when the country I grew up in
was led by myths and ghosts,
including how that country was,
until recently, the centre of the former empire
that we believed we had safely dismantled.
But the biggest damage was collateral,
when the former satellite countries we 'let go' of
proved divided as their independence evolved.
We blamed them for 'being immature',
after we shed all responsibility
for their immaturity, not seeing
that that was how to whitewash our language.
At home the standard sign in moving times
in the windows in cities for rented accommodation
was 'No blacks, no dogs, no Irish', no matter that
the country depended on the labour of two of the three,
for doing everything the locals wanted done for them.
The landlord was not going to admit his countries dependencies.
How glad I am with hindsight, that homosexuality,
my particular social difference, was nearly invisible
and the vehemence against it was an anger
against something that went unrecognised in the form it took.
Whilst now the latest outcry is against
people daring to live differently to how
their birth certificates predicted they should,
no landlord or landlady in the 1950's
would put a sign in the window 'No Gays Today'.
Such people back then had enough to contend with,
from threats of blackmail and agent provocateur police activity
given how secretive they had to be about their 'criminal sexual choices'.
Along with being the object of hysteria in the popular press.
Gay men were the same as everyone else:
they did not need landlords to anonymously shame them,
as unwanted tenants, for being unable to recognise them on the street.
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