To mark LGBT History Month, 2013, Polari asked its contributors to recall a song that had an impact on their own stories.

‘Girls & Boys’ – Blur
by BJ Epstein
………………………………………………………………………………………….

In 1994, Blur released a song entitled ‘Girls and Boys’. I didn’t hear it that year or if I did, it didn’t have an impact. I first remember hearing it a year or so later and the lyrics in the chorus (“girls who are boys who like boys to be girls who do boys like they’re girls who do girls like they’re boys”) struck a chord, so to speak.

I knew I was a girl who was attracted to girls, but as a young teenager I didn’t quite understand that it was really possible to live like that. So I kept the song tucked away in my head while I continued my life, dating both boys and, later, girls. Blur’s song provided an accepting, encouraging soundtrack as I eventually began to figure out who I was.