Men I've Known

For those dilligent followers of this blog, you'll know that I was writing a series called Men I've Known which I was publishing sporadically on GCN and later reprinting on here.

Well, I decided that it needs its own blog, so I set up Men I've Known at wordpress.

I'm currently reprinting the old articles one a day until we're upto date, and will then be putting up a new post every monday.

Please subscribe to the new blog which is here

Privacy was released on Monday

... and copies are still available. Go here for details. But first, a music vidjo:

Because the issue doesn't go away.

The Greens are renegotiating with Fianna Fail about what they want in their goverment. LGBT Noise suggest that gays email them and remind them about civil marriage, so that's exactly what I did.

An Open Letter to the Green Party

My name is Mark Ward and I am 26 year old gay man living in South Dublin. I'll try to keep this email short and succinct.

Previously, your party committed itself to full civil marriage for all Irish citizens. Since then, you have thrown your support behind the civil partnership bill, which the Minister for Equality has said will NOT lead to full civil marriage. This affects not only my (desired or otherwise) right as a citizen of Ireland to marry, and the rights of friends of mine, but I feel as a taxpaying citizen that this needs to be addressed.

Apart from ignoring various issues too numerous to mention (eg. children, immigration/citizenship), the civil partnership creates a two-tiered system that is tantamount (in my eyes) to state-sanctioned discrimination. I know that one issue your party stands for is equality and I feel that since you are re-negotiating with Fianna Fail, now would be a perfect time to bring it up, and push the notion on home. You, and we, cannot afford to wait any longer. Any longer and the state-sanctioned discrimination will be law. You now have the chance to do this wonderful thing for the citizens of Ireland.

I would love to hear back from you, each of you, with your thoughts on the matter, how you plan to address it, and whether or not you will be including this in your negotiations with Fianna Fail, and if not, why not.

I would like to thank you very much for the time you took to read this email, and I hope to hear back from you soon.

Yours,

Mark


Responses (I shall update this if I receive any more)

Mary White (Green Party Deputy Leader)

“Dear Mark

Thanks for your email. Unfortunately I'm unable to comment on the current negotiations. I do note your comments and I appreciate you taking the time to email the party and I about this.”

John Gormley

“Dear Mark,

Thank you for your email.

The Green Party remains committed to full marriage rights for all, however as the minor partner in government we were unable to obtain this in the negotiations two years ago. I am not in a position to discuss the ongoing negotiations as they a work in progress.

However, I truly believe that full marriage rights will come about as a result of this forthcoming bill. The Civil Partnership Bill will bring many benefits to same sex couple, benefits that will be of great practical use to thousands of couples across the country. In doing so, I firmly believe that it will usher in a situation where either legislation or a referendum (whichever is necessary) will come about to grant full marriage rights to all.”

…to which I responded…

“Dear Mr Gormley,

Thank you for your mail.

The CP Bill is a huge step which will provide a lot of rights to people who need them now, however, Dermot Ahern quite explictly said that the bill would not lead to full civil marriage in this country, so I'm not sure how it will come about. Also, to look further afield, we could take the case of England, who brought in Civil Partnership and they never progressed to full Civil Marriage. Also, for example, say that CP goes through and people start to get hitched, and later civil marriage comes through, what status will the couples who got married under the CP bill have? Will it be this odd double standard similar to some states in America where people who got married before a certain date are legally married but, now that it was defeated, people cannot get married now. (I am aware that the term 'married' may be wrong, but personally speaking when I get hitched in this country - which hopefully will happen some day - regardless of what it says on the piece of paper, I will be married to my husband).

I can see the issue going to a referendum in the future, a decision which I would welcome, as I think that the Irish public wants this, and current polls support this view. Personally speaking, I would much prefer to have a referendum on Civil Marriage, than Lisbon 2!”

Ciaran Cuffe
Green Party Spokesperson for Justice, Equality & Law Reform

Thanks for your email regarding same sex marriage Mark,

As the party's justice spokesperson, I am replying on behalf of my colleagues. Both my party and I support full civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples and will continue to work to make this a reality.

The two largest parties in the Dáil – Fianna Fail and Fine Gael - don't support civil marriage for same sex couples however and this is the reality of trying to advance a policy where sometimes entrenched opposing views are held, particularly on such an emotive issue as marriage.

As a TD, I have met personally with gay and lesbian couples who have come to my office to tell me their story. I think this face to face interaction – as recommended by groups like MarriagEquality – is a very effective lobbying tool and an excellent way of breaking down any barriers that may exist amongst those who are not in favour of same sex marriage.

I do believe Civil Partnerships will be of huge practical benefit to gay and lesbian couples, enabling them to register their relationships with the State and giving legal effect to a range of rights and benefits across a spectrum of partnership issues including maintenance, succession, taxation, social welfare and pensions.

While the Green Party remains committed to marriage equality for all we believe that legislating now for civil partnerships provides the best means of recognising and protecting same-sex relationships. My view is that it is significant progress on the path towards full marriage equality and it is something that the Green Party has worked hard to see implemented.

WITHAPPY

So. There's an American noise label who's going to put out a cd of mine. More details closer to the time. How fucking awesome is that?

^_^

Kissing the Frog?

I wrote a scene set in a 1940's brothel in America for a thing. It probably won't be used, and is very open-ended, and sorta clichéd (on purpose) to fit in with stereotypes and stuff, but if it's not used, I'll post it up here

Mini-Review: The Crumb Trail (Pan Pan) - Dublin Theatre Festival

I knew very little about this before going, which is the best way, I feel, to approach so many things now, and it completly blew me away. Pan Pan's reputation preceeded them and I now retroactively wish that I had found out about them years ago.

So, in the spirit of not ruining the magic, especially considering that this play is all about magic and myth (by magic, I don't mean tricks, or witchcraft, but the magic that a child feels when told a fairytale), I'm not going to run down a list of what happened in the play, as it would be completly reductive.

I shall however lead you in somewhat by telling you how Pan Pan describes it:

"A stark illumination of the cherished fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, Gina Moxley’s The Crumb Trail explores the isolation that comes from groping for survival in a dark world of technology and greed. Featuring a full suite of the media intrusions that now saturate our daily lives – including live video feed, You Tube clips and internet sex rooms – Pan Pan’s savvy but scared kids are getting lost in a very contemporary forest from which it might not be so easy to return."

And it really does have all of the above. YouTube videos, layers upon layers of movement crystallized by an obvious attention to detail exemplified by the flawless acting of all four players and what must've been an exhaustive amount of rehersals. You know, proper theatre. Unfortuneatly, the run is finished but if this show comes back, or if you get a chance to see any Pan-Pan production, run to the box office. Before the witch burns you in her oven and films it for YouTube.

Update from the Ether

So, the show that may have been on in October, turned into a short, which now isn't going to happen, unfortuneatly. Which sucks.

I sent out Perfect Paragraphs to a London theatre a few weeks ago and I'm hoping to hear back from them soon. I think they'd be the perfect theatre to put it on. If they come back with a no, I'm going to blitz a bunch of theatres with submissions.

Stopped making music for a while, and as a result, ended up not writing too. It appears I need to do both, so I've started up again. I may have a gig next month, in which case I'll let you in on that as and when I find out.

I updated the WiT Virb with about 13 new songs, including 3 tracks from the newly finished masters of my first record In the Privacy of Your Own Home which I'm hoping to release very soon. A lovely graphic designed friend is doing the inlays for me which so far are looking wonderful. Please go check out the Virb now

Also, have a new noise ep collated called Size Queen and I'm working on a second (non-noise) one.

Emmm... I think that's about it.

Oh, I'm also planning a christmas surprise for a few select people, but that's a surprise.