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Scottish LGBTI Awards 2015 winners announced

Nicola Sturgeon MSP
Nicola Sturgeon MSP

First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon named Politician of the Year at first Scottish LGBTI Awards – other winners included Lorraine Kelly, the Gay Police Association, STV and Derek Ogg QC.

Four hundred guests, including the First Minister, leaders of the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish Greens, politicians, journalists, community groups and organisations from across the public and private spheres attended the inaugural Scottish LGBTI Awards ceremony at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow last night (September 10).

The awards celebrated people and groups who have made important contributions to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality and human rights in Scotland during the past year.

The red carpet event was hosted by comedienne Karen Dunbar and organised by the Equality Network, Scotland’s national LGBTI equality and human rights charity.

Scott Cuthbertson
Scott Cuthbertson

Scott Cuthbertson, of the Equality Network, said; “It was absolutely wonderful to be celebrating the achievements of Scotland’s LGBTI community at the first Scottish LGBTI Awards. The past year has been an amazing year for LGBTI equality so it was inspiring to celebrate how far we have come since decriminalisation in 1980 with so many supports and allies of equality while looking to the future and talking about the challenges LGBTI people still face.”

“Equality is won in inches and not in miles, so it was great to recognise and celebrate all the people working so hard in communities, workplaces, schools, services and in our Parliament, each contributing to huge progress and change for LGBTI people in recent years”

Winners across the fifteen categories and two special awards were:

♦ Politician of the Year: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – The politician who has contributed most to LGBTI equality and human rights in Scotland during the past year – sponsored by Scotland on Sunday

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said; “To receive the Politician of the Year Award is a massive honour.

“The last year has been momentous for Scotland and for the history of LGBTI equality with the introduction of one of the most progressive pieces of legislation in the world on same sex marriage. Since the legislation came into force, more than 1,200 same sex marriages have taken place in Scotland. This reaffirms that our nation is absolutely committed to the same rights for all our citizens. The introduction of same sex marriage in Scotland is proof of that commitment.

“The Scottish Government is working for a more equal society which values Scotland’s diverse communities and the important role they play in enriching Scotland socially, culturally and economically.”

Lorraine Kelly: Journalist of the Year
Lorraine Kelly: Journalist of the Year

♦ Journalist of the Year: Lorraine Kelly, journalist, ITV – Recognising the journalist that has made a significant contribution to LGBTI equality in Scotland – sponsored by Pink News.

Lorraine said; “I am so delighted to win this award would like to thank my fellow nominees who have done so much to help break down barriers.

“It was a fabulous evening.  Karen Dunbar was a hilarious and passionate host and it is always a joy to watch Horse performing. She’s just one of the best singer songwriters Scotland has ever produced. It’s really simple as far as I’m concerned. Everyone who comes on my show is treated exactly the same. I believe everyone is equal, everyone is of value and should have the chance to be themselves and to be happy. I don’t understand why anyone would object to two people wanting to get married, declare their love for each other and have a right good party. There’s still a one way to go but we are getting there.”

♦ Media Outlet of the Year: STV (News & The Riverside Show) – Recognising the media outlet that has made a significant contribution to LGBTI equality in Scotland.

♦ Event of the Year: The legalisation of same-sex marriage in Scotland – Recognising the best event which has increased equality, or raised awareness of LGBTI issues.

♦ Outstanding Campaigner Award: Mridul Wadhwa – The best individual campaigner who has worked for change or inclusion.

♦ Community Group of the Year: Ayrshire LGBTQ from Ayrshire – Recognising the LGBTI Community Group which has excelled in the past year – sponsored by Pride Glasgow.

♦ Culture Award: The Glasgay! Festival – Recognising outstanding LGBTI achievement and inclusion in the arts.

LGBT Unity Scotland
LGBT Unity Scotland

♦ Diversity Award: LGBT Unity Scotland – Recognising diversity in the LGBTI community and initiatives which have sought to involve diverse identities – sponsored by LGBT Youth Scotland.

♦ Equality Initiative of the Year: LGBT Health & Wellbeing Age Capacity Building Project – The award for the innovative Scottish campaign, initiative or action which has raised awareness or affected change.

♦ Public Body Initiative of the Year: Judicial Institute for Scotland – Our public services have huge influence on change here in Scotland. This award recognises their work – sponsored by UNISON Scotland.

Pride House Glasgow
Pride House Glasgow

♦ Sports Award: Pride House Glasgow – The individual, group or initiative which has sought to improve LGBTI inclusion in Scottish sport.

♦ Staff Network of the Year: Gay Police Association Scotland.

♦ Student Group of the Year: Glasgow University LGBTQ+ – Recognising Scotland’s outstanding LGBTI student group – sponsored by Humanist Society Scotland.

♦ Venue of the Year: The Waterloo Bar – The venue in Scotland which should be recognised for its services to LGBTI people and communities – sponsored by the Atholl Palace Hotel.

♦ Youth Group of the Year: Beyond Gender – This award recognises an outstanding youth group for their work.

♦ Lifetime Achievement Award: Derek Ogg

♦ Friend for Life: Anne and Joe Patrizio – Parents Enquiry Scotland

For a full list of winners and photographs, click here:

 

Green councillors to join ‘Kill the Bill’ Rally at TUC conference in Brighton

Green councillors on Brighton & Hove City Council will join hundreds of delegates in Brighton on Sunday at the TUC Congress to oppose the government’s Trade Union Bill.

Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty
Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty

If passed, the new anti-union laws would make official strikes much more difficult and give more advantages to employers while reducing democratic union rights.

Trade unions are calling for a mass demonstration outside Parliament in November when the 3rd and final reading of the Bill is planned and coordinated strike action if it becomes law as well as against the cuts and the pay cap.

Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty, Convenor of the Green Group of Councillors, said; “The latest proposed anti-union legislation from the Tories takes off from where Thatcher’s anti-union legislation left off – it seeks to annihilate the remaining rights workers have to take strike action. The TUC has complained to the United Nations International Labour Organisation that the legislation contravenes international law. 

“The new law is unbelievably punitive – it would mean it would become compulsory for unions to give two weeks’ notice if they intend to use a loudspeaker or carry a banner during a strike! Liberty, Amnesty International and the British Institute of Human Rights have already called the Bill a major attack on civil liberties. It is no coincidence that the latest attack on unions is happening as the Tories unfurl billions of pounds more public sector cuts.

“If this legislation is passed it means a worker’s right to take strike action to defend hard-won rights won’t apply. That will mean abuse and it will produce meaner and less productive workplaces.

“Greens are joining the protests and fringe meetings at TUC Congress and will continue to stand up for workers’ rights. We must kill off this pernicious bill.”

The event will take place in the Grand Hotel, 97-99 King’s Rd BN1 2FW (next to the Brighton conference Centre) from 1pm-3.30pm in the Charlotte Room.

Children with learning disabilities at risk of sexual exploitation

New research reveals children with learning disabilities are more vulnerable to sexual exploitation than other children, facing additional barriers to their protection and to receiving support.

WEB.600.40

This issue is particularly hidden because few children with learning disabilities meet high thresholds for support from services. There is also limited awareness that young people with learning disabilities are sexually exploited.

Unprotected, Overprotected reveals that significant numbers of children with learning disabilities are not being adequately protected from sexual exploitation because of the false perception that they do not need sex and relationships education or accessible information about how to keep safe online and in the community.

The research also reveals that significant numbers of children with learning disabilities are not being adequately protected due to a worrying lack of specialist services and a failure to implement existing national and local policies.

The report, which was commissioned by Comic Relief, and undertaken by Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society, British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD), Paradigm Research and Coventry University, calls on governments in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure that accessible and relevant sex and relationship education is made available to children and young people with learning disabilities.

The research highlights the need for more training for professionals and for services to work together to better prevent, identify and provide effective support for these children. Support for parents and awareness raising in the community is also crucial to making sure that children with learning disabilities are kept safe from sexual exploitation.

Javed Khan
Javed Khan

Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan, said; “No-one wants to believe a child with learning disabilities could ever be exploited in this way, but it is happening all over the UK.

“A lack of awareness of the needs of these vulnerable children is playing into the hands of perpetrators of sexual exploitation.

“Professionals working with children must get training to recognise the risks faced by children with learning disabilities and help them to stay safe.”

To read the report Unprotected, Overprotected, click here:

 

 

Help to Buy scheme to continue

New figures show that the Government’s Help to Buy scheme has helped 38 people buy their own home in Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven.

Simon Kirby MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven
Simon Kirby MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven

Help to Buy was introduced by the Conservatives to help working people saving for a deposit buy their own home. Across the country, Help to Buy has now enabled nearly 120,000 families to buy a new home less than three years after it was launched. 80 per cent of those helped are first-time buyers  and 95 per cent of completions have been outside of London.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has now said that the stronger economy and financial system means the Government expects banks to start to exit the Help to Buy Mortgage scheme, which was introduced in times of financial distress and will come to an end next year in any case.

The Help to Buy shared equity scheme will continue and the new Help to Buy ISA the Government is launching in December will provide generous support to those saving for their first home by providing a government boost on their deposit.

Simon said; “The Government is committed to helping working people achieve the aspiration of buying their own home and the Help to Buy scheme has now helped 38 families to buy their own home in Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven.

“Supporting people who want to work hard, save and buy their own home is a key part of the Conservative Government’s long term plan to provide economic security for working people at every stage of their life, across the UK.”

 

PREVIEW: Full Monty comes to Eastbourne

The stage adaptation of the iconic film The Full Monty comes to Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre on Monday 5 – Saturday, October 10.

Full Monty

The Full Monty, is about six out-of-work Sheffield steelworkers who decide to raise some cash by putting on a strip show. The film took the world by storm in 1997 and has become one of the most successful British movies ever made.

Now, the boys return, only this time, they really have to go The Full Monty…live on stage!

The Full Monty

The star-studded cast includes: Gary Lucy (Eastenders, Footballer’s Wives, Hollyoaks, The Bill) as Gaz; Andrew Dunn (best known as Tony in Dinnerladies and Alistair Campbell on Bremner, Bird and Fortune) as Gerald and Louis Emerick (Brookside, Last Of The Summer Wine) as Horse.

Martin Miller continues the line up as Dave (recent credits include Hitchcock in the New York production of The Lovesong Of Alfred J Hitchcock), Bobby Schofield makes his stage debut as Lomper and Rupert Hill (Jamie Baldwin in Coronation Street) is Guy.

The production features many of the popular songs from the film by Donna Summer, Hot Chocolate and Tom Jones.

Simon Beaufoy, the Oscar winning writer of the film, has gone all the way with this adaptation that’s getting standing ovations every night. The Full Monty is Simon’s first work for the theatre. His screen credits include winning the Bafta for The Full Monty, 127 Hours, Salmon Fishing in Yemen, Slumdog Millionaire and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

You can catch The Full Monty and watch as Gaz, Gerald, Horse, Dave, Lomper and Guy shed their inhibitions (amongst other things) at The Congress Theatre from 5-10 October 5-10.


Event: The Full Monty

Where: Congress Theatre, Carlisle Rd, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN21

When: Monday 5 – Saturday October 10

Times: Evenings at 7.30pm with matinee’s at 2.30pm on Thursday and Saturday

Tickets: from £14.50 – £29.50

To book online, click here:

Or telephone: 01323 412000

 

Gary Lucy
Gary Lucy

 

 

Latest issue of The Pink Humanist ready to download

Pink HumanistThe latest issue of The Pink Humanist, the quarterly magazine published by the UK charity the Pink Triangle Trust is now available to read on-line.

The issue coincides with a root-and-branch makeover of the website.

Readers can now access articles in three ways:

♦ by reading the magazine itself online

♦ by downloading it as a pdf document, or

♦ by accessing individual articles on the home page.

To download as a pdf document, go to Archived Issues then Back Issues and put the cursor on any cover. In the top left corner you will see click here to download pdf.

The latest issue introduces a new influential patron to the Pink Triangle Trust, Sophie in ’t Veld, MEP, a vocal champion of LGBT rights and an outspoken European secularist.

Other items include Stuart Hartill’s report of Peter Tatchell’s recent visit to the Isle of Man where he urged politicians to stop dragging their feet over an equality bill; news of a new documentary exposing the hateful activities of  Western evangelicals in Uganda and a profile of ABBA’s  Björn Ulvaeus, now a leading Swedish humanist.

In Allen Ginsberg, my hero The Pink Humanist editor Barry Duke tells how the American beat poet set him on a lifelong mission to combat censorship, and Brett Humphreys’ review of Amiable Warriors details how Peter Scott-Presland set about writing a history of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE).

Diesel Balaam’s review of The Holy Mark makes for compelling reading, as does the late Geoffrey Palmer’s piece “You don’t have to be sad to be gay”, written when he was 92.

To read the latest and past issues of The Pink Humanist, click here:

PREVIEW: John Napier: Stages Beyond the Fourth Wall

Multi award-winning set and costume designer John Napier brings theatre and art together in a new exhibition at the Towner.

WEB.600The multi award-winning set and costume designer John Napier is to present his first major exhibition Stages at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne in November 2015.

Napier’s innovation and distinctive designs are responsible for some of the most iconic theatre productions: the horses in Equus; the barricades in Les Misérables; the helicopter in Miss Saigon; the outsize junkyard in Cats; and of course Starlight Express.

Equus Head
Equus Head

Stages encompasses these theatre achievements alongside Napier’s artworks. The collection includes costume designs, 3-dimensional pieces based on his theatre work, and sculptures which have been created in parallel with his career.

Napier, who studied fine art at the Hornsey College of Art in the 1960’s, has had a lifelong passion for art and creativity. He studied under the influential designer Ralph Koltai at Central School and his career led him to create sets and costume designs for some of the longest running shows in London’s West End and on Broadway.

BIGWOLF
BIGWOLF

Napier is an Associate Designer at the Royal Shakespeare Company and notable productions for them have included Macbeth, The Comedy of Errors, King Lear, Once in a Lifetime, The Greeks, Nicholas Nickleby, Hedda Gabler, Peter Pan and Mother Courage.

He has worked on multiple productions for the Royal National Theatre such as The Party (Olivier’s last performance at the Old Vic), EquusTrelawny of the ‘Wells’An Enemy of the PeoplePeter PanCandide, and South Pacific.

Napier has designed for opera including Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and the New York Metropolitan Opera. He also designed the Captain EO video starring Michael Jackson for Disney, created and co-directed the spectacular Siegfried & Roy Show at the Mirage in Las Vegas, followed by Steven Spielberg’s film Hook.

Napier said; “The pleasure I felt when designing for the stage was mixed with an irresistible desire to make pieces of my own. For most of my life, I have been inextricably linked with the theatre. It has inevitably become an indelible part of my imagination, and subconsciously the key inspiration for many of my other pieces. A number of these were, of course, made decades ago, but part of the collection has only just emerged. All the creations on display have been produced with the same level of invention and energy that led to the origination of some of my most celebrated work. Each item holds a natural individual authority, however, when combined together, they display the specific nature of my passion to devise a gallery show that creates a bridge between art and the stage.”

Beached at Troy
Beached at Troy

John Napier’s design awards include four Oliviers from nine nominations, a BAFTA, and five Tony Awards for Nicholas Nickleby, CatsStarlight ExpressLes Misérables, and Sunset Boulevard. Napier is a member of the American Academy of Achievement, was elected Royal Designer for Industry in 1996 and is an Honorary Fellow of the London Institute.


Event: John Napier: Stages Beyond the Fourth Wall

Where: Towner Art Gallery, Devonshire Park, College Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4JJ

When: November 29, 2015 – January 30, 2016

Times: Open Tuesday – Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays 10am – 6pm

Tickets: £5, £3.50 concession

To book tickets online, click here:

Or telephone: 01323 434670

 

 

 

Local tenor takes charge as Chief Umpire at Sailing World Cup – actually!

It will be anchors away for Actually Gay Men’s Chorus (AGMC) tenor and international sailing official, Alan Baser at the end of October.

Alan Baser in Rio
Alan Baser in Rio

Alan is embarking on his most prestigious role to date, taking the helm as Chief Umpire at the ISAF Sailing World Cup final in Abu Dhabi, October 27 to November 1.

The final is the culmination of major sailing events that have taken place around the world over the past year, from Melbourne to Miami and will bring together the top 20 boats in each of the chosen categories for the 2016 Olympic competition, as well as an Open Kiteboarding event where the World Cup Champions will be crowned.

Alan 36 is no stranger to officiating at international events. As an ISAF International Umpire for 6 years and International Judge for 5 years he has been actively involved in all the major sailing events, World Match Racing Tour, London 2012, numerous World Championships and has recently returned from Rio where he has been a member of the International Jury for Rio International Sailing Regatta, a test event in preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Hailing originally from Plymouth, Alan who has sung with Actually Gay Mens Chorus for 4 years and worked at the University of Brighton since 2003 is understandably very excited and proud about his role as international mainstay.

He said; “The Sailing World Cup and the Olympics are the pinnacle events for this discipline of sailing and to be asked to be chief umpire at the Sailing World Cup is a great honour and something that I’ve been working towards for a very long time. With the top 20 sailors for each Olympic discipline taking part there will be very tough competition, which for me, leading a group of 8 international umpires and having to deliver instant decisions on the water to the worlds best sailors, will be challenging but very exciting.”

Following the World Cup and with his feet back on dry land, although his sights will be firmly set on Rio 2016, Alan is also looking forward to changing tack to rehearse and perform with friends from AGMC for a very exciting tenth anniversary year.

You can follow Alan’s progress on Twitter @Alanbaser

To see some of Alan’s photographs from his time umpiring and upcoming events for the Chorus, click here:

Alan Baser

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