Blue, white, & pink without the blues

Hi,

How’s things, dear reader?

What to talk about today, eh? I feel that there’s been a somewhat cyclical nature to my posts this year. Chams, what’s in the news, and rare times out. But then, would I grumble about a cooking blog where the author writes another post about food? 🙂 Hopefully not, so while there’s certainly going to be pattern about things, maybe it’s a case of YATGB doing what the blog name says.

Trans History Week 2024

I’m going to say I’ve been a bit remiss on this one. I noticed a few articles popping up about the first Trans History week on Pink News and I had an email from Stonewall featuring it too. There might have been one from Mermaids, but I’ve been to sleep since then 🙂 Organised by those lovely folk* at QueerAF, it’s been quite the event by the look of things 🏳️‍⚧️

( * For right wing nut jobs, please feel free to swap the word ‘lovely’ for ‘recruiting gender subversive wokerati’ 😜 ).

So, in case you missed some of the items and events, here’s a few I spotted along the way. Oh, and here’s a link to the Pink News topic feed so you can check out things for yourself.

Trans people have always been here

Trans+ History Week: Trans people have always been here – and these incredible photos prove it (PinkNews) : This is a collection of very early (or very old) photos of the trans community and they’ve been carefully recoloured by Eli. I guess, partly to bring them to life, but also to show People of Colour better, given old school B&W photos can hide them away. Again, yeah, trans folk have always been here. We may come back to this later.

1973: BBC documentary and discussion

I can’t quite find how I stumbled on to this, but waaay back in the 70s, Auntie Beeb ran a programme called Open Door – Transex Liberation Group. Scroll down this BBC page to find the background and the recording itself.

Please note the language is of it’s time and viewer discretion is advised. I was going to say trigger warning for 70s fashion, but everything dates and think of it more as lessons learned on what does and doesn’t suit us. 🙂

Okay, cheap gags about the 70s fashion aside, what I found both very surprising and equally amazing, is that the people on the programme where left to talk about their experiences. None of this “oh, but what about the opposing view”. No, like the better documentaries about gay, lesbian & bi folk, and People of Colour being given the opportunity – or is it platform, these days? 🙂 – it’s great to hear people speak their truth and share their experiences. I would add the excellent BBC documentary about HipHop to this list for those same reasons, as it was much more about people, society, as well as the music.

I know there’s folk who don’t like me or my son, but we’re here, we exist, and we don’t want to hear from you. Programmes that give us a voice in the mainstream are rare treats and representation helps. It can help us feel less alone, inspire us, and it shows hope.

In local news…

Coming back to the topic of history, I wondered how many photos of Nottingham Chameleons are tucked away in albums, hard disks, or cloud storage? It’s a somewhat tricky situation, as I feel there’s balancing history, visibility, and personal privacy. I’ve got a few snaps of the group, including one of the Xmas Do back in the 2010s. I wonder if there’s a way to tag and store them privately.

On a personal note, I’d love to get the history of Chams written down. I mean, we started in the late 70s, even if we put our birthday in as 1980s. I think I’ll pick up with Val and see if I can quiz some of the folk who predate me joining in the 2000s. Hmm. There’s a nice little project for the summer months.

Talking of history, CJ DeBarra been working on a book to cover queer history in Nottinghamshire (event details here!).

There will also be a history talk at Central Library on the 31st of July. This will cover the first three decades of the book – 1960, 1970 and 1980. There will be a cover fee that will be donated to Notts LGBT+ Network (switchboard)

CJ

From what I understand, the book covers the 60s to the 90s. There’s plans for a second edition to cover 90s to later. Be very interesting to see what CJ has discovered. I’ll let you know when I get hold of a copy and have a read.

Lynn stuff

With the good news about Trans History Week and CJ’s book, my newsfeed has been far more positive than the descent into doomscroll territory. BTW, why does the word doomscroll seem like it should be something from D&D? 🤓

Okay, you pull the wax seal from the doomscroll and scan the contents…. [ rolls dice ]. Right, that’s saving throws against 2D4 bigots, D20 SAN loss due to climate change terror, and you’re stunned for three rounds… You’ll need to make check against your Wisdom stat, as the bigots cast Refute Identity and follow up with Summon Moral Panic, 1000ft radius.

With the temperature climbing and some residual tiredness, I wasn’t sure if I’d bother with a fancy outfit. I know my sleeping isn’t quite right at the mo, and I think I need to see a specialist. In short, my breathing is fine, but at night, something in my upper throat is closing up on a heavy exhale. Just what you need when you snore like an overweight rhino with a bad cold 🙂

I dabbled with the idea of revisiting fake tan, but I’m conscious of the sage advice “don’t try anything drastic before your night out”. Being rather pale at the mo, perhaps it’ll be too much this early? Maybe going with something subtle is the key. That and avoiding looking like a Wotsit 😁

However, it was a case of put your Big Girl Pants on and give it a go. I guess it’s that risk around not taking the opportunity and then regretting it later (“Well son, the funny thing about regret is…“) 😉 Gah, dysphoria, it’s a pain when opportunity, effort, and mood are all over the place. Still, bullet dodged I feel.

I took two dresses with me and three pairs of shoes. I haven’t quite had the courage to go bare legged as yet, but maybe that will follow over the summer.

The blue dress is a recent purchase and now I’m looking at the photo, it feels a little short. Gah, the fun of being a taller lady!

Older readers may wish to sing “ho ho ho. Blue giant” 🙂

I may switch it up with cropped leggings when it’s time to wear it again. That or have a look for some suitable material to extend the hemline a little. No, hyperfocus, not now! 🙄

Oh, and apologies for the photo issues on the blog. The lightbox feature seems to be on the blink at the mo. That or the theme has dropped support.

L x