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PCS Union supports Transgender Day of Remembrance

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will take part in a peaceful vigil on Monday, November 20 from 6pm outside the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London as part of Transgender Day of Remembrance.

The vigil will be one of many activities taking place in cities across the world to remember those who have lost their lives to transphobic violence and hate crimes.

A transgender member of V&A staff was recently dismissed by the V&A after many months of reporting hate crimes to their management. PCS has represented and supported the member since spring 2016.

V&A has dismissed the member for “some other substantial reason”, a ‘catch all’ reason allowed under employment legislation.

The V&A has made it clear that the Transgender member has not done anything wrong and that the primary reason for the dismissal are security issues and the inability of the V&A to protect the member and others from risks and dangers in a manageable way.

Mark Serwotka
Mark Serwotka

PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka, said: “We strongly support transgender day of remembrance. PCS believe that all workers should feel safe and be protected in their place of work, regardless of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. Transphobia must have no place in our workplaces and among our communities.

“We have been supporting our member in this case for well over a year. Our member has been unfairly dismissed by the V&A. The actions of management in blaming the victim should be condemned by everyone. We ask that the V&A reverses the decision to dismiss and has an open dialogue with appropriate agencies to deal with all relevant security concerns. We will continue to stand up for our member and for all transgender members who face prejudice and discrimination in the workplace and in society.”

PCS represents civil and public servants in central government and in parts of government transferred to the private sector.

Victoria & Albert Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum

 

City councillors to get tough on anti-social behaviour

City council set to launch a ‘two strikes and you’re out’ approach to tackling the city’s growing anti-social behaviour problem.

Anyone, including businesses, committing an offence such as playing loud music, dumping rubbish in gardens or regularly repairing vehicles on the road or pavement, will first be given a written warning letter to change their behaviour.

If they fail to comply, they will be issued with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) fixed penalty up to £100, or find themselves in court facing a fine of up to £2,500 for individuals and £20,000 for businesses.

The council would also have the power to carry out clean-up work at a property without the owners or occupiers permission, including clearing unsightly gardens, and then hit the offender with the bill.

This will include private landlords and tenants who dump old fridges, beds and mattresses at a property once the property is vacated.
 
Cllr Emma Daniel, Chair of the council’s Neighbourhoods, Inclusion, Communities & Equalities Committee, said: “We are determined to stamp out anti-social behaviour in our wonderful city, and Community Protection Notices are another tool we may use. 

“They are designed to stop a person aged 16 or over, business or organisation committing anti-social behaviour that can ruin a community’s quality of life.”

A CPN can be issued by a local authority officer, a police officer, a police community support officer (PCSO) or a delegated social landlord.

The plan will be debated and voted on at the next meeting of the council’s Neighbourhoods, Inclusion, Communities & Equalities (NICE) committee on Monday, November 27, then at the Policy, Resources & Growth committee on Thursday, November 30.

Cllr Daniel added: “Anti-social behaviour is a blight on our city and can ruin communities and people’s lives. In dealing with ASB, the council should consider all the options available.”

CPN’s are part of the Government’s Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 which brought together 19 previous powers into six, making them quicker and easier to obtain and use.

An appeal against a PCN can be launched by complaining to the local Magistrates Court within 21 days of the notice being served, but this could result in a heftier fine if found guilty.

TRAVEL: Torremolinos Pride 2017

QTube travelled to sunny Costa Del Sol in Southern Spain for the third Torremolinos Pride.

Just two and a half hours from London, Torremolinos has one of the most vibrant and yet least well-known commercial gay scenes in Spain.

From high heels to hobby-horse racing and a fantastic parade through the centre of the city,
Torremolinos Pride is up there with the very best Prides, Spain has to offer.

Torremolinos Pride, 2018, will take place from May 31, 2018 – June 3

For more information about Torremolinos Pride, click here:

Hugo Michiels print to raise money for THT

Exclusive print by the photographer Hugo Michiels to raise money for THT on World Aids Day.

An exclusive print of the old pier entitled Fly Past by photographer Hugo Michiels will be raffled on Friday, December 1 during the annual Charles Street, World Aids Day fundraiser which is being staged this year at Bar Broadway during Charles Street’s refit.

Raffle tickets priced just £1 are available from Bar Broadway, Legends, Prowler, Nice N Naughty and Bone Idol in St James Street. All you need do is fill in your name and contact details on the raffle ticket.

All proceed from the raffle will be donated to Terrence Higgins Trust the national sexual health charity.

The print can be inspected in Bar Broadway where it is currently hanging. It is numbered one of two and the photographer retains the second copy.

For more information about the work of Hugo Michiels, click here:

Drag With No Name will host the evening. Artists confirmed to appear include: Jason Thorpe, Kara Van ParkLucinda Lashes, Mrs Moore, Rose Garden, Sally Vate, Stephanie Von Klitz and Spice.

Charles Street managers Sam and Ed will join the Bar Broadway team behind the bar to illustrate the importance of scene venues working together in unity on this special day.

DJ Ruby Roo on sound and stage manager, Lola Holloran will make sure it is an evening to remember.

All profits from the evening will be donated to Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity.


Event: World AIDS Day Fundraiser

Where: Bar Broadway, Steine Street, Brighton

When: Friday, December 1

Time: 7.30pm

Cost: Suggested £2 donation on entry, bucket collections inside from THT volunteers

 

 

 

 

 

OPINION: I am what I am

Craig Hanlon-Smith responds to the Facebook rant by Richard Wolstencroft, festival director of the Melbourne underground film festival following the positive vote for gay marriage in Australia.


I have taken my time to respond to the post above, because I wanted to research its authenticity myself before committing an opinion. The screenshot below was posted in Australia by Richard Wolstencroft, in response to the same-sex marriage vote.

He has since taken his post down, along with a later post correcting the misunderstanding of his original efforts. I do not believe I have misunderstood. Here goes.

Some, I know, would argue that to respond to this gives credit and audience, and that we should ignore such rants. I disagree. Whilst I believe his words to be inflammatory and deliberately provocative, I shall not rant although I am enraged. I also have a responsibility to speak out for my community when it is attacked. I also take my responsibilities to my husband and my gay friends too seriously to ignore it. What I also say now, is for my six nephews and nieces who will be exposed to such opinions and whilst growing and learning may sit quietly by not knowing if they could or should respond. You can, and you must.

Richard Wolstencroft is a film maker and festival director. He runs the Melbourne underground film festival in Australia. His post is well thought out, considered, perhaps hastily publicly shared and now deleted, but intelligent in his choice of words, arguments and social analysis. That is what makes it terrifying and ultimately dangerous.

I understand the concerns of the rise of what Mr. Wolstencroft calls the liberal elite, but the support of same-sex marriage should not be one of them. In short, he is wrong. Totally, completely and utterly wrong.

Giving someone the opportunity to marry, is neither degenerate nor decadent. It is after all an opportunity to legally recognise an existing or future relationship not an instruction or compulsion to throw an unaffordable party. To in any way criticise a community for being afforded the rights Mr. Wolstencroft has spent his life being entitled to, is at best petulant, at worst following in the political stumbles of a man called Donald. It is not the politics of the liberal elite we should fear now, they brought us to this point. What requires action are the toxic lies reported herein.

Neither the nation nor the family are under attack by the normalisation of so-called degenerates. Gay people are not degenerate because they are not sexually attracted to the opposite gender. They are also not normal, or perhaps more accurately ‘the norm’ although they have bought in to a normalisation of relationship recognition, if they want to. Some, as is true of the heterosexual community, will not bother. This issue is about choice and equality of opportunity.

This decision to allow same-sex marriage strengthens the family and therefore the nation. It also validates anyone feeling abnormal or on the edges of society, because of their orientation.

Mr. Wolstencroft’s reaction is that of a spoilt child who realises at his seventh birthday party that all the children will get cake, not just the little boy whose name adorns the iced top. Mr. Wolstencroft seems to hold an inconceivable desire to play out the role of Augustus Gloop, when it is Charlie Bucket who will inherit the factory. He may be intelligent, he may curate an edgy festival, he may be articulate and controversial. He is also, absolutely, a complete moron.

There is much to be offended by in Mr. Wolstencroft’s original post, including the idea that the gay community’s politics are being weaponised by globalists. Relationships are personal, formed from the perspective of individuals who come together to form partnerships. If gay people are empowered by equality, if their right to marry, not the actions, instills confidence in the previously maligned, then my heart sings for the future.

The gay people I know, are kind, warm, reflective, gregarious, intelligent, loving, amusing, thoughtful, patient, sharing, selfless, strong and determined. If these characteristics are to be embraced by the new world order, then I look forward to the future laid out for our children, my brother’s children and the children of the brother of my husband.

If these are the characteristics Mr. Wolstencroft states we should fight back against, then we must fight too. Fight with firm, confident and resolute determination that we are right to feel the way we do, and right to celebrate and publicly share our ability to love another human, irrespective of the formerly accepted norm.

And finally to the most offensive aspect of Mr. Wolstencroft’s post. “Homosexuality is often created through child abuse”. You are wrong. And it is this lie which confirms both your moronic status and your dangerous lie.

Craig Hanlon-Smith
Craig Hanlon-Smith

I am a homosexual. I have not been abused as a child. Neither physically, emotionally nor sexually. I am gay because I am. It is because it is. My gay-ness is as much a product of the roll of the genetic dice as is my beard grows ginger. I don’t know where it came from, but I am pleased that it is there although not everyone will be. Child abuse is a criminal activity and devastating for its victims. Homosexuality is neither, nor are we victims. If any gay person has been a victim of abuse, your sexuality is unrelated. Horrible but unrelated. Believe it and don’t let the morons tell you otherwise.

You are also magnificent. It is this magnificence the likes of Mr. Wolstencroft fear. Magnificent and gay, gay magnificence. Fear us if you wish, but it is better to embrace us. For we are today and better still, we will be tomorrow.

Today is Trangender Day of Remembrance

Trans Alliance Brighton host the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) for 2017 at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, in Brighton today, November 19 from 2pm to 4pm.

TDoR offers the opportunity to remember trans lives lost, and celebrate the lives of trans and non-binary people everywhere.

It is more important than ever that we all stop to remember those who have been murdered or who have taken their own life because of hatred and transphobia.

Trans Alliance Brighton invite everyone to come together and join with them to reflect, to remember, to mourn and to grieve, but also to understand how, as allies, we can make a real difference in the fight against hatred.

Refreshments will be available afterwards. Lunch Positive will be supplying some lovely food and drink, Rainbow Chorus will be singing and Switchboard will be available to provide crisis support.


Event: Transgender Day of Remembrance

Where: Dorset Gardens Methodist Church

When: Sunday, November 19

Time: 2pm-4pm

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