Day: December 7, 2012

Lucy Spraggan, one of this year’s finalists in the X Factor has outsold former series winner Alexandra Burke and transatlantic r’n’b diva Kelis for their appearances at Revenge!

Lucy performed a five song acoustic show at Club Revenge in Brighton last night, Thursday December 6 at the award winning lesbian party, Girls On Top. Interest in her appearance was so high in the lead up to the event, that the Revenge online ticketing agents broke the club’s record for pre-sale tickets, making Spraggan more popular than former X Factor winner, Alexandra Burke who upset her fans by not taking the stage at this years Brighton Pride and US pop star Kelis.

Speaking backstage after the gig, Spraggan heaped praise on her gay fan base.

She said:

“I loved every minute of it”.

On the subject of who she thought would win this weekends X-Factor final?

She said:

“I just wish Jahmene and James all the best.”

She declined to offer her support to controversial contestant Christopher Maloney, after hesitating and referring to him instead as “the public’s choice”.

For backstage interview view:

UTUBE INTERVIEW

The Prime Minister, David Cameron MP has confirmed media reports that he is to back same-sex marriage in church.

Speaking this afternoon, Friday, December 7 the Prime Minister confirmed that he did not want gay people to be excluded from being married, but made it clear that the legislation would protect any church, synagogue or mosque that did not want to want to comply. He promised a free vote in the house for all Member of Parliament but made it clear he would be supporting it personally.

He said:

“I’m a massive supporter of marriage and I don’t want gay people to be excluded from a great institution. But let me be absolutely 100% clear, if there is any church or any synagogue or any mosque that doesn’t want to have a gay marriage it will not, absolutely must not, be forced to hold it.”

A government spokesman said:

“We are committed to bringing equal civil marriage forward and the consultation results will be announced next week. We are very clear that religious organisations must be protected and that none will be forced to conduct same-sex marriage.

“EU law is very clear that this is the case and we will additionally bring in very strong legal locks to ensure that this is watertight.”

Ruth Hunt, the director of public affairs at gay rights charity Stonewall, commented:

“We’ve long campaigned to allow religious organisations to conduct same-sex marriages if they wish to do so.
“This is an important issue of religious freedom and many gay people of faith will welcome proposals allowing them to celebrate their marriages with their pastors and fellow congregants.”

Jonathan West, head of Family and Matrimonial law at city law firm Prolegal, countered:

“The Prime Minister’s desire to give religious institutions the chance to offer marriage services for same-sex couples is welcome, but it doesn’t go far enough.
 
“Religious institutions currently exist in a legal niche where they can discriminate on the basis of sexuality against same-sex couples. However, Governments should not shy away from attacking discriminatory practices in every part of society. Apart from religious bodies, any institution which engages in this form of discrimination would be pilloried by public opinion and would certainly be on the wrong side of the law.
 
Regardless of sexuality, people should be able to choose whether or not they have a religious wedding. Until this is backed up by legislation, the discriminatory practices of religious institutions won’t reflect a society that aspires to be open and inclusive”.

 

Stephen Gilbert, the Lib Dem MP for St Austell and Newquay, a long time campaigner for  same-sex marriage, commented that to allow churches to opt-in to equal marriage was a welcome step forward.

He said:

“It’s very welcome news that churches which would like to conduct ceremonies for same-sex couples will be allowed to under the Coalition’s proposals.
“The important point is that it will be for churches to decide and no church will have to do anything they don’t want to.
“Liberal Democrats have long fought for equal marriage and now we’re in government we’re committed to making it happen.
“Love is the same, straight or gay, so the civil institution should be the same too. Widening equal marriage to allow churches to opt-in is a very positive step forward.”

The Equality Network, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality charity that runs the Equal Marriage campaign in Scotland, welcomed the news also.

Policy Coordinator, Tom French, said:

“This news will provide a welcome boost to the Scottish Government’s equal marriage legislation, and it is a further indication that the proposals are fair and progressive. It is good to see the rest of Britain finally following in Scotland’s footsteps and choosing to give LGBT people the same rights as everyone else.”

The Scottish Government are expected to launch their draft Marriage and Civil Partnerships Bill shortly, alongside a consultation on its implementation.

Under the Scottish plans religious and humanist bodies will be allowed, but not required, to conduct same-sex marriages. There will be strong protections in place to ensure that religious bodies are free to choose whether or not they conduct same-sex marriages. This will protect bodies like the Catholic Church, who oppose same-sex marriage, but it will also protect the religious freedom of groups like the Quakers, Unitarians, Liberal Jews, and Humanists, who actively want to conduct same-sex marriages.

Over two-thirds of MSPs have signed the Equality Network’s ‘Equal Marriage Pledge’ committing themselves to voting in favour of the bill. Signatories include First Minister Alex Salmond and the leaders of all four opposition parties. Whilst 88 MSPs have now said they will vote in favour, just 10 are opposed.

The broad cross-party support for same-sex marriage at Holyrood is in sharp contrast to the political situation at Westminster, where over 100 Conservative MPs have indicated they intend to vote against the move.

Opinion polls have shown consistent public support for same-sex marriage in Scotland. The most recent poll was conducted in June by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Equality Network. It showed record support with 64% of Scots in favour of a change in the law, and just 26% opposed. Separate polls conducted over the past two years by Populus, YouGov, Angus Reid, and the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, have all shown similar levels of support.

Although the UK’s main churches oppose the reform, faiths, including the Quakers, Unitarians and liberal Judaism, support marriage rights for gay couples and have indicated they would be happy to conduct the ceremonies in their places of worship.

Most of our close European neighbours already have same-sex marriage, including Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.

The French Government have pledged to bring forward legislation soon.

Ironically the new legislation will give lesbian and gay couples more equality than heterosexual couples.

Presently opposite sex couples cannot enter into a civil partnership and David Cameron intends that it will stay that way. This means that gay couples will have more rights than heterosexual couples under the new legislation.

A local campaigning group, Brighton & Hove Women Against the Cuts will be inviting passers-by to join them outside Hove Town Hall at 11am on Saturday December 15, to tell Brighton & Hove’s Conservative MPs what they want for Christmas.

Gathering round a giant Christmas wish-list, including the repeal of recent NHS legislation (opposed by the British Medical Association and vast majority of health service professional bodies), and reinstatement of millions of pounds slashed from Brighton & Hove City Council’s budget at a far higher amount per head than in neighbouring areas, the group will be singing alternative words to familiar tunes to get their powerful festive message across.

Following the protest the women will send the  MPs  a Christmas photo-card of the event, along with a Christmas parcel containing dozens of postcards previously signed at the group’s stalls by local people opposed to the cuts.

A spokeswoman for the group, Marie Atkinson said:

“Brighton & Hove Women Against the Cuts formed in February 2011 in response to the Coalition government’s austerity programme. Our campaign is gaining rapid momentum across the city as more and more residents realise that these very severe cuts are significantly damaging their lives, jobs, aspirations and the well-being of their families and friends.

“Especially at this time of year, when our local communities are feeling the dire effects of these Government cuts even more keenly, it’s essential that we let Brighton & Hove’s Tory MPs know that enough is enough.

“Singing alternative words to carols that many passers-by know and love is a fun, accessible way to get our vital message across. All supporters are welcome to join our Saturday singalong outside Hove Town Hall.”

According to national and international research, an average of 10 per cent of the over 65s say they are lonely or very lonely. Feelings of loneliness can have a large effect on a person’s physical and mental health which is only compounded over time.

Groups such as the Campaign to End Loneliness have sought to raise the profile of this issue and tackle the preconceptions that surround loneliness.

Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven has expressed concern about people suffering from loneliness over the coming holiday period.
 
He said:

“We should all do our best during this Christmas period to make sure that no one feels lonely. It is also important that this issue is tackled all-year round and not just focused on the festive season.
 
There are some fantastic organisations that are raising awareness of this issue and I applaud their work”.

The Gay Elderly Men’s Society (GEMS) provide a social and friendship network for older gay men living in Brighton and Hove.

For more information view:

GEMS

ASDA Supermarket at Brighton Marina operate a ‘Chosen by you’ scheme to benefit local voluntary organisations. Every two months through their ‘colleague vocal group’ three similar charities are chosen for customers to decide who will receive cheques for £200 and two cheques for £50 each.

Nomination forms are available on the Community board in all ASDA stores throughout the country.

Every time a customer shops at ASDA they are given a token and they can put it in the tower of their favourite charity.

At the end two months the charity with the most tokens receives a cheque for £200 and the other 2 charities get a cheque for £50 each.

This month MindOut, the LGBT mental health project received a cheque for £200. Lunch Positive the HIV charity who provide a healthy meal for those who have and are affected by HIV every Friday at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church received a cheque for £50 as did the Sussex Beacon who also received boxes of mince pies for their Christmas Carol Service which is at St Paul’s Church in West Street on Tuesday, December 11 at 7.30pm.

The money comes from the ASDA Foundation and the scheme runs countrywide.  It is called `Chosen By You Given By Us’, and is a way that ASDA  gives something back to the community.

Ben Summerskill, the chief executive at Stonwall, the LGB equality charity has written a letter to all their supporters calling for help in their final push to lobby the Government to agree the timescale for the promised same-sex marriage legislation.

In a letter to supporters he said:

“As we approach the festive season many will be reflecting on things that really matter to them – whether that’s their faith, their family or their friends.

But sadly, one small but noisy group of people – including some politicians and senior clerics – will be using the Christmas season to vehemently oppose a modest final step towards equality.

We’re expecting announcements soon from both the Westminster and Edinburgh Governments setting out their plans to extend the legal form of marriage to same-sex couples. We know that these proposals will be opposed at every stage by well-funded opponents of equality.

It’s with your help that we’ll continue to push to ensure that these plans are implemented before 2015. We’re also pressing both governments to go further than they originally suggested by allowing religious denominations to celebrate weddings should they wish, an extension of our 2010 ‘Alli amendment’.

Over the past 15 years we’ve seen 13 hard-won steps towards equality for Britain’s lesbian gay and bisexual people. It’s now time to secure this final piece of the legislative jigsaw. Some People Are Gay. Get on With It!”

To support the campaign and keep up to date with progress view:

STONEWALL

The Government have introduced a raft of new criminal offences and tougher sentences for violent crimes. Anyone who commits two very serious sexual or violent offences will get a life sentence, those who try to destroy our communities by threatening and endangering people with knives will face a mandatory custodial sentence and those who devastate lives by dangerous driving will face the harshest penalties.

Simon Kirby, MP for Kemptown & Peacehaven has welcomed the new tougher sentences.

He said:

“Criminals should be in no doubt they will be punished for their crimes, with those who commit the most serious offences receiving the most severe sentences.

“I particularly welcome the Government’s efforts to tackle knife crime, with a new offence of ‘aggravated knife possession’ carrying a mandatory prison sentence of at least six months for adults, while 16 and 17 year olds will face a mandatory four month Detention and Training Order. Knife crime has blighted communities and destroyed lives for too long, and this Government is determined to get a grip on the problem.

“I am pleased that the Government has taken action to set out how a tough but intelligent sentencing framework, coupled with more effective rehabilitation, will enable us to break the cycle of crime and re-offending.”