30/09/2009
News sent - 30th September 2009
In this week's e-mail newsletter: Equality Network News: National LGBT Skills Programme; Development Worker: Scottish Transgender Alliance Transition Support Project; Changing Hearts, Opening Minds; Volunteer opportunity; Forums News: Want to be art?; Aberdeen: are you interested in a women's group?; Remake of "Fame" puts gay character back in the closet; Mental Health Week: 4th-10th October 2009; Talk Scotland Events: A Gude Cause Maks A Strong Arm; Glasgow: Gude Cause at the People’s Palace; Edinburgh Trans Women Support Group; Inverness: Girlzone lunch; Edinburgh: Chrystal and the General; Edinburgh: The 1951 Refugee Convention Gender Sensitive? Myth or Reality; Edinburgh: Love, Create, Heal: Women and Birth; Civil Partnership on Radio Scotland; UK News: Imaan Welfare supporting LGBT Muslims seeking asylum; Manchester: Gay Christian loses job because he came out; GFest - gayWise LGBT Arts Festival 2009; International: President of the UN General Assembly declares being gay "not acceptable"; Jamaica: Christians worship in secret for fear of anti-gay violence; LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation: US: Florida court rules that hospital can deny access to gay partners; Equality Network survey - marriage and civil partnership
If you're interested in using the Equality Network's bulletin boards to share information about local and international news and events in your area, e-mail ENnews@equality-network.org by close of day Friday each week for inclusion in next week's mailing.
You can now register and add events to the National LGBT Forum:
www.scottishlgbt.org/Events
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Please send material for inclusion in the weekly e-bulletin by end of day Friday each week.
Equality Network News
National LGBT Skills Programme
10am-5pm,
Sat 17th October, Glasgow. A free one day training event aimed at helping LGBT groups and organisations to become more inclusive to disabled and minority ethnic LGBT People.
Development Worker: Scottish Transgender Alliance Transition Support Project
Three year post. Full time (35 hours a week). Starting Salary £22,513 pa. Based in Leith, Edinburgh and Central Glasgow
The Equality Network is a leading Scottish LGBT rights charity, which manages the Scottish Transgender Alliance. We are seeking a development worker to co-ordinate a programme of activities that will reduce the significant levels of social isolation and economic exclusion experienced by transgender people in Scotland. This will involve volunteer development, facilitating groups, and establishing and managing peer mentoring networks. This post is funded by the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund.
www.equality-network.org/vacancies
Changing Hearts, Opening Minds
Booking is now open for the 2009 conference, which will be held on Saturday 14th November 2009, at West Park Conference Centre, Perth Road, Dundee, 10am-4pm. This conference is organised by the Equality Network with the support of
LGBT Youth Scotland and
Stonewall Scotland. The keynote speaker is Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health and Sport.
www.equality-network.org/policy/conferences/conference2009
Volunteer opportunity
We are looking for a volunteer who will make targeted mailings to organisations and groups to publicise "Changing Hearts, Opening Minds", with follow-up phone calls, and track the registrations received. Other administrative work connected with the conference may also be required. This opportunity provides office experience and direct involvement with a notable annual event in LGBT equality. The conference is attended by individuals and by representatives from groups, statutory bodies such as the NHS and the police, local and national government, and businesses.
Volunteer Scotland listing
National LGBT Forum:
Community - Get Involved > Volunteer Opportunities > Volunteer Office Support - Equality Network Conference
Gumtree listing (till 7th October)
Forums News
Want to be art?
Ajamu X is an internationally acclaimed photographic artist and independent curator. His work has been shown in work in galleries, museums and alternative places around the world including New York, London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Senegal. He is looking for individuals, artists, activists and cultural producers who are part of the BAME LGBTI community from across Scotland, to create a new body of work as part of his artist in residence at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. No fee, but travel expenses will be covered and a selection of prints from the shoot will be given for your time. An exhibition of the images will be showcased at GOMA in November 2009. If you would like to find out more about the project, or interested in participating, e-mail ajamu@ajamux.com or Skype: ajamux. The work will be shot during october and the first week of November.
www.ajamux.com and
www.rukus.co.uk
Aberdeen: are you interested in a women's group?
A group for lesbian and bisexual women to meet up and socialise in a safe space. If so, get in touch with THT Aberdeen and ask to have your details passed on to the organisers.
THT Scotland, 246 George Street, Aberdeen AB25 1HN, Covering Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire & Moray, Tel: 0845 241 2151 7 Fax: 0845 241 2152, Email: info.aberdeen@tht.org.uk,
www.tht.org.uk
Remake of Fame puts gay character back in the closet
The 1980 film "Fame", following a cluster of students through the New York High School for the Performing Arts, included - bravely for the time - a single gay character, Montgomery MacNeil. The character was dropped for the TV series (1982-86). The remake, coming out later this year, originally had a character who was openly gay, but the scenes indicating this have been cut,
putting the character back into the closet. (
Review)
Mental Health Week: 4th-10th October 2009
The Edinburgh LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing is hosting a
Mental Health art exhibition, open whenever the centre is (usually 9-5, some days may be open later), from 5th-11th October.
www.lgbthealth.org.uk
Talk Scotland Events
A Gude Cause Maks A Strong Arm
on Saturday 10th October:
Edinburgh: 12 noon to 4pm
Dundee: 9:15-10:30am. Assemble at Seabraes on the Perth Road at 9.15am and leave for the City Square at 9.30am. There will be speakers, drumming and singing in the city square and Marilyn Glen MSP is confirmed as a speaker. Free bus leaving 10.30am for Edinburgh. Contact Christine Lowden 01382 305740 or christinelowden@number10.org for further information.
Edinburgh: Assembly will take place at Bruntsfield Links, west of Whitehouse Loan from 12 noon on Saturday 10th October. The Procession is divided into three areas, Past, Present and Future. Each assembly point will be clearly marked by balloons and signs, Purple for the Past, Gold/White for the Present, and Green for the Future.
The
Equality Network and the
Scottish Transgender Alliance will be marching in the procession in the Future section. If you'd like to join us, please e-mail Jane@equality-network.org, James@equality-network.org, or Sam@equality-network.org.
Engender will be marching in the Present section. If you'd like to join them, e-mail info@engender.org.uk.
The Rally on Calton Hill at the end of the march (2.20-4pm) will include music, singing, and speeches. Music and lyrics for some of the songs can be downloaded from the
Protest in Harmony website. There will be an open singing practice taking place at 10.30 on the morning of the Procession at James Gillespie’s High School, Lauderdale Street. If you would like to join in the practice please email Susan Moffat (susan.moffat@hotmail.co.uk). The songbook is also available from the
Peace and Justice Centre (St John’s Church Terrace, Princes Street) for £5.
Two minibuses will be available for less able participants. The minibuses will be parked and will pick up participants in the High Street between North Bridge junction and John Knox House. They will leave from this collection point at 13.50 prompt. The buses will then take a different route from the Procession and make their way up Calton Hill. They will then be parked in an appropriate space at Calton Hill and available to transport less able participants back to Regents Road and Princes Street after the Rally. Places on these buses are limited. To book a seat please email Fiona at gudecause@peaceandjustice.org.uk as soon as possible.
The
Gude Cause Toolkit is freely available for community groups, local libraries and schools. Order your free toolkit by contacting: gudecause@peaceandjustice.org.uk
www.gudecause.org.uk
Glasgow: Gude Cause at the People’s Palace
Visit the People’s Palace on 3rd October for a day of events for all ages. Take part in a suffragette rally, find out about the Glaswegian Suffragettes and younger visitors can even make their own badges and banners. The People's Palace has a permanent display about women's suffrage. People's Palace and Winter Gardens, Glasgow Green, Glasgow, G40 1AT. Tel: 0141 276 0788
www.glasgowmuseums.com
Edinburgh Trans Women Support Group
3rd October, 7.30-9.30pm. The group meets in the Hub at the Edinburgh LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing. The meetings are an opportunity to meet in a relaxed, friendly and safe environment for chat and support. We meet on the
first Saturday of the month.
Inverness: Girlzone lunch
3rd October, 1-3pm. GirlZone is a friendly, informal social group for all LGBTQ women, all ages. If you are new, just look for the blue box placed on our table (Wetherspoons, Church Street, Inverness). If you wish to meet in advance, just let us know - email girlzone@gay-ness.org.uk. This is a regular event in Inverness held on the
first Saturday of each month.
Edinburgh: Chrystal and the General
8th & 9th October at 7.30 pm, Scottish Story-telling Centre, High Street. A piece of interactive story telling about Flora Drummond and Chrsytal Macmillan. Performed by Suzanne Dance and Clunie Mackenzie; scripted by them with Jo Clifford. In memory of Sue Innes.
Edinburgh: The 1951 Refugee Convention Gender Sensitive? Myth or Reality
Monday 19th October 2009, 2pm - 4pm, CRFR Meeting Room, 23 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9LN. Part of the ongoing CRFR seminar series, led by Rebecca Wallace, Professor and Director of The Centre for Rural Childhood, Perth College UHI. "The Refugee Convention is gender neutral. Experiences of women differ from that of men. An obvious observation but one not traditionally reflected in the refugee determination processes. Such failure has been acknowledged and redressed with various mechanisms being employed to increase gender sensitivity." Attendance at this seminar is free however places are limited. Email L.marshall@ed.ac.uk to register.
Edinburgh: Love, Create, Heal: Women and Birth
10th October from 10.30am-3pm at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, High Street. Free drop-in day in association with the Pregnancy and Parents Centre, Edinburgh. This is an opportunity to remember, celebrate and commemorate stories of birth, motherhood and family in a fun, participative day for women from all communities and their families. Join in with some free creative activities to get you thinking about your own experiences of birth. Birth Stories at 10.30am, is an opportunity to hear stories of birth from around the world, and share your own experiences. Then enjoy our interactive session of Family Stories at 2pm, bringing together parents and children to explore relationships and celebrate memories.
www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk
Civil Partnership on Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland are planning a series of half hour, one to one interviews looking at how things have changed for people since some event that made a big media splash: "What happeneed next". They would like one interview to be with a couple who registered a civil partnership in 2005 or early 2006, just after the Civil Partnership Act became law, who experienced their personal story being made part of a public event. If you are interested, please contact Lindsay Gillies on 0141 422 6712 / lindsay.gillies@bbc.co.uk.
UK News
Imaan Welfare supporting LGBT Muslims seeking asylum
Imaan’s welfare service has successfully intervened to support over 20 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Kuwait, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Turkey, Uganda and Zimbabwe. With Imaan’s support these Muslim LGBT people have now completed the asylum process and have had their status positively affirmed, changing lives for the better. Yusef Gojikan, Imaan’s secretary, said: “My day-to-day work with asylum seekers means I hear first hand the shocking encounters of homophobic abuse and inhumane conditions inside Britain’s asylum detention centres. The Home office and other immigration departments fare no better. ... Imaan is lobbying the government and health service providers, as well as the criminal justice system to adopt a more humane approach to LGBT asylum seekers, with some effect. However, we are also looking for new volunteers to assist with our work.”
If you want to donate money to help support Imaan’s free welfare phoneline, or to volunteer as an asylum supporter, please email Yusef on: welfare@imaan.org.uk for further information.
www.imaan.org.uk
Manchester: Gay Christian loses job because he came out
Ian Carrington had volunteered at
Refresh FM in Manchester as a producer and radio presenter since 2003. Refresh FM is run by the Victoria Park Fellowship, an evangelical church in the city, and broadcasts for 28 days a year. Carrington said he wanted to be honest about his situation, but he was then told by members of a steering committee for the radio station that he could no longer be a presenter because being a "practising homosexual" meant he was "living in a state of active sin". The committee also told him that the Victoria Park Fellowship could face difficulties in raising funds if audiences were offended by his sexual orientation. (
Pink News)
Refresh FM Manchester: how I was stopped from presenting because I was gay
GFest - gayWise LGBT Arts Festival 2009
London, 9th-22nd November 2009.
The 2009 programme and booking information for the gayWise LGBT Arts Festival (GFest), London's LGBT cross-art festival is now available from
http://www.gaywisefestival.org.uk GFest is organised by arts charity Wise Thoughts. GFest 09 is supported by venues, community partners and the Mayor of London.
www.wisethoughts.org
International
President of the UN General Assembly declares being gay "not acceptable"
The current president of the United Nations General Assembly, Libya's Ali Abdussalam Treki, said at a press conference last week that being gay “is not acceptable in the majority of the world. And there are some countries that allow that, thinking it is a kind of democracy ... I think it is not."
ILGA issued a statement expressing their “deep worry and outrage” at Treki’s “failure to consider the protection of the life and safety of lesbians, gay men, trans, intersex and bisexual people all over the world." (
Sydney Star Observer)
Michael Cashman, Labour MEP and president of the European Parliament's Intergroup on LGBT rights, called on Treki to "think again" and added: "He is there to defend the principles of the United Nations and that includes the Universal Declaration Human Rights Act 1948 and all following amendments and covenants of rights, including LGBT human rights." (
Pink News)
Dennis Altman, director of the Institute for Human Security, LaTrobe University, writes in the
Sydney Morning Herald: "For most people, homosexual rights seems a minor issue, a distraction from bigger concerns such as global warming and world poverty. But rights are not divisible, and our commitment to them is most tested in the case of people who are marginalised and oppressed."
Jamaica: Christians worship in secret for fear of anti-gay violence
"We call it church in a box," said Rev. Robert Griffin, who travels to Jamaica once a month from Florida to hold services for Jamaica's gay community. He helped found this congregation five years ago after reading a Human Rights Watch report about institutionalized anti-gay violence in Jamaica. "We have to operate underground because of the hostility towards the gay and lesbian community here in Jamaica," said Griffin, explaining that the location of this meeting is a closely held secret and that every service is arranged through word of mouth. (
MinnPost)
LGBT Families, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation
US: Florida court rules that hospital can deny access to gay partners
Janice Langbehn sued Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami for not allowing her to see Lisa Pond, 39, her partner of 17 years. Langbehn and gay charity Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit against Jackson Memorial Hospital but this was thrown out of court this week. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled that the case should be dismissed because the hospital had no obligation to allow visitors to see patients. (
Pink News)
The Langbehn-Pond Family blog.
The Equality Network is interested in your views on marriage and civil partnership: take our latest survey here:
www.equality-network.org/marriage
The Equality Network’s website for information on all aspects of LGBT family law – including civil partnership, cohabitation, having children, breaking up – is
www.lgbtfamilies.org
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