The IoS Pink List 2011: It's Just A Bit Of Fun, But Please Write In...

The votes are in!
The people have spoken!
The judges have ignored them!
This year's Independent On Sunday Pink List is as bafflingly random as ever.
A leader column acknowledges this; "It was never supposed to be a rival to the Nobel prizes. Its purpose was always to entertain, to inform and to celebrate the contribution to national life made by gay and lesbian citizens."
This year it has the veneer of democracy; they asked "readers to nominate the unsung heroes and heroines who make life as a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person better – as well as the celebrities who make the world a more entertaining place."
It was good to see Elly Barnes (above), a teacher at Stoke Newington School, at number one.
Though the claim of her "eradicating homophobia in her school" by teaching about LGBT history sounds like ever such a slight exaggeration.
(And is nicked from a hyperbolic line in The Guardian).
But where were the other "unsung" community activists?
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, MD of UK Black Pride (64), Paul Martin, chief executive of Manchester's Lesbian & Gay Foundation (74), Nick Partridge of the THT (81), and Jackie Crozier of Manchester Pride (87).
Is that it?
Quite bafflingly - particularly if this was put to a (kind of) popular vote - Peter Tatchell is not featured at all.
The disgraced Independent contributor Johann Hari was also noticable by his absence - I wonder why...
Most offensive inclusion? Lord John Browne.
Former boss at BP when they were polluting the Gulf of Mexico and killing their workers.
Walked into a lordship, told the government to lift the cap on tuition fees.
And being forced out the closet cause you lied to a court about how you met your boyfriend might be sad, but hardly makes someone a queer hero or (barf) "national treasure".
This year was the first Pink List to include bisexual and trans people.
An admirable move, of course, but it makes the list rather wonky.
Just as it's well-meaning that the list tries to get an equal number of lesbians and gay men, but as there are markedly less out lesbians with a public profile you end up with some inclusions that just look tokenistic and silly.
Like the "night editor of The Times in Scotland" (94) and "Britain's only Goth, lesbian, transsexual stand-up comedian" (96).
Well, good for them, but does anyone think they should be in this 101?
And does anyone really think Scott "Nice But Dim" Mills deserves to be in the top ten?
And what on Jupiter has Jessie J ever done to warrant being placed at number three?
And where the fuck was Bradley Manning - a British citizen and truly heroic and influential (gay) man.
Oh well, same time next year...

Education: Making Homophobia History?

There's a really interesting story in The Guardian today; ''Lessons on gay history cut homophobic bullying in north London school.'
"A north London school which has developed lessons on gay historical figures who suffered persecution claims to have succeeded in "more or less eliminating homophobic bullying" in its classrooms and playgrounds over the last five years.
"The life story of the wartime code-breaker Alan Turing is among those being used to tackle homophobia. Authors Oscar Wilde and James Baldwin and artist Andy Warhol also feature.
"Now Stoke Newington secondary plans to share the lessons with hundreds of primary and secondary school teachers. By the summer, it will have trained more than a hundred teachers in how to "educate and celebrate" being gay."
The Guardian reports; "Elly Barnes, a music teacher, devised the lesson plans and training course with the help of colleagues. Her concern began when she heard a pupil say their "pen was so gay" when it snapped in two. Barnes's aim is to "eradicate homophobia from all schools" by giving staff the confidence and resources required to tackle the prejudice..."
"By looking at famous LGBT people in history, we've changed opinions and we have had a number of pupils come out," Barnes said. "We have also changed the language used in the school. I used to hear the word gay used all the time as a derogatory term. Now we hardly hear it."
This all sounds like good news - homophobia in schools is a crisis that desperately needs to be tackled, and classes like these can make pupils challenge and question homophobia.
So Fagburn gives much kudos to Elly Barnes (that's her in the photo).
There is a longer piece in the Education supplement which also contains four - very brief - quotes from pupils.
The Guardian journalists - Jessica Shepherd and Sue Learner - make the classes sound like a bit of a magic wand ("Abuse and harassment 'more or less eliminated'").
Surely a few lessons about "Famous Gays" can't have been that effective?
We're told nothing about the general culture/ethos of the school. What else do they do?
And I'd like to have heard more from more pupils. They say that some have come out since the lessons were introduced - again, great stuff.
Could we hear from them?
And the parents? It sounds like some of them are being educated as well.
But if the Daily Mail was running a story on this, they'd work damned hard to find some parents who are livid - 20something years after Section 28, the very idea of "teaching children about homosexuality" is still a politically explosive issue.
I also imagine - perhaps in other schools with a less liberal culture generally - that a gay kid could find the introduction of "gay history lessons" agonising...