Most Curious Productions present as part of (Brighton &) Hove Grown festival: Finding Yourself offside, a play tackling the issues of coming out as gay from two different perspectives.
There are two guys in separate therapy, they do not know each other but both have very different issues with being open about their sexuality.
One of them is a professional footballer, so coming out for him proves to be a whole different ball game (pun intended!).
Event: Most Curious Productions presents: Finding Yourself Offside
Where: The Rialto Theatre, 11 Dyke Rd, Brighton BN1 3FE
Protesters call to end criminalisation of LGBT people in 37 Commonwealth states outside Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.
Eighty LGBT+ rights defenders protested as Her Majesty the Queen, the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May MP and Commonwealth High Commissioners celebrated Commonwealth Day 2018 at Westminster Abbey in London, on Monday , March 12, 2018.
The protestors were demanding decriminalisation in 37 of the 53 Commonwealth nations that still outlaw homosexuality.
Nine of the countries have life imprisonment for gay sex and in parts of two countries, Nigeria and Pakistan, there is the death penalty.
The protest at Westminster Abbey, as dignitaries arrived, was coordinated by the Peter Tatchell Foundation working with 14 other UK-based human rights groups including: The Commonwealth Equality Network, Kaleidoscope Trust, Peter Tatchell Foundation, UK Black Pride, African Equality Foundation, Equality Network, African Rainbow Family, Movement for Justice, African Eye Trust, House of Rainbow, Out & Proud African LGBTI, Micro Rainbow , Africa Advocacy Foundation, Rainbow Across Borders, Manchester Migrant Solidarity and included LGBT+ people from across the Commonwealth.
Abbey, who escaped Uganda, said he:“came from hell, with cigarette burns in both my palms and on my legs, and scars on my face which resulted from the constant beating. I went through every kind of human degradation.”
Peter Tatchell, who organised the protest, said:“The Commonwealth is a homophobic institution. It is a bastion of anti-LGBT+ laws, discrimination and hate crime. LGBT+ issues have never been discussed, not even once, by Commonwealth leaders at any of their summits over the last six decades. “Surely in 2018 Commonwealth heads of government should address the state-sanctioned persecution of more than 100 million LGBT+ Commonwealth citizens. “Most of these anti-gay laws were imposed by Britain during the colonial era in the nineteenth century. They are not authentic indigenous laws. Now that these nations are independent, they should be repealed as a continuation of the de-colonisation process.”
Peter Tatchell with Rev Jide Macaulay (left), Hamimah Minah and Edwin Sesange (right) of Uganda.
The protestors key demands from the Commonwealth were to:
♦ Decriminalise same-sex relations
♦ Prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
♦ Enforce laws against threats and violence, to protect LGBT+ people from hate crimes
♦ Consult and dialogue with national LGBT+ organisations
Next month, campaigners will hand a petition to the Commonwealth’s Secretary General; it currently has over 90,000 signatures and is growing. The petition is timed to coincide with the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which, this year, is being held in London and Windsor.
Mr Tatchell continued:“I have tried for 30 years to get the Commonwealth leader’s summit to discuss the criminalisation of LGBTs by 70% of member states. They refuse and most also reject dialogue with their local LGBT+ movements.”
“Commonwealth countries account for half of the world’s 72 nations where same-sex relations are illegal. Hate crimes against LGBT+ people are widespread and unchecked in these countries.” “More than 100 million LGBT+ people living in Commonwealth nations have no legal protection against discrimination in employment, housing, education, health care and the provision of good and services. This makes a mockery of Commonwealth values and the human rights principles of the Commonwealth Charter.” “The London summit is an opportunity to debate this issue and hear the voices of LGBT+ people from across the Commonwealth. It is time to end this unabated persecution. “Our huge thanks to the 14 organisations and the many LGBT+ activists from across the Commonwealth who made such an impact today.”
Latest Group CIC receive National Lottery funding for project charting Brighton & Hove’s LGBT+ history, from all gender perspectives.
Latest Group CIC are based in Manchester Street at The Latest Musicbar and TV Studios, a few yards from the gateway to St James Street and Kemptown Village.
The funding will help create a permanent digital exhibition that charts the city’s liberal social history across the last fifty years, much of it based East of the Pier and focusing on the successful LGBT+ story.
The project will be created and screened in Manchester Street both internally and externally over the course of the coming year.
Directors of Latest have been promoting events in Brighton since 1978, publishing magazines since 1982 and filming professionally throughout this century and before!
The projections will be, an all-encompassing colourful display of the large archive of fascinating material that they have on video and film and on posters, flyers, newspaper and magazines. The project will use this unique resource of visual history.
They will chart Brighton & Hove’s LGBT+ history from both female and male perspectives, indeed from all gender perspectives, in this, the most liberal of British cities.
However, Brighton was not always like this and Latest will credit those who built this beacon of hope and diversity that is the modern city of Brighton and Hove.
They will put up signs that recognise Kemptown!!! It’s surely no accident that the current director of the resurgent Brighton Pride is named Paul KEMP!
Live And Let Live! will work with both professionals and volunteers who will all have access to training and educational opportunities.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, MP for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven who is a patron of Latest Group CIC and supported the funding bid, said:“I am thrilled that the CIC has received this award from the Heritage Lottery Fund and I am confident that this exhibition will attract audiences in huge numbers and hundreds of participants who will join in celebrating the diversity of our city and take advantage of the learning opportunities that it will offer. An exhibition of this kind will create a focus of attention for both visitors and locals and help in what I believe in most passionately – the regeneration of St James Street and Kemptown Village and East Brighton – East Of The Pier – as one of the city’s most vibrant communities. We don’t talk Diversity, we are Diversity. We live and let live. We’ve seen the support from the public over here and indeed across Brighton and Hove for the Madeira Terraces. East Of The Pier, the rebirth continues with this project.”
Michelle Roffe, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund in South East England, added:“We are delighted to support Latest Group CIC in exploring Brighton and Hove’s LGBT+ heritage through local people’s stories, archives and film. Thanks to National Lottery players, participants will learn new skills and explore their heritage, whilst providing a lasting record of this important heritage for wider communities, both locally and beyond.”
The exhibition will also be available to be viewed online and accessed by other organisations globally. At the end of the project, archive materials will be donated to The Keep to ensure they are accessible to all.
Latest Group CIC receive National Lottery funding for project charting Brighton & Hove’s LGBT+ history, from all gender perspectives.
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