I mentioned in an earlier post about blessing a venue as part of my work in the OPI, but what is that?

A blessing is when members of the OPI celebrate a venue or space that has contributed to the community- usually the Queer community, but also other venues that are queer friendly. They can be formal certemony, conducted in Polari, or an informal brief celebration of the space. One thing they all seem to have in common, and that’s glitter! In fact, in the OPI, we have special Holy Glitter for such ocassions.

The above picture is when I helped bless the stage of Mono during the club night Queer Theory, as part of their celebration of the tenth anniversay of Jo Clifford’s “The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven”.

I must admit I was nervous when I first done a blessing, but now I’m pleased that I can help celebrate queer friendly spaces, as too often they’re hidden away.