You know it’s the annual ‘hangover’ issue when I’m sticking my two cents in and getting on my soapbox.
It’s that time of year when QX Towers shuts up shop between Christmas and New Year, the staff find a seat in their respective locals, and we prop the bar up for a little over a week as we allow the festive season to roll on.
We work like the proverbial bunch o’ monkeys in a locked room for a solid month churning out mega-sized festive issues, tap-tap-tapping away on our keyboards until some coherent words eventually coalesce and we are left with the Christmas and New Year magazines that you would have hopefully enjoyed over the last few weeks. If you missed them, they’re all still available online on this website, via the search facility and also here, qxmagazine.kinsta.cloud/issues. Do check them out. I broke at least three false nails putting them together.
In any case, the immense strain and stress that I put all the staff under over that period is released in this week’s issue when we give them a little break from the regular features that proliferate QX every week, and instead showcase some of our favourite highlights of the past year (available at: http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?EID=fd9ee771-8dfd-40c1-bfec-b21db3ab4fb0). Thinking back over 2013, it has been one of the scene’s best yet, for many reasons. From the many outdoor festivals we got to experience (As One in the Park, the new Pride in London, Summer Rites and Lovebox) to the endless night clubs we were carried out of, via some damn fine cabaret and bar celebrations, such as the annual Drag Idol showstoppers.
Oh yes, if it’s one thing QX cannot be accused of is not knowing how to have a f*cking good time.
But we also know where our priorities lie. We know that without the (ongoing) struggle of gay/human rights activists like Peter Tatchell, groups like Stonewall and the numerous other organisations that campaign for our equality, we would not be able to be here to enjoy the freedoms that we in this country often take for granted.
In the UK, we celebrated gay marriage, and one of our foremost Olympians came out as gay. But it was also a year that saw Russia take two steps back in LGBT rights, in which Uganda legislated an anti-gay bill, India’s courts refused to repeal an old colonial anti-gay law, and endless other stories came into QX Towers from across the globe of mindless, horrible homophobic atrocities and injustices. For every step forward, it seemed somewhere a step back was taken.
We are not without our problems here, with rising HIV rates and ongoing issues related to drug dependency.
Why am I bringing this all up here and now? Simply because, yes, QX adorns on its cover the body beautiful, and, yes, we feature pages upon pages of topless torsos shaking it out on dancefloors across the city. But as I said, we also know where our priorities lie, and it’s in fighting the good fight that I take my biggest pride in. The snapshots featured here are just a selection of the features that have lifted us beyond being merely a club and bar scene magazine, but a gay lifestyle voice. This year we have dedicated our front covers to highlight the issues related to the Russian winter Olympics, drugs issues and the importance of HIV testing. Our Facebook and Twitter profiles allow QX to extend its fighting talk beyond the pages of the printed magazine. Do check them out, dears.
One of my own proudest moments came this year when I approached Peter Tatchell with an idea of speaking to key gay rights organisations around the world and rallying them into unified action ahead of the G20 summit to get them to speak out against Russia’s retrospective anti-gay laws. It was inspired by the terrific Downing Street protest on 10th August that saw the gay community rally together, which was attended by Stephen Fry and made national news.
Peter Tatchell invited All Out (allout.org) to join us in our protest and the end result was dozens of demonstrations staged in cities across the globe. Our ‘Love Russia, Hate Homophobia – Day of Action’ protest took Downing Street by storm, and was supported by the likes of Paul O’Grady and Dan Gillespie Sells. We were even invited by the Home Office to outline our points to them, which the Prime Minister then addressed directly with President Putin.
This daytime event was attended by gay scene faces that you’d normally only ever see by night. From DJs to drag queens, via club promoters and other party boys, it showed that a concerned gay community is very much still at the heart of the partying gay scene. And, yes, in 2014 and beyond, QX will be right there to fight for our rights – and those of our brothers and sistas around the world – at every opportunity… because that’s how we like to dance at QX.
Right, enough of that schmaltz. Where’s my tequila?
Cliff Joannou
Editor
P.S. Normal QX service resumes next week…
