Monday 19th August 2024: Summer and Pride (because the gays own the summer)

Hi everyone,

I am not going to apologise for once again not having written this blog for ages. I know, it sounds weird – it’s such a quintessential Jorik thing to do – don’t blog for ages, then worry about worrying about worrying. It’s a vibe, I ride it.

Pride!

Yesterday, my partner and I were at the first Pride in Bath – his first Pride as an openly bisexual human being. It’s tricky, Pride. It’s loud, it’s noisy, we’re annoyingly political (some of my personal favourite chants of the day were: ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ and ‘Wes Streeting is a Wasteman!’). This is what Pride is supposed to be. There were no corporate sponsors, no parties and invited guests. Not the capitalist hellhole that’s been ruining Pride for decades now. My partner was terrified – and yes, Pride in London and Bristol has been turned into the exact thing that I dislike it for.

What about the quiet gays?

Well? I think there were a lot of quiet gays there. The march was in the hundreds, not the thousands. After that, there was a picnic in the park around the Holburne museum, which we only visited for a bit. We didn’t join the afterparty at Komedia, because we were otherwise engaged.

The most important part of Pride shouldn’t be about celebrating banks that make money off climate change, nor about getting railed on railings, it’s about making yourself vulnerable and visible. We have seen queer rights taken away over the past decade and a half. Particularly for neurodivergent queers, I do believe we have some serious battles still to fight.

I can’t speak for my partner. But he can for himself, so he does here, bisexually:

I will be writing these blogs more regularly, though they might be, like this one, more low-key and less deeply researched. I’m still working on two books, if you recall! This summer, now the students are mostly on holiday, I’m also keeping busy with the QND Group – website update on that coming soon! I’ve also got a new PA, via Wired Differently, funded by Access to Work. Nick, who’s reading this as well, is of course lovely and clever and beautiful and perfect and fuck me does he trigger my imposter syndrome. I think – think – that I’m nearly better from burnout.

Over the next few weeks, this website will start looking less like a mistake someone made in the early 2000s – hi to some of the people here who were not yet born when I was using Netscape Navigator to scroll fansites about Astérix and Dragonball Z. Week after this, Autscape, so that might lead to some interesting insights. In the meantime, watch this space!

Anyway, lots of love,

Jorik