On Our Own Tracks

A true ‘love story’ on this Valentine’s Day…

Valentine’s Day… What’s it mean to you? As this time comes around each year it’s almost predictable that it will bring up the usual variety of opinions, ‘it’s just a gimmick’, ‘it’s just for retail purposes’ or ‘it’s a day we can take out for the two of us’. This is why I thought on this day I wanted to highlight a true hearted beautiful love story. A story that would also place a positive and warming face on a part of politics that seemed to dominate much of our media and daily life for much of last year.

It was when I started thinking that I would like to portray this kind of positive spin on Valentine’s Day 2018 that the thought crossed my mind of one of the most incredibly awesome and beautiful couples I know. That was my friends Libby and Jane, I personally was lucky enough to meet this just amazing couple a few years ago via my dad. From the instant I met these two women I knew I was going to get along brilliantly with them. They were, as Jane describes it “both hippies that love and value each other every day”… so my type of people. They are also extremely passionate about human and environmental rights. It was through taking all these things into consideration along with the events that happened in the past year that I was keen and so interested to hear what they had to say about this particular day.

To start with, I was both inspired and intrigued that both Libby and Jane weren’t at all fussed on actual Valentine’s Day itself. Although this opinion is strongly echoed by much of society, the part that really inspired me was that the reason why they had this opinion was because they feel that they already celebrate and treasure love on a regular basis so didn’t need a particular day to express it. As I continued into deeper discussion with them it seemed like this strong attitude to love has been fortunately reflected back to them from family and friends including their son who describes their relationship as “the best”.

Despite this, Libby and Jane have said that both of them have been the targets of abuse and the ignorance of others which has been a common theme in the LGBTQI community for a long time now. Fortunately, that is why these two women believe that the LGBTQI community is just fantastic, along with other communities they have been apart of, and “are very grateful for these diverse vibrant creative communities”. As they further explain “the LGBTQI community has been a life line for both of them at different times in their lives” as well as for others that may not have the support from their family, which could be very damaging.

As you can imagine this support and connection was vital last year when, as they describe it ”they had the whole country voting on their legitimacy”. Thankfully, now that the marriage act has passed, these ladies are now optimistic that there will be much more acceptance within our community including in our schools and our workplaces, particularly for the younger generation.

So as you celebrate the rest of Valentine’s Day now, why don’t you think about the real meaning of love and the real meaning of this modern Valentine’s Day.