PRIDE: Are gay rights still relevant?

It's Pride season again and we are prepped and ready!

We are lucky that Birmingham hosts one of the first UK Prides so we don't have to travel far to celebrate. With outfits ready and the sun shining we headed into town and took our place along the parade route.

We were photographed by quite a few people - Bisbee is quite the star- and one of the photos even appeared in a national paper here!

In preparation for Pride we watched MILK - have you seen it?

We had been meaning to watch it since we visited the Castro while in San Francisco and while the rainbow covered area was a great place to visit I had very little idea about it's significance. I had no idea that the streets we were walking on were the scenes of such momentous and historical relevance. In all honesty I had very little of who Harvey Milk was or why he is such a worshiped figure in the LBGT community.

The film was a documentary, educational and informative while bringing Harvey Milk to life. On finishing the film we both sat in silence, it resonated. The fact that we had been to the locations resonated. The fact that the issues highlighted in the film seemed so out of date yet still occur in parts of the world today, resonated.

The fact that Milk made political history in 1977 by becoming the first openly gay man in politics and was supported by Mayor George Moscone has had more of a baring on my life and other LGBT lives than I ever knew.

We are lucky enough to live in a part of the world where the response to 'i'm gay' is usually 'so what?' and having seen the film I will never EVER take that for granted.

While LGBT in the UK and USA are no longer persecuted or deemed 'sick' it is amazing that there are still headlines like this in today's paper:

From Daily Mail 11/11/2015

Or that in countries like Australia marriage equality is STILL to happen and there are still headlines like this:

From Daily Mail 11/11/2015

It is evidence that while we are a world away from what Harvey Milk fought for - stopping a law being implemented that would lead to the firing of gay teachers and anyone who supported them (he won by 75%) we are not far away enough. How was it only 2 years ago that gay marriage was made legal?

The other point that really stuck with me was the line that Milk kept saying 'show them that they know one of us' - what he was referring to was LGBT individuals coming out and showing family and friends that we are one of you, we are the same. We are no different. Being gay shouldn't define you, it is part of you but it is not all of you. It is something that I completely agree with. I am gay but so what?

'Burst down those closet doors once and for all and stand up and start to fight' - Harvey Milk

Some of Briggs arguments - shown in the film - were that having gay teachers in schools would allows them to recruit children to be gay! However it was the Anita Bryant part of the film that I found shocking - her arguments were based in religion. I found it shocking because the it wasn't that long ago in the news that 'The Mormon church ban children of gay parents'. The main line being ' In their new policy manual, the church also said that Mormon same-sex couples will be considered apostates (The term apostasy is used by sociologists to mean renunciation and criticism of, or opposition to, a person's former religion) under new church guidelines. '

It proves that while the social battle is being won and the LGBT community is more accepted than ever before there is still a way to go especially when it comes to religion and in parts of the world where Harvey Milk's points still resonate.

Are you hiding behind the internet?

There are endless benefits to being online, in our world top of that list is it makes the world a smaller place. Having the ability to Skype family and have them in the room with you is a million times better than seeing them once a year! Then there is the bringing together and keeping in touch with friends that just wouldn't happen based on today hectic schedules for all its faults Facebook has revolutionised our world.

Then there is work, can you imagine a day at work without the internet? I struggle to imagine a day without email – in fact my current job would not exist without the internet – imagine eLearning without the ‘e’. I’d be back in front of a classroom – how old school :)

There are of course the downsides. The fact that you actually have to physically take yourself away from technology to be away from the internet and it’s constant incessant chatter. It’s almost strange how it is now so ingrained in us that we can happily lay in bed checking updates without it ‘over exciting our brains’. Remember when there was all the publicity about how you should turn your TV and computer off at least half an hour before bed to let your brain calm down?!  How are our brains no longer overloaded by this anymore?

The other downside is the hatred and anger that is so often easily put into the world via email, tweets, posts, texts etc! Can you imagine a day when you felt angry or annoyed and had to confront someone face to face to sort it out? It wasn't all that long ago - right?!

It was this example that actually reminded me to write this post. I weirdly started it a month ago after a discussion L&I had on car journey but then promptly forgot to finish it. It was round the time of this: Is it ever appropriate to hate love? We were surprised at the level of hatred and abuse. It’s the same when I get a work email (maybe not on the same level) but the rudeness of some people really surprises me. What surprises me more though is the fact that these are perfectly nice people in real life. We’ll never know with half the commentators on FB posts but my money is on the fact that they would never say half the stuff they write.

Maybe some of them should follow these simple rules:

I guess the ability to be ‘Anon’ is also a benefit in these cases. Often we’ll have an Anon question and they aren't complimentary, in our world though Anons are easy to ignore and delete, move on we don’t know them but imagine if we were young(er) and impressionable – it’s horrible to think about.

Recently there was an article about ‘Online bullying has more than doubled within the last year, with 35 per cent of 11 to 17-year-olds becoming victims of such abuse, a new study finds.’ Source: http://www.channel4.com/news/cyber-bullying-teens-online-snapchat-tinder-ranti-bullying

The problem is when individuals aren’t caught then there is nothing to stop them from continuing. It’s why I always like to see people standing up for each other on feeds when something mean or down right idiotic is said. I am still reeling from ‘Stone the gays’ put on a WEDDING website – who goes round thinking that stuff?!

In my Mum’s world her ability on a phone when making a complaint has seen her rewarded with things that we would have never been achieved going through an ‘email complaints form’. It turns out companies (in the main) appreciate being told about their mistakes and having the chance to apologise if you speak to them rather than sending angry TYPED comments. It's obvious when you think about it but how quick are you to jump online? I know for sure that Twitter is definitely a place for us to vent and sometimes I feel bad about it. Although it has helped us get results in many situations by getting companies to CALL us to discuss the issue!

This advert I see on the tube every day also got me thinking and I now try to force (as nicely as possible) my customers to meet me face to face if they have any issues. It’s amazing the difference it can make.

Source: POWOWNOW

It has also helped in a relationship sense. In our world we Skype, WhatsApp and text, we rarely pick up the phone and talk and it is amazing how a lack of tone in text can take an innocent comment and turn it into something else – mainly sarcasm in my case – and how quickly that can turn into an entire misunderstanding. So now we are trying to avoid silly conflicts by talking more, it’s strange how such a simple thing can make such a difference.

And there I shall leave this slightly strange rant. I will get off this laptop and make a call to my wonderful wife, I’m going to be less afraid of the phone and try to start talking more rather than typing more and see if it really can make a difference.

Our First Year Wedding Anniversary Part 3 (The Final Part!) - Bob Bob Ricard

I'd seen photos from the glamorous Russian restaurant Bob Bob Ricard in London on Instagram over the last few years, and always had it on my list of 'one day, if we have the money/an occasion' items.

So when I suggested it to my 'realist' wife for our anniversary and showed her the photos, I definitely expected her to say no. It is the most expensive place we would have ever eaten! So I was shocked when she said she thought it was a great idea, and I booked it before she could change her mind.

My parents very generously offered to pay for most of the meal as our anniversary present, so Saturday we set off all dolled up to have our first anniversary dinner!

And let me tell you, it was incredible. I think I thought the experience would be amazing, but didn't expect the food to be stellar, because it would be more about the experience. Does that make sense? But I was wrong!

The dining room was beautiful, very ornate, with the wait staff in suits with tails, and we ordered a cocktail each to get things started. Sarah ordered a chicken, mushroom and champagne pie, and I ordered the filet mignon, with a few sides each.

It was just divine. The filet mignon cut like butter, was medium rare and to die for - the pie was flavourful and warm, and the top of it was beautiful! Weirdly, one of our favourite bits of the meal was seemingly simple - the honey glazed parsnips and carrots almost brought tears to our eyes. We have tried to recreate it since to no avail.

The sides are quite small, but I'd say the flavour of everything more than made up for it.

And then, we noticed the 'Push for champagne' button at each table - and thought, should we?

How could we not take advantage!

We were delivered two glasses of rose champagne, and after a cheers to this wonderful last year of our lives, we got onto ordering dessert.

We ordered the eton mess ball and strawberry and cream soufflé - which paired very well with our lovely drinks, if I say so myself!

Then, the icing on the cake (quite literally) of this amazing night, they had overheard us talking about our wedding anniversary and surprised us with this pretty little celebration ice cream cake, which had sparklers on it and made us feel very special.

In short, we cannot recommend Bob Bob Ricard enough for a special celebration meal out. Delicious food, fantastic service, one of a kind experience. We will be back, whenever we can find a wonderful occasion to celebrate! Surely getting through this week counts - celebration that it's Friday!

Part 1 of our Year 1 Wedding Anniversary celebrations can be found here! We checked out Book of Mormon.

Part 2 can be found here! We were at Pride!

Making Pizzas and Sipping Cider at The Stable Birmingham!

About a week ago, we were lucky enough to be invited for a cider talk and tasting, as well as making pizzas (!!!) with some fellow Brum bloggers, at The Stable in Birmingham. We were really excited as we've visited The Stable before, for their pre-opening celebration as well as a few more recent delicious dinners out, and also because making our own pizzas sounded so much fun!

The Stable started in Cornwall, using fresh and locally sourced ingredients and forming relationships with lots of cider makers. This combination was such a success that they are now opening up plenty more in locations across the country!

We headed to the restaurant's Birmingham location, which is very well located between New Street station and the Mailbox, and found it immediately.

We were greeted with a glass of Hogan's cider, and took a seat at one of the bench tables to take in the atmosphere. It seems trendy but relaxed, with nice local touches like a mural of a bull to signify their near-the-Bullring location, candles and live music; we felt comfortable and at home there instantly.

We were treated to a cider talk by Alan from Hogan's Cider - he got us to taste five of the different ciders his company makes, and we had a new appreciation for the process the cider goes through from apple to glass. I also got to speak to him about the more recent revival of cider in the USA - when I was growing up, there was no alcoholic cider to be found - you could only find non-alcoholic hot apple cider. I've been a huge apple and fruit cider fan since I moved here, so the talk was very interesting!

A bit merry, we were shown back to the kitchen, where we met the head chef, who showed us how to make pizza. I think they were a bit shocked, as bloggers we had to take photos of every step before completing it, I imagine we took longer than they had hoped! But hey, perfection takes time :)

I made my favourite of their pizzas, the Perry Barr-Baa, with lamb, sweet potato, goats cheese, onions, mozzarella and... in my case lots and lots of mint! Sarah created the new May special pizza, called The Big Jerk. It features jerk chicken, smoked bacon, roasted yellow peppers, red onion, mozzarella and spring onion.

The hardest bit of making our pizzas was getting them from the work surface to the oven in one piece. We needed to get them onto a wooden paddle, which was much harder than we thought it'd be! Sarah took three attempts, and I ended up asking the chef to do it for me before I ended up with pizza on the floor.

I've got to say, I was pretty impressed with our pizza-making abilities (okay, it was mostly because we followed The Stable's recipes. Humour us!) - they tasted divine!

We devoured our creations alongside a cider-tasting board, it was so much fun to get to try so many delicious drinks. The Stable has over 80 ciders in-house at every location. Incredible!

I believe we've tried over half of the pizzas and pies on their menu over the many times we've visited, and we've yet to come across one we didn't love. We are making plans to visit their original Cornwall location later this year/early next when we take a road trip down that way!

We definitely recommend heading to the Stable in Birmingham - or, in fact, whichever location is nearest to you, and trying their delicious pizzas, pies and one of their many varieties of cider!!