Stonewall the national equality charity joins forces with G-A-Y and Ben & Jerry’s to throw Britain’s largest party to celebrate marriage equality on Friday, March 28.
The event will take place at Heaven nightclub in London ahead of the first same-sex marriages on Saturday March 29. Ben & Jerry’s will join the celebrations and scoop their special marriage equality ice-cream, Apple-y Ever After for revellers.
Live screens in the club will countdown the minutes and seconds to midnight when history is made and marriage equality becomes a reality in England and Wales.
The moment will be celebrated at midnight with a wedding cake and confetti with all attendees invited to join Stonewall, Ben & Jerry’s and G-A-Y founder Jeremy Joseph for a souvenir on-stage photo to mark the occasion.
Ruth Hunt
Stonewall’s Acting Chief Executive Ruth Hunt said:“On 29 March history will be made as every lesbian, gay and bisexual person will be equal under the law for the very first time. That’s a significant moment in our history and something worth celebrating. We’re incredibly excited to be able to mark this special moment with G-A-Y and Ben & Jerry’s.”Jeremy Joseph, founder of G-A-Y said: ‘G-A-Y is so proud to be doing this night with Stonewall & Ben & Jerry’s – this is a part of gay history. As an old romantic I also get very excited when I hear about couples who have met at G-A-Y, so if anyone actually proposes on the night & gets photographed with the cake & confetti, then that will be the icing on the equality wedding cake!’
Jeremy Joseph
Jeremy Joseph, founder of G-A-Y added: “G-A-Y is so proud to be doing this night with Stonewall & Ben & Jerry’s – this is a part of gay history. As an old romantic I also get very excited when I hear about couples who have met at G-A-Y, so if anyone actually proposes on the night & gets photographed with the cake & confetti, then that will be the icing on the equality wedding cake!”
Doors at the event will open at 11pm and entry is free to those with wristbands, available at G-A-Y bar on Old Compton Street.
The theme of this year’s Pride Brighton & Hove LGBT Community Parade is The World’s A Disco.
Dance along with 160,000 fellow revellers and spectators, take your partner by the hand and celebrate the music, dance and colour of the globe while remembering those LGBT people in 78 countries worldwide who are denied their LGBT rights and freedoms.
Leave your imagination to run wild with costumes and floats celebrating the diversity of disco, the sauciness of salsa and the fabulous world of dance. From Bollywood to ballroom, calypso to country, dabke to disco, flamenco to fandango, and gumboot to guapacha, samba to street dance or tango to tap, for one proud day take a spin at the world’s disco.
The World’s A Disco community parade will highlight not only the diversity of the world’s dancefloors but the plight of those across the globe whose basic freedom to live is denied.
Campaigning under the theme Freedom To Live, the parade will include 78 placards representing those countries where homosexual acts are illegal as Pride Brighton & Hove stands beside our global LGBTQ brothers and sisters.
As Kylie would say, your disco needs you.
More importantly Pride Brighton and Hove in 2014 needs you.
To register your Parade entry today for your 10% early registration discount, CLICK HERE:
To register as a Parade Steward (and get a free ticket for the park) or volunteers to carry one of the 78 Freedom To Live placards representing the 78 countries where homosexuality is illegal, CLICK HERE:
What: Brighton Pride Community Parade: The World’s A Disco
47% of men disagree that a gay male couple can do as good a job bringing up children as a man and a woman, in contrast to 30% of women.
Natcen
New analysis of the British Social Attitudes survey published by NatCen Social Research during gay adoption week reveals that men take a more conservative stance on gay adoption and parenting.
• 47% of men do not think that a same sex male couple can bring children up as well as male-female couples, while just 30% of women do.
When it comes to lesbian partners raising children, views are softer, but a gender gap remains.
• 42% of men doubt same sex female couples’ ability to raise children, in comparison to 27% of women.
Men are also more likely to differentiate between gay male and lesbian couples.
Overall, 35% of all Brits say that lesbian couples cannot bring up children as well as male-female couples, in comparison to 39% of those who doubt gay male couples’ ability.
Public increasingly open-minded
Just under half (49%) of Brits agree that gay couples should be allowed to adopt while 44% say that they should not. This represents a dramatic change on thirty years ago; in 1983, 8% of the population agreed with gay adoption, while 87% disagreed.
The analysis also shows strong generational trends, with older people far more likely to be concerned about same sex couples bringing up children:
· 20% of 17-34 year olds think that same sex male couples can’t bring up children as well as opposite sex couples, in comparison to 57% of the over-55s
· 17% of 17-34 year olds think that lesbian couples can’t bring up children as well as couples of the opposite sex, in comparison to 50% of the over-55s
Penny Young
Penny Young, Chief Executive of NatCen Social Research said: “This research shows just how much things have changed, but also that among a large minority traditional perceptions of families remain intact. Although campaigners may well be disheartened by just how much this issue continues to divide the public, there are certainly positives for them to take from this research – the vast generational differences suggest a view on its way out.”
NatCen Social Research is an independent, not for profit organisation who believe that social research has the power to make life better. By really understanding the complexity of people’s lives and what they think about the issues that affect them, they give the public a powerful and influential role in shaping decisions and services that can make a difference to everyone.
Each year NatCen’s British Social Attitudes survey asks over 3,000 people what it’s like to live in Britain and what they think about how Britain is run.
Since 1983 they have been measuring and tracking changes in people’s social, political and moral attitudes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the case of a woman who was infected with HIV during sex with another woman.
The case which happened in Texas in 2012 involved a monogamous lesbian couple. One of the women was positive the other was not. The couple did not take any protective measures during sex and had engaged in sexual activity that resulted in the exchange of blood through cuts and grazes.
The partner who had been HIV-free became infected. Health officials could find no other explanation why and concluded that it was likely she was infected by her partner.
The report says that while the risk of HIV transmission between female sex partners is low, it can occur when bodily fluids such as menstrual blood and vaginal fluids come into contact with a cut, abrasion or a mucus membrane.
Researchers say this case study emphasises the need for all couples, including women who have sex with women to take measures to prevent HIV transmission and to avoid all contact between HIV-infected blood or blood-contaminated bodily fluids and broken skin, wounds or mucus membranes.
The report was published in the March 13 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Paul Ward, Acting Chief Executive at Terrence Higgins Trust, said:“Sex between two women carries an extremely low risk of HIV transmission. However, in any sexual pairing, the risk of transmission increases when one of the couple has HIV but is not on treatment. In this case, when the HIV-positive partner stopped taking anti-HIV drugs in 2010, it is likely the amount of virus in her blood increased dramatically. Modern drug treatments don’t just keep people with HIV fit and well; they can also greatly reduce the risk of infection.”
Specialist lawyers ask Government to confirm timescales for civil partnerships to be converted into same-sex marriage.
A couple taking legal advice regarding the implementation of same-sex marriage is calling on the Government to issue a clear and defined timeframe for when those in civil partnership can convert to marriage – as the current system doesn’t allow it to happen.
The new same-sex marriage laws allowed applications from Thursday 13 March with the first marriages to take place on March 29 this year. However the Government says those in civil partnerships cannot get married until systems are updated to allow for the conversion and says this will only be done by the end of the year.
A gay couple from Barnsley sought legal advice from specialist family lawyers at Irwin Mitchell in their bid to find out exactly when they can get married and put pressure on the Government to commit to a clearer timeframe.
Irwin Mitchell has been liaising with the Department For Culture, Media & Sport to speed up the process and is urging the Government commits to a specific timeframe by which the appropriate systems will be implemented to allow for the conversion from civil partnership to same-sex marriage.
The law firm has also been approached by several people suffering from the practicalities of not being able to marry such as people unable to get international visas to join their partners in other countries
Michael and Paul Atwal-Brice, from Thurnscoe, Barnsley entered into a civil partnership in 2008 as marriage was not an option available to same sex couples at the time. Like many same sex couples they were delighted when the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 was passed and same sex marriage became lawful and planned to become one of the first couples to convert to marriage when the legislation came into force on March 29, 2014.
However, they were told that they would not be able to marry before the end of the year and even then there is no set date which they can begin planning for. They have asked lawyers to keep pressure on the Government to confirm the timetables for when Section 9 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 is to be brought in to allow couples wishing to convert their civil partnerships into marriage to do so.
According to Government figures, 55,000 civil partnerships have been formed in England and Wales and Irwin Mitchell says that those in this position that wish to marry are being treated unfairly.
Zoe Round, a specialist family lawyer at Irwin Mitchell solicitors in Sheffield, said:“Michael and Paul have been waiting for this legislation to be agreed for years and now, at the final hurdle, they are finding that the process to convert civil partnerships to marriage is not yet implemented.
“They should be registering their intent to marry today but instead all those couples in a civil partnership cannot convert to same-sex marriage because the Government hasn’t implemented the appropriate systems.
“The Government says that there are complications as they wish to ensure that the benefits and rights associated with marriage are backdated for those in civil partnerships. While Paul and Michael are pleased with this development, they want to make sure the Government stays true to its word and does indeed set a date for when they can marry.
“Those in a civil partnership can’t plan their wedding properly because they don’t yet know when they will be allowed to marry. The Government wanted to introduce same-sex marriage as soon as possible but it’s not available yet for many who wish to go through the process. If the Government does not implement the changes needed within a reasonable timeframe they could face legal action in the High Court.”
Paul, 34, who has two adopted disabled sons with partner Michael, 29, said:“We should be able to register our intent to marry today but instead we don’t know when we can get married because we’re already in a civil partnership.
“At the moment we, and others in the same situation, cannot set a date for our marriage because there isn’t the system in place to convert our civil partnership. We are being unfairly treated simply because we are in a long term relationship and have already committed to each other.
“We sought legal advice because we wanted to ensure there was pressure on the Government to implement the proper systems as soon as possible. At the moment all we have to work with is that it will be by the end of the year but that doesn’t help us and many other couples to plan for the future.”
Simon Kirby, MP
Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven lobbied hard to get the legislation through both the House of Commons and House of Lords.
He said:“There are around 50,000 couples who have entered into civil partnerships who would have chosen to get married if it were possible. Some of those couples live in my constituency and I know they will be disappointed that they were not able to convert their civil partnership into a marriage from the March 29.
“I understand that civil partnership conversion is more complicated than first time marriage in terms of administration and implementation. Same sex marriages will also be back dated to incorporate the period of civil partnership. However the delay is unfortunate, and I sympathise with the couple involved in this case. I have previously written to the Secretary of State making her aware of my concerns, and seeking greater clarity from her on when the necessary arrangements for civil partnership conversions will be in place.
“The date of March 29 for Equal Marriage ceremonies was earlier than originally anticipated. I think that demonstrates that the Government is determined to implement same sex marriage legalisation in full as early as possible. I want to assure people that I have worked tirelessly with the Government to make equal marriage a reality and I will continue working hard to represent people in civil partnerships who understandably want to marry the person they love as soon as they can.”
After the success of the ‘ICONS’ exhibition last year, artists from the LGBT sector (and their supporters) will return to the Jubilee Library this summer for another creative extravaganza.
The event will bring together a collective of artistic talent to raise funds for Pride and the Rainbow Fund who they support with their fundraising.
Last year saw an auction of rare posters donated by The Keith Haring Foundation in New York City raise over £1300 for The Rainbow Fund, a Brighton and Hove based grant-giving fund for local LGBT and HIV/AIDS organisations. A further £600 was donated to Pride raised via art sales and the private view event and was used to benefit the LGBT community in Brighton.
This years exhibition is titled Freedom To Live and will feature some outstanding artists from the South East.
Other events, to be confirmed, will feature as part of an expanded Arts & Film Festival launching on July 17 at the Freedom To Live Private View at Jubilee Library. The Festival will cover multi-aspects of LGBT arts, culture and lifestyle.
Organiser Hizze Fletcher, says:”We were overwhelmed by the public interest that was generated around this event and it has motivated us to expand the Arts & Film festival this year. It will enable us to showcase the talents of the LGBT creative community (and their supporters) to a wider audience as part of a new community-driven Pride organisation.”
Director of Pride, Paul Kemp, says: “2013 was a groundbreaking year for Pride with over 20 umbrella events contributing to the first Pride Arts and Film season. With this year’s Freedom to live campaign we really would love to see even more LGBT artists getting involved and help us develop the cultural offering. We’re thrilled that Hizze Fletcher has agreed to come on board once again with Pride this year to produce the Pride Arts exhibition at the Jubilee Library, which was one of the keystone events last year.
Anyone interested in submitting to the ‘Freedom To Live’ exhibition or getting involved in the art side of the Festival via their own event should email Hizze: hizze@brighton-pride.org
To view a short film about last years ICONS exhibition, made by award winning Lucky Tooth Productions, CLICK HERE:
What:Freedom to Live Exhibition
Where: Jubilee Library, Jubilee St, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1GE
Brighton Pride, Paul Kemp, Wild Fruit and Legends all came out top of the class at the 22nd Annual Boyz Scene Awards staged at the Two Brewers in London last Thursday (February 13).
Legend won the Best Out Of Town Venue while Brighton Pride received the award for the Best Pride, Festival or Outdoor Event in the Country.
Paul Kemp director of Brighton Pride CIC Company also received a long term achievement award for his nationally recognised Club Night Wild Fruit which has been running for the last 23 years.
Paul said:“It is a great honour to receive these two awards but more importantly it puts a national spotlight on Brighton once again and hopefully will encourage more LGBT tourists to visit this fabulous city.”
“I would like to thank everyone who has helped deliver Brighton Pride and the Wild Fruit team who have worked tirelessly over the years to bring first class, cutting edge clubbing to Brighton and have helped shape a Pride event with an international reputation for excellence while still respecting its political roots.”
The Alzheimers Society now run three dementia cafes in Brighton.
Their third cafe opens next Wednesday, March 19 at the Maclaren Room on the Level in Brighton and runs from 2-4pm every third Wednesday of the month thereafter. There will be live entertainment, refreshments, massage, information and support at this free drop-in for people who live with dementia.
Every first Wednesday of the month the dementia cafe moves to The Hall, Norwich Drive, Lower Bevendean between 2-4pm.
On the last Wednesday of every month the dementia cafe moves to Dyke Road Park Cafe, Dyke Road, Hove from 5-7pm.
For more information telephone: 01273 726266
For more information about Alzheimers Society, CLICK HERE:
Leading equality and diversity charity METRO has joined forces with Prostate Cancer UK to launch a new group for gay and bisexual men affected by prostate cancer in London and the South East.
METRO Walnut is a peer support group that will meet monthly in Greenwich offering an opportunity for men to meet to share information about prostate cancer and discuss about their experiences and concerns. It is the only group offering this service in the London and South East area.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK with one in eight men experiencing it at some point in their lives. There is no evidence that gay or bisexual men are more likely to get prostate cancer or other prostate problems but other support groups do not reach them or address their needs.
Dr Greg Ussher
Dr Greg Ussher, METRO Acting CEO said: “METRO is delighted to be hosting this much needed group for gay and bisexual men. We have a huge commitment to peer support and we know how important it is for people to be able to share experiences and learn from each other when facing difficult health and other problems. LGBT people often face difficulties accessing health services because of lack of awareness, inclusion or understanding of their needs. We want to encourage as many gay and bisexual men as possible to get involved with the group, to demonstrate the need for it and to raise awareness of prostate cancer and its impact on gay and bisexual men.”
Simon Faulkner, METRO Walnut Group Facilitator added: “As a gay man diagnosed 3 years ago with prostate cancer, I could not find a place in London where I could talk freely with other gay men who, from their experience could help me with the life changing decisions you are faced with when diagnosed with prostate cancer. I am really excited that METRO and Prostate Cancer UK are working together to provide the only support group in London specifically aimed at gay and bisexual men. This much needed service will provide men who are newly diagnosed and those going through and after treatment, the opportunity to talk and support others going through similar experiences.”
Catherine Winsor, Community Support Services Manager at Prostate Cancer UK concluded: “The side effects of prostate cancer treatment can be life changing – erectile dysfunction, incontinence and sexual problems are incredibly common. Talking through concerns and sharing advice with other men in similar situations can really help men come to terms with a diagnosis or some of the damaging side effects. However, we know that many gay and bisexual guys find it difficult to talk about their concerns at the support groups currently available. The new group will give gay and bisexual men the opportunity to talk openly and freely about their sexuality and the impact of the disease on their relationships. We are really excited to be working with METRO on this project and urge gay and bisexual men affected by prostate cancer in the area to come along.”
For more information about Prostate Cancer UK, CLICK HERE:
Withdean Sports Complex will be unveiling its brand new indoor climbing centre this Saturday, March 15 when the Mayor of Brighton & Hove will officially open the facility at 10.30am.
The new facility will be the largest in the South East and will be a regional centre of excellence, meeting the high demand for climbing in Brighton & Hove.
On Sunday, March 16, there will be free 30-minute taster sessions all day. These will run on a first come first served basis from 10am, with the last session starting at 4pm. The sessions will cater for the whole family so everyone can experience the fun of indoor climbing.
The climbing centre is the latest in a series of improvements at Withdean following last year’s £3 million project to extend and improve the health & fitness facilities and replace the running track. The new centre is intended to encourage people of all ages to become more active by taking part in one of the fastest growing activities in the country.
Brighton & Hove City Council has been working alongside Freedom Leisure and High Sports, the UK’s leading provider of indoor climbing who have funded the new £250.000 facility.
The facility will be run by High Sports who have a strong track record in providing a fully inclusive programme of climbing activities and have offered free use to local schools during the summer term.
Councillor Geoffrey Pride is not a sacred cow Bowden, chair of the Economic Development & Culture Committee, said: “The new climbing wall will prove to be yet another hugely popular attraction at the Withdean Complex and complements the new running track and the extension of the health & fitness facilities opened last year. The Withdean Sports Complex is certainly delivering on the Olympic legacy.”
Ross Philipson, Freedom Leisure Centre Manager at Withdean Sports Complex, added:“We’re delighted to have such a fantastic facility at Withdean Sports Complex and are encouraging as many people as possible to come along and join in with one of the free taster sessions on Sunday. The climbing wall will provide another way for people to get active and it’s fun that the whole family can enjoy. It will be a great addition to the wide range of facilities already on offer.”
The wall will be open seven days a week and will offer adult and junior climbing sessions from age four and upwards. The facility features both rope walls and boulder walls to satisfy climbing athletes at the very top of their game.
A couple taking legal advice regarding the implementation of same-sex marriage is calling on the Government to issue a clear and defined timeframe for when those in civil partnership can convert to marriage – as the current system doesn’t allow it to happen.
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