Lunch Positive, the HIV lunch club, recently took part as a case study in the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership city-wide Eating Together report, exploring the role of lunch clubs and shared meals in Brighton & Hove.
For the first time, this report brings to light the sheer scale of community eating – almost half a million shared meals take place each year at lunch clubs and other community groups in the city.
The research highlights the largely unrecognised role that these groups are playing in addressing food poverty, in reducing social isolation, in contributing to good nutrition and health, in offering advice, acting as a gateway to other services, and involving people in volunteering.
Also, the recently published Annual Report of the Director of Public Health of Brighton & Hove gives an independent assessment of the health of the people in the city. This year’s ‘LOOK Inequality’ report explores health inequality in Brighton & Hove, and incorporates a focus on food poverty and the role of community projects to address this.
Gary Pargeter
Gary Pargeter, Volunteer Project Manager at Lunch Positive, said: “We were delighted to take part as a case study for the Eating Together report, where researchers talked to our volunteers and members. There is no doubt that food poverty still exists and is likely to increase in the light of welfare reforms, low wage and the very high cost of living in the locality.
“Lunch Positive is a totally unique service within our community, and we’re incredibly pleased to see that these reports also reflect the much wider benefits of lunch cubs as a result of the community space they provide.
“For us it’s all about community – making people feel welcome, sharing meals, spending time together, supporting each other, involving and supporting other organisations, and of course volunteering.
“For people who haven’t yet come to Lunch Positive, or are unsure what we do, it’s a community space that is all about the people that are here. It’s informal and welcoming – a place to get something healthy and affordable to eat, or just drop in for a coffee. A safe place for people with HIV to spend time with peers and just be yourself. We want the lunch club to be your space, to help however it can.”
Major new report published by the Equality Network, Scotland’s national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality charity, reveals LGBT people still face widespread inequality in Scotland.
The Scottish LGBT Equality Report, a state of the nation report on LGBT people’s experiences of inequality in Scotland, is the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, based on a survey of 1052 respondents from across every part of the country.
It reveals that despite recent advances in the law and social attitudes, such as the legalisation of same-sex marriage:
♦ 89% of LGBT people believe Scotland still has a problem with inequality
♦ 94% say that more needs to be done to tackle the day-to-day prejudice and discrimination that LGBT people continue to face.
♦ 97% of LGBT people in Scotland have personally faced prejudice or discrimination, including 79% within the last year and 49% within the last month alone.
Incidents reported by LGBT people ranged from homophobic, biphobic and transphobic comments and attitudes (82%), to verbal abuse (68%), physical attack (16%) sexual assault (7%), crimes against property (12%), and discriminatory treatment when accessing services (25%) and in employment (24%).
The report finds that as a result, a majority of LGBT people in Scotland still ‘never’ or only ‘sometimes’ feel able to be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity with their own family (52%), at work (60%) or when accessing services (71%), for fear of the prejudice they might face.
43% of LGBT people in Scotland have moved, or considered moving, to live in a different area or out of the country altogether because of the discrimination that they have faced, and in order to live somewhere more accepting of LGBT people.
The report also finds that the experiences of LGBT people vary significantly across Scotland, with those living in rural parts of the country reporting a significantly worse experience than those living in urban areas.
A quarter (24%) of LGBT people in rural parts of Scotland say that their local area is a ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ place for LGBT people to live, compared to half that (12%) in urban areas.
Almost half (47%) of LGBT people in rural areas say that they feel isolated where they live, compared to a quarter (23%) of those in urban areas.
Over half (55%) in rural areas say that services in their area do not meet the specific needs of LGBT people, compared to a third (30%) of those living in urban parts of Scotland.
The Equality Network says that the report sends a clear message about the huge scale of change still needed before LGBT people will have full equality in Scotland. It says the recommendations in the report are a blueprint for the progress needed over the next decade, including further work to remove inequality in the law, to change attitudes, to tackle prejudice and hate crime, and to ensure that public services and employers are meeting the needs of LGBT people.
Among the key recommendations is a call for the Scottish Government to publish an LGBT equality and human rights strategy and action plan, against which progress can be measured.
Tom French
Tom French, Policy and Public Affairs Coordinator for the Equality Network, said:“The Scottish LGBT Equality report reveals the stark reality of the prejudice, discrimination and other forms of disadvantage that LGBT people continue to face in Scotland. It is clear that while we have made welcome progress in recent years there is still much more to do before LGBT people will experience real equality in their day-to-day lives. The scale of the challenge is considerable and with the next Scottish Parliament election rapidly approaching we will be looking to the Scottish Government, and all the political parties, to set out clear plans for how they will tackle inequality and make Scotland a fairer and more equal place for LGBT people to live.”
The Scottish LGBT Equality Report includes over 250 personal accounts of incidents of prejudice, discrimination, and other forms of disadvantage experienced by LGBT people in Scotland. Many of the accounts echo the experiences outlined by the following LGBT people:
Cathleen Lauder, a 38 year old transgender woman from Edinburgh, said:“People think that because we’ve got same-sex marriage in Scotland LGBT people now have equality but nothing could further from the truth. Being transgender in Scotland is still very difficult, attitudes can at times be back in the dark ages even in Edinburgh. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve had abuse hurled at me when I walk down the street just for daring to be who I am. People shout at you, call you names, give you dirty looks, make crude gestures and try to humiliate you. Sometimes you worry you might get attacked. I have been touched up while travelling on a bus, and one guy tried to bully me off the street and into a pub so he and his mates could laugh at me. I got away, crossed the street and didn’t dare look back. I grew up on a council estate so I know when to keep my head down, when to stand up for myself, and whento get out of there as fast as you can. I like to think I’m a confident person but sometimes it’s terrifying. Even on those days when I feel stronger, a part of me always goes into alert mode, my heart is always in my throat for at least an instant when something like that happens. It’s not enough for politicians to just sit back and hope attitudes will have changed in a few decades. I have to live my life now, and being constantly reminded by other people that they do not consider you equal is one of the worst feelings there is. Something needs to change.”
Felix Rayna, a 24 year old gay man from the north east of Scotland who recently moved to London to escape prejudice, said:“I came out at the age of 15, living in a small rural town on the north east coast. It wasn’t easy for me to hide who I was and I was verbally assaulted on a daily basis by other students in my high school and even people in the street. Teachers would tell me I was “bringing it on myself” because of how I dressed, because of who I was. At 17 I was physically assaulted by three men who punched me in the head. I didn’t feel I had anyone to go to and I didn’t think there was any point reporting it to the police. These memories and the narrow-mindedness of people in my town left me hating the place. I stopped going outside and would only get jobs that were at least an hour away so people didn’t recognise me. This week, at age 24, I moved to London and can honestly say I will never return to the place I once called home. Not after 9 years of hiding away from the world and being scared to walk down my own street.”
Susannah McWhirter, a 17 year old lesbian student from Kilmarnock who faced homophobic bullying at school, said:“In my second year of secondary school I was bullied for being gay and although some teachers wanted to help they had no experience in how to deal with it. The whole situation was badly handled. I was called names such as “lesbo” and “dyke”. I received abusive comments and death threats on social media. Other pupils harassed me and questioned my sexuality. I even had to drop PE altogether because other students felt uncomfortable with me being in the same changing room. I felt alone. Some days I couldn’t face going to school. I started self-harming and had suicidal thoughts. I know my experience is not unusual. Most LGBT people get bullied at school and some never recover. I feel very strongly that there needs to be more support for LGBT people in school, and more needs to be done to stop homophobic bullying so no one has to go through what I went through.”
Rose Marshall, a 46 year old transgender woman who lives in Glasgow and works as a volunteer coordinator, said:“As a trans woman in Scotland you get used to the occasional stare, comment or laughter from people in the street. I usually have the self-confidence to just shrug it off and get on with living my life, but sometimes it’s not that easy. There have been times when I’ve felt intimidated and scared. Recently there have been several occasions where groups of young men have targeted me and tried to humiliate me, mocking me on the train or following me and shouting abuse at me in the streets around my home. I’ve reported some of these to the Police, but even the process of reporting it is stressful and traumatising. Having to go over what happened again and again adds to the feelings of shame and hurt, and besides nothing much seems to happen as a result. I still have to see the same groups of people when I leave the home and on the way back from work, and I feel anxious because it could happen again at any time. LGBT people just shouldn’t have to put up with that, you shouldn’t feel scared you might be attacked or humiliated in your own street just because of who you are.”
Ryan Breakwell, a 22 year old gay man from Hamilton who faced homophobic abuse at school and now works as a support assistant for adults with learning disabilities, said:“The Equality Network report doesn’t surprise me at all. As a gay man living in Lanarkshire homophobic abuse is something you have to live with on a weekly basis. My school years were particularly bad – I used to get shouted at, called ‘gay’ in corridors, at break times and even in classes. Staff members knew it was happening but they didn’t know how to deal with it and if they did say something it usually just made things worse. It took me to a really dark place. I felt alone, scared and I didn’t dare come out. In the end I decided to move away, and while I’m out now and more confident about these things, it still hurts when I get abuse for my sexuality. People really need educating in Scotland, particularly in schools. Many people grew up at a time when it was illegal to be gay and even now many young people still think it’s wrong.”
Stuart Russell, a 23 year old gay man from Fife who faced homophobic bullying at school and now works as an artist, said:“I was bullied throughout my time at high school for being gay. I was outed before I even had time to figure myself out. The bullying was all day, every day. At lunch times I would have younger kids throw food at me and shout abusive comments at me. People would occasionally follow me home shouting abuse and try to beat me up. The police were involved a few times. I had very few friends so high school was lonely. I was made to be an outsider and felt so insecure about myself. When I went to teachers about the abuse I was suffering, nothing was done. I was sent to a therapist and nothing happened to the bullies. By sending me to therapy, my school made me feel even more insecure, as if I was in the wrong. They pawned me off on someone else and swept it under the rug, something that happens a lot in Scottish schools. Teachers need training, they are not trained to support LGBT students or deal with homophobic bullying. I made numerous attempts on my life as a teenager because of the bullying. Even today I still don’t find living in Scotland a very positive experience as a gay man. I am still made to feel like an outsider and I still spend the vast majority of my time alone, escapingto London when I can. I think gay equality still has a long way to go in Scotland, especially in small towns, closed mindedness is still a big issue. I think many people believe that because gay marriage is a thing now that’s it, that’s equality achieved. That’s not the case. There is a lot more to it. LGBT bullying in education is a major issue and not enough is being done about it.”
The next Scottish Parliament election will take place in May 2016. The Equality Network says it will be calling on all political parties to set out firm manifesto commitments on LGBT equality.
To download The Scottish LGBT Equality Report click here:
B*Witched and Belinda Carlisle were among the acts performing at a free event in the North East this weekend.
Belinda Carlisle
The chart-topping girl-band and 80s songstress were both headliners at the eighth annual Newcastle Pride festival, at the city’s Town Moor from Friday to Sunday (July 17 to 20).
They were joined for the event, celebrating 45 years of world Pride, by a string of top acts and emerging talent, including X Factor stars Kitty Brucknell, Lucy Spraggan and Joseph Whelan, as well as actress and singer Heather Peace.
B*Witched
Other highlights in this year’s festival, organised annually by charity Northern Pride, included a parade from the Newcastle Civic Centre to the Town Moor led by members of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) and a candlelit vigil, designed to raise awareness of the ongoing fight for acceptance and equality.
There were also stalls and themed entertainment areas open during Saturday and Sunday, including a family zone and the Steve Paske Health Zone, where visitors could receive free STI testing.
Newcastle Pride recognised as one of the largest free, LGBT events in the UK, attracted 65,000 visitors to the city in 2014, boosting the regional economy by more than £8m.
Figures are still being calculated for this year’s event, but organisers are hopeful 2015 will be higher.
Mark Nichols, Chair of Northern Pride, said:“It was another fantastic weekend for Newcastle Pride. Families came from across the UK to attend and thankfully the weather held out.”
“It was amazing to see so many people coming together in support for the LGBT community and enjoying a host of top entertainment at the same time.”
For more information about Newcastle Pride, click here:
Unsuspecting public to be treated to surprise ‘flash-mob’ theatre productions on the streets of Brighton.
From August 6-9, research project Liveable Lives will host performances in public spaces to explore the idea of a life that is liveable rather than just bearable for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) in India and the UK.
Liveable Lives is an international research project led by the University of Brighton. Since November 2014, LGBTQ people have been sharing their ideas and experiences of what makes life at interactive workshops and through the project’s website liveablelives.org.uk.
Experienced queer activists and street theatre practitioners have already organised performances in Kolkata, India, and in August they will travel to run a series of one-day workshops in Brighton.
Volunteers will share their stories and experiences, and design a 5-to-10-minute performance to perform somewhere in Brighton.
Audience reactions and interactions will be encouraged, and refreshments will be provided.
Anyone identifying within LGBTQ (including but not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people) is invited to take part.
Lunch Positive stages Community Café at Preston Park once again this year as part of Pride25th anniversary celebrations and to raise money for people with HIV.
The café will be in the relocated Community Village close to the Access Tent and Families Area.
Lunch Positive stages its café to raise funds for the charity and to bring an extra dimension to the Community Village at Pride.
This year the café will involve over thirty Lunch Positive volunteers and members and provide a range of affordable hot and cold food, home-made cakes, hot and cold drinks. It’s a relaxed area with plenty of seating, together and volunteers on hand to help people with reduced mobility.
Lunch Positive will also providing free lunches to 200 people who are volunteering on the day for Pride.
Gary Pargeter, Volunteer Project Manager at Lunch Positive: “It’s fantastic that we’re staging our café at Pride again this year. It’s a real privilege to be part of Pride and the newly sited Community Village at Preston Park.
“Pride means so much to us, not only it’s equalities mission and opportunity for our community to stand together, but also its important role in raising funds for the Rainbow Fund. While the Community Cafe is a major annual fundraiser for us, we’re relying more on our own resources to stage our café, freeing up those for Pride to develop its own sustainability. Please come along and get your food and drink from us. Tell your friends and everyone you know who’ll be at Preston Park!”
Brighton & Hove City Council announce the groups and organisations that will benenfit from their Annual Discretionary Grants Programme 2015-15 to participitate in the Pride Parade and on Preston Park on August 1.
These include:
♦ MindOut LGBTQ Mental Health Service
Parade Participation – Open Top Bus: £500
Full Council meeting refuses to protect ‘Independent Living Fund’ for disabled people.
Cllr. Phelim Mac Cafferty
The Green Group of councillors have expressed shock and disappointment at rejection of their motion calling on the council to protect funds to support independent living for the most severely disabled in the city.
The Green Group’s motion to Full Council on Thursday, July 16, called on the council to ring-fence this, and any additional related funds, until 2019 to ensure that they are used for the purpose set out and not diluted into the bigger social care pot, which is being squeezed by government spending cuts.
Green Group convenor, Phelim Mac Cafferty, pointed out that other local authorities have followed the advice of disability rights groups and ring-fenced the money, including: Conservative-run Hillingdon, Wokingham and Kensington and Chelsea; and Labour controlled Camden, Islington and Hammersmith and Fulham, and expected Brighton & Hove to follow suit.
However, the Labour Group voted to not support any such ring-fencing and the motion failed.
Cllr. Phelim Mac Cafferty, the Green Convenor, said:“We are extremely disappointed that Labour have chosen not to support our motion and, in so-doing, are prepared to create uncertainty for the most severely disabled people in the community. Without the funding ring-fenced we are essentially saying that the independence and the dignity of our disabled residents doesn’t matter because they can join the scramble in the race to the bottom for whatever is left over. We say very clearly that that shouldn’t happen. For what I estimate to be in the range of £2 million pounds for the next 4 years we could provide hope for people being dragged to hell and back by the changes being imposed on them.
He continued:“Figures from Scope tell us that some 70% of disabled people, due to losing care and support services, were sometimes unable to wash, dress or eat. In the sixth richest country in the world why should our own residents have to live like this? Are some of our most disadvantaged residents not worth the dignity that you or I possibly take for granted to eat, drink, go to the toilet, to learn, to have a social life? At this moment in time, the cuts mean some of these very things will be thrown to the way side.
He concluded:“We will not turn our backs on disabled people and we stand for hope for our residents with disabilities. We say no to turning back the clock to where disabled people were effectively prisoners in their own homes and had little independence. We need to stand up now for disabled people who are under attack.”
Join Ireland’s high queen, national treasure, performance giant and accidental activist Panti Bliss in her smash hit comedy show, High Heels in Low Places.
Panti Bliss
Panti landed herself in the middle of a media shitstorm christened ‘Pantigate’ that rocked Ireland in 2014. Soon after, she became a Youtube sensation when a speech she made about homophobia, described as “the most eloquent Irish speech” in 200 years by Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole, went viral, was broadcast around the world, debated in parliament and even remixed by the Pet Shop Boys sparking a powerful conversation about equality.
High Heels in Low Places is her riotous stand-up show about life after ‘Pantigate’, which played to rave reviews and chock-a-block houses across Ireland.
Charting brushes with infamy, near misses with fame, and adventures in the seedy underbelly, Panti invites you in to her hyper-real, stiletto-shaped world, in a storytelling tour de force where she promises to say the un-sayable.
To view Panti’s speech at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, click here:
Event: PANTI BLISS: High Heels in Low Place presented by THISISPOPBABY, Pride Brighton and Hove & Pink Fringe.
Tomorrow, Brighton & Hove will come together for a unique event that will see community groups, businesses and individuals united by sport, regardless of sexuality, race, age or ability.
Brighton Pride Fun Run 2014
Sponsored by Domestic & General, the Brighton Pride Diversity Games will see the city immerse itself in a weekend of sporting achievements and fun-filled events including special dedicated golf and football tournaments on Saturday, July 18.
The Pride Diversity Games will be a citywide celebration as we hop, skip and jump together in a variety of inclusive and fun sporting events including swimming, tennis, football, rugby, athletics, basketball, volleyball, badminton, bowling, golf and lawn bowls.
The 2015 Pride Diversity Games on Saturday July 18 and Sunday, July 19 will see venues across Brighton and Hove including Withdean Stadium, Preston Park, Hollingbury Golf Course and Waterhall hosting a variety of sporting events. Be it mixed doubles on the courts, hurdles, long jump or relays on the track and field, bowling on the green or football tournaments, the Pride Diversity Games will top your sporting scoreboards this summer.
The Pride Diversity Games, Rainbow Run and Fun Day, organised in association with BLAGSS, will take place on Sunday, July 19 at Preston Park, Brighton, starting at 10am.
A fabulous and free event for spectators, it will be a day for the entire city to enjoy with fun activities including the 5K Rainbow Run, those must-do Fun Day classics Egg & Spoon, Sack Race, Tug Of War challenge and Three-Legged race plus great entertainment and sporting demonstrations for all to enjoy.
Sunday’s event at Preston Park will also include the Pride Diversity Games prize giving ceremony as well and community picnic, fun and games.
The Pride Diversity Games are a fundraising event for the Rainbow Fund, enabling its continued support of local LGBT+ charities and organisations.
Register to join the Pride Diversity Games with your business, colleagues, and friends or as an individual today and help Brighton get sporty for a brilliant cause.
It’s time to unite with Pride for a sporting day like no other, its time for the Brighton Pride Diversity Games 2015.
Event: Pride Diversity Games 2015
Where and When: Various venues across the city on Saturday, July 18 and Preston Park on Sunday, July 19
For more information and to register for the Pride Diversity Games 2015, click here:
Dannii Minoque will join Alesha Dixon and La Voix, on the main stage at the Big Weekend in Manchester, starting Friday, August 28.
Dannii Minoque: Photo Ann-Marie Calilhanna for Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG)
With just six weeks until Manchester Pride, organisers have added pop queen Dannii Minogue to the line-up. She will perform a headline set, presented by G-A-Y, on the main stage.
Dannii, hasn’t performed live in the UK for over nine years, and she will join a host of big names including Alesha Dixon and drag artist and Britons Got Talent finalist, La Voix.
Dannii’s performance will be one of only two currently planned performances she will be making in the UK this year. She recently announced a return to music with Summer of Love, a taster track released to co-incide with her acclaimed performance at Sydney’s Mardi Gras festival. The track was an instant club hit, becoming her NINTH consecutive club No.1, and giving her the record for the most amount of consecutive No.1’s in the UK Upfront Club Charts. In total Dannii has achieved 14 No.1 UK Club Chart hits.
Dannii is currently a judge on The X Factor Australia, her third year working on the hit show after four hugely successful years as a judge on The X Factor UK.
Alesha Dixon has worn many hats over her 16 year career. She opened her musical hand as a finger-snapping Rude Girl, one-third of the brilliant Mis-Teeq, part of the original bedrock UKG scene that went on to the take the world (nobody brrrrrapped better than Alesha). Next was the sleek millennial solo proposition which transitioned, in an unexpected career diversion, into Saturday tea time TV royalty, first at Strictly Come Dancing, then Britain’s Got Talent.
She returns to pop’s top sphere in 2015 on the Manchester Pride Big Weekend main stage.
La Voix
La Voix is a woman with one mission: to bring back glamour, class and sophistication, not to mention humour, to the UK stage and screen. Her many prestigious achievements include second place in Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK ambassador search and finalist on Britain’s Got Talent. She is a vivacious performer with an ability to switch between the vocal styles of Tina Turner, Shirley Bassey, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland or Cher with the click of a finger.
Mark Fletcher
Mark Fletcher, Chief Executive of Manchester Pride, said:“We’re hugely excited that Dannii will be appearing at The Big Weekend. We’ve been working hard with our friends at G-A-Y to make this happen and we know the show will be a huge hit with our audience”
“Our full line up has now been revealed and it’s easily the strongest line up of performances that we’ve had at The Big Weekend. There will be performances to cater for many tastes as we mark this special anniversary year.
“It’s great that Manchester’s annual LGBT pride celebration is just as important to the many successful artists performing as it is to the communities of our brilliant city.
The Big Weekend tickets are currently priced at £25 for a weekend ticket, £15 for day tickets and children’s tickets are also available from £5.
Tickets provide guests with access to the event site, including the Main Arena, Sackville Gardens, the Gaydio Dance Arena and the Expo and help Manchester Pride raise money for LGBT and HIV charities and organisations in Greater Manchester.
For more information on The Big Weekend, click here:
There’s much more to Manchester Pride festival than the Big Weekend. Events take place throughout the month of August and this year has seen the launch of Superbia, an all year round calendar of events that showcases, supports and celebrates LGBT and relevant arts, comedy, debate, film, literature, music, sport, theatre, family and community led projects within Greater Manchester with the aim to encourage engagement, wellbeing and culturally enhance the LGBT communities.
To find out more about the Manchester Pride, click here:
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