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Day: October 28, 2016

Davina Sparkle raises £2,200 for Wedding Wish Well foundation

Posted on by Hugo Michiels

Davina Sparkle turned over her birthday party at Charles Street on Sunday October 16, to be a fundraiser for the Wedding Wishing Well Foundation.

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Launched in 2012 to organise and fund weddings for terminally ill people, the Foundation gives many men and women in the UK living with life limiting conditions or terminal illnesses, the opportunity to marry their special partner in life.

The Foundation gives these people a chance to have their dream wedding day, with all the excitement, love and happiness that it brings. For many families, the memory of a happy wedding day surrounded by their family and friends is a cherished moment.

Hosted by Sally Vate and Patti O’Dors, acts appearing to support Davina and the Foundation included: Miss Jason, Miss Thunderpussy, Dave Lynn, Miss Penny, Elesha as Whitney Houston, Laura Nixon, Fonda Cox, Hayden Cheyne and Daniele Arbisi.

Forty of Davina’s friends arrived by coach from Stevenage, his home town, helping raise a fantastic £2,200 on the night for the Foundation.

For more information about the work of the Wedding Wish Well Foundation, click here: 

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PREVIEW: THE BOYS IN THE BAND

Posted on by Contributor

Direct from a sell out run in London, Mart Crowley’s ground-breaking play, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, visits the Theatre Royal, Brighton next month as part of a short UK tour.

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There’s a party about to commence when nine men gather in a New York apartment for a birthday celebration. Harold, a self-confessed ‘Jew fairy’, receives a surprise birthday gift – a beautiful male hustler dubbed Cowboy. Meanwhile, party host Michael gets an unwanted surprise of his own in the shape of a figure from his past. As the booze is drunk and the dope smoked, the mood swings from hilarity to heart-break.

Olivier Award winner Mark Gatiss stars alongside his husband Ian Hallard in this eagerly anticipated production, which sees the pair playing Harold and Michael.

The production is directed by A Small Family Business & One Man Two Guvnors’ director, Adam Penford.

Mark Gatiss and Ian Hallard, said: “We are thrilled to be a part of this production, which will bring this seminal gay play back to London for the first time in eighteen years. The script is razor-sharp, with huge amounts of wit and pathos, and is as fresh, startling and relevant as it was back in 1968. It’s tremendously exciting to be working with a superb creative and production team who are bringing the show to Park Theatre. And we can’t wait to work together on stage for the first time.”

From the producers of the critically acclaimed revivals of Beautiful Thing, Our Boys and Another Country, and the forthcoming stage adaptation of Brokeback Mountain, comes this eagerly anticipated revival of Mart Crowley’s seminal piece, which premiered in 1968 just before the Stonewall riots.

This witty, dark American play which changed the landscape of gay theatre was adapted into a film in 1970, becoming a cult hit. The play was last revived in New York in 2010, and this UK revival will mark almost 20 years since the last West End production.

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Event: THE BOYS IN THE BAND

Where: Theatre Royal, New Road, Brighton

When: Tuesday 8 – Saturday, November 12

Time: Evening 7.45pm, Thursday & Saturday mats 2.30pm

Cost: £18.90 – £32.90

To book online, click here: (booking fees apply)

Or telephone: 0844 871 7650

 

LETTER TO EDITOR: Simon Kirby MP responds

Posted on by Contributor

Simon Kirby MP for Kemptown & Peacehaven responds to Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty’s recent letter to the editor.

Simon Kirby MP
Simon Kirby MP

“I am pleased to say that the Government is introducing a posthumous pardon for thousands of gay and bisexual men convicted of now abolished sexual offences, delivering on the Conservative manifesto commitment. This historic step will happen within weeks. The quickest and safest way to deliver this is through Lord Sharkey’s amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill. This has the support of both Labour and the Liberal Democrats. John Nicolson’s Private Member’s Bill had the same sentiment, but would have delivered this change more slowly, as well as failing to address the complexity of the situation regarding pardons for the living and thereby doing a disservice to victims.

The reason why pardons for the living are more complex is because the historic offences also covered acts that are still crimes today, such as sex with someone under the age of 16 and non-consensual sex. We need to ensure that people cannot claim they have been pardoned for crimes that are still a crime today, which would be deeply distressing for victims and their families. This was not addressed in John Nicolson’s Bill.

The Government’s Turing Law means that when people apply to the Home Office to have the mention of an offence removed from criminal records checks (known as the “disregard process”), where these relate to now abolished offences, they will benefit from a pardon. Where their convictions remain criminal offences today, these will continue to appear in criminal records checks.

I welcome the Government’s action to address this issue. Please be assured that I will continue to listen carefully to local people and monitor the situation.” 

Simon Kirby MP

Martin Fisher Foundation update

Posted on by Contributor

Towards Zero HIV in Brighton & Hove: the Martin Fisher Foundation working strategically with local partners.

web-600The Martin Fisher Foundation was set up in Brighton & Hove to take forward the work of Professor Martin Fisher. The Foundation’s work continues Martin’s ethos of treating people living with HIV with dignity, compassion and respect and focuses on the development of new strategies for effective HIV prevention, treatment and care.

The Foundation has been busy over the past year, working with a range of stakeholders, not only from across the city but also in partnership with national and international experts, to develop a Towards Zero HIV Prevention Strategy for the whole of Brighton & Hove. This strategic work is nearing completion with a launch of the strategy aligned to World AIDS Day 2016.

(‘Towards Zero’ Volunteers wearing martin Fisher Foundation T-Shirts with a series of HIV prevention messages at Brighton Pride on Saturday, August 6, 2016.)

The strategy explains where we are now with HIV in our city, where we want to be in the future and, most importantly, how we can take a journey together towards achieving zero new HIV infections, zero HIV-related deaths and zero stigma in the resident population of Brighton & Hove.

This strategy reaches out, with goodwill, to our community to see what we can achieve together and makes a range of recommendations. It calls for action and advocacy from professional stakeholders, organisations and the public. It recognises that behaviour change will be required not only by individuals but also by organisations and society as a whole if we are to progress towards zero HIV and achieve success in our city.

Through Martin’s legacy of inspiration and innovation, as well as the connection he had with colleagues and patients, we have a unique opportunity to draw on the commitment of the local HIV community and have service users at the centre of this work.

A cornerstone of the strategy is to establish Brighton & Hove as the first city in the UK to become a Fast Track City. Cities taking part in the Fast-Track Cities Initiative commit to achieving the 90-90-90 targets by 2020. These targets are:

♦ 90% of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status;

♦ 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status on treatment;

♦ 90% of people on treatment with suppressed viral loads.

A cornerstone of the Martin Fisher Foundation is to facilitate partnership working and the strategy provides a leadership framework that will allow local HIV and other organisations to unite in support of a shared strategic HIV prevention objective.

To ensure cohesive, local and strategic HIV prevention planning across Brighton & Hove, the strategy supports continued close working between people living with HIV and organisations providing HIV prevention and HIV peer support services, so that organisational strategies can be shared and developed to augment each other and so that opportunities for collaborative working can be identified.

Raising awareness about HIV in the local community

Since the launch in September 2015, the Foundation has engaged with the community in Brighton & Hove to raise awareness and build social understanding of the local issues with, and social ownership of, the benefits associated with HIV prevention in Brighton.

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‘Towards Zero HIV’ Get Prep, pre-Pride Film and discussion event, Thursday, August 4, 2017

These have included a Towards Zero HIV: Get PrEP Pre-Pride film and discussion event, marching with Towards Zero HIV volunteers as part of the Brighton & Hove Pride Parade 2016, and then a presence at the Sexual Health and Contraception Community Stall in Preston Park, and most recently partnering with local HIV clinical and community providers to deliver a sauna-based, HIV testing kit pilot.

The Foundation is currently working with a range of stakeholders to develop an implementation of the Towards Zero HIV Prevention Strategy.

For more information about the Martin Fisher Foundation, click here:

Black, bi, homeless & HIV+, how MindOut Brighton made a difference

Posted on by Besi

MindOut is a mental health service run by and for lesbians, gay men, bisexual, trans and queer people and they work with a huge range of mental health experiences.

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Ronnie has agreed to share her story: it highlights some of the awful challenges for black, bi, homeless, HIV+ women in the UK today.

My name is Ronnie Mopufu and I’m 34 years old. I was born in Zimbabwe and came to England in June 2001. I had a very traumatic experience when I was diagnosed HIV+ in 2004. It’s a moment I’ll never forget as I was at the darkest moment of my life as I’d just left my trafficking situation and to receive news like this was devastating to me.

I didn’t know what the future had in store for me or the challenges I’m going to face along the way being black, bisexual, homeless and experiencing immigration problems. I had the whole package and all of these thoughts in my head kept going around and around.

Being HIV+ and a woman isn’t easy as you get stigmatised by people who assume all sorts about you and are very judgemental. I have all sorts of things said to me like I’m a prostitute, I’m damaged goods, I’m a moving coffin, I’m disgusting. There have been occasions where I’ve had to stand up for myself, risking my life. Being black as well made things worse as I faced discrimination from my own people. I suffered a lot of abuse and there’s a lot of stigma around HIV and AIDS. Millions of people are still dying today for fear of being HIV+ and the stigma of getting diagnosed as HIV+. Even going to the clinic for medication causes fear.

Being bisexual also made things harder as I suffered a lot of homophobic attacks. Growing up in Africa it’s taboo to talk about being gay, although there are gay people. The subject is brushed under the carpet.

Moving to Brighton helped me to find myself. I just loved the diversity, my eyes were open and I began to understand there was nothing wrong with me. There were people like me but this didn’t mean I was safe. I suffered a lot of abuse and homophobic attacks while living in Brighton, to the point I had to be careful who I met, where I went, the way I dressed and presented myself. Thanks to MindOut I really started to understand my transition and what I was experiencing. Brighton helped me find myself. But I still had to watch my back the whole time, where I sat, how I dressed, how I walked. I had a different look as a tom boy which got negative attention.

I was sofa surfing and very unwell. I used to cry a lot. I didn’t really understand what was going on with my body and mind. I’d lost a lot of weight which made a lot of people talk. One of my mates went through my belongings and found my medication. They Googled the tablets and then I was confronted about my status. I was kicked out of the home as they were scared they’d catch something from me. They told everyone in the community. Don’t get me wrong I’m proud to be black and love my people but there’s no confidentiality in my community.

I spent some nights sleeping in a pay phone. I couldn’t get housed or claim benefits as I was a failed asylum seeker with no citizenship.

In early 2008 my mental health started to deteriorate. I was really bad with low mood and felt suicidal. I started having bad panic attacks. I didn’t understand why I felt like that. I just thought it was normal. Coming from a third world country I’d never heard of depression or mental health. In my culture that doesn’t exist. They think that black people don’t suffer from these conditions as they’re Western diseases. They consider these conditions as a sign or weakness and you must be strong. There’s still a lot of stigma about mental health in my culture. 

Thankfully, I got referred to MindOut in Brighton, a LGBT organisation. I was a mess, confused, bisexual, HIV+ with mental health problems. I was nervous as I’d just stepped into another world. I needed to open up and trust them with my life and personal issues. They really helped me. They were really patient with me and did not judge me. They gave me an understanding of who I was, why I felt like that and what I was going through and what had happened to me. It wasn’t an easy road though.

In early 2012 I met a lovely guy who was also bisexual through Facebook and we started to talk. He made me feel comfortable about myself and we had a lot in common. He helped me gain my confidence back, love myself and follow my dreams. I’d never dreamt of being a mother when I fell pregnant. In 2014 I had a very beautiful baby girl and a good pregnancy. Taking medication didn’t cause any difficulties. I had regular blood tests and made sure we were both healthy. The doctors were really helpful informing me about the risks of pregnancy and HIV. They made sure I had a safe delivery. 

Mindout info:

If you would like to talk to someone about any aspect of your mental health, get in touch. MindOut services are confidential, independent, non-judgemental and free. MindOut services are run by and for LGBTQ people with lived experience of mental health issues.

For more information:

♦ call 01273 234839

♦ email info@mindout.org.uk

♦ find us online www.mindout.org.uk

They would love to hear from you.

Mindout Celebration

Join Mindout for their annual Celebration Event on Wednesday November 16 from 4.30–7pm at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church. Find out what they have been up to and what they might do next!

There will be a lovely buffet provided by Lunch Positive and there will also be entertainment! Everyone is welcome.

Who’s the boss behind the bar?

Posted on by Morgan Fabulous

This month Morgan Fabulous finds out why Lee Cockshott, owner and manager of the Marine Tavern, never has a moment to himself.

Lee Cockshott
Lee Cockshott

Lee grew up in Manchester where he became very fond of the commercial gay scene. Aged just 18, he invested in a bar named the Woolpack and worked there at weekends while studying social work at university.

After working his way up the social work ladder he decided to take his career in a completely different direction. After owning a guest house in Scotland and later a hotel in Eastbourne, he decided, after constantly commuting here for nights out, to move to and invest in Brighton.

He looked at a couple of gay venues and decided to buy the Marine Tavern in Broad Street, a traditional bar with lots of character. He also manages Poison Ivy at the bottom of St James’s Street, which is under new ownership.

Since taking over the Marine Tavern he’s introduced a variety of themed nights. If you’re new to the area and want to make new friends, join his Bar Crawl every third Friday of the month at 8.30pm. It is hosted by local drag queen, Stephanie Von Clitz, and you get a free shot in each bar visited, which usually includes the Marine Tavern, the Bulldog, the Zone, Queen’s Arms, Bar Broadway and Poison Ivy!

Every Tuesday is Quiz & Curry night with curry, including naan bread and rice, costing just £1! Unbelievable value. There’s also a vegetarian option available when booked in advance through their Facebook page.

Traditional roast diners are served every Sunday, followed by Drag Open Mic night where you get £10 cash for a 10 minute performance, providing you’re in drag. During December, Christmas dinner will replace the traditional roast each Sunday.

Lee also organises and promotes The Big Scrum, a rugby and sportskit night that is currently held at Subline in Brighton as well as other venues in the UK and Ireland. For details of the next Scrum, click here:

Twice a year, in February and October, Lee organises a trip to Blackpool for his customers with hotel and transport included in the price. This year’s trip cost just £149 and it’s a great way to meet new people and see another part of the UK. If you don’t have a car, Blackpool can be very timely and expensive to get to, so it’s an opportunity not to be missed! Ask at the bar for details and prices of the next trip in February 2017.

In his spare time, Lee loves travelling around Europe and clubbing in Brighton and London amongst other places and he’s pretty confident that there isn’t one gay club in the UK that he hasn’t been to. Now that’s dedication for you.

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Lee has a love of horror films, which was reflected in the Marine Tavern’s Halloween decor this year. For all of October, he boarded up the front of the bar to look like a post-apocalyptic movie set with a smoke machine making it look like the bar was on fire.

A special date for your diary is Friday, November 25 when Ruby Murry, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent, will be performing live on stage from 9pm.

Greens fight to expose ‘secret’ NHS privatisation plan

Posted on by Besi

Green Councillors have this week successfully required that plans to drastically cut spending and reduce levels of local NHS services, undergo better scrutiny.

Cllr Phelim MacCafferty
Cllr Phelim MacCafferty

Plans to ‘balance the NHS budget’ locally, known as the ‘STPs’ (Sustainability and Transformation Plans) will now be examined in a special meeting of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee in council.

Last week, the council heard directly from local group Sussex Defend the NHS about the possible devastating impact of these proposed plans, which campaigners fear pave the way to the total privatisation of the NHS.

Green councillors are deeply alarmed that local ‘transformation’ proposals are not being shared with the public or practitioners that they will most affect.

Convenor of the Greens, Cllr Phelim MacCafferty, said: “We are pleased that through our work in council committees, plans for an STP in Brighton and Hove are now officially going to be forced into the light. By demanding that the NHS balances the books the government is imposing cuts on our most vital, free health services. In Dorset, hospital beds are at risk, in Yorkshire, leaked plans show proposals to close wards, and elsewhere discussions are being had about closing A&E. We cannot have that here in Brighton and Hove, and we cannot have these discussions behind closed doors. Make no mistake STP is in part a crippling set of political policies designed to force the NHS to concede many of its front line services to private bidders and contractors.

“Working with medical practitioners, patient organisations, campaigners and the public, the Greens want to help expose these plans for what we fear they really are– a charter for privatisation. We will continue to push tirelessly on Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee, the Health and Wellbeing Board and with the CCG themselves for open, transparent publication of these plans, and proper consultation, rather than allow these plans to be rolled out with no discussion. In Camden [2] the council has published the local STP without waiting for NHS England – there’s no reason we can’t do the same, and allow these plans to be held accountable locally.”

Tough choices in this year’s Rainbow Fund grants round

Posted on by Chris Gull

Chris Gull, Chair of the Rainbow Fund, explains the difficulties in deciding which LGBT/HIV groups receive grants to provide effective front-line services to LGBT people in Brighton & Hove.

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Until the advent of the Rainbow Fund local fundraising was somewhat haphazard, with fundraisers having to choose a specific charity to support, without knowledge of the bigger picture of need, and often responding to the strongest lobbying which came from larger organisations with paid fundraisers. Smaller and newer ‘grassroots’ organisations were often left out in the cold.

The Rainbow Fund allows fundraisers to donate to a central fund, safe in the knowledge that the money will be distributed fairly to get the best value in supporting members of the local LGBT+ and HIV communities.

Local organisations providing that support can also trust that their projects will get fair consideration on a clear and transparent playing field. So far, so good…

Many grant giving organisations have very rigid criteria for what they will fund. When it was created, the Rainbow Fund decided not to go down that route. We have evolved a system where we try to assess the ‘bigger picture’ each time we announce a grants round and take into consideration the likely amount we have to give as grants and the factors that have changed (evidence of need, cuts in council funding, and how much has been donated for us to distribute, for example).

Each time we announce a funding round we announce what we will give preference to. This year, for instance, preference was given to local, LGBT+-led, volunteer-led groups. To encourage groups to work together we also gave preference to those who attended and contributed to the networking opportunities provided by the LGBT+ Small Groups Network and the quarterly public meetings of the LGBT+ Community Safety Forum.

Once we have received the applications tough decisions are made. Each application is carefully considered. We try to get the best ‘bang for your buck’ on behalf of those who choose to donate to the Rainbow Fund, with the aim of supporting the local LGBT+ and HIV communities in the best possible and most effective way.

Ultimately we have to have at the back of our minds, what it is about living with, or being affected by, HIV, or identifying as LGBT+ that needs support from our communities. The answer, judging by the projects which come to us for funding, is often ‘the consequences of stigma and social isolation’.

This has been particularly evident this year. A number of projects included social events, sports and outings, including taking groups to Pride or the Golden Handbags, theatre trips, swimming and ten pin bowling. We absolutely understand and recognise the importance and value of such projects, but a number of factors have meant that we have had to decline the funding of these events this year.

I’ll be honest – we’re wary of setting a precedent. We currently have a significant amount of funding, particularly from Brighton Pride and the Brighton Bears Weekend for instance, but the amount left after funding the projects we have funded, means there is not enough to ‘cross this line’ yet to approve all the applications for social inclusion projects, and we don’t think it’s fair to fund some and not others.

We also believe that there is scope for many of these projects to be almost entirely self funded. Not everyone is in a difficult financial situation that precludes them from contributing towards the cost of an event. Whether this is achieved by voluntary donations, or a bursary scheme involving fundraising within the organisation (raffles etc) is up to each group. We are looking to discuss this in more detail over the next few months with the groups and we want to make sure that those who really need financial support are able to join activities to reduce isolation and stigma.

Feedback from our surveys this year show that there is some perception that funds we give as grants pay for social activities for people who are well able to afford to contribute. Our job is to ensure that we support those who are really in need and demonstrate to the general public, fundraisers and donors, that every penny is used to give the best possible support right across all our communities, and we will continue to work with groups and organisations to achieve that.

For more information about the Rainbow Fund, click here:

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