An LGBT Poet Laureate in Great Britain

Trudy Howson is the inaugural LGBT+ Poet Laureate in Great Britain since 2016. Her poem, IDAHOT, presented here is an acronym written for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. She read it at St. Paul’s Cathedral in England and it was featured on national radio.

IDAHOT 2022

I’m your brother and sister,

I’m both Mrs. and Mister,

I’m Gay, Bi, and Transexual,

I am … myself.

I’m your father and mother,

Husband, auntie, friend, and lover

I am different… and the same,

I am your family.

I’m black, white, pink, … every hue.

Christian, Muslim, Buddhist …Jew

Skinhead, Goth, Punk, New Romantic,

I am me. I am you.

I’m your district nurse, your teacher,

The boy and girl next door,

Someone in the street,

I am your neighbor.

I’m no better than you, or no worse,

No richer, poorer, blessed, or cursed,

Just part of the same Gravitational Wave,

As you are.