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I am a Lawyer with many years experience of the work of charities, having acted as Chair or Deputy Chair of both large national charities and small local ones. I am not, however, a parent with a gay child and, indeed, am not a parent at all having lived a contented though interesting and productive life as a gay man including a wonderful partnership which lasted 27 years until my partner’s death. Having followed the conventional path of boarding school, the Army and the law my generation did not contemplate ‘coming out’ and though my parents clearly knew that I was never going to marry, and why, the subject was never, ever, mentioned despite an otherwise close relationship and their great affection for my partner. That inability to share with them so much that was an important part of my life was a barrier and a huge loss for me and, I think, for them and makes me very anxious to do everything I can to encourage gay, lesbian and bisexual people and their families to understand each other and to maintain loving relationships. Partly due to the wonderful work of Stonewall and many others there is now much more general understanding, if not yet acceptance, but much remains to be achieved. I have watched the work and the development of FFLAG with interest and admiration. I am honoured to be invited to be a Trustee and hope that I can be useful. John Bedford I am a 51-year-old solicitor, a partner in a small practice in West Sussex practising primarily in the fields of family and employment law. I am divorced and have two children, my daughter is 20 and currently at university; my son is 17 and studying for his A-levels. He "came out" earlier this year. My former wife is Indian and both of my children have suffered a degree of racial discrimination, though to a fortunately limited extent. This was something of which I was conscious throughout my children's upbringing. However I must confess that it was only when my son announced that he was gay that I gave much consideration to the difficulties that he might face in this regard. It was my effort to research potential problems and solutions that put me in touch with FFLAG. My son's experience has been mainly positive, but I realise that he has been very lucky. I am particularly interested in discrimination in the workplace and in working with our European colleagues for equal treatment across the European Union. I am also firmly convinced that acceptance, like charity, begins at home and support for families is crucial at what can so often be a difficult time. Alan Moody |