many other quiet revolutionaries live among us

[cosmolinguist]

According to this, and a new book I maybe have to read now, a gay pioneer in the UK was blind.

In 1960, seven years before the law in the UK changed to permit sex between men, he had written to the national press declaring himself to be gay. Roger believed that the only way to change public opinion about homosexuals was for them to take control of the gay rights movement – and this required them to unashamedly identify themselves on the national stage. But nobody else had been willing to do it.

It's because of his blindness that this person had to come in to his life: an Oxford student, also gay, who could be trusted to read his papers and write and generally be a kind of personal assistant.

To gay when it was illegal, and then to be blind, required a lot of access intimacy when everything was still on paper.

The article ends:

In the years since, it has often led me to wonder how many other quiet revolutionaries live among us, ready to share their stories, if only we knock on their doors.

So many. I'm sure of it.

Comments

[otter]

I'm sure there are so many, too. It's lovely to read about them in stories like this.

[barakta]

Fascinating these little snippets of history of everyday people who did such courageous things.

Also, intersectionality as a thing in various directions, the privilege to access assistance, but also existing as a blind gay person in a 'scene' which has always seemed to be quite ableist but may not have everyone in the communities being as ableist as others.

None of us live single issue lives.

[barakta]

I didn't notice the link (not paying attention to what I can see just fine...)...

What an interesting story. I look forward to reading that book.