Gay London Life | June '25 Edition - Magazine - Page 26
Nathaniel Hall
Actor and writer Nathaniel J Hall sees
queer resilience in the flowers flourishing in
Chelsea’s show gardens
OK, I’ll admit it — as I rapidly
affords and the PR pull that Gareth
approach forty, I’ve become a
brings mean that its impact shouldn’t
gardening gay.
be underestimated.
The pinnacle of the gardening
the fancy life at Chelsea for an
Chelsea Flower Show, a sort of Paris
evening, the amount of champagne
Fashion Week for plants. Attracting
being quaffed and the extortionate
celebrities and royalty, Chelsea
price tags on things reminded
is just as de rigueur as its clothing
me that most of us exist in a very
counterpart. It even has its own
different world.
vernacular. We’re forever being told
This Pride month, yet again,
to do the ‘Chelsea chop’ at this time
the UK has slipped further down
of year, and although that sounds like
the ranking of safe places to be
a fashionable new hairdo, it actually
LGBTQ+, going from 1st to 22nd in
relates to herbaceous perennials.
just ten years on The Rainbow Map
Over the past couple of years,
Heal and
Grow
And while it was nice to cosplay
calendar is, of course, the RHS
and Index. Even when we were in
my partner and I have watched
first place back in 2015, inequalities
the spectacle unfold on the BBC,
still persisted for those most
coveting the spectacular show
marginalised, like LGBTQ+ asylum
gardens and absorbing tips for
seekers, but despite their flaws,
the modest plot at the back of our
the LGBTQ+ rankings are still an
new build. So when we received an
important tool to highlight injustice
invitation to a reception at the show
and shame our politicians into
from Gareth Thomas’ charity Tackle
making meaningful change.
HIV, we jumped at the chance.
Back at Chelsea, a show about
The Tackle HIV Garden
getting green-fingered, you could
designed by Manoj Malde and
be led to believe that protecting the
delivered in partnership with ViiV
environment is champion. But dig
Healthcare was every bit the
beneath the surface and you soon
Chelsea show-off with deep beds of
discover horticulture is abound
lush planting, bespoke landscaping,
with bad practice — single-use
sculptures and even a waterfall.
plastic plant pots for one are a
At the centre of the garden, there
blight on the industry.
were multiple messages about
Much like the Chelsea Flower
how HIV has changed, including
Show, our fight for true equity and
a bench that proudly declared
the tools we use to measure it are
‘Undetectable=Untransmittable.’
flawed and can be hijacked by the
Gareth, whose HIV status was
powerful to ‘pink-wash’ over other
outed by the press in the most
issues. But behind the politics of
horrific way, has turned the HIV
both Chelsea and Pride Month, there
stigma and homophobia he has
are many lessons horticultural life
faced into something positive with
can teach us.
his charity work. Last year, together
In essence, a gardener has
with other people living with HIV,
to help plants not just survive,
we climbed Scafell Pike, a symbolic
but thrive, in hostile spaces. And
gesture to show the world that HIV
creating the right conditions to thrive
holds no one back.
in a hostile environment is something
In a speech over wine and
canapes, Manoj revealed he wanted
us queers have got really good at.
This Pride Month, it’s easy to be
the garden to be about hope and
disheartened at the state of the UK
positivity, spreading the new
for LGBTQ+ people, and yes, there
message that HIV has changed.
is a mountain for us to climb to get
And it worked. Tens of thousands of
back to that Gold Medal standard.
people passed the garden, engaging
But regardless of what is happening
in conversations with volunteers
out there, always remember:
from Tackle HIV and ViiV, sharing
flowers don’t ask permission to
their own stories of HIV and learning
be blooming fabulous, and neither
about U=U and PrEP. Of course,
should you.
a garden alone won’t rid us of HIV
stigma, but the platform Chelsea
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@nathanieljhall
