Some More and More of My Writing

Here are some links to pieces of writing that I’ve had published, some of the recently. Most of them are short stories, my non-fiction writing is usually published in print format and takes longer to get onto the internet, but I have managed to include one of my opinion pieces.

Praying in The Stock Cupboard
http://www.gayflashfiction.com/Story_Archive/Praying.html
This story features one of my favourite themes, the clash between Christianity and homosexuality. This one revolves around Joe, a gay officer worker, who finds one of his colleagues praying in the office’s stock cupboard and the effect it has upon him.

One New Message
http://www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/One-New-Message.446401
Receiving emails can be a joy or a chore, a personal email from someone can be so enjoyable and a pain when it’s scam. This story is about a man who posted a profile on Friends Reunited and then gets a message from the only person he would want to contact him...

Goodbye
http://www.authspot.com/Short-Stories/Goodbye.320077
The ending of relationships is another subject that fascinates me; I’ve been on the receiving end of it enough times in the past. This story features a man who has finally decided that the time has come to end his relationship with his girlfriend, they are so very incompatible, but he also doesn’t want to hurt her. He hasn’t set himself an easy task...

Things You See in the Dark
http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=20525
This story has a special place in my affections. It was published in the Spring 2006 edition of Chroma magazine. Chroma is a lesbian and gay literary publication and it was an amazing honour to get one of my short stories accepted by them. This one traces the growth of one gay man’s self-identify, during the seventies and eighties, through the films he watches and the different images of gay men he’s exposed to.

'The NHS should help obese people change their lifestyles to lose weight – blaming patients is dangerous'
http://www.nursingtimes.net/This_weeks_issue/opinion/Hot_topic/2008/12/the_nhs_should_help_obese_people_change_their_lifestyles_to_lose_weight__blamin.html
This is an opinion piece I wrote for Nursing Times magazine. The subject here is very plain from the title but it was based on something that actually happened to me. I was bluntly told, by a doctor, that I was overweight and had to lose weight but that was all the help I got. He bluntly told me that and then I was expected to leave, no further help or advice offered. So this was one of my responses.

Happy reading.
Drew.

It’s February and it’s LGBT History Month

This year I have again been involved with Nursing Standard to mark LGBT History Month. Unfortunately they didn’t run a special edition to mark it but I was invited to write an editorial for them, and naturally I said yes.

The theme of it was The Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, the legalisation that makes it unlawful to deny anyone goods or services because of their sexuality or even perceived sexuality. This is a revolutionary law for lesbians and gay men, it takes away the shadow that I’ve lived with for most of my life; that shadow of worry that I would be turned away because I’m gay. “We don’t want/allow your sort here.”

One of the first effect we have witnessed has been the Lillian Ladele case. She was a registrar who refused to preside at Civil Partnerships because she said they went against her Christian beliefs. She was eventually dismissed and took her employer to an Employment Tribunal, claiming she was the victim of religious discrimination. She lost on appeal, the judge saying her behavior was discriminatory. We’ve repeatedly seen this, Christians claiming they are the “victims” of discrimination because they can no longer use their traditional homophobia. (Naturally, my editorial wasn’t as blunt as this)

I was so pleased to be asked to write this. Healthcare, in Britain, is still not the friendliest place for lesbians and gay men but Nursing Standard has been very positive in tacking homophobia in it. Their LGBT History Month specials have been wonderful and they have repeatedly promoted lesbian and gay rights. To be part of that is so important to me. Being involved with them has also benefited me, it has pushed my writing career up so many levels; I wouldn’t as well published as I am now with the experience they gave me. But most of all, I feel that their coverage of LGBT History Month is so important for moving nursing forward, and I’m so proud to be involved with it.

More about Nursing Standard can be found at:
http://nursingstandard.rcnpublishing.co.uk/

Drew.