The Editor looks back at the year 2012 in Polari Magazine and how it has explored the LGBT subculture. Part 4 looks at real people – the lives and not the lifestyles.

Part 4: Real People

The magazine media machine has a tendency to package LGBT identity. The result is more often than not neither personal or political but commercial. It seems as if the objective is to forge a readership not of people but consumers – of labelled underwear, porn, teen-pop sensations and a stream of low budget gay-themed straight-to-disc films.

This Retrospective piece looks at real people and real experiences.

LGBT History Month

To celebrate LGBT History Month 2012, Polari featured an LGBT hero for each day of the month. The idea was to look at people who have made life better for others by example.

The month started with the trans couple Sam and Evan, and ended with Alan Turing. There were even some surprise guests, such as J.K. Rowling’s Albus Dumbledore.

LGBT History Month Heroes Days 1-7

LGBT History Month Heroes Days 8-14

LGBT History Month Heroes Days 15-21

LGBT History Month Heroes Days 22-29

IDAHO 2012

For the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, May 17 (officially IDAHO, unofficially IDAHOT), Polari featured 11 regular and special guest writers telling a tale of homophobia, biphobia or transphobia, and how they dealt with it. It made for a incredible and fascinating day.

1: The editor’s tale of an incident of homophobia at school and how it seriously backfired.

2: Polari’s designer Bryon tells of the drag queen who stood up to the preacher.

3: BJ Epstein recounts a tale of standing up to men who tried to intimidate two women holding hands.

4: Uli Lenart from Gay’s the Word bookshop writes about hiding in the open for fear of being called different.

5: In this moving story, T Form’s Emma Bailey writes about a visit to the Doctor’s in which she was treated like a thing and not a person.

6: Paul Baker writes about chasing a man who shouted homophobic abuse and giving him a piece of his mind.

7: Clayton Littlewood writes about how he avoided a female stalker by blurting out his love for a pair of well-built, rugby playing twins.

8: Performer and cabaret artist Alp Haydar asks if there’s an epidemic of hate in our society.

9: Lyndsay Winegarden writes about the myths that surround bisexuality, and how people don’t like when you don’t fit neatly into a category.

10: Polari‘s superb maestro of all things music, Little Bastard, writes about telling a friend the truth and having that friendship betrayed.

11: Activist David Watters writes about his experience of homophobia at work and in his personal life.

Pride

World Pride in London nearly fell apart following the absolute failure of the Pride Committee to do what they were appointed to do. And in the face of this an incredible crowd turned out for an incredible march. The Polari 2012 Pride Gallery celebrates the diversity and fortitude of those who came out to march.

Click here to see the  Polari 2012 Pride Gallery

Coming Out

Coming out is an experience that all LGBT people share. The Coming Out stories section is a place for people to tell their stories, and to look at the ties that bind us.

Michael Langan tells how a friend’s tragic story gave him the courage to come out.

Jonathan Kemp looks back to the influences that helped him to come out, and to the support he got from his mother.

Real Stories

In a moving and funny piece, writer and performer Menno Kuijper writes about standing up to the man who called him “batty boy” on far too regular a basis.

Bryon Fear writes about a homophobic confrontation, and how angry he was with himself when he turned away from it.

Boys and Girls

In his weekly column, Scott writes about his experiences of dating. And Stephen Charlick provides commentary with his illustrations.

Click here to read the first in the series, in which Scott considers the influence of Grindr.

Meet Grindr’s Clark Rockefeller, who is in fact a woman in a gay man’s body, and experience the incredible ride of his virtual life.

The Personal is Political

Meet Mark Healey in this interview about his work fighting hate crime.

The problems that face older LGBT people are featured in this interview with Garry McGregor.

Subversive People

YouTube opened the door for real people to bring subversive drag to global audiences. And to think that Foucault dismissed drag as an outmoded resistance to earlier sexual regimes. That’s something else he was totally off the mark about.

Click here to read the fascinating series of articles ‘DIY Drag and the Ho-Made Music Video’.

Tags: 2012 retrospective, coming out, diy drag, grindr, idaho 2012, lgbt age, lgbt subculture, mark healey, polari magazine, pride 2012, real lgbt people