Matthew Hodson
@matthewhodson
Shamelessly HIV+ actor, writer, public speaker based in London. Former CEO of aidsmap and Gay Men Fighting AIDS. He/him. 🏳️🌈🇪🇺🌍🌱
My advice to my young self: Be shamelessly, brazenly gay at every opportunity. The world will catch up. What would yours be?
JK Rowling uses her Harry Potter money to fund lawsuits against companies that support trans rights so no, I do not care what Hogwarts house you are in.
33 years ago the Daily Mail described the prospect of eliminating homosexuality as a ‘hope’.
Pride of place in the National Theatre’s queer section of the bookstore goes to my friend @ajwestauthor.bsky.social’s latest on queer bookshops.
Is it acceptable to be moved by a show that you wrote? Last night I got to see a first performance of my play Sebastian, brilliantly bought to life by a talented cast. From the comments and praise I heard after, I was far from the only one to get emotional about it. Blessed. 🙏 @paralleledlines.co.uk
Tonight at 7pm my play Sebastian gets its premiere as part of a @paralleledlines.co.uk scratch night. Excited and nervous - it only occurred to me last night it could be disastrous! Will be taking notes whatever. Come and tell me what you think. NB I’m not in it. app.lineupnow.com/event/scract...
Celebrating Big Corks at one of my favourite Clapham wine bars. @archclapham.bsky.social
67 year old #Madonna has just scored her 13th number 1 album. Not bad for someone who was told by Smash Hits magazine to ‘put it away, grandma!’ when she was 35!
My short play, Sebastian, is getting its first ever full performance on Monday 13th at 7pm as part of the @paralleledlines.co.uk Scratch Night at @breadrosestheatre.bsky.social in Clapham. Do come if you can. Or wish me luck if you can’t. app.lineupnow.com/event/scract...
And now it looks like it will be. People of Clacton, you understand the assignment.
Praying it’s just Farage and Count Binface vying in the byelection - and Binface takes it.
It seems unlikely that Tory voters will shift their support to Lab/Green/Lib Dems or that the progressive voters will switch to the Tories to keep Reform out. Unless there’s a candidate with an existing public profile who could create an upset?
Considering the 2024 result, it would require a massive swing against Reform for Farage to lose the Clacton by-election. The Conservatives came second last time round, so there’s no obvious choice of a progressive party to unite the anti-Reform vote.
Me as Harry in the upcoming short film Who’s Next? Directed by Marion Krim. Produced by Ian Beaumont for Little Dude Films. Currently in post-production. Watch this space for more details.
One of the greatest musical theatre performances I’ve witnessed was Joanna Riding as Julie Jordan in Carousel at the National Theatre. So when I met her on Sunday, following a triumphant concert of Raising Gays, I couldn’t resist telling her so like a starstruck fanboy. She was gracious about it.
I’m approaching 59 years old and I have been living with HIV since I was 30. With access to treatment, HIV need be no barrier to health, happiness or a long life. Plus treatment means there is NO RISK of me passing HIV on to sexual partners. HIV has changed, tell everyone.
I was lucky enough to catch this concert of Raising Gays by Jordan Paul Clarke and Micha Mirto, which was superb! Laughter, tears and Pride. It got a well-deserved standing ovation. We need this on in the West End now!
Pride the musical - based on the movie about Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners - is a triumph. It’s witty, political and profoundly moving. I doubt anyone failed to shed a tear at some point. At the end the whole audience leapt to their feet with an enthusiastic, and deserved, standing ovation.
As trans rights are eroded in the UK, as local councils under Reform control distance themselves from Pride and our communities, and as we see increasing levels of hate and scorn directed towards LGBTQ people online, such solidarity and strength are needed now.
But Pride isn’t just sunshine and sequins, Pride is a demonstration of our solidarity and strength. This year the UK was ranked 22nd in Europe for LGBTQ rights. We used to be at the top of the league but recent years have brought reverses in trans rights and in the support we used to enjoy.
Everyone marched back then. The crowds were bemused, sometimes hostile, only occasionally supportive - which would win them cheers from the marchers. This year more than a million people marched or lined the streets to cheer us on.
This year is the 40th anniversary of my first Pride march. In 1986 there were about 6,000 people on the march - which was still more LGBTQ people than I’d ever seen gathered together, stronger than I’d dared imagine.
With Julian Howes at #Pride. Julian was at the first Pride protest in London in 1972 - and still marching strong (although I carried his handbag for him because Pride is about being there for each other). 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
About to set off! Happy Pride London - and everywhere. #Pride 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
On this day in 1981 the first mainstream media report of what would come to be known as AIDS was published on page 20 of the New York Times. The epidemic has now taken the lives of more than 710,000 Americans out of an estimated 43 million AIDS deaths globally. And it is not over yet.
In 1991 Madonna overrode the objections of the studio (and the dancers) to insist the kiss between Gabriel and Slam remained in the Truth or Dare / In Bed with Madonna documentary. The kiss was sexy, campy and accepted, groundbreaking for a time scarred by AIDS and homophobia.
