EDITOR- IN- CHIEF’S LETTER
As the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots approaches, we at Attitude Towers wanted to celebrate what Pride has always been about: love, and the right to love another free of punishment by the law, at an event powered by the strength that comes when queer people gather and share a unified voice.
While the signifi cance of the Stonewall riots did not become apparent for many years after they happened on 28 June 1969, what they did do in the short term was act as a spark to inspire the fi rst Pride rally that took place a year later in New York. It was a fi ghting spirit that would eventually span the world.
Without the Pride movement, there certainly would have been no equal age of consent, laws to protect LGBTQ people in work, or marriage and civil partnership. And no Attitude magazine.
Inspired by our 25th anniversary year of celebrations and 50 years since Stonewall, we embarked on our biggest undertaking yet: to shoot 25 covers featuring more than 50 people from across the scene and community — activists, writers, performers, and more — to use their platform to share a message of love by sharing a kiss. The message is simple, to celebrate love in all its forms: between partners, parents and children, friends, colleagues, and especially of love in solidarity with others in our broad community.
It was a crazy ride of wigs, sequins, pink wrestling suits and jockstraps as photographer Francisco Gomez de Villaboa unleashed his wild imagination to create something extraordinarily beautiful.
We’re proud to present these covers alongside our friends at the GREAT Britain Campaign, promoting British excellence around the world. All the cover shots are featured on pages 8 and 9, and are available to order by emailing attitude@ attitude. co. uk
It was during the shoot that we were reminded why we must stay vigilant about defending our identity. While photographing writer Dean Atta and his boyfriend Tom, a cyclist sped past and jeered at us. We brushed it off, sadly not surprised that two men kissing on the street would generate this kind of reaction. Shortly after this, a car drove past and the two men inside started banging the windows. Minutes later, the same car came by again, this time the men inside banged on the windows harder and shouted at us louder. Concerned for our safety we fi nished our shots and moved on.
Then, the very day we fi nished our last cover photo, we read the awful news about how Melania Geymonat and her partner Chris had been attacked by a group of teenagers on a London bus after they refused to kiss. The incident made our cover series all the more powerful.
As Chris said following the attack, in the face of oppression it is all the more important to be unashamedly visible in our queerness.
Fifty years after Stonewall, laws may have evolved but society has been slow to follow. The idea of love between two people of the same gender is fetishised if it’s two women, and reviled when it involves two men. We continue to fight against a culture that considers sexual expression between non- heterosexual people as “less than”, or even dehumanising.
All of the above reasons are why poet Max Wallis and the former porn star Jake Bass lead the Pride issue — two millennials in conversation, sharing their thoughts on love, sex and what it means to be gay fi ve decades on from that fateful night at the Stonewall Inn when love was something we had to fi ght for.
“Laws may have evolved 50 years after Stonewall, but society has been slow to follow”