Gay and Disabled
by
Shelly Telly
on Tue 02 Feb 2010 08:07 PM GMT
Richard Blake came up from Bishops Stortford today to take part in the LGBT History Month celebrations. He did a very poignant talk about being "Gay and Disabled." There was a guy in a wheelchair who said Norwich Pride was the best day of his life which I felt very moved by. Richard showed a short film about himself that included some footage (filmed by Stevie) of him on the Norwich Pride Parade. Richard and I are still keen to make a film together about people with learning difficulties who are LGBT but ours would be made by the people themselves. The people at today's workshop are want to meet again which is brilliant.
We had an amazing day today launching Football v Homophobia, an international event spearheaded by the Brighton-based Justin Campaign. Justin Fashanu, who grew up in Norfolk and played for Norwich City, is still the only professional footballer ever to come out. 30 years ago this month he scored the Goal of the Season against Liverpool. Today would have been his birthday. His niece Amal Fashanu came to Norwich to launch the Campaign and we had a huge amount of media interest. We had live reports from Anglia and the BBC at the Millennium Library which hosted Alan Quick's Justin exhibition. In the evening the regional Football programme "Late Kickoff" came to film our football match at Carrow Park. They did a 15 minute article on Homophobia in Football which was fantastic. I loved all the archive footage of Justin and John growing up in Wymondham. Both MPs came to our match as did David McNally, Chief Exec of Norwich City FC. They all wore pink and black scarves that we'd been knitting all week in our local "Let's Knit Homophobia Out of Football" campaign. My favourite thing of all though was the Town Crier - he was a star! Justin - you were a brilliant footballer and human being, we're so proud of you. Check out the EDP article and Anglia News item.
Had a WONDERFUL day today at the Superfoods Launch. The film went down really well and Ian Gibson was a fantastic speaker. He chaired a debate about Superfoods and his words and tone were perfect. Our scientists Paul and Dave were on the panel and they were great - they spoke about food science in a very accessible way. They loved the DVD. I commissioned Maddi Cassell to write some music for the film and she performed it live today. She went through the words with people and we had a fab singalong. I'm going to produce a karaoke version for the DVD!
Today was the start of LGBT History Month and here in Norfolk the Steering Group managed to coordinate a calendar with at least one event everyday. It began with the raising of the rainbow flag at Civic buildings across Norfolk, starting with County Hall where they arranged a reception for us. I did a speech! and talked about arriving in Norfolk 15 years ago and being told "if you want to change the world, don't come to Norfolk!" Later on we were at City Hall for the Launch Party which over 100 people attended. You can find out more about LGBT History Month at