19/10/2014 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

‘Are you a boy or are you a girl?’

Posted on 19/10/201419/10/2014 by Besi

Trans* activist Sarah Savage launches Kickstarter campaign to finance the printing and design of her first children’s book.

Sarah is a writer, transgender community advocate and a few years ago took part in the Channel 4 documentary series called My Transsexual Summer.

She said: “Are you a Boy or are you a Girl?’ is unlike any kind of children’s book you’ve seen before. With your help, we can talk gender creatively with confidence, and assist parents and teachers the world over.”

“This book will help you and your child explore and understand gender for themselves and others.

What makes this book unique is that the reader decides the gender of the main character. The book includes all forms of gender expression, and allows parents and children to begin to break down the barriers of gender and to talk about what different stereotypes and roles mean to them.

Sarah added: “Isn’t it time we stopped putting our children in pink and blue boxes?”

“Are we disadvantaging them by restricting equality to old-fashioned stereotypes of gender? This book is not just for children who may be gender variant, I have written it with everyone in mind in the hope of breaking down these outdated ideas of what it means to be a person living in twenty-first century society.

“I remember being 4 or 5 years old and already knowing that somehow I was different to the other children in my class. I was uncomfortable in my own skin but didn’t have the language skills to vocalise how I felt. It was a really confusing time for me and this could have been avoided if I’d had access to resources that helped me to articulate how I felt.

“Recently, I was at an event with quite a few children. One of them, aged about 5 years, came up to me and asked what my name was and whether I was a boy or a girl. I realised that this was a teaching opportunity, but afterwards I found myself wishing that there were more resources available that would introduce children to the idea that gender is theirs to decide, that it’s something to be explored and enjoyed, and something that is both honest and age appropriate.

“The problem with most of the books currently on sale for children is that they portray gender, something most of us know to be, in fact, quite flexible, as being fixed at birth. And yet at least 1 in 100 people are born gender variant in some way and for some, not being open about their true gender can lead to a lifetime of pain and suffering. Psychologically speaking, children need the space, freedom and encouragement to express themselves fully before they can grow into happy adults.”

Crafted for children roughly from pre-school to 7 years old, ‘Are You a Boy or are you a Girl’ will be a full-colour 32-page illustrated book giving parents, teachers and guardians the springboard to explore gender identity with children and help them to grow up to be more rounded, emotionally mature adults.

Sarah concluded: “I would love for this book to be in every school, nursery and library in the world so I’m working with a wonderful charity called Gendered Intelligence to create an educational resource pack to send to schools, to equip them with the tools they need to better educate children about gender.

“Your support will help to pay for the illustrations, the designer and to get it printed locally, which is important to me.”

“So if you have kids, know anyone who has kids, if you’re a big kid at heart, or if you just think that children should be told a new kind of story where they are accepted and loved for who they are, however they wish to express their gender, and want to help to tell a story that includes everybody, then I really hope that you’ll back my project.”

Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects. Project creators set a funding goal and deadline. If people like a project, they can pledge money to make it happen.

Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing — projects must reach their funding goals to receive any money, if they don’t make their goal, the backers get their money refunded.

For more information on Kickstarter, CLICK HERE:

To help Sarah publish her book, CLICK HERE:

Remembering India’s First World War soldiers in Brighton and Hove

Posted on 19/10/2014 by Besi

Dan Jarvis MP for Barnsley and a former Major in The Parachute regiment is the Labour Party’s lead for the centenary commemorations of the First World War.

ON FRIDAY, October 19 he visited the City’s India Gate at the south entrance to the Royal Pavilion Gardens, which commemorates more than 4,000 Indian wounded soldiers who were cared for in the Royal Pavilion between 1914 and 1916 on Friday, October 19.

He said: “The First World War changed Britain forever. It touched every family, shaped every community and fundamentally altered our country’s place in the world.

“In this important year of remembrance, we must never forget the contribution the millions of men from across the Commonwealth who weren’t born in Britain, but who came to fight for Britain in our country’s hour of need. More than one million Hindu, Muslim and Sikh soldiers came from the Indian subcontinent alone.

“I am pleased to have had the chance to visit the Indian Memorial Gateway – a gift from India unveiled in 1921 – which is dedicated not only to those soldiers but also to the people of Brighton. They welcomed and cared for more than 12,000 Indian servicemen in the Royal Pavilion, the Dome and in other local hospitals.

“It reminds us that the heroes of the First World War served on the home front as well as the front line, including the doctors and nurses who healed the sick and cared for the wounded.

“I am very pleased that the City will be holding an Act of Remembrance at the Gate this weekend to remember the service and sacrifice of the Indian soldiers who fought in the War. We must never forget this special connection with India.”

Brighton resident Purna Sen, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion, attended the memorial event today, Sunday 19.

She said: “We can all be proud of the way in which Brighton people welcomed and cared for these soldiers.

“And we can be proud of the way the City continues to remember those soldiers through exhibitions in the Royal Pavilion and elsewhere and through the Chattri memorial on the Downs above Patcham marking the place where over 50 Hindu and Sikh soldiers were cremated and where an annual memorial service is held. The India Gate and the Chattri are permanent reminders to us all of that link with the people of India.”

REVIEW: Briefs: The Second Coming

Posted on 19/10/201420/10/2014 by Michael Hootman

The acts in this cavalcade of burlesque come fast and furious: one moment a slimmed-down Divine lookalike and a bevy (I think that’s the right collective noun) of muscle boys are fan dancing to INXS, the next Evil Monkey Man is in your very lap thrusting his nether regions towards your poor, innocent face (memo to self: next time I go to see them, don’t sit in the front row). It’s as much fun as any show I’ve seen in years – they say they’re planning to visit Brighton in the near future so I’d warmly advise readers to pester them to make good on their promise.

Described by its compere as ‘a little bit of butch with a fuck load of camp on the side‘ the Australian troupe serve up a feast of incredible acrobatics, balancing acts, eye-dazzling costumes and a naughty schoolboy being slightly inappropriate with a banana. It’s all sweet-natured fun with even the drag compere being sharp-tongued without having a shred of cruelty. Some acts provoke gasps of amazement at feats of contortion, while others are hard not to admire for their sweetly innocent smut. Though it does have one gag – and reader, I nearly did – which might be a bad-taste special effect too far. By way of explanation we’re informed that ‘one traumatising experience is included in the ticket price’.

Too many highlights to list but I particularly liked a demented Nana Mouskouri, a man cavorting athletically in a birdbath, and yes, the handsome naughty schoolboy (though if the police are reading this, I liked it purely for the right reasons).

For more information, and to send a pestering email, click here.