Across Rainbows hosts its LGBTQ+ Domestic Abuse drop-in at Arcobaleno, Brighton every Wednesday from 5- 7pm.
The LGBTQ+ Domestic Abuse drop-in is for members of the LGBTQ+ community that have been victims of, are going through, and have questions about domestic abuse.
There is no need to book ahead, but if you want to make contact beforehand, email: outreach@acrossrainbows.com.
LGBTQ+ Domestic Abuse drop-in with Across Rainbows at Arcobaleno, 120 St George’s Rd, Brighton, BN2 1EA.
Lead Pic Credit: (C) Leo Holden for snootyfoximages
Ben Cohen, the rugby champion and longtime ally of LGBTQ+ rights, is making his acting debut this summer in Patterns, a new LGBTQ+ series acquired by TLA Releasing and streaming exclusively on Dekkoo.
In mini-narratives, the British camp comedy explores several unique themes that make up the lives of LGBTQ+ people and allies, including family dynamics, coming out, dating, therapy and surviving an existential crisis. Each episode tells its own distinct story, but all episodes take place in the same universe so that a minor character in one episode may reappear as the lead in another and vice-versa. “Patterns was created to be a reflection of everyday queer life and how we navigate different social circles at work, with friends and family, behaving differently within each circle we frequent,” explains director Rex Glensy. “The beauty of the series is that it explores this dynamic with humor and heart.”
“When I first read the script for Patterns, I knew I needed to be a part of the series as it spoke to my life-long allyship with the LGBTQ+ community,” says Ben Cohen, who in 2011, launched the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation to combat bullying of children who might be LGBTQ+. “Also, I have always been a bit curious about appearing in front of the camera as an actor. The first scene I filmed for Patterns was even more nerve-wracking than when I played for England the first time!”
The premiere episode of Patterns stars Tayler Marshall as Christopher, a good-looking man in his early twenties who questions whether his relationship with vain boyfriend Foster, played by Rufus Shaljean, has real substance, or if Foster is only interested in him for his good looks. The second episode takes viewers in an entirely new direction as we meet Liam, a teenager with a questionable obsession for his favorite athlete. Played by newcomer Rufus Gleave, Liam tends to retreat into the world of ballet and a very active fantasy life. Ben Cohen stars as Liam’s personal superhero who helps lead him out of his inner turmoil.
The third episode of Patterns stars hunky Jack Armstrong as Lionel who loves the company of other men and becomes obsessed with his pizza delivery man. “Lionel is a hopeless romantic and while he appears simple minded, he is quite complex,” Jack explains. According to Glensy, when casting for the role of Lionel, they were searching for someone who was likeable, naturally funny and good-looking. They knew they had found the perfect actor the second Jack walked into the audition room. Glensy calls Jack a consummate professional who takes his craft very seriously. Jack says of his character Lionel: “The entire emotional arc of Lionel boils down to one moment as he stares down at a pizza box.”
The fourth episode of Patterns, titled Four Dates and a Humperdinck, sees the return of young Liam, who organises a series of dates for his single father, each more outlandish than the last. In Breaking Fast, siblings Mary and Vedrana are forced to confront their past in order to secure their future and in Room 103, a coalition of annoying Karens are sentenced to participate in a support group to individually account for their bad public behaviours.
Episode seven of Patterns sees the return of Tayler Marshall as Christopher and Rufus Shaljean as Foster, but this time Foster is in the lead role. “We quickly learn that Foster is a force of nature,” explains Shaljean. “He has the remarkable ability to always keep his head held high, his curls in check and he never looks back for anyone. He’s unapologetically himself.”
When a stranger in the park approaches Foster and asks to film him, it is his egomaniacal dream come true. He ropes in his boyfriend Christopher and frenemy Kevin to join him but to everyone’s surprise, when they step in front of the camera, nothing turns out as expected.
“I hope viewers are entertained by our series featuring multiple LGBTQ+ people in a shared universe,” says Asad Moghal, who wrote the series with Daniel Mannheim.
“It’s fun to see lead characters in previous episodes reappear in the periphery of later episodes and watch as minor characters take the lead in their own stories,” Glensy adds.
The season ends with a surprise eighth episode that neither Moghal or Glensy wish to reveal. “It’s a special gift for viewers who make it to the end,” laughs Moghal. He also hints at more Patterns ahead. “We have developed the narratives for all the characters in Patterns and how they link together and there are still quite a few stories to be told.”
Miss Netherlands has crowned its first ever transgender winner. Rikkie Valerie Kolle, 22, won the pageant on Sunday, July 9 and will go on to compete in the Miss Universe competition in El Salvador, which takes place in December.
Kolle wore a floor-length red gown with a thigh-high slit at the ceremony, where she was given the crown by her predecessor, Ona Moody, and the current Miss Universe, US contestant R’Bonney Gabriel.
Transgender contestants have been allowed to take part in the competition since 2012. Kolle will be the second transgender woman to take part in the Miss Universe pageant after Spanish contestant Angela Ponce competed in 2018.
On Instagram, Kolle expressed her delight at winning the pageant. “I did it! It’s unreal but I can call myself @missnederland 2023. It was an educational and wonderful process, my year can’t go wrong anymore.”
Kolle continued: “I made my community proud and showed it can be done. And yes I am a trans woman and I would like to share my story, but I am also Rikkie and that is what counts for me. I did this on my own strength and enjoyed every moment.”
Guilty of Love makes its Edinburgh Fringe debut this August at the Hill Street Theatre. Jane Bramwell and Michael Brand have created a musical exploration surrounding the passion and betrayal of Alan Turing, delving into the life of the mathematical genius.
The cast includes: Jamie Sheasby (Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain part 5 – West End) as Alan Turing, newcomer Andrew Hornyak as Christopher Morcom, Caitlin Downie (Opera a la Carte) as Joan Clarke and completing the cast; Alasdair Baker (Night of the Iguana – West End), Helene Holman (Sleeping Beauty – Tour), Rhys Anderson (Romeo and Juliet – Cumbernauld Theatre)Joanna Harte (“A True Mismatch” – Amazon Prime) and Steven Wren (Little Shop of Horrors – Perth Theatre).
Director of Guilty of Love, David Kettle, shares with us the reason why this retelling of Alan Turing’s story is so poignant and important for the LGBTQ+ community in reflecting and looking forward to the future.
What first attracted you to this production and the story?
Firstly, the personal story behind the genius. When I originally read the script, Turing was still fairly unknown in the public eye. I was shocked how a person who had done so much for his country, could be abandoned and treated so cruelly. I was also very attracted to the beautiful script and score created by Jane (Bramwell) and Michael (Brand).
How have you seen things change in society in regards to the way the LGBTQ+ community is treated? Do you think a show like Guilty of Love remains poignant in today’s society and reminds audiences how far things have come and yet what a way there still is to go?
To know how far we have gone in the UK it is vital and relevant that stories such as these are told. And also, to remind younger people of the sacrifices that were made by generations past. We also need to recognise that in many parts of the world there has been no progress for LGBTQ+ community and must push to have the voices heard of people who are less fortunate than the UK community. In relation to Guilty of Love being relevant… well it’s a love story in essence.. and love is the enduring feeling that binds us all together.
Have you been involved in the Edinburgh Fringe before?
I was last at the festival in 2003 performing in a show called A Friend of Dorothy. We shared our stage with the wonderful Tracie Bennett who was also debuting a Judy Garland inspired production.. Last Song of the Nightingale.. which became the smash west end and Boadway hot ‘Beyond the Rainbow.’
What do you hope audiences will take away from seeing Guilty of Love?
That there was more to the man than his mathematical skills and with a deep sense of care for him and those like him.
Why should people come and see the show?
To be moved by an incredible story of love, genius and betrayal.
Guilty of Love shows at Venue 41, Hill Street Theatre as part of Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 4 – 27 August 2023 at 2.10pm.
For tickets, CLICK HERE
The first Zero HIV Stigma Day is to take place in Brighton & Hove at Jubilee Square (by the library) on Friday, July 21.
The day of action and solidarity, which starts at 5.15pm with music and speakers, is brought to you by Brighton & Hove Sexual Health and Contraception Service, Lunch Positive (who will be there all day serving refreshments and hosting tables to talk), Terrence Higgins Trust, Radio Reverb‘s HIV Hour, Fast-Track Cities Brighton & Hove, Brighton & Hove City Council, Martin Fisher Foundation, the Ledward Centre and More to Me Than HIV.
After a record breaking event in 2022 that saw over 25,000 people party and protest in Stratford, UK Black Pride has announced the theme of the 2023 event will be ‘Legacy’ to celebrate its 18th anniversary.
UK Black Pride, which will take place in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Sunday, August 20, is, according to organisers, the world’s largest Pride celebration for LGBTQ+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American and Middle Eastern-descent.
Lady Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, co-founder and executive director of UK Black Pride, said: “UK Black Pride has gone from strength to strength over the last 18 years and we are so proud to have continuously given the community a space and platform to live and love unapologetically.
“Legacy is the best way to describe the balance between looking at the last 18 years and looking forward to the next 18.
“We want our communities, on a collective and also an individual level, to think about the legacy they want to leave behind and how we can continue to move to a more inclusive future.”
Organisers of UK Black Pride, which is free to attend, will announce performers and sponsors in the coming weeks.
Lead Pic: Ark S
Elska, a project dedicated to sharing the bodies and voices of LGBTQ+ communities around the world, has put the spotlight on Bangkok, Thailand for its latest edition.
Inside, readers can get to know a cross-section of ordinary men from the LGBTQ+ community of what is perhaps Asia’s queerest city, presenting them through intimate photography and personal storytelling.
“This is now our 43rd adventure, but from the beginning we knew we’d eventually have to come to Bangkok,” says Elska editor and chief photographer Liam Campbell. “I suppose I always kept it in the back pocket, perhaps a kind of treat for when we wanted to make an issue that would feel more like going on holiday.
“But the reason we finally came now is because we ran a poll amongst our most loyal readers to nominate any city in the world where they wanted to see an Elska made, and Bangkok got the most votes. It seemed that my personal enthusiasm for Thailand was matched by our readers.”
“Bangkok really wasn’t what I was expecting though, at least when it came to making Elska,” continues Liam. “I suppose I was stuck on stereotypes of the Thai capital as some kind of paradise of debauchery, a city of heathens when rather it was a city of angels.
“The Thai name for this city (Krung Thep), which can actually be translated as ‘city of angels’, suits the guys we met here, who were overall more reserved and demure than we expected. Overall it’s such a surprising issue and that’s my favourite thing about Elska in general.”
Inside Elska Bangkok, and the companion zine Elska Ekstra Bangkok, 13 local queer humans are introduced. Each has been photographed in the streets of Bangkok and dressed in their own style, as well as at home with less clothes (or sometimes entirely without clothes), the goal being to allow readers to get to know these participants at their most open.
Each also wrote a personal story, penned themselves in either English or Thai (and followed by English translations), bringing you even closer to them. The tales they contributed touch upon a variety of subjects, such as:
– Om T’s reflection on how to achieve power through drag, and the experience of being Amadiva, one of the most legendary queens from Drag Race Thailand;
– Chang C’s story about how to deal with heartbreak from a Buddhist perspective;
– Oat M’s piece on growing up in a brothel and the relationships he’s forged with various sex workers through his life;
– Ark S’s confession on how to cope with losing friends when you choose to go sober;
– Hamza S’s tale on fleeing from his native Morocco to find safety in Thailand
Elska Bangkok is 180 pages and is available from a select group of shops around the world as well as for order online from the Elska website.
In addition, the comparison zine Elska Ekstra Bangkok is available, including hundreds of pages of outtakes, behind the scenes tales, extra boys and extra stories. The list of stockists and details of the subscription service can also be found on the Elska website.
A Tribunal decided on Thursday, July 6 that trans rights charity Mermaids, supported by a coalition of LGBTQ+ organisations, doesn’t have legal standing to appeal a decision made by the Charity Commission in June 2021 to register LGB Alliance (LGBA) as a charity.
Mermaids, and other LGBTQ+ organisations, argued that LGBA shouldn’t be recognised as a charity because it was “focused on hostile anti-trans activism and not (as it claimed) on the promotion of lesbian, gay and bisexual rights”.
“Their decision is that Mermaids doesn’t have legal standing to bring the appeal. Standing in this context is not well-defined, and we always knew this was a complex aspect of the case.
“Because they found against us on standing, the Tribunal didn’t have to rule on the main issue in the appeal – namely whether or not LGBA should have been registered as a charity to begin with.
“But the two judges indicated that they had given that question careful consideration and had been split on the answer. That is, one of the judges agreed with us that LGBA should not have been registered as a charity, and one disagreed.
“We don’t know the details of their reasoning, but we think that is a really significant outcome. Had we been found to have standing, there is a chance that the tie would have been resolved in our favour and we would have won the case.
“That puts a huge question mark over LGBA’s status. In addition, key points of our evidence about LGBA were accepted by both judges. They agreed with us that some of LGBA’s output on social media went beyond the boundaries of civilised debate, and they accepted our evidence that LGBA had progressed the “pro-LGB” activities it claims to be focused on “only to a limited extent”. They suggested that a combination of public scrutiny and oversight by the Charity Commission would “deter LGBA from crossing the line” in future.
“We are glad to have been able to shine a light on the harmful nature of LGBA’s activities and the need for ongoing scrutiny, and we are pleased that one of the judges accepted our evidence that LGBA should never have been registered as a charity. But we are disappointed that the Tribunal wasn’t able to go further.
“If we don’t meet the test for standing in this case, it is hard to imagine that anyone could have done. In effect, that means that the decision to register LGBA as a charity cannot be challenged by a third party, even though the judgment confirms that there are serious doubts over whether LGBA should have charitable status.
“We are taking legal advice on whether to appeal the finding on standing. In the meantime, our focus remains on channelling all of our energies into the urgent, critical challenges facing trans young people today. This includes demanding access to timely healthcare and robustly challenging forthcoming trans guidance for schools which, if reports are true, could have devastating consequences not only for trans children and young people, but any young person who doesn’t conform to gender norms.
“Thank you to everyone who has supported our case, and to all those who continue to stand up for trans young people in an increasingly hostile climate. We are grateful for the support and solidarity of the LGBTQ+ community and LGBTQ+ organisations across the UK and globally, who resist attempts to divide our community. Together, we can create a better world to grow up trans.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson added: “We welcome this judgment. As the judges confirm, it is not the Charity Commission’s role to regulate public debate on sensitive issues on which there are deeply held, sincere beliefs on all sides. Our role is to apply the law, and we consider that we did so in registering LGBA as a charity.
“All charities, ultimately, must deliver on their purposes for the public benefit. We understand both charities hold opposing views, but when engaging in public debate and campaigning, they should do so with respect and tolerance. Demonising and undermining those who think differently is not acceptable behaviour from any charity on our register.”
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published its latest mpox outbreak epidemiological overview, which provides an update to the number of confirmed and highly probable mpox cases in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
It shows that in 2023 so far (up to 30 June 2023) there have been 29 cases of mpox reported in the UK. Of these, 28 were in England (14 cases were presumed to have acquired mpox in the UK, 11 were acquired outside the UK and three awaiting classification) and one was in Scotland (an imported case acquired outside the UK).
Between 1-30 June 2023, and since UKHSA’s last epidemiological overview, eight new cases have been reported, seven of which were in London. This follows the announcement of an extended vaccination offer in London.
Dr Hamish Mohammed, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: “These latest statistics show that while numbers of cases remain very low, we should not be complacent about mpox – with eight new cases reported in June, seven of which were in London. We recently extended vaccinations for those in London, and I’d encourage all those eligible to come forward now.
“Vaccination has played a crucial role in protecting people and reducing case numbers, and eligible people outside of London have until the end of this month to come forward for vaccination. While mpox infection is mild for many, it can cause severe symptoms so it’s important people protect themselves from infection.”
Peccadillo Pictures presents BOYS ON FILM 23: DANGEROUS TO KNOW, a collection of short films starring Zachary Quinto and directed by Renato Turnes, Máté Konkol, Sven Spur, Sam Max, Irasj Asanti, Uriel Torten, Elene Naveriani, Mark Pluck, Tom Young and Sean Lìonadh.
A perfect stranger. The boy next door. A sparring partner. A friend from abroad. Boys on Film presents its 23rd gay short film collection with ten encounters from across the globe, where the tempting allure of a risky attraction yields emotional results – proving that the age-old adage of taking the plunge is as relevant – and sexy – as ever before.
The ten films are:
MY UNCLE’S FRIEND (Brazil) – Directed by Renato Turnes
BUDAPEST CLOSED CITY (Hungary) – Directed by Máté Konkol
EDEN (Belgium) – Directed by Sven Spur
CHAPERONE (USA) – Directed by Sam Max
BREAK ME (Norway) – Directed by Israsj Asanti
BY HIS WILL (Israel) – Directed by Uriel Torten
RED ANTS BITE (Georgia) – Directed by Elene Naveriani
HORNBEAM (UK) – Directed by Mark Pluck
JIM (UK) – Directed by Tom Young
TOO ROUGH (UK) – Directed by Sean Lìonadh
BOYS ON FILM 23: DANGEROUS TO KNOW will be available at PeccadilloPOD.com and on DVD, Blu-Ray and On Demand worldwide from 24 July.
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