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LETTER TO EDITOR: Where was Switchboard?

“I was very proud to attend the Rainbow Fund grant awards ceremony at the Hilton Metropole earlier this week (Tuesday 26),  I was particularly impressed by the passionate speech made by David Hill (one of the directors of Pride CIC). It set the tone for the rest of the evening, a celebration and heartfelt thank you for all the work being carried out by LGBT organisations throughout the city.

“However, I was distinctly unimpressed by the failure of Brighton & Hove, LGBT Switchboard to attend the event and collect their grant. There really can be no excuse for such rudeness.  This is an organisation that has paid members of staff, a board of Trustees and a team of volunteers, yet not one person had the courtesy to show up. No doubt Switchboard were at the front of the queue wanting £1 community tickets for Pride. 

“It was a massive snub not only to the Rainbow Fund but to the LGBT community as a whole, but I guess it shows the mindset of some of those individuals within that organisation.  Shame. We gain strength as a community when we all work together.  It would appear that some groups prefer to stand apart, aloof even, and not be team players …. and that’s rather sad to see.  Indeed it was plain for the whole audience to see on Tuesday evening.”

Chris Cooke

FIRE IN THE BLOOD – BAFTA Longlist Nominee for Best Documentary

First-time director Dylan Mohan Gray, tells the story of an unlikely group of people who took on giant pharmaceutical companies and major Western governments to stop ‘the crime of the century’ and save millions of lives in a tale of ‘medicine, monopoly and malice’.

Fire in the Blood

Following the global campaign to overturn the international patents on anti-retroviral drugs, the film is shot on four continents and features interviews with AIDS victims, front-line clinicians, radical health professionals, callous pharmaceutical company executives and global figures including Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz.

The film’s message is clear:  despite dramatic past victories, the fight for access to life-saving medicine is almost certainly just beginning.

For more information about Fire in the Blood, CLICK HERE:

Fire & Blood

 

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