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Petition to save Brighton HIV charity hits 10,000 signatures

10,000 people have now signed a petition asking the Government to take action to save local HIV charity, The Sussex Beacon.

The charity faces the prospect of closing services, including its ten bed inpatient unit, following a reduction in the funding it receives from the NHS.

The Sussex Beacon provides specialist support and care for people living with HIV through both inpatient and outpatient services. It helps hundreds of people living with HIV in Sussex each year and was rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission in September.

Changes to local commissioning arrangements have led to a reduction in statutory funding. The Sussex Beacon has already lost some funding and further cuts seem likely in the future. The charity costs over £2 million a year to run and cannot continue to absorb the budget cuts.

The petition is targeted at the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, and NHS England. Now it has reached 10,000 signatures, staff are working with supportive local MPs to ensure it makes an impact in parliament, raising awareness of the charity’s position and highlighting the level of public support.

Simon Dowe, Chief Executive of The Sussex Beacon, said: “Since we announced that these funding cuts are threatening our services, we’ve had an outpouring of support, which we’re incredibly grateful for. Service users, colleagues in the health and HIV sectors, MPs and local people have given us their backing as we try to find a way to keep our services open.

He continued: “We’re delighted to hit 10,000 signatures on the petition as we feel it demonstrates to Commissioners and the Department of Health how valued we are. If we are forced to close services, not only will it have an impact on some of the most vulnerable people with HIV locally, it will also put significant additional pressure on both health and social care services in Sussex as they try to fill the gap. We’re doing all we can to avoid closing services, while also supporting our service users and staff at this difficult time.”

Charity management and trustees continue to explore a variety of options to try to secure funding. Conversations with local and NHS England Commissioners are ongoing and other options are also being explored including approaching non NHS funding and grant giving bodies. The charity may be redesigned, or may work in partnership with other local organisations in order to continue helping people with HIV.

To find the petition to Save the Sussex Beacon go to www.38degrees.org.uk and type in ‘Sussex Beacon’.


A fundraiser celebrating 25 years of the work of the Sussex Beacon is the curtain raiser to LGBT+ History Month in February.

Celebration! will be the first show staged in the Phil Starr Pavilion on New Steine Gardens and is organised by the Brighton & Hove LGBT+ Community Safety Forum.

Artists donating their services free of charge include Myra Dubois, Lorraine Bowen, Miss Jason, Dave Lynn, Davina Sparkle, Maisie Trollette, Kara Van Park, Sally Vate and dancers from the Brighton Academy choreographed by Emma Green. The show is directed and staged by Carole Todd and every penny of ticket money will go to the Sussex Beacon.

Tickets priced £18/£15 concs are available from Prowler, Nice ‘n’ Naughty and the Sussex Beacon Charity Shop in St James Street.

To book tickets online, click here:

 

For more information about The Sussex Beacon, click here:

 

 

Brighton business gives helping hand to rough sleepers

When chips are down…Brighton business gives rough sleepers a helping hand as winter draws in

♦ Fledgling Brighton business offers free chips, hot water and warm words of comfort to support those sleeping rough on the streets.

♦ Owners pledge to do more – even offering potential employment to rough sleepers as an avenue back into work.

♦ Local politician praises the work for “making things better for the local community”.

A Brighton business has been praised by a leading city politician for giving rough sleepers a helping hand this winter.

BeFries has been serving its unique mix of Belgian frites and homemade dips from their base at the top of West Street since August.

But, with temperatures plummeting to below freezing in recent weeks, those who run the independent business have been doing their bit for the rough sleeping community.

Staff have been taking out hot chips and offering some warm words to those forced to spend the nights in the streets. They also provide hot water to local charities who distribute tea and other hot drinks to those in need.

Dashal Beevers, who founded the business with his brother Chan, said: “Being an independent business in the heart of the city which is open seven days a week we have seen first hand the growing number of people who are forced to sleep rough on the city’s streets.

“We’ve got to know many of those who regularly spend time on West Street. With overnight temperatures now regularly dropping below freezing, the least we can do is offer some hot food and a five-minute chat.

“Just that small thing you can tell makes all the difference.”

According to government figures released this week, Brighton and Hove has the second highest number of rough sleepers in the country.

A snapshot survey conducted by the government in autumn 2016 recorded 144 people bedding down on the city’s streets, an increase of 85 per cent on 2015. A large number of these rough sleepers are in the West Street area where BeFries is based.

Before opening in August, Dashal and Chan discussed ways in which they could support local charities.

During test fry runs, the pair gave portions of cooked potatoes to the Clock Tower Sanctuary, which supports young homeless people in Brighton and Hove.

Once trading, Dashal wanted to establish a regular link so that some of the unsold produce was gifted to local groups for them to distribute among vulnerable people in the city. But after receiving no positive responses, he took matters into his own hands.

Dashal spoke about the issues with councillor Emma Daniel, chairman of Brighton and Hove City Council’s neighbourhoods, communities and equalities committee, during a visit to the shop this week.

Dashal said: “We would like to extend our reach if we can. It’s hard being a new business to do that as we are limited with time. But we would like to find a charity we can work with who we can provide food to and then they distribute it to those in need.

“Moving forward we would like to extend that by working with an organisation who can help us offer some of those who have fallen on hard times an avenue back into employment by working in our kitchens.”

Cllr Emma Daniel
Cllr Emma Daniel

Cllr Daniel said: “It was fantastic to meet Dash and Chan who are full of ideas not only to improve their business but to make things better for the city as a whole.

“I think the perception is that businesses, especially small businesses, are not interested in social responsibility.

“But BeFries has shown that is not true. They are proving it is possible for even independent start-ups to connect and make a difference in their local community.”

BeFries is open Sunday to Thursday noon to 8pm and Friday and Saturday noon to midnight, and you will find them at 43 West Street, Brighton.

Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement responds to House of Bishops’ report

We’ll work with you – but we won’t wait for you, LGBT+ groups tell House of Bishops.

Groups working for the full inclusion of LGBT+ people in the Church of England have responded to Friday’s statement by the House of Bishops, by promising support for those who want to change – but saying that they can no longer wait for those who don’t, and that their members and supporters will begin the work of making change happen at the grassroots.

In an open letter to the bishops, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) expressed its sense of ‘betrayal’ at the outcome of the three-year Shared Conversations, a process which, it said, “almost entirely failed to hear the cries of faithful Anglican LGBT+ people’’.

LGCM rejected the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell approach proposed by the Bishops, as further damaging LGBT+ people by forcing them to conceal their identities and relationships. It urges its Anglican members to remain in communion with the Church, but LGCM will embark upon a range of initiatives with those who want to make change.

Tracey Byrne
Tracey Byrne

Tracey Byrne, Chief Executive of LGCM, said: “To echo Una Kroll’s words, we asked for bread and we’ve been given stones.  LGBT+ people have participated in this process in good faith, at considerable personal cost, and now feel unheard and dismissed. Other churches in England have made much more significant progress in recent years in including LGBT+ people. Despite us knowing that many individual bishops favour a move towards a more gracious, compassionate and inclusive church, collectively they’ve failed to deliver. This is another missed opportunity which further undermines the mission of the established church to convey the gospel promise of good news for everyone.”

Jeremy Pemberton, Chair of LGCM, added: “The waiting is over.  What we’re saying now to the bishops is that LGBT+ Christians are here, are part of the church, and are happy to work with those who want change.  But LGCM can no longer wait for episcopal leadership.  The Spirit is moving in God’s faithful people and we’re seeking to be obedient to that movement.  It’s a very exciting time.”

Ruth Hunt
Ruth Hunt

Ruth Hunt, Stonewall’s CEO, said: We’re disappointed by today’s news that the Church of England still won’t recognise same-sex couples in marriage, or offer its blessing to their relationships. 

“LGBT people of faith need to be respected and included in their faith communities, just as they need respect and acceptance in wider society. 

“But, there is some encouraging news from today’s response from the House of Bishops. The recommendation for new guidance on same-sex relationships is a positive sign of hope ahead. 

“We’re also pleased that the Bishops recognise that it’s time for the Church to adopt a ‘fresh’ approach to how lesbian, gay and bi people are treated.

“We know this will also be very welcome news to LGBT Christians, alongside the recognition in the response that the Church needs to follow Christian teachings on this issue, specifically that ‘we should love one another as ourselves.

“This is an opportunity for the Church to work closely with LGBT communities to get this next stage right, and we, alongside many others, including faith leaders who support LGBT equality, will be watching this closely.

“We’ll continue to stand by the side of LGBT people of all faiths, and we’ll continue to work with faith communities and faith schools to help them support LGBT people.”


Open letter to the Bishops of the Church of England from the Board of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement

Dear brothers and sisters,

A Response to the House of Bishops’ Report to General Synod following the Shared Conversations

When the Pilling report came out you proposed a method, the Shared Conversations, that held the hope of finding a way forward in the Church of England in the controversial area of sexuality by encouraging good disagreement. We understood that to mean that members of the church were not to expect to see any one perspective dominate, but for them all to acknowledge their part in the Body of Christ, reflecting the relationship in him that they share, whatever their views of human sexuality. They were asked to participate in the process of Shared Conversations in a spirit of Christian openness and trust.

LGBTI+ Anglicans gladly did so, but for those who did so there was a high personal cost of putting themselves and their relationships on the line for public discussion and comment once again, as if to legitimise them. For some that was too much to contemplate. Others committed to the process, in the hope that this would lead, at last, to LGBTI+ people being given some real space in the corporate life of the Church of England. We all looked for an acknowledgement of the potential for holiness and growth in grace that many of us have found, not despite, but through embracing our God-given sexuality and the relationships into which we are convinced God has led us.

When the Conversations came to an end you told the church that you wished to give episcopal leadership to shaping what came next. You announced the timetable, but also made it clear that you were not at that stage inviting representations. You asked your people to trust you. As an ecumenical organisation with many Church of England members, we responded by acceding to that request, as we have all through this process.

It is now clear that the process has almost entirely failed to hear the cries of faithful LGBTI+ people. You are proposing to formalise Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell among clergy in same-sex relationships. This essentially asks clergy to dissemble and keep the nature of their relationships hidden – far from equalising the situation between straight and gay clergy it pushes LGBTI+ clergy back into the closet. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell diminishes everyone’s integrity: where it was used in wider society it was eventually discarded and discredited. Why are you introducing this now?

You write in your report about the need establish “across the Church of England a fresh tone and culture of welcome and support for lesbian and gay people”. You say also that your responsibility is to clarify the issues at stake not find solutions. The issues at stake are principally the lives of these lesbian and gay people. You tell us that the bishops are not going to change an iota of the current teaching of the Church of England. If that is the case, then changes of tone will do nothing to improve the second-class position of the LGBTI+ faithful. Their relationships will be merely tolerated or judged wanting, and LGBTI+ clergy will be vulnerable if their relationships become known.

You have done nothing to acknowledge the goodness or sanctity of the relationships of LGBTI+ people, lay and clerical. Anglican LGBTI+ people are still labouring under the Higton motion and Issues in Human Sexuality as the last word on this matter. You could have made clear that issues of sexuality are not first order theological issues and that same-sex relationships, which the Archbishop described as sometimes being of “stunning quality”, could be a means of grace to those in them. You have done nothing. There is a failure of leadership and theological insight in the Church of England.

This outcome is an almost complete betrayal of the trust that has been placed in you by faithful disciples of Christ. There is no space for good disagreement. The old lines of dishonesty remain intact. Not an inch has been given to support LGBTI+ inclusion.

We have to tell you that this is completely unacceptable. Echoing the words of the late Una Kroll, “We asked for bread, and you gave us a stone”. You make much of starting processes to write more documents, but our observation is that anything written is unlikely to move the situation forwards. LGCM and Changing Attitude, who are shortly to merge, will now begin a series of campaigns to change this situation. We will use the levers of power available to us and will oppose and challenge your stance where it is intransigent at every opportunity. Those of us who are members of the Church of England will remain in communion with you and will insist on making our protests and acting in ways that seek to hold the Church of England together. We will work to help it move to a more diverse and inclusive future, bringing the message of Christ alive in the present day. Like you, we are deeply concerned with the decline of the Church of England not simply numerically, but in the estimation of the English people. Our concern is, therefore, missionary as well as pastoral and political.

Your actions and inactions will not commend your church to ordinary people. We will work to make the Church of England a body of which all Christians can be proud again. We are glad that your proposal for a new report to replace Issues will engage and include LGBT Anglicans in the writing of it, and we remain ready to participate in that. In other initiatives where you allow us we will work with you, but our clear focus is on the changes that need to come.

Yours in the fellowship of Christ,

Tracey Byrne, Chief Executive Officer

Jeremy Pemberton, Chair of the Board

The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement

For more information about LGCM, click here:

Former Brighton police chief named as ‘Senior Champion of the Year’ in annual LGBT+ employers list

Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp
Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp

Former head of policing in Brighton named as Senior Champion of the Year in the Stonewall Top 100 employers list

Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp, the former head of policing in Brighton & Hove, has been named as Senior Champion in Stonewall’s, 2017 Workplace Equality Index.

For the sixth time in eight years Sussex Police are featured in the Top 100 Employers Index at number 79 and the Sussex Police LGBT+ Network has also been recognised.

Ch Supt Kemp receives the award for his work as the forces LGBT+ Equality Champion – while being the divisional commander in Brighton and Hove, which included regular liaison and engagement with the LGBT+ communities across Sussex, and in the city; supporting events such as Brighton Pride, the annual Stonewall Equality Walk and his work supporting the independent Brighton & Hove LGBT+ Community Safety Forum whose role is to hold the statutory authorities to account on issues of safety affecting LGBT+ people in the city.

The Sussex Police LGBT+ Network received an award as a Highly Commended Network Group.

Ch Supt Kemp, said: “This award means a huge amount to me and I know from having spoken to colleagues, it means a huge amount to Sussex Police too. I believe strongly people perform at their best if they can be themselves. In policing we value courage and it is courage that many LGBT+ people have had to show just to be themselves. Making a stand as champion bought me into conflict on a personal level with a member of my family and sometimes the public and so I am sadly aware of the prejudice and discrimination that LGBT+ people have experienced. My own experience only made me more resolute. I have been proud to be LGBT+ Equality Champion, to be part of an organisation that values difference and I am overwhelmed to have received this award.”

Jane Carter, chair of the Sussex Police LGBT Network, said: “The inclusion of Sussex Police in the Stonewall top 100 as well as the network being recognised as a highly commended network group, is a significant achievement for the organisation.

“Both the inclusion and our placement in the index speak volumes about the efforts and initiatives that have taken place to promote and cement inclusion in the workforce. The Sussex Police LGBT Network is proud to continue to support this work and assist in any way possible to further encourage and reinforce the values promoted by Sussex Police.”

More than 430 employers entered the 2017 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, the highest number of applicants since the index first opened in 2005. As part of the index there is a staff feedback questionnaire that participating employers can ask their staff to complete.

This year Stonewall received over 90,000 responses to the staff survey making it one of the largest national employment surveys in Britain, with 16,186 LGBT+ respondents.

For the full results and more information about Stonewall, click here:

 

Brighton Council leader calls for passenger voice in rail services

Brighton and Hove City Council Leader Warren Morgan calls for a new body to give residents and commuters a say in who runs their rail services.

Cllr Warren Morgan
Cllr Warren Morgan

This new body, Rail South would hold those service providers to account, ensuring central government gives our region the infrastructure and operators fit for the rail service commuters and businesses need.

Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, Warren Morgan, said: “It’s time for action on the failing Southern services, and time for passengers and businesses to have a locally accountable and democratically elected voice in how those services are designed and run. It is time for the Department for Transport to end the current “concession” arrangement with GTR, and work with passengers, business and councils on awarding a new franchise that gives us the rail services we desperately need. I have written to the Leaders of East and West Sussex County Councils this week to ask for their partnership in taking this idea forward.”

The new body would work in partnership with Department of Transport to manage the Southern rail franchise, in a similar way to Rail North. It would have a statutory role in the awarding of franchises and scrutiny of service standards, and work under the umbrella of the emerging Transport for the South East sub-national transport body, equivalent to Transport for London.

It would be a cohesive and proactive body, applying local, economic and geographical knowledge to the re-franchising process, and advance plans for future devolution of rail services, planning and infrastructure investment.

Jonathan Sharrock

Jonathan Sharrock, Chief Executive of Coast to Capital LEP, has supported the proposal, saying Rail North is a good template, he said: “Stronger local involvement in the specification and delivery of franchises is essential if we are to rebuild confidence in Southern and also to get more leverage over the investment decisions on the Brighton Main Line that Government needs to take in the next  12 months.”

More information on Rail North, www.railnorth.org/

 

 

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