FAO please_sir
I upset you at the weekend.
I did not mean to, but still ... I am sorry.
I don’t know where you live, but must be difficult to live in a place where people are picked on for any reason at all.
I am lucky to live in a town where gay people are never harassed or victimised. None of my gay pals has ever been abused. I can’t imagine what it must be like to live in a place where gay people are targets but, from what you say of your experience, it sounds horrid.
My town is known as the “gay capital of the UK”. We have gay bars, gay clubs, gay pride days, gay theatre productions, gay festivals, gay shops and gay areas.
Everyone mixes together without a worry, and without a thought. We go in the gay bars because, frankly, they are some of the best in the town, although I haven’t been in a gay bar myself since ... well, last Friday, actually.
All our attitudes to social culture are shaped by our respective environments. Mine is easy, relaxed, fun. My social group laugh unself-consciously at each other’s quirks ... our religion, our accents, our height, our hair colour, our bums, our place of birth, our dress sense, our education ... and our sexual preferences. Laughter perhaps comes less easily if you live in a place where people are sometimes hostile to each other’s characteristics.
For that reason, and for having inadvertently offended you, I apologize.
My apology is unreserved, and unqualified.
That’s my olive branch. I hope you’ll grasp it.
JJ x