Day: February 13, 2013

After months of negative publicity, not unlike that experienced over the last year in Brighton, businesses in Manchester’s Gay Village will come together tomorrow, Thursday February 14,  to sign a charter that looks to prevent negative behaviour and incidents within Canal Street and its surrounding areas, and further to improve the gay village generally.

Businesses in the gay village have made the bold decision to tackle head on the increasing anti social behaviour which has been harming visitor levels to the gay village leaving many bars empty and putting the future of some gay venues at risk.

All members of the Village Business Association (V.B.A) will sign the ‘We Love Our Village’ document, aptly on Valentine’s Day, to address the issues such as drug usage, violence and hate crimes in the area, to further improve the conditions of Manchester’s Gay Village.

The sharing of potentially important CCTV footage; the responsible sales of alcohol; demonstrating transparency when fundraising for events such as Manchester Pride; and publicly displaying copies of the charter across venues also form part of the pledge.

Andrew Stokes, chair of the Village Business Association, said:

“The VBA work together to ensure that Manchester’s Gay Village is a safe and enjoyable place for its businesses, staff and visitors alike. As such, we are delighted to cement our aims further through the ‘We Love Our Village’ document – a signed charter that will be on display in all VBA businesses to demonstrate our commitment to the village and those who are a part of it.

“Manchester’s Gay Village plays an important role in our LGBT community, and so it is essential that the businesses within it continue working together to combat any instances of homophobia, violence and other forms of anti-social behaviour. The VBA has been working with community organisations such as the Lesbian and Gay Foundation (LGF), Manchester City Council (MCC), the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and CityCo – and we hope this charter will cement how far we have all come together in making the Gay Village a safe place, and improve it even further.”

Councillor Pat Karney, Manchester City Council’s city centre spokesman, said:

“There’s already excellent joint work going on between responsible businesses in the Village and a wide range of partner organisations to make it a safe and welcoming place. This charter builds on that and represents another welcome step forward.”

Village Business Association venues will be celebrating the signing of this charter on Thursday, February 14  in numerous ways – and will have the charter on clear public display on their premises.

FindHrr, a new social network and travel guide for gay and bisexual women, is available for free on iPhones from the App Store.

This  lesbian lifestyle guide allows women to facilitate new dates and friendships across the globe in 150 cities, using geo-technology and pin-mapping to position lesbian users in relation to local goings-on.

Other benefits include: tools to plan your holiday, such as a directory of lesbian-friendly hotels; a comprehensive and reliable A-Z of gay bars, clubs, events, restaurants & cafes; a titillating ‘Erotica’ section directing you to the nearest sex shops in your vicinity; and a ‘Well-Being’ and ‘Sport’ facility, which directs you to local gyms, exercise classes and ladies’ sports teams.

FindHrr offers impartial and trustworthy advice from likeminded women, making it easy and fun to plan your next adventure. Users can share experiences and upload photos to each venue listing, with comments updated in real-time.

To download the app, view: bit.ly/12DvvD1

For more information, view:

Or on Twitter @FindHrr.

Controversial artist and poet Vince Laws will be sitting in the Jubilee Library on Wednesday 14 from 1-4pm. Anyone who wants to give him a treat is welcome to pop in and deliver it personally.

Each treat will be photographed, logged in a book, or recorded in some way.

Treats could be a shoulder massage, or a cake, mmm, or a poem, or an idea, a homemade card, a surprise! The artist will use, keep, or pass on the treat as he sees fit.

Treat the artist’s dog, Badger, will run con-currently.

For more information about Vince Laws, click here:

Exeter City FC will be saying ‘no’ to homophobia this Friday, February 15 at their evening match at home against Accrington Stanley which kicks off 7.45pm.

The game is the club’s annual designated ‘Football v Homophobia’ match.

Backed by the Supporters’ Trust, City’s One Game One Community group is once again teaming up with the Devon Lions, the local gay friendly football side, and The Justin Campaign to help counter homophobic prejudice in the game.

Guillem Bauza, Exeter’s One Game One Community ambassador has welcomed the initiative.

He said:

“I am very happy to support Exeter City in saying no to homophobia in football. Players and supporters should be free to be themselves. Our goal must be mutual respect”.

And in a separate diversity initiative at the match the spotlight will also be put on disability issues with a special visit by three local members of the GB Blind Football Paralympics Team. Robin Williams, Keryn Seal and Dan James are the guests at a pre match gathering supported by Devon law firm Kitsons and co-ordinated by City’s Football in the Community Trust.

Exeter City’s work on equality and diversity has been widely recognised and a reflection of this is that the Club has been chosen as a regional host for one of the national Kick It Out campaign’s Raise Your Game workshops.

The event at the University of Exeter on Sunday, February 24 from 1-5pm will provide a free opportunity for aspiring coaches, managers and administrators to develop their skills.

Iffy Onuora, former Huddersfield Town, Sheffield United and Swindon Town striker, will be on hand to deliver a coaching masterclass. The former Ethiopia national team manager, now working for the Professional Footballers’ Association, will be joined by Kick It Out and Exeter City representatives.

Anyone interested in more details or helping the One Game One Community group can email:

For more information about Homophobia V Football,  click here:

A national study which aims to explore the university experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students has been launched at Nottingham Trent University.

The one year Coming Out and Fitting In study will investigate how supportive UK universities are in terms of their provision for LGBTQ students – and hopes to inform policy around student diversity to help improve inclusivity.

The research, being led by the university’s School of Social Sciences, will involve holding student focus groups across the country as well as collecting positive and negative views of LGBTQ students via an online resource. Funded by the Society for Research into Higher Education under their awards programme to support early career researchers, the project will focus on experiences of inclusion and exclusion during students’ time at university and the impact that has had on them.

The work will focus on the roles of student societies, the provision made for LGBTQ students by universities, as well as what institutions are doing in terms of supporting specific events and campaigns – such as the national LGBT History Month, which takes place throughout February.

Researcher Dr Michael Keenan said:

“We want to explore how universities are adapting to incorporate the needs and interests of the country’s LGBTQ students. For LGBTQ young people, going to university can be an opportunity for embracing sexual identity. For some, however, the whole experience can be very different to that of their heterosexual peers.

“We think that some universities will offer a great deal of support and inclusivity, while at other universities there may still be a lack of understanding occurring. It might not be knowledgeable discrimination, but it’s very important that we’re able to engage with students to identify their experiences and to get an idea of the level of support being offered by institutions.

“Then we have a real opportunity to try to inform relevant policy with a view to helping universities better understand the role they can play in engaging with their LGBTQ students.”