13/05/2015 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Sussex ME Society celebrate an extra special awareness week

Posted on 13/05/201513/05/2015 by Besi

The Brighton-based Sussex ME Society is marking a special anniversary this week, which coincides with the annual national ME Awareness Week.

THIS week is the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a specialist ME NHS service in Sussex.

Coinciding with national ME Awareness Week which runs from May 11 – 27, it is a decade since the opening of the much-needed resource.

As a county Sussex has dealt with more referrals than any other local NHS ME service in the UK.

The Sussex ME Society enjoys a good working relationship with the local NHS Sussex ME/CFS Service team, which continues to receive 40 referrals per month.

The illness-management courses offered by the service staff are popular among many patients, helping them to learn how to manage the unseen illness as effectively as possible.

As well as providing these courses, the service team have also taken part in GP training at Sussex County Hospital.

David Butler of the ME Society says: “Even though they do not have all the answers to this complicated chronic illness, the NHS service is helping many towards improved health.”

The specialist centre was set up following a survey conducted in 1999 amongst people affected by Myalgic Encephalopathy or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The evidence from this survey, along with that of GPs across Sussex identified the need for a specialist NHS service to be established. The service was eventually set up in the Spring of 2005 and has since dealt with over 4,000 referrals.

The organisation has gone on to attend dozens of meetings with Sussex Primary Care Trust officers, who planned the service and successfully applied for a share of £8.5m made available at that time by the Department of Health, for this kind of specialist UK centre. The multidisciplinary specialist team includes a specialist doctor, occupational therapists and physiotherapists along with a psychologist and administrator.

For more information about ME Sussex, click here:

University appoints Professor of Human Geography

Posted on 13/05/201513/05/2015 by Besi

The University of Brighton has appointed Katherine Browne as Professor of Human Geography, specialising in space, gender and sexuality.

Professor Browne’s appointment is in recognition of extensive work in the geographies of sexualities and LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and/or Queer) lives, in the Global North and mainly the UK and North America.

Professor Browne received the Gill Memorial Award in 2007 from the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers in recognition of contributions to Geographies of Sexualities, and in 2012 she was presented with the Jan Monk Award from the Association of American Geographers to recognise her contributions to gender geographies.

She has chaired the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers’ Space, Sexualities and Queer Research Group (2006-2009), an international agenda-setting group leading research and debate into sexualities, gender and geographies.

Professor Browne said: “This award says a lot to, and about, local LGBTQ communities and those working on LGBTQ issues in the public sector. It demonstrates that the University of Brighton values and respects the LGBTQ work that they have helped to create.

“Working with LGBTQ people, service providers and others in the Count Me In Too project will always be a highlight of my career. I have had the privilege of collaborating with amazing activists, who taught me more than I could ever have imagined. We saw things change because of the research, in terms of policy, service provision, and perhaps most importantly how consultations happen in meaningful ways with LGBTQ communities. This was something that I am immensely proud of, but also humbled and honoured to be a part of.

“Brighton’s mission to work in ways that are socially engaged, applicable to the real world and making a difference has been very important to me. The work that Community University Partnership Programme does and the ways this kind of research is not just supported but understood is central to the possibilities of working here. I really feel that the work I have done here wouldn’t have been possible elsewhere. I have been given time, space and freedom to explore with LGBTQ people what social change is needed, and to work with service providers and others to achieve this.”

Count Me In Too was an award-winning project that sought progress and social change for LGBT people in the South East Coastal area. The Universities of Brighton and Sussex worked together with Spectrum (an LGBT Community Forum that promoted partnership work, community engagement and community development) to ensure that the needs of the local LGBT people were met.

Charles Street are top of the class!

Posted on 13/05/201513/05/2015 by Graham Robson

The first Golden Handbag of the season went to Charles Street Bar last night when they were crowned the Brainiest Gays (LGBT) in the Village at the Golden Handbag Quiz.

BEAR Patrol for the third year running came second with the Gscene B team coming in third.

The Quiz was hosted by a sparkling Lola Lasagne who described the event as her “favourite gig of the season.”

Lola took on hecklers, drunks and airline logo nerds alike in an entertaining community event, that brought together 22 teams from the LGBT and HIV voluntary sector, clubs, bars, social network groups, a gay choir, the police, local shops and for the first time at the Golden Handbag Quiz, a team from Rainbow Families and Transtastic!

£550 pounds was raised from the entry fees paid by each team which will be distributed by the Rainbow Fund in their September, post-pride grants round.

James Ledward, editor of Gscene, said: “Many thanks to Chris Marshall and the staff at Charles Street for hosting the event, James Brooks and his trolly dollies, Huw Edward and Nicki Delmege, for creating the quiz and making it happen, Rupert Ellick for sound, Ian Andrew Mager-Playford for photographs and of course Lola Lasagne who was on top form.”

The final position of teams was:

1st – Charles Street: 56 out of 70 possible points
2nd – Bear Patrol/Beaver Patrol: 54/70
3rd – GScene B Team: 53/70
4th – Wilma’s Wonders: 52/70
5th – Peer Action: 51/70
6th – Subline: 49/70
7th – Marine Tavern: 48/70
8th – Rainbow Chorus: 47/70
9th – The Kitchenettes: (Lunch Positive) 45/70
10th – GScene A Team: 45/70
11th – Rainbow Families: 43/70
12th – Mind Out, Sussex Police: 43/70
13th – The Dinerettes: (Lunch Positive) 43/70
14th – Transtastic: 42/70
15th – Terrence Higgins Trust: 41/70
16th – Justin Lloyd Estate Agents: 41/70
17th – Legends: 40/70
18th – Queens Arms: 38/70
19th – LGBT Community Safety Forum: 33/70
20th – Merlin & Ellis: 33/70
21st – Revenge B Team: 22/70
22nd – Revenge A Team: 16/70

REVIEW: Fringe: Threesome

Posted on 13/05/201513/05/2015 by Eric Page

Review: Threesome

Theatre Box: Warren

Brighton Fringe

This new play examines the effects of changing the rules of engagement in a settled marriage played to a sold out house at the neat little Theatre Box over the weekend.

Chris Willoughby’s delightful and subtle performance as confused and bemused husband caught squarely in the middle of these shenanigans was both a surprise and one of my comic highlights so far of the fringe. The intimacy of the Theatre Box and the superb lighting also allowed the audience to see each frown and eye roll and allowed him to engage fully. Gemma Rook playing his wife with issues a plenty worked well and they came across as an engaging and slightly repressed couple but one that were believable. Chemistry is essential in a small tightly written play like this, that relies almost totally on the sharp staccato dialogue and this pair had it in abundance. April Pearson as the much younger lady chosen to add a little spice to their relationship who turns out to be more fiery than expected was a sultry, confident sexually experienced and sensually sly concoction, again convincingly seductive and remarkably playful too.

Whether as a response to some seriously good direction or just as they have a natural affinity for each other the end result was an intensely believable hour in the company of this trio of good actors. They managed to be a newbie swinger believable couple, a tarty torrid ‘trick’ for the night and then project the full fall out that too much drugs booze and miss-thought out ménage a trios can have on a couple.

The Theatre box was stuffed to the gills with an audience which roared with laughter, it’s rare to see audience this engaged from the off, the show was sold out and there’s no better accolade to a new play than to sell out and send the punters home happy! This was a great play, short, sharp and with a real undertow that belied its frothy indulgent and unoriginal premise although the ending felt a little rushed and oddly ‘convenient’. Small criticisms of an otherwise impressive piece of tight, well balanced writing and some seriously sparking dialogue.

Well done all round, the show is back for the Comedy Fringe later in the year.

Recommended!

For more information, click here:

Full details of the show here:

First LGBTQ Leadership Summit to be held in Israel this summer

Posted on 13/05/201513/05/2015 by Paul Gustafson

LGBTQ leaders from around the world are being invited to join their peers at the 40 Years of Pride conference in Tel Aviv from, June 9-11, 2015.

THE conference is organised by The Aguda, the National Israeli LGBT group which serves as a human rights organisation working to improve the lives of LGBT people, and A Wider Bridge, North America’s pro-Israel LGBTQ organisation.

The event aims to bring together a diverse group of LGBTQ leaders to inspire and strengthen each other, build skills and networks, and celebrate 40 years of LGBTQ progress in Israel. It will culminate with Tel Aviv Pride, a celebration that attracts 150,000 people from across the world.

Many nations and communities will be represented, with an array of religious and secular practices, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations and gender identities.

Arthur Slepian, Executive Director of A Wider Bridge, says: “A Wider Bridge and The Aguda are LGBTQ organizations that each see that part of our respective missions is to be an active player in the global LGBTQ struggle for equality. This conference is a vehicle to move that struggle forward in a positive way. We hope this conference leads to a framework for greater global collaboration. We are holding this conference in Israel because we believe the Israeli LGBTQ community has something important to add to the global conversation about LGBTQ rights.”

Topics on the agenda include:

· the role of religion and faith in the movement for LGBTQ equality

· LGBTQ legal activism across the globe

· the struggle for transgender rights and economic empowerment

· making our communities and schools a better place for LGBTQ teens

· the challenges faced by minorities within a country’s LGBTQ community

· what can we learn from the United States’ success with marriage equality?

Christophe Girard, Mayor of the Fourth Arrondissement of Paris, will be the opening keynote speaker, and Ed Murray, Mayor of Seattle, will deliver the closing keynote address.

Other speakers include Jennifer Pizer (Lambda Legal), Karine Jean-Pierre (Columbia University), Marsha Botzer (The Ingersoll Gender Center), Vincent Jones (Reinvent Communications), James Kirchick (The Daily Beast), Rev. Dr. Monica Corsaro (United Methodist Church), Alice Kessler (Equality California), Maria Federico-Moscati (Sussex School of Law), Frederick Hertz (Attorney and Mediator), Davis Mac-Iyalla (Nigerian LGBT activist), Brad Sears (The Williams Institute), and Vince Garcia (The Point Foundation).

Delegates will have the opportunity to travel to the historic city of Jerusalem to tour the Old City, visit Yad Vashem (the Holocaust memorial & museum), and meet with key Israeli policy makers and community leaders in the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament). There will also be a celebration featuring leading Israeli musical and artistic performances.

The conference will culminate with the Tel Aviv Pride celebration, which this year has transgender rights and visibility as its theme.

For further information and to register, click here:

Widespread support for Europe’s first permanent rainbow crossing in Devon

Posted on 13/05/2015 by Paul Gustafson

Proud2Be Project, the Devon-based LGBT community organisation, has received widespread support for its plans to install Europe’s first permanent rainbow crossing in the Rural Town of Totnes, Devon.

THE charity hopes the crossing will be a way of celebrating diversity in Totnes and raising awareness of issues still faced by LGBT+ people all over the world.

Proud2Be are also working closely with the council and other community groups to ensure that the crossing is safe for all and is not confusing for some groups of people, for example those with dementia or learning difficulties.

Last year, Proud2Be laid down a temporary crossing outside St Mary’s Church in the High Street, in the lead up to the second-ever Pride event in Totnes.

Although other cities, including London, Brighton and Sydney, have had temporary multi-coloured crossings, if plans are approved, Totnes will be the first in Europe to make it permanent, putting the town up there with Vancouver in Canada, which already has a permanent rainbow crossing.

Proud2Be has successfully obtained support from the town council and the Traffic & Transport Forum and in the next couple of weeks will approach Devon County Council with a proposal, asking for permission to proceed.

Jon Price, who set up Proud2Be with his twin brother Mat, said: “We have had a hugely positive response from the local and national press and the local LGBT and wider community have also been hugely supportive and excited by the proposal.”

The charity is asking people to help the campaign for the rainbow crossing. To pledge your support, click here:

Call us now

Day: May 13, 2015

Sussex ME Society celebrate an extra special awareness week

The Brighton-based Sussex ME Society is marking a special anniversary this week, which coincides with the annual national ME Awareness Week.

University appoints Professor of Human Geography

The University of Brighton has appointed Katherine Browne as Professor of Human Geography, specialising in space, gender and sexuality.

Charles Street are top of the class!

The first Golden Handbag of the season went to Charles Street Bar last night when they were crowned the Brainiest Gays (LGBT) in the Village at the Golden Handbag Quiz.

REVIEW: Fringe: Threesome

First LGBTQ Leadership Summit to be held in Israel this summer

LGBTQ leaders from around the world are being invited to join their peers at the 40 Years of Pride conference in Tel Aviv from, June 9-11, 2015.

Widespread support for Europe’s first permanent rainbow crossing in Devon

Proud2Be Project, the Devon-based LGBT community organisation, has received widespread support for its plans to install Europe’s first permanent rainbow crossing in the Rural Town of Totnes, Devon.

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Call us now

The Brighton-based Sussex ME Society is marking a special anniversary this week, which coincides with the annual national ME Awareness Week.

Share this:

The University of Brighton has appointed Katherine Browne as Professor of Human Geography, specialising in space, gender and sexuality.

Share this:

The first Golden Handbag of the season went to Charles Street Bar last night when they were crowned the Brainiest Gays (LGBT) in the Village at the Golden Handbag Quiz.

Share this:

Share this:

LGBTQ leaders from around the world are being invited to join their peers at the 40 Years of Pride conference in Tel Aviv from, June 9-11, 2015.

Share this:

Proud2Be Project, the Devon-based LGBT community organisation, has received widespread support for its plans to install Europe’s first permanent rainbow crossing in the Rural Town of Totnes, Devon.

Share this:

Latest News