Christopher Laneghan
Chris is an only child. His mother had hoped he would be the first of many.
He was born on 12 July 1975. The son of Michael, a second-generation Irish immigrant, and Joan who, as far as he knew and she knew, had no relatives from outside the Midlands.
His birth was midway through the trial of the Birmingham Six, anti-Irish sentiment was strong at that time, but by the time Chris started school in 1979 the factories had been through a season of strikes giving way to the winter of discontent and the election of Margaret Thatcher. The Irish were back to being the subject of ‘friendly’ jokes, along with the Blacks, Asians and queers, only not disliked for taking their jobs or for being ‘the other way.’
Not that any of this meant much to Chris.
The first political event that shaped Chris’ life happened on 24 May 1988 although he didn’t know anything about it at the time. That was the day that Clause 28 became law in the UK.
Chris still wasn’t really aware of Clause 28 in September 1990 when he first started to wonder about his sexuality. He didn’t say anything to any of his friends, but he did try to speak to a teacher or two who politely smiled and said it could cost them their job.
The one teacher that did speak to him did lose his job, after a suspension and investigation. This came after the parents of another child found out about similar conversations and reported the teacher. The suspension was in April 1991. It was one month after the Birmingham 6 had their convictions quashed and walked free. The teacher had initially spoken to Chris as he thought a reawakening of some anti-Irish sentiment was behind problems Chris was having with his GCSEs.
The teacher eventually resigned in 1992. Rumours abounded that he was sacked for being gay. It wasn’t true, he was straight, but that’s what kids, including Chris had thought.
As a result, Chris, then 17, changed his mind about going into teaching and did not apply to take a Bachelors of Education after leaving school. Instead he got a job in a local library. His dad felt it was a waste of his education. At the same time, he also thought working in a library was not a good job for someone without a degree.
While at the library, unsure of his sexuality, but feeling under pressure to get a girlfriend, he started a relationship with a fellow librarian, but knew it wasn’t what he really wanted. He also became good friends with Rob, a male librarian from Birmingham Central library. When the relationship with his girlfriend ended, Chris went out for drinks with Rob on a regular basis. Rob was gay and, a few months into their friendship, told Chris. He also told Chris that he thought he was gay too. He took Chris to gay bars in Birmingham that Chris hadn’t even known existed – why would he? - and this led on to weekend trips to Manchester, where there was a stronger gay culture emerging partly as a result of the council’s defiance, or subversion, of Clause 28.
To Chris’ parents, Manchester was just a place for music and football. Their main concern was that he didn’t go to the Hacienda and take drugs – for them the two things were synonymous – although his dad did think he was spending too much time with that bloke, particularly as Rob was four years older than Chris.
In February 1994, a few months before Chris turned 19, the age of consent for gay men was lowered to 18. It didn’t really change anyone’s sexual behaviour, it just meant they were no longer criminals. It also made it easier for Rob to go into gay bars with Chris without worrying that anyone might see them coming out and think something.
Chris liked Manchester, partly because he didn’t have to hide there or worry about anyone seeing him. In 1995 he applied to do a Media Studies degree there and was accepted. His mum was pleased he was finally taking a degree. His dad thought it was a Mickey Mouse course.
While doing the degree he saw his first drag artists, both as performers and people who were just ‘on the scene’. He was interested in the dual identities of the drag artists and how they could separate the drag identity from their day to day selves.
Early in his third year he started going to clubs in drag, changing in toilets when he got there. He watched drag acts and invented the character Lady Christina. He tried it out once, but it was not a great success. The material was obvious - ‘thank you for coming, you’ve made my whole week.’ – and Chris as a naturally shy person afraid of rejection, decided not to put himself in the firing line again.
His finals also meant that this side of his life was largely put on hold. He went on to get a 2:1 and in the summer of 1998 moved to London to work for an advertising agency. He moved into a flat in Mile End.
In a more anonymous city, he was able to resume and refine the Lady Christina persona and keep her very separate from his daytime self. He came up with the idea of her as a Northerner sent to educate the South about all things Northern. It still wasn’t a great act, but it had novelty value.
On 30 April 1999 the Admiral Duncan pub in London was the scene of a nail bomb explosion that killed 3 and injured over 70 in a homophobic attack. Chris was not at the pub, but friends of his were. Two were injured. One could not admit the cause of their injury to their parents because it would have meant admitting they were in a gay bar.
Chris did not want his secret to ever emerge in this way and decided to tell his parents he was gay. He decided to do it in two stages, the first would be to tell them about his drag persona. A way of testing the water, he thought. He did it on the weekend of 10 July when he was at their house ahead of his 24th birthday on Monday 12th.
He told his mother first. She was amused, she knew he’d loved dressing up in school plays. Her view was ‘that’s fine, if that’s what you want to do. I wouldn’t dress up like that round here mind you, it’s not like London. And I don’t know as I’d tell your father.’
He told him on the day he was going back to London. His dad listened disbelievingly, then told him he was sick and disgusting and asked him if he was gay. When Chris responded with ‘what if I am?’ his dad knew the answer to his question, and gave Chris the answer to his, telling him he wasn’t having someone like that in his house or his family.
It was the last time Chris went to the family home and almost the last time he saw his father. A couple of phone calls failed to result in a conversation as his dad repeated and developed his views to Chris. Chris gave up. The only other time he saw his dad was at his mother’s funeral. His dad saw him but didn’t recognise him as Chris had come in an understated drag outfit and make up to avoid a scene.
A few weeks after his last phone calls to his dad, his mother rang him from a call box. She didn’t want to call from home. Her husband checked the phone bills.
They started meeting (see Joan’s story) and continued to see each other until her death in 2002. Chris moved from London back to Manchester, to be nearer to her and also because he found London lonely, not to mention expensive, at a time when he needed company.
While Joan was ill Lady Christina made few public appearances (see Christina’s story). She was finally reborn on the stage at a theatre above a pub in Salford two weeks before Christmas 2002. Her new identity was a person from the shires forced to live in the cobbled streets of the North and determined to bring glamour to the masses, even if they don’t want it (because, as she says ‘they need it’).
She has continued to perform since then, largely around Greater Manchester and Lancashire, but occasionally taking in London and the Midlands and with one costly, and not overly successful, Edinburgh Fringe run thrown in along the way.
Chris still works in the fragile world of media. He had a few years out when he first went back to Manchester, but the city’s rise as a media hub has helped him get steady work, even though he does sometimes feel it’s a young man’s game and he’s ceasing to be a young man.
He has had a few short relationships, but a fear of intimacy and rejection has meant that none of them have become long term. His work and personal life largely remain separate and only his small circle of friends know him as both Chris and Christina.
He was born on 12 July 1975. The son of Michael, a second-generation Irish immigrant, and Joan who, as far as he knew and she knew, had no relatives from outside the Midlands.
His birth was midway through the trial of the Birmingham Six, anti-Irish sentiment was strong at that time, but by the time Chris started school in 1979 the factories had been through a season of strikes giving way to the winter of discontent and the election of Margaret Thatcher. The Irish were back to being the subject of ‘friendly’ jokes, along with the Blacks, Asians and queers, only not disliked for taking their jobs or for being ‘the other way.’
Not that any of this meant much to Chris.
The first political event that shaped Chris’ life happened on 24 May 1988 although he didn’t know anything about it at the time. That was the day that Clause 28 became law in the UK.
Chris still wasn’t really aware of Clause 28 in September 1990 when he first started to wonder about his sexuality. He didn’t say anything to any of his friends, but he did try to speak to a teacher or two who politely smiled and said it could cost them their job.
The one teacher that did speak to him did lose his job, after a suspension and investigation. This came after the parents of another child found out about similar conversations and reported the teacher. The suspension was in April 1991. It was one month after the Birmingham 6 had their convictions quashed and walked free. The teacher had initially spoken to Chris as he thought a reawakening of some anti-Irish sentiment was behind problems Chris was having with his GCSEs.
The teacher eventually resigned in 1992. Rumours abounded that he was sacked for being gay. It wasn’t true, he was straight, but that’s what kids, including Chris had thought.
As a result, Chris, then 17, changed his mind about going into teaching and did not apply to take a Bachelors of Education after leaving school. Instead he got a job in a local library. His dad felt it was a waste of his education. At the same time, he also thought working in a library was not a good job for someone without a degree.
While at the library, unsure of his sexuality, but feeling under pressure to get a girlfriend, he started a relationship with a fellow librarian, but knew it wasn’t what he really wanted. He also became good friends with Rob, a male librarian from Birmingham Central library. When the relationship with his girlfriend ended, Chris went out for drinks with Rob on a regular basis. Rob was gay and, a few months into their friendship, told Chris. He also told Chris that he thought he was gay too. He took Chris to gay bars in Birmingham that Chris hadn’t even known existed – why would he? - and this led on to weekend trips to Manchester, where there was a stronger gay culture emerging partly as a result of the council’s defiance, or subversion, of Clause 28.
To Chris’ parents, Manchester was just a place for music and football. Their main concern was that he didn’t go to the Hacienda and take drugs – for them the two things were synonymous – although his dad did think he was spending too much time with that bloke, particularly as Rob was four years older than Chris.
In February 1994, a few months before Chris turned 19, the age of consent for gay men was lowered to 18. It didn’t really change anyone’s sexual behaviour, it just meant they were no longer criminals. It also made it easier for Rob to go into gay bars with Chris without worrying that anyone might see them coming out and think something.
Chris liked Manchester, partly because he didn’t have to hide there or worry about anyone seeing him. In 1995 he applied to do a Media Studies degree there and was accepted. His mum was pleased he was finally taking a degree. His dad thought it was a Mickey Mouse course.
While doing the degree he saw his first drag artists, both as performers and people who were just ‘on the scene’. He was interested in the dual identities of the drag artists and how they could separate the drag identity from their day to day selves.
Early in his third year he started going to clubs in drag, changing in toilets when he got there. He watched drag acts and invented the character Lady Christina. He tried it out once, but it was not a great success. The material was obvious - ‘thank you for coming, you’ve made my whole week.’ – and Chris as a naturally shy person afraid of rejection, decided not to put himself in the firing line again.
His finals also meant that this side of his life was largely put on hold. He went on to get a 2:1 and in the summer of 1998 moved to London to work for an advertising agency. He moved into a flat in Mile End.
In a more anonymous city, he was able to resume and refine the Lady Christina persona and keep her very separate from his daytime self. He came up with the idea of her as a Northerner sent to educate the South about all things Northern. It still wasn’t a great act, but it had novelty value.
On 30 April 1999 the Admiral Duncan pub in London was the scene of a nail bomb explosion that killed 3 and injured over 70 in a homophobic attack. Chris was not at the pub, but friends of his were. Two were injured. One could not admit the cause of their injury to their parents because it would have meant admitting they were in a gay bar.
Chris did not want his secret to ever emerge in this way and decided to tell his parents he was gay. He decided to do it in two stages, the first would be to tell them about his drag persona. A way of testing the water, he thought. He did it on the weekend of 10 July when he was at their house ahead of his 24th birthday on Monday 12th.
He told his mother first. She was amused, she knew he’d loved dressing up in school plays. Her view was ‘that’s fine, if that’s what you want to do. I wouldn’t dress up like that round here mind you, it’s not like London. And I don’t know as I’d tell your father.’
He told him on the day he was going back to London. His dad listened disbelievingly, then told him he was sick and disgusting and asked him if he was gay. When Chris responded with ‘what if I am?’ his dad knew the answer to his question, and gave Chris the answer to his, telling him he wasn’t having someone like that in his house or his family.
It was the last time Chris went to the family home and almost the last time he saw his father. A couple of phone calls failed to result in a conversation as his dad repeated and developed his views to Chris. Chris gave up. The only other time he saw his dad was at his mother’s funeral. His dad saw him but didn’t recognise him as Chris had come in an understated drag outfit and make up to avoid a scene.
A few weeks after his last phone calls to his dad, his mother rang him from a call box. She didn’t want to call from home. Her husband checked the phone bills.
They started meeting (see Joan’s story) and continued to see each other until her death in 2002. Chris moved from London back to Manchester, to be nearer to her and also because he found London lonely, not to mention expensive, at a time when he needed company.
While Joan was ill Lady Christina made few public appearances (see Christina’s story). She was finally reborn on the stage at a theatre above a pub in Salford two weeks before Christmas 2002. Her new identity was a person from the shires forced to live in the cobbled streets of the North and determined to bring glamour to the masses, even if they don’t want it (because, as she says ‘they need it’).
She has continued to perform since then, largely around Greater Manchester and Lancashire, but occasionally taking in London and the Midlands and with one costly, and not overly successful, Edinburgh Fringe run thrown in along the way.
Chris still works in the fragile world of media. He had a few years out when he first went back to Manchester, but the city’s rise as a media hub has helped him get steady work, even though he does sometimes feel it’s a young man’s game and he’s ceasing to be a young man.
He has had a few short relationships, but a fear of intimacy and rejection has meant that none of them have become long term. His work and personal life largely remain separate and only his small circle of friends know him as both Chris and Christina.
