Welcome. I am a freelance writer, editor and creative, Canadian-born and now living in Prescot, near Liverpool, England.
I am a Christian in the broadly Anglo-Catholic tradition. I’m drawn to the Way of St Francis, whose life and message taught us to abandon ourselves to Christ and to live for others.
As well as various kinds of voluntary ministry and Christian service – including preaching, leading prayer and local charity involvement – I work freelance in a few connected areas, including writing, editing, proofreading, web design, social media, singing and acting. I have been director of Prescot Parish Church Choir since 2016, and I’ve regularly sung and performed at Liverpool Cathedral.
Over the years I’ve worked particularly closely with Robert JE Simpson of Avalard Publishing and David Rahrer of Cogent Copy.
Writing interests
As a copywriter, I am used to turning my hand to any and every subject for all kinds of purposes.
In my personal writing and journalism the subjects I’ve covered most (and enjoyed most) include:
- LGBTQ issues
- Conversion therapy and the ‘ex-gay’ movement
- My personal journey away from fundamentalism and towards a broader, more inclusive Catholic faith
- Arts, film and culture
- Horror, especially Hammer Films
- Religion & Christianity
- Mental health
What’s in a name?
I chose the pen-name David L Rattigan in about 2004 or 2005, when I first started writing regularly as part of my career. At that time I wanted to be anonymous because I was recovering from a background in conservative Pentecostal, evangelical Christianity, which had left me traumatised – not just because it instilled fear of hell in the non-compliant, but because it was viciously homophobic. I had known since childhood that I was gay, and I was deeply ashamed to the point of being terrified of my secret being exposed.
Rattigan was from the British playwright Terence Rattigan, whose characters were often lonely, sexually repressed males whom I recognised instinctively as homosexual. I had told very few people in my life about my feelings, and all of my teenage years I’d lived in fear of my church finding out. When I began writing, I had come to accept that LGBTQ folk could be Christians, but had yet to come out myself. The pseudonym Rattigan was, perhaps, a timid cry for help, made with the faint hope that someone would make the connection and recognise my gayness.
The L? Even I don’t know what it stands for. I’ve often wondered if it’s Lynn or Lindsay, two beautiful, usually feminine but occasionally masculine names; maybe it stands for that part of myself that even I don’t fully know and understand.
My real, everyday name is David Kernick.