Interview with Andy (part 1)
- Reference Number: DW-94/1/5/1
- Date: 2013
- Level: Piece
- Extent: 1 item
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Description: 0.20- came out at 19/20, was involved with the LGBT network at uni
1.00- knew from an early age, wanted to join the RAF, remembers liking Tom Cruise in Top Gun, went to join the RAF, got told to come back in a year, at the interview they asked a lot about sexuality because you couldn?t be gay and join then, and that?s what made him figure It out
4.10- came out first within the LGBT network, spent about 6months leading a double life, out in college/uni but not at home. Friends were fine, didn?t come out to parents as they were strict Christians. Had been living with his partner for a year, put him down as his partner and next of kin on a job application, which he asked his mum to look over, that?s how she found out, about 2 weeks later his dad invited them both out for a meal. Not really spoken about but just accepted
7.00- admits that it?s quite embarrassing that at school he used to hang around with the football team, who used to take the mickey out of the stereotypically gay kid. He later bumped into him in a gay club, and he was surprised that after all the years of taking the mickey that Andy was gay too. Felt he had to go along with what the team does in order to fit in
8.10- talks about how being gay has affected his relationship with football, locker room culture made him leave for a long time. But after joining a work team with people who already knew him, joining the board of Telford United (?) came out to them and they were okay with it. Now has started an LGBT football team the Wolverhampton Harts
12.30- started from new people/management at the White Hart, having a casual ?kick around? and snow balled from them, accepted into the national leagues
14.20- dating through the network, but then when you?re not involved how do you find other LGBT people? This was before internet dating, put an ad in the newspaper, that didn?t go well. Had a crush on a worker at a petrol station and eventually dropped hints to each other about the gay bars The Greyhound, The Dorchester, and they?ve been together 17 years
18.00- technology helping the community- a means to communicate, date, accessibility, making friends through dating apps
19.30- feels the LGBT community is a bit more accepted
20.10- doesn?t feel there needs to be a specific gay scene, white hart has drag, gorgeous has dance, but the clientele is more mixed, LGBT people are more free to go to other clubs
22.00- for him Freddie Mercury?s death was when HIV/Aids came to prominence
- Access Status: Open
- Contact: Wolverhampton Archives, Wolverhampton Archives & Local Studies