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REVIEW: Books The Story of the LGBTQ Equality Movement by Matthew Todd

Pride: The Story of the LGBTQ+ Equality Movement

By Matthew Todd

In this 50th year of marking the Stonewall riots we have had a flurry of high quality and well researched books looking at the evolution of the LGBT+ quality and rights movements. This book, from Mathew Todd is a superb addition to this growing library of books which bear witness to the emergence and development of the fight for equality across the world.

Matthew Todd documents the milestones in the fight for LGBT+ equality – from the victories of early activists, to the gradual acceptance of the LGBT+ communities in politics, entertainment, sport and the media, and the passing of legislation barring discrimination. It spans seminal moments and key figures, events and breakthroughs of our equality movement.

In this substantial full colour hardback book, filled with superb photographs Todd draws together the individual stories and moving personal testimonies and it’s full of rare documents and memorabilia from the events around the police raid of 1969 of ‘The Stonewall Inn’, a prominent New York gay bar.

The book charts the riots that followed, and the ensuing organisation of local members of the community and the 50 years since in which activists and ordinary people have dedicated their lives to reversing the global position based on prejudice.  Includes personal testimonies from: Travis Alabanza, Bisi Alimi, Georgina Beyer, Jonathan Blake, Deborah Brin, Maureen Duffy, David Furnish, Nan Goldin, Asifa Lahore, Paris Lees, Lewis Oakley, Reverend Troy Perry, Darryl Pinckney, Jake Shears, Judy Shepard and Will Youn

Todd’s well researched and beautiful book is certainly the book to have on your coffee table.

Hardback. Out now £24.99

For more info or to buy this book see the publishers website here:

Report exposes global reach of so-called ‘Conversion Therapy’

Groundbreaking report by OutRight Action International exposes the global reach of so-called conversion therapy.

DRAWING on data from survey results with almost 500 respondents from 80 countries, and in-depth interviews with experts and survivors from more than a dozen countries, the report overwhelmingly shows that so-called conversion therapy efforts occur across the world and are predominantly promoted and perpetrated by people acting in the name of religion or pseudo-healthcare, often instigated by family pressure.

“Conversion therapy” is the most widely used term to describe practices attempting to change, suppress, or divert one’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. It is also called reorientation therapy, reparative therapy, reintegrative therapy, or, more recently, support for unwanted same-sex attraction or transgender identities. The practices vary due to religious, cultural, or traditional contexts and range from overtly physically violent, such as electroshock or “corrective rape”, to psychologically abusive, such as isolation or psychiatric hospitalization, or more subtle forms of talk therapy or group therapy. Practices can also be religiously based, including extensive prayer, fasting and spiritual rituals. But regardless of the form they take or the name attributed, so-called conversion therapy practices are not a recognized form of therapy and certainly do not result in conversion. In fact, such practices cause deep, lasting trauma that affects every realm of life.

OutRight’s study found that:

  • The main perpetrators and advocates of “conversion therapy” are people acting in the name of religion or pseudo-healthcare, with LGBTIQ individuals often coerced or pressured by family.
  • A third of the people who responded to this study who experienced so-called conversion therapy sought it out themselves.
  • While they may vary due to religious, cultural, or traditional norms and contexts, “conversion therapy” practices never work; instead, they cause deep, lasting trauma.
  • Persistence of “conversion therapy” is directly related to societal beliefs about LGBTIQ people and the degree to which our lives are deemed unacceptable within families, faiths, and societies at large.
  • Respondents from 80 countries showed that “conversion therapy” occurs in all regions of the world.

George Barasa, a survivor of conversion therapy from Kenya, reflects:

“Conversion therapy is not a single event – it is a process of continued degradation and assault on the core of who you are. There are often repeated violations in the form of psychological and sometimes physical abuse… It is not one instance – it is a continued sense of rejection. The pressure is enormous.”

Maria Sjödin, Deputy Director of Outright Action International, comments:

“Our report paints a chilling picture of the global prevalence of these barbaric practices which constitute cis-gender, heteronormative indoctrination. So-called conversion therapy efforts hinge on the belief that cis-gender heterosexuality is the norm, and gender identities beyond the binary and/or same-sex attraction not only fall outside the norm, but have to be changed, if need be by brutal, inhuman force, through practices which have been recognized to be tantamount to torture by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.”

Strides have been taken to raise awareness and even outlaw such practices in parts of the US, Latin America, Europe, and Australia. However, to date, only four countries have an outright ban on so-called conversion therapy.

Maria Sjödin, Deputy Director of Outright Action International, continues:

“We welcome the efforts of a handful of governments around the world to ban so-called conversion therapy, and urge governments in other countries highlighted in this report to take similar steps to safeguard their LGBTIQ citizens from these harmful practices. At the same time, it is clear that the demand for “conversion therapy” will only diminish when social, family, and religious condemnation of LGBTIQ lives ceases, and LGBTIQ people are free to live their lives with access to their full human rights. As such, we look forward to working across civil society, states and multilateral organizations to not only ban “conversion therapy”, but continually seek ways to ensure the sustainable, and genuine inclusion, acceptance and safeguarding of the human rights of LGBTIQ people.”

Read the full report and findings here

https://www.outrightinternational.org/sites/default/files/ConversionTherapyCover.pdf

REVIEW: Bent Double @ Komedia

Zoe Lyons has a great rapport with the audience and her likability is definitely an asset. Maybe she was having a bad evening but her material wasn’t great. There was some observational comedy (sans comedy) about people who wear wolf fleeces. We heard the old joke about teachers who work so hard that every year they need six months off. She even talked about impending middle age and being drawn to elasticated trousers because they looked ‘comfy’. If I’d been at a dinner party and someone had be saying this kind of stuff I’d have heckled them for being startlingly unoriginal.

Rosie Jones has cerebral palsy and a lot of her act focuses on her disability. Her opening gag ‘You can tell from by voice I have a disability. I’m Northern’ is a serviceable joke. In fact most of her act is, on a line-by-line basis, perfectly well written. I just didn’t find it particularly funny.

My plus-one left at this point citing tiredness. I explained that if I wasn’t contractually obliged to stay to the end I’d have considered joining him. I’m glad I didn’t as Heidi Regan was just great. She’s one of those performers who, after about 30 seconds, you realise here’s someone with a genuine wit, delivery and presence. Her confession that usually she starts her set with some ‘upsettingly graphic burlesque’ set the tone for something bit off-kilter. Her act is slightly surreal with a lovely diversion into the advice she’d give her younger self about love and life. Except her younger self  ruins an emotional speech by being annoyingly intent on alerting the authorities to the upcoming problems the world seems to be facing.

Andrew Doyle, scourge of the woke, is perhaps most famous for creating ‘radical intersectionalist poet’ Titania McGrath. He also writes for Spiked (if you’ve a spare day it’s an interesting rabbit hole). Bravely his set included a scathing attack on middle-class Guardian readers who still want to remain and have an inherent distrust of anyone who voted Brexit. Which might have been 95% of the audience. He has some great material which got the audience on board. I particularly liked his take on the latest hair-trigger offence hoo-hah involving the Tourette’s Society protesting what was basically a pun on the word ‘florets’. I’d like to write what he said but not sure I’d like to spend the next month apologising for it.

Bent Double is something of a gay Brighton institution. I think Zoe needs to work on her material, or perhaps even consider handing over the MC baton. Like any comedy night it was a hit-and-miss affair but I’d certainly say I’m glad it’s still going.

Queer Frontiers raise £26,000 for LGBT+ charities

ARTIQ, an art consultancy and advisory company, celebrate the recent success of charity art exhibition Queer Frontiers in London, which raised over £26,000 for LGBT+ charities Albert Kennedy Trust and LGBT+ Switchboard.

Queer Frontiers was set up by ARTIQ as an expression of solidarity with the LGBT+ community globally, with a particular focus on profiling the work of LGBT+ artists and raising awareness of issues important to the community.

This year’s edition saw the consultancy join forces with specialist insurer Hiscox to extend the reach and impact of the exhibition, setting up shop in the former home of legendary Soho nightclub Madame JoJo’s on Brewer Street, London for a week-long exhibition and programme of events.

The exhibition profiled the work of 26 emerging and established LGBT+ artists and allies, selected via an international open call. The consultancy also reached out to a number of prominent figures in the art world, selecting work by artists including Sickboy, Maser, Paolo Raeli and Helen Beard.

All proceeds from the sale of artwork went to Albert Kennedy Trust and LGBT+ Switchboard with many of the artists also choosing to donate 100% of their own individual commission.

Patrick McCrae, Chief Executive of ARTIQ, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have raised this amazing sum for charity in co-ordination with our event sponsor, Hiscox.

“As a business, our whole ethos is about bridging the gap between the creative and business worlds. This event, with the support of Hiscox, is a perfect embodiment of that.”

Andrew Sellers, Group Head of Claims Vendor Management and Co-Executive Sponsor of Hiscox’s LGBT+ employee network, added: “This year we wanted to do something meaningful to celebrate Pride at Hiscox so we joined forces with ARTIQ and this resulted in our sponsorship of their Queer Frontiers pop-up art exhibition in the heart of Soho. I’m delighted that we raised £26,000 and were able to support two incredible charities.”

The Masks of Gender: new podcasts with Persia West

The Masks of Gender is a podcast in the form of conversations with author and broadcaster Persia West, talking to people about their gender and it’s intersections with race, age, LGBT+ identities, masculinity, intersex bodies, having gay, transgender and non-binary identities and more. It’s about the wisdom of experience that comes with living outside what is considered the norm, the ordinary, the box we are supposed to live in.

The second season is now live, with three new episodes a month. The content is  Persia in conversation with the remarkable people who keep coming her way, almost without trying, it seems. There are also recordings of Persia giving thier own insights into gender, identity and more.

The podcast currently features conversations with an intersex activist; a feminine woman in the masculine world of tech; a gay man on culture and the power of words; different ways of seeing gender in India, recorded in Kolkata; the compassion of a transgender Christian priest; and more. It also includes posts of Persia’s personal insights, from her own writing, expanded upon and clarified through the lens of an individual perception, forged through a lifetime of meditation and the unique view of gender and identity that comes with being trans.

The podcast aims to help bring about respect, openness and greater inclusion in our changing society by facilitating understanding of real, living people and their experiences. By opening our eyes to the realities of others, differences and barriers fade, not only for those who diverge from the gender norm, but for everyone in our gender-divided world.

You can download from the Apple Podcasts or learn more or listen to them on the website here: 

 

PREVIEW: Musica Secreta @ BREMF

WITH its theme of Metamorphosis, the Festival will present twenty seven events across Brighton & Hove this autumn, exploring transformation in many intriguing ways.

Deborah Roberts, Artistic Director, says: “The idea of things undergoing transforming change has long fascinated the human race. Our 2019 Festival explores the 2,000-year-old stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as well as musical and social transformation over the centuries. We end the Festival with a re-creation of the medieval Feast of Fools, which reversed all the social hierarchy for a few days and allowed a ‘letting off of steam’ for people living under the control of a feudal system. Our own times are certainly troubled, with society at war with itself, the threat of runaway climate change, and a political system with which many are disillusioned. Our message is musical, and all about bringing people together positively. What better reminder that many of these themes have resonated throughout history?”

Headline events include the first public performance in modern times of Antoine Brumel’s complete Lamentations for Good Friday, recently discovered in a Florentine manuscript and performed by Musica Secreta  – Celestial Sirens. Presented by Laurie Stras

BREMF gives us a new concert format; a live ‘docu-concert’ with film and presentation and ending with a Q&A session. It includes the first public performance in modern times of Antoine Brumel’s complete set of Lamentations for Good Friday, recently discovered by Laurie Stras in a Florentine manuscript.  Hear a small sample of the music here.

The programme also features rare gems of renaissance convent music from another Florentine manuscript commissioned by nuns. An atmospheric and informative evening which also celebrates the launch of the Brumel CD.

 

To book tickets or for more information see the BREMF website here:

Half price tickets are available to young people (age 12-25 inclusive), full time students and those in receipt of Universal Credit (or equivalent benefits) or Pension Credit (but not state pension alone).

Prom Ticket RVS/SP (on door only) £5

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