Forty Lies

Neighbours and relatives called me names. I have been a ''Queer Cartoonist'' for over 40 years and throughout this time I have been as serious, as angry, as funny, camp, and ridiculous as I can possibly be, sometimes all at the same time, beause it''s how I see my job, and my duty as a gay man. I''ve always made LGBTQI+ cartoons and been lucky enough to have had them regularly published. I have played a central part in them, sometimes as a character or narrator, exploring gay politics from the inside perspective, which means I can criticise governments, health education offices, the church, the police, anything that is bigoted, and still laugh at myself. Attacking the haters, fighting, and trying to protect my community through my cartoons, one tiny square at a time. This anagram of a book, is a vaguely chronological patchwork of forty(ish) personal stories, that don''t bear too much factual scrutiny, yet are as real and honest as need be, following the trials of Coming Out, the Age of Consent, family rejection, dodgy boyfriends, shaky career prospects, police swoops, the enemy without, queer bashers, the stern presence of HIV/AIDS, the loathsome Section 28,the friends, the outrage and outrageous, the fun, the sex, the scene, Love, Equal Marriage and bereavement... This is my History, it is the history of every 70 year old gay man in Britain today. FORTY LIES=LIFE STORY. Basically, a Comic Book, with knitting patterns.

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