You, dear reader, will no doubt know already that I am a long-serving campaigner for, and staunch advocate of, the rights and visibility of gay people (and related acronyms). I have hawked many a protest banner, been an active participant in many a rally - not least the Gay Pride March since 1985, from when it was still a valid political statement rather than today's rules-obsessed corporate wank-fest - gathered signatures for petitions against Section 28 and for the equal age of consent, protested the Pope and Putin, and worn both the pink triangle and the rainbow flag as a badge of honour. Out and Proud, indeed.
But what to make of last night's - ahem - Last Night of the Proms?
Far from wanting to sound like Violet, Countess of Grantham, I am patriotic, and a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to such matters. I love a good pageant - and the Royal Family always comes up with goods on that score - and I do believe that the closing session of the most important eight-week musical festival in Britain (and indeed the the world) is, has always, and always should be a moment when everyone who is British [English, Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish] has the opportunity to show their red, white and blue colours. And why the hell not?! Despite the best efforts of the hand-wringing middle-class Guardianistas to upset this with their free hand-outs of EU propaganda, the good old Union Flag is still the predominant visual symbol one expects to see on such a prestigious occasion. Of course, the flags of all nations have always been in evidence as well, but at least they, too, are symbols of nationhood.
US mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is undoubtedly a fantastically-talented singer. She obviously has a deeply-held pride in being "different"; in being an outspoken advocate for women of her size, and for the visibility of those, like herself, who are bisexual. Good on her, if that is what she wants to do with her influential position as a rising star and public figure. She chose to wear outfits for her appearances on the Last Night in the "colours of bisexual pride", lavender, pink and blue. So far, an excellent way to get a message across.
But what possessed her, or the BBC, or anyone in charge of the night's classic finale, to raise the rainbow flag rather than the British one? She was singing Rule, Britannia [our "second national anthem"], ffs, not Over the Rainbow [which she actually did sing earlier]! I loved seeing rainbow flags in the audience, and especially around conductor Sakari Oramo's podium [where the world's cameras focus so heavily]. But for an American to fail to raise the British flag at this climactic moment of a British celebration was jarring to say the least. Just imagine if someone from the UK had done it at the American Independence Day Concert in Washington, for instance, while The Star-Spangled Banner was playing?
There are times, and - as I know - places where protest and making a statement are necessary, especially when there are so many examples of bigotry, persecution and criminalisation of LGBT people across the globe. Might I humbly suggest that while singing Rule, Britannia was not one of them?
There is no real footage of the Last Night online, so here's a whirlwind tour, accompanied by the traditional Hornpipe:
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