4 days agoHow Scotland can beat stigma and end HIV transmission by 2030 — and why we must‘What one can see is the present, the dimension of landscape which is in front of us now. But now is shaped by the past, backed by it, as it were, the way the glass of a mirror is backed by silver; it’s what lies behind the present that gives…AIDS7 min readAIDS7 min read
Aug 1My mother and me: on making sense of lifetimes lived and the one I never had‘I think, like me, you have had quite a few lifetimes,’ remarked an old friend after we met up recently for the first time in more than 20 years. I have reflected on that message in the run up to today, the first anniversary of the day I learned my…Mothers6 min readMothers6 min read
Jul 28, 2022A tale of two countries: equality and homophobia in the new ScotlandIn 2011 David Cairns, the MP for Inverclyde, died of acute pancreatitis. He was 44. He didn’t die because he was gay. He died because he had the terrible misfortune to develop a fatal illness. In 1995 my first partner died of AIDS. He was 37. He didn’t die because…Gay2 min readGay2 min read
Jul 24, 2022Jake Wightman’s victory in Eugene speaks to the best our sport can beAsked on the BBC by Jeanette Kwakye how many times he had watched back his gold medal-winning 1500m race at the World Championships, Jake Wightman’s answer, for all its modesty, was a reminder of the gulf between his participation in athletics and mine. He had seen it first while in…Athletics5 min readAthletics5 min read
Jul 1, 2022The day Pride came homePride is 50 today. It was a long way to here. And what a journey it’s been. Now, in late middle age, I can say without hesitation I’m proud to have been on it most of the way. But to begin with, I wasn’t really sure. Pride for me —…Pride5 min readPride5 min read
May 16, 2022All we have ever wanted is to live our best lives — Jake Daniels’ courage means many more might do just thatThe term ‘breaking news’ has become a byline for shocking news of late. So, when Evan Davies uttered those words towards the end of this afternoon’s PM, I braced myself. Was this to be news of yet further atrocities in Ukraine? I was, as it happens, driving home from a…Gay Rights5 min readGay Rights5 min read
Feb 27, 2022How I caught up with running — and why I won’t stop yetIt was a slightly indifferent way to end the season. My legs felt heavy after nine races in five months. And after a cautious start — at north of 10k, the course demanded it — I didn’t quite work my way through the field the way I’d hoped. …Running6 min readRunning6 min read
Jan 21, 2022‘It’s A Sin’ was so much more than a TV show — a year on, I carry it in my heartIn the dead of night over Christmas 1988, I became aware that hardly any of my fingernails had a lunula. I was 27. Until that very moment, their absence had completely passed me by. A lunula is the half-moon shape at the base of your nail, just above the cuticle…HIV5 min readHIV5 min read
Jan 4, 2022Historic sexual offences: A long night’s journey into dayYesterday was a good day in Scotland. It was the kind of day that reminds us why politics matters. And we seem to have had precious few of those lately. Nicola Sturgeon’s statement on the Historical Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards) (Scotland) Bill was pitch perfect. Here was the First…Gay5 min readGay5 min read
Nov 30, 2021It’s World AIDS Day again and the fight goes on — ‘We must love one another or die.’“At the moment I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later and thus we don’t have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.” The Diary of Virginia Woolf, Volume Three, 1925–1930 It’s World AIDS Day…AIDS6 min readAIDS6 min read
