Blog

In our recent concert at Cadogan Hall one of the songs we performed was Bronski Beat’s Small Town Boy, beautifully and movingly arranged by our very own incredibly talented Simon P. 

Paul, from the tenors, shared his own story of moving from a small town to London...

I’d like to tell you a story – of a boy from a small town. (That’s me). The town, Rathfriland, County Down, Northern Ireland (population 2,400) is unlikely to be familiar to you, however the story might be. It is, plus or minus a few details, likely also your story. So many of us found ourselves here in London because we came searching for something. Something that, try as we might we would never find at home. Where do I belong?

At the end of the 90’s, when queer as folk was first aired on British TV, the Good Friday Agreement was signed, the Admiral Duncan bombing occurred and I graduated from Nursing School in Belfast, I came to London in search of excitement and to find answers. To find love. To locate that missing jigsaw piece that I thought would make me complete.
Don’t get me wrong, I wanted for nothing, I had great friends, was out and proud, with the full support of my family. Nevertheless I packed up my car and like Dick Whittington was off to london to find my fortune.

Some of the memories that I hold dear from my childhood, as many of you I’m sure will identify, are soundtracked by my family’s taste in music.

I used to dance around my aunts bedroom to Duran Duran and the Communards. We even did (and still do, sometimes) our own dance routine to Venus by Bananarama. My mum and stepdad were into the Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, loads of Ska and Punk. This music was the soundtrack to my formative years. My mum passed 4 years ago rather unexpectedly at 61 but one of her favourites was Smalltown Boy by Bronski beat, It sees fitting that it then became the theme tune to my departure some years later.

I arrived in London, with a packed Vauxhall Corsa that contained my life, in December 1999, and at the turn of the millennium entered into a new exhilarating and terrifying chapter of my life. Hard as it was at times, the following 24 years were all the things I thought I was searching for and more. Sometimes the big city was lonely. Expensive. Full of pitfalls, But I worked hard, pushed on and had plenty of adventures. Cut to present day and I stand before you today as one of you. A smalltown boy. In a big city where the opportunities are as limited as your imagination.

The next song, was played at my mum’s funeral, as part of a celebration of all the things she loved. I guess you could say that it was her exit theme too now. She’s not here to hear me sing it sadly so I’d like to dedicate this to Wendy and to all the smalltown boys, girls and folk of all genders who are looking to find their place in the world.

Paul, Tenor

Pride has always been a very important time for The Pink Singers. We performed our first ever gig at the Lesbian & Gay Pride march in London in 1983 and have continued to march ever since; exercising our right to protest to improve the rights for all LGBT+ people and be visible for our community. 

On 1st July we took part in London Pride. This home town pride has been a permanent fixture in our calendars for over 40 years. There was a short hiatus due to covid, and the last two years we decided not to attend due to our concerns over systemic racism within the Pride in London organisation. However, after engaging with them, this year we felt things had improved and were proud to once again march the streets of London, donning our brand new Pinkies 40 year anniversary t-shirts. 

To coincide with our t-shirts, we also created a brand new banner for Pride. With the amazing sewing skills of Chris S, Duong, Hester and Charlie S, a bright sparkly new banner was pulled together in one evening during a placard making session at my house, to replace our usual pink and black banner. The banner was proudly paraded at both London Pride and Trans Pride (8th July) and features a variety of LGBT+ flags, and commitment to trans inclusion and supporting the black lives matter movement.

I felt very proud to march with my Pinkie comrades. I’ve been marching in prides with them for almost 12 years. After all the transphobia in the media and changes to LGBT+ rights around the world it felt more important than ever to stand up and march with our queer family.

Below we hear personal accounts of our attendance at Trans Pride from two of our wonderful choir members, Josi and Katie.

Charly (Soprano and Communities Team Member)

Josi (Bass)

Something special happened on Trans Pride day.

But the story starts many months ago when a decision was made by the Pinkies to show overt solidarity with their trans members. True allyship is when people put some energy into demonstrating their support, and not just telling us. My beloved Pinkies chose to put mega energy into their support and it became visible and more than that, it was very, very real. It’s no secret that I’m an emotional mush and I have to admit to a few tears blurring my vision as I’m writing this.

The preceding week to Trans Pride was Pride London. On that day a regiment of Pinkies turned up with a huge banner declaring their support for trans lives. I felt very proud. Then at Trans Pride, Pinkies assembled and showed London that trans lives really do matter. We assembled in the rain at Trafalgar Square. The assembled crowds grew to beyond the capacity that the square could hold.

I was both amazed and blessed to see so many cis people wearing their hearts on their sleeves and highly motivated to show us that we were loved and belonged. I was thrilled to see the variety of trans people in both age and presentation.

Of course the label ‘Trans’ is as useful as the label European. It puts us on a map but tells you nothing about who we are. It’s an umbrella term, the irony not lost on me as I sheltered from the rain. The rain abated almost as we set off from Trafalgar Square,

there were thousands upon thousands upon thousands of trans people and our allies, and as we marched and demonstrated, we received so much love and support from crowds along the way.

It was a truly uplifting experience reminding me that the Twitter world and the axis of hate, is not the real world and that our government’s fixation with controlling us, even hoping to eradicate us, is not the prevailing view of everyday people. The vibe was definitely to show everyone we matter and they care.

We finished at Hyde Park Corner and I watched as the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of allies walking with their trans siblings entered the area and filled it, as at the beginning, beyond capacity. It was a sight I will never forget.

I’m so proud of my Pinkies and grateful doesn’t cover it.

I have never been more certain of my validity, my worth and to continue to stand up prouder and shout even louder than “them”.

Josi

Katie (Soprano)

It was my first time attending Trans Pride in London alongside my pink singers family. I’m pleased to share my experience of it from the perspective of an Ally, as part of this collection of various pinkie voices. 

It was incredibly moving to see approximately 30,000 people gathered in central London with an array of incredible signs, all powerfully conveying messages of visibility, support, and wishes for a better world. It was amazing to have so many people turn up to protest despite the torrential rain. Though it dampened our signs, it most definitely didn’t dampen our spirits. 

We proudly marched alongside the pink singers banner, to which we affixed a trans flag, the words “Pink Singers for Trans Rights” and flowers to honour the long legacy of transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming and intersex people. In our recent summer concert, we wore our signature pink roses and continue to remember the immense contribution they have made and continue to make to the LGBTQIA+ rights movement.

Katie

Pride season isn’t over for us. We’ll be taking part and performing at Liverpool Pride at the end of July, as well as attending Black Pride and Bi Pride in London. Hope to see you there!

Darren, one of our basses reflects on the choir’s recent trip to Bologna as part of the Various Voices festival and how the struggle and fight for equality remains as strong today as it’s ever been.

In June I travelled to Italy, Bologna for a LGBTQ+ choir festival called Various Voices. Imagine over 100 LGBTQ+ choirs from all over the world gathering every 3 years to raise their voices in harmony and sing on the steps of churches, central piazzas, open air spaces in museums and streets across the city and doing major performances in the main Bologna theatres. It was absolutely idyllic, perfect weather, the people of Italy excited to see all of the performances from different choirs singing in different languages, singing in amazing spaces surrounded by beautiful Italian architecture. The festival ran over five days and was a complete success with friendships forged, voices harmonizing and lots of pasta eaten.

And it doesn’t stop there. I’m in the middle of planning a trip to Liverpool with the choir for Liverpool Pride to support and sing with the smaller choirs based in the city at the end of July to further raise LGBTQ+ awareness.

Sometimes I look at the things I get involved in as a gay man in the UK, the freedom of living openly as a gay in London, the LGBTQ+ choir I’m a member of, the various gay sport clubs I belong to, and I think how wonderful, how far we have travelled, how open society is to LGBTQ+ people and then I remember. I remember the hardships, the struggles of coming out, the non-acceptance both publicly and privately, the abuse on the streets, endured both personally and by minority communities, up and down the country for being different, the struggles of the gay black pride movement and the trans community and I realise how far we still must travel.

These pictures from Italy Various Voices Choir Festival are beautiful, they celebrate and rejoice in all things that bring acceptance, and bring our society together but unfortunately the story is different. Whilst performing the Italian government announced its intention to ban same sex couples from having babies via surrogacy abroad. In Bologna I met an Italian same sex couple who explained the heartache they are feeling because they will be breaking the law and are stopped from fathering children and building a family of their own because of their sexual orientation.

More recently the Italian government ordered city councils to stop registering same sex parents’ children and following that a state prosecutor in Rome demanded the cancellation of 33 birth certificates of children born to lesbian couples dating back to 2017, saying the name of the non-biological mother should be removed. Reuters News Article.

Whilst you look at the pictures and hear the wonderful experience I had in Italy and have as a gay man in the UK and London, remember there is a sliding scale of equality, acceptance and openness that creates laws and regulations that infringe on the civil liberties of the LGBTQ+ community both in the UK and abroad. Whilst being a member of the Pink Singers, I feel surrounded and supported by friends and allies and that permeates into the wider UK society, but we can become complacent as it seems like everything is ok now, and that everybody is afforded the same liberty and freedom as everyone else but that’s not the case and so support, change and activism is still required and we still have a long way to go. 

Darren, Bass