-ever-after’ gay
partnership being a ‘myth’.
I predict that
the sad death of Stephen Gately, and the national outrage which
followed, will be seen by future generations as a major turning
point in the annals of lesbian and gay history.
Narvel
Annable.
Printed in the Derby Evening Telegraph on March 8th
2010
Thanks must go to Festival Organiser
February used to be a drab month. The winter festivities
were over and people longed for a sign of spring. Thanks
to Sonya Robotham of Derbys Rainbow Fringe Festival -
www.derbysrainbowfringefestival.org.uk
– spring has come early. The sixth Gay History Month has
been like a long Christmas for me and about 10% of the
population like me. Sonya has organised, managed, promoted
and hosted 21 interesting events which have met the needs of
lesbians and gay men in Derbyshire.
On
February 5th we had a film followed by a panel
discussing the fears and isolation of those who are old and
homosexual. We were further enlightened by another panel
of leading lights using the format of Question Time on
the 11th. Most important of all, the Saturday
afternoon of the 13th celebrated young people who
share same-sex attraction. What a surprise! My
former pupils were never so confident or articulate. The
debate about the pros and cons of Derby Pride Day highlighted
intelligent boys and girls who made all us oldies very proud
indeed. The animated discussion following my address to
Derby University Students Union LGBT Society on the 25th,
confirmed my optimism for a bright gay future. Unlike the
sad chickens who inhabited my scruffy repressed world
back in the dark ages of the 1960s, the kids of 2010 Derby made
it clear that they will not stand for homophobia. Good on
them!
The
month was crowned [in LGBT terms] by a VIP of royal stature who
turned up at my speaking event at Chesterfield Library on the 27th.
Tony Fenwick - no less - a leading activist and instigator of
Gay History Month
www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk
and Co Chair of Schools OUT - had made a round trip of 160 miles
to honour us with his presence. What a privilege!
Thank you, Tony.
In
the final analysis, the honour should go to Sonya, the woman who
made it all possible. Thank you, Sonya.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the Nottingham Evening Post, January 27th 2010
and in the Derby Evening Telegraph January 29th
2010.
Gays Victimised / Uganda must be urged to rethink
February 2010 will be
the 6th Gay History Month. People ask – ‘Why
keep ramming it down our throats? Why make such a fuss?’
Yes, we have made
progress, but there is a long way to go – especially in Africa
where a draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill is currently before
the Ugandan Parliament. This unspeakable legislation
proposes the death penalty for some same-sex acts and life
imprisonment for others. The Bill also proposes up to
seven years jail for anybody [like me] who advocates gay
equality and three years jail for parents who fail to report
their gay sons and daughters to the police.
Here in the 21st
century, in the civilised community of nations, such judicial
brutality is unthinkable. On January 13th the
Lib-Dem Leader, Nick Clegg called for the expulsion of Uganda
from the Commonwealth if that nation descends into a miasma of
medieval barbarity. To which I say hear! hear!
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the Sheffield Star March 9th 2010
Gay Gareth is a Top Role Model
This Labour Government has achieved many advances for equality.
Lesbians and gay men must not be too disheartened by the recent
concession to allow faith schools to tailor their sex education
lessons to their own beliefs.
Ed
Balls tells us that religious schools will not be allowed to
teach homophobia. Who is he kidding? We are not
stupid! After giving way to canting Bishops, Archbishops
and Catholics, it will be ‘business as usual’ for some
reactionary bigots. Education is supposed to benefit the
child, but some medieval minds will exploit this loophole in the
Children, Schools and Families Bill. They will continue
to teach that homosexuality is a sin, continue to distress gay
pupils, thus making sure that their education supports
the church rather than the child. In doing so, homophobes
continue to peddle their poison, giving a green light to gay
bashers, murder music rappers and any number of evil elements
who have oppressed 10% of the population for centuries.
That said – take heart! We are on the march! In just
a few years, many high profile lesbian, gay and bisexual figures
have come out to prove that sexuality does not have to be a
barrier to success. Gareth Thomas did it. He plays
rugby in a man’s world – a macho world. He is proud to be
out. He is glad to be gay. He is now a positive role
model for children and adults like me. Millions will
follow his excellent example.
The
House of Homophobia, like a house of cards, is fast falling.
We are winning.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the Derby Evening Telegraph, January 7th 2010
Why Pratt didn’t Merit Admiration
The recent TV
drama An Englishman in New York [ITV 9.00pm 28.12.09]
invites us to admire Denis Pratt as a hero and pioneer. It
shouldn’t – he wasn’t. Denis Pratt was the real name of
the shocking and outlandish Quentin Crisp [1908-1999] who drove
untold numbers of gay men to don the cloak of invisibility and
take shelter inside the closet of an unhappy marriage.
Others, like me, became withdrawn, pretended to like girls and
drifted into a secret world of fear and insecurity.
However,
decades back as a teenager in the shadow of the slag tips of
darkest Derbyshire, in the half light of a hidden world; I found
gay men wearing hobnail boots. They were common, roughly
spoken and masculine. Unlike the mincing Crisp, at least
they dusted the furniture from time to time. They were
real men, butch men who looked and behaved like men.
I do not
condemn Crisp for his lack of hobnail pit boots, his flamboyance
and effeminacy. I criticise him for his homophobia.
Yes! Quentin Crisp was a homophobe! He was a traitor
to our gay cause. In 1997 he told The Times –
“Homosexuality
is a terrible disease. The world would be better without
homosexuals who are incapable of love and caring about other
people. If a foetus could be shown to be genetically
predetermined to be gay, I would advise parents to abort it.”
As usual, John
Hurt was good. But next time, I hope he will portray a
true icon and genuine pioneer from the homosexual community.
I would suggest Allan Horsfall, Antony Grey or Peter Tatchell.
They are better role models, gay heroes who deserve more public
recognition.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the Sheffield Star, February 9th 2010
Printed in
the Nottingham Evening Post February 19th 2010
Paying for Pope Visit no one Wants / Pope Meddling
If
the Pope asserted a faith-based right to exclude all black
people from senior positions in the Roman Catholic Church, quite
rightly, such an outburst would be received with howls of
protest. Yet this homophobe criticises the Equality Bill,
currently before parliament which seeks to protect homosexuals
from religious discrimination. The Pope thinks his
criticism is morally justified. Meddling in our affairs,
he said UK equality legislation “violates the natural law”.
Should we be so surprised? In December 2008, in a gay
hating speech, Pope Benedict gave the global gay community a
Christmas present which amounted to a kick in the teeth.
Pope Benedict XVI [aka Joseph Ratzinger] wrote in 1986 that
homosexual orientation is an “objective disorder” towards an
“intrinsic moral evil”.
To
add insult to injury, in September, taxpaying lesbians and gay
men will be dipping into their pockets to find the £20 million
to fund a State Visit from an offensive old bigot most of us –
gay and straight - don’t want.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the Nottingham Evening Post March 8th
2010
Praising the Rainbow Heritage
received three
critical / abusive comments on the Nottingham Evening Post
website.
February used to be a drab month. The winter festivities
were over and people longed for a sign of spring. Thanks
to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage -
www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk
– spring has come early. The sixth Gay History Month has
been like a long Christmas for me and about 10% of the
population like me. This conscientious LGBT team have
organised, managed, promoted and hosted interesting events which
have met the needs of lesbians and gay men in Nottingham and the
county.
The
opening event was a grand occasion in all senses of that word.
Under the iconic dome which surmounts Nottingham City Hall
[Council House], on February 16th, for the first
time, I passed through huge classical pillars to be confronted
with a breathtaking, sweeping marble staircase which led to an
elegant ballroom which might have been the Palace of Versailles.
And here, in Neo Baroque splendour was a large gathering of
people who share same-sex attraction. They had come to
celebrate and affirm the homosexual culture of Nottingham – past
and present. At long last, I think we have become
respectable!
The
Sheriff of Nottingham – no less – presented awards to groups and
organisations which have made significant contributions to our
LGBT community. This glittering occasion confirmed my
optimism for a bright gay future. Unlike the sad chickens
who inhabited my scruffy repressed world back in the dark ages
of the 1960s, these good people of 2010 Nottingham were making a
statement - they will not stand for homophobia.
Two
days later, I was privileged to give readings from my new book
Secret Summer at the Voluntary Action Centre. In
spite of appalling cold and snow, I’m grateful to all who turned
out to make it a full house.
On
February 23rd we were treated to the opening of the
United Kingdom’s largest gay History Exhibition at Broadway
Cinema which lasted six days. In LGBT terms, it was crowned by a
VIP who turned up on the Friday. Tony Fenwick is a leading
activist and instigator of Gay History Month
www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk
and Co Chair of Schools OUT. He had made a round trip of
160 miles to honour us with his presence. Thank you, Tony.
In
the final analysis, the honour and award should go to
Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage - the team who made it all
possible.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the Independent 17.12.09
Printed in the Derby Evening Telegraph 30.12.09
All Proud of Peter Tatchell / Praising Efforts of Heroic Peter
I read about
Peter Tatchell’s brain injuries with mixed emotions - concern,
sadness and yet – profound pride in the wonderful man he is.
At risk of
sounding like a starry-eyed adolescent – Peter is my hero.
He sustained brain damage from Mugabe and Moscow bashings in the
pursuit of gay rights. Peter suffered for me and
millions like me.
At risk of
entering into what is going to sound like hyperbole, I’m certain
that history will judge him generously, accurately putting
Tatchell at the very top of gay icons from a list which goes
back more than a hundred years.
At risk of
sounding like a eulogy, I think he’ll be best remembered for
bravery, determination and quiet dignity such as often
demonstrated in debate with homophobes on radio and TV. In
provocative situations, I would descend into rant - not
Peter. In self-assured rational argument, he will quietly
demolish his opponent.
Like millions
of other members of the LGBT community who wish him well, I hope
he will heed medical advice and turn that ‘glimmer of hope’ into
a shaft of dazzling light. Please slow down, Peter and
recover. Do it for us. We need you.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the Derby Evening Telegraph February 18th 2010
Printed in
the Belper News February 17th 2010
MP Nick Clegg is a Beacon of Hope / Bad Memories of School Days
I wish my MP
was the Member for Sheffield Hallam. As a former teacher
and gay man, I have full confidence in Nick Clegg who said the
Liberal Democrats will require that all schools must
teach that homosexuality is ‘normal and harmless’. This
law would include faith schools who often teach the exact
opposite - as I know to my cost.
Rewind to 1957
and see a miserable boy suffering a routine of daily torture at
the Church of England Mundy Street Boys School in Heanor.
My parents didn’t care. They took the commonly held view
that bullying was a part of growing up. The sadistic
schoolmaster didn’t care. On the contrary; he engineered
humiliating situations and quite enjoyed himself.
More than half
a century later, Mr Clegg is horrified to discover that 41% of
gay pupils get beaten up and are six times more likely to commit
suicide. On Friday, December 6th 1957 [the day
the Americans made their first failed attempt to launch a
satellite] with a broken spirit, I was leaning out of our second
floor bedroom window over Red Lion Square, trying to find the
courage to jump.
I’m so glad
that I didn’t. Fifty three years later, I get to hear the
encouraging words of Nick Clegg who is committed to help people
like me. He will make sure gay pupils of 2010 will not
suffer excruciating homophobic Monday mornings such as the
onetime Dickensian hellhole of Mundy Street in Heanor.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the Derby Evening Telegraph on June 4th 2009
and in the Nottingham Evening Post on June 22nd
2009
The Equality
Bill
In the wake of
the expenses furore, it is to be hoped that Parliament is not
too paralysed to pass the new Equality Bill which should receive
royal assent in the spring of 2010.
Rewind back to
the spring of 1995 and see a beleaguered and exhausted
schoolmaster struggling against a tide of hurtful homophobia
which was drowning and terminating a teaching career of more
than 20 years. That was me. In spite of efforts from
a gay friendly head teacher, my position at the Valley
Comprehensive School in Worksop, north Nottinghamshire, had
become untenable.
In that macho
coalmining environment, an entrenched culture of cruelty
encouraged demeaning comments from some ignorant pupils and a
steady stream of disrespectful abuse was tacitly tolerated by
some colleagues who had little sympathy with my deteriorating
situation.
In contrast to
dealing with the sorry results of discrimination after it
occurs, the Equality Bill will require all head teachers to
actively promote equality in the classroom for staff and
students. The key word here is proactive –
preventing homophobic bullying before it starts – a
strategy designed to explicitly protect homosexual pupils and
teachers from the horrors which have so damaged my life.
With heartfelt
gratitude to Stonewall who have worked so hard for this new dawn
- I never thought I would ever see such a wonderful day!
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the Derby Evening Telegraph August 3rd 2009
Yet again the
Fundamentalist Christian churches are rearing their ugly bigoted
heads in trying to harm members of the homosexual community.
I was horrified to hear that church pastor Rev Ogbe-Ogbeide has
been performing exorcisms on lesbian and gay people to purge
them of their same-sex attraction. He admits that the
ritual at the United Pentecostal Ministry in Harrow involves
‘casting out demons and witches that possess a gay person’s
soul’.
I know three
gay people who have been turned into a heterosexual form of
zombie by similar brainwashing techniques used by Jehovah's
Witnesses – one of them in Derbyshire.
Victims of such
religious homophobes are vulnerable. If they are under 18
it could constitute a form of child abuse and the police should
intervene to stop these dastardly medieval practices which have
no place in a modern civilised society. Many gay adults
have been pressured into traumatic sessions of anti-gay
indoctrination by family members, church elders and appalling
ongoing pressure from their faith community. In the name
of God – it must stop.
Evil spirits do
not look like me - or other LGBT people – they look like church
pastor Rev Ogbe-Ogbeide.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the Derby Evening Telegraph, April 30th
2009 and in the Belper News on April 22nd 2009
A Derbyshire
Legend
I mourn the
passing of Percy Wilson. He was the curious but friendly
character who lived in a picturesque crumbling old cottage by
Cromford Canal towpath, at Ambergate, for about as long as
anyone can remember.
A
fairytale individual with bags of charm; this craggy caricature
appeared to be a natural work of art, rough-hewn out of the very
elements of Derbyshire folklore with more skill and imagination
than any human artist could achieve. With brilliant white
shoulder-length hair and a massive mane of long grey whiskers
obliterating most of his ancient gnarled face, Percy was an
intriguing combination of Old Father Time, Ben Gunn and Stig of
the Dump situated in that magical glade of bluebells under
canal-side woodlands. His roughly-spoken thick Derbyshire
accent was akin to the ‘pit talk’ commonly heard more than half
a century back. I’ll never forget the pride and excitement
after his little white dog had achieved fame –
“Owe’s [she’s] bin on t’ telly, owe as!”
Yet
Mr Wilson was a genuine gentleman in the true sense of that
word. With consent, this warm-hearted rustic made a brief
appearance in Lost Lad - as himself. He was cast as
an apparent yokel who is revealed to be a well informed local
historian, dispensing interesting information about the Cromford
Canal to curious teenage boys. They resist their first
impulse to ‘take the mickey’ and end up being quite respectful.
Long after he has gone, Percy’s face will still be seen in the
knotted, writhing, twisting trunks of ancient trees. At
any moment, his head might poke out of a hollow old oak, a
suitable home for such a Derbyshire legend. We will never
see his like again.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the October 2009 Edition of Gay Times
Changing
Tides
As a first time older GT
reader, I was impressed by the attitudes of – of all things –
gay footballers - stars shining brightly out of a dark
homophobic night. Their splendid example
illustrates just how far we have travelled in terms of the fight
against homophobia.
For
example - a famous actor called Wilfrid Brambell was entrapped
by the CID and arrested in the November of 1962 on a charge of
intending to commit a lewd act of gross indecency. It was
splashed over the front pages of the popular Press reinforcing
the generally held prejudice that a 'homosexual' looked and
acted just like the shambling, dirty, decrepit, toothless,
unshaven old man, who was better known to the nation as -
Albert Steptoe.
Shortly after the arrest, watching the rag and bone man on the
telly, ‘uncle ‘arry’ came in and said –
“Turn that dirty bugger off!”
In
those days, it was inconceivable that desirable young men like
your footballers could be queer. There was simply no
precedent for such a thing. Images of the butch, the
attractive, the well-known icons of male beauty such as Marty
Wilde, Adam Faith, Billy Fury and the ultra masculine Rock
Hudson - all these were very firmly heterosexual.
Wilfrid Brambell might well be queer – but -
never, ever in a
thousand years could Rock Hudson be a homosexual!
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the Derby Evening Telegraph September 10th
2009 and in the Nottingham Evening Post September 21st
2009.
Grateful for
stand against gay hate / Tory had courage
As a former
teacher, I have good reason to congratulate and be grateful to
Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott who was expelled from the
Conservative Party. He had the courage to stand up to, and
against right winger Michael Kaminski, a Polish member of the
European Parliament. Kaminski’s Law and Justice Party have
a history of extreme homophobia. They are critical of
civil partnerships, gay marriage and take the view that
homosexuals should not be teachers.
As the next
election approaches, we should remember that David Cameron
abandoned the moderates and joined this particular coalition of
East European political parties to please the right wing of his
own Conservative Party here in Britain. Mr Kaminski said
that the affirmation of homosexuality will lead to the downfall
of civilization! Does Mr Cameron agree with him?
Narvel Annable.
Nottingham
Evening Post
Dear Editor,
I
was horrified to read a rabidly homophobic feature printed in
the Worksop Guardian 09.10.09. The intemperate tone
incites gay hate and may well fall foul of the criminal law.
This irresponsible, ignorant and bigoted rant concerns a picnic
site called Fanny’s Grove on the Budby to Cuckney A616 near
Worksop in north Nottinghamshire.
An
anonymous woman claimed she was shocked to see ‘over a car
bonnet, perverts dressed in women’s clothing committing buggery
in the glare of her headlights’. Absolute and complete
nonsense! As a gay man, I can assure her that gay men are
not titillated by other men dressed in women’s clothing. A
homosexual is interested in a man who looks like a man.
If she saw anything at all, she saw heterosexual copulation
bringing disgrace and shame on the heterosexual community.
Indeed, the majority of transvestites are heterosexual.
This item alleges the picnic site ‘has been a mecca for such
unholy activities since the 1970s’. For support, a
photograph of a tree is shown. GAY has been sprayed on the trunk
by a vandal who will certainly not be homosexual.
This type of graffiti is commonplace.
Living in the nearby village of Clowne in the 1990s, I cycled to
Fanny’s Grove a few times after hearing it was a meeting place
for gay men. It was never busy, but, occasionally, I did
meet a kindred spirit. We enjoyed conversation –
not sex. There was no activity of that kind. The
anonymous witness should remember, in those days, the days
before gay prides and LGBT support services; gay men and women
had precious little opportunity to contact their own kind.
Countryside venues were seen as safe places to socialise.
A woodland setting was much nicer than a smoky, seedy pub or a
loud deafening club.
This disgraceful article is deeply offensive to all who identify
with the LGBT community. The editor should be ashamed of
himself.
Narvel Annable
26.11.2009
The Guardian
Dear Editor
The notorious
Islamist preacher, Abu Usamah, has been invited to speak to the
Student’s Union of University College London next Monday,
November 30th. I am outraged! This is the
same hate preacher who appeared on the Channel 4 documentary
Undercover Mosque saying –
“Homosexuals are perverted, dirty filthy dogs that should be
murdered.”
Peter Tatchell
was quite right to point out –
“The university would never allow a lecture by a white
supremacist who used racist abuse and advocated the murder of
black people. Why the double standards?”
Hosting such an
extremist is irresponsible, inflammatory and will fuel more
homophobic attacks on the LGBT community at a time when hate
crime is already on the increase.
Narvel Annable.
10.12.2009
The Daily
Telegraph
Dear Editor,
I
was shocked to learn that, last night [09.12.09] in Barnet,
Boris Johnson attended a carol service led by the well known
homophobe - Pastor Agu Irukwu! The LGBT community here in
Derbyshire tend to see the Mayor of London and our Capital City
as being many years ahead in terms of gay progress. What
on earth was he thinking of? Didn’t Mr Johnson see the
pastor’s infamous letter to the Daily Telegraph on July
13th last? He denounced the recent laws which
protect lesbians and gay men against discrimination. His
faith opposes civil partnerships and the fostering of children
by same sex couples.
Would Mr Johnson attend a church where the pastor preaches
against black or Jewish people? Would he associate himself
with a cleric who is against rights for women? If the
answer is no – then why support this ignorant bigot? We
expect better from the Mayor of London.
For
too long, we homosexuals have been on the margins of society.
Until recent years, we were the voiceless, powerless victims of
those who could inflict their humiliations with impunity.
We could not fight back because we were afraid to declare
ourselves, afraid to lift the cloak of invisibility.
As
Peter Tatchell said –
“A mere four decades ago, ‘queers’ were almost universally seen
as mad, bad and sad. Same sex relations were deemed a sin,
a crime and a sickness.”
Against that background, it is disappointing that faith schools
have been allowed to teach sex and relationship education in
accordance with their own religious values – values which often
include the idea that gay people are sinful, unnatural, immoral
and inferior human beings.
Giving a green light to homophobes is not the best way to end
the first decade of such a hopeful new century.
Narvel Annable,
Printed in
the Derby Evening Telegraph August 26th 2009
Conventional? No, just wrong
Conservative
Euro MP Roger Helmer is wrong. He claims that he is
tolerant on the question of homosexuality, yet attacks the word
‘homophobia’ as a ‘propaganda device to stigmatise those who
hold conventional opinions.’
Just a few
years back, the gay community did not have recourse to the term
‘homophobia’ in the same way that people of African ancestry had
to wait for the word ‘racism’ as an effective weapon to defend
themselves from that same bigotry and discrimination which is
still suffered by homosexuals today.
By invoking
the term ‘conventional opinion’, Helmer is himself exploiting
semantics. He is asking for a licence to incite gay
hatred. He is trying to rally reactionary forces of middle
England to rise up against all the recent progress made by
homosexuals, like me, who can now face the world and say – ‘Yes,
I’m a gay man! What of it?’
In 2005,
‘conventional opinion’ allowed the Belper WI to scrap one of my
talks because they discovered that I was a homosexual.
Even today, ‘conventional opinion’ makes it necessary for 22
year old law student Ian Campbell to give up his spare time and
work long hours. He is forming support groups for unhappy
young homosexuals who are trying to escape the fear and shame
inflicted upon them by ignorant people in Retford and
neighbouring villages. Just one year ago, ‘conventional
opinion’ made it possible for 17 year old Shaun Dykes to despair
and throw himself from the top of a Derby building to the
delight of blood thirsty cheering yobs. Both Shaun and Ian
were kicked out of house and home after their homosexuality was
revealed to homophobic parents who held ‘conventional opinion’.
So, Roger
Helmer – ‘conventional opinion’? Think again.
Narvel Annable
Printed in
the Pink Paper – May 28th 2009 and in the
Derby Evening Telegraph - May 21st 2009 and in
the Nottingham Evening Post June 10th 2009
Gay History
Lessons
Full marks to
Waltham Forest Council! They have had the bravery and
foresight to recognise the importance of teaching Gay History in
their schools. Even better, they are threatening 30
Christian and Muslim parents with court action because they have
withdrawn their children from those much needed and enlightening
lessons at George Tomlinson School.
At a time when
two thirds of all homosexual students / pupils are bullied, 41%
have been attacked and 17% have received death threats – it is
more important than ever to educate young people who casually
use the word ‘gay’ to insult and demean those of us who are
different. They need to learn about grim, gas lit
Dickensian schooldays 50 years ago in a deeply homophobic
colliery community when my typical day started with hymns
and prayers and ended with a desire to be dead. That,
coupled with gay hating parents, caused me to seek sanctuary,
not in a church, but in a twilight world of fear and constant
insecurity.
Those ignorant
and bigoted 30 parents should know more about me – and people
like me. We are the lives whose achievements have been too
long hidden, too often unrecognised in the teeth of decades of
prejudice and discrimination.
And Waltham
Forest Council is trying to end all that. And I say thank
God for it!
Narvel Annable
Printed in
the Nottingham Evening Post - July 31st 2009
Best Ever
Nottingham Pride
Congratulations to the Nottingham Pride Committee! For
Terry and self, last Saturday was the most enjoyable Nottingham
Pride yet! The annual call to the Old Gods was heeded and
we had perfect weather – cheerful sunshine without miserable
debilitating summer heat. Some gay prides have been ruined
by constant rain which is heartbreaking considering all the hard
work put into these events – efforts which make the homosexual
community stronger and further our cause.
The position
of Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage stall was – perfect!
It had a perfect position situated at a busy junction which
everybody had to pass. For me personally, its
perfection was connected with my job description. I was
expected to be proactive, to be friendly, to interest the
browsing public in the work and displays. That would have
been impossible if I had to compete with [and suffer]
loud thumping music which, alas, blights some prides. I
heard every word the visitors said to me and they heard every
word I said to them – perfection – success!
On the same
subject, I do hope that Nottingham Pride will stay in the
beautiful Nottingham Arboretum with shady mature trees set in
that tranquil, leafy, undulating landscape.
Saturday was
special, not least, for the happy festive atmosphere and all the
lovely people we met – not least the gorgeous, butch
heterosexual chicken who insisted in giving me a cuddly, hug!
Equally cuddly were scrumptious partners one from Bakewell and
one from Brighton who bridged all those miles when they met each
other via the reading of Lost Lad. There was more
excitement when two lovely girls wandered over. One was a
producer / director who asked to interview me for a gay
documentary film due out next year.
Narvel
Annable.
Under the
heading of – It’s not too late for more education on gay issues
- this was printed with a photograph in the
Derby Evening Telegraph 22.04.09 in their
regular SOAPBOX column to highlight the gay friendly credentials
of Age Concern.
Thank God for Age
Concern! At long last, time
and trouble is being invested in an attempt to put homosexual
issues high up on the Age Concern agenda.
In a recent
questionnaire they asked - What are the positive things about
being gay?
Not a lot. But at
my time of life – being 63 – the fire in my belly is certainly a
positive force. It burns bright and hot. It is
fuelled by a lifetime which has been blighted by the ignorance
and injustice of homophobia. After an escape from teaching
in 1995 – the discovery of writing and fighting for the gay
cause has given my new life a new shape and real purpose.
They asked - What are the negative things about being gay?
Simple. Homophobia.
As above, having to live inside of yourself, hiding from a
hostile majority [often religious groups] who think they occupy
the moral high-ground. Alas, constant anger can also be
negative as well as positive. It spurs me on to write new
books which, hopefully, will make a small contribution to the
cause. But constant outrage can also be debilitating –
self defeating.
They asked
about my concerns about growing old.
I’m concerned
that I shall become an angry old man – if I’m not that already!
Two tragic friends sum up my worse fears of growing old.
Alex in Detroit
[a friend since 1964] had a stroke just before Christmas 2005.
He lost his power of speech and has limited mobility. Ill
educated, narrow minded homophobic relatives are now able to
censor his mail. For several years my letters were
destroyed. I thought Alex was dead until a competent computer
friend located his local Catholic church. Armed with a
postal address, I wrote to a church ‘visitor’ who grudgingly
responded in a letter giving brief details of Alex’s condition
and consequent lack of independence.
Bert in
Barnsley [now in his late 70s] has been caring for his elderly
parents for many years. His secretive life centred upon
the local gay steam baths. For three days each week, this
was a respite from his hard work and a venue of great pleasure.
It was his club, the centre of his world, his mainstay of
social support until his health collapsed. To the best of
my knowledge, his parents [if still alive] are now in a home.
Like Alex, Bert now depends on relatives who have refused to
receive any of his gay friends. Effectively, he is without any
friends at all - but for the few who telephone during the brief
periods when his carers are out of the house. It seems to
me that the only fortunate gay men are the ones who suddenly
drop dead.
Age Concern ask
– How can we help older gays?
If people like
Alex and Bert could be persuaded to put their names on some sort
of a gay register – that would be a start and could provide a
safety net for these likely eventualities. Education of
homophobic carers is also necessary.
There is a
complicating factor in the case of the above examples. Both men
[born in the 1930s] are already deeply closeted / horribly
repressed in terms of their own dread of discovery and self
hate. They have never discussed their homosexuality with
anyone outside of the gay community. Consequently, effectively
they have colluded with these bigoted and hostile carers.
LGBT people who
need care, need to be resident in a gay care home in a gay
friendly environment where visitors are welcome. I’d
expect to enter such a home at a time when I could no longer
care for myself. Hopefully, I’ll be one of the lucky ones
and just fall over dead!
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the Derby Evening Telegraph April 25th
2009
Dear Editor
A big cheer
for young Sarah Fenell. On BBC1, The Big Questions
[April 19th 2009] in no uncertain terms she said to
the nation -
‘I am gay and I
am not a wicked person.’
It was
heart-warming! The gay community needs more brave people
like Sarah. Set against more experienced professional
advocates, she was calm, composed, eloquent and concise in her
effective condemnation of the institutionalised homophobia in
this country.
In seconds we
learned that two thirds of all gay students / pupils are
bullied, 41% have been attacked and 17% have received death
threats because some people in power / public office such as
Pope Benedict XVI continue to give gay bashers the licence they
need to harm homosexuals.
Well done,
Sarah. Keep up your good work.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in
the Belper News on April 22nd 2009 under the
headline - ‘Outrage at comments’
Dear Editor,
It was a good
day for the gay community when Conservative County Councillor
whip Robin Baldry suspended Patrick Clark the Conservative
County Councillor for Duffield following his recent homophobic
remarks in the magazine Duffield Scene. This
represents a big shift in attitude from 1986 when Staffordshire
Tory Councillor Bill Brownhill called for all homosexuals to be
gassed – and kept his job.
Having lived a
nice life in his cosy heterosexual comfort zone, Patrick Clark
cannot begin to know what it is like to be me – what it is like
to struggle through a life blighted by injustice and
discrimination. In that deeply offensive article, smugly,
he refers to his wife Joan without any fear of condemnation or
disapproval. Only since the publication of my first gay
novel in 2003 have I been able to speak openly / publicly about
Terry my partner of 33 years.
We are all moving on.
Even the Conservative Party is finally emerging into the 21st
Century. I was pleased to learn that two members of the
Shadow Cabinet are openly gay.
Clark has been a bad councillor.
He has not represented gay people. The voters of Duffield
consist of a large homosexual minority, buttressed by an
increasing number of gay friendly heterosexuals who - more and
more - are appalled by the gay hate which is stubbornly endemic
in rural areas.
Finally, I
would remind this disgraced former councillor [who claims to be
religious] that Leviticus 18.22 was written many centuries back
by scribes who were as ignorant and as prejudiced as Patrick
Clark – the quintessential bigot who might well sign himself as
‘Disgusted of Duffield’. Good riddance!
Narvel
Annable.
Sent to several
newspapers on April 12th 2009
Dear Editor,
I’m trying to find Jack
Carrier. To echo a popular mantra from the early 1960s –
‘Are you all right, Jack?’
It happened in our
colliery village of Stanley Common in 1959 when I was a
frustrated, deeply repressed 14 year old scruffy chicken.
We had a shy and gentle postmaster called Jack Carrier.
One day he was there - the next day he was gone!
‘What’s happened to
him?’ I asked mother.
‘That one! Huh! Good riddance,’ she snapped.
‘E were one of them funny sorts. No good to any woman,’
she growled.
‘Well, ‘e were allus nicely spoken and polite ta me,’ sniffed
Aunty B, taking another swig of tea.
The effect on me?
Well, it was the same as the effect on hundreds of thousands
like me. I hid inside of myself. I became withdrawn
and tried to pretend to desire girls. I drifted into a
secret world of fear and insecurity.
Clearly Jack had been
discovered in some way, denounced and driven out of Stanley
Common by ignorant homophobic outrage. In those dark days
of rabid gay hate, it was considered quite natural for a
heterosexual to ‘chat up’ a woman. However, if a
homosexual engaged another man in conversation, that was
seen as ‘soliciting for an immoral purpose’. Many victims
were entrapped by the CID in plainclothes and humiliated in the
local press. Did this happen to Jack?
Archivist Tony
Scupham-Bilton discovered that the Carriers had been postmasters
in Stanley Common since 1924 and John H Carrier was born in
1920. He could still be alive!
I’ve asked relatives,
only to be met with a wall of silence. Somebody in
Stanley Common must know what happened to the
inoffensive, mild mannered Jack Carrier who suddenly disappeared
50 years ago. If any of your readers have any information,
please contact me.
Narvel Annable
Letter to Ross Smith
regarding his address to the Breakout Group at the Health Shop,
Broad Street in Nottingham 07.04.09
Dear Ross,
Thank you for that very professional and
entertaining talk you gave to a packed house at Breakout last
night. In so many ways it was one of the best
presentations I have ever seen at any gay venue.
Your personal example as
a leading light in the Nottingham gay community was an
inspiration leaving Terry, Ian and myself uplifted and hopeful
for the LGBT future.
It was especially
enlightening because [in my experience] the people who owned or
managed homosexual commercial concerns tended to stay in the
shadows. Special thanks to the ever reliable Breakout for
shining a light and rightly honouring this dynamo who has
achieved so much for the prestige of Gay Nottingham.
Ray Wilson and his conscientious team
continue to impress, continue to make Breakout one of the best
gay support groups around. They never fail! It’s
like visiting friends. There is always an enthusiastic
welcome together with a much needed cup of hot tea to sooth the
nerves after the long, angst-ridden journey from Belper.
Long may you continue to do your good work.
The following
observations are made from the viewpoint of a regular summer
visitor to Nottingham. From 1963 to 1976 I lived in
Detroit where ‘the scene’ mainly consisted of secretive seedy
bars with a few disreputable, shabby steam baths which,
notwithstanding, always delivered lashings of ecstasy!
1960s Nottingham: these
were the years of smart suits – artificial gay men – old snooty
snobs, standing around in the Flying Horse Hotel quietly
chatting in affected, effeminate accents. In that palace
of soft silence, I always seemed to be the uneducated chicken
with the scruffy accent having to stand still and tolerate
leering sneers from ‘my betters’.
It all changed in 1972
with orgasmic joy! To the strains of Motown, it was now
possible to sway, hop, jiggle and whirl around under flashing
lights with a more natural, younger crowd at a totally new
exciting experience they called a ‘discothèque’ located on
Stamford Street. Mario’s had arrived! Throughout the
1970s, Mario’s morphed to Shades and Shades morphed to Whispers
but the format was much the same. It shouted out loud –
‘We are not Pansy’s Parlour!’
Your talk focused my
attention on Mario’s bold and brave rival which, one year later
in 1973 arrived on Canal Street with the [as you pointed out]
somewhat difficult name - La Chic – pronounced as Laarrr Chick
by the ‘Belper Goblin’ who was far too busy massaging to ever go
anywhere near Nottingham. He was the hideous old crone
[based on a real old queen] who features in Scruffy Chicken.
In terms of a ‘gay
scene’, 1970s Detroit [with not a single discotheque] had
nothing on Nottingham which by that time had two big clubs and
attracted LGBT visitors from others cities. We all thought
La Chic was really good. It was a privilege to meet the
man who raised it from the dead and made it better – much
better.
Thank you, Ross.
Thank you for Part II. Thank you for all your hard work
which made us all so proud of the Nottingham gay scene from 1981
to 1985. Thank you for taking a risk. Thank you for
your admirable enterprise. Thank you for your vision –
imagination – tenacity – energy and managerial skills which
lifted us to a higher level and contributed to the gay cause.
With gratitude,
Narvel.
03.04.2009
Rt Hon Patrick
McLoughlin MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Thank you for your
letter of March 25th 2009. I was pleased to
learn that two members of the Shadow Cabinet are openly gay.
However, having studied
the website ‘They Work for You’, I am not impressed by
your protestations to be gay friendly! According to this
negative voting record, you are certainly not working for
me or correctly representing members of the LGBT community in
West Derbyshire.
Up to my letter to you
about Clause 58, I had no idea that you had attempted to
obstruct so much pro-gay legislation. It follows that
there will be many other members of the homosexual community in
this area who are also in the dark regarding your appalling
indifference to gay issues.
The voters of West
Derbyshire consist of not only a large homosexual minority, but
are also buttressed by an increasing number of gay friendly
heterosexuals who - more and more - are appalled by the
homophobia which is stubbornly endemic in rural areas.
Having lived your life
in a cosy heterosexual comfort zone, you cannot begin to know
what it is like to be me – what it is like to struggle through a
life blighted by disapproval. In the run up to the next
election, I ask you to examine your conscience. I urge you
to do the right thing - to make a start to represent me - and
people like me.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the Pink Paper January 22nd 2009
and Out Northwest February 2009
Fallible
So! A bigoted
old man in Rome [who is supposed to be infallible] gives the
global gay community a Christmas present which amounts to a kick
in the teeth! His prejudice and ill-informed words reveal the
institutional homophobia which is currently eating away at the
credibility of the Roman Catholic Church. His cruel
condemnation of homosexuality is nothing short of an incitement
to hatred giving gay bashers licence to inflict violent acts
upon gay people. And this from a cleric who claims to
speak for the Prince of Peace – a cleric who is beginning to
sound more like the appalling Ayatollah Khomeini.
This vindictive
pronouncement [oh yes, it is definitely vindictive] tells us
more about an old man’s ignorance than it does about the rain
forest or human morality.
I will be a prophet
today. I predict the Catholic Church will soon collapse
under the weight of its own homophobic cant and unsustainable
irrelevance as did the collapse of communism in the late 1980s.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the
Nottingham Evening Post 27.12.08 and in the Derby Evening
Telegraph 30.12.08.
Dear Editor,
Here are a few
observations on His Honour Keith Matthewman QC a former teacher
at William Howitt School in Heanor who died on 23.12.08 at the
QMC.
When Jane Matthewman
died this summer, a big part of Keith died with her. Since
that tragic event, Keith has been just a shadow of his former
considerable self – that same powerful, impressive self I so
admired and described in my book - A Judge Too Far.
My
partner Terry and I will always remember the magical chemistry
which existed between Jane and Keith. They were just so
right for each other, so complementary and so supportive.
They were a superb role model for any stable, lasting
relationship and the good they have done will last long beyond
my time on this earth.
The
exquisite courtesy of that wonderful couple will also endure.
After an enjoyable visit to their beautiful home, we recall
their reluctance to agree to our departure. It was late.
It was always late and I would say ‘We really must rise
now’. Keith would reply – ‘I’m supposed to say
that!’ We were escorted to the door and [despite our
protestations] Keith and Jane would insist on standing in that
doorway, even in the cold of winter, to wave us off. That
touching scene lasted until we were completely out of sight.
I will always cherish that special image of two kind-hearted
people waving at the doorway.
They leave behind a
splendid son in whom they were so proud. Adrian Matthewman
has inherited all their qualities, especially the quality of
kindness. This morning he said to me –
“Of course they waved you off! They loved you and Terry to
bits! They thought the world of you guys.”
It takes a lot to
reduce me to tears – but that did it!
This Christmas, our
thoughts are with Adrian and Jackie Matthewman who have suffered
a great loss this year. And our thoughts are with the many
victims of crime in Nottingham who have also sustained an
appalling loss. The man with the heart of gold, the man
resplendent with wig and gown behind the majesty of the law is
now sitting in a higher court.
Sleep well, dear
friend.
Narvel Annable.
On Monday,
December 29th 2008 - six days after the death of His
Honour Keith Matthewman QC - Amazon Books
www.amazon.co.uk
-had sold all of their copies but one of A Judge Too
Far. On that day, that last book was priced at £156.
It was sold the next day.
This letter was printed in the Derby Evening Telegraph
November 10th 2008
Dear Editor
Here is the
good news for all who suffer from homophobic insults.
Thanks to a blitz in the media, the Ross / Brand furore has
gathered enough strength to throw a spotlight on to loutish,
ladish low-life which, for the last few decades, has inflicted
pain and damage to its innocent better behaved victims with
impunity.
It
seems beyond belief that a so called civilised society has
rewarded these so called comedians with popularity and obscene
amounts of money. In the case of the BBC – our
money!
That same macho uncouth conduct, which is endemic in top
celebrity culture, eventually percolates down to infect the
young. It incites disobedience and disrespect in
comprehensive schools.
I
should know. I was a victim. As a teacher in a ‘bog
standard’ comp, I suffered several homophobic attacks which,
effectively, wound up a teaching career of 21 years. There are
clear parallels between the weak, incompetent management of the
BBC and the equally weak, incompetent management of my former
school. After several excruciating, devastating,
humiliating incidents went unpunished, my position as a
schoolmaster became untenable. Alas, there was no public
wave of outrage to support my case. Like tens of
thousands of gay teachers in the prevailing homophobic
environment of secondary education, I had to bite my lip,
sustain the emotional wounds, creep away and keep quiet.
I’m
out. Notwithstanding, I urge all teachers who are still in
there, still in the fray - all teachers of all
sexualities to take heart from the current wave of public
indignation. Ride that wave! Complain! Make a
fuss! Don’t stand for it! Be vociferous with the
union rep and your local gay support service. Always
remember – homophobia is now illegal and should not be tolerated
anywhere.
Narvel Annable.
This letter was
printed in the Independent, the Daily Mail and the
Derby Evening Telegraph – 15.07.08. It was also
printed in the Pink Paper 24.07.08 - and in the August
edition of Nottingham’s QB.
Dear Editor,
Lillian Ladele may be interested to know that two evangelising
Christians came to my door [uninvited] to convert me to their
way of thinking. Like Ms Ladele, they also held ‘deep and
sincere orthodox Christian views’. It transpired that
these views were racist, espousing negative judgements against
people of African descent. When I asked them to explain
how they justified their claim that black people were ‘naturally
inferior’, they said –
“As a punishment, God turned Negroes black to remind us all of
their sins.”
This appalling statement was uttered in Detroit in 1964.
Although their perverted religious logic was at least challenged
– alas - back in those dark homophobic days, I was not brave
enough to argue comparisons between their bigotry and my own
homosexuality.
Ms Ladele may claim to hold her ‘deep and sincere
Christian views’, but, in reality, she is just as much a bigot
as the two religious racists who (if the law permitted) would
relegate Ms Ladele [who is clearly of African descent] to the
status as a charwoman. They would never allow her to rise
to anything as grand as a £31,000-a-year registrar. Helen
Mendez-Child of Islington Council was quite right to point out
that the registrar’s stance was blatant discrimination - akin to
refusing to marry a black person. As Ben Summerskill of
Stonewall said – ‘A public servant cannot pick and choose who
they deliver those services to.’
Yours sincerely,
Narvel Annable.
This letter was
printed in the Pink Paper 07.08.08 and in the Derby
Evening Telegraph 29.07.08
Dear Editor,
Just hours before John Barrowman [The Making of Me, BBC 1
24.07.08] had consulted psychologists and geneticists to prove
that nature, not nurture had determined his homosexuality
- I was approached by two neat, squeaky clean, smiling young men
who clearly desired a conference. It was, in fact, a rude
interruption to a peaceful sunny morning in the Valley Gardens,
Harrogate. My partner and I [of 32 years] were admiring a
splendid display of radiant begonias.
Pleasantries were exchanged before we were lectured on the
subject of sin. Typically, these Mormons trotted out their
tired old mantra of ‘love the sinner but hate the sin’. No
problem with that - until we revealed our sexuality.
Like Barrowman, we argued that we were born homosexuals.
We argued that our particular ‘sin’ and our homosexuality were
one and the same - they could not be separated – being gay is
not a lifestyle choice.
They parried by asserting that our conduct was ‘unnatural’.
In short, we could be acceptable to orthodox Christianity
if we remained celibate – and should do just that!
At some point in this fruitless discussion with these nice
people – that was the problem, they were so nice - they
expressed sadness that our minds would not be changed. One
offered me his hand as a gesture of friendship and courteous
conclusion to this brief meeting which I found very disturbing.
Refusing to accept his hand, without calling him a homophobic
bigot, I tried to explain how his ridged philosophy was
medieval, ignorant and cruel. It was insulting to expect a
victim to dignify centuries of oppressive discrimination with a
hand shake.
We got nowhere. It spoiled my day. It was so very
sad, because … well … they were so very nice.
Narvel Annable
Printed in the
October 16th edition of the Pink Paper
Dear Editor,
It was a heartbreaking irony! At the same moment when
hundreds of people were happily celebrating the culture of gay
life, last Saturday on the Bass Recreation Ground in Derby, one
vulnerable openly gay teenager, not far away, was suicidal.
Far above a jeering crowd, baying for blood, he was standing on
the roof of Westfield Centre car park, threatening to kill
himself. Seventeen year old Shaun Dykes, did just that; he
plunged to his death at 5.30pm. Two well trained police
officers had tried to help Shaun, but they were outnumbered by
despicable, taunting ghouls who had flocked to see death, after
the style of a public execution.
Shaun and I have much in common. We are both gay, have
both attended school in Heanor, have both been very unhappy to
the brink of jumping from a high place. Tragically, Shaun
jumped. I did not. I went on to write three
autobiographic books which explain the problems of being
homosexual in a society which is often very homophobic.
I did not know Shaun. I am not familiar with the
circumstances which drove him to commit suicide. I hope
the students at Heanor Gate treated him more kindly than some of
the more savage pupils of Mundy Street Boys School who subjected
me to a routine of physical and psychological torture. In
1957, my typical day started with prayers and hymns and ended
with a desire to be dead. In the autumn of that year, with
the assistance of a sadistic schoolmaster, head bowed and eyes
downcast, I had reached an advanced stage of humility and
obedience to the bullies who had broken me. It was the
end. On one particular day, 51 years ago – I had become
Shaun Dykes.
Like Shaun, I was looking down to a pavement below. Not
Derby, this was a Heanor pavement, at Red Lion Square, beneath
our top bedroom window. Unlike Shaun, nobody was there to
help, neither was there anybody to taunt or humiliate.
That was an everyday occurrence at my Church of England school.
However, on this day, my pain felt like the wording of a
medieval ordeal – ‘As much as you can bear, and greater’.
Sleep well, Shaun. You died on the day of the best ever
Derby Pride. You can be sure that people like me will keep
using their skills to attack homophobia. You can be sure
that the Derbyshire Friend charity, indeed, all other homosexual
organisations will continue to keep working, to support young
gay people like you.
Narvel Annable.
Printed
in the September 18th edition of the Pink Paper
Dear Editor,
This is to
address the Jehovah's Witnesses who came to my door this
morning. Two inoffensive, elderly ladies who, alas, were
received with hostility and about as much aggression as I could
muster. You probably think this is an apology.
Wrong. However, these gentle souls are entitled to an
explanation for my [uncharacteristic] incandescent rage in the
doorway complete with face half shaved / half covered in foam.
Jehovah's
Witnesses are poison to gay men. Since 1879, untold
numbers of homosexuals have had their lives warped, effectively
destroyed by the active evangelism and rabid homophobia of this
evil sect. I can cite three examples known to me
personally. In 1964 I met Walter in Detroit. We enjoyed
friendship, fun and were good for each other. However, he
was uncomfortable with his sexuality and his bigoted Jehovah's
Witness family had already described both of us as ‘degenerate’.
After ten years of unceasing brainwashing he became celibate and
cut himself off from most of his gay friends. Last year he
became dangerously ill. His family, primitive, prejudiced
and cruel to the last, refused all access to his few remaining
homosexual contacts. Walter died in August, a lonely, sad,
sick, broken man – an unnatural, wasted, mangled life.
Nearer to home
in a remote, medieval North East Derbyshire mining village, we
have Trevor and Stephen – both gay, both Bible bashed, both
poisoned and both victims of the insidious indoctrination of
Jehovah's Witnesses.
So, gentle
ladies at my door; before you judge me as a rude nasty type,
consider what you represent to a gay man when you announced
yourselves to be Jehovah's Witnesses. Consider my own
suffering and the suffering of numerous blighted lives of people
like me.
This is the 21st
century. This is the age of the Rainbow Flag and Gay
Pride. We will no longer tolerate Jehovah's Witnesses at
our door. Go away and don’t come back.
Yours truly,
Narvel Annable
This letter was
printed in the
Nottingham Evening Post
and in the Derby Evening Telegraph on May 27th
2008.
Dear Editor,
After a lifetime of suffering snide innuendoes and sarcastic
slurs on my masculinity due to indifference on the subject of
football, the recent Nottingham Forest Players anti-homophobia /
anti-bullying poster was an absolute joy to behold. It
made my day - perhaps my decade! Coming from one of the
last bastions of gay hate, the cultural significance of such a
powerful message is immense and its potential good among our
young people - immeasurable.
It is a fitting memorial to former Forest player Justin Fashanu.
To the best of my knowledge, he is the only leading footballer
who has publicly admitted his homosexuality - and paid the
terrible price for that splendid act of bravery.
I take all this very personally. The unwelcome appearance
of a homosexual into my macho, working class family was
suspected when Dad proudly presented me with my first pair of
football boots to be used for my very first match at Mundy
Street Boys School in the hill-top colliery town of Heanor.
For father and son this event was a painful disaster. It
left a long shadow which darkened both of our lives: a damaging,
humiliating experience affording no mercy. A sadistic
schoolmaster encouraged aggressive taunts, brutal insults,
screaming jeers reducing a miserable boy to a very low level of
self esteem. Those boots used that one time in 1956,
[never again] became symbols of a life long hatred of all macho
sports.
All is forgiven. A big ‘thank you’ to the good players of
Nottingham Forest who have put their names and faces to a public
condemnation of homophobia.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the
Derby Evening Telegraph 03.10.08
Dear Editor,
Only a few years ago it would have been impossible to write this
letter; inconceivable that I should sign it with my name and
address! It would have been unthinkable for me to admit
that I actually attended a large gathering of homosexuals.
This was Derby Pride – the biggest and best to date – guys and
gals celebrating gay life on the Bass Recreational Ground last
Saturday [28.09.08] afternoon under a perfect, autumnal blue
sky.
We are the lives whose achievements have been too long hidden,
too often unrecognised in the teeth of decades of negative
discrimination – hence our Derby Pride - a local, annual orgy of
arts, skills, enterprise and sheer ingenuity on show, unashamed,
for the world to see.
There were many interesting stalls, but special mention should
be given to the conscientious team at Derbyshire Friend.
This excellent voluntary agency, a charity located on Friary
Street is giving sterling service, improving the lives of gay
people all year round, as indeed they have been doing for a
quarter of a century. I go back further - half a
century! I date back to the dark homophobic days when we
were barely tolerated in the passageway of the Corporation Hotel
in the old Cattle Market. I can remember being frozen out
by my own kind, the sneering, snobbish homosexuals who, in a
climate of fear, once ruled supreme in the Friary Hotel.
Derbyshire Friend has rescued me from all that. It has
delivered untold numbers of LGBT people from all such abuses.
The heterosexual majority should remember that human unhappiness
has effects far beyond the individual; it reaches out to touch
the lives of everybody. Accordingly, I urge everybody
to wish Derbyshire Friend a very happy 25th birthday
and many happy returns of the day.
Narvel Annable
This letter was hand delivered to Father Michael Kirkham at
Belper RC Parish, Gibfield Lane, Belper on 06.01.2009.
Dear
Father Michael,
Regarding the Pope’s inflammatory pre-Christmas address, I took
the view that every gay person should complain and remonstrate
with their nearest priest at the local Roman Catholic Church.
In my case, that was you, Father Michael. Thank you for
such a gracious and compassionate response after an initial
approach which could hardly be described as a bouquet of
flowers!
Here is the completed research you advised, mainly taken from
the sources you suggested. They are all enclosed in the A4
envelope delivered to the Church House at the above address.
If it works, I will also email this document.
I
hope the following effort does not sound too high handed or
pompous. It is a personal analysis, not necessarily the
voice of the gay community.
I’m touched by your kind concern regarding my emotional health
and will endeavour to follow the advice of Mark Vernon of the
Guardian 23.12.08.
“Don’t let the Pope’s silliness get under your skin. If
you take it too much to heart, it can ruin your day. And
if it ruins too many days, then it ruins your life.”
On
Monday, December 22nd 2008, Pope Benedict XVI made an
end-of-year speech to senior Vatican staff [the Curia] which,
unfortunately, did ruin my Christmas. According to
Philippe Naughton of The Times, the Pope said
“Humanity needed to listen to the ‘language of creation’ to
understand the intended roles of man and woman. Behaviour
beyond traditional heterosexual relations was a ‘destruction of
God’s work’. He added –
‘The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man,
as a creature, does not deserve any less.’”
Sorry,
Father Michael, but that sounds very much like homophobia to me!
The
BBC News Channel said [and interpreted] much the same thing as
did Christine Odone in the Observer. There is also
strong support from Mark Vernon of the Guardian for a
homophobic interpretation. The Pink Paper, due out
later this month has yet to speak. It is extremely
unlikely that the editor Tris Reid-Smith or any of his team are
likely to invest much time or effort trawling
through the Holy Father’s complex words in a struggle to find a
gay-friendly translation. I suspect their views will not
be too dissimilar to my own. Those views were expressed in
my letter, hand delivered to you just after Christmas.
“So! A bigoted old man in Rome [who is supposed to be
infallible] gives the global gay community a Christmas present
which amounts to a kick in the teeth! His prejudice and
ill-informed words reveal the institutional homophobia which is
currently eating away at the credibility of the Roman Catholic
Church. His cruel condemnation of homosexuality is nothing
short of an incitement to hatred giving gay bashers licence to
inflict violent acts upon gay people. And this from a
cleric who claims to speak for the Prince of Peace – a cleric
who is beginning to sound more like the appalling Ayatollah
Khomeini
This vindictive pronouncement [oh yes, it is definitely
vindictive] tells us more about an old man’s ignorance than it
does about the rain forest or human morality.
I
will be a prophet today. I predict the Catholic Church
will soon collapse under the weight of its own homophobic cant
and unsustainable irrelevance as did the collapse of communism
in the late 1980s.”
Having completed the research, I have to tell you that I stand by
this original letter which has now been sent to several
newspapers - albeit somewhat intemperate in tone. As you
rightly implied in your surprisingly sympathetic letter of
December 30th, I was hurt and angry. That said,
I sincerely regret any offense or pain my letter may have
inflicted on you, Father Michael, or on any of your colleagues.
Note the following quote from Rev Sharon Ferguson of the Lesbian
and Gay Christian Movement who supports my reference to ‘gay
bashing’.
“The Pope’s comments were irresponsible and unacceptable.
When you have religious leaders like that making that sort of
statement then followers feel they are justified in behaving in
an aggressive and violent way.”
In
a recent email sent to you, Peter Tatchell, speaking to the gay
rights group OUTRAGE, made a stronger observation about the
pre-Christmas Papal outburst –
“The suggestion that gay people are a threat to human survival
is absurd and dangerous. It is poisonous propaganda that
will give comfort and succour to queer bashers everywhere.”
Perhaps we should examine the real value of this exercise
– an endeavour which began with my conviction that every gay man
should make a token protest to their local Catholic priest. I
expected to meet with either a wall of silence or, at best, a
cool acknowledgement of my communication to Our Lady of
Perpetual Succour at Gibfield Lane. Instead, your welcome
response has been friendly, helpful and constructive. In
short, it was an auspicious ending to what I have dubbed my
‘Religious Year of 2008’.
Let me explain. My sleep problem did not start with a
Papal insult. See my Sheet 86 [letter to the Pink Paper
September 18th 08] - Jehovah's Witnesses came to my
door twice within one week! This was a slap in the face,
because, one of their victims, a dear friend of mine for many
years died in the August of 2007. Jehovah's Witnesses turn
gay men into zombies. I’ve known four such men. My
confrontation with this evil sect was extremely distressing
because I cope badly with resulting unpleasantness.
Note the enclosed Sheet 85 and see me challenging the ignorance
of Mormons in the Derby Evening Telegraph letter of July
30th 08. Like the Jehovah's Witnesses – Mormons
came to me – I did not go to them! Their
approach to me devastated the tranquillity of my holiday in
Harrogate. Note the enclosed source B which confirms
exactly what I feared – the Roman Catholic Church takes the same
line as the Mormons – ‘hate the sin, but love the sinner’.
It will not do. For members of the LGBT community, the sin
and sinner are one and the same. They cannot be separated
unless Jehovah's Witnesses style brainwashing is applied which
destroys the original human being. And in any case, it is
nonsense to speak about homosexual activity as ‘sin’. See
source D, Mark Vernon of the Guardian said –
“To
write off all gay love makes about as much sense as writing off
all heterosexual love.” Thank you for that, Mark.
Also in this year, I wrote a letter to the press regarding a
hostile response from of the Salvation Army. All these
letters are posted on my website –
www.narvelannable.co.uk - A bible reading class in Clowne [a mining village in North East
Derbyshire] had been indoctrinating a vulnerable young gay man
which resulted in a change of his personality. Jehovah's
Witnesses techniques were employed. Holding a good opinion
of the Salvation Army, I genuinely believed that Major Jonathan
Roberts at Chilwell would be appalled to hear my news.
Naively, I was confident that he would instruct his homophobic
‘teachers’ to refer our friend to the professional, gay-friendly
councillors who work at the Derbyshire Sexual Health Promotion
Service in Chesterfield. I also pointed out that help and
guidance from the Nottingham Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement
would be more appropriate for a disturbed and susceptible
young homosexual. Instead of disciplining his bigoted and
ignorant staff, Roberts said this in his letter of reply –
“The Salvation Army takes the view that people can’t help what
they are – but they are responsible for what they do.”
That shocking statement from Roberts was unacceptable and
insulting. It cost me many sleepless nights and it cost
the Salvation Army many Christmas donations. This includes
the money Terry and I will not be giving in the future
and it includes all the future donations I can persuade as many
people as possible not to donate to the homophobic
Salvation Army.
The
words spoken by Benedict XVI on December 22nd must be seen in
context with his consistent track record of enmity to the gay
community. See source E from the Pink Paper
18.12.08 in which he opposes a United Nations statement on
decriminalising homosexuality in the 86 countries which still
ban sex between men. The international community is trying
to make it lawful to be gay in every country in the world, but
the Pope will not budge on this issue. In your letter of
December 30th, you described your boss as ‘having a
pastoral heart - his writings displaying urbanity’.
Clearly you hold this man in some esteem.
Let me tell you who I esteem. Peter Tatchell is
my hero. I predict that in a thousand years time
his name will be better remembered and better revered
than the name of Benedict XVI. Peter Tatchell said –
“The opposition of the Pope to human rights violations based on
sexual orientation is truly sickening, depraved and shameless.”
Also sickening, depraved and shameless is the Vatican’s decision
to remove Cardinal Newman’s body from its resting place.
See source F. Peter described the separation of Newman’s bones
from the bones of his long term male lover as ‘an act of
desecration and vandalism’. The Cardinal’s body was buried
in 1890 in the same grave as his partner Ambrose St John.
Speaking on Radio 4, Cardinal Cormac-Murphy O’Connor was trying
to rewrite history and stand truth on its head. During a
tough interview, in a failed attempt to defend the Pontiff’s
homophobic embarrassment, the Cardinal admitted that the two men
really loved each another. He went on to say that such love was
not necessarily homosexual!
Christine Odone of the Observer appears to support my
doomsday prediction with regard to the Roman Catholic Church –
“Without gay men, the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church
would collapse, a fact Benedict XVI wilfully ignores. Gay
men and women have for millenniums filled the ranks of the
church’s holy orders, schools and administration; they
celebrated the Catholic vision in music, paintings and writing.
Catholic teachings might condemn sodomy as the sin that cries to
the heavens for vengeance, yet Catholic parishes, universities
and seminaries would grind to a halt if gays were banned.
Church rules might forbid same-sex unions, yet Christ’s first
and foremost commandment was to love one another.”
It
has always been a mystery to me how educated, intelligent people
like yourself can reconcile the manifest reality of an
institution dominated by homosexuals with the screaming
homophobia of its top management! Perhaps, Father Michael,
you could explain that to
me?
The Odone
comments accord with some of the text in my novel Scruffy
Chicken. There are references to the sneering snobs who
infested Derby Cathedral in the mid 1960’s – and are probably
prominent to this day. Here is an example from page 104.
David led Simeon to the end of the bar in order to buy him a
drink.
"Better this way," he whispered. "It's seen as 'bad form'
to have a private conversation when Hawley has the floor.
Anyway, I'm getting bored with his tirades against the new
progressive Canon at Derby Cathedral."
"They go to church?"
"My
dear boy! You have so much to learn. They
practically own Derby Cathedral! I kid you not.
Smells and bells; they invented it. I'm surprised the
whole congregation don't rise when Hoadley and Hawley make the
grand entrance. It's the same each Sunday, the great and
good of Derby sit near the front, always in the same order.
First Miss Bulstrode, the headmistress of the prestigious Derby
High School for Girls. She chats with
Hoadley in Latin and Greek. Then we have the unctuous
Hawley, who sits next to the tweedy Miss Penelope DeHaviland,
the Editor of Derbyshire Life and Countryside Magazine.
They exchange bits of gossip about the Lord High Sheriff and the
Lord Lieutenant. Last, but not least, is the bolt-upright
form of Hoadley himself, the First Homosexual of Derbyshire
keeping trunk and legs at a precise 90 degrees. Woe to the
cleric who dares to depart from traditional form. After
the service, he must face the wrath of Miss Hoadley!"
"Miss Hoadley!"
"Sorry about that. The title of 'Miss' is fairly common in
our catty world. You'll learn. I grant you that
those two are not as ladylike as some ... but Hawley in
particular, well he's so bloody slimy! And then, don't you
think there's something of an 'old maid' about them?"
In
conclusion – Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Salvation Army and,
at the very end of 2008 – the Roman Catholic Church all
attacking homosexuals – all attacking me – with the possible
exception of you, Father Michael. The blessing you
gave me over the phone was a stark contrast to the papal ‘kick
in the teeth’.
Christmas was not an entire write-off. As usual, Terry put
a huge effort into turning our living room into a wondrous
grotto which would have gladdened the heart of any child – and
we are big children. We had friends to dinner: they
all shook their heads, told me to forget the pope and, for
goodness sake, get a good night’s sleep!
In
one way our Christmas was a truly religious event thanks to the
theologian Robert Beckford who fascinated us for hours [over
several days] with his interesting television research into the
dynasty of Jesus and investigation of the Nativity. It was
instructive, nostalgic and relaxing.
I’ll finish with a final ‘thank you’ for a commendable, gentle
Christian response to an angry letter.
Narvel Annable.
Sent to the
Derby Evening Telegraph 13.10.08
Dear Editor,
Church of England priest Peter Mullen describes the gay
community as ‘militant’. You bet we are militant!
When a man of the cloth incites rabid hatred against homosexuals
we need to protest and protest loudly as we should have
been doing for the last 100 years. When called to account,
Mullen claimed he has some ‘dear gay friends’. Would any
of his ‘dear gay friends’ care to come forward and defend the
disgusting homophobic suggestions the rector now describes as
‘light hearted jokes’? If Mullen is in the mood for jokes,
I could think of a few choice comments to tattoo across his
bottom.
There is little good news in this appalling story.
However, at least we can take comfort in the fact that, thanks
to the alert, vigorous and vociferous LGBT movement, such
despicable bigots as The Reverend Mullen are now quickly exposed
to face the judgement of a more enlightened global population.
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the
Derby Evening Telegraph 22.08.08
On BBC Breakfast [18.08.08] as usual, the presenters
reviewed the daily papers. To my horror they selected a
tabloid feature about a matador tormenting an innocent bull.
Did they say that bull fighting was unacceptable in the 21st
century? No. Did at least one of them utter a
comment to the effect that a long drawn out public exhibition of
inflicted humiliation and torture on a dumb animal was cruel and
wrong? No. There was no reference to suffering and
death for the entertainment of unspeakable, blood-thirsty,
cheering crowds.
Instead, they mentioned the two main points highlighted in the
tabloid text. The matador was doing well to be still
employed in his work at the age of 66 and, also, that he was the
only British matador. Should we be proud?
This is the BBC! As a licence payer, I expect a higher
standard of morality.
Narvel Annable.
Sent to The
Observer 18.10.08
Dear Editor,
We are approaching the season when
the Salvation Army will be coming to our neighbourhood
collecting money. For the past 30 years, my partner, and I
[believing that they do good work] have been pleased to make
cash donations with a smile. However, they are entitled to
know why their collector will receive a frosty reception at our
door this Christmas.
In a Derbyshire colliery village, we know a vulnerable man.
He is a former friend of many years who has been attending a
Salvation Army bible
reading group. By inclination he is suggestible, easily
manoeuvred, easily influenced, often bullied and appears to have
been influenced by a nest of evil homophobes who are bigoted,
prejudiced, ignorant and plain poisonous.
This gay man
has lost much of his sense of humour and seems to have suffered
a change of personality. It is horrific - reminiscent of
the old 1950's science fiction films where aliens subsume human
bodies! He tells me that 'the Bible is anti-gay' and trots
out several well known homophobic passages which are frequently
aimed at the homosexual community.
I am shocked
that a bible group under the auspices of the Salvation Army, the
Salvation Army I have always respected, the Salvation Army of
the 21st century, should (as it appears) harbour such homophobic
intolerance! On the face of it, this is brain-washing of
the type we more commonly associate with Jehovah's Witnesses.
If this group have exploited self doubt, have induced self hate,
they have committed an act of wickedness.
I wrote to Major Jonathan Roberts at Chilwell about my concerns.
His reply was shocking!
“With regard to homosexuality, the Salvation Army takes the view
that people can’t help what they are – but they are responsible
for what they do.”
Effectively, he is saying that gay life is wrong and that the
bible group is right! Terry and I have been together for
32 years. Roberts had a chance to amend / clarify his
views, but held firm to his main point. He is telling us
that we must be celibate if we are to receive full respect and
dignity in the eyes of the Salvation Army.
This out of date homophobic attitude is unacceptable and
insulting to all who identify with the LGBT community.
So, Salvation Army; do not come to this address this
Christmas.
Narvel Annable.
This letter of
February 16th 2008 was sent to the Nottingham
Evening Post
Dear Editor,
What happened to the Nottingham Evening Post last Tuesday
evening? A reporter and photographer should have been at
Waterstone’s on February 12th when they kindly hosted
a mammoth display of gay books, photographs, posters, charts,
newspaper and magazine features which illustrated a history of
the Nottingham Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community.
This was the UK’s biggest LGBT Exhibition.
Together with a generous spread of free food and drink, this was
a parade of the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY. The GOOD
included hundreds of successful positive role models, past and
present, gay personalities from Florence Nightingale to John
Barrowman. The BAD made for harrowing reading: appalling
examples of homophobic cruelty – abuse, bigotry, prejudice and
discrimination over many years. The UGLY was unbearable.
We saw images of a public execution on the back of a lorry in
Iran. Two teenage boys were being hanged for the ‘crime’
of loving each other. And, right here in this country, I
will always be haunted by those faces; faces of young men kicked
to death because they were trying find other young men of
similar inclination.
Leaders of the Nottingham LGBT fellowship invested many long
hours of hard, unpaid work to organize this excellent exhibit.
It aimed to break down barriers, inform and educate the
heterosexual majority. In this effort to promote
understanding, a better image for homosexuals, these good people
deserved more support from the local press.
Yours very disappointed,
Narvel Annable.
A
few days later, Senior Features Editor, Jeremy Lewis [who
reviewed Scruffy Chicken] sent me a gracious
‘unconditional’ apology and offered to publicize a feature on my
forthcoming talk at Heanor Library on 27.02.08.
Letter sent to
Rebecca Sherdley of the Nottingham Evening Post regarding
her feature about the death of Sir Brian Smedley printed on
April 16th 2007.
Dear Ms Sherdley,
Thank you for
mentioning my book A Judge Too Far (Keith Matthewman) in
your interesting feature about Sir Brian Smedley. You may
find the following Publicity Sheet Number 74 of some interest.
Regards,
Narvel Annable.
Martin Harcourt
QC
With regard to my
novel Scruffy Chicken, readers sometimes ask –
"Was Brian
Smedley the inspiration for your character Martin Harcourt
QC?"
Often in the way of
these things, the answer is not simple. Harcourt was a
composite of three men including Brian Smedley. In the
1965 gay community, it was common knowledge that Brian was a
Barrister. I met him frequently in several venues and
drooled over his beautiful white Jaguar. He was a regular
at our 'gentleman's club', the Derby Turkish Baths (cautiously
signing in as 'Brian Jones') and was a prestigious dinner guest
in the homes of senior members of both the Derby and Nottingham
Camp.
Despite being a
member of both elite groups, Brian was no snob. He had
little patience with the snooty affectation of Claud Hoadley and
his fawning 'nodding heads'. On one occasion, at the home
of David Bond, Brian was especially kind to me. With
regard to an infatuation which was causing great anxiety, he
counselled good advice - advice I should have taken - as you
will learn in my next title Secret Summer.
Brian Smedley and
Martin Harcourt certainly shared the life-long concern, the
chronic horror of public disapproval should their homosexuality
ever come to light. In a world where gay sex was illegal,
considered immoral - in the Derby / Nottingham professional
classes - a pervasive terror of being outed as 'a queer' was all
around – the air was thick with the threat of disgrace and
ruination. It could be cut with a knife. Observe
Brian's photograph in Rebecca Sherdley's tribute in the
Nottingham Evening Post, April 16th 2007. This is the
public face of a High Court Judge who sat in the Old Bailey, the
respectable image of Sir Brian Smedley, resplendent in his
formal robes and full wig. But this one-time scruffy
chicken who knew Brian nearly half a century back; he sees
behind the majesty of the law, he sees the sad eyes of a
haunted man.
No such sadness in
the twinkling eyes of Martin Harcourt. I gave him a
youthful charm, wit, good fun and a roguish sense of mischief
which did not belong to Brian Smedley who I found to be rather
guarded and reserved. No. These endearing qualities
can be attributed to another lawyer, a popular Nottingham
solicitor and leading light in the Nottingham Camp who
eventually became a life-long friend.
To make the
character fit in with the plot-line, to bring him to life, I
inflicted upon Martin Harcourt QC many of my own weaknesses.
Martin suffers from an inability to forgive deep hurts. He
has a tendency to nurse a long held grudge and harbours an
ongoing hatred for the pretentious Hoadley types [including
Hilary Raymond Hawley and Clarence Soames] in the Derby /
Nottingham homosexual world. Martin regrets his gay
cowardice and bitterly regrets that, over the many years, he has
tolerated so much homophobia and has done so little for the gay
community. See pages 214 to 220 in Scruffy Chicken.
It was a
coincidence to discover that my former acquaintance Brian
Smedley and my former teacher Keith Matthewman shared a close
friendship which went right back to the early 1960s, to their
early barrister days in Chambers at The Ropewalk in Nottingham.
In the late 1990s, researching A Judge Too Far - A
Biography of His Honour Judge Keith Matthewman QC of the
Nottingham Crown Court, it was necessary to write my very first
letter to Brian Smedley. Back in the homophobic dark ages,
scruffy chickens of my ilk were severely cautioned - nay
threatened - never ever attempt a written
communication which might eventually become useful to the
police. In this innocent missive, a blast from the past, I
politely asked Sir Brian if he would care to share any
interesting / entertaining anecdotes regarding his friendship
with Judge Matthewman. It seemed foolish to pretend that
we were strangers, so, in the last paragraph, I touched on the
fact that we had met and mentioned a few names including his old
friend David Bond and the dinner parties.
Sadly, I found his
reply hurtful. It included a few useful references to his
teaching days in Long Eaton and memories of his friendship with
Keith and Jane Matthewman. But, at the end, his tone was
stern and rather grand. Sir Brian Smedley, the High Court
Judge of the Old Bailey informed me that I must be mistaken.
He had no memory of a teenager called Narvel Annable or of any
of the other people mentioned.
This letter – a
tribute to Paul Sharpley was posted to the Editor of the
Goole Times
[120 Boothferry Road, Goole DN14 6AE] one day after Paul’s
death, on January 2nd 2006.
As is the case with so many gay men who have been forced to live
a secretive, repressed life in a hostile homophobic environment;
after his death, some former colleagues and heterosexual friends
of Paul Sharpley conspired to sponge away all homosexual aspects
and references to his true life. At his funeral, parochial
and narrow-minded, they closed ranks to do a whitewash.
Notwithstanding, the true essence of the man, the real
Paul Sharpley lives on as the character Mr Toad in Death on
the Derwent, Scruffy Chicken and Secret Summer.
In view of the success of my book, this eulogy was re-submitted
November 18th 2008 with the hope that the editor
would print the following and do honour to one of his own who,
at the time of his death, was dishonoured by homophobia.
Dear Editor,
The New Year was
still very dark, barely two hours old when Paul Sharpley died at
Scunthorpe Hospital. Mr Sharpley was better known to
readers of Death on the Derwent and Scruffy Chicken
as ‘Mr Toad’ / Aubrey Pod. Paul, a well-read, intelligent,
skilled musician and long-time Goole organist had no objection
to being the inspiration for that quirky and amusing character.
“It’s the way you
see me. I’ve been immortalised in a book.”
For three years he
had been looking forward to reading about his alter-ego.
However, tragically Paul died on the very day Scruffy Chicken
was published – January 1st 2006.
Paul Sharpley was
born in Goole in 1930. For many years he lived with his
strict and formidable mother Lucy Sharpley at 1 Salisbury
Avenue, Goole, overlooking the park and river. He obtained
his music degree at Durham University in 1950 and taught at
several local schools including Selby Girls Grammar School.
From 1964 to his retirement in 1984, he taught A Level music at
Clarendon College in Nottingham. His final address was 16
Wentworth Drive, Hook Road, Goole DN14 5XS.
Paul’s funeral will
take place at Christ Church, Hook Road, Goole, on Friday,
January 13th 2006 at 1.00pm. Cremation will be
at Woodlands Cemetery, Scunthorpe at 2.30pm.
Many good friends
of Paul Sharpley will wish to join me in expressing appreciation
and gratitude to his ever faithful housekeeper ‘Feli’ - Mrs
Felicidad Carroll. Her unfailing hard work and
conscientious service has greatly enhanced the quality of Paul’s
life over the last ten years.
My affection for
this funny little man – ‘a character in caricature’ is best
expressed on page 78 in the enclosed copy of Scruffy Chicken.
In
the next few weeks Simeon Hogg found Mr Toad / Aubrey Pod to be,
quintessentially, the very essence of old-fashioned Englishness
in its purest form. Aubrey was as salty and as vulgar as a
seaside postcard. He sparkled with wonderful energy - a
life-force which was irrepressible; undefeatable. The best
times in Simeon's life would not be sitting in the gloom of the
S & C Coffee Bar in Uptown Detroit in the company of intolerant
chickens. No. The best times would be spent
in brilliant sunshine with his dear old friend Aubrey Pod, being
tossed and blown about on the North Sea on board the Yorkshire
Belle.
Aubrey was quaint. Aubrey was funny. Aubrey was a
bundle of fun. Aubrey was a barrel of laughs. He
represented an amusing character in caricature - perhaps one of
the last of the type. He did not know it at the time, but
for Simeon, these precious, hilarious moments were the beginning
of a lifelong friendship with Mr Toad, nay, a love affair; a
love affair which would last for the whole of the remaining 20th
century and into part of the 21st century.
My fourth title,
A Judge Too Far was dedicated to Paul Sharpley –
“For enthusiastic
encouragement together with inspiration and the laughs,
especially the laughs, down the long journey of our friendship –
albeit a bumpy ride.”
Laughter and tears
seem so close together. Good night, dear friend. You
leave us all a little poorer, and …a part of Narvel died with
you on New Year’s Day. He will miss you.
Sincerely,
Narvel Annable.
Printed in the Derby Evening Telegraph on 19.11.08 and
sent to the Radio Times on 17.11.08.
Dear Editor,
After the Ross – Brand debacle, I thought the BBC had learned a
painful lesson! Fast forward to last Saturday, November 15th
– Radio 4 News Quiz – at 12.30pm and hear a panellist
sing out a sick and insensitive ditty –
“Postman Pat ran over his cat … ”
Enthusiastically, she pressed on with gory lyrics which included
visceral descriptions of squashed entrails and gooey guts spilt
out all across the road.
In
the few moments following, I waited in vain for a stunned
silence. I expected a fellow panellist or the chairperson
to, at the very least, utter, perhaps, even the smallest of
protest or rebuke.
Alas there was no silence or any kind of remonstration from
anybody. But there was laughter – laughter which
must have shocked tens of thousands.
On
BBC Breakfast, [18.08.08] when a smiling Suzanna Reid
made a light hearted reference to bull fighting – which is in
fact bull torturing - the BBC did not even acknowledge my
letter of outrage.
So
what is the point of complaining to the BBC?
Narvel Annable.
This letter dated March 1st 2006 was composed to
thank Amy Burns for her abortive efforts and to put on record
the homophobia of George Robinson the Editor of the Worksop
Guardian.
Ms Amy Burns
Worksop Guardian
21-27 Ryton Street
Worksop
Nottinghamshire
S20 2AY
Dear Ms Burns,
I
had considered writing this to your editor, George Robinson.
Would it do any good? Perhaps you could intercede?
Let him see this letter. Is there any chance that Mr
Robinson might re-consider his decision? I’m a little man,
easy to knock down, but, I get up and continue the fight against
bigotry, prejudice, discrimination and homophobia wherever they
are to be found.
I’m
sorry that your editor has wasted your time. He has wasted
my time and my money. After you received your copy of
Scruffy Chicken on February 10th you responded
with enthusiasm.
“Interesting. We’ll do a feature. I’ve obtained your
photographs from the Belper News. Will you please
come here for an interview and can we have five books for a
competition?”
Having taught history at the Valley Comprehensive School for 17
years, you took the view that many of my former colleagues,
former pupils and their parents would be interested in an
autobiographical novel written by a long serving member of
staff. There followed a couple of chats on the phone, two
letters and a visit to Worksop [a 70 mile round trip] to speak
to you in person. I was there on Tuesday, February 21st.
The
feature was due for publication on Friday, February 24th.
On the strength of this good news, a delighted Sandra Brewster
[the manager of WH Smith in Worksop] ordered 20 copies of
Scruffy Chicken.
“We’ll need them. Books fly off the shelf when they
receive the benefit a big feature in the Worksop Guardian.
I’ll make a good display in front of the Guardian page.”
Come Friday, February 24th – no feature.
Nothing. Come Monday, February 27th, I spoke to
your deputy editor.
“We are a family newspaper. Mr Robinson has decided that
your work is inappropriate for our readers. He has
cancelled the feature. We’ll return your five books by
post.”
Family newspaper? I am part of a family. Terry
Durand and I will celebrate our 30 years together this coming
September 3rd. He and our close friends are
‘family’.
This is censorship plain and simple. If my former pupils
and the people of Worksop are prevented from learning about the
problems, the harsh realities, the trials and tribulations of
homosexual life – how can they ever be educated? How can
they recognise and combat homophobia? How can they
possibly know what it’s like to be me? How can they feel
my pain: such as the time when a group of ignorant pupils
once shouted out at me, as loud as they could, in Worksop’s
Tesco – ‘ANNABLE’S A GAY BASTARD’?
During those 17 years, this was one of several similar attacks.
An unmarried teacher who keeps his private life very
private, a strict traditional schoolmaster who is not afraid to
punish, not afraid to make his students work in silence – that
schoolmaster is a tempting target to a disruptive minority.
If
George Robinson would do me the courtesy of reading Scruffy
Chicken – all of it – he will find that it is not sordid,
never gratuitous or prurient in its intent. It is intended
to be realistic, to educate and to break down barriers in,
hopefully, and entertaining way.
Sandra Brewster is bravely supporting me. She is trying to
sell 20 books without local publicity. It won’t be easy.
Your time has not been completely wasted. I enjoyed
meeting you. It is a pity that many people have been
denied the chance to read your work; notwithstanding, thank you
very much for your interest in my work.
Sincerely,
Narvel Annable.
There was no response to this letter. The five books
arrived in the post inadequately packed but undamaged.