Hallmark of success

I’m a Scottish boy from Glasgow – been here for five years now. Scotland is great but the weather is miserable. The gay community is so spread around, which makes things difficult. There’re no clubs just for gays; there’re more gay nights than anything else.

At 22, after a naughty summer in Greece, I came out to my family. I’ve always known that I was gay because I used to fancy the PE teacher.

I’m lucky that my parents were tolerant. It’s a lot easier to come out now, but 10 years ago it wouldn’t have been so. Religion is such a big thing back home. When people asked if you’re Catholic or Protestant and you replied, “I don’t like God, I like dancing”, they would either smack you in the face or tell you to piss off. 

I came to Australia in 1999 for a backpacking holiday and fell in love. I had to get residency. I moved to Ireland to get residency with my Australian boyfriend – we lived there for two years.

Dublin was pretty average, and it wasn’t very tolerant. The clubs were kind of a bad version of Stonewall. I used to dress and dance straight, so people wouldn’t comment.

In 2002 I migrated to Australia and studied environmental health and safety science. This makes me a health and safety manager by trade. There are some stereotypes of Scottish people in Australia, like we’re supposed to be very tight with money – it’s the English I say.

I’ve been writing little rhymes since I was at school. I used to do it for friends about different teachers. When I was older I sent them all off to big card companies but they were all turned down – maybe because they’re rude and cheeky.

This year I decided to make the cards myself. I went through a number of graphic designers but ended up buying a computer and doing it myself.

Cards are a really special gift. They should be sentimental and make people laugh. You can say something about someone in a rhyme and make the individual feel very unique. My cards have a gay undertone, from going out and getting a root to being an attention seeker.

It took a year of decision-making, but my cards have now been on the market for about six weeks. It has been a very expensive process because have you to remember the envelopes, the materials and ink.

I’m giving five percent of the profits to an AIDS charity. I went to see Holding The Man and the message in the play was profound. I’m still looking for a HIV/AIDS charity to donate to.

I have cards in four shops at the moment and the feedback is that I’m outselling the bigger ranges. They can be found in the QVB, Wynyard and Darlinghurst.

I have 6000 cards sitting in boxes at home. I want to expand the range because I have a lot more rhymes. At the moment I’m going from on foot to the different shops. I really need to get a distributor.

It’s only at the beginning stages, so it’s harder to get the name known. Word of mouth is a very good tool to have. I hope it all works out.

So just remember, the world is such a brighter place, whenever you are near, some say that it’s your sparkling wit, I say it’s coz you’re queer.

Info: www.waveydaveydesigns.com

As told to Sunny Burns