23/08/2016 – Scene Magazine – From the heart of LGBTQ+ Life

Lord Mayor will lead Manchester Pride Parade

Posted on 23/08/2016 by Gary Hart

City’s first openly gay Lord Mayor will be Parade Grand Marshal this Saturday at Manchester Pride.

Lord Mayor of Manchester, Carl Austin-Behan, will be the Grand Marshal at this year’s Manchester Pride’s Parade.

In May this year Councillor Austin-Behan, 44, became Manchester’s first openly gay Lord Mayor. When sworn into the historic post he said he would use his position to highlight prejudice towards the trans community and work to make HIV testing more readily available in Greater Manchester.

Mark Fletcher, Chief Executive of Manchester Pride said: “We are honoured to have the Lord Mayor leading the parade through Manchester City Centre this year. Since taking on the post earlier this year Councillor Austin-Behan has become a figurehead of the LGBT community, particularly in Greater Manchester.

“The parade theme this year is Once Upon a Time and we’re celebrating the many stories, moments, events and occasions they have occurred in order to allow us to reach the level of freedom our LGBT communities enjoy today. It’s hard to believe Councillor Austin-Behan was thrown out the RAF for being gay back in 1997; since then he’s gone on to become the Lord Mayor of Manchester. His own story is one of true inspiration. I can think of nobody better or more relevant to be leading the parade this year as we march ahead into the future.”

Crumpsall-born Carl will lead the parade which is expected to consist of around 3,000 people from across Greater Manchester, with around 115 entries from small community groups, to large commercial organisations all expressing their support to the LGBT community.

The Parade will weave its way through the city centre, following a one mile route, as tens of thousands of visitors are expected to line the streets of Manchester.

The theme for the 2016 Manchester Pride Parade is Once Upon a Time. The charity is hoping to turn the streets of Manchester into a fairytale for the day.

Also for the first time this year Manchester Pride will have their own entry in the parade thanks to funds from Arts Council England. The entry which will be designed by Walk The Plank will feature people from across the LGBT community walking together to celebrate the theme.

The Manchester Pride Parade starts on Liverpool Road, passing by the Town Hall and the Gay Village before finishing on Whitworth Street.

In recent years it has been led by some of the most prominent faces in the LGBT world including Orange Is The New Black actress Lea DeLaria and national treasure Sir Ian McKellen.

The Manchester Pride Festival is an award-winning four-day event celebrating LGBT life. The event takes place in August, with The Big Weekend running from Friday August 26 to Monday August 29 with the Parade taking place on Saturday, August 27.

The Big Weekend tickets are on sale now, priced at £25 for weekend tickets. Day, family and children’s tickets are also available.

Tickets are exchanged for Pledge Bands at the festival providing guests with access to the event, including the Main Arena, Sackville Gardens, the Gaydio Dance Arena and the Expo and help Manchester Pride raise funds for LGBT and HIV causes in Greater Manchester.

For more information about The Big Weekend, click here:

Acts announced so far this year include Will Young, Heather Small, Katy B, Tulisa, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Groove Armada, Fleur East, international DJ Judge Jules and K Klass Live.

To find out more about Manchester Pride, click here:

Police appeal – have you seen this teenager?

Posted on 23/08/2016 by Gary Hart

Police are concerned for Angmering teenager Peter Grimshaw who has gone missing.

Peter, 17, was last seen at his home on Saturday August 20 at 10.55am. It is believed he maybe in Brighton.

He is white, 5′ 6″, of slim build with sandy coloured hair and has a piercing in his left eyebrow. He was last seen wearing a black top, black Adidas trousers, black baseball cap and carrying a black Adidas bag.

PC Lee Franklin from West Sussex Police, said: “Peter has some learning difficulties which makes him vulnerable and we are concerned for his welfare. If you have seen him or know where he is please contact us.”

Email police on 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk

Or telephone 101 quoting serial 585 of 20/8

If Peter is in danger or in need of urgent medical attention please telephone 999.

Finally if you have information but don’t want to talk to the police you can call the LGBT Community Safety Forum in complete confidence on: 01273 855620: Press option 4

Robert Apps R.I.P.

Posted on 23/08/201623/08/2016 by Contributor

Robert Apps a former member of the Sussex Gay Liberation Front died on August 13, 2016.

Robert Apps - 16.12.1950 - 13.8.2016 — Robert Apps – 16.12.1950 – 13.8.2016

Robert originally moved to Brighton to work in the food industry and at one time managed a small Tesco store next to the Bulldog pub on St. James Street.

He met Doug Coupe in the early 1970’s and they became friends. Gay Liberation had started at Sussex University headed by Mark Rowlands and Simon Watney.

Doug became one of the early members of Gay Liberation and when Mark and Simon moved away to further their education Doug and Bob together with other local enthusiasts started the Sussex Gay Liberation Front, holding regular meetings at the Stamford Arms in Preston Circus Brighton.

Bob took on the role of running discos at the pub on a Friday night and also sought and found other venues around the centre of Brighton for other regular dances.

Some of the venues that Bob arranged events at included Co-op Hall, the Albion Hotel, Top Rank Dance Club and the Royal Pavilion, which was amazing considering the very negative attitudes prevalent in the 70’s.

Doug Coupe said: “Bob was a very brave man and overcame many difficult confrontations, not least in his dealings with local authority representatives who at that time did not conceal their disapproval of gay people.

“He certainly contributed to the development of the more liberal attitude which we enjoy today and often many take for granted.”

Robert will be greatly missed by his family and friends especially Doug and his partner Joe Knight who visited him regularly in Eastbourne when he had to go into assisted living accommodation following a massive stroke and right leg amputation.

Doug added: “Young people who take so much for granted should be grateful for the work people like Bob and others did all those years ago, giving their energy and talents to fight for a better Gay Life for us all.”

Roberts funeral will be at Crawley Crematorium on September 7 at noon.

Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus welcomes new members

Posted on 23/08/2016 by Gary Hart

Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus (BrightonGMC) is holding a New Members’ evening on Tuesday, September 6 at the Brighton Unitarian Church, New Road Brighton, starting at 7.30pm.

The Chorus has three seasons every year, each culminating in sell-out public performances and new members who join this season will have the chance to perform in the Christmas Show, Pull A Cracker, in Brighton’s 1,800 seat, Dome Concert Hall on Saturday, December 10.

The New Members’ Evening is the first evening back after the summer break. It will comprise a short rehearsal, as a ‘taster’ of how the chorus work, followed by an opportunity to socialise with members over tea and cakes.

For some people, joining a well-established group like BrightonGMC might seem a daunting prospect, but everyone can be assured of a warm welcome from the four-time winners of Brighton’s Golden Handbag for Favourite Social Network Group.

New members will be looked after by a buddy-system throughout their first season, and will become part of the BrightonGMC family in no time.

The Chorus has exciting plans for 2017. In April they will join other male choirs from France, Russia, Sweden, USA and Australia, to compete in the world’s largest male choir festival, the Cornwall International Male Choral Festival.

In August they will travel to Manchester to attend the bi-annual Hand in Hand Festival, an LGBTQ choir festival that BrightonGMC co-hosted with the Rainbow Chorus in 2015, and which attracts over 20 choirs from all over the UK.

New members who can’t go along to the New Members’ Evening on September 6 can still join throughout September. At its heart BrightonGMC is a community chorus – new members are always welcome; there is no obligation to join, and no audition!

BrightonGMC is a space where people can celebrate music, celebrate their sexuality, enjoy the fellowship of other like-minded people and contribute to the local communities of which it is a part.

The Chorus is a registered charity with three guiding principles, the “Three S’s”:

♦ Singing – the celebration of life and music through male voice harmony

♦ Socialising – using singing to develop social bonds that help people to feel connected in a sometimes lonely world

♦ Support – to be there for each other – both collectively and individually – when the chips are down, and to be there for the communities in which the chorus operates, too.

Vaughan Leyshon, Membership Coordinator for the Chorus, said: “The Chorus has grown steadily over the last eleven years becoming the largest gay men’s chorus in the UK after The Gay Men’s Chorus in London, and goes from strength to strength – performing at a high standard, pushing its creative boundaries and playing an important role in the local community supporting other charities and worthy causes. We’re really happy to welcome new members as we embark on the next chapter in our story.”

Membership is open to anyone who self-identifies as a gay or gay-friendly man.

For more information, email Vaughan: membership@brightongmc.org

REVIEW: No Man’s Land @ Theatre Royal

Posted on 23/08/201623/08/2016 by Eric Page

No Man’s Land

Harold Pinter

Theatre Royal

Brighton

Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart glittered on the Theatre Royal stage last night, starring in the lauded Broadway production of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, currently touring before ending up in the West End for a limited run.

Harold Pinter’s 1970’s play is set in period and No Man’s Land sees Stewart and McKellen portraying the rather dubious older male characters of Hirst and Spooner, both writers in their later years who meet while drinking in a pub in Hampstead and continues, as the play opens, later that evening at Hirst’s comfortable home.

They laugh and drink ( and drink and drink and drink) and elegantly cavort around each other with verbal twists and barbs and eventually the drunkenness leads on to a game of one-upmanship and intertwine with consideration at the ways their lives reflect the others, polar yet entwined sharing the same foggy past. Then it is their dealings and interactions with some dubious dodgy and slightly unsavoury other younger men, a pair, or perhaps a couple, that becomes a bigger cause for concern.

Director, (writer and actor) Sean Mathias has been a long-time collaborator with McKellen having directed him in numerous theatre roles and worked with both actors on Waiting for Godot and has brought a touch perfect piece of well balanced and nuanced theatre that teases out the underbelly of this Pinter classic. Damien Molony as Foster and Owen Teale as Briggs are perfect in their dodgy weird codependent relationship with Teales in particular leaning into the laughs and bringing some light relief to his threatening, looming presence. Molony’s Foster is the picture of charming menace, visceral and mercurial, and his performance – like all the acting this evening – was superb. What an utterly perfect cast. The set is a wonderful piece of understatement and the subtle lighting effects and sound add to make this a masterclass is classic theatre production, it’s all about giving the actors the best possible place to shine, and what refulgence we witnessed tonight !

Pinter’s Play is slightly askew, it left me feeling strange, odd and prodded, although I laughed and enjoyed the barbed bon mots of the performance. It’s an empty hearted hollowness, barren and oddly comforting, like visiting a ruined abbey in the rain, once great, now sturdy in its survival of the battering of time and by the elements and giving up of grand expectations, the play is romantic in that way, savage in others.

The Theatre Royal was electrified last night, thrilled to its core and you could feel the atmosphere rippling around the packed house, I wonder how many of the audeince understood the deeper elements of Pinter and the point of just letting it all wash over you and not searching too hard for meaning but the laughter was constant and warm. But this isn’t about Pinter it’s about the interplay between these two great actors on stage with a sharp script, and that was utterly superb. Their humanity shines through along with the obvious love they have for performing with (and for) each other, and the dalliance of their actory hearts with Pinter’s crepuscular absurdist nonsense.

Until Sat 27th August.

Tickets are almost sold out with a queue for returns but if you fancy it; go join that queue and enjoy a little bit of perfect performance and theatre history while it’s in town…

Further info on the show and the rest of the tour dates here:

Brighton Gay Chorus fly the flag at Europride in Amsterdam

Posted on 23/08/201623/08/2016 by Besi

While Brighton Pride was in full swing, the Rainbow Chorus, Brighton’s only LGBT chorus were sharing the Brighton Love as part of Europride in Amsterdam.

Europride’s theme this year was diversity and our strength in numbers fighting discrimination – remembering there are still 74 countries where it is a criminal offence to have same-sex sexual contact and 78 where gay marriage is still not recognised.

The Rainbow Chorus was one of only four UK choirs invited to take part in AmaSing, an LGBT Choir Festival featuring fourteen choirs from all over Europe and an official part of the Europride celebrations.

Arriving in Amsterdam at the crack of dawn on Thursday August 4, by lunchtime the Chorus were performing beneath the glass roof of Amsterdam’s National Maritime Museum. Performances followed in a public square and a beautiful leafy park.

Friday August 5 was taken up by preparations for the main event – the festival itself being held at the magnificent Royal Concertgebouw, acoustically regarded as one of the finest concert halls in the world and where the likes of Maria Callas and Tchaikovsky have performed.

Under the direction of its dynamic music team—Mojca Monte on piano and Aneesa Chaudhry (certainly the only MD there sporting steampunk ankle boots!), the Rainbow Chorus were led through a varied and fun repertoire that included Sign Supported English earning a cheering, standing ovation from the sell-out audience of over 1,600 spectators.

The hard work over, it was time to relax and Amsterdam certainly knows how to celebrate – the beautiful party city literally pushed the boats out for Europride—with the Rainbow Chorus more than happy to get involved and lend a helping hand.

Almost every street corner, canal and building was covered in rainbow balloons and Pride banners. The Europride parade itself on the city’s canals saw over 80 party barges decked to the nines, celebrating diversity and unity in fabulous style, watched by thousands of spectators crammed along the banks and bridges where the cheers, beers and sometimes tears all flowed freely.

The Rainbow Chorus send thanks to the AmaSing organising team who invited them to sing, looked after them wonderfully and made them all feel very welcome.

Chorus Chair, Finola Brophy, echoed the feelings of the 90 strong Rainbow Chorus contingent of singers and supporters when she said: “As the most diverse and representative LGBT choir at the festival and one of the very few non-audition choirs, we were very proud to represent Brighton.

“Our internal organising ‘A-team’ was brilliant and our bursary scheme meant that all members who wanted to attend could travel with the chorus regardless of income.

“The Rainbow Chorus motto of Strength in Harmony was demonstrated loud and clear in Amsterdam with a real sense of support, solidarity and pride”.

During their time in Amsterdam, The Rainbow Chorus got to meet and mingle with their peers from the UK, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and France with many friendships being forged providing an unforgettable experience that the Rainbow Chorus feel privileged and fortunate to have been a part of.

View the video of the trip produced by Chorus tenor, Hannah Brackenbury:

Earlier in the year, on June 25, the Rainbow Chorus summer concert Songs Without Borders, played to a full house and raised through a raffle and bucket collection £638 for Brighton Voices in Exile, a registered charity reaching out to refugees, asylum seekers and those with no recourse to public funds within Sussex.

Arthur Law, of the BVIE Cookery Team, said: “The Rainbow Chorus lifted all our hearts and reminded us how universal love is and how powerful the bonds of soul and heart that recognise no borders.

“Voices in Exile is really pleased to have joined with the Chorus in raising the profile of LGBT people fleeing war and persecution and seeking refuge in the UK. We want to continue to improve our service to LGBT refugees. The generosity of the audience at Songs Without Borders was awesome. Thanks for the songs and the love, we look forward to working with you again”.

To tie in with their aim to become more involved in the wider Brighton and Hove community, just before the chorus left to sing in Amsterdam, they accepted an offer from Tesco, to sing at its Hove store in the lead-up to Brighton Pride.

On Saturday, July 30, 20 members of the choir assembled at Tesco Superstore in Hove to sing from 1 to 4 pm in the main entrance. Employees wore Pride T-shirts, Pride flags and banners were displayed around the foyer and Tesco arranged a fruit and veg display in the rainbow colours.

The Chorus sang the repertoire that they would be taking to Amsterdam less than a week later and were thrilled with the reception from shoppers.

Justin Hillier, Media and Comms lead for the Rainbow Chorus, said: “It can be presumptuous to assume people will want to hear an LGBT choir sing, even in the bubble of Brighton and Hove, but passers-by seemed genuinely delighted to take a pause in their Saturday routine and listen to our performance, really heart-warming!”

Your next chance to hear The Rainbow Chorus sing will be at their winter concert, at St George’s Church, St Georges Road, Kemptown on Saturday, December 10, 2016, starting at 7.30pm

Keep an eye on the Rainbow Chorus website for tickets going on sale as the show is always a sell-out.

In August 2017, the Chorus will be heading north to take part in Hand in Hand, a choir festival hosted next year by the Manchester Lesbian & Gay Chorus.

The Rainbow Chorus has grown considerably in recent years and remains determined to be fully representative of the LGBT communities in Brighton and Hove. They are looking for even more men at a new members night on Monday, September 12. If you think you have what is required to be part of the chorus you can register your interest and get further information by contacting the membership team by email: membership@rainbowchorus.org.uk .

The Rainbow Chorus is the only Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) choir in the South outside of London. The chorus aims to provide an enjoyable and supportive environment for LGBT people to sing together, make new friends while developing their community spirit, individual talents and confidence. Through performance, the Rainbow Chorus raises the profile of the LGBT community in Brighton & Hove, provides top quality entertainment and is supported by the Big Lottery and Rainbow Fund.

Photographs by Liza O’Malley.

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Day: August 23, 2016

Lord Mayor will lead Manchester Pride Parade

City’s first openly gay Lord Mayor will be Parade Grand Marshal this Saturday at Manchester Pride.

Police appeal – have you seen this teenager?

Police are concerned for Angmering teenager Peter Grimshaw who has gone missing.

Robert Apps R.I.P.

Robert Apps a former member of the Sussex Gay Liberation Front died on August 13, 2016.

Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus welcomes new members

Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus (BrightonGMC) is holding a New Members’ evening on Tuesday, September 6 at the Brighton Unitarian Church, New Road Brighton, starting at 7.30pm.

REVIEW: No Man’s Land @ Theatre Royal

Brighton Gay Chorus fly the flag at Europride in Amsterdam

While Brighton Pride was in full swing, the Rainbow Chorus, Brighton’s only LGBT chorus were sharing the Brighton Love as part of Europride in Amsterdam.

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City’s first openly gay Lord Mayor will be Parade Grand Marshal this Saturday at Manchester Pride.

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Police are concerned for Angmering teenager Peter Grimshaw who has gone missing.

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Robert Apps a former member of the Sussex Gay Liberation Front died on August 13, 2016.

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Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus (BrightonGMC) is holding a New Members’ evening on Tuesday, September 6 at the Brighton Unitarian Church, New Road Brighton, starting at 7.30pm.

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While Brighton Pride was in full swing, the Rainbow Chorus, Brighton’s only LGBT chorus were sharing the Brighton Love as part of Europride in Amsterdam.

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