Inclusion Consultant: David Equality Hull-Watters

Just back from seeing the phenomenal ensemble musical,Sunny Afternoon.

The cast and creative team were outstanding, and there was such a sense of genuine camaraderie and joy emanating from the stage.

If the tour is heading your way, please go - you won’t regret it.

Based on the story of The Kinks, I was fully expecting a great night of music and 1960s nostalgia.

What I didn’t expect was to come away thinking how clearly it reflects the core themes we talk about in DEI work: belonging, authenticity, collaboration, and overcoming external barriers.

Beyond, and perhaps beneath, the music, the story is about a group of young, working-class men from North London who find identity and purpose through creating something together.

Watching the formation of The Kinks, you see that belonging is not about fitting in — it is about finding the people with whom you can build something meaningful.

The theme of authenticity runs throughout. Ray Davies’ songwriting, particularly in songs like I’m Not Like Everybody Else, is rooted in a clear sense of individuality.

The musical does not hide the disagreements, tensions, or personal struggles within the band. Instead, it shows the reality of creative people trying to stay true to themselves while working in a demanding industry.

Collaboration is central to the story. The band only succeeds when they learn how to work together despite strong personalities and creative differences. Shared leadership, conflict, compromise, and trust are all played out on stage in a way that mirrors the dynamics we see in inclusive teams and workplaces.

The show also highlights external challenges. Industry politics, financial pressures, and even a ban on touring in the United States create barriers that sit outside the band’s control. Yet they persist by continuing to create and perform in their own way.

This resilience will feel familiar to many individuals and communities who are trying to thrive in systems that were not originally designed with them in mind.

What stands out most is this: The Kinks did not succeed by conforming to what the industry expected. They succeeded by leaning into what made them different.

Audiences responded to that honesty and individuality.

That, in many ways, is what inclusion looks like in practice. Not removing difference, but creating environments where difference becomes a strength that brings people together.

Sometimes the clearest examples of DEI principles are not found in policies or training materials, but in stories like this — where belonging is built through authenticity, collaboration, and shared purpose.

I’ve been sending out Consent Forms to contributors over the last few weeks and I’m pleased to say that these are being returned with words of encouragement, praise and congratulations.

To keep momentum going as we reach the final stages with the manuscript, I’d really appreciate your support in one quick, simple way.

Follow on IG: Click the link below!

For exclusive extracts, quotes and contributor bios and more, please follow NEVER BLEND IN on IG!

Find out more about Never Blend In: LGBTQIA+ Stories of Resilience and Empowerment by following the new Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/nbibook?igsh=djRyb29saTJrbmE%3D&utm_source=qr

Never Blend In: LGBTQIA+ Stories of Resilience and Empowerment

LGBTQIA+ people have always shaped history, culture, and community—even when our stories were erased or silenced. Never Blend In is a powerful reminder that telling our truth isn’t just survival—it’s how we thrive.

At a time when progress and backlash exist side by side, this book affirms a simple, lifesaving truth: you are enough. These stories transform pain into purpose, isolation into solidarity, and labels into self-definition. They honour the full complexity of who we are—across race, faith, disability, class, neurodivergence, and culture.

This is more than a book.
It’s recognition. Guidance. A call to action.
A chorus of voices refusing erasure.

Never Blend In isn’t just a slogan—it’s a survival strategy.

Never Blend In book (@nbibook) • Instagram photos and videos 0 Followers, 0 Following, 1 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Never Blend In book ()

Jim Ambrose was born inters*x, yet this fact was concealed throughout his childhood. As an infant, doctors removed his te**es in a procedure he now describes as “genital mutilation” and “unconscious child abuse”. He was subsequently raised as a girl without ever being told the truth.

Link to the Big Issue Article on the Channel 4 documentary The Secret of Me which tells the story of Jim Ambrose:

https://www.bigissue.com/life/jim-ambrose-inters*x-the-secret-of-me-documentary/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcAPaw9NleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeQfvmtS9fx5LL9xAwFVI6T2A4eeJjdAH509E9w0hJvNOuDUkn0UBgYRVSbgw_aem_ZZGmXVCSdy7AiCQAGy6TuQ =1768738579

*x
*xAwareness
*xStories
*xRights

Nikola Tesla died on 7 January 1943, a visionary who imagined a world without exploitation and where science and art serve all of humanity.

Exactly 83 years later — on 7 January 2026 — Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old poet, writer, wife and mother of three, was shot and killed by a U.S. ICE agent in Minneapolis during a federal operation. Her life was defined by love, community and compassion, and she is remembered by family and loved ones as warm, joyful and deeply caring.

Tesla wrote of a world where no one is downtrodden or demeaned, where dignity is shared and not hoarded. Yet on this same date — decades apart — the state took the life of a mother who embodied those values. This isn’t coincidence — it’s a reminder of how far we still must go for justice and humanity.

How will we build the world Tesla imagined — and ensure Renee’s life was not taken in vain?

Just me and a beer, in a chilly pub in Stirling (2024). Love my job but January in Scotland was a challenge.

One of the cool quotes from the Foreword to Never Blend In, written by Dr. Alex Iantaffi (they/he)

I invite you to read this book as an invitation to love as solidarity, to love as a celebration of the differences that make us stronger together, to love that whispers in our hearts to never blend in, because each of us is essential, just as we are. Dr. Alex Iantaffi Ph.D., MS, SEP, CST, CST-S

One of the cool quotes from the Foreword to Never Blend In, written by Dr. Alex Iantaffi (they/he)

I invite you to move into the potentiality of each story being the spark that ignites the blaze of transformation that could never be extinguished by hate, because it burns so bright through our blood memories, as we remember the way back to ourselves and one another. Dr. Alex Iantaffi Ph.D., MS, SEP, CST, CST-S

One of the cool quotes from the Foreword to Never Blend In, written by Dr. Alex Iantaffi (they/he)

I invite you to read this book not just to learn about people different from you, but as a remembering of who we can collectively be when we embrace our full humanity. Dr. Alex Iantaffi Ph.D., MS, SEP, CST, CST-S

One of the cool quotes from the Foreword to Never Blend In, written by Dr. Alex Iantaffi (they/he)

I invite you to read this book as an invitation to love, but not simply love for “others”, but rather love for yourselves, no matter what your gender, s*xual, relational, and/or erotic identities, orientations, and experiences might be. Dr. Alex Iantaffi Ph.D., MS, SEP, CST, CST-S

It is an absolute honour to have the Foreword to Never Blend In written by Dr. Alex Iantaffi (they/he)

Alex is an award-winning author, therapist, educator and cultural worker whose work centres gender, s*xuality, trauma, and liberation. They are the author of Gender Trauma, co-author of Life Isn’t Binary and the How to Understand… series, editor of Trans and Disabled, and creator of Hell Yeah Self-Care, a trauma-informed workbook.

A WPATH-certified gender specialist, AASECT-certified s*x therapist, Somatic Experiencing® practitioner, supervisor and mentor, Alex also hosts the Gender Stories podcast and Warm Take Wednesdays with Dr Alex on YouTube.

When not working or creating, Alex can be found by the lake, reading, crafting, making music, cooking, dancing, doing ritual, reading tarot, and hanging out with their dogs 🐾

Their work is rooted in collaboration, care, and a shared vision of a more liberated world for all of us. 💛

Happy New Year everyone!

For exclusive extracts, quotes and contributor bios and more, follow on IG!

Find out more about Never Blend In: LGBTQIA+ Stories of Resilience and Empowerment by following the new Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/nbibook?igsh=djRyb29saTJrbmE%3D&utm_source=qr

Never Blend In: LGBTQIA+ Stories of Resilience and Empowerment

LGBTQIA+ people have always shaped history, culture, and community—even when our stories were erased or silenced. Never Blend In is a powerful reminder that telling our truth isn’t just survival—it’s how we thrive.

At a time when progress and backlash exist side by side, this book affirms a simple, lifesaving truth: you are enough. These stories transform pain into purpose, isolation into solidarity, and labels into self-definition. They honour the full complexity of who we are—across race, faith, disability, class, neurodivergence, and culture.

This is more than a book.
It’s recognition. Guidance. A call to action.
A chorus of voices refusing erasure.

Never Blend In isn’t just a slogan—it’s a survival strategy.