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It seems natural for anyone to
place a tribute into the local paper when a loved one dies. But when
Nigel Barnes, the founder of gaytributes.com tried, he was refused at
every stage, all owing to one little word “gay”.
Nigel lost a very dear friend in
1993 and was devastated by the event. His numerous attempts with different
newspapers were to no avail as the local media was obvious homophobic at the
time and obstructed his wishes.
Every year, Nigel pays his own
tribute to his dearly departed friend, by tying his tribute to a single red
rose with a rainbow ribbon, and dropping it into the sea to be carried away
by the tides.
At one such tribute in 2001, Nigel
realised he wanted to do more to help the LGBT community speak their
feelings of loss for loved ones, by allowing them to produce tributes of
their own.
After many years or struggling to
set everything up, being met by con men and insincere people that plague the
LGBT community, his site is now up and running.
Nigel has an obvious special reason
for setting up this website, and he summed it all up by saying: “We all have
a dream in this life; this is my dream to help others fondly remember their
loved ones”.
On the site you can produce your
own tribute for someone you have loved and lost. The tribute will then be
published on the website for whatever time period you specify and can be
viewed publicly or only you can view it.
This website is an amazing new
addition to the internet that is so obviously going to help so many people
in the LGBT community all over the world.
This reporter feels he may some day
use the service as well, and I urge you all to visit the
website and see what an imaginative and
much-needed corner of cyberspace it is.
While we all know that there is no
such thing as a free lunch, placing a tribute on the site will not “break
the bank” – and, it can be argued, it is cheaper than a newspaper tribute.
Prices are £20 for a full year, and
this includes up to five photographs.
Hopefully some of you may actually
take up the services offered by the website and help it to grow big enough
to help everyone in the world touched by tragedy who cannot voice their
grief in more local circles.
LINKS
GayTributes website |
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