Not a wedding

Last weekend I went to a lovely civil partnership - Crin and Deni whom some readers will know from the York Lesbian Arts Festival. Deni wore a beautiful white wedding dress with a train and there were bridesmaids and pageboys - all the stuff of weddings.

Someone made an announcement about the bride and bride; someone else spoke of the bride and groom which seemed more like it. But however much it looked and felt like a WEDDING, the fact is that we still don't have equal rights.

The case that Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson brought to court recently highlights this. They were married in Canada but it is only recognised as a civil partnership here, not a marriage.

Celia (who teaches at York University) and Sue have just told me that they are able to come to YLAF on Friday 27 October as part of the book festival to give a talk about the situation and the discrimination that is enshrined deliberately in British law.

The next day, Saturday 28th, BurtonWoods Solicitors will run a seminar (for a limited number of women) about the law surrounding civil partnerships.

Sessions like these should help us all to understand our rights and to fight for true equality.

Tickets are selling steadily for the festival but if you're reading this knowing you're going to book soon, please wait no longer. It makes it much easier for us in terms of planning and cashflow if people don't wait till the last minute. It also means you can be sure you'll get a ticket to the most popular events before they sell out.

Follow the link below, check out the fest and book your tickets. And I'll write something funny for you next time.

- Helen

www.ylaf.org.uk

Touring

There used to be a type of holiday or short break called touring. It still exists but only a certain class of person would admit to doing it. The rest of us call it 'cruising around' or 'driving all over the place' or 'getting lost'. But I think that's what me and my girl were doing last weekend.

See, just because I haven't passed my test doesn't mean I can't drive. I drove most of the way to Hastings on Friday with Jane shouting, 'No!' and 'Slow DOWN' and 'Change Gear!' every few minutes. Also flapping her right hand which means extreme danger - in these cases she is too afear'd to speak and I must guess for myself what the extreme danger might be and take appropriate action in the micro-second available before the end of time.

So it went well.

What made it seem like touring was that we were on our way to Brighton Pride which wasn't till Saturday but first we were going to visit the lovely author Miss VG Lee in Hastings - and on the way to her house we happened to pop by Bodiam Castle. I even took the Rough Guide to Britain in case we needed to do more touring but that was enough.

The castle seemed to have a curse upon it. The nice cafe was under attack by killer wasps and when we made it up to the hall itself, it was closed for an emergency. Three police cars, one police van and two ambulances were parked by the moat and someone was being brought down from the tower where they had been taken seriously ill. This didn't stop a party of Amish folk in checked dresses, headscarves and the latest Nike training shoes from picnicking and enjoying the view.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with YLAF so I am now censoring the rest of my ramblings and cutting to the chase: Val, Jane and I went to Pride in Brighton and it was fab. There were so many people that you could barely pick your way across the park. We had 1,000 shiny new flyers with us and the volunteers poured in to help: Jenny & Ann and the wee miniature Schnausers [sp?] that are scared of people; Rosemary, Justine and Cousin; Elspeth The Timekeeper and her team...

We were The Leafleteers. We told all the girls about the York Lesbian Arts Festival and we didn't care if they were drunk or in the middle of an argument or had just lost their mobile phone down the portaloo - we still stayed for a nice chat.

Next day we toured back via Winchelsea Beach. Now I have a very slight suntan and a better grasp of the technique for changing lanes on the dual carriageway.

- Helen

www.ylaf.org.uk

Ten months later

I'm easily distracted. That's the only explanation I can give why I haven't posted to my blog for the last ten months. Anyway, you probably don't care what the festival director does for the 40 weeks of the year when nothing is particularly urgent. What's interesting is how the mind and body of this particular post-holder bend and warp under the increasing pressure of the FINAL TEN WEEKS. The best bits should ideally be like watching Big Brother when there are five of them left, they've just had their food privileges withdrawn and one of them has eaten another one's cigarettes.

More of that later. First, here is a summary of how I have spent the year so far:

840 hours sitting at my computer.
336 hours camping in Sicily.
120 hours of driving lessons (no I haven't passed yet - I keep looking the wrong way at the wrong time because, as I mentioned, I am easily distracted).
50 hours at YLAF committee meetings (concentrating all the time, honest).
47 hours watching Seinfeld, 6 Feet Under, Tales of the City, More Tales of the City and The L Word on DVD (so there are some things that hold my attention).
8 hours of yoga.

Now then, what's next?

- Helen

www.ylaf.org.uk