Where has our summer gone? At the time of the last newsletter the weather was really hot and I was looking forward to a week off, only to be faced with cooling temperatures and rain. So because of this Spain in now on the cards.
How many of you have had your summer holidays? Or are you planning your jaunt. When going away do you go to gay resorts or do you get as far away from them as possible?
There are an array of articles this month, none on the pride events as most of them will have taken place by the time the next issue is due. The big one will be Brighton, but the one most local to us is Reading Pride on 3rd September, this if not such a big affair, so if you do not enjoy crowds then this may well be the one for you.
Do we have icons that have influenced us or view of being gay? I cannot really think of any, and I feel that this is probably because I did not relate to anybody well known who was gay when I was young and that was quite sometime ago, but if you go along to the national portrait gallery and see those that are considered in the eyes of some as gay icons.
Just a footnote with regard to the body of a man that was found at wisely 12th July, unpleasant as it may have been it fortunately was not the result of a homophobic incident.
Enjoy what we have left of our summer and remember play safe guys.
Bisexuality: what’s your view?
Legislation does work and supports eradicating prejudice to the LGBT populationAn Earl who refused to allow civil partnership ceremonies to be held at his stately home is now having to sell off family heirlooms after losing £200,000 a year from having his marriage licence withdrawn. Lord Devon, whose family seat is Powderham Castle, had refused to allow a gay male couple to hold their civil partnership there last year, saying he had to follow his religion. His licence was then revoked by Devon County Council as of January this year. He is no longer allowed to hold straight wedding ceremonies or civil partnerships at his Exeter home. The Earl is now auctioning some 17th century literature at Sotheby's to try to raise £100,000 for modernisation work needed for the castle.He told the Daily Telegraph that the sale of the books was unrelated to the loss of his licence but admitted money was needed to repair the castle. He said: "We need to raise quite a large sum of money at the moment because we have done a lot of investment work on the castle. We are selling the books to try and raise money because we have invested a lot of cash to provide new facilities for the public. We cannot afford to have a large overdraft. So we saw it necessary to get the finances straight and to pay off the overdraft."At the time, Stonewall praised the prompt actions of the council and described their decision to revoke his licence as "significant." The case was the first time action had been taken against a venue in light of the Sexual Orientation Regulations, which came into force in 2007. Civil partnerships became legal in December 2005.
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What’s your view on bisexualityRicky Martin, Megan Fox, Lady Gaga, that Duncan bloke from Blue, isn't it about time that celebrities coming out as supposedly "bisexual" just admitted they were really gay?
If you find yourself nodding to the sentence above, I'm afraid you're part of the problem. Bisexuality exists, and it's curiously disbelieved. Which is strange, when you consider how easy it looks in the dictionary.
We live in an age of 'out' actors, politicians and musicians, even a few athletes and sports people. It's not as difficult as it used to be to find gay and lesbian people in the media these days. So why do so many people continue to deny the existence of bisexuals in the press and accuse celebrities of lying?
Across the internet it's easy to see people saying the same old things every time someone comes out as bisexual: "There's no such thing, admit you prefer men!" or "He's just doing this to appeal to the pink pound!", but I congratulate Duncan James (you know, that bloke from Blue) on having the courage to come out accurately. I don't know if he Googles himself much these days, but I hope he's not put off by the bizarre biphobia.
I am a bisexual man, and I use that word because I want to be honest. So if people want me to come out as "gay" then I'd need the word "homosexual" to mean "sexually attracted to both the same sex and the opposite sex".
Supposing it did and "heterosexual" meant "attracted to both" too? Then all gay men would simply be straight men who hadn't met the right woman - but surely that sort of argument died out a while ago, didn't it? No one campaigning against same-sex marriage or waving Bible verses at us at Pride is doing so because they think homosexuality is imaginary. But bisexuality is still regarded as some sort of unicorn, and bisexual men are still lambasted as supposedly being closeted gay men who haven't given up on their opposite sex attraction. Then again, maybe I just haven't met the wrong woman…
I don't say "I am bisexual" because I'm attracted to men, or to women, but because I'm not solely attracted to one gender. It's as simple as that and it's not impossible - why should it be? Sure, over time my partners have tended to be one gender over another, but I like both liver and lettuce - and no-one's insisting I should admit I'm really a vegetarian if I eat less of the former. Purple isn't really red any more than it's really blue and calling us liars, at the moment where we've gotten the courage to be honest and face the prejudice, is both insulting and patronising.
I have met hundreds of bisexuals and when the question of being out as bi on the gay scene comes up, everyone agrees: being denied a voice is bad enough but being denied our existence is appalling.
If you don't like Mozart, it doesn't mean some other people are lying when they say they really do. Some people really like aubergines, some people really enjoyed cross-country running at school - some people really do enjoy the things you don't. Some people really are bisexual.
The definition is easy, it's the prejudice that's hard.
Marcus Morgan is the co-ordinator of The Bisexual Index, a UK bisexual activist group. Read more about them, and bisexuality at www.bisexualindex.org.uk
Is Harry Potter Gay?Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has said people often think he's gay, but added he thinks it's "awesome". Laughing off gay rumours, the 19-year-old star told AOL's Moviefone: "It's wonderful. I grew up around gay people my entire life, basically, that's possibly why I'm quite camp, and some people think I'm gay when I meet them, which I think is awesome. It's always good to keep them guessing. I don't go on any blogs or chats or anything, but my friends are demons for them, and apparently someone said 'Daniel Radcliffe is gay. He's got a gay face!'" Radcliffe is currently starring in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Schools Out campaigner honoured
Sue Sanders, one of the co-founders of LGBT education group Schools Out, has been honoured with an award recognising her lifetime of campaigning.
She was presented with the Campaign for Homsexuality Equality/Derek Oyston Award at a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.
Sue was presented with the award by veteran campaigner and CHE vice-president Ray Gosling.
She said: "I want to pay tribute to everyone who's been involved in Schools Out over the years. Without their work, we wouldn't be the successful organisation we are today. In particular, this award should equally have gone to Paul Patrick, our other co-founder, who sadly died last year. When I helped set up the London Gay Teachers' Group in 1974, I never dreamt it would be so successful, or that I'd still be chairing"
She also paid tribute to GALHA for its work.
Speakers at the evening included human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and openly gay MEP Michael Cashman.
Cashman commented: "Why are we still fighting for gay and lesbian rights in 2009, and why will we still be doing it in 2029? It is because hatred never goes away. It merely shifts its focus."
Tatchell praised GALHA as "a voice of reason and evidence-based thought" in the face of bigotry and fundamentalism, but added: "Religious fundamentalism is now the single biggest threat to women's rights and LGBT rights around the world".
More trans discrimination!Dozens of members of the Queer Youth Network have written to complain about Sun columnist Jon Gaunt, who described gender reassignment as "misguided" and "slightly sick".The LGBT youth organisation has also lodged a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission. The article in question focused on Kim Petras, the German 16-year-old trans singer. She underwent gender reassigment a year ago, having fought to have the law changed. Usually, only those over the age of 18 are permitted to undergo the surgery. Columnist and radio presenter Jon Gaunt described her as "sad and slightly sick". He went on to describe her gender reassignment surgery as "drastic body mutiliation" and compared her with Michael Jackson. In a subsequent SunTalk radio show, Gaunt spoke to Erica Davies, the Sun journalist who first interviewed Kim.
Davies explained that Kim had felt she was "trapped in the wrong body" since the age of two, adding that the "bright" teenager was accepted by her family. Gaunt said he had no problem with those over the age of 18 undergoing gender reassignment but was "not comfortable" with a child having the procedure, saying it could set "a dangerous precedent". He added: "I'd love to get Kim on the show but after what I've just said, she probably won't come in." David Henry, of the Queer Youth Network, has said Gaunt should apologise. He said: "We accept The Sun is a tabloid newspaper and celebrity gossip mixed with sensationalism is part of what it does best, however demeaning and dehumanising young people in this manner is absolutely unacceptable and potentially damaging to thousands of people, many of whom have strikingly similar experiences to those of Kim Petras. Transgender people and those who do not conform to gender norms experience more than their fair share of ridicule and social torment in their every days lives as it is - we do not need this continued abusive onslaught from the mainstream media. We accept many people will not be surprised by this offensive and inaccurate comments made by Jon Gaunt in this article, but as Britain's most read-newspaper we would like to hear at least an acknowledgement from the editor of the upset this has caused our community by printing one of the many letters sent in by our members, if not a full apology from Jon Gaunt himself.”
LONDON
England
National Portrait Gallery (The Porter Galley)
St. Martin's Place
Trafalgar Square
On now - to October 18 Admission to the Porter Gallery for this exhibition is £5.00 adults (£4.50 seniors, £4 students, under 12 free) Admission to the National Portrait Gallery itself is free. www.npg.org.uk
Club4goodin conjunction with Gay Surrey What is happening with the local scene and the Club4good and gay surrey? Up and coming events: www.gaysurrey.org/club4good
Thursday 6th August – Noir Bar – Weybridge Cancelled
Saturday 8th August - Formula 1 Karting - Heathrow
Thursday 20th August - Niche Lounge - Staines
Thursday 3rd September – Noir Bar – Weybridge Cancelled
Thursday 17th September - Niche Lounge – Staines
Thursday 1st October – Noir Bar – Weybridge Cancelled
Saturday 31st October – Quake – Woking – Halloween party
And the GS lounge is re-launched and the new venue and dates are as follows: We are really excited to have joined up with Charles at the Bed Venue : The Bed Bar Location : Woking Time : 8pm onwards
Web Link : www.gaysurrey.org/gsloungeDates
16th September
14th October
18th November
16th DecemberOnce in the Bed Bar, the GS lounge is held exclusively in the VIP area, donations welcome towards our club4good campaign. As always Gay Surrey has all the latest updates on their website, so why not take a visit www.gaysurrey.org
LAGLO Newsletter / Gay SurreySurrey police are looking to introduce a twice yearly newsletter for the LGBT community, which is being written by its officers who deal with and support all LGBT issues.
The newsletter is being produced by the Surrey Police LAGLO officer, along with help from the Diversity team and Hate crime co-ordinators, and will include news stories around policing the LGBT community along with safety advice, help lines and useful information.
We are looking for help from the Gay Surrey website users to come up with a catchy name for the newsletter, which we hope will reflect that it is for the LGBT community and is police produced. What we don't want is for it to be called "LGBT Newsletter!".
There will be a prize for the winning entry as supplied by Gino Meriano, a bottle of his favourite champagne Send your ideas to info@gaysurrey.org Thanks Gino
A lot of articles this month have come courtesy of www.pinknews.co.uk although some of the articles have a local reflection a lot do not. Please contact me with local news and information that the LGBT population of Surrey would be interested to know. You may run a business that you wish to advertise (free of charge) please send me a copy electronically.
ListingsSurrey Domestic Abuse Helpline
Are you being frightened, hurt or
abused by a partner or family member
24 hour confidential service
01483 776822East Surrey Domestic Abuse Outreach Service
01737 771350
(Serving Reigate and Banstead, Mole Valley and Tandridge)North West Surrey Domestic
Abuse Outreach Service
01483 776822
(serving Woking, Runnymede and Surrey Heath)North Surrey Domestic
Abuse Outreach Service
01932 260690
(serving Epsom, Ewell, Elmbridge and Spelthorne)South West Surrey Domestic
Abuse Outreach Service
01483 577392 or 01932 260690
(Serving the Waverley area)Relate, West Surrey
Provincial House
26 Commercial Way
Woking, Surrey GU21 6EN
01483 715285 www.relatewestsurrey.org.uk
Naz Project
HIV and sexual health support service for
South Asian, Middle Eastern, North African, Latin American and other excluded communities
e-mail naz@naz.org.uk
Website: naz.org.uk
0208 7411879 9.30-5.30 Mon-Fri.Guildford Area Gay Society (GAGS)
Meets every Wednesday, phone Simon on 01252 370809
www.gags.org.ukThe Cellar
Disco runs last Saturday of
each month 9.00 pm - 2.00 am and social meeting Friday evenings 8.30 pm midnight
Farnham, Surrey (phone for details)
01252 715844Homophobic Incidents
Call Surrey Police on:
0845 1252222 or www.stophatecrime.co.uk
WSLAGLO@surrey.pnn.police.uk or 01483 630474
GUM Clinics
Genito-Urinary MedicineFarnham Road Hospital, Guildford
01483 537007Blanche Heriot Unit, St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey
01932 722669Frimley Park Hospital, Frimley
01276 604105K2 Clinic, Wolverton Centre, Kingston Hospital
For Gay and Bisexual Men
Wednesday 6.00 - 8.00 pm - walk in only
0208 934 2843TWISTER Youth Club!
LGBTQ Young People, Surrey Ages 13-19
Various Nights 7.30pm - 9.30pm
www.surreycc.gov.uk/twister
Local Voluntary Organisations
Outline
Lesbian and Gay Helpline and social group
open Sunday and Tuesday between 7.30 and 10.00 pm
01483 727667www.gaysurrey.org
offering help, support and advice locally
to those who need it
Tel : 0700 5982 429 anytime
Young Gay Surrey
Website dedicated to 13 to 19 year olds for help and support www.ygsspeakout.org
The following Charities offer advice, support and
information to people infected and affected by
HIV/AIDSPositive Action
0800 9801990 (freephone)
01252 345019
THT Surrey Region
01483 263160
St Peters House Project
01737 763000Married Men’s Group
A group for men who are married or in
relationships with women and are attracted to
or having sex with other men.
07801 629972RASASC
Rape and sexual abuse support centre
01483 546400 female staffed (7.30-9.30) closed Saturdays and Bank Holidays
Contact Ian Cole
on Mobile - 07801 629972
e-mail ian.cole@surreypct.nhs.uk
This newsletter is produced by the Harm Reduction Outreach Team part of Surrey PCT
