Speak it’s Name!: Quotations by and About Gay Men and Women
Simon Callow, Christopher Tinker
This collection of quotations by and about gay people is a celebration of the advances in LGBT rights in the UK over the last half-century and a demonstration of the battle against oppression and prejudice that led to them. From a diverse range of people across the world, funny ones are interspersed with extracts from revealing interviews and diary entries.
Amusing observations by Noël Coward, Tallulah Bankhead, Quentin Crisp, Boy George and Alan Bennett are interspersed with extracts from revealing interviews with Dusty Springfield, Ian McKellen, Freddie Mercury, Clive Barker, George Michael and William S. Burroughs and diary entries by Kenneth Williams, Joe Orton, W.H. Auden and John Maynard Keynes.
John Gielgud and Alan Turing’s disturbing accounts of their arrests at a time when homosexual acts were punishable with a prison sentence contrast with touching love-letters from Violet Trefusis to her lover, Vita Sackville-West, King James I to his favourite, George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, and between Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears, all demonstrate the enormous developments in gay rights in Britain in the last five hundred years, with a focus on the last century.
A delightfully well presented and researched classy addition to anyone’s queer book-stack but then the author bring a heft of percipient experience with him Christopher Tinker Editing Manager of the National Gallery and an introduction from Simon Callow all round lovvie extraordinaire.
Beata Kozidrak is a singer with legendary Polish band, Bajm.
Beata Kozidrak
After divorcing her husband earlier this year, she relaunched her solo career, releasing her third solo album B3.
Polish gay couple Jakub and David loved her new single Niebiesko-zielone and made an amateur video for it. The Polish superstar adored their work so much she sent congratulations to them and shared it on her official website. Then the hatred began……
The response from her fans was enthusiastic but when the Polish media spread the news around the country a lot of nasty comments started to appear.
Here are just a few:
When she got divorce she completely lost her mind
She should buy a hammer and hit herself in the head
That pig should be burnt on a stake
It should be cured not promoted
I’ve been your fan for 30 years, now it’s over
A few radical Polish nationalists sites called for a boycott of Beata’s songs and concerts.
So what is all the fuss about?
Jakub and David
Nothing really, just two young Polish guys having fun throughout all four seasons of the year in a three-minute video promoting a pop song. They recorded Spring and Autumn in Poland, Summer in Italy and Winter in Russia.
Last year when their video of the Roxette track Some other summer appeared on Roxette’s official website, Jakub and David faced a similar reaction.
Beata Kozidrak has been a gay icon in Poland for over 30 years. Her colourful outfits, leather jackets and over knee boots were an inspiration for three generations of Polish drag queens. Beata had never mentioned a word about her attitude to LGBT+ people, so it was a huge surprise to everyone when she published Jacob and David’s video of her new single Niebiesko-zielone (Blue-Green) on her official website
The annual review of the number rough sleepers in Brighton & Hove has taken place.
The rough sleeper estimate aims to identify the current numbers of people sleeping rough in the city to make sure support and resources are allocated where most needed.
The estimate is produced by Brighton & Hove City Council in collaboration with eight organisations working with rough sleepers across the city.
The group shares data and information to produce a list of all those known to be sleeping rough in the city, providing a snapshot of one night to illustrate the wider picture.
The work focused on the night of Tuesday, November 8 and the results show this year’s estimate figure is 144 an increase from 78 in 2015 and is more comparable to the estimate undertaken in March 2014 which recorded 132 people sleeping rough.
Cllr Clare Moonan
Cllr Clare Moonan, Lead Member for Rough Sleeping, said:“Understanding the needs of rough sleepers in the city helps us to make sure the right services are in place. Key to this is in knowing how many people are in need and where to find them. This year’s estimate is the most involved and detailed we’ve ever done. We feel that as far as possible we have included all the hidden rough sleepers on the city’s boundaries who are currently not engaging with our mainstream services.
“At first glance, the numbers seems to show a large increase on last year’s estimate. The reality is that we now have a more accurate reflection of the situation in the city.”
This year’s total of 144 rough sleepers is split between 126 men and 18 women.
Last year the estimate identified 78 people sleeping rough on the night of the November 3, 2015. Of these 71 were male and seven female.
Between 50 to 60 per cent of the city’s rough sleepers are not local and don’t have a connection to Brighton & Hove, in these cases everything is done to reconnect people with services in their own area if it is personally safe for this to be arranged.
Brighton & Hove City Council is committed to helping rough sleepers move away from the streets. Partners in the city, including St Mungo’s, provide the city’s street outreach service and work closely with the individuals identified as part of the estimate.
Local charities are also working together with the council this winter to raise awareness of how people can help rough sleepers.
Five local charities, Pavilions, St Mungo’s, BHT (Brighton Housing Trust), Nightstop and Equinox, have organised a campaign to encourage rough sleepers to contact support services available in the city, ask residents to say where they’ve seen those in need so tailored help can be offered and provide an alternative giving option to donating on the street.
Members of the public can help rough sleepers by contacting Streetlink to share concerns about individuals who are sleeping rough.
The details are passed to the street outreach service and professional outreach workers go out to offer help to the individual.
Brighton & Hove scoops a prestigious national prize for the best public loos in England – the Oscars of the toilet world.
The city’s toilets brushed aside the opposition and were awarded first place in the inf-loo-ential Loo of the Year awards for their cleanliness, facilities and accessibility to everyone – including adults, children, babies and people with a disability.
As well as taking first place in the Best Local Authority Toilets in England category, it also picked up the number one spots for Best Beach Toilets in the UK, (West Pier Arches) and Best Crematorium Toilets in the UK (Hove Cemetery South).
Judges look at more than 100 different criteria before choosing the finest loos in the land, giving them a ‘platinum’ or ‘gold’ or ‘silver’ grade following an unannounced visit by a fully trained and authorised Loo of the Year Awards Inspector.
The council entered all of its 37 toilets for awards and almost swept the board with 17 Platinum (more than any other local authority in the UK), 16 Golds and 4 Silvers, meaning the city council came second overall in the all-category UK local authority ‘Premier League’.
The table ranks local authorities with ten or more entries and winning five or more Gold or Platinum awards, and who in the opinion of the inspectors, are maintaining a ‘consistently high standard of management in all their Loo of the Year Awards entries’.
Cllr Gill Mitchell
Cllr Gill Mitchell, chair of the council’s Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee, said:“This is a fantastic achievement and one that is great news for everyone who lives, works and visits our wonderful city.
“Of the 37 toilet sites across the city, the majority of these are RADAR accessible toilets, have baby change facilities, and two are special Changing Places toilets that have extra features and more space to meet the needs of people who use them.”
She added:“I am also extremely pleased that we will be able to keep all of our public toilets open despite further cuts in our overall Government funding.”
The Loo of the Year Awards are independently run, sponsored by leading toilet and hygiene equipment companies and supported by the four UK national tourism bodies – Enjoy England, Visit Scotland, Visit Wales and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
Speak it’s Name!: Quotations by and About Gay Men and Women 
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