What is “Hate Crime”?

Sep23

You have a few options if you live in Fife and need to report a hate crime.

You can report the incident directly to Police Scotland at Police Scotland Online Reporting

Alternatively, both Fife Centre for Equalities and Pink Saltire are recognised Third Party Reporting Centres.

Fife Centre for Equalities

Use their Hate Incident Reporting Page.

Pink Saltire

☎️ 0800 051 7676  📧 info@pinksaltire.com  or in person at The Hive LGBT+ Centre in Kirkcaldy.

A letter to my younger self – Aged 35

Jun4

Hello you!

Yes, just those two short words have a special significance to you now, don’t they?

Who would ever have thought that someone would walk into your life out of nowhere and have such an effect on you in so many ways?

I just goes to show, we never know what’s around the corner.

Continue reading →

A letter to my younger self – Aged 25

Jun3

Hi hunny,

So you got married young then. And the little one’s starting school already! *sigh*

Well of course in a different universe you’d have listened to what I told you last time, but as it is you’ve sort of “blown it”. Now you have responsibilities to others so it’s going to be tricky trying to be yourself, isn’t it?

Ok, I’m not going to press the point too much. You know as well as I do that your late teens were the time when you actually needed to get done something about it and have a fulfilling life ahead of you.

Continue reading →

A letter to my younger self – Aged 15

Jun2

Hey kiddo!

How’s things?

Wow, you’re growing up fast. So tall!

I just thought I’d drop you a line to let you know some of the things I’ve discovered and to give you an idea of what’s ahead for you.

Continue reading →

Insulting behaviour

Feb19

Just lately it seems as if I’m at war with an unknown entity; an elusive, pervading, mischievous spirit that seems hell bent on disrupting all forms of communication.

To put it in a nutshell, I seem unable to communicate with people without accidentally insulting them or causing them some form of upset. This usually happens when my intention is to make a joke or lighten a situation, but I’m so WAY OFF target that it is becoming embarrassing. I had my first Covid vaccination this week and, whilst putting on my coat and gathering my things together I even managed to insult the kind, charming, pleasant (and hunky) soldier who had given me the jab. What the hell was THAT all about?

There are few enough people that I communicate with at the best of times. With lock down that number has reduced still further, and almost all of that communication is electronic. The way things are going I can foresee a situation where that number hits the big zero as I drive more and more people away.

I guess, for the moment at least, it’s probably best if I limit the potential damage to those around me by giving up trying to communicate and just shut the f*** up.

I hope all of you are faring better in this regard.

US Senate verifies that lunatics can run the asylum and by doing so advocates “Anarchy Rules OK”

Feb13

How say you? Guilty, or not guilty?

Not guilty … 43 out of 100

That is the number of members of the United States Senate who voted that Donald J. Trump was NOT guilty of inciting the insurrection that took place at the United States Capitol on January 6th 2020.

Let history show that FORTY THREE Republican Senators believe that everything Donald Trump did in the months leading up to the election, everything he did after the election, and everything he did ON THE DAY OF THE INSURRECTION is “Ok by us, folks”.

Shame on you. Shame on every single one of you. Shame, shame, SHAME!

According to those forty three Senators ANY future President of the United States can, effectively, do ANYTHING THEY WANT and get away with it, no matter how disgusting or despicable that may be.

The United States holds itself up as a beacon to the world, a “shining example” of democracy.

Really?!

I spy a “banana republic” in the offing thanks to the moral turpitude of those forty three.

Perpetual shame on every single one of them.

Why is there no Cross-dresser Pride Flag?

Feb9

As I’ve been working through the numerous tasks that I have lined up at the moment I’ve been putting together a section in the Transgender Awareness Training relating to definitions of the various sub-categories which fall under the Transgender Umbrella.

In order to present the concept on the PowerPoint slides I decided to use the various Pride flags as a starting point for each definition, and this highlighted a problem. I couldn’t find a flag to represent the cross-dressing community.

Now whilst cross-dressing is not synonymous with being transgender per-se, the support group I help to run welcomes cross-dressing individuals to our ranks as we feel they are a valid subsection of our community and face many of the same problems and issues as the rest of the transgender people we aim to support. Just try going shopping with one and you’ll find out what I mean.

Continue reading →

The passing of a true gentleman

Feb3

I’m sure most of you will have heard of Captain Sir Tom Moore who, last year, raised an astonishing amount of money for NHS charities in the UK in the lead up to his 100th birthday. His idea had been to walk around his garden 100 times before his 100th birthday, and his original aim had been to try to raise £1,000.

Once the media got hold of the story it went viral, and by the end of his birthday the total amount of donations exceeded £32 MILLION!

Yesterday we received the sad news of his passing; apparently yet another victim of this horrible pandemic.

From Wikipedia:

Captain Sir Thomas Moore (30 April 1920 – 2 February 2021), popularly known as Captain Tom, was a British Army officer and businessman known for raising money for charity in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moore served in India and the Burma campaign during the Second World War, and later became an instructor in armoured warfare. After the war, he worked as managing director of a concrete company and was an avid motorcycle racer.

On 6 April 2020, at the age of 99, Moore began to walk lengths of his garden in aid of NHS Charities Together, with the goal of raising £1,000 by his 100th birthday. In the 24-day course of his fundraising, he made many media appearances and became a popular household name in the UK, earning a number of accolades and attracting over 1.5 million individual donations. In recognition of his efforts, he received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award at the 2020 ceremony. He performed in a cover version of the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” sung by Michael Ball, with proceeds going to the same charity. The single topped the UK music charts, making him the oldest person to achieve a UK number one.

On the morning of Moore’s hundredth birthday, the total raised by his walk passed £30 million, and by the time the campaign closed at the end of that day had increased to over £32.79 million (worth almost £39 million with expected tax rebates). His birthday was marked in a number of ways, including flypasts by the Royal Air Force and the British Army. He received over 150,000 cards, and was appointed as honorary colonel of the Army Foundation College. On 17 July 2020, he was personally invested as a Knight Bachelor by the Queen at Windsor Castle. He died on 2 February 2021 at Bedford Hospital where he was taken after being treated for pneumonia and then testing positive for COVID-19.

Rest in Peace, Captain Tom. You were an example to us all and a true gentleman.