MOOD FOOD: Solidarity Salsa

The mouthy blonde that works near my desk had been telling her colleagues about her weekend this morning and had just informed them that one of her female friends had voiced a preference for women rather than men.

"You'd better be careful you don't find yourself alone with her," the frumpy brunette on the end of the row commented loudly, "she might make a move on you!

Now, maybe I've been lucky in my life so far as I've never witnessed a comment like this first hand. I know enough people who have though. It's up there in the top ten lesbian -directed insults, along with "what do you do in bed?" and "but you don't look like a lesbian." Perhaps it was because it was a Monday morning, or perhaps it was because I was working pretty much on my own today with no close colleagues to talk to, but that comment hit me hard. It's funny what your mind does in these situations - it rages, it races, it plays out revenge scenarios or dreams up bitingly witty retorts, but rarely does it tell you to actually stand up and confront the person with the insults head on. No, I just sat there quietly fuming, feeling increasingly isolated in a workplace full of heterosexuals and that's when I found myself standing on a precipice, thinking about heading to the work cafe to fill my emotional void by filling my stomach. You know what I'm talking about - comfort eating.

What a dark tale this is turning out to be eh? Don't worry, I turned it around - it has a happy ending.

So there I was standing at the coffee bar, faced with an assortment of biscuits, brownies, flapjacks and scones, and maybe it was the strains of Abba's The Winner Takes it All coming from the cafe radio, or the sight of a gay business card in my purse, but in that moment I saw the light. That ignorant girl this morning hadn't been talking about me when she'd said her hurtful words, yet I'd felt it as though she had been - how's that for solidarity? Far from being isolated, does this not show that we gays and lesbians feel for each other, look out for each other, and identify with each other, even if we've never met? I would say so.

I'm so glad that I didn't end up shoving some sweet and stodgy cake down my throat earlier - I'd have only ended up feeling sick for the rest of the day. Instead, I'm now very peckish and hoping to persuade Charlotte to make some of her delicious hot and fiery salsa as a pre-dinner snack this evening. Hopefully the heat in the sauce will spur us on to get just a little bit heated as we discuss this topic, but that's great. What healthier antidote is there to office homophobia than sharing a tasty morsel with your loved one, while putting the world to rights.