Jensen

Firstly, a big “Thank you” for all your good wishes for M. We’re both really touched by all the love and support!

M’s currently away for a few days of rest and recuperation and I’m back in Liverpool where I’ve had a happy couple of days catching up with friends, going to my book club meeting, popping into the office for approximately the 5th time in 3 years (!) and taking the opportunity to go out for lunch with my colleagues.

My return to Liverpool coincides with the International Transgender Day of Visibility which is being marked here by events over several days. The launch party was held in Lovelocks tonight and I was happy to be able to attend and meet up with friends old and new.

The event included live music, poetry, and readings from the winners and runners-up of the Prose Purple writing competition.

One of the musical performers tonight was Jensen who is a drama student at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and has great stage presence and patter. He gave us a few songs accompanying himself on ukulele, and I was very touched when he announced that he’d just received his certificate of gender recognition today. Congratulations to him!

As someone who’s worked hard throughout my life to feel comfortable being the person I am - both privately and publicly - I feel passionately that those of us who identify as L(esbian), G(ay) or B(isexual) should stand shoulder to shoulder with our T(rans) and non-binary sisters/brothers/siblings and not be divided by any Culture War nonsense. And, as a middle-aged veteran of decades of fighting for incremental (and still all too fragile) advances for LGBT+ people (in this country, at least…) I’m keen to stay connected with younger people in my community and to lend my support to them. So I want to celebrate Jensen today and wish him well for the future!

Today’s tune is one of the songs that Jensen played in his set tonight, ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy https://youtu.be/OeTVyL8swZg

Thanks to all at Spirit Level https://spiritlevel.org.uk/trans-day-of-visibilty/ for coordinating this year’s events in Liverpool.