26/02/2013 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Somewhere for me: St Mary’s Church: Actually Gay Men’s Chorus:

Posted on 26/02/201305/03/2013 by Besi

The Actually Gay Men’s Chorus brought the B.Righton.On LGBT Arts Festival to a close on Friday, February 22, with a wonderful concert at St Mary’s Church in Kemptown. The concert was performed against the backdrop of a spectacular laser light show produced by Protech Productions, which was projected from behind the chorus over the audience and into the church helping create a different atmosphere for each number the choir sang.

The show opened with what I can only describe as a “a wall of sound” as the 24 strong chorus exploded into song, with Requiem from Evita and the title song from Phantom of the Opera featuring the soprano Samantha Howard singing at the very top of her vocal register. It was a spine chilling moment as the chorus filled the magnificent surroundings of St Mary’s and the soprano’s voice soared into the rafters of the church. Rarely will you experienced such a relatively small number of singers produce such a massive sound. It was wonderful to listen to.

A selection from Moulin Rouge followed including renditions of Roxanne, The show must go on, Nature boy, and One day I’ll fly away featuring Samantha Howard once again. The arrangements were excellent and the light and shade the chorus brought to their performance accentuated the romantic focus to these particular numbers.

Jason Pimbett’s arrangement of Albinoni’s Adagio and Rodriguez’s Concerto De Aranjuez for chorus followed. Both were ideally suited to the wonderful acoustics of the church and for me personally the combined choral sound the choir achieved was at its very best during these two numbers. A particularly poignant rendition of England My Lionheart followed.

The first half ended with a taster from the chorus’s coming shows during the Brighton Fringe Festival entitled The Music Of The Night, a celebration of West End musicals which they will be performing at St Andrews Church, Waterloo Street on April 26 and 27. Tonight they sang Andrew Lloyd Webber numbers including: Memories from Cats, Music of the Night and Prima Donna from Phantom of the Opera, I don’t know how to love him from Jesus Christ Superstar and Go Go Joseph from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. The audience roared their approval.

The second half of the concert was turned over to songs from the choirs new album. Somewhere for me. After signing a recording deal with Universal Records in 2011, the company recorded but did not release their first album last year. The choir have released it themselves and it is simply stunning.

My favourite performances on the night were Hurt by Trent Reznor, the albums title track, Somewhere for me by Thea Gilmore and God loves everyone by Ronald Eldon Sexsmith. Other tracks performed included: The Last Goodbye by The Enemy, A heart needs a home by Richard Thompson and the lovely arrangement of Playgrounds and City Parks by Ian McCulloch.

The Actually choir are expertly directed by Jason Pimblett who produces many of their arrangements and has trained them into an impressive and musical vocal machine. They can do loud, they can do quiet, they can do soft, they can do hard, but most importantly they have the ability to communicate their love of music to their audience. I have heard them sing many times over the years. This was the best sound I have heard them achieve and it was perfectly suited and enhanced by the majestic surroundings of St Mary’s Curch.

For more information about the Actually Gay Men’s Chorus: click here:

For more information about Protech Productions, click here:

THT joins in the fun at Eastbourne pyjama party

Posted on 26/02/2013 by Besi

Fonda Cox and THT volunteer Neil Stevens

Staff and volunteers from HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) were at The Hart pub’s ‘Ultimate Pyjama Party’ on Saturday, February 23 to promote safer sex. Around 100 guests were dressed in pyjamas, dressing gowns and onesies for the night, while members of the charity’s Eastbourne team also attended to hand out free, glow in the dark condoms and promote local sexual health services.

Mixed sex wards eradicated in Brighton

Posted on 26/02/201326/02/2013 by Besi

Since November 2010 the Government has been naming, shaming and fining hospitals if patients are placed in mixed-sex wards.

Three years ago within Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust region the number of people placed in mixed sex accommodation was 377. Today it has fallen to zero.

Across the country the incidents of patients being placed in mixed sex accommodation has fallen by 97 per cent.

Simon Kirby MP for Kemptown and Peacehaven constituency has welcomed the progress made.

He said:

“It is fantastic news that mixed sex wards in Brighton have been eradicated. When people are ill and feeling vulnerable the last thing they need is to feel like their privacy is being invaded and I know that the Government’s action to stop that happening is very much appreciated by my constituents.”

Turkish Cypriots slow to repeal gay ban

Posted on 26/02/2013 by Besi

The EU Commissioner for Enlargement Štefan Füle has refused a Conservative MEP’s request to suspend human rights funding to the Turkish Cypriot community following slow progress on the repeal of the ban on homosexuality in the northern part of Cyprus.

The current law on homosexuality in the northern part of the island dates back to British colonial times and has never been repealed or amended, despite of the fact that homosexuality is no longer illegal in Turkey or the Republic of Cyprus.

Marina Yannakoudakis, who is a member of the European Parliament’s High-Level Contact Group for Relations with the Turkish Cypriot Community, has been lobbying Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Derviş Eroğlu to repeal the ban. Last month she wrote to the Commissioner calling on him to put more pressure on the north of the island including by withholding financial assistance to the Turkish Cypriot Community in the field of human rights.

EU-funded experts have been involved in preparing a draft of a law which includes an abrogation of articles 171-174 thereby repealing the ban on homosexuality. The draft has been ready since October last year but has not yet been set before the legislature.

Marina said:

“I welcome the EU’s efforts to fund amendments to this outdated and discriminatory law, but the Turkish Cypriot Community needs to realise that EU taxpayers – to say nothing of the north’s LGBT community – deserve deeds not words.

“To ensure that EU aid is used effectively in the northern part of Cyprus, the Commission must ensure progress. And if this means withholding assistance then so be it.”

Commissioner Füle in his reply to Mrs. Yannakoudakis said that he:

“Will obviously continue underlining the importance of urgently repealing the criminalisation of homosexuality” but rejected the Conservative MEPs proposal to stop aid saying that it “would deprive Turkish Cypriots, who are EU citizens, of a concrete token of our European solidarity.”

Emergence of untreatable gonorrhoea in England and Wales

Posted on 26/02/201326/02/2013 by Besi

The first Gonorrhoea Resistance Action Plan for England and Wales has been published, and recommends a heightened national response to combating the serious threat posed by the emergence of untreatable gonorrhoea.

The Action Plan was developed by the Gonococcal Resistance to Antimicrobials Surveillance Programme (GRASP), established by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to monitor the growing global problem of emerging resistance over the last decade in the absence of new therapeutic options.

Gonorrhoea is the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) in England. In 2011, new diagnoses rose to nearly 21,000, jumping 25 per cent in one year. Over a third of cases were in men who have sex with men, up from around a quarter in 2010. GRASP 2011 data suggest that up to third of reported cases were repeat gonorrhoea infections.

Professor Cathy Ison, lead author of the GRASP Action Plan, HPA, said:

“Ensuring treatment resistant gonorrhoea strains do not persist and spread remains a major public health concern. The GRASP Action Plan raises awareness of this important issue and sets out practical, measurable actions to extend the useful life of the current recommended therapies in England and Wales.”

In England and Wales, the risk of gonorrhoea resistance developing in current first-line therapies (ceftriaxone and azithromycin) fell slightly for the first time in five years in 2011. However, cases of treatment failure have now been reported globally and, with no new antimicrobial agents in the pipeline, England’s Chief Medical Officer recently advised government to add the threat of infection resistance to frontline antibiotics to the civil emergencies risk register.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer, said:

“We have seen a worrying rise in cases of drug resistant gonorrhoea over the last decade. Antimicrobial resistance to common drugs will increasingly threaten our ability to tackle infections and the Health Protection Agency’s work is vital to addressing this threat. As Chief Medical Officer, and with the Department of Health, I am supporting the work of the HPA with my forthcoming annual report Volume Two, which focuses on infections and antimicrobial resistance, and the Department’s new UK five year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy and Action Plan.”

The GRASP Action Plan supports the public health control of gonorrhoea, and gonorrhoea resistance, by providing guidance on robust and timely data collection, rapid detection of treatment failures, adherence to management guidelines, and actions to reduce gonorrhoea transmission.

Dr Gwenda Hughes, head of STI surveillance at the HPA, said:

“We are seriously concerned about continuing high levels of gonorrhoea transmission and repeat infection, suggesting we need to do more to reduce unsafe sexual behaviour. The GRASP Action Plan advocates comprehensive health promotion programmes to encourage safer sexual behaviour, particularly in higher risk groups such as men who have sex with men, alongside maintaining good access to STI screening and sexual health services.”

Paul Ward, Deputy Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said:

“The emergence of drug-resistant gonorrhoea poses a very real threat to the gay community, which already has a worryingly high level of infection. It is vital that men are aware of the risks and armed with the knowledge to protect themselves and their partners. Condoms are the best protection against gonorrhoea. However, men can carry the infection without being aware and even those who believe they have been safe might have been at risk, particularly through oral sex. Having gonorrhoea also makes it far easier to pick up or pass on HIV. This is why we recommend gay and bisexual men go for a sexual health check up at least once every six months if they are having sex with new or casual partners.”