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OPINION: Male Icons – Sam Trans Man

Dr Samuel Hall on why 2016 wasn’t all bad and where we need to be if we want to change the world.

Sir Ewan Forbes (centre)
Sir Ewan Forbes (centre)

It seems to me that ‘time’ passes more and more quickly. I’m sure this year only just began. Of course time is relative, the older you get, the quicker it goes. A year is almost one fiftieth of my life, but only one tenth of my youngest son’s, so no wonder this year has gone quickly for me. Depressing but true. Perhaps it’s time to stop counting time and just enjoy the passing of it, and more importantly, make sure that what I do in the time I have left really means something.

In any case, I sincerely hope that 2017 is a better year for the planet. It strikes me that many of us will be glad to have seen the back of 2016, with its seismic political shifts, the rise of the ugly twin towers of nationalism and uber-capitalism, miserable human rights records in the Middle East and beyond, as well as its more than fair share of creative human loss; David Bowie, George MichaelCaroline Aherne, Alan Rickman, Natalie Cole, Leonard Cohen, Pete Burns, Alexis Arquette, Gene Wilder, Prince, Victoria Wood, David Guest, Ronnie Corbett and Terry Wogan to name a few.

Oddly, it’s been a pretty momentous year for me personally, in a very positive way. 2016 is a year that I will not forget, for all the reasons listed above and more, but most of all because this was the year I married the love of my life. I’m truly blessed to have the commitment and love of a woman who has changed my outlook on life completely, as well as restoring my faith in humanity by loving me unconditionally despite, in spite, or perhaps even because of, my transness.

Dr Sam Hall
Dr Sam Hall

The events of the year just ended have forced me to reflect more deeply than I’ve ever done before about the human race and our part in the ever evolving story of humanity. I’ve been trawling the news in a desperate attempt to get to the bottom of so many questions. Why? Why did the US put a cut-throat businessman in the White House? Why did half of the UK want to separate themselves from the EU? What is the UN for if we cannot protect innocent lives during a divisive and deeply destructive civil war in Syria?

At some point I turned the corner from looking for answers to accepting things as they are, a revealing of the many faces of humanity, both beautiful and ugly, hopeful and desperate, love and its diametric opposite, which is fear. Fear, not hate, is the opposite of love. People do and say nasty things because they’re afraid. Afraid of losing their livelihoods; afraid of not being able to feed themselves or their families; afraid of ill-health; old age; incapacitation; afraid that their lives might have to change; afraid of realising that we are all worthy of dignity and respect.

Once you arrive at the conclusion that we’re all equal, and that any privilege we have is pure chance not merit, it’s hard not to weep over the state of the planet. We’re a generation of post-war babies who remember the past through our parents and grew up with a ‘never again’ mentality, honed in the decades following WWII. But guess what? We forgot to teach our kids. The growth of capitalism has rendered us all so small-minded, needing to protect ourselves and our material belongings at the expense of others. The so-called ‘Millennials’ are furiously scrabbling around in the history books to work out why the hell people are so selfish.

And yet there is hope. I see it in my children most of all. Bright young things, advantaged, healthy, educated and determined. Hell-bent on studying politics and sociology, inquisitive minds sure that they can do a better job than the generation they’re poised to succeed. And I sincerely hope that they do.

We all stand on the shoulders of giants, so that anything good that flowers in our lives must have grown from a seed planted by someone who went before us. I look to those who trod my path in some way for inspiration. In the past I’ve written about Michael Dillon, a physician and the first transman to undergo phalloplasty. He died at 47 (my age now) in 1962, having led a trailblazing life which ended in the peace of a Buddhist monastery.

I’ve also recently stumbled across another transgender man who worked as a doctor around the same time. Born in 1912, Sir Ewan Forbes forged his way living as a man in a time when being openly transgender was not an option. He struggled with being raised as a girl in aristocratic circles and eventually managed, like Michael Dillon, to get his birth certificate changed, claiming that his registration as female had been a ‘ghastly mistake’, and going on to marry his wife in the Scottish Kirk (church). This allowed him to inherit his father’s baronetcy, restricted to male heirs, in spite of his cousin disputing his claim to the family title and chattels. The case went all the way through the courts to the Home Secretary before finally being settled in his favour in 1968.

These men sowed the seeds that I, and many like me, are reaping in our lives today. Although the necessary secrecy surrounding their lives and transitions meant that their cases were not used as precedents in later judgments on the legal recognition of gender variance, surely these men forged a path that had not previously existed – a path that I now walk, alongside others, which is rough-hewn, full of pot-holes, twists and turns, but a path none-the-less. It’s a path that I hope my treading will smooth out and straighten up even further.

I don’t know what events in my life could possibly be as monumental as those in the histories of these two men, but I do know that there are still very few of us in the public eye, and that is where we need to be if we really want to change the world.

IT Support Sessions for HIV+ Over 50s

Terrence Higgins Trusts’ (THT) Health Wealth and Happiness project for over 50s living with HIV, teams up with Lunch Positive to offer IT support once a month at the popular HIV lunch club.

Staff and volunteers from THT will be on hand on the third Friday of every month to offer training and support to any members who need help or advice about their laptop, phone or tablet.

Alice Booth
Alice Booth

Project manager Alice Booth, said: “It’s an opportunity to find out how to get the most out of your devices, discover some useful apps or websites, and learn a bit more about how your technology can help you.”

The Health Wealth and Happiness Project also offers monthly peer support groups with interesting speakers and runs occasional day trips and wellbeing events. The project is open to anyone living with HIV who is 50+.

To find out more or to be added to the mailing list telephone Alice Booth on 077692 39295, or email: alice.booth@tht.org.uk

Lunch Positive takes place every Friday from 12-3pm at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church.

The Health Wealth and Happiness project for people 50+ living with HIV are also running a free HIV & Ageing Awareness training session on February 23 from 10am  – 1pm at 61 Ship Street, Brighton.

To reserve a space telephone 077692 39295, or email: alice.booth@tht.org.uk

Government refuse Green request for money to build new homes in Brighton

Housing Minister rejects request by Brighton and Hove Green Councillors’ for funds to build new homes.

Cllr Phélim Mac Cafferty
Cllr Phélim Mac Cafferty

Green Councillors on Brighton & Hove City Council are disappointed with the Government after Housing Minister, Gavin Barwell MP, rejected their alternative proposals for funding to build more affordable housing in the city.

Despite growing housing waiting lists, and limited stock, a borrowing cap prevents local councils from accessing funds in the ‘housing revenue account’ (HRA) which could be utilised to build much needed social housing.

At a meeting of full council in October, the Green Group put forward a motion asking that the government put an end to the cap in the housing revenue account, in order to allow the council to invest in new homes.

The move, which is supported by the Local Government Association, is estimated to give councils nationally access to more than £7 billion and would provide the means to build over 60,000 homes.

In a written response to the Green Group’s motion, Minister for Housing and Planning Gavin Barwell MP, said: “there are no plans to remove the caps or to re-open the HRA borrowing programme.”

Convenor of the Green Group of Councillors, Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty said: “We are beyond disappointed that there are no signals that central government want to help the city ease our housing crisis by allowing us to borrow above the cap in the housing revenue account. The Tory mantra for public services is ‘cut red tape’ yet they are committed to restricting our capacity to fund more house building. We asked for change because lifting the cap on borrowing would enable us to make a real difference – to build more homes, to generate revenue and ease the crisis in Brighton and Hove.

“Alternatives are needed because we have serious issues with housing in the city. Homelessness has doubled in the last 5 years. 88,000 residents in our city cannot afford to rent or buy without needing help or spending a disproportionate amount of their income on housing. 

“None of this is helped by the conscious political effort over the years by successive Conservative and Labour governments to decimate council housing stock, to the point where 80 homes a year in the city cease to be available as socially rented housing due to sales under the right to buy. Around the country between 2012 and 2016, while 41,000 council homes were sold, only around 5,000 were built.[4] This, plus the other cuts being imposed on councils means housing is rapidly becoming an extreme challenge which we are not being given the tools to address.

“We have proposed a solution – a solution backed by hard evidence and by the national body representing councils-  and the government have rejected it. This of course leaves us with fewer resources to build homes and avert homelessness. But it will not stop us pushing for bold solutions and for more truly affordable homes.”

The Green Group have also been campaigning for more affordable homes, and have recently secured a change which will see the cost of rent in in the new council joint housing venture with Hyde Housing lowered to more affordable rates for people on the living wage. The Green Group campaign for rents set as a measure of people’s income rather than the market rate, arguing that lower rents save taxpayer’s money in the long run by minimising the need for housing benefit payments.

Cllr David Gibson
Cllr David Gibson

Councillor David Gibson, Housing Spokesperson for the Green Group, said: “Refusing to lift the borrowing cap is part of a raft of policies designed to attack council housing at a time when it is needed more than ever. Rather than wasting billions on housing benefit for an overpriced private rented sector, the government should allow councils to borrow with grant support and build much needed homes at social rents which research shows saves money in the medium term because of the lower benefit bills.”

Simon Kirby MP

Simon Kirby MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven, said: “The Government is committed to delivering a housing market that works for everyone. In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor set out how we will invest to unlock land for housing where it is needed most, with a new £2 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund to support 100,000 new homes, and an additional £1.4 billion to deliver 40,000 more affordable homes. That means that over the course of the Parliament, the Government expects to more than double annual capital spending on housing in real terms.”

BOOK REVIEW: The Better Blow Job: Bruno Gmunder

The Better Blow Job

Bruno Gmunder

What do you give to the man who’s had everything? More head, and better head!

Once the blow job was just considered a part of foreplay. Now everyone knows it’s a centerpiece of great sex. A quick glance at the modern gents ‘dating’ apps are enough to see that going down is on the rise. But not everyone who claims to be a deepthroat expert really is one: the art of sucking and licking has to be learned.

With this neat little book from Alex Neustadter you can use your head to give the best head, exploring technique and ways to improve it, sharing experience and suggestions to explore and extend yours and his pleasure, this book is as stuffed full as you’re gonna be. It’s pretty forensic in details so it’s no quickie, and the author likes to go into quite precises instructions on various techniques, but is’ also a grab it go guide, you can follow all the instructions if you like and have a eye for technical excellence, or you can get on with it as an enthusiastic amateur keen to learn new tricks,  but once you’ve mastered it, you’ll never be off your knees.

I swallowed it in one!

Out now.

£12.99

For more info or to buy the book see the publishers website here:

 

REVIEW: Believe – Ice Show at Brighton Centre

The first Holiday on Ice production I can remember to have an actual storyline, Believe is a modern-day take on Romeo and Juliet.

Creative director and choreographer Christopher Dean has created a completely different skating experience that combines the classic artistry you expect from a Torvill and Dean dance number with the most up to date high tech production values.

The music score produced by composer Stephen Emmer is world-class as are the video graphics on the back screen produced by Michael Al-Far. Paco Mispelters lighting design is the best we have seen at any Holiday on Ice show at the Brighton Centre over the years as is the set, designed by Luc Peumans.

This years production is more an ensemble piece than usual. The principals are all very impressive especially the Russian pair, Evgenii Belianin with the beautiful Daria Perminova and the Canadian pair of Andrew Buchanan and his wife Robin Johnstone who play the two romantic leads and beautifully capture the romantic chemistry of the choreography perfectly.

The opening scene is at times quite homoerotic, set in an underworld factory where men do what men do in their tight jeans and tight tank tops. Not a female skater in sight. Dean captures the mood with very stylised choreography for the male robot drone skaters which is extremely effective. Slowly the traditional camper Holiday on Ice influences infiltrate the production as do female skaters who inhabit and enjoy life in the overworld.

There is less reliance on tradition tricks from the skaters during this show and Dean’s choreography creates an environment where the performers have time to enjoy the space and movement his choreography creates for them. It was relaxing to watch and as the skaters introduced more jumps and spins it all added to the driving momentum of the production.

Highlights include; a pole dance number performed through a veil of dancing waters cascading from the roof of the Brighton Centre. A chorus line of male skaters from the underworld who dance like robots in total darkness. Their costumes are covered with different coloured lights, which creates a stunning effect through the dark. Finally two skaters performed an aerial duet on two red silks suspended from the ceiling, to the music of Ravel’s Bolero the music which won Dean his Olympic Gold Ice Skating medal at the Sarajevo Winter Games in 1984.

The finale arrives in true traditional Holiday on Ice style with the skaters resplendent in white, their costumes lit with little fairy lights. Was there really going to be no wheel an essential part of every Holiday on Ice Show? Christopher Dean was playing with us and had saved the wheel to be part of the finale, the best finale I can remember seeing in any Holiday On Ice show in the last 30 years. Flying skaters with fireworks in their boots just added to the overall wow factor of the unfolding spectacle.

I say it every year, Holiday on Ice is fantastic entertainment and provides a wonderful start to the new year. It is entertainment on a grand scale and deserves to receive support from everyone that loves spectacular live theatrical events.

Regular visitors to Holiday on Ice will either love or hate this show depending on their views of how this genre needs developing to move forward and survive. I loved it!  The producers have finally found a modern concept that could attract a younger audience to venues all over Europe where this show will play.

You still have the chance to see this show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

To book tickets online, click here:

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