Canal Street Online Manchester

Newly appointed Gay Lord Mayor

Newly appointed Gay Lord Mayor

“It’s surreal, the word I use that I’ve never really said before is it’s bonkers”.

So speaks Carl Austin-Behan, Manchester’s new Lord Mayor but he’s a Lord Mayor with a difference.

Yes, it’s been all over the media that Manchester has the first ever openly gay Lord Mayor, but there is something else. As I sat waiting to speak to him in a very formal anteroom in the Town Hall, I admit to having some nerves, I’d never met a Lord Mayor before. However, once I was taken into the very lovely office (massive lounge to you and I) overlooking Albert Square and sat down opposite Austin-Behan, it was clear the formality of this interview was going to be at a minimum. Austin-Behan wasn’t bedecked in a cloak and hat, instead a bright pink shirt with only a safety pin on each shoulder showing he isn’t afraid to put the chains on when required, Austin-Behan is obviously keen to get past the pomp and get straight to business.

“I’d like to think it’s a turning point, going away from the stuffiness, it’s intimidating for everyone” he explains “If I turn up to an event at a school fair dressed like this with my little dogs and the chains on, I think I can relate to everyone. If I turn up in a shirt and tie that doesn’t fit me very well I think there’s a barrier straight away. One of my main things is to try and engage with communities of Manchester and that will be a mix of all denominations, race, creed and sexual orientation. I want to bring a bit of civic pride into it”.

Austin-Behan’s life as a gay man has been one of ups and downs and full of challenges a lesser man might run away from. He was thrown out of the air force for being gay in the late 1990s and responded in typical fashion by becoming Mr Gay UK 2001, then following a stint as a fireman, politics beckoned as he became a Labour Councillor and now he finds himself in the Lord Mayor’s office.

Austin-Behan’s enthusiasm for this role is infectious, I wonder if he feel the media attention is a pressure. “I think it’s great, a case of bring it on. I don’t see it as a case of pressure even if all I achieve throughout the year is awareness and get people talking about it. I think what’s been great is the fact that right from the start, the first thing I said was I was the first openly gay Lord Mayor. If it had just been a case of Carl Austin, the Lord Mayor of Manchester, you can guess the first story in the Mail on Sunday would be “Manchester’s new Lord Mayor is gay”. There’s nothing to be ashamed or that I’ve had to hide, that non-story became a bigger (positive) story because it got picked up by the main media the Guardian, the Independent, the Telegraph”.

Indeed the press have jumped on the story Mr Gay UK turns Lord Mayor, I wonder if that is getting stale for Austin-Behan now? “No I’m as passionate about it now as I was then. I still think it’s as relevant now. Back in 2001 we didn’t have the internet or dating sites, it was purely a case of, if you wanted to connect with someone you had basic email or a pager, remember them? You’ve got places like Manchester, London, Brighton, Birmingham and nobody really cares. However other places are different. I met a lady at the Queen’s birthday celebration and she’d set up a LGBT group over in Worksop and was telling me a story about two of the lads coming to her, 19 years old and going out with each other and they were in Costa and this woman grabbed her children away from them calling them perverts. There is still a hell of a lot of work out there that needs to be done, there are still bigots out there who have strong views against us.”

Awareness of LGBT issues is clearly at the forefront of his agenda, less than a week after our interview the tragic events in Orlando occurred and Austin-Behan was admirable in his representation of Manchester, further proof that his intentions for his year in office are clear. “It would be wrong of me not to focus on LGBT issues. I want to work with our trans communities, I think here in Manchester we’ve got quite a lot of things right with the gay and lesbian communities but there are still barriers with the trans community. For some reason people still don’t seem to get it.”

Is there a danger he will be seen as only having LGBT issues in mind though? “I don’t think so” he explains “You can choose a charity to focus on and raise awareness and my charity is for Alzheimer’s and dementia. It is one of those organisations that doesn’t get government funding and I think it has an impact on everybody’s life, not just necessarily the person who is suffering but also the people around them. I will be doing charity events starting with the UKFAST 10k, I’ve got the chains printed onto a t-shirt. I can’t see the attendant for the chains wanting to run with me, I’m sure that would go down a treat”.

As the role is only for a year, what does the future post Lord Mayor’s office hold for Austin-Behan? “I haven’t got a clue, I didn’t know I was going to be doing this. If I started to plan things, I think I would become a career politician and I think they are people who don’t engage with communities. I think I’ll need a holiday, I have a few long weekends away but I don’t want to have a week or two week break.”

It is not only Austin-Behan’s life that has been changed, his husband Simon is also expected to don the chains and must have felt a huge impact on his life, is he enjoying the role of Lord Mayor Consort? “He is loving it. At first he was really nervous but he’s really got into it. He works for GMP as a Controls Operator, after speaking to Ian Hopkins (Chief Constable) he sees it as great PR, we’re a normal married couple doing this role but bringing a new lease of life to it”.

Austin-Behan is a typical example of how anything can be achieved if you set your mind to it and ignore the naysayers, if he could give any advice to his younger self, what would it be? “Don’t give up” he says firmly “Just enjoy life, turn the negatives into positives and just go for it. There’s going to be enough people there to put you down. When I got kicked out of the air force I could quite easily have hated the air force and moved to London or something and hated life but I’ve always dusted myself down and got on with it”.

For all things Lord Mayor related, follow him at twitter @LordMayorOfMcr

By Chris Park for Canal St Online

Published: 23-Jun-2016: (3784)

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