Being LGBT (and a sparks fan)

 Good evening/morning once again, you join me very tired after a long week. I turned 21 recently, which was a huge milestone. My dad got me a badge machine so soon I’ll be making badge packs to sell and begin my art business. Anyways, I decided to do an essay on being LGBTQ+ and a sparks fan. So sit cosily, drink some water or eat a snack as we dive into this topic. 

(teaser for todays post)

I begin by sharing a photo of me. Why? Because I’m part of this community.

 This is me.

I’m a trans nonbinary person on the asexual spectrum. I have always told people I’m queer as many people don’t understand my sexuality; I’m demisexual which is where I feel attraction to them I’m friends with or trust. I won’t upset people with the trauma details here but I’ve had many times where people have taken advantage of me and left me confused about myself for a long time. I’m also gender diverse. I love dressing the way I like, my favourite thing to wear is a long flowy skirt I found in a charity shop. Being me isn’t always easy, I’m not out to my family fully and lying to them on how I’ve had over 100 boyfriends is very tiring. Majority of my family use my deadname, that is what trans folk call their old name, I’m haunted by it like it’s a ghost that keeps putting on the top 40 on the radio. Many friends respect my identity, however, I’m my best friend was the first few people to know about my trans identity and they’ve stuck by ever since. 

Time for some real discussion away from things about my own identity, let’s discuss sparks and their role in the queer community. So I asked on the unofficial sparks group whether people believed they supported the LGBT+ community to which I got varied responses. Some called me some really nasty names which really hurt but I tried my hardest to re-educate these people to try and mask the pain and fear I had. But many people gave me genuine and amazing responses. So to those people, thank you. Someone pointed me in the direction of Europride 1997, where Sparks performed alongside Jimmy Somerville, who led bands like Bronski Beat and The Communards. Jimmy is most famously known by the song ‘Smalltown Boy’ which is based on his own life, where he ran away from his small town out of fear of homophobia or homelessness due to his queer identity. Many queer people over the years have related to him, the fear of coming out or accidentally being exposed for being queer is a major trigger. It’s not uncommon even today to hear young people being kicked out of their house due to being them. I watched a bit of Europride 1997 for this essay and I love the way it incorporated orchestra music and synth together. It romanticises two worlds, classical and modern. I also love how it also combined two men who have such gender neutral voices. It’s almost like heaven reached peak hearing them. 

Another thing I thought I’d bring up is, Ron’s Drag era

 

This is a snippet of this era, I’ve drawn and stared at this many times. I even made a badge with this image. I personally started connecting dots while doing sparks research for my class work when I came to a realisation. The drag era occurred in the early 80s, which was when the AIDS crisis really took hold on America, many newspapers, news TV shows and popular cultures were creating mass panic and labelling AIDS as “the gay virus” which promoted unwarranted attacks and violence to the LGBT community. It’s not uncommon for me to hear how in the 70s and 80s many gay bars were raided or closed or targeted. My theory was Ron wanted his fans to know they’re welcome to be themselves at gigs and that he didn’t support the hate to the minorities. I love Ron for that too, he helped so many elder LGBT community members stay in this world and paved the way of normalising drag. 

Anyways that’s all I have for you today. I will like to thank everyone ho gave me research and told me their story. I may do a part 2 and maybe even interview people to share queer stories and what sparks means to the community. See you on the other side.