ConorMcGahon.com

MITT ROMNEY, Latter-day saint or gay-basher?

Conor — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:58:29 +0000

Negative briefing and high politics are natural bed-fellows so when I first read the reports of the schoolyard antics of Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts and the likely Republican nominee for the US Presidential election, I did so with a certain degree of scepticism. While Governor Romney’s ascent has not been without setbacks, the All-American, clean-cut image to my mind, was somehow enhanced by the family-man, missionary and one-time Mormon Bishop back-story and within that mix, I saw no impediment to his potential.
Why would I or indeed anyone who applauds diversity and those who bear witness by their own example whatever and however that may be?
But as the corrobarative testimony of his preppy co-assailants at Detroit’s Cranbrook School revealed in The Washington Post this week, however dubious their intention, I can see the cracks grow in the marble facade of “man of faith and fatherland” not unlike the contagious fracturing in the Eurozone crisis. Deep and insurmountable.
Mindful of the self-incriminatory nature of their various recollections, Mitt it seems, has none. In his own defence he has stated on the record that he didn’t know the late John Lauber was a homosexual. Does that soften the blow?
When is a criminal assault lessened by the disownment an aggressor uses to justify his actions? Although I am struggling here, I assume Governor Romney is suggesting when he or she deserves it!
The Romney campaign for President has been dogged (woops!) by indelicate remarks throughout the State Primaries that have suggested a propensity for insensitivity on the Venture Capitalists part towards the lives of those he failed to understand.
So far, his political strategists have been successful in purging any serious allegation of prejudice and have conversely capitalised on his membership of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints to portray him as a victim by virtue of his faith. His former campaign colleague Texas Governor Rick Perry was unable to outrun the spectre of racial bigotry when networks across America, from CNN to FoxNews, revealed that his family owned a Texan ranch by the name “Niggerhead” and the outrage the disclosure sparked assisted, if not caused the one-time Presidential Hopeful to retreat to the Alamo.
Can Governor Romney excuse or even escape the allegation that he was and remains in the closet as a gay-bully, given the dialogue opened this week with Barack Obama’s evolution on gay marriage equality, our sense of global citizenship and the new moral framework he has suggested?

Do Gays have the right to self-defence?

Conor — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:36:07 +0000

I would not consider myself a radical and although no longer involved in Irish Politics, what’s the point in hosting www.conormcgahon.com and having a perosnal blog, unless I use it when need dictates. So as an aspiring author I thought I would add my support to the efforts of the Stonewall Foundation and many other LGBT groups.
I was called a “Faggot” recently at my mother’s funeral in my home town of Dundalk, Ireland, from what I assume was a dotting supporter of the once publicly stated views of my father, Brendan McGahon on homosexuality. I think the lady thought she was telling me off!!!
While the experience was both unpleasant and unfamiliar, it has strangely roused me to make a personal comment on the salacious and at times, horrendeous language being employed against the launching by Lynne Featherstone, the UK’s Equalities Minister of a Consultation on same-sex marriage.
I have often wondered whenever a leading member of the Anglican Church decries the ordination of gay bishops as “loving the sinner, hating the sin”, or indeed when the Roman Catholic Bishop of Southwark growls about “the moral corrosion of Society”, whether they truly believe they are speaking for God or by their actions, they believe they are reflecting the Christian message.
Now that the UK’s Chief Rabbi, the New Labour Sikh peer – Lord Singh and the entire Muslim Council of Britain have also weighed in with their own invective, in an extraordinary act of unity, the same question can again be asked, adapted accordingly of course less anyone venerable be offended.
Do any of this esteemed community of frocked men, possessed as they are of so much distilled wisdom, ever consider that their words are offensive to the people of whom they speak in such authoritative terms; or that they serve nothing, save to perpetuate prejudice on a broader scale and hatred towards the very gay community they profess to feel sorry for?
Does their continued and sustained leadership in the dark arts of incitement, dressed up in archaic theological babble bear some responsibility for everytime an act of work-place discrimination is meted out to a gay person, an insult hurled for the enjoyment of others, even at a funeral, or perhaps a boot delivered to the groin of a defenceless victim?

But now that the rhetoric of various faith leaders has been cranked up a notch or 10, with the rabble-rousing Archbishop of Glasgow condemning this democratic Consultative process as “a grotesque act which will bring shame on the UK”, and with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, retreating to Cambridge Academia as he laments the nuisance of “Identity Politics” and the “Fixation with Gay Rights fragmenting Society”, I wonder do they ever consider the temperature-raising their words create, and if it is appropriate to ask again – In whose name are you speaking, as you insult me?

Lunch with my Editor!!!

Conor — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:09:43 +0000

Some months ago I had the great fortune of being introduced to a charming and very professional Editor in Ireland who agreed to take a look at my work.
Rachel Pierce of Verba Editing House has given me the new perspective I have been looking for and the most invaluable guidance I reckon I have received to date. Thanks to an old friend, I was able to tap into Rachel’s years of experience in the publishing industry in Ireland and the UK and hopefully will be able to integrate some of her wisdom and insight into my current revision and/or my future work.
I have long believed in the value of editorial guidance having worked with Cornerstones of London especially to the amateur writer but I have to say that I have not always been clear at how to incorporate it into my own writing.
Rachel’s gift is her honesty and the skill of her trained eye.
After e-mail and telephone contact, Rachel responded with an excellent and deeply thought out critique on a representative sample of my book, The Lucifer Process. I have since had the opportunity to travel to Ireland and meet Rachel in person. The experience of discussing my work with an editor over a working lunch was such a boost and I am happy to report that my re-writing is underway.
So to all the thousands of interested and extremely patient followers of www.conormcgahon.com and my efforts, bear with me!!!!

Run to the Beat, London mini-marathon Appeal

Conor — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:33:10 +0000

On behalf of my civil partner, Ed and his colleague-“Cath and I are embarking on a charity challenge this month by taking part in the “Run to the Beat”, half marathon in London on the 25th September.

We found a cause that is very close to our hearts and we would appreciate even the smallest donation. Although it is South African based and may be far from some of your thoughts, the difference your donation will make to these children is huge.

Our special cause is the “Khulani Special School”, Durban, which was founded in 1998 by two local women who wanted to make a difference to the lives of handicapped, mentally-challenged and special needs children in their community.

The “Khulani Special School” is today home to 100 physically and mentally disabled children, some as young as four. Some of the children are orphans and live at the school, while others live with their families and come to the school daily, many covering a large distance.

We are looking to help the “Khulani Special School” by providing much needed funds so that they can purchase bespoke wheelchairs for about 12 children. The wheelchairs cost about 12,000ZAR each, with each one needing different adaptations, such as posterior or head support to prevent spinal deformities etc.

Thanks to Red Sands, I had the opportunity to visit the school in May, and to say the place touched my heart is an understatement. The kids had so little of the modern comforts we take for granted, but yet had so much love and joy – it was heartbreaking.

Of the 100 kids there, 12 need bespoke wheelchairs, adapted to their bodies, due to the severe disabilities they have. Actually, two of them have no wheelchair currently and manage by either the other kids carrying them or crawling. When I left there, I wanted to do something to make a small different to their lives.

This half marathon is our way of making a difference but we need your help!

We would be very grateful for any donations you may be able to give us for this worthy cause. The link for making donations is here:

https://www.givengain.com/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_project&project_id=10335&cause_id=2225

And you can find additional information on the school and look at some photo’s here:

http://www.pointfoundation.co.uk/projects/kulahni.html

Please don’t hesitate to give us a call, should you have any queries or words of encouragement!

Once again, our heartfelt thanks for your generous support.

Kind regards,

Ed and Cath”

I would like to thank my father Brendan McGahon for generously supporting my partner and everyone in the UK, the Insurance Industry in Gibraltar and our friends and neighbours in Spain who have given whatever they can.
Thank you for reading.

Conor

What Next for a wannabe writer?

Conor — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:15:21 +0000

When I began writing I had no idea of the journey it would take me on. I don’t mean to the finishing line ie a publishing deal which continues to drift into the horizon but more the huge personal development it has provided me.
I have met the most unique characters from the initial Arvon Foundation course in Scotland to the Gibraltar writer’s circle to which I now belong. From mad academics and serious fiction authors to the inspiring gay writers from around the world. I have learned to watch and to listen with new skills and more importantly, how to navigate my way through a much deeper personal experience of life than I ever thought would come my way, certainly not in my forties.
Oh, and that I can’t seem to string a sentence together properly! As for punctuation, you can forget it.

I have had the privilege recently of having my manuscript reviewed by Alison Hennessy, a senior editor with Random House on behalf of Cornerstones, the Lit consultants I have been working with in London over the last two years. There’s more to do it seems but I continue to enjoy every frustrating and liberating moment of it, so I thought I’d let you all know. I have an understanding of late of what an artist must feel when he steps back from his unfinished canvass and sighs at the simple pleasure of his creation before re-working it, again.
So under the Andalusian sun I will remain, until I get it write/?!.”..”.@”,/??

THE LUCIFER PROCESS

Conor — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:29:40 +0000

“When the angel first fell… he kept falling.”

When Jay O’Neill, a once promising lawyer fell from grace, he knew it would always haunt him but ten years later as his life unravels around him, he comes to realise how just about any person can turn bad.

One morning at the prestigious London law firm where he now works, Jay’s hidden past as a disbarred lawyer begins to unwind revealing the fall which has turned him into something he loathes. As he implodes under the burden of a hidden crime, the pace of his renewed descent is altered by tragic disclosures within his fading family and the spiralling ambitions of his colleagues, all of whom are caught at the intersection of secrets, where bad things and good people collide. As Jay is forced to confront the errors of his past, he unwittingly lays the ground for the brutal murder of an innocent woman and the inevitable fall of another.