GORDON
I trained as a ballet and tap dancer back in the ’50s. That’s
when I came out. I was always inspired by the dancing movies
- Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire – and I went to my mother
and said, “I want to go to dancing school.” I was 14. She said,
“Well, you’d better go and ask your father.” So I asked Dad
and he said to me, “Everybody will call you a sissy.” I said,
“Well, I am. So what?” I’ve been out for 67 years.
DANI’m quite aware that there’s this whole generation of people who
have created the world I live in today as a queer woman. When
I first came out in the ’90s, it was still a dangerous place for us.
But the elders here, for them, that danger was quite severe. I don’t
have any seniors in my life, so coming here is a little bit about
acknowledgement and a little about support, but also being connected
with the breadth of my community, and recognising ageing.real life