Queen, ‘We Are The Champions.’

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

“The power ballad I forwarded to play, then rewound to play again, was always ‘We Are The Champions’. But I was 11 years old and that purchase had no significance to my yet-to-be-discovered sexuality.”

The Film Festival Circuit Continues.

As Travis Mathews travels from Sundance to the Berlin International Film Festival, he looks back on the reception of Interior. Leather Bar.

“Festivals have their own interests and politics, so there’s lots of emails, lots of new personalities and lots of meetings. There’s something hilarious about it all because it doesn’t feel like real life.”

The Smiths, ‘Reel Around The Fountain’

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

” My unspoken feelings seemed to be woven throughout the lyrics of the songs we listened to that night and my secret was being decoded and laid bare in the music.”

PA Mag Lochlainn, by Scott de Buitléir.

To celebrate LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari is publishing a daily series of LGBT Heroes, selected by the magazine’s team of writers and special contributors.

“Mag Lochlainn was involved in training police officers about homophobia and hate crimes, and helped his friend and colleague, Jeffery Dudgeon in his campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in the region by bringing the issue before the European Court of Human Rights in 1982.”

Manic Street Preachers, ‘Kevin Carter’

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

“I would listen to Everything Must Go on my blue Walkman, and everytime the opening riff of ‘Kevin Carter’ started, there was only one Kevin I was thinking about.”

To celebrate LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari is publishing a daily series of LGBT Heroes, selected by the magazine’s team of writers and special contributors.

“Sally Ride Science was founded in 2001, with the aim of developing science, technology, engineering and maths education for elementary and middle school students. Two elementary schools in the United States have in fact been named in her honour.”

Supertramp, ‘The Logical Song’

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

” ‘The Logical Song’ is about the disjunct between the wonder of childhood and the conformity of adulthood. In the ‘clinical, intellectual, cynical’ of logic you have to ‘watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical, liberal, fanatical, criminal.”

Pedro Almodóvar, by Michael Langan.

To celebrate LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari is publishing a daily series of LGBT Heroes, selected by the magazine’s team of writers and special contributors.

“What I feel when I watch Almodóvar’s movies, as I regularly do, is something akin to love. I’m in love with his films and they make me fall in love with life.”

Visibility and Diversity.

Christopher Bryant talks to Sue Sanders, one of the founders of the UK’s LGBT History Month, about the great work that is done every year to increase the visibility LGBT people, from the classroom to the city streets.

“We’re making history visible to ourselves. We don’t know our own history. It’s crucial we have that space where we can begin to discover our own history.”

The Clash, ‘Hitsville UK’

To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact their own stories.

“To this day, we play it first at all our major club nights. Every time I hear those opening chords I get a frisson of nerves and expectation.”