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Look at it. All sad, worn and torn. It’s not like that anymore.

A few years ago, a local friend Clare moved house and in that process donated the above chair to me as she didn’t have room for it anymore and because I might have already started nattering on about wanting to do an upholstery course.

So ripped and forlorn it sat in my living room for a while until I finally signed up to a daytime upholstery course at my local adult learning centre. I went along, chair in tow, to my first class thinking it was a perfectly simple project to begin with. My tutor Jan’s reaction was to look at the chair, hesitate, then tactfully ask “have you not got a padded seat dining chair to do instead…?”. But I didn’t, so on I went with my chair.

I had worried that getting hold of the fabric (in any design) would be an issue with licensing from TfL being a concern (they have their own range of products for sale via the London Transport Museum shop), but in the end I discovered the producers of the fabric and bought enough for the chair as well as some extra for cushion covers and received the moquette without any problem.

On showing Jan the fabric in class, her doubts continued. The fabric is super thick and, on testing, actually proved too much for the standard sewing machine which just wasn’t powerful enough to punch all the way through two layers of it. Good job I wasn’t yet ready for that until the following term so could busy myself on other things and worry about it later.

The first ten sessions were taken up with the following steps: stripping the chair of the nasty and dark varnish and applying teal oil to bring out the colour of the wood veneer; making a calico cover to test out the dimensions (which I think I got right first time); and replacing the insides with new fire-resistant foam.

By the start of the next term – where I took the afternoon class which was an hour longer than the previous term which definitely made things progress faster – the learning centre had invested in an industrial-strength sewing machine so I could go ahead with stitching without many hitches. It also had a helpful diagram showing a tortoise for the slow setting and a hare for quick (I’ve accepted that I’m definitely a tortoise when it comes to sewing machines).

After only a few false starts, I completed the chair with enough time left over to also recover an old piano stool in the contrasting priority seating moquette which I’d also bought.

Annoyingly, I was prevented from continuing with the course as they began to restrict registration to people who hadn’t signed up before (as they only received funding for new, not returning, students). But it was so worth doing. I absolutely love the results of my time at the class; and sometimes just find myself staring at it fondly before snapping back to reality.

Still need to get on with making those cushion covers though. I have so much fabric to use up.

In short, he supports the right for any state-funded school to teach children blatant prejudice, intolerance and discrimination as part of the curriculum. The Equality & Human Rights Commission makes no mention of the exemptions Gove asserts as true.

Having a safe and nurturing place in which to learn is the most important element which a school should provide for its pupils and students. Sadly, however, when it comes to LGBT people, there is research to show that they are experiencing anything but this basic level of care. The Stonewall School Report in 2007 found that 65% of young LGB pupils have experienced homophobic bullying, and that figure rises to 75% for those attending faith schools. The situation for trans people seems to be similarly depressing according to statistics referred to by the Home Office which states that 70% of children who are uncertain of their gender are bullied.

A homophobic environment in schools leads to homophobic bullying. This is an epidemic, and the casualties will keep increasing until it is met with the same zero tolerance strategies as racist bullying is dealt with. I know of schools and individual teachers within them who have implemented such policies and they are to be applauded, and this post is in no way critical of the teaching profession as a whole, but until government policy has a coherent and logical policy on the issue, the mixed messages will continue; leaving children and young people at risk.

The inclusion of homophobic literature such as Pure Manhood – the leaflet mentioned in the above article – can only undermine any progress the school may make in tackling homophobic bullying, as well as exacerbating the feeling of isolation which vulnerable young people may be feeling and giving justification to homophobic behaviour.

I wonder about Gove’s position on whether a school would be able to teach that relationships between people of differing ethnicities should be discouraged. I would hope he would agree that such a curriculum would be incompatible with a government-funded organisation, not only due to the wider issue of encouraging racism within society, but also in respect of the young mixed-race people who would have negative views forced upon them about who they are. I think he should look at the inconsistency of his views, and take time to realise that it’s not protecting schools to teach what they wish, but protecting young people from having negative messages aimed at them, which should be at the forefront of his mind when outlining policy.

David Cameron personally promised to clamp down on homophobic bullying in schools and pledged to review marriage equality for gay couples. Progress on either issue is so far seriously lacking. The debate about marriage equality has been delayed twice; firstly from summer to autumn 2011 and then to March 2012. Even when it happens this debate will, according to Peter Tatchell, “explicitly exclude legalising opposite-sex civil partnerships and same-sex religious marriages by faith organisations that wish to conduct them”. So the end result will almost certainly retain a level of inequality.

Enter Lord Carey, who has recently been working overtime at promoting prejudice in the Daily Mail. His most recent article “Marriage will ONLY remain the bedrock of a society if it is between a man and a woman” comes after a similarly “by-how-much-can-someone-miss-the-point” article in last Saturday’s edition. Why will it only remain the bedrock of society if it excludes members of society? Who knows. I’m certain after reading his confused collection of thoughts that I have no further clue than before. How one couple’s right to marry affects the legitimacy of another’s wedding vows is a mystery to me. Does Lord Carey believe that opening up marriage to gay people will discourage straight people from marrying? Is he concerned that devout religious people will suddenly opt to live in sin as a statement of opposition to marriage equality in a similar way that passionate straight people are boycotting marriage until equality is reached?

To argue against some of his points quickly:

1. If marriage is shown to be beneficial, there’s no reason to think this would change by increasing the number of people eligible to marry.
2. If the purpose of marriage is mainly for procreation then infertile straight couples should not be allowed to marry. And how does adoption fit into that?
3. The religious woman who lost her job as a registrar for Islington Council was sacked for refusing to do her job performing civil partnerships which have nothing to do with religion (just as civil weddings have nothing to do with religion and specifically have no mention of God in them).
4. The B&B owners were running a business and discriminated against people because of their sexuality, which is illegal. The fact the place of business was also their home is irrelevant.
5. Catholic adoption agencies were refusing to offer their service to gay people which is against equality law; they chose to close down rather than treat gay people as equal.
6. I can’t see the harm in schools teaching that marriage is a declaration of love between two people, regardless of their gender. Teaching about consensual love should not be controversial.
7. And finally, saying people were “equal but not the same” was used to justify segregation in America. That speaks for itself.

I almost split this piece into two – one discussing homophobic bullying, and the other on marriage equality – but I believe them to be absolutely part of the same issue. So long as we have a debate where being gay means being second class, with an institution which is designated as a basic human right (which marriage is, for straight couples at least) being denied to people due to their sexuality, then we will continue to see people suffering because of it. To quote Ellen when she spoke about the 15 year-old boy Larry King who was murdered for being gay: “Larry was not a second class citizen. I am not a second class citizen. It is OK if you’re gay”.

The rising body count in America – mainly from teen suicide as a result of bullying – inspired the It Gets Better campaign, and even David Cameron has posted a video in support of the project. His contribution makes frustrating viewing when compared with Michael Gove’s position on what is allowable teaching in schools.

Clamping down on homophobia in the education system and demanding marriage equality is not about restricting religious freedoms. It’s about supporting young people so we can honestly say to them that they are full and equal members of society. In fact, if Lord Carey was truly concerned with religious freedom, he would support marriage equality because then even though religions would still be able to deny ceremonies to those they disagree agree with (just as they are allowed to not marry people who’ve been divorced), the more accepting ones – such as the Quakers, Unitarians and Liberal Judaism – who have expressed their desire to perform same-sex marriages, would have the freedom to do so. That is a religious freedom which at the moment is denied to them.

People are being manipulated by fear tactics, as shown by a growing number of signatories on a petition site against equal marriage, so please sign Equal Love’s petition for marriage equality. And to end on a hopeful note that the tide is turning, I’d recommend watching this almost unbearably cute campaign video from Australia. “It’s time. End marriage discrimination.”

I love living so close to a flea market. Today I found a trunk which must contain over 200 slides. Looking through so far I’ve found pictures of Hallowe’en costumes, kids playing on a trampoline, holiday snaps in Weymouth and Exeter, mostly (I think) from the 1960s and 70s. It makes me quite sad that they’ve been discarded and put up for sale on a market stall.

I need to plan scanning them and turning them into a little art project. Now, first things first; who has a slide scanner, and can I borrow it?

I have been in contact with other trans people and know that while some people have fought cases against these rulings and won, it does seem to be a postcode lottery and that certain PCTs refuse treatments due to lack of funding, and to demand court proceedings is too much for many people to cope with at what can surely be a difficult time.

I am greatly concerned that with increasingly drastic cuts to NHS funding (which I know you are opposed to) the situation for trans operations may be pushed even further to the sidelines as they generally don’t garner the support of the tabloid media, and so will not make headlines in the same way that cuts to cancer treatment (for example) would do.

One of the surgeons in the programme highlights that he couldn’t think of a procedure which gave better quality of life for such an extended period than gender reassignment surgery and this made me realise how vital it is that support is continued and improved.

I also would hope that in future the prescribing of hormone treatments are relaxed so that they may be started earlier by people in their teens, before puberty kicks in fully and “damages” the body which makes transitioning in future more difficult. I know there are concerns about someone of a young age not knowing their own mind, but as a gay man I have experience of people stating the same concerns about my not knowing my own sexuality from a young age when to me it was always clear, and I feel the same response is generally true when thinking of trans issues of young people also.

I hope you will raise my concerns with the health minister, and pass on any reply you receive.

Yours sincerely,

Peter

So I watched the video of Kelly Rowland finding out live on camera during an interview that Frankie Cocozza had left The X Factor and decided I had to make this image as the OMG cat sprung immediately to mind.

Being a guest at The 24 Hour Plays: Celebrity Gala for a seventh year, you’d think that some of the nerves would have subsided. But I still feel the electricity which runs through The Old Vic building as it prepares to host a night deservedly billed as the theatrical event of the year. I’m on board to help provide any last-minute design work which needs doing around the weekend of the event. Press displays, banners and programme inserts need completing quickly as sponsors and prizes are confirmed (and the play titles become known). I think my inbox would strain to cope if I did a search for how many times “ASAP” was included as part of an email.

The work for me at least seemed less stressful. I’d like to say it’s down to my increased experience, but I think having the previous year’s InDesign template to hand helped an enormous amount just due to the time restraint, and even something as simple as speedier broadband also doesn’t hurt when every second counts.

This year’s event was as glamorous as ever. The plays were funny and the cast suitably star-studded. There was also a song preview of the new community play Epidemic by Old Vic New Voices which will be at The Old Vic Tunnels next year. Dealing with issues of mental health, it’s perhaps not an obvious choice of topic for a musical, and one which received quite a harsh introduction from compere Rob Brydon, but the quality of the piece silenced any doubts and he was forced to eat his words. I’m proud to be a small part of the project and really looking forward to seeing the full show next year.

The final highlight (alongside the free-flowing cocktails and champagne) was who I got to meet at the aftershow party. Only Alison Steadman! As any of my friends would tell you, I love Abigail’s Party; indeed I’ve held an Abigail’s Party party, so the opportunity to ask for her photo was just too good to miss. Even though – generally speaking – I’m obviously far too professional to do such a thing, there are always exceptions to any rule.

It was a struggle to not ask her to either call out “Mr Bennett! Are we to be murdered in our beds?!” or “Just because a picture happens to be erotic, doesn’t make it pornographic!” but I think that would’ve over-stepped the mark a bit too much.

Roll on next year!