Start your Pride Weekend celebrations with a late night private view of Brighton Museum’s Fashion Cities Africa exhibition.
This late night event includes a pay bar where you can relax with a drink, before sitting down to a private screening of a film characterising the queer experience in Kenya.
Told through a series of five vignettes, the film explores the true stories of people identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or Intersex.
Event: Fashion Cities Africa tour and film screening: Stories of Our Lives
Where: Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Royal Pavilion Gardens, Brighton
When: Friday, August 5
Time: 7.45pm – 10pm
Entry: £10
Book through the Royal Pavilion & Museums booking office: 03000 290900
The Sea Serpents, Brighton & Hoves’ new LGBT rugby club stage fundraiser to send team to play in the Union Cup.
The Sea Serpents in the Garden of Envy variety show will be at Envy above Charles Street Bar on Saturday, June 11. Doors open at 7:00pm, and the show will start an hour later.
Dave Lynn and Kara Van Park will be hosting, with special guest appearances from Sally Vate, Davina Sparkle, Mysterry, Trudi Styles and the Pianoman, and Laura Nixon as Marilyn Monroe, as well as appearances from members of the Sea Serpents.
After the show, you can dance the night away to DJ Ant Nichols.
The night will raise funds for the rugby club to compete in the Union Cup 2017, Europe’s gay and inclusive rugby tournament,with teams from across the UK, Ireland, and Europe including Stockholm, Rome, Berlin, Paris, Madrid and many more. There are 33 clubs eligible to take part.
The club will donate up to £1,000 of the profit made to help the renewal of the Sussex Beacon Summer House, which brings joy to users of the charity’s clients and their families.
Event: Sea Serpents in the Garden of Envy
Where: Envy Club above Charles Street, 8-9 Marine Parade, Brighton
When: Saturday, June 11
Time: Door open at Envy at 7pm, show starts at 8pm
Elly Barnes, founder and CEO of Educate & Celebrate, receives an MBE in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours list, for her groundbreaking work in eradicating LGBT+ discrimination.
Elly Barnes: Photo by Kathleen Holman
The award has been made in recognition of Elly’s commitment to making schools and organisations LGBT+friendly, and creating environments that have people and social justice at their very core.
In 2005, Elly became a pioneer of LGBT+Inclusive education during her tenure as Head of Year at Stoke Newington School, introducing LGBT+ celebrations into the school environment.
Elly developed a whole-school approach that would go on to be the structure for the Educate & CelebrateBest Practice Programme. She introduced whole school celebrations for LGBT History Month and a mini Pride march for student.
Her work led to her topping the Independent on Sunday’s Rainbow List in 2011, achieving Ofsted Best Practice in 2012 and a Highly Commended Award from the TES Teacher of Year.
Educate & Celebrate became a registered charity, with Elly as CEO with a team of trainers and co-workers who respond directly to the needs of teachers. Elly continues to work ceaselessly to ensure that the Best Practice Programme is flexible, and accessible for all educational establishments, including teacher training, exemplar policies, lesson plans and support for all teachers, staff, governors, students and parents.
The importance of her work was recognised and supported by the Department for Education and the Government Equalities Office in 2015, when Educate & Celebrate received funding to make 60 Best Practice Schools around the country. Consistently the programme is mentioned in Ofsted reports who in January 2016 called it “innovative and visionary”.
In order to continue to improve the lives of young people and adults, Elly has formed partnerships with outside organisations to ensure maximum reach. This has included partnering with country councils around the country, including Durham, Birmingham and Hampshire, forming academic partnerships with Goldsmiths University and the NatCen Social Research and with the Boarding Schools Association and Independent schools.
Elly’s commitment to providing holistic positive change has been mirrored by her academic research, recently completing an MA in Education where she studied ‘school based explorations’ focussing entirely on the importance and impact of an LGBT+Inclusive education.
Speaking about her award, Elly said:“I’m absolutely gobsmacked and incredibly excited, especially on our 10th anniversary! I can’t believe that my stubbornness, attention to language, and unwavering belief in equality and social justice has been recognised. My friends, family and the Educate & Celebrate team have played a huge part in this process and we are all completely over the moon. The years of research and obsessive planning to change opinion will not stop – this gives me further momentum to continue the vital journey to LGBT+Inclusion.’’
Someone shares a secret. Someone can’t get a signal. Someone has never felt like this before. Someone remembers everything. Someone is in love. Someone’s not ready to talk. Someone can’t sleep. Someone’s been fired. Someone loves him more than you do.
‘because I wouldn’t remember all this if without the video I wouldn’t remember hardly anything at all about it because I can’t remember anything about that day that’s not on the video not clearly’
The play was originally staged at the Royal Court in 2012, and was well-received by theatre critics and audiences.
It is a piece of Brechtian Epic Theatre, exploring what it means to love and form relationships in the modern, technological world. In a rapid quick-fire succession of scenes, where the audience are bombarded by information, the play shows a kaleidoscope of snapshot conversations – at times funny; at times, poignant.
It explores the private as well as public consequences of living in the digital age, where access to information is both instant and changeable; where we are often socially-isolated in the way we connect with each other and the world. A world of immediate digital communication: ipads, mobile devices, online dating, and virtual friendships on social media.
The production contains explicit language and is, therefore, not suitable for children.
Kirsty Elmer is an actor, director and teacher. She has previously directed ‘Five Kinds of Silence’, ‘The Permanent Way’ and ‘Decade’ at the NVT.
Event:Love and Information by Caryl Churchill, director by Kirsty Elmer
Where: New Venture Theatre, Bedford Place, Hove, Brighton BN1 2PT
When: July 15-23, 2016
Time: Evening performances: 7.45pm: Matinee: Sun 17h July at 2.30pm. No evening performances on SUN/ MON Evenings.
Entry: £9.00: Final Friday and Saturday nights: £10.00: First Friday and Tuesday nights: £8.00
The punk rock of Indian film festivals returns to London in July, with a powerful Transgender central gala supported by MAC cosmetics.
I Am Not He… She.
The Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival will return to cinemas across London from July 14 – 21. The full line-up will be revealed soon, and promises some of the most prestigious and audacious new independent films from South Asia.
Indian sexual diversity is highlighted in the empowering transgender movie I Am Not He… She. It tells the at times harrowing, real-life story of rural teenage boy Madesha, who after being thrown out of his village for being effeminate seeks solace and hope in the big Indian city of Bangalore.
Here he meets gay people living secretive lives, but soon forms a bond with the head mother of the local Hijra community (the transgender and eunuch people of India), who take him to their heart.
Learning the tricks of the traditional Hijra trade, Madesha is soon on the streets begging, but his desire to feel complete by becoming a woman becomes increasingly strong.
He follows other Hijra friends towards the most dangerous journey of his life – to a back-street sex change clinic where he hopes his transformation to womanhood will be fulfilled.
The European Premiere of I’m Not He…She will take place at the cathedral of world cinema – BFI Southbank, at NFT1 on Saturday, July 16 at 8.30pm.
It will be followed by a Q&A with director BS Lingadevaru, with other special guests expected.
This is followed by Queer Rules! Party for LGBTQ+ Friends at BFI’s Benugos Bar, with Bollywood & World music sounds, supported by DJ’s from Club Kali, Urban Desi and Urban World. The best dressed person on the night, receives a fabulous VIP Goody-Bag of MAC cosmetics.
Commenting on the BFI Southbank sessions, Director of the Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival Cary Rajinder Sawhney said:“We continue to pursue an agenda of seeing India in all its miraculous diversity, and that includes powerful and positive representations of LGBTQ+ people, as depicted in a new generation of cinema.”
Title Sponsor Alka Bagri of the Bagri Foundation says:“The selection for this year’s festival celebrates the challenging and refreshing visions, coming from the Indian film industry.”
To find out more about the London Indian Film Festival, click here:
Volunteers at the Sussex Beacon were treated to lunch today (June 10) to mark National Volunteers Week.
Volunteers’ Week is an annual national celebration of the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK – and is taking place from the June 1-12, 2016.
Volunteers last year donated 12,869 hours of their time to help the Sussex Beacon which was worth more than £200,000 to the organisation.
This includes volunteers working in the two Beacon shops on St James Street and London Road, volunteers in the main Sussex Beacon building on Bevendean Road and volunteers for the Brighton Half Marathon race in February each year for which 457 volunteers are needed.
For more information about the Sussex Beacon, click here:
To get involved with helping the Beacon, click here:
Latest TV the local community TV channel has appointed trans activist, Sophie Cook as an on-screen Newscaster and Head of Diversity at the Brighton based TV station.
Sophie Cook
Sophie Cook becomes the first ever transgender news anchor in the UK and Europe.
Latest TV’s CEO, Bill Smith, says:“Brighton is an island of sanity in what can often be seen as an ocean of intolerance. Latest TV brought the first exclusively LGBT show to terrestrial television, Q Tube, and now we are appointing Sophie Cook to lead the LGBT TV news revolution!”
Speaking about her new role, Sophie, said:“It’s a great honour for me to be given this opportunity by Latest TV and is a real step forward for transgender visibility and awareness. Brighton & Hove is a unique city, full of amazing diversity and I’m proud to be able to reflect this by bringing the news to everyone in the city on Freeview channel 7 and Virgin Media 159 and across the world through www.thelatest.co.uk.”
Ex-RAF, motorbike racer, newspaper editor, Premier League football and rock photographer and suicide survivor, Sophie hit the headlines in January after becoming the first transgender woman to work in the Premier League.
Last summer, when coming out as transgender to her club, AFC Bournemouth, she feared that she would lose everything but the club and the fans were great and now Sophie talks at conferences nationwide including speaking at Wembley Stadium about these fears and how she overcame them.
With Latest TV, she is currently making a documentary about football versus homophobia.
Sophie is a keen advocate of fighting the stigma around mental health and as well as struggling with her gender dysphoria also suffered with post-traumatic stress after saving a colleague’s life whilst serving in the Royal Air Force.
Sophie is the patron of a number of charities including Just A Ball Game? and the LGB&T Dorset Equality Network, as well as being a Stonewall Schools Role Model, and a Hate Crime Ambassador for Sussex Police. She also has a long association with rock band The Libertines, having photographed them for nearly a decade.
The future of Hove Library at the Carnegie Building on Church Road was secured by the Conservative and Green Groups last night.
Hove Library
The decision was reached following extreme pressure applied by the Labour Administration on their proposals to close the existing Hove Library and move it on to the grounds of Hove Museum.
Opposition councillors from the Green and Conservative Groups submitted a joint amendment to stop the move, which was passed at the Policy, Resources and Growth Committee last night.
The amendment commits the council to keeping all libraries in Brighton and Hove open, while reallocating £100,000 from an unexpected under spend in the 2015/16 council budget to retain the Hove Library service at the Carnegie building.
Cllr Geoffrey Theobald
Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, Leader of the Conservative Group, said:“Despite their political scaremongering and swathes of misinformation to try to force our hand, I am pleased to say that we succeeded in preventing the Labour Administration from bullying councillors and indeed residents into a decision that, as it stands, is simply not the best decision for the City.
“The proposals for Hollingbury Library, which we support, will go ahead and no libraries will close. Indeed many opening times will increase. Our stance on this issue is a victory for the residents of this city and I am proud of the part that the Conservative Group has played.”
Green finance spokesperson Councillor Ollie Sykes, added:“Greens have repeatedly expressed our concern that Labour’s figures on Hove library simply don’t add up. Hove residents were being asked to give up a much-loved community resource on the basis of a misleading and frankly inaccurate business plan.
“Rather than address our genuine concerns with their plan, Labour chose to make impassioned pleas and thinly veiled threats about closing community libraries. That’s why we decided to work across party lines to stop the plans in their tracks, and ensure that all community libraries are protected from closures by the Labour council.”
Conservative Councillor Tony Janio added:“The Labour Administration was given numerous opportunities to make a sound business case as to why the closure of such a well-used and much-loved library that is in a purpose-built building and convenient central location was the best option. Despite this they failed to give credible arguments as to why the council should spend more than what the Grade II listed Carnegie building is likely to achieve on the open market to build an extension on to the gardens that surround Hove Museum.
“As a result we put Party politics to one side and came together with the Greens for the good of the community and have achieved a great result for the people of Brighton and Hove.”
Cllr Phelim Mac Cafferty
Convenor of the Green group, Councillor Phelim Mac Cafferty, said: “This weekend we’ve seen derisory attempts by Labour to bribe or blackmail residents into supporting their proposals, promising an art house cinema on the basis of one backroom conversation, while simultaneously threatening the closure of 7 branch libraries. When Labour finally released the report, it was revealed that use as a cinema would fail to deliver the funds needed to support a move to Hove Museum.
“We know that thousands of Hove residents oppose the sale of Hove Library, and that this will fail to deliver a quality library service. Greens have led the charge to save Hove Library since November and played a key part in securing this deal to ensure that all libraries remain open in the city. This is a victory for Hove residents and the city as a whole.”
Cllr Warren Morgan
Responding to the opposition groups at last night meeting, Leader of the Council, Cllr Warren Morgan, said: “The Government has set us a challenge. Do without the Revenue Support Grant, some 40% of our service funding. It has said, live within your means. Deliver value for money. Modernise and rationalise your services. Be as efficient with taxpayer money as possible.
“Our Libraries Plan does that. We agreed a fixed budget for our libraries in February. We agreed how to spend that budget over a four-year period at full Council in March.
“Within that reduced budget, our officers found a way of delivering a library service in every community that currently has one, with longer opening hours as the public requested.
“We agreed a budget. We agreed modernisation. We agreed value for money. We have answered every question you have posed on the business plan. We’ve agreed and conducted a building survey you requested at a cost of over eight thousand pounds.
“Now, faced with the politically difficult choices that come with that budget, that are a consequence of that plan, we are told no.
“You have said, don’t give us that choice to make. Find the money from somewhere else. You have rejected the reports, options and advice of respected officers.
“Despite accusing the Labour Group of shying away from politically difficult decisions, at the first major test of your responsibility as an opposition, of your financial responsibility, of your commitment to stick to an agreed budget, you have failed.
“We will now, once again, put this decision on hold. We will work with you to somehow find a solution to this issue that does not inevitably lead to the closure of up to seven of our local community libraries. We will do that.
“But don’t ever lecture us again on financial responsibility, or delivering value for money, or on doing what is right for the taxpayer. Don’t ever accuse us again of shying away from what is unpopular, but what needs to be done.”
Peer Action the HIV+ peer support and social group for people in Sussex living with HIV need new trustees.
Recent changes at the charity have left Peer Action with space for some new trustees, who will serve for a renewable period of 3 years. If you would like to get more involved, your help would be appreciated. The addition of a couple of additional people will add to flexibility, skills and long-term stability of the team.
Mike Nelson
Chair of Peer Action, Mike Nelson, said:“In the last few months we have had a few changes to our trustees: – our two most recent probationary trustees will not now be joining us – Our nominee Treasurer (financial accounting) sadly died unexpectedly and our thoughts are with his friends and family. In addition, our most recent probationary trustee decided that after trying the role for a short period, that this was for them – sadly it’s not that unusual for prospective trustees to decide committee work isn’t for them and revert to being involved with specific activities.”
“Last month – two of our long serving trustees; who together helped us progress towards charitable status; decided they had done their few years and it was time to move on. We would like to thank Chris and Julia for all their help with the games nights, Pride, garden parties and numerous other initiatives.”
To find out more information and how to get involved, email:
Mike continued:“At Peer Action we like to focus on delivering activities and groups and less on who is responsible for what. However, as a registered charity we are required to have a board of elected trustees to be accountable.
“Frankly, being a trustee is not that exciting – it is just necessary for an organisation to continue. We have to find money, write bids, review the accounts, set policy, provide returns to funders to show what we did, check legal compliance and insurance, send the charity commission reports and worry about the scope of what we do.”
“Come along to our next steering group. The first step can be as simple as helping with a newsletter or arranging an event. We are very happy for people to take a while to get involved and find a role that fits them. While we take time to engage new trustees, Peer Action will continue as before; the calendar is as planned and we are even expanding one or two of our trips.”
For more information about Peer Action, click here:
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