IN THE LATEST episode of ITV chat-show This Morning, singer and presenter Rylan Clark appeared alongside fashion consultant Gok Wan to talk about LGBTQ Pride and the homophobia that is still very much a part of society today.
Gok Wan spoke about London’s Pride march, which will take place tomorrow afternoon.
This weekend we’re all getting excited… What are we gonna wear? How are we gonna do our makeup? All the stuff we have to sort out before we march at Pride. It gets me so ramped up, but just a week ago in Istanbul, people had plastic bullets fired at them because they were marching at Pride.
43-year-old Gok continued, “While we are celebrating, we also need to think about what is happening globally to our community.” Gok then referenced the fact that even in the UK, 2 out of 3 LGBTQ people are afraid to hold hands with their partner in public.
Rylan decided to chime in.
Look, I’m on the telly. A lot of people know who I am. I’m married to a man, and I’d feel uncomfortable holding Dan’s hand in public, even now.
Gok spoke about how homophobia is an everyday part of his life, and how he has learned to turn a blind eye to it.
I can deal with this, because I am strong and I’m almost 44 years old but it does hurt.
We need to take a moment to remember that for us, it’s a lot easier than it is for people in places like Istanbul, Indonesia and out in Uganda.
Rylan then shared a story about something that happened to him at Eurovision, of all places, a few weeks back.
You cannot get a gayer show than Eurovision, let’s be fair.
However, after interviewing one country that was participating in Eurovision, Rylan was told by the BBC that the interview would not be airing.
I won’t say what country it was, but the BBC had a phone-call from a channel in the country that the interview was for, saying, “Oh, we’re not gonna use the interview, because we thought it was too provocative.”
BBC had a look over the footage with a representative from the unnamed country, and Rylan said “There was an issue with that country, and it made very much sense why the interview didn’t go out.”
We all believe – I believe, I have to say it’s me with my words only – that it was because of my sexuality. Because they knew I was gay.
Gok said that while there’s no doubt that LGBTQ rights have come a long way, “we are nowhere near a sense of equality.” They then spoke about the fact that gay and bisexual men are still unable to donate blood across the UK and Ireland.
