Call us now

Day: June 9, 2019

Switchboard and Macmillan launch two LGBT+ cancer surveys

Posted on by Graham Robson

Switchboard, the LGBT+ helpline, partners with Macmillan Cancer Support to launch two surveys, one aimed at LGBT+ people living with cancer and another at professionals and volunteers who support LGBT+ people living with cancer in Sussex or East Surrey.

THIS research will directly support Macmillan and partners to improve experiences for LGBT+ people living with cancer in these areas and also includes people who are going through treatment, approaching the end of treatment, or who have finished treatment.

You have until 5pm on Wednesday, July 31 to complete either survey.

To complete the LGBT+ people living with cancer survey, click here: 

To complete the professionals and volunteers supporting LGBT+ people living with cancer survey, click here: 

Brighton based older people’s project to close down

Posted on by Graham Robson

Brighton GEMS the social networking group for older gay men is to close down after failing to elect a new committee.

Since 1997, Brighton Gems has provided a safe and friendly environment for gay men over fifty to meet and make friends.

At a special EGM on Friday, May 31 at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, the decision was taken to close the organisation down. Ian Scott, the treasurer, self nominated himself as chair in order to keep the organisation going, but no one came forward to fill the executive posts of secretary and treasurer.

Gary Parteger
Gary Pargeter

Gary Pargeter, Service Manager at Lunch Positive and former chair of the Working to Connect LGBT+ Small Groups Network, the organisation that brings small LGBT+ community groups to work together attended the meeting as an advisor. Working to Connect has been supporting and continues to support GEMS throughout the process.

The members present voted that any funds left in the Brighton GEMS bank account would be shared equally between Older and Out, the Brighton based fully inclusive social group for local older LGBT+ people and Switchboard Older People’s Project.

PREVIEW: ‘Wonderful Darling!’ A solo show by Dave Pop!

Posted on by Contributor

Brighton based artist and tv personality Dave Pop! has an exhibition of new work on show at Brush Gallery from July 26 launching Pride season in Brighton.

‘WONDERFUL Darling’ is a celebration of camp, flamboyancy and all things trashy and no good. Statues of Greek gods become comic book heroes in a mash up of Pop meets Classical art.

Effeminate nudes, giant floral and even Kylie Minogue, all compete for attention in the bright, brash world of Dave Pop! There is also a strong Brighton flavour, Dave’s home for the last 25 years, with influences from the decadent Brighton pavilion, end of the pier rides and saucy seaside postcards.

The exhibition will open with a Private View on Thursday July 25 at 7pm. If you would like to attend RSVP to hello@brushbrighton.co.uk

The art process always starts with drawing, this is fundamental to all of Dave’s work. Pencil sketches are then refined into ink drawings, then scanned, digitally manipulated, printed,  painted over, creating a combination of  hand made brush strokes, splats, spots and perfectly smooth lines.

He recently had a Rocky Horror exhibition in the Theatre Royal, and painted a large mural on Brighton’s Palace Pier. This is his first exhibition since the sad demise of Choccywoccydoodah, where Dave was head chocolatier, making extraordinary chocolate sculptures for the rich and famous.

Dave says: “When I was younger, I definitely rejected the idea of camp and the old fashioned gay stereotypes, but as I become more ‘mature’, I have embraced my love of the outrageous, ostentatious and theatrical. In a world growing steadily more conservative and dour, we need rainbow unicorns more than ever!”

Event: ‘Wonderful Darling!’ A solo show by Dave Pop!

Where: BRUSH Gallery, 84 Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AP

When: July 26 – August 27, 2019

Time: The gallery is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 11-5 and some Sundays

Cost: Free entry

For more information, click here:

Trans Vegas 2019 returns to Manchester on June 29

Posted on by Besi

Trans Vegas 2019, The second annual transgender arts festival will take place in Manchester from June 29 – July 3, presented by the city’s own trans arts company.

THE festival will be curated by Artistic Director of Trans Creative, Kate O’Donnell, herself an international performer, writer and curator.

Kate established Trans Creative two years ago to raise trans visibility and fight transphobia through arts and education. Kate was recently seen across Manchester as part of the ‘Strong Women’ campaign, and is well known in the city for her own work in theatre and her groundbreaking role in Twelfth Night at Royal Exchange Theatre.

Trans Vegas 2019 offers a programme of ground-breaking transgender art, performance and conversation in the finest venues across Manchester. The festival is entirely delivered by members of the trans community, and the world-class work has something on offer for audiences from every walk of life.

Kate O’Donnell
Kate O’Donnell

Kate O’Donnell said of this year’s Trans Vegas: “We wanted to hear twice as many trans voices at this year’s festival, we want to hear them roar and raise everyone’s trans spirits. Brace yourself Manchester, Trans Vegas is coming!”

This year Trans Vegas 2019 will continue to build on their partnership with Manchester Pride and Superbia, Manchester Pride’s year-round cultural programme.

Kate O’Donnell
Kate O’Donnell

Mark Fletcher, CEO of Manchester Pride said: “We’re pleased to once again be supporting Transvegas and helping to introduce LGBT+ people across Greater Manchester to this innovative and compelling festival. It takes place over the weekend of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion and what better way to mark how far we have come than with this exciting programme which is packed full of talented Trans voices.”

Trans Vegas takes place from June 29–July 3, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, in which transgender and gender non-conforming people played a crucial role in resisting police violence and discrimination. Trans Vegas itself picks up this torch by supporting the most marginalised members of the trans community to tell their own stories.

For a full line-up of events, click here:

PREVIEW: Common and Kind 2019 at Union Chapel, London

Posted on by Graham Robson

Common and Kind 2019, an uplifting concert series, and a collaborative effort from a vast gamut of the capital’s communities and international artists, returns to Union Chapel in Islington, London on Thursday, June 27 from 7pm.

Started by singer Michael Solomon Williams, the not-for-profit project is a culmination of workshops with schools in Brent, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Haringey, working alongside the Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants and Rainbows Across Borders (LGBT+ asylum seekers), who join forces with the London Humanist Choir and London International Gospel Choir to form an extraordinary 400-person choir for humanity, with the aim of forging inclusivity and strengthening community spirit.

Hosted by journalist and radio presenter Robin Lustig, this year the choirs are joined by solo artists from across the musical and performance spectrum, including West End star Cassidy Janson, UK jazz legends Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock, Bengali pop icon Saida Tani, violin virtuoso Thomas Gould, New York soul sensation J. Hoard, ENO Harewood artist Nadine Benjamin with the Beethoven Orchestra for Humanity, and comedian and host of the BBC’s The Mash Report, Nish Kumar.

Event: Common and Kind 2019-06-08

Where: Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN

When: Thursday, June 27

Time: Doors 7pm for 8pm start

Tickets: £20, concessions £14

To book tickets, click here:

Latest News

International News Foreign Office issues travel warning for LGBTQ+ tourists travelling to Greece
Pride Feels so good: Leeds Pride reveals big name acts for 2024 Pride event
Transgender News Sandyford Young People’s Gender Service announces they will no longer be referring under 18s for endocrine treatments
Music Will Young returns with new single, ‘Falling Deep’
X