08/10/2014 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Making your money work

Posted on 08/10/201409/10/2014 by Besi

Brighton and Hove Council launches free money advice service for residents called Moneyworks.

THE SERVICE is designed to help the most vulnerable in the city deal with debt, manage money better, and avoid unscrupulous loan sharks.

A range of local agencies are involved, including Money Advice and Community Support (MACS) which has brought in £670,000 of financial benefits to tenants. The service has helped hundreds of Brighton and Hove council tenants with unclaimed or additional benefits, charitable payments, savings on household bills and write-off or rescheduling of some debts.

Paul (not his real name) benefited from the MACS service.

He said: “They did a lot. I’m happy I went along to the appointment. It took a lot of persuading to get me to go, but I am glad I did. Your help was very quick and you helped me to help myself again.”

Moneyworks Partnership spokesperson Paul Sweeting, added: “The cost of living has increased greatly over the last few years and many of our residents are really starting to feel the strain. We are now in a position to offer real practical help.”

Councillor Bill Randall, Chair of Housing for Brighton and Hove City Council, said: “This partnership of local agencies offers a real alternative to payday loans and the crippling interest rates that go with them. When Universal Credit is introduced thousands of people will be paying council tax for the first time and having to budget a month ahead rather than a week. They will also need to open and use a bank account for the first time.

Everything will be online which is going to prove very problematic for those who do not own computers or know how to access them. Moneyworks has a range of our best education providers across the city who will be running IT skills training and offering free computer access.”

Residents can get advice on a range of money issues by calling the Moneyworks Advice Line on 01273 809288 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday or from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday.

The partnership is currently finalising details of drop-in sessions that will run across the city.

For more details, CLICK HERE:

Brighton and Hove food crisis!

Posted on 08/10/201410/10/2014 by Besi

Demand for food banks has increased from two to eleven in the last two years.

A NEW REPORT set for approval by Brighton and Hove City Council sets out the worsening food crisis in Brighton and Hove. Changes to the welfare system have resulted in the number of food banks needed in the city increasing from two to 11 in the last two years, with two more set to open imminently.

Emma Daniel, Labour Councillor for Hanover and Elm Grove, said: “The existing schemes to alleviate the food crisis are well-meaning but inadequate for the needs of the people. Brighton and Hove as well as the government are failing residents in need. It is clear that the government’s benefits cuts have forced countless families in Brighton and Hove to rely on food banks. The food banks were not designed to cope with such huge demand and the system is bursting at the seams. Ordinary working people have to rely on food banks now. The food banks’ capacity is limited and they only work through referrals. The food crisis is very real and is resulting in malnutrition both for adults and children.”

“I regularly come across mothers who I can see are clearly not eating enough and look malnourished. Free school meals help their children, but it is painful to see that they are struggling to afford food for themselves.”

“We can all help by donating food to food bank collection points around Brighton and Hove. I would like to see many more collection points opened so that more people are able to contribute to help. I am going to write to the biggest Lewes Road supermarkets and ask them to set up permanent food bank collection points.”

At the moment, the government does not record statistics on the use of food banks. The Trussell Trust, a charitable organisation that provides emergency food parcels, has built statistics on the use of food banks.

In fiscal year 2013/2014, the Trussell Trust provided help to 91,974 people in the South-East. This is up from 44,951 in the previous fiscal year – an increase of 105 per cent in just one year.

The Brighton and Hove Labour Group has made a commitment to set up a Fairness Commission if elected at the local elections in May 2015. The Commission will look into tackling the growing poverty and inequality in Brighton & Hove. The commission will be independently chaired, funded from within existing budgets and report within a year.

Pioneering LGBT rights organisation marks 50th anniversary

Posted on 08/10/201410/10/2014 by Besi

Today, October 7 in 1964 was the first meeting of The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), a democratic voluntary organisation founded in 1964 as the North Western Committee for Homosexual Law Reform (NWHLRC) in Manchester.

TODAY in Manchester, The Lesbian & Gay Foundation (LGF) organised a tribute and celebration in honour of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the modern lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) rights movement, recognising the formation of The North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee (NWHLRC) and later The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE).

LGF have worked with The Diocese of Manchester to establish a special commemorative plaque at Church House on Deansgate in the city centre, marking the very first meetings of NWHLRC/CHE on October 7, 1964.

The plaque, also supported by Manchester City Council, was unveiled this afternoon, followed by an afternoon tea in the presence of The Lord Mayor of Manchester at Manchester Town Hall.

This evening, LGF’s annual Homo Heroes Awards ceremony will be held at a city centre hotel in Manchester to mark the 50th Anniversary of CHE. The awards, supported by Barclays, are now in their fourth year and provide an opportunity to celebrate those people that have made a difference to the lives of people in LGBT communities.

Paul Martin OBE, Chief Executive of the Lesbian and Gay Foundation, said: “Many people know a little about LGBT history from the decriminalisation of male homosexuality in 1967 but there is a story that goes back much further, one that Manchester and the North West played a key part in. The men and women behind CHE have made huge steps forward in fighting for LGBT rights for over half a century and we are delighted that representatives from CHE, who still have an important voice in campaigning for equality and respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people, will be attending the commemorations of this historic date in the LGBT calendar.”

Peter Tatchell, Patron of the Lesbian and Gay Foundation, LGBTI and human rights campaigner, added: “The North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee was Britain’s first grassroots gay rights organisation. Led by openly gay people such as Allan Horsfall, it organised one of the early gay law reform public meetings in the UK. Held in Manchester on 7 October 1964, it urged the decriminalisation of homosexuality. We celebrate the 50th anniversary of this meeting and salute the pioneers of the NWHLRC. They trailblazed for LGBTI freedom. We remember and honour them – with pride.”

Ross Burgess, representing CHE’s national Executive Committee, concluded: “This country has seen enormous changes since CHE’s foundation in 1964, when all sex between men was still illegal. CHE is proud to have played a great part in those changes, both by campaigning for law reform, and by organising a nationwide network of local groups that touched the lives of thousands of lesbian and gay people. We are greatly honoured by this recognition in Manchester, where it all started, and our only regret is that so many of the early pioneers, such as Allan Horsfall and Ray Gosling, are no longer here to celebrate with us.”

For more information, view: www.c-h-e.org.uk and www.lgf.org.uk/hero

REVIEW: Dominicanos by Ernest Montgomery

Posted on 08/10/201409/02/2017 by Eric Page

Dominicanos : Photobook

Ernest Montgomery

FOR MANY YEARS, Ernest Montgomery has invested some of his time to travel to and photograph the men of the Dominican Republic. This photo-book collects his most erotic works in one volume. These men are stunning, with bodies and faces to make your soul shudder with longing. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a photo-book with such a breathtaking variety of utterly handsome and lip-smacking sexy men.

Each and every page is a real treat for the eyes, not only because Montgomery has the knack of relaxing each of these stunning masculine gods but also because he managed to make their pictures show their astoundingly huge and muscled bodies off to the greatest advantage and keep some suggestion of them as individual men rather than as exotic eye-candy. It’s a rare photographer who goes in for this kind of glossy nude and manages to keep the man in the centre of the lens rather than his magnificent manhood. Montgomery gives these men our attention but also gives them a voice, so they look back at us, defiant, curious and resolute. His photographs not only draw attention to their sculptured forms but also let us pry into these men’s lives, past the vanity of the lens, of their need to be found beautiful, past our needs and the objectification of their bodies into something else, more knowing, more intelligent.

The preface is by bestselling author Terrance Dean, who explains the history of the Dominican Republic and also Montgomery’s photographic style and the history of his developing interest in the men there. “The Dominican Republic is sexy, seductive, engaging, and temperamental,” says Ernest. “This is where all my dreams are in colour.”

This is an exceptional book, full of 128 pages of full colour photographs of some astonishingly beautiful men in a Caribbean country almost as breathtakingly varied as the men who live there. If you fancy something with a little more class on your coffee table this autumn then this high-quality publication from Bruno Gmünder would stand out as something of interest to most men with a sophisticated interest in photography of the nude male form.

Do I gush, then? Yes, I gush, this is one of the best male nude photobooks I’ve had the pleasure to review in a while, and oh those butts!!

Recommended.

Out Now £40

Full Colour Hardback

For more information or to buy the book see the publisher’s website, CLICK HERE:

Julian Clary to host 2014 Stonewall Awards

Posted on 08/10/201410/10/2014 by Besi

The popular comedian will be hosting the annual Stonewall Awards at the Victoria and Albert Museum on November 6, which will also celebrate the charity’s 25th anniversary.

Julian Clary to host 2014 Stonewal Awards

STONEWALL has announced its final nominees ahead of the annual Stonewall Awards ceremony.

Lynne Featherstone MP and Lord Cashman are nominated as Politician of the Year for their longstanding support for equality, alongside Lord Fowler, who played a vital role as Health Secretary during the 1980s in raising public awareness of HIV and has since been a staunch advocate of equality, Kerry McCarthy MP, who has used her role as a Shadow Foreign Office Minister to champion LGBT equality, and Alex Neil MSP who deftly led the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill through the Scottish Parliament.

Nominees for Broadcast of the Year include the critically acclaimed film Pride, a heart-warming look at the unlikely alliance between gay activists and striking miners, long-running soap favourite Eastenders, which saw dad Danny Dyer support his gay son Johnny, and Netflix’s ground-breaking Orange is the New Black. BBC’s Rev and E4’s My Mad Fat Diary are also nominated for their sensitive portrayal of gay characters and issues.

Biscuit, a vibrant new online hub for bisexual women, is nominated as Publication of the Year alongside Buzzfeed, the i newspaper, the new and refreshed attitude.co.uk and Property Week, whose detailed look at homophobia in the world of property has earned them their nomination.

Matthew Cain’s Shot Through the Heart lands him a nomination for Writer of the Year alongside Armistead Maupin, who broke hearts across the world as he brought the Tales of the City series to a close with The Days of Anna Madrigal. Sarah Waters’ postwar page turner The Paying Guests, Neil Bartlett’s The Disappearance Boy and Veronica Roth’s Divergent series are also nominated.

Arsenal and England player Casey Stoney leads the nominees for Sports Award of the Year alongside Thomas Hitzlsperger, Michael Sam, Pride House and Stonewall FC.

Emmerdale’s Alicya Eyo is nominated as Entertainer of the Year alongside Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Hollyoaks’ Kieron Richardson, Sandi Toksvig, presenter of The News Quiz, and Russell Tovey.

Catherine Bosworth, Stonewall’s Director of Fundraising, said: “Julian Clary is an absolute national treasure and we’re delighted that he’ll be hosting this year’s Awards. He’s the perfect person to help us recognise some of the incredible talent in Britain and around the world who are improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people.”

The Stonewall Awards are supported by Bloomberg, E.ON, Google, Paddy Power and State Street.

To purchase tickets for the Stonewall Awards on November 6, CLICK HERE:

Full list of nominees:

Hero of the Year:

• Vicky Beeching

• Tom Daley

• Pepe Julian Onziema

• Ellen Page

• Tim Sigsworth

Publication of the Year:

• attitude.co.uk

• Biscuit

• Buzzfeed

• i

• Property Week

Politician of the Year:

• Lord Cashman

• Lynne Featherstone MP

• Lord Fowler

• Kerry McCarthy MP

• Alex Neil MSP

Writer of the Year:

• Neil Bartlett, The Disappearance Boy

• Matthew Cain, Shot Through the Heart

• Armistead Maupin, The Days of Anna Madrigal

• Veronica Roth, Divergent series

• Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests

Entertainer of the Year:

• Alicya Eyo

• Debbie Harry

• Kieron Richardson

• Sandi Toksvig

• Russell Tovey

Sports Award of the Year:

• Thomas Hitzlsperger

• Pride House

• Michael Sam

• Casey Stoney

• Stonewall FC

Journalist of the Year:

• Ade Adepitan – Unreported World: Jamaica’s Underground Gays

• Jane Hill – BBC

• Liz MacKean – Dispatches: Hunted

• Partick McAleenan – Daily Telegraph

• Paul Thorn – GT columnist

Broadcast of the Year:

• EastEnders, BBC

• Pride

• Rev, BBC

• My Mad Fat Diary, E4

• Orange is the New Black, Netflix

Advert of the Year:

• London LGBT+ Community Pride / Barclays – #FreedomTo campaign

• Cornetto – Love Stories

• Moss Bros

• Spotify – Can’t Find the Words?

• Southbank Centre – Festival of Love

Judges:

Baroness Barker

Charlie Condou

Jonathan Harvey

Paris Lees

Doctor Ranj

IBM named world’s most ‘gay-friendly’ company

Posted on 08/10/201410/10/2014 by Besi

The computer giant IBM has been named this year’s most Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)-inclusive employer in the world by Amsterdam-based Workplace Pride Foundation.

The announcement is the result of the Foundation’s Global Benchmark survey in which major international employers were scored for their LGBT workplace inclusion policies and practices around the world.

Nineteen major employers representing over 1.9 million employees in over 96 countries worldwide took part in the survey, which participants completed themselves. Participants scored reasonably well on creating LGBT-inclusive policies and communication.

However, actual support for implementation, the measuring of progress and the involvement with LGBT suppliers and clients leaves much to be desired.

Top 5 employers as scored against the 100% of the Global Benchmark include:

1. IBM (USA):86%, 2. Dow Chemical: (USA) 80%, 3. BNP Paribas: (France) 76%, 4. Shell: (Netherlands) 73%, 5. Cisco Systems (USA) 67%

The Global Benchmark has been developed over the past two years under the leadership of Workplace Pride and with the support of the University of Leiden and major employers from several different countries. The Benchmark represents the ideal of LGBT workplace inclusion on an international scale and was designed primarily for use by multinationals. Its purpose is to provide management data to measure, and thereby improve, LGBT workplace inclusion in their organisations, wherever they are. However, employers active in only one country can also take part in the survey. With the data from the Benchmark survey, even change on a national scale becomes measurable.

The Global Benchmark survey was divided into 7 sections dealing with LGBT workplace inclusion. The results, below, are followed by the average score for all participants in each section.

• Policy and Communication 66%

• Employee Networks 53 %

• Inclusion and Engagement 50%

• Workplace Awareness 47%

• Support and Benefits 35%

• Expertise and Monitoring 30%

• Business and Supplier Engagement 26%

The Global Benchmark also included a sector breakdown. This shows that the IT and Technical Services, with 71%, and the Energy & Utilities sectors, with 64%, are the most LGBT inclusive sectors. Finance and the public sector were on the lower end with 51% and 34% respectively.

Best practices among survey participants include:

• LGBT explanatory leaflets in employee paychecks

• Assigning a global LGBT program manager

• Covering transgenders in employee health plans

• Developing global straight ally programs and

• Requiring suppliers to have LGBT friendly policies

The Global Benchmark methodology takes into account:

• Applicability of LGBT-friendly policies based upon national legal frameworks;

• Countries in which at least 5% of the participants’ employees were located, and;

• The size of the organisation by number of employees.

The Global Benchmark is designed as an annually recurring survey that allows participants to track their progress. Top-5 scoring organizations are given the Global Benchmark Endorsement.

Partners for the Global Benchmark include: COC (Netherlands), PrOut@work (Germany), L’Autre Cercle (France), PrideInDiversity (Australia) and EDGE (Italy).

New hope for Brighton mum

Posted on 08/10/201410/10/2014 by Besi

A search for a stem cell donor is back on to help local mother Nikki Braterman.

MUM OF two from Brighton, Nikki Braterman, has been offered new hope following a consultation with cancer specialists at the Royal Marsden hospital in London.

In a statement released on Monday, her husband Geoff Braterman said: “Following a consultation at the Royal Marsden a new request has been put through to Anthony Nolan to search donor registers, not just in the UK but internationally, to find the best donor for Nikki. The plan will be to go ahead with a transplant as soon as it is safe to do so; the exact timing will depend on how Nikki responds to the current treatment plan to get the leukaemia in her central nervous system under control.”

The family now want to step up the campaign, which met with a huge response when originally announced, receiving over 250,000 website views in the first week.

Mr Braterman continued: “Because of Nikki’s mixed ethnic heritage, we really need to go as far afield as possible as Nikki’s donor is most likely to be South or East Asian or mixed heritage themselves.

“We are keen to encourage everyone to register, as even if people are not a match for Nikki, they may be for someone else who is in need, and people from BME and mixed race backgrounds the world over face more difficulties in finding a good bone marrow donor match.”

Nikki added: “The past few weeks have been a roller coaster. I am all too aware that the nature of my disease and how it is progressing makes it very dangerous and difficult to treat.

“After seeing the clinicians at the Royal Marsden I have a new treatment plan and new hope that I may yet beat this disease. Whilst the immediate priority is chemotherapy and radiotherapy to control the leukaemia in my central nervous system, I will need a transplant. A Perfect Ten Match is the best chance I have to beat this cancer once and for all. Please sign up as a donor and please pass on news of our campaign. I have two young children and everything to live for.”

New musical director for Brighton Belles

Posted on 08/10/201410/10/2014 by Besi

Brighton Belles (Gay) Women’s Chorus have appointed Erika Schilsky as their new musical director.

THE BELLES were formed in 2013 by Deborah Wolf and Miranda Gunn. Following Miranda’s departure to pastures new, Nadia Bunker bravely took the Diva Wrangler role of musical director, but left this term to give birth to the choir’s first ‘Baby Belle’.

Not only is Erika a phenomenal director and voice coach, she is also a survivor. In 2012, she sustained a severe brain injury in a riding accident which left her in a coma and fighting for her life. Her remarkable spirit has seen her through her long recovery, where she has had to re-learn how to walk, talk, eat, even smile. She is still healing now.

Erika also runs the choral group Diversity Singers.

Deborah Wolf, chair of Brighton Belles, said: “The Belles are extremely excited and feel so lucky to have Erika. We only predict good things to come and have already learnt so much from her. We must have been the only choir ever without a single member who can read music, but Erika has started to fix that already and is drawing so much out of us.”

The Brighton Belles (Women’s Chorus) meet from 7.30 to 9 p.m. every Monday evening at the Chapel of Royal Sussex County Hospital. No auditions required.

For more information about Brighton Belles, CLICK HERE:

British man released from Moroccan jail

Posted on 08/10/201410/10/2014 by Besi

A British trourist held in a Moroccan jail for allegedly committing homosexual acts likened the conditions in the jail to a “concentration camp” on his release yesterday.

RAY COLE, 69, was arrested on September 18 at a bus stop in Marrakech with local man, Jamal Jam Wald Nass, with whom he had struck up an online relationship over the previous months.

The Moroccan police allegedly found explicit images on their mobile phones providing evidence of “homosexual acts”, which are illegal in Morocco, a predominantly Muslim country. The authorities then searched Mr Cole’s Facebook and email accounts for corroborating evidence.

An initial trial was adjourned because Mr Cole had neither legal representation nor a translator. However, he was eventually tried and found guilty of “homosexual acts” on October 2 and sentenced to four months in prison.

On Monday, Mr Cole’s son Adrian launched a campaign for his retired father’s release and set up an online petition. He was worried about his father’s health, which includes a history of heart problems and a stroke. He was also concerned with the conditions that Mr Cole was experiencing as he was forced to sleep on a concrete floor during his time in prison.

Adrian told the Guardian newspaper, following the decision to release Mr Cole: “It’s all happened much quicker than we could have ever hoped. I just received a call from the consulate saying he is about to board a British Airways flight to London.

“We are incredibly relieved. It seems as though the authorities there responded to the fact that we had gone through all the proper channels, lodging an appeal and working with the ambassador.”

A statement released by the family yesterday confirmed that Cole was boarding a flight from Marrakech to Gatwick.

It said:“We would like to thank everyone here and in Morocco who has helped our campaign to secure the release of our wonderful father. And we would like to thank the Moroccan authorities for showing clemency and compassion.”

On his arrival at Gatwick last night, Tuesday, October 7, Cole said his experience had been a “total nightmare”.

He said: “I am so relieved, I can’t tell you. I never thought I was going to get out.

When asked what was it like in prison, he said: “You would not believe, it’s horrendous, it’s not a prison, it’s a concentration camp, people are in there from the age of 10 to their 80s and 90s for nothing. It was a total nightmare. I have seen things that I thought never existed.”

Cole, who is on conditional release, confirmed he would not be going back to Morocco.

There is no news of the whereabouts of Cole’s Moroccan friend Jamal Jam Wald Nass.

Call us now

Day: October 8, 2014

Making your money work

Brighton and Hove Council launches free money advice service for residents called Moneyworks.

Brighton and Hove food crisis!

Demand for food banks has increased from two to eleven in the last two years.

Pioneering LGBT rights organisation marks 50th anniversary

Today, October 7 in 1964 was the first meeting of The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), a democratic voluntary organisation founded in 1964 as the North Western Committee for Homosexual Law Reform (NWHLRC) in Manchester.

REVIEW: Dominicanos by Ernest Montgomery

Julian Clary to host 2014 Stonewall Awards

The popular comedian will be hosting the annual Stonewall Awards at the Victoria and Albert Museum on November 6, which will also celebrate the charity’s 25th anniversary.

IBM named world’s most ‘gay-friendly’ company

The computer giant IBM has been named this year’s most Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)-inclusive employer in the world by Amsterdam-based Workplace Pride Foundation.

New hope for Brighton mum

A search for a stem cell donor is back on to help local mother Nikki Braterman.

New musical director for Brighton Belles

Brighton Belles (Gay) Women’s Chorus have appointed Erika Schilsky as their new musical director.

British man released from Moroccan jail

A British trourist held in a Moroccan jail for allegedly committing homosexual acts likened the conditions in the jail to a “concentration camp” on his release yesterday.

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Call us now

Brighton and Hove Council launches free money advice service for residents called Moneyworks.

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Demand for food banks has increased from two to eleven in the last two years.

Share this:

Today, October 7 in 1964 was the first meeting of The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), a democratic voluntary organisation founded in 1964 as the North Western Committee for Homosexual Law Reform (NWHLRC) in Manchester.

Share this:

Share this:

The popular comedian will be hosting the annual Stonewall Awards at the Victoria and Albert Museum on November 6, which will also celebrate the charity’s 25th anniversary.

Share this:

The computer giant IBM has been named this year’s most Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)-inclusive employer in the world by Amsterdam-based Workplace Pride Foundation.

Share this:

A search for a stem cell donor is back on to help local mother Nikki Braterman.

Share this:

Brighton Belles (Gay) Women’s Chorus have appointed Erika Schilsky as their new musical director.

Share this:

A British trourist held in a Moroccan jail for allegedly committing homosexual acts likened the conditions in the jail to a “concentration camp” on his release yesterday.

Share this:

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