This month there are two major articles which I have decided to include which will hopefully make us think about where we are. The first is about Brighton Pride and we had at least two organisations present from Surrey attend the event, but the article is of interest because it asks the question really of “have we lost our way?” Why not read it and let me have your thoughts.

Second is the perceptions around Hate Crime and those who know nothing about it and its affects writing articles that suggest that those that are targeted in this case due to homophobia are getting special treatment via the criminal justice system, fortunately the writer of the article puts them straight so to speak. But it just goes to show how those who are not in minority groups assume those that are are being given special rights as opposed to equality.

Finally there is an article about the Hog’s Back PSE, the council saw sense in overturning the select committee decision and rightly so, it may mean more police activity there but as always if guys are being discreet then there is not going to be a problem. But those that wanted it shut hold some very antiquated views so just be careful if you use the site.

The Hog’s back PSE

The Hog's Back Cafe owner has expressed his delight that "common sense prevailed" in a decision to keep a lay-by on the A31 between Guildford and Farnham open. Villagers and parents in Puttenham had been campaigning for the county council to shut down the lay-by and cafe, in order to deter people from visiting nearby fields for sexual liaisons amid concerns that the activities were getting closer and closer to the nearby infants school. But despite a closure recommendation from the authority's Safer and Stronger Select Committee, councillors on the cabinet voted against the motion at a meeting on August 13. Café owner Nilesh Thackor argued that shutting the site would mean putting him out of business and four full-time staff losing their jobs. He said: “We are extremely pleased that common sense prevailed. I know we do have problems, but we are the innocent party, we don’t encourage anything like that [the sexual activity]. “I would say 95% of those that park there don’t visit the sites, they come in here, have the food, have a coffee, have a break and then they leave.” And Mr Thackor added: “We are so pleased, especially my staff. They have families, they have been worried about it.” Campaigners in Puttenham were supported by Guildford Local Committee councillor Tony Rooth, who called the decision "rotten".

Vita Millers

www.getsurrey.co.uk

Making Pride seriously fun

This recent "Pride and (No) Prejudice" Brighton Pride parade was a melee of colour, glitter, Regency-era drag, big muscles, even bigger hair and irritatingly infectious high-scene pop and dance tracks.
Such was the din created by the whistles and the vuvuzelas sold along the procession route that it was sometimes difficult to hear the chants of "Pride is a protest" made by an intrepid minority of people carrying placards bearing the same slogans. But in the face of increasing apathy towards Pride in some quarters of the gay community, does this ideological call-to-arms still hold true?
When gay pride marches began following the Stonewall riots in 1969, there was virtually no language in the UK for protesting against homophobia and inequality. Discrimination was enshrined in the legal system and there were no gay and lesbian politicians able (or willing) to pursue the rights of the LGBT community. Gay pride marches were a direct protest against this enforced social invisibility. Riotous (usually literally) and colourful, they clogged up streets, brought traffic to a standstill and made it impossible for polite society to avert its eyes and carry on as before.
A testament to its success, perhaps, Pride is no longer at the forefront of political change. The demand for equal rights has been embraced by the mainstream and many victories have been won by various groups and individuals. These successes range from the equalisation of the age of consent to the establishment of civil partnerships and the end of the prohibition on gays joining the military.
So does that leave Pride on the scrapheap of history? Certainly, there are those who feel that it is outdated – that the achievement of equal rights is not well served by an event that emphasises difference and apartness. But whoever said that equality had to mean sameness? And it is sometimes difficult not to see in such criticism a distaste for the flamboyance and theatricality that is one of the hallmarks of a Pride parade.
Perhaps most importantly, though, the argument that Pride is no longer necessary is based on the belief that the battle for LGBT rights has been fought, and won. This is nonsense.
In 2009, Peter Tatchell lambasted the organisers of Pride London for its "totally anodyne" slogan "Come and play". He was also "shocked" at the lack of mention of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots on the charity's website or in its magazine. After citing police statistics that showed a sharp rise in homophobic hate crimes in Manchester, he went on to criticise the "huge apathy and complacency" that defined the LGBT community in his eyes.
The problem arises when (because of the need to appease corporate sponsors) Pride as "party" takes precedence over Pride as "celebration" – it should be both. If it doesn't convey an adequate awareness of history, knowledge of what has been gained and what has been lost in the process – of a sense of community – it becomes just another carnival. Complacency is a result of ignorance and apathy and lack of personal investment are the inevitable consequence. People need to understand the ties that bind them if they are truly to feel them.
It is doubtful that Pride will ever again entirely satisfy those at the more militant end of gay rights campaigning. It has become too slick, too mainstream. In any case, actual progress on the big issues – such as the grossly offensive ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood – is much more likely to be made in court these days. It has been many years since the street was the only or best route.
Pride may have become a "parade" rather than a "march", but this does not mean it has to be depoliticised. As Anisa de Jong, the director of the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group, said during an interview in 2009:
"Pride should be providing more of a political space in line with its history, which is about visibility being a political statement in itself. The whole Pride issue is not just about celebrating our identity but about making a political statement about our identity and addressing injustices."
Until the male couple I recently shared a tube carriage with can hold hands in public without attracting attention, there will be a need for Pride, the sense of freedom it instils and the light it can shine on inequalities both subtle and significant. Particularly when school children (and a depressing number of adults) continue to use "gay" as a term of abuse and overpaid columnists demonstrate the extent of their wit by rhyming "dyke" with "bike".
Pride can and should be fun. At one level, it is an opportunity to let your hair down, dress up, dance badly and hope that no one has taken any embarrassing photos. But it needs to be more than this if it is to create and sustain the interest of the community to which it is ostensibly dedicated. Thankfully, Brighton's 2010 Pride celebration attracted the biggest crowds in its 18-year history.
At one point during the Pride Brighton parade a float containing a group of giggling teenagers singing along to Dizzee Rascal was replaced by eight people dressed in black, their mouths taped shut, carrying coffins. On each crudely made box was the name of a country where the punishment for homosexuality is imprisonment or worse. Places where we have no voice. The juxtaposition of the two floats was unsettling. It made me pause, and it made me think. And that's a place to start.

Tom Wicker
www.guardian.co.uk/

Gay men’s sex survey 2010, this year it is going to incorporate Europe as well as the uk

Take the Survey here:
www.demographix.com/surveys/3Y9Q-VHRX/NBKKXSHS/?sigmasurvey/

A targeted attack on hate crime

Our society has moved towards, or some might say reverted to, a legislative approach that punishes those who commit crimes not solely on the basis of their actions, but on the reasoning behind those actions and the identity of the victim. If I steal a bicycle from my friend, and admit in court that I do so because his name is Tim, and I am proud of vehemently disliking people called Tim, perhaps I'm a member of an anti-Tim society, should I be punished more seriously than if I had simply stolen his bike because I wanted his bike? You may think that would be nonsensical. In April 2005, section 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 was implemented. This section of the act doesn't create new offences, but imposes a duty upon courts to increase the sentence for any offence aggravated by hostility based on the victim's sexual orientation or disability.

Race has similar legal protection. The court, in deciding on the sentence to be imposed, must treat evidence of hostility based on disability, orientation, or presumed orientation as something that makes the offence more serious. The writer Gerald Warner, in an article for the Telegraph, calls for the repeal of "hate" laws, describing their "grossly distorted sentencing system which has created two-tier justice" citing section 82 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which lead to guidelines of significant increases for the sentence where a racial motive was involved. Warner argues that considering some crimes to be aggravated by virtue of the intention of the criminal and the identity of the victim "is a reversion to the Middle Ages when assaulting a Norman baron meant death, while attacking a churl entailed a fine ... By imposing a much heavier sentence for an assault on a member of a statutorily specified minority than on an elderly person whose life may subsequently be shortened by the shock, we have again created legally privileged sections of society." What is so different about Tim that means he and his bike do not deserve the same level of recognition in the law that a gay man would receive if he were the victim of a similar incident at the hands of a thieving homophobe? The CPS guidelines for the prosecution of hate crimes in relation to discrimination against homosexual and transsexual people articulate an answer to why the blindfold of justice can be accused of "slipping": "

We regard homophobic and transphobic crimes as particularly serious because they undermine people's right to feel safe about and be safe in their sexual orientation, whether they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual, and in their gender identity, whether they are women or men and including trans men and women. Such crimes are based on prejudice, discrimination and hate and they do not have any place in an open and democratic society." In theory all are equal, and should be treated equally, but as the supreme court justice Oliver Wendall Holmes Jr so clearly reminded us, law must be written taking into account the "bad man". Take the news story of an unnamed gay couple assaulted in Northern Ireland recently. Following the incident, one of the men said to a reporter: "I'm too scared to leave my own house. I'm too terrified to answer my own door. I'm terrified to walk down the street. My partner is working today and I had to walk him to work because he is terrified and he is usually a very strong, confident man … People don't realise the repercussions of hate crime. It debilitates you. It wrecks you. It wrecks lives." The reason my theoretical anti-Tim society isn't the subject of legislation is that it is not a real problem. The reason that hate crime legislation identifies attributes requiring special protection must be not because these particular facets of human identity are any more or less meaningful, interesting, valuable, or morally significant than plenty of others (for instance, class) but that these factors are currently ones which are subject to socially undesirable and harmful discrimination. My only experience of hatred comes from participating in trials where it has been a factor.

I don't know if Gerald Warner has other experiences, but it seems to me that if it debilitates victims and wrecks their lives, legislators must be allowed to put it into a special category of real problems created by bad people. Should enough acts of violence and hatred be specifically levelled against people called Gerald, creating fear in the hearts of Geralds everywhere, perhaps the calls would be for the creation of laws, rather than their repeal.

Rupert Myers
www.guardian.co.uk

Gay support group comes of age
The charity Outline has won a grant from Surrey Community Action. This is to be used to start a support group for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, (LGBT) and those people questioning their sexuality or gender identity who are feeling socially excluded. The group will be known as Outcrowd.

Outline used to run Outcrowd as a youth group for people aged under 24. This evolved into the statutory LGBT youth groups, Twister, run by Surrey County Council. This new non-profit project will be run entirely by volunteers. Project manager for Outline, Kay Mabe, says "Now Outcrowd is reborn and aims to meet the needs for all those over eighteen. It has now come of age".

Outcrowd, to be held in central Woking, is due to start its monthly meetings in July. For additional information call Outline on 01483 727667 mobile: 078 2728 9312 or visit www.outcrowd.org.uk the support group for LGBT people.

Outline is a charity which has been supporting LGBT people and those questioning their sexuality or gender identity in Surrey for over a decade. The primary support is provided by a confidential telephone helpline available every Tuesday and Sunday evenings from 7.30 to 10pm by a team of dedicated, trained volunteers.

Gay Surrey

As always Gay Surrey has all the latest updates on their website, so why not take a visit www.gaysurrey.org

IDAHO 2011 just a heads up for next years day:

17th May 2011

Articles needed urgently

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.

Surrey Domestic Abuse Helpline
Are you being frightened, hurt or
abused by a partner or family member
24 hour confidential service
01483 776822

East 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

TWISTER Youth Club!
LGBTQ Young People, Surrey Ages 13-19
Various Nights 7.30pm - 9.30pm
www.surreycc.gov.uk/twister

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.uk

The 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 715844

Homophobic Incidents
Call Surrey Police on:
0845 1252222 or www.stophatecrime.co.uk
WSLAGLO@surrey.pnn.police.uk or 01483 630474

GUM Clinics
Genito-Urinary Medicine

Farnham Road Hospital, Guildford
01483 537007

Blanche Heriot Unit, St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey
01932 722669

Frimley Park Hospital, Frimley
01276 604105

K2 Clinic, Wolverton Centre, Kingston Hospital
For Gay and Bisexual Men
Wednesday 6.00 - 8.00 pm - walk in only
0208 934 2843

Local Voluntary Organisations

Outline
Lesbian and Gay Helpline
open Sunday and Tuesday between 7.30 and 10.00 pm
01483 727667

www.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/AIDS

Positive Action
0800 9801990 (freephone)
01252 345019
THT Surrey Region
01483 263160
St Peters House Project
01737 763000

Married 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 629972

RASASC
Rape and sexual abuse support centre
01483 546400 female staffed (7.30-9.30) closed Saturdays and Bank Holidays