{"id":7834,"date":"2016-02-23T15:06:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T15:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=7834"},"modified":"2016-02-24T15:00:52","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T15:00:52","slug":"not-quite-there-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=7834","title":{"rendered":"We’re not quite there yet"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Mark \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPasty\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner was \u00e2\u20ac\u0098a confused kid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop him standing out from the crowd. At school he never saw the problem with wearing pink shirts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even if his classmates did.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 51-year-old Port Talbot steel worker grew up in a small Cornish village where he knew he was different, but felt he had to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bgo along with the norm.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After leaving school Mark bowed to family pressure and joined the army as a chef. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until he had left the army and went to visit a friend in Hamburg when he was 23, that he met an openly gay man.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s society that might sound unusual but, as lesbian, gay bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) history month reminds us, it wasn’t so long ago that whole swathes of our population were openly persecuted because of their sexuality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe army was much the same as being at home. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talked about and if it was it was a joke or an insulting comment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was just part of the banter,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Mark, who is Unite Sima Wales branch secretary, explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen I did finally meet an openly gay man it was relief to understand that there were other people that were the same as me. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the one who was strange anymore.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It still took until mid-90s for Mark to come out as bi-sexual to his friends and family but he says many of them knew already. His parents told him that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d always knew he had an \u00e2\u20ac\u0098effeminate side\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0A lot easier now<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI wear bright clothes and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been one to hold back on beliefs or feelings. But coming out was again a relief. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot easier now than it was in the 70s or the 80s,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You might think a long career spent in the often macho settings of steel works across Wales would be more difficult for a bi-sexual man, but Mark says looks can be deceiving.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is a very macho environment and it can be quite cruel at times,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Mark said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut with steel workers if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re openly bi-sexual or gay the people you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working with will take the mick, but they wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let anyone else do it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOnce you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re part of that team, no matter what your sexuality, people will rally round and protect you. Some people may not understand completely, but they accept you for who you are.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While things have improved drastically in society over the last decades, Mark says there is still much room for improvement. Of particular concern is the stigma many older LGBT people face from their peers and the need to better serve their needs in places like nursing homes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Needless to say he still encounters homophobia as well \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even occasionally from fellow trade unionists.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why LGBT History Month is important, says Mark. A personal hero of his is the now deceased gay rights campaigner Mark Ashton, who formed Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Acceptance<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Without the bravery of activists like Mr Ashton, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwho never let society get the better of him\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, LGBT people would never have gained acceptance. Mark believes there is still a need for people to do the same thing today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOnce there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s acceptance then life’s a lot easier, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important that we recognise the people who brought LGBT issues to the forefront. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like the trade union movement \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we forget our history at our peril. If we forget the people who have taken us to where we are now, we may as well stop everything we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Mark said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have come a long way but there is still some way to go. For example I understand why we need LGBT committees \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and other committees for equality \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but we shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to have them. We should all just be trade unionists. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re quite there yet.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Picture of the first official UK<\/a> Gay Pride<\/a> Rally<\/a> <\/span>which was held in London on July 1 1972\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPasty\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner was \u00e2\u20ac\u0098a confused kid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop him standing out from the crowd. At school he never saw the problem with wearing pink shirts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even if his classmates did.   The 51-year-old Port Talbot steel worker grew up in a small Cornish village where he knew he was different, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[379,329],"wps_subtitle":"In our second feature for LGBT history month we meet Port Talbot steel worker Mark Turner","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7834"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7858,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7834\/revisions\/7858"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}