Actor/ Activist -James Hamilton Welsh
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Name James Hamilton Welsh
Place of birth Scotland
Calder bank House in the Grounds of Glasgow Zoo
Occupation Actor / LGBT Rights Activist
Words that best describe you are?
Thoughtful, Determined and the ability to laugh at myself.
Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
Difficult to single out one. My parents of course & 8 gay guys in Edinburgh.
When did you come out to friends & family?
When I was 19, I’m now 62 this year. The guys in Edinburgh, founder members of SMG (Scottish Minorities Group) Male homosexuality was against the law in Scotland at that time. They helped me through it. I moved to London at the age of 21, as it was very difficult living in an environment of constant hostility.
Who would you give anything to meet?
OMG. That’s a tough one. Oprah Winfrey, so many questions to ask her. I wonder what she would ask me.
Your idea of a perfect evening is…
Theatre & a meal with friends & loved ones.
What was the last thing you read?
Close Up by John Fraser. I related to that in so many levels.
What are your favorite movies and/ or plays?
There’s so many. Here’s a few.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Man Who Came to Dinner, All about Eve, Bringing up Baby, High Society, and Bio’s /Holocaust WW2 films. Shakespeare, Van burgh, Millar & Bennet Plays.
Nobody knows that…
I was a University Bursar for over 30 yrs. prior to turning to acting at the age of 50. Never too old or late to follow your dream.
If I could meet my younger self, I would tell him….
Don’t be in such a rush. Enjoy the moment & have a better choice in men.
Never give up in the things you believe in, it’s tough to wait but it’s tougher to live with regret.
What are the biggest setback or failure in life and how did you overcome it?
The breakup of a 26yr relationship. I never realized it would end, why I would and like most I never saw it coming. It was a learning curve for me when I found out that the law did not protect couples living in a domestic arrangement. Well civil partnerships/marriage crept up on us like a lot of long-term same-sex couples. I lost everything, except my dignity. I healed my wounds as the world around me began to turn once more. Sometimes the world is changed by the strength we have within us come to the fore. After the loss, heartache & suffering heals and restores. Love endures.
What are the biggest challenges you have to make as a gay man after 40?
My work with my union. Equity LGBT UK… The older LGBT people now find themselves facing the problem of going into care and find themselves with the very people who abused them when they were younger. Equality Policies have to be put in place to in Care Homes not just for the work environment, LGBT people need protecting from abuse when they’re most vulnerable. Also homophobic/ transphobic bullying in the workplace is on the rise. People are LGBT phobic without realizing, others do realize. My union is NOT homo/transphobic, however like everywhere some of the members are. Well we’re all programmed from birth, Blue for boys & Pink for girls and so the seed is sown and it grows. Education is the way forward. Ignorance is only by choice.
What would you like to say to the Gay life after 40 tribe?
Only together can we achieve positive change.
Never let bigotry go unchallenged.
Never let our past be their future.
Never let the fear of being yourself lead you to the fear of being someone else.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.
Adapted from the writings of Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
All of us deserve a little happiness, nobody likes pain, and however you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain. Enjoy life, go out there & grab it.
How can our readers contact you or know more about you?
Facebook: James Hamilton Welsh
