In order for as many local residents to attend this year’s Pride Festival on Preston Park, organisers are releasing a further batch of tickets exclusively to residents with a BN post code, tomorrow, Thursday, February 15 at noon.
10,000 tickets will be available from the Box Office at the B RIGHT ON LGBT Community Festival in the Phil Starr Pavilion on Victoria Gardens, Brighton.
In an effort to stop ticket touts profiteering transaction will be limited to two tickets per person. You must attend in person to buy these tickets for which there will be a booking fee of £1 charged which goes directly towards the work of the Brighton & Hove, LGBT Community Safety Forum, a volunteer led organisation.
The Sussex Beacon shop at 130 St James Street still have tickets for sale to people with a BN post code (There will be a £1.50 booking fee charged which goes directly to the Sussex Beacon).
Take photo ID and proof of your BN postcode address (utility bill, bank statement or council tax bill) along with you.
If you cannot afford to buy a ticket to go to a paid event at Brighton Pride, donate a few hours of your time to help Pride during the year and you will get a free ticket to the park.
For more information about volunteering, click here:
Community-led housing programme launches in Brighton & Hove on Wednesday, February 21, 2018, 5.30 – 9pm (registration from 5:15pm).
Community-led housing allows local people to take control of their housing and create alternatives to the limited choices offered by the current housing market.
The new Brighton & Hove Community-Led Housing Programme supports groups of people to come together and organise, or build, their own affordable homes. Applications are open for financial support and free advice to help make people’s ideas a reality.
The Programme is run by Brighton & Hove Community Land Trust and supported by Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC), through the Department of Communities & Local Government’s Community Housing Fund.
Community-led housing projects already underway in Brighton & Hove include housing co-operatives, cohousing projects and self-build projects.
At the event there will be the opportunity to:
♦ Find out more about community-led housing.
♦ Hear about exciting examples of community-led housing in Brighton & Hove.
♦ Meet people who want to start their own affordable housing projects.
♦ Find out more about Housing Ourselves grants of between £1,000 and up to £50,000 available to housing groups.
♦ Learn about how the programme can connect you with experts, or how your expertise could be useful to a community-led housing group.
“It is an exciting year for community-led housing in the city,”says BHCLT Community-led Housing Programme Manager, Andrea Jones. “There are already some great projects across the city and this Programme will help more people to create genuinely affordable housing solutions for themselves.”
“Too often people in the city feel like they have no control over their housing, particularly when rents and house prices are so high. Community-led housing is a chance for people to both solve their housing problems, and build a sense of community through working together.”
BHCLT community-led housing programme includes:
♦ Housing Ourselves: Financial support through loans or grants to housing groups of between £1,000 and up to £50,000.
♦ Discovering suitable land and properties and helping groups acquire them for housing projects.
♦ Connecting local people who want to start their own housing projects and providing them with expertise and support.
♦ Raising awareness and building knowledge about housing with local people, the council and others who work in housing.
Councillor Anne Meadows, chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s Housing and New Homes Committee, said:“There is a huge demand for housing in the city, with the supply of affordable housing not keeping pace with demand. We’re looking at every option to help provide more affordable homes for the city, and the community-led housing programme is something we’re very keen to support.”
Community-led housing is good for Brighton & Hove because:
♦ It provides additional affordable and stable housing to those in need.
♦ It creates and demonstrates alternative ways of living which have a positive impact on wellbeing.
♦ It helps local people develop new skills as they make their projects a reality.
♦ It encourages collaboration and co-operative between local people and involves them in decisions about new housing.
♦ People have more say in how their homes are developed and managed.
♦ It creates an opportunity to make use of empty buildings and vacant land, revitalising communities.
BHCLT is working with Co-operative Housing in Brighton & Hove (CHIBAH) and Mutual Aid In Sussex (MAIS) to deliver the Community-led Housing programme.
The event is free entry and food will be provided. People are asked to sign up via Eventbrite if they would like to attend.
For more information, including learning more about existing community-led housing projects in Brighton & Hove contact Amy Hall, Communications Officer with BHCLT on 07950808190 or email: comms@bhclt.org.uk
Do you have a stunning garden with bounteous borders and an enviably manicured lawn?
Maybe your outdoor space is uniquely different and deserves to be shown off? If so, Martlets Hospice would like to hear from you.
The Hospice is looking for gardens of all shapes and sizes to hold fundraising open days.
Liz Davies from the hospice’s Fundraising Team, said:“We think it’s time for the green-fingered gardeners of Brighton and Hove to proudly show off all that they’ve achieved.
“You might have rows of marrows, an urban forest, pretty flowerbeds or a patio that’s blooming with colour; we know there’s lots of hidden gems in the city!
“How big you make your open day is entirely up to you; you can fling open your garden gates to the public or simply have a few friends round to enjoy your pride and joy.
“Most people ask for donations and offer refreshments; which can be as simple as a cup of tea or something a little more lavish.
“The important thing is that you and your guests are having fun whilst raising vital funds for the Hospice.”
International Mega Star Britney Spears, to be honoured as one of the most prominent LGBT+ icons of all time, at the 2018 GLAAD Vanguard Awards.
The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, April 12 at the Beverley Hilton in Los Angeles.
Past winners of the prestigious award include: Patricia Arquette (2017), Demi Lovato (2016), Janet Jackson (2008), and Roseanne Barr (1993).
On hearing the news, Britney said on Instagram:“The LGBT+ community means the absolute world to me and inspire me every day. I am proud to be an ally and I will continue to support equality and acceptance for all!”
Britney has been an outspoken ally and supporter of the LGBT+ communities for many years. Last year, along with other LGBT+ Icons she wrote a Love Letter to Billboard, the bible of the entertainment industry in the USA, to mark Pride month.
The letter said:“This is my letter of love to all my LGBT+ fans. Continuously throughout my career, you’ve always been so vocal about what a positive impact I’ve had on you – that I’ve instilled joy, hope and love in you at times when there was none. That my music is an inspiration. That my story gives you hope.
“But I have a secret to share with you. You see, it’s actually you that lifts me up. The unwavering loyalty. the lack of judgment. The unapologetic truth. Acceptance! Your stories are what inspire me, bring me joy and make me and my sons strive to be better people.”
I love you. Britney Spears
Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, added: “An irrefutable icon, Britney Spears has entertained the world while also embodying the spirit of GLAAD’s Vanguard Award by speaking out on significant issues that face her fans—from the Dream Act to anti-transgender bills in Texas.”
GLAAD was founded in 1985 in response to the New York Post’s grossly defamatory and sensationalised HIV and AIDS coverage. A small group of journalists and writers form GLAAD. The first meeting was on November 14, 1985 and later that year, almost 1,000 people protested outside the office of the New York Post. For over 30 years, has been at the forefront of cultural change, accelerating acceptance for the LGBT+ community.
Britney headlines Brighton Pride on Saturday August, 4, 2018 with her Las Vegas Show, ‘Britney – Piece of Me’.
Tickets for locals with a BN postcode will go on sale at the B RIGHT ON LGBT Community Festival Box Office at the Phil Starr Pavilion, Victoria Gardens, Brighton tomorrow, February 15 at noon.
Take along photographic ID and proof of address. Tickets will be limited to two per person.
On Saturday, February 17, Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents RFC host Crowborough RFC 3rd XV for the second match with them in the Harvey’s of Sussex 4 East ‘Bonfire Boy’ League.
Kick off is at 2:30pm and you can join the lads beforehand and afterward in the club house of Hove RFC on Old Shoreham Road, where there’s a fully licensed bar and a cafe serving lots of delicious hot food.
Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents are Sussex’s first fully gay and inclusive rugby club, encouraging gay, bisexual,and trans guys to learn, experience and play rugby in a non judgemental atmosphere.
Crowborough RFC 3rd XV are presently 5th in the league table, and Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents RFC XV are 9th.
The Sea Serpent are members of the Sussex RFU, the RFU and IGR – the body that encourages inclusive rugby across the world and their kit is sponsored by Camelford Arms.
Humanists UK, the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people, reveal fundamentalist and fringe religious groups attempts to undermine the Government’s plans for relationships and sex education (RSE) in English schools by opposing teaching about same-sex relationships.
The Department for Education’s (DfE) consultation on Relationships Education (RelEd) in primaries and RSE in secondaries closed on Monday. While the consultation invited views on what content should be included in the two subjects, some religious groups – including Christian, Jewish, and Muslim organisations – have used it to encourage supporters to respond by attacking the Government for its insistence that both RelEd and RSE be inclusive of same-sex relationships and LGBT+ people.
Exposing the deeply homophobic, sexist, and pseudoscientific claims made by various religious organisations in their guidance for responding to the consultation, Humanists UK has urged the Government to be resilient to intolerance and defend the ‘equality and dignity of all people’.
Humanists UK Education Campaigns Manager Jay Harman, says:“It is time for the Government to make a decision. Will it continue to allow state-funded schools to teach that homosexuality is a sin and to condemn, stigmatise, or just entirely ignore the existence of LGBT+ people? Or will it move to end the state’s endorsement of such teaching and prohibit it as an anachronistic, discriminatory, and unconscionable affront to the equality and dignity of all people?
“It was not long ago that similar decisions had to be made by governments both in the UK and the United States in the face of segregationists and opponents of interracial marriage. History has taken a dim view of those who sought to hold back the tide of racial equality then, and it will no doubt take a dim view of those who oppose LGBT+ equality now.”
These groups and their briefing documents on how to respond to the consultation include:
Coalition for Marriage (C4M) C4M is a predominantly Christian campaign group launched in 2012 to oppose same-sex marriage. It describes itself as ‘an umbrella group of individuals and organisations in the UK that support traditional marriage between a man and woman, to the exclusion of all others’. In its guidance on responding to the DfE’s consultation – guidance that has reportedly been promoted by some Catholic state schools to their parents.
C4M state that: ‘The Coalition for Marriage believes that there is no “age-appropriate” way to teach primary school children about same-sex marriage or transgenderism. We should be teaching young children broad values of respect and tolerance, not ordering them to accept adult sexual relationships which they are far too young to understand. Nor should schools be encouraging young children to question their biological gender.’
RSE guidance should acknowledge ‘Marriage between a man and a woman as the gold-standard of adult relationship[s]’, and ‘that a person’s gender is determined by biology’.
National Association of Jewish Orthodox Schools (NAJOS)
NAJOS ‘acts as an umbrella organisation’ for modern Orthodox and strictly Orthodox Jewish schools in the UK, and consults and advises them on a wide range of issues. In an almost identical statement to that provided by C4M, NAJOS states that the consultation represents an ‘opportunity to define what our cultural sensitivities and no-go areas are’: ‘Our Daas Torah guides that there is no “age-appropriate” way to teach primary or secondary school children about same-s[ex] marriage or transgenderism. We should be teaching young children broad values of respect and tolerance, not ordering them to accept adult s[exual] relationships which they are far too young to understand. Nor should schools be encouraging young children to question their biological gender.’
SREIslamic SREIslamic ‘provides advice, support, and training to parents’ and was founded by a former member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has been widely described as an extremist group. Since 2008 it has delivered hundreds of seminars across the country on how RSE is taught in schools and what legal rights Muslim parents have with regard to RSE.
Its guidance on responding to the consultation includes: ‘Why marriage between a man and a woman is the cornerstone of any successful society’ ‘Why contraception does not safeguard people from STIs or stop pregnancy’ ‘You can also take this opportunity to talk about topics you feel would be inappropriate to teach at primary school as they are not age-appropriate. Such as sexual relationships, reproduction, LGBT relationships, pornography etc’
SREIslamic also warns that ‘Under the guise of “equality”, the government undermines marriage through laws to normalise homosexual relationships.’
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) SPUC is an anti-choice campaign group which also provides school speakers and school resources on RSE. In a briefing to its supporters giving guidance on how to respond to the DfE’s consultation, SPUC states that:
‘Priority subject areas’ for RSE should include: ‘
The importance and value of marriage between a man and a woman and the natural family’, and ‘The courtesies and respect due to each of the sexes (for example, men taking on harder physical tasks etc.)’ ‘Very young children will be told that two men or two women in a relationship or marriage is as valid and natural as a man and a woman’
In PSHE, ‘seemingly sensible subjects like citizenship or combatting bullying have been hijacked to promote homosexuality and transgenderism. This is particularly the case because of the obligation on schools to promote so-called Fundamental British Values, which include a distorted notion of ‘tolerance’ with regard to homosexual behaviour.’
Christian Concern
Christian Concern is an evangelical campaigning organisation that aims ‘to see the United Kingdom return to the Christian faith’. In its guidance for responding to the consultation, it argues that any official guidance on RSE must mention: ‘The mental and physical risks of sexual promiscuity and homosexual practices’ ‘An understanding that we are created male and female and that gender identity is not distinct from biological sex’ ‘Faith schools should be allowed to teach God’s design for humanity – that we are created male and female, and that marriage is exclusively between one man and one woman’ ‘Schools are currently required to deliver a Personal, Social and Health Education (PHSE) programme, although how that is done is entirely in the remit of each individual school. They also have to satisfy Ofsted that they are delivering spiritual, moral, social and cultural education, although again, it is up to each school to determine how this happens. Schools are also required to comply with the Equality Act 2010. All of these requirements are being conflated in order to justify the active promotion of an LGBT agenda.’
Family Education Trust
The Family Education Trust is a group which ‘researches the causes and consequences of family breakdown’. Whilst it does not have an overtly religious character, its outlook and ethos is Christian and it has links to a number of evangelical Christian organisations. It’s briefing on responding to the consultation notes: ‘How history demonstrates the importance of marriage, defined as the lifelong union of one man and one woman’ ‘The limited effectiveness of barrier contraception as a means of providing protection against the transmission of STIs and the reality that outside of a committed, mutually faithful, lifelong relationship with an uninfected partner, there is no such thing as “safe sex”’ ‘Schools should not be required to teach that gender is fluid or that same-sex marriage is morally equivalent to marriage between a man and a woman. Similarly, schools should be free to teach in line with the tenets on their faith on matters such as sexual abstinence before marriage, contraception and abortion.’
Humanists UK has previously urged the Department for Education to resist pressure from such groups, which fail to represent the views of the overwhelming majority of parents.
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