29/05/2015 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Conservatives seek urgent review of traveller protocol

Posted on 29/05/2015 by Sarah Green

Brighton and Hove Conservatives are calling for an urgent review of how the Council and Sussex Police deal with unauthorised traveller encampments.

THEIR action comes after a series of high profile incursions on to sensitive sites in the city.

Conservative Group Leader, Cllr. Geoffrey Theobald, has written to the Council’s Chief Executive, asking for the matter to be debated at the next Policy & Resources Committee meeting on June 11.

In his letter, Cllr. Theobald cites the recent examples of encampments on the Burial Ground at Woodingdean, St. Helen’s Green in Hangleton, Withdean Park and Hollingbury Park. In Hollingbury Park, travellers have twice now vandalised a chalk wildflower/butterfly bank which is maintained by local volunteers.

Cllr. Theobald said: “I am calling on the new Council Leader to put this issue at the top of his in-tray. I want to see an urgent review carried out, with Sussex Police, into how we can get a much more rapid response to incursions on our sensitive parks, gardens and playing fields. There are clear cases of criminal damage to public property yet nobody is being held accountable. I suggested, a couple of months ago that officers look at the use of injunctions, along the lines of those introduced by both Leeds and Harlow councils, as I believe these could stop encampments happening in the first place. The Leader of the Council must get to grips with this ahead of the busy Summer season otherwise community relations will continue to deteriorate, and the considerable costs to the council tax payer will rise still further.”

LGBTI equality and the next Scottish election

Posted on 29/05/2015 by Besi

The Equality Network, Scotland’s national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality and human rights charity, launches its Scottish Parliament election LGBTI equality priorities consultation.

THE survey, which the charity conducts in the run-up to every Scottish Parliament election, asks LGBTI people in Scotland which equality issues they would like to see the political parties address in their election manifestos and what measures they would like to see taken by the next Scottish Government.

The charity’s previous consultation, run before the last Scottish Parliament election in May 2011, found that passing equal marriage legislation was by far the number one priority for LGBTI people in Scotland.

As a result of the consultation and sustained campaigning, four of the five main Scottish political parties made election manifesto commitments on same-sex marriage in 2011, and the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 was eventually passed in February last year.

The Equality Network says that it anticipates hundreds of LGBTI people in Scotland will respond to the consultation, and hopes that Scotland’s political parties will consider the results when deciding their election pledges for 2016.

The next Scottish Parliament election will take place in May 2016.

Tom French, Policy and Public Affairs Coordinator for the Equality Network, said: “The next Scottish Parliament election could have a significant impact on the progress of LGBTI equality in Scotland for years to come, with the next Scottish Government and Parliament deciding laws, policies and expenditure in a range of areas that will affect LGBTI people; from transgender and intersex rights legislation, to efforts to tackle hate crime, bullying in schools and other forms of discrimination. Over the past 15 years the Scottish Parliament has had a transformative impact on LGBTI rights in Scotland, from the repeal of Section 28 in 2000 to the first same-sex marriages in 2014. While we’ve come a long way, we also know that there is much still to do before LGBTI people experience full equality in their everyday lives, and we hope that people will use this opportunity to tell us their priorities for the future of LGBTI equality in Scotland.”

To fill in the survey which will run until July 2015, click here: