>> Back in the late sixties and the seventies when I worked in east end factories
>> anyone either coming out or being outed as gay would have had a life of
>> misery to the point of being in physical danger.
>>
I was at a comprehensive school in a small market town in East Yorkshire for much of the ‘80s... I got more grief for having a southern accent than being gay ;)
And I say that not to make light of the struggles many people had, and continue to have. But what has always worked for me is to be straightforward and open about who I am. Despite growing up at a time when section 28 and HiV coloured things. That takes a certain amount of either confidence, front or recklessness though... And while I don’t claim to be particularly confident, I’m very good at pretending to be confident...and am not bad at recklessness either!! But, I’ve been lucky, I know I have...I know many who’ve had far tougher times at home, at school, and, albeit less, at work. Schofields career would almost certainly not have taken off if he’d been openly gay, though maybe back then he hadn’t accepted it himself? Doesn’t seem to have held back Andi Peters from being a children’s TV presenter, those his subsequent career hasn’t matched Schofields. But then, it probably wouldn’t have...his has been remarkable.
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