Equality anthem ten years in the making

Melbourne singer-songwriter Nicolette Forte originally wrote Hold Your Hand, her sweet, deceptively simple ode to expressing same-sex love, some ten years ago when she was a queer student battling the bigots at a private girls high school.

As she discovered recently, that bigotry still exists. Set to embark on a radio tour from August 2 to support the single, one previously supportive announcer at a radio station in Collingwood emailed her once she’d sent him information on the song’s subject matter to say that she was no longer welcome on the show.

“I was psyching myself up for possible negative reactions – if I’m live to air in Ballarat and someone rings in and calls me a dyke, I’ve got to be prepared for that,” she said.

“But I wasn’t expecting this. It just hit me, like someone had punched me in the heart. Before I’d told him the content of the song, he was very supportive, but that all changed once he found out what it was about. Perhaps he doesn’t want to be associated with it. Perhaps it’s come from his boss at the radio station. Perhaps he’s just a straight-up homophobe. Whatever it was, it shocked me – I wasn’t expecting such a blatant reaction.”

That sour experience won’t taint Hold My Hand, though: it’s a gorgeous, uplifting slice of acoustic pop, with the addictive refrain ‘All I wanted to do was hold your hand.’

“The innocence of the song is really present – it came from a 16-year old mind. I had this girlfriend in Year Ten, but no-one knew about it. It was a really tough time for me, because she was my first love and all I wanted was to be able to hold her hand as we walked down the street. I used to see the other girls do that with their boyfriends with such ease,” she said.

So why wait ten years to release the song? Forte explained she knew she had to wait until she felt strong enough to stand behind the song.

“A decade on I’m finally ready to put it out there. Even five years ago in my journey with my sexuality and where I was at confidence-wise, I wouldn’t have been ready to be this bold,” she said.

“Over the years as I started performing, I introduced it into my repertoire and I was always amazed by how these lyrics I wrote as a 16-year-old still resonated. What once was just a plea to hold my lover’s hand, now means so much more – now I’m older and I can’t marry a partner, I don’t have the same civil rights as other people.

“Ten years on, it feels like a metaphor for the battle we’re still fighting.”

INFO: Hold Your Hand released as a free download at nicoletteforte.com from August 2. Until then, listen to Hold Your Hand here.