DAVE LYNN Jason Reid interviews a living legend on page 30.

“Drag is a special kind of magic. What I love is the different types of characters that stick in your mind. [...]I’ve been very lucky to do all of this, and feel very grateful” & Pride to return in 2021! Mar 2021 Following the roadmap to end lockdown in the UK, Brighton & Hove Pride has announced its 30th anniversary Scene magazine celebrations will be going ahead on the D weekend of August 6-8, 2021. More info/tix: www.scenemag.co.uk Features https://brighton-pride.org/ T @SceneLGBTQ 14 The Princess and The Pea (For Brains) F GScene.Brighton Since 2013, Brighton & Hove Pride has Does anyone care about LGBTQ+ human rights in the UAE? raised just under £1million for LGBTQ+ I SceneMagazineUK causes in the city, funds which are 15 Being HIV positive & Sex positive distributed by the Publisher: Scene Magazine Media CIC You cannot contract HIV from an undetectable person... It’s that simple Brighton Rainbow Fund. Editorial: [email protected] Advertising: [email protected] 16 Trans Visibility Day Editorial team Rory Finn on trans visibility and the effects of transphobia Features Editor: Jaq Bayles News Editor/Design: Graham Robson 18 The Great Outdoors Arts Editor: Alex Klineberg Don't let lockdown get in the way of your mental health or physical fitness Art Director: Tom Selmon West Midlands Editor: Catherine 20 Not a Baaad Job Muxworthy Jaq Bayles catches up with volunteer urban shepherd, Stephen Wrench E [email protected] News team: Graham Robson, Eric 21 BLAGSS Page, Rachel Badham, Catherine Get up to speed with the Brighton & Hove LGBTQ+ Sports Society Muxworthy, Paul Smith E [email protected] 22 Walks & Gardens Cover: Stop and smell the roses with Scene gardening columnist, Laurie Lavender Photographer: Tom Selmon E [email protected] 24 Activity for All d www.tomselmon.com Rachel Badham rounds up inclusive sports groups in Brighton & Hove Contributors Simon Adams, Rachel Badham, 27 Healing Properties of Nature Catherine Muxworthy, Nick Boston, Richard Jeneway on using nature to improve mental and physical health Brian Butler, Billie Gold, Craig Hanlon-Smith, Laurie Lavender, Enzo 30 Dave Lynn - 45 Years in Drag Marra, Eric Page, Glenn Stevens, Netty Jason Reid gets up, close (not really) and personal with a living legend Wendt, Roger Wheeler, Chris Gull, News Jon Taylor, Alex Klineberg, Michael 34 Brighton & Hove Pride 4 News Steinhage, Jon Taylor, Jason Reid, Organisers answer some questions about the future of the LGBTQ+ event Rory Finn, Richard Jeneway 72 Scene in 36 Sussex Nightstop Photographers Get familiar with Alison Marino, executive director of the homelessness charity Arts Jack Lynn, Chris Jepson, Simon Pepper, Nick Ford, Tom Selmon 37 The Boy & The Bear 51 Page’s Pages A new film from Seaford-based performer and writer, Rose Collis 54 Art Matters 38 Maisie Trollette – Doyenne of Drag 54 All That Jazz Lee Cooper tell us about his new film on the octogenarian drag queen 55 Classical Notes 40 Jewel of the South Downs 56 At Home with Hootman Alex Klineberg gives a tour of Charleston, the Bloomsbury Set’s country retreat © Scene 2021 Regulars All work appearing in Scene CIC is copyright. 42 Football v Transphobia 43 Around the World It is to be assumed that the copyright for Natalie Washington updates us on what's planned for this year's campaign material rests with the magazine unless 57 The Real Life Coach otherwise stated on the page concerned. 44 Hope & The Glory No part of this publication may be 58 Roger’s Ruminations reproduced, stored in an electronic or other Colin Rothbart, co-founder of the London hotspot, on the trials and retrieval system, transmitted in any form tribulations of running a bar during a pandemic 58 Twisted Gilded Ghetto or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without 59 Craig’s Thoughts the prior knowledge and consent of the 45 #BeMoreJill publishers. Jill Nalder, inspiration behind a character from It’s A Sin, talks to Brian Butler 60 Stuff & Things

The appearance of any person or any 60 Golden Hour organisation in Scene is not to be construed 46 We Found Love In the ’80s as an implication of the sexual orientation New project celebrating those who found love in the era of social division 61 Rae’s Reflections or political persuasion of such persons or organisations. 48 Skin: It Takes Blood & Guts 62 Streets of Brighton MAISIE TROLLETTE FILM - PAGE 38 The LGBTQ+ lead singer of rock band Skunk Anansie launches her new book 66 Turn Back the Pages with a virtual event hosted by Southbank Centre this month 68 Netty’s World 49 Stories 68 Homely Homily Alex Klineberg catches up with Emma Goswell, whose new book aims to help people come to terms with their sexuality and/or gender identity 69 More to Me than HIV 50 Jane Traies Free to Be Me Information A selection of lesbian life stories by women who have been part of the 69 Classifieds Lesbian Immigration Support Group in Manchester 70 Services Directory 50 Covert magazine 71 Advertisers’ Map Writing Our Legacy and New Writing South produce a showcase of black, Asian and ethnically diverse writers and artists 52 Music to Watch the Year Go By Alex Klineberg on the albums you should look out for in 2021 4

TRANSforming Futures partnership launches results of two reports The research details trans people’s experiences of problems in both healthcare and criminal justice settings

) TRANSforming Futures, a five-year project and survival workshops, and creating resource packs longer, and many struggling with mental health which is a partnership between Be:North, CliniQ, for incarcerated trans people. breakdowns during the long wait. Galop, Gendered Intelligence, GIRES, LGBT “I’ve not had the best experience. I was • Trans people of colour reported avoiding Consortium, , Sparkle and verbally abused and almost attacked so I called healthcare far more often than the white trans people Trans Advisory Group, launched findings from the police, but I believe they only saw me and they know. two reports last month which aim to create lasting my colour and they wouldn’t do anything to the change for trans communities in the healthcare and • Participants reported often facing invasive and person who was bothering me, but I stood my criminal justice systems. inappropriate questions, physical exams being ground and said that isn’t right, it’s hate crime conducted outside of standard procedure, and being Funded and supported by the National Lottery but they didn’t care and ended up arresting repeatedly misgendered. Community Fund, and drawing on a survey, me. [...] I’m almost always racially profiled community workshops and contributions from and now that I’m trans it’s even worse.” – • Participants highlighted how difficult they found it health, criminal justice and community experts, Participant, Trans People of Colour Workshop to access information about trans healthcare, getting the research details trans people’s experiences of most of their information online from trans forums or • People were uncertain about whether their problems in both healthcare and criminal justice informally from friends. experiences amounted to hate crimes, and whether settings. They highlight participants’ proposed trans people – and non-binary people specifically – “To get healthcare, someone has to see you solutions to some of these problems. were protected by the law from hate crime. as a whole being, if you’re white, cis, straight, Key Findings from the Criminal Justice male, it’s easier to see that someone as a • Trans people experiencing homelessness and System report: whole. When you’re anything that deviates black trans people and trans people of colour from that category, they start nit-picking at • Trans people reported not knowing their rights, (TPoC) stated they are more likely to be treated as everything. You can’t be autistic and trans. You and experiences of discrimination when reporting a suspect/criminal. Ideas to address this included: can’t be queer and have mental illness. These violence or abuse. Ideas for solutions to this training trans people as advocates, decriminalising things are pitted against each other. They can’t problem included: Trans community skill-sharing sex work, and creating TPoC services. see the complete person.” – Participant, TPoC • Participants highlighted fear and distrust of the Workshop. police as a key failure of justice systems and saw TRANSforming Futures aims to fund and create prison as particularly harmful and dangerous to projects designed by the trans community, trans people. Their ideas to combat this included: for the trans community. A similar community creating community based non-carceral processes consultation will be conducted with under 18s on for accountability and justice. their experiences of healthcare, state agencies, and Key findings from the Healthcare report: violence. “I’ve been out as trans for 10 years and it’s The partnership encourages community a rarity to feel like I’m being taken seriously organisations to use the ideas recorded and shared by the police when I’ve reported hate crime. in the criminal justice and healthcare reports as a I’ve pretty much given up now.” – Participant, starting point in discussions about forming their own Criminal Justice Workshop projects that are for trans communities, by trans communities. • Many participants identified experiences with gender clinics as one of the hardest parts of their D To learn more & to download the reports in full: transition, mainly because of long wait times and www.transformingfuturespartnership.co.uk difficult experiences with clinic staff. Problems D For more info on Stonewall Trans Advisory included a lack of communication while waiting, Group: administrative errors leading to people waiting www.stonewall.org.uk/trans-advisory-group 14 5 14

Care Quality Commission BLAGSS runners stay on track up this challenge. Participants can see approval for Kingsway Care how far everybody has got on the map of Iceland and Tommy asserts that this is something that definitely spurs him on and he claims that he has done more running on this initiative than when he was training. There are also environmental benefits; every 20% of ) Two BLAGSS running convenors, the route a runner completes guarantees Tommy Martinsson and Roy Haines, a donation from the organisers to cover have embraced lockdown restrictions by the planting of a tree in one of the Eden turning them into a positive opportunity Project’s reforestation programmes. to enhance their fitness and endurance. Both have signed up with Conqueror Tommy said: “I’d highly recommend Events for the Virtual Icelandic this challenge or similar initiatives. It’s Challenge which involves logging got me out of the house a lot more their running distances across Sussex than I would have otherwise during the ) LGBTQ+ inclusive Kingsway Care has been approved by the Care Quality within a system which also automatically lockdown. It’s easy to get demotivated Commission, meaning that it is regulated for personal care (dementia, live in, moves them along their virtual challenge and once your exercise regime respite, emergency, palliative), which is at the core of its service. course; a circular 1,332.5km route of decreases you end up in a negative Olly Carter, managing director, said: “We continue to Iceland’s entire coastline! This challenge spiral where your motivation gets even offer, as we have done for the last six months, a broad tests their endurance and speed and lower. Considering how mental health range of other support services - housework, gardening, both runners are well on target to beat has decreased, I’d say anything that gets pet care, health & beauty, transport, shopping & meals, the average completion time of 357 us out of the house is worth it. It also home technology, home safety - and companionship.” days. gives you something to talk about with the people in your virtual community.” The organisation also buddied up with AgeUK for the Using the Conqueror app, Tommy and Roy have created a small community of D For more info on BLAGSS, visit: OLLY CARTER winter and has been helping it with emergency support packages, such as support after hospital discharges. old and new friends who have taken www.bhssrfc.com/ Kingsway Care’s other big news is that it has gone live with its website www.kingswaycare.com where you will find an LGBTQ+ community page. It has also started to offer some online events, such as weekly quizzes and music shows through its Facebook page: www.facebook.com/kingswaycaresussex, and YouTube channel: https://tinyurl.com/ouqhd4yo. The quizzes are run by Dave Taggart who has been touring with Belinda Carlisle as her guitarist for some 20 years. May is being slated as the month the organisation will move into 22 Victoria Terrace, Hove, with a community space and café. Kingsway Coffee Club will be run by Scott Burey aka Drag With No Name and his manager/partner, Darren, with community events and

DARREN (L) & SCOTT (R) activities planned (for normal times). D www.kingswaycare.com y https://tinyurl.com/ouqhd4yo f www.facebook.com/kingswaycaresussex Clare Project announces new booklets ) The Clare Project, the trans support and social group, has announced a new series of information booklets, written by and for the trans, non-binary and intersex (TNBI) community. Designed and written by Luka White, a training and development worker employed by the Clare Project, the newest booklet in the series offers tips and advice for family and friends of TNBI adults. The next topics will be Being TNBI and Neurodivergent and Intersex Community Needs. Further booklet topics are yet to be decided but may include topics such as Body Image, Social Transition and Dealing with Discrimination. e If you would like to be a part of the consultation group for future booklets, email [email protected] to express your interest. D To download the booklets, visit: www.clareproject.org.uk/resources 6

Brighton & Hove bids to lead national New hate crime helpline effort in ending new cases of HIV risen considerably over the past two years. A 2020 report found hate crimes Ian Green, CEO of HIV/sexual health charity Terrence Higgins against LGB people rose by 19% over Trust (THT), welcomes the city’s bid to pioneer the system-wide the last 12 months, and those against opt-out testing called for by the HIV Commission. trans people increased by 16%. Leni Morris, CEO of Galop, said: “Because lockdown makes households ) Galop, the LGBTQ+ anti-violence more easily identifiable in public, charity, has launched a national same-sex couples were subject to helpline to provide advice and support abuse when they were seen together. to LGBTQ+ people who have been We saw situations with transphobic and affected by anti-LGBTQ+ harassment homophobic neighbours escalate. and violence. “[After] seeing what was happening pic cap According to Galop, LGBTQ+ people to our community, [it was clear] we may feel discouraged from seeking needed to offer a safe space for support support after experiencing a hate crime and advice to those who need it.” due to concerns about homophobia and transphobia in service provision, The fully confidential helpline, which is ) Increasing HIV testing is the key recommendation of the HIV Commission, launched or fearing that non-LGBTQ+ led run by and for LGBTQ+ people, is open last December. As we look towards ending new cases of HIV within the decade, we services will not fully understand the Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm. Call 020 need to learn from what is working on the ground, in particular testing initiatives. issues they face. 7704 2040 or email HateCrime@ galop.org.uk. The HIV Action Plan that the government is currently working on must embed local Statistics from the Home Office success stories and provide support to scale them country wide. We need to shine a showed anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes have D www.galop.org.uk light on the great local leadership that’s happening in town halls and ensure councils have all the tools they need to play their part to end the HIV epidemic. Play the Mega March Hospice Quiz The leadership of Brighton & Hove City Council and local MPs used last month’s National HIV Testing Week to put forward the city as a place eager to implement the and support The Sussex Beacon routine, opt-out testing the HIV Commission was calling for. of fun, and it’s a fine way to raise much- needed funds for hospice care providers The letter from the city’s political leadership to Health in Sussex. Secretary Matt Hancock says: “With some of the new funds that we are sure [the Department for Health and The Sussex Beacon said: “Love a Quiz? Social Care] will make available, Brighton & Hove would We are delighted to be part of the like to put itself forward as an early implementer for the Mega March Hospice Quiz organised national aspiration of normalising HIV testing across health by Friends of Sussex Hospices. Get services – we are eager to get this underway and would be a team together virtually, enjoy on your own or with family, download the quiz, IAN GREEN honoured to be the first to make it happen.” ) While this year’s Mega March select the Sussex Beacon to make a This is really welcome. The city has been a shining example of embracing new Hospice Quiz can’t take place in the donation and get quizzing!” technologies, such as installing HIV tests vending machines, which have helped find usual way, quizzes will take place people living with HIV who otherwise did not know their status. online instead and you can support the Quizzes take place on Monday: March vital services of the Sussex Beacon 1, March 8, March 15 and March 22. Signed by Phelim Mac Cafferty, Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, Caroline while playing. Lucas MP, Lloyd Russell Moyle MP and Peter Kyle MP, the letter highlights that D For more info and to register, visit: http://scene.pub/39W2Iln the city has “some of the best online testing services in the country”. There will be one timed quiz each week in March – with 20 minutes to D The only way to make routine, opt-out HIV testing happen is new guidance and new For more info on the Sussex Beacon: answer 21 questions! It should be lots funds. This is vital if we’re going to find the 5,900 people in England who remain www.sussexbeacon.org.uk undiagnosed. MindOut announces new peer support Brighton & Hove has the second highest rates of new cases of HIV each year outside of groups, where you can share your London and is home to a range of fantastic local organisations, including The Sussex experiences, talk about how you manage Beacon, Martin Fisher Foundation and Lunch Positive, as well as our own and find out what helps others. colleagues who provide services across the city. Peer Support groups include: Open A key recommendation from the HIV Commission is for councils to develop individual Wellbeing-Themed Peer Support action plans to reduce new cases of HIV by 2030 and achieve a 80% reduction by Group; Out of the Blue for those with 2025. This will involve engagement with people living with HIV, the local voluntary experience of suicidal distress; LGBTQ+ sector, practitioners, commissioners and local leaders. Only together will ambition mixed group; Women’s Group; Work meet action. It Out for those juggling mental health The fact Brighton & Hove is ready to go is a great sign and we hope the government and work. ) LGBTQ+ mental health charity will take advantage of their kind offer. D For more info, visit: www.mindout. MindOut’s Peer Support groups on org.uk/new-peer-support-groups-are- D To read the letter in full, visit: https://scene.pub/3cOiAZc Zoom are now open to new members. D For more info on THT, visit: www.tht.org.uk open-for-new-members/ MindOut offers friendly, supportive 14 7 14

Lunch Positive and Together Co Vaccination champions needed launch befriending scheme for people living with HIV in Brighton & Hove

) HIV charity Lunch Positive and Brighton loneliness charity Together Co have announced their new partnership to launch a befriending scheme for people over 50 who are living with HIV in Brighton & Hove. The scheme will match people living with HIV with like-minded volunteers, to develop supportive friendships that will help combat feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Despite vast medical advancements in treatments for HIV, living with HIV as a long-term medical condition can still be challenging, and is sometimes lonely and isolating. As people live healthier and longer lives, the number of people ageing with HIV has also increased. In the UK, over half of all people with HIV are now approaching or aged 50 years and more. Safe and supportive friendships, together with the highest regard for confidentiality, underpin the scheme, and staff will be looking to match people based on the needs and interests of the members. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, conversations will initially be phone based, rather than in person, until government advice changes. When circumstances allow, people can meet face- ENABLING to-face and further develop friendships. INDEPENDENT Gary Pargeter, service manager at Lunch Positive, said: “We know from LIVING AT experience that supportive and enjoyable friendships can change lives. We also know that finding and establishing friendship is not always easy, and the impact of HOME Covid-19 has become another challenge.

“Social connections and friendships can make such a OUR SERVICES: meaningful difference to everyone involved and we’re dedicated to supporting this in the HIV community. Please do Home Care get in touch if you would like to take part in this scheme, and Home Services

GARY PARGETER please help spread the word to others.” Companionship If you are looking for a befriender, the scheme is open to anyone living with HIV who is also aged over 50 and based in Brighton & Hove. To join the Together Co as a volunteer befriender, visit www.togetherco.org. uk/volunteer and mention the Lunch Positive scheme in your application. Volunteering is open to anyone, regardless of HIV status or age. ) To find out more or register, visit www.lunchpositive.org/befriending, email [email protected], or tel 07846 464384. CONTACT US TODAY FOR A FREE HOME CONSULTATION 01273 077444 WWW.KINGSWAYCARE.COM 8 14

First exhibition at Ledward Centre Rainbow Hub seeks new trustee

) The Rainbow Hub, the point hubmanager@ of contact for LGBTQ+ info, advice therainbowhubbrighton.com, phone and support in the heart of Brighton’s 07821 898486 or write to The LGBTQ+ village in St James’s Street, Manager, The Rainbow Hub, 93 St ) The Ledward Centre’s (TLC) first major event is an exhibition by Brighton is looking for a new trustee, which is James’s Street, Brighton, BN2 1TP. & Hove’s Socially Engaged Art Salon (SEAS) offering “evocative” images that an opportunity for those who can bring encapsulate significant moments and spaces for the LGBTQ+ community in the UK Deadline for applications is Monday, strategic decision making and gain and abroad. March 15; interviews on Monday, experience while bringing new ideas and March 22. Launched to coincide with LGBTQ+ History Month and running until March 15, a fresh perspective to ways the hub can Queering Spaces tells these stories through film, photography, installations and continue to serve and support LGBTQ+ The Rainbow Hub welcomes “socially engaged practices that amplify often unheard voices” – and it’s available communities. applications from the trans, non-binary, now to view online at www.SEASBrighton.org as well as through the LGBTQ+ intersex and non-variant community. It The board currently consists of four hub’s windows on Jubilee Street, Brighton. recognises that those from black trans trustees and as they embark on moving communities and non-black people of Duncan Lustig-Prean, TLC director, said: “We’re thrilled to host the Queering forward into a post-Covid future, one colour are under-represented in its team. Spaces exhibition at TLC. It’s a wonderful collection of with real challenges for LGBTQ+ People with disabilities are also under- artworks and the focus is very fitting, given that we are communities, The Rainbow Hub wishes represented. Therefore The Rainbow Hub working to create an LGBTQ+ space for the community in to expand and diversify the board. actively encourages applications from Brighton & Hove. To apply or for more info: email these under-represented groups.

DUNCAN LUSTIG-PREAN “The arts have a long history of highlighting injustice and the need for social change. Our collaboration with SEAS is really thrilling, driving New resource addresses mental forward our ambition to promote the astounding contribution LGBTQ+ arts and culture make to our city and beyond.” health for LGBTQ+ people of colour Among the renowned and emerging artists from the local area and around the health issues; signposting LGBTQ+ world featured in the exhibition are Anthony Luvera, Cathy Cade, Hussina Raja, people of colour to culturally safe health Luc(e) Raesmith, Nate Lavey & Stephen Vider, Shannon Novak, Tara Brag, services; empowering individuals within Charlotte Grahamspouge, Queer History Now collective and Gil Mualem- our communities to become more Doron, who is also the exhibition’s curator.

CAPE TOWN PRIDE BALL 2020 BY GIL MUALEM DORON informed decision makers.” To download the resource, visit: www.blackbeetlehealth.co.uk/ mental-health ) Black Beetle announced last month it was successful in applying for a National Lottery: Lived Experience Grant, and will receive a sum of £50,000+ over a two-year period. This grant will help Black Beetle continue ) Black Beetle, a public health its work and give up-and-coming leaders ANTHONY LUVERA COLLABORATIVE. PORTRAIT OF J BAYLISS education community organisation with diverse backgrounds the opportunity “Throughout history, LGBTQ+ people have transformed places that were not created dedicated to promoting health, wellbeing to implement peer-led, community for us into spaces where we can be who we are,” says Mualem-Doron. “Often, it’s and equality for LGBTQ+ communities driven programmes, which will address been those most marginalised - the queers, the outcasts - who have led the way. of colour, has published a new resource misinformation, educate and empower This exhibition is dedicated to them.” addressing mental health for LGBTQ+ queer people of colour across the UK. Scheduled to open its doors in early people of colour. D www.blackbeetlehealth.co.uk summer 2021, TLC will be a community Black Beetle said: “We are pleased to and cultural hub, complete with café, present to you our new evidence-based, radio station, cinema, bookshop and peer-reviewed mental health brochure. much more. “The second in a series of our QTIPoC A range of events are planned over Health Brochures, we hope this guide the coming months and the team can be used a starter tool for LGBTQ+ has recently launched Facebook and and non-binary people of colour who Instagram pages, helping you to stay up have long felt unable to take the first to date with developments. steps to improving their mental health D For more info on TLC, visit: by: addressing health misinformation;

PHOTO OF TAREQ BY HUSSINA RAJA www.ledcen.org.uk educating our communities on pertinent 9

Vaccine now easier to access for Census 2021 to include LGBTQ+ those with HIV in England & Wales for the first time access the vaccine after people aged 65 and over and alongside those with a number of other conditions. In some areas this has already begun. This action follows the issue being raised with THT by people living with HIV. It was then put to Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi MP, by Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth MP and Stephen Doughty MP, Chair of the APPG on HIV ) Brighton & Hove LGBTQ+ Switchboard is working in partnership with the and AIDS. Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Good Things Foundation to support ) Following a campaign by HIV/sexual LGBTQ+ people in completing the 2021 census, which takes place on March 21 health charity Terrence Higgins Trust Ian Green, chief executive of THT, said: with results available in 2022. “This is great news and (THT), the government has announced Run by ONS, the census is the once-in-a-decade survey that gives the most accurate new Covid-19 vaccine rules that will the right decision from the NHS as it means estimate of all people and households in England and Wales. It has been carried out enable people living with HIV in England every decade since 1801, except for 1941. to access the vaccine in phase six of people living with HIV the roll out as planned – without having IAN GREEN will be able to take Following discussions, testing and research with the public, charities and government to share their HIV status with their up the potentially life-saving Covid-19 bodies, the census will ask two new questions relevant to LGBTQ+ communities doctor. This decision, which follows vaccine at their earliest opportunity – on gender identity and sexual orientation. As with all census questions, no personal the same announcement by the Welsh even if they feel unable to share their HIV information is shared, data is anonymised before aggregated statistics are used to government, is in recognition of the status with this doctor. We are working shape policies and services. towards a society where everyone living stigma many people living with HIV still The voluntary questions will be asked of those aged 16 years+; no-one will be forced with HIV feels comfortable sharing their face – including within healthcare – and to answer. People can also request an individual census questionnaire and give their status with their doctor and other health means this group will now be able to answers separately to their current household if they wish to. access the vaccine by contacting their HIV professionals, but we’re not there yet and clinic directly. we welcome this fast, pragmatic action.” Iain Bell, deputy national statistician at the ONS, said: “While there are estimates of sexual orientation at a national and regional level, it’s not D For more info on THT, visit: In accordance with the government’s possible to produce robust estimates for all local authorities – www.tht.org.uk timetable, HIV+ people are able to that’s what census data will give. “There is no robust data available on gender identity at all. It is LGBTQ+ youth in ‘mental health crisis’ needed by local authorities and service providers to inform the provision of services. Sexual orientation and gender identity secondary school pupils about their

IAIN BELL questions will be voluntary for people aged 16 and over. mental wellbeing, found that 55% of young LGBTQ+ people are regularly “Without robust data on the size of the LGBTQ+ population at a national and local concerned about their mental health; level, decision-makers are operating in a vacuum, unaware of the extent and nature 77% had worse mental health since of disadvantage which LGBTQ+ people may be experiencing in terms of health, the pandemic began; 52% experienced educational outcomes, employment and housing.” ) New research from LGBTQ+ charity loneliness during lockdown, compared ONS stresses it will never share personal details, and no-one, including government Just Like Us has found young LGBTQ+ to 27% of non-LGBTQ+ students; 25% bodies, will be able to identify individuals in census data. Personal census records will people are increasingly struggling with said they had been experiencing daily be kept secure for 100 years and only then can future generations view them. their mental health during the pandemic, tension in their home, compared to 15% with them being twice as likely to worry of straight, cisgender youth. The census will be run mostly online, with households receiving a letter with a unique about their mental wellbeing on a daily access code in March, allowing them to complete the questionnaire on computers, D To see the results in full, visit: www. basis compared to non-LGBTQ+ peers. tablets, phones or laptops. justlikeus.org/single-post/lgbt-young- The charity, which interviewed 2,934 people-mental-health-coronavirus Switchboard is on hand to help you apply for an individual code, get a paper copy, help you understand the questions, help those with literacy or IT needs and more. Advisors have been trained by the ONS and can fill in the answers on behalf of the respondent. Jacob Bayliss, CEO of Switchboard, said: “It’s part of history and proves LGBTQ+ people are around. Communities weren’t counted in the past. The Census is making sure we are counted and are seen. It informs government spending, how charities are funded, or how health services are designed for the future, how population needs to be catered for. This data will be extremely Unisex helpful for LGBTQ+ charities too.

JACOB BAYLISS “I can understand people might be resistant to filling it in. I Hairsalon trust the ONS to keep the data safe. There are a lot of safeguards in place.” To access support, contact Switchboard on 01273 234009. While we are still in lockdown, appointments will be over the phone or online. 18 St Georges Road, Kemptown, Brighton BN2 1EB D For more info, visit: www.census.gov.uk 01273 623 408 D For more info on Switchboard, visit: www..org.uk 10

Ophelia Payne’s Big Night In raises £1,900 for MindOut

SheSays Brighton announces ) Ophelia Payne’s BIG NIGHT IN Ophelia Payne added: “We did it! I International Women’s Day event raised £1,900 for LGBTQ+ mental want to say a huge thank you to all ) SheSays Brighton has announced an evening of free online talks and health charity MindOut last month. my wonderful performers - Misty networking for International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8 from Van Cartier, Sperm Donna, Sweet 6.30pm with three speakers, including Michelle Steele from Trans Pride MindOut said: “Thank you so much to Boy, Richard Energy and Jess Brighton, talking about their extraordinary journeys in the digital world. everyone who attended and donated, Robinson. You made it such a special and a huge thanks to Ophelia Payne night. Also, thank you to everyone who for hosting. We had such a laugh bought tickets and donated. MindOut taking part in bingo and hat-making, is a fantastic mental health charity and watching all of our fabulous supporting the LGBTQ+ community.” performers. We raised an amazing £1,900 thanks to Lloyds Bank D For more info on MindOut, visit: Rainbow Network which match- www.mindout.org.uk/ funded the ticket sales.” Dysphoria is a Drag online fundraising event on Saturday, March 6 at 8pm MICHELLE STEELE RACHEL MCCONNELL JOHANA RIQUIER Michelle Steele is a lead software engineer with 25 years of experience, currently at Brighton tech company Avalara. She coaches at Codebar, is a STEM Ambassador and is the head of volunteer coordinating at Trans Pride Brighton. Michelle is also the drummer in indie band Slum of Legs. Rachel McConnell is a content designer, strategist and consultant who’s also used to building and leading content teams. She’s worked with brands such as Deliveroo, M&S, John Lewis, Nationwide and Virgin Holidays to determine strategy and design content, and also trains UX professionals in UX writing. She’s currently content strategist at BT, and was the content strategy lead for Clearleft, a design agency based in Brighton. Rachel is also the author of Why You Need A Content Team. Johana Riquier, business strategist at Unity, is a prominent advocate for the widespread use of Unity Technologies, promoting minorities in the gaming space and works to bring awareness of the African and Middle Eastern gaming ) Join Corn Roberts and a star- Sparklypants, Scarlett Fever, industry. studded cast of drag-tastic talent for Prince of Persia, Rococo Chanel, Rifa Thorpe-Tracey, SheSays Brighton organiser DYSPHORIA IS A DRAG – a one-off Prinx Silver, Lydia L’Scabies, Tayris and host, said: “Now more than ever, we want to be online cabaret event, raising funds for the Mongardi and Twinkerbell. host’s gender-affirming healthcare fund inspired by women thriving in the digital sector. I’m so D on Saturday, March 6 from 8pm. For tickets (£4) visit: http://bit.ly/ excited to hear from this line-up of speakers - expect dysphoria-drag a few surprises! This event might not be the same as With fabulous performances from: D meeting in person, but I’ll do my very best to recreate Alfie Ordinary, Alik, Alistair, Chub To make an extra donation or to read the SheSays vibe. I can’t wait to reconnect with this Rub, Crusty, Daphne, Dick Day, Corn’s story, visit: www.gofundme. amazing community of bad-ass Brighton women to The Elizabeth E Crawford, Fran com/corns-top-surgery

RIFA THORPE-TRACEY celebrate International Women’s Day!” SheSays Brighton is part of global group supporting women in digital through Allsorts Youth Project service update networking and events with inspiring speakers. This free event is part of Spring ) For LGBTQ+ and unsure children Forward Festival, which encourages women to take a greater role in digital by & young people aged 5-25, Allsorts creating a platform that promotes digital community events organised by women Youth Project is still here for you, for women, and is open to all backgrounds, ages and genders. offering Youth Groups, One-to-One Support and Advocacy online. D To register, visit: https://shesaysbtn-march-2021.eventbrite.co.uk D For more info on SheSays Brighton, visit: www.weareshesays.com/ D Visit www.allsortsyouth.org.uk, or chapters/shesays-brighton/ e [email protected] 11

Community asked to March for Martlets Martlets is asking people in the community to connect with hospice care and get moving during the month of March with its fundraising activity, March for Martlets

) Martlets is encouraging everyone – young and advice and support to patients, families, carers and walking alongside them. Signing up to March for old – to take a step in the right direction to raise money other professionals 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Martlets to raise a donation, no matter how large or for their local hospice. Martlets has kept caring day and During April to September 2020, Martlets’ phone hub small, will help Martlets to keep caring. night for over 2,200 patients with life-limiting illnesses handled 7,456 calls from community patients and their Imelda Glackin, Martlets chief executive, said: and supporting their loved ones across the community families, and 7,891 from healthcare professionals. In “We’re looking to the future and doing everything during the Covid-19 pandemic. many cases, crisis callers were only one call away from we can to hold strong through the ringing 999. March for Martlets will be the charity’s first event pandemic. We’re doing our best to of 2021 and, due to Covid restrictions, people are “Martlets has kept caring day and night for over provide the best care for patients encouraged to sign up and pledge to raise sponsorship 2,200 patients with life-limiting illnesses and and their families and avoid hospital for their own personal walking, running or marching supporting their loved ones across the community IMELDA GLACKIN admissions. However, working target. Martlets cares for local people across an area during the Covid-19 pandemic” through Covid has felt relentless and support from of 34 square miles of Sussex, taking in Brighton & our community at this time would mean so much to Martlets supports people living with a terminal illness Hove, from in the west to Newhaven in the everyone as we need to make sure we can keep on across the city and beyond. These people need pain east. The charity is hoping people will be inspired by doing what we do as we move forward that distance, so whether it’s a 3.4km walk per day, management, symptom relief, emotional support and 34 times up and down the stairs every morning, or 34 mobility care. Due to the impact of Covid-19 and social “As a charity in the heart of our community, I’m so miles in total, everyone can make a difference – sign distancing measures, many people with a terminal proud of the commitment our team has shown and up at www.martlets.org.uk/take-part illness are having to cope with long periods of isolation. how we’ve kept connecting with patients and their They may also have decided not to go to hospital for families. We really hope our community will connect Over the past 12 months, Martlets’ charity shops have treatment or visit their GP as often. This means the team with us and March for Martlets.” had to close during lockdown and all fundraising events at Martlets is working harder than ever to reach and D For more info and to sign up, visit: have been cancelled, while the need for hospice care support many more people with complex needs. and support is greater than ever. www.martlets.org.uk/take-part Martlets is hoping that it can encourage people to e To send photos of you marching for Martlets, Since the beginning of the pandemic, Martlets has seen remember its hard-working doctors, nurses and wider email: [email protected] a 25% rise in calls to its phone hub, which offers expert healthcare teams, and show their support by virtually 12

Get Involved: Trans Pride Scotland Brighton Pavilion Estate receives announces series of virtual events £1million from National Lottery Phase One of the project to refurbish Brighton Dome’s Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre. The project is a long-term collaboration between Brighton & Hove City Council, Brighton Dome & and the Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust. Andrew Comben, chief executive of ) The National Lottery Heritage Brighton Dome & Fund (NLHF) has awarded the city’s Brighton Festival, Royal Pavilion Estate regeneration said: “Brighton Dome

an additional £1 million from its ANDREW COMBEN has been part of the Heritage Capital Kickstart Fund, city’s history for over 200 years and which will be added to the £4.823 we want to protect its legacy for future million grant allocated by the NLHF generations to enjoy and for artists to for the project in 2016 and £458,920 continue to perform here. from Arts Council England’s Cultural “The refurbishment of these heritage ) Trans Pride Scotland, a movement aimed at bringing together the trans Capital Kickstart Fund awarded in buildings has been incredibly complex population in one place as a show of strength, solidarity and mutual support, has December 2020. announced a series of virtual events to coincide with Week of and this welcome support from the Visibility from Sunday, March 28 till Saturday, April 3. The financial support, which is part of NLHF has come at a crucial point, the Department for Digital, Culture, as we begin 2021 with a renewed On Sunday, March 28 and Saturday, April 3, Trans Pride Scotland wants to showcase Media & Sport’s Culture Recovery determination to bring the arts to our 12 artists in the trans community for its opening and closing celebrations. If Fund package, will be used to continue audiences and communities.” you are a poet, singer, musician, actor, dancer, etc get in touch via http://bit.ly/ performTPS21. Warwickshire Pride sets up food Throughout the week from Monday, March 29 to Thursday, April 1, Trans Pride Scotland also wants to host some community workshops, either in the afternoon parcel scheme or the evening. Deadline for applications is Monday, March 8. If you would like call out for those in need, LGBTQ+ conduct a workshop, get in touch via http://bit.ly/workshopTPS21. people felt “safer reaching out”, adding: “The people who received Trans Pride Scotland is offering compensation funding for performers and those them were just really grateful... It running workshops. There is also a small fund available to cover essential technical was quite heartbreaking to hear the needs (e.g. data costs or a webcam) struggles people were facing, it made For more information, send Trans Pride Scotland a message on Twitter a massive difference.” FOOD PARCELS DANIEL OUT DELIVERING @TransPrideScot, email [email protected], or use the contact form at http://transpride.scot. Collyer's LGBTQIA+ Society raising ) Daniel Browne, chair of funds for Switchboard Warwickshire Pride, has set up an ) Members of Collyer’s LGBTQIA+ emergency food parcel scheme to Society have challenged themselves help LGBTQ+ locals who are in need to walk 10k in the Easter holidays (date of essential goods, such as food and A local Morrisons store set up a subject to change due to Covid-19) to household items. collaboration with Warwickshire raise money for Brighton & Hove LGBT Pride last month, which will see According to Coventry Live, the Switchboard. staff donate toiletries and food to the scheme started out as a Christmas LGBTQ+ organisation. The society says: “We are all passionate initiative, but Daniel realised many about raising money for a charity that helps LGBTQ+ people were still in need. Browne praised those who run so many people. Anything you can donate, The project has now helped 20 emergency food schemes, tweeting: no matter how small, is greatly appreciated families in the Warwickshire area, with “It’s heartbreaking that food banks and will go to a great charity.” plans to continue into the future. need to exist, but how wonderful that people run them, donate to them, and D To donate, visit: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/ Daniel said there is a need for the ensure that people who are struggling CollyersLGBTQIAsociety scheme, as many struggling LGBTQ+ get support.” i For more info on Collyer’s LGBTQIA+ Society, check out their Insta: people may not want to attend local D For more info on Warwickshire collyers.lgbtqia.society food banks or social supermarkets for “fear of being judged” for their Pride, visit: D For more info on Brighton & Hove LGBT Switchboard, visit: sexuality or gender identity. He said www.warwickshirepride.co.uk www.switchboard.org.uk that because Warwickshire Pride put a f @warwickshirepride 13

Allsorts releases new podcast Project to utilise Brighton city wanted to do it the ‘old way’. We were very firm and said it’s about centre’s empty stores is underway inclusion. My sexual orientation was a way to make a stand and do it a different way.” This engaging interview is followed by a series of moving ) Allsorts of Thoughts is a Q&As with Allsorts Young series of podcasts made by and for People. LGBT+ Youth Support LGBTQ+ young people, released by Worker, Jo, who has supported Sussex-based charity, Allsorts Youth the young people in creating Project, which listens to, supports Allsorts of Thoughts since its and connects children and young launch in 2019, asks the young ) Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC) and Brilliant Brighton, a not-for-profit people (5-25) who are LGBTQ+ or people if they feel part of any organisation formed of 517 retail, leisure and hospitality businesses within the city exploring their gender identity and/or communities, and how those centre, have teamed up to make use of vacant premises within Brighton city centre. sexual orientation. communities have been affected by Covid-19 lockdown. The temporary project aims to utilise empty properties by offering short-term pop-up The latest episode, Allsorts of shop opportunities to those looking to host their own store, restaurant, cafe or deli, Community, reflects on what it One young person says: “I’ve but don’t want a long-term commitment. means to be part of a community. It been going to Allsorts for two begins with an insightful interview or three years. I feel like I am The project hopes to also engage local artists to dress windows and create eye- with Allsorts training & education understood, that I am being catching window displays in empty properties – not only to improve the appearance manager Ben, who talks passionately treated equally. I have made of unused units, but to also ‘Brighton’ up the city, and showcase the city’s thriving about his work at Allsorts and his role some amazing friends. It’s a very creative scene. Commissions of £500 will be granted for up to five artists to create art as co-founder of the Brighton Kop, strong community and I like it.” displays in five empty properties across the city centre. the official Liverpool FC supporters’ Shelley Welti, media officer for Brilliant Brighton, said: “While club for Brighton and Sussex. Another comments: “I feel like the support elements of Brighton’s vacancy rate is less than the national average, we are community have been heightened noticing vacant premises’ numbers throughout the city centre during lockdown. A lot more slowly increasing. We’re pleased to have partnered with BHCC people in our communities have to utilise empty units – with either short-term pop-up shops been struggling and it’s good to SHELLEY WELTI or by making them more attractive with artwork installations by know and people are still finding local artists. We’d love to hear from landlords, businesses and artists who’d like to be ways to be there for each other.” involved with the project.” This thought-provoking and BHCC, which owns a number of properties in Brighton city centre, is also offering its BEN heartwarming episode of Allsorts empty retail and hospitality units for art organisations to use on a cost-only basis, for a Ben shares his experiences of minimum six-month term. being a gay man involved so of Thoughts is neatly rounded closely in the football world. Having off with a touching reflection on Cllr Martin Osborne, co-chair of Brighton & Hove’s founded the Brighton Kop with community from community Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture his partner, inclusion has been volunteer Riley, and another Committee, added: “We’re pleased to have the opportunity to central in facilitating a safe space Felice’s Faves segment, reviewing offer creative people in the city new spaces to showcase their for all Liverpool supporters in their LGBTQ+ media. work and try out new business ideas.

community. To catch up on Allsorts of CLLR MARTIN OSBORNE “Brighton & Hove is known for its innovation and talent and Ben says: “Football is a sport I Thoughts, visit https://anchor. this project will not only provide new uses for empty buildings, it will help people love... I chose to openly and proudly fm/allsortsyouthproject. struggling to find a platform during the pandemic and revive city centre shopping areas ready to welcome the safe return of visitors.” be gay and who I am. It has come D For more info on Allsorts, visit with challenges, in the early days www.allsortsyouth.org.uk. For more info and to get involved in the project, visit of setting up there were people who www.brightonpopupshops.co.uk or email Shelley at [email protected]. Scene makes Feedspot’s list of International Women’s Day event ) International Women’s Day is on Monday, March 8, so the best LGBTQ+ mags to mark the occassion Aneesa Chaudhry, who you may know as MD of LGBTQ+ inclusive choir The Rainbow Chorus, is ) Scene magazine has made blog.feedspot.com/lgbt_ organising an online Celebration of Women event on Sunday, Feedspot’s list of the 35 best magazines/ March 7 from 3pm. A percentage of the proceeds from tickets LGBTQ+ magazines on the web. D To see more LGBTQ+ news, will go to domestic violence charity, Rise. Scene said: “We’re absolutely visit: www.scenemag.co.uk Expect live singing, inspirational & motivational speaking and a delighted to have made the list! f Gscene.Brighton safe and inclusive space to listen and discuss topics for a couple

“Scene is a real labour of love; we ANEESA CHAUDHRY of hours. t SceneLGBTQ will never stop reporting on the If you’d like to perform something at the event, message Aneesa on Facebook issues that matter to our LGBTQ+ @aneesavoicebox communities.” D For tickets/more info, visit: www.facebook.com/events/253045592943281/ D To see the full list, visit: https:// 2014 GsceneScene

marriage are punishable under Sharia law, laws which the UAE adopts in different measures in different states. In Abu Dhabi, anal sex (defined as sodomy) is punishable by imprisonment of up to 14 years, in Dubai it is 10 years. Something to bear in mind Johan and Sebastian after a few too many gins at the hotel bar before you nip off to your balcony jacuzzi for a piece of fruitcake. Further punishments for any sexual misconduct (including in the privacy of your own beach chalet) can include flogging, execution, fines and deportation. Homosexuality is illegal in the UAE with up to three years’ imprisonment for consenting males (this includes Western tourists). You do not need to be caught in an act of sexual intimacy to be charged with homosexuality. Removing a speck of fluff from your boyfriend’s D&G swim-shorts will The Princess and the Pea for be deemed as inappropriate affection towards another male. If you’re lucky, £1,000 and then thrown on to the Airbus. If you’re not... Have a Brains (that’s YOU) nice Christmas or three. By Craig Hanlon-Smith “How many homosexuals are A series of provocative comment pieces by Sheikh houses some of our monarch’s horses on currently languishing in solitary Craig Hanlon-Smith and Jason Reid. his land here in the UK. confinement in a Dubai prison? ) At the time of writing, a princess is missing. It’s all a little bit awks. Rich heterosexual How many are actually put to She is Princess Latifa bint Mohammed Al princess held captive by father who is death? How many of you actually Maktoum, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed besties with Queen Elizabeth II, head of care?” bin Rashid al Maktoum. If you’re not familiar the Commonwealth. Questions asked on with the story I shall spare the details here, you And don’t think when you’re caught having an news programmes about the morality of such have Google and there is a Panorama special on idle mooch on the beach late at night your relationships, interviews with a sweating foreign BBC iPlayer: The Missing Princess. same-sex marriage or civil partnership means secretary over possible sanctions, Dominic Raab two hoots in Dubai. Nor can your holidaying it’s all getting really rather serious. The reasons why we should give a damn are mates stick up for you. Any expression of multi-faceted. First, Sheikh Mohammed has I’m not sure what all the fuss is about myself. support for LGBTQ+ rights is considered a form. This wouldn’t be the first time he has It’s not as if the British authorities, Royal violation of public morality and the punishment been accused of abducting his wives and Family or UK citizens who flock to Dubai every for that? See former list which includes children who have dared depart the shores of year for their holiday in a compound usually flogging. the United Arab Emirates for a life of freedom. intervene. Women’s rights to live as free and equal citizens You may even want to watch your dinner in Dubai and surrounding states are limited, “While snoozing on your over- conversations as people in Dubai have ears. despite Dubai’s pedigree as an international priced sun-lounger, can you smell Freedom of expression is allowed as long as holiday destination for Western tourists. your brothers rotting to death in it is within the limits of the law. Views which prison not 20 miles away?” are in breach of public morality are considered That this has not come to our national attention to harm young persons or invite persons to before is certainly interesting. A UK High Court How many homosexuals are currently espouse or promote destructive principles may ruling in 2020 revealed details of an earlier languishing in solitary confinement in a Dubai not be shared in any form. Shut your mouth. It abduction of another daughter, which took place prison? How many are actually put to death? is also illegal to promote disorder and damage in the UK. The Sheikh’s private security team How many of you actually care? How many the national unity, social peace, public order tracked down his daughter Shamsa and took her people in the LGBTQ+ communities are getting and public decency. It is these laws which back to Dubai against her wishes 18 years ago. their non-gender specific underwear in a twist have had a smattering of tourists in trouble An episode never fully investigated by the UK about the infringement of UK civil liberties with the authorities in recent years. Most authorities. during lockdown, but as soon as possible will visitors are held for a matter of days, fined and The exposure of all of the above by the BBC’s book themselves a five-night all-inclusive break then returned home with a bruised ego and Panorama programme and now subsequent in Dubai. I have a question for you: While emboldened indignation of the violation of their mainstream press is a diplomatic headache snoozing on your over-priced sun-lounger, can freedoms in somebody else’s oppressive regime. you smell your brothers rotting to death in for the government. At a time when we need As for the local population? Any Muslim male prison not 20 miles away? international business partners more than ever, found to be engaging in some or all of the having not only kicked our nearest neighbours To all UK citizens feigning a human interest in above can expect imprisonment at best but the in the nuts but severed any meaningful the plight of princess Latifa, know this before law allows for their execution. Just something connection forever, we could do with our new you book your trip to the UAE because Lord to bear in mind as you pack your suitcase friends not misbehaving. Furthermore, Sheikh knows after the difficulties of lockdown you dreaming of selfies on that idyllic beach. Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum loves the ‘deserve’ that break. Queen and Queenie loves Sheikhey Wakey Kid- Or perhaps you think it serves them right, for Nap. They share a love of racehorses and the All sexual relationships outside heterosexual behaving like a princess. 20 Gscene Scene 15

I still find myself frustrated at how often I have to explain what U=U means. I now have a standard response that I copy and paste. If they don’t get it, I move on, because it’s incredibly draining and demoralising having to repeatedly go through the same tedious rigmarole that I’ve been going through for years. And more often than not I simply do not have the patience to be schooling pissed- up gays at 3am when all I want is a quick bumming. Just imagine how switched on people would be if the UK’s dominant print news outlets dedicated as many column inches to the good news story of U=U as they have done to scaring the bejesus out of people over the years. Sadly a large part of UK print media is agenda- driven right wing twaddle that exists only to demonise and divide. The answer lies with education and engaging in fact-based, open conversations. Society’s worst problems tend to bubble up and eventually boil over when things are covered up and misinformation is allowed to fester. Surely the devastating effects of the AIDS pandemic and how HIV has been brought to heel in recent years should now be taught in schools, alongside U=U. I’m sure the coronavirus pandemic will be on the curriculum in years to come. BEING HIV POSITIVE & I’m aware that this is the point at which homophobic parents who are all for gay people really but don’t want their children SEX POSITIVE taught gay stuff will start screaming blue murder. Newsflash: HIV and HIV stigma affects By Jason Reid heterosexuals too. Education about HIV/AIDS benefits us all. ) I’m HIV+ any professional affiliation. Whenever there are undetectable, and important issues to be highlighted that affect “Is the U=U message actually a proponent of sex LGBTQ+ people, often overlooked by mainstream getting through? Because I positivity. In theory media unless there’s a sensationalist angle to believe that’s the only way that should be fairly be exploited, queer media is there. We should undetectable people like myself straightforward. In never take it for granted. will be unshackled from the HIV practice – sadly not. shame that is woven into the very So, before I digress even further, is the U=U fabric of our society” Don’t get me wrong, message actually getting through? And to remarkable progress has been made in recent enough people? Because I believe that’s the Another reason HIV stigma is so difficult to decades; attitudes have changed and more only way undetectable people like myself will overcome completely is because for too long people now understand HIV better than ever. be unshackled from the HIV shame that is the people who wield the greatest power in Charitable organisations have really hammered woven into the very fabric of our society. our country do not take responsibility for their home the ‘undetectable equals untransmittable’ inflammatory language which causes deep I think of myself as candidly HIV undetectable, message (U=U means that people living with harm. Those scars run deep. We can’t just brush I talk openly about living with HIV and my past HIV who achieve and maintain an undetectable stuff under the carpet and move on without experience of AIDS. viral load – the amount of HIV in the blood understanding its impact. – by taking and adhering to antiretrovirals as But when I’m broaching the subject with Words have consequences, and ignorance seeps prescribed cannot pass on the virus). potential sexual partners/relationships, I find through families and generations like poison. it easier to just say I’m undetectable and hope I applaud their sterling work. Especially for That poison has to be treated. for the best, because even now when some taking this important message to the wider guys hear ‘HIV’ their brain goes to that place I don’t want to undergo inquisitions anymore. population; those who now need to pay heed it’s trained to go to as a result of ingesting are hopefully doing so when they see the I want to be able to be unashamedly HIV+ and too much bigoted tabloid trash over the information presented to them on billboards sex positive. years. Conversely, when my use of the word and public transport. Of course, prior to going ‘undetectable’ is instantly recognised and You cannot contract HIV from an undetectable mainstream, queer media played its part in understood, without having to add a great deal person. It’s a simple as that. spreading the word – as was the case during of unnecessary personal context, I know the the AIDS crisis and beyond – and I cannot Shout it from the rooftops for me, and tell guy is a keeper. stress its importance enough. I will always be a people outside your queer bubble, because fervent champion of queer media regardless of On the odd occasion that I do fire up Grindr I’m tired. TRANS PRIDE 2016

Trans Day of Visibility Rory Finn on why 2020 will go down in his books as the year when transphobia in the UK reached fever pitch

) Trans Day of Visibility is celebrated on best to amend this legislation has unleashed who publicly trolls the trans community, March 31 every year. It may feel these days a toxic load of transphobic sludge from regurgitating transphobic tropes, much to the that trans people are everywhere. It’s true, which endless smears and hate have arisen. disdain and horror of her previously adoring we are. We always were. This year we will be Enter a certain influential children’s author fans and the actors who brought her books officially counted in the census for the first time. For the past decade we’ve been relying on best guesses to figure out how many trans people are in the UK. In 2015, Brighton & Hove City Council estimated that there were 2,700 trans people living in the city, or about 1% of residents. Compare that to the Office for National Statistics claiming that only 2% of the population identify as lesbian, gay or bi. I invite you to draw your own conclusions. “Visibility is vital to advancing our interests as trans people. We have a government which is openly hostile towards us and quite content in playing politics with our rights” Regardless of numbers, trans rights are very much on the agenda, of both our allies and our foes alike. 2020 will go down in my books as not just the year of Covid but also the year when transphobia in the UK reached a new fever pitch. With front page stories on the likes of The Times declaring that the PM himself, no less, was planning to shelve plans that would allow trans people to amend their birth certificates. The Gender Recognition Act is a red herring of trans rights. The one-time radical bit of law has now faded into being behind the times and not fit for purpose. The consultation exercise for how TIME MAGAZINE - JUNE 2014 Scene 17 BRIGHTON & HOVE PRIDE - © RICHARD JARMY

to life. It’s one thing to have an opinion, no (when I do, it’s because someone has the rights. In late February the House of Lords matter how misguided, but it’s quite another wrong end of the stick and thinks I’m a trans debated removing rights from pregnant trans to use your influence and platform to promote woman). Coming out regularly is exhausting masculine people. A simple semantic shift from hate. It really felt like it wasn’t just a virus and it doesn’t always get acknowledged. I had ‘person’ to ‘woman’ is all it takes. The usual that was out to get us. an encounter recently when I told someone, form is for legislation to be written in gender- no fewer than three times, that I was trans Thankfully all this has revealed true allyship neutral language. The wilful ignorance of the yet they still didn’t comprehend that I wasn’t from every corner of the LGBTQ+ community. Lords is staggering. Legally recognised men do cis. I was trying to explain to them that I It has been amazing to see the groundswell get pregnant and have children. See Freddy understood how to communicate with trans of support, online and in person. Even more McConnell, the subject of the documentary people better than they did. importantly, seeing the community reacting Seahorse, being denied the legal title of father so strongly when those transphobic voices “It may feel these days that trans to his child (the courts insist he is the mother), come from within our own ranks and gay people are everywhere. It’s true, despite holding gender recognition and being media. We must be vigilant about those who we are. We always were” regarded as male in every other aspect of his seek to divide us. It ultimately affects us all. life. This is a deliberate attack on us. Baroness Cisgender is the default assumption, so Liz Barker advocated against the amendment, “The weight of poor representation to lead an authentic, congruent life, I am lamenting that trans people are under a is immense; trans people being open about my trans status. It informs how “sustained unwarranted attack”. She went on framed as serial killers, unhinged I navigate the world, the work I do and to describe how hostile the media has been. villains and objects of disgust. It is the perspectives I have. By being visible The Times, she says, which is read by many in no wonder cis people fear us. It is I am both more at risk of transphobia but power, has “each of the last two years… had no wonder we struggle to come paradoxically I am empowered. When I can over 320 articles about trans issues. Almost to terms with who we are” choose when to disclose, I hold the power all of them full of gross misrepresentations”. that comes with it. When I am outed, that is I have the mixed blessing of being a ‘passing’ Representation matters and our visibility is taken away from me. trans person. By this I mean people assume power, no matter how much they try to erase us through other means. I’m cisgender (ie not trans) until they find Visibility is vital to advancing our interests as out otherwise. It’s a blessing in that I gain trans people. We still do not have any openly So how can we unpack this narrative to see some privilege by being perceived to be a trans representation in Parliament. We have a the woods from the trees? Disclosure (Netflix cis man. I’m not questioned anymore about government which is openly hostile towards us 2020) documents trans representation in which toilet I use and rarely get misgendered and quite content in playing politics with our cinema and TV since the early days of film. BRIGHTON & HOVE PRIDE - © CHRIS JEPSON The weight of poor representation is immense; trans people being framed as serial killers, unhinged villains and objects of disgust. It is no wonder cis people fear us. It is no wonder we struggle to come to terms with who we are. No one wants to be Buffalo Bill. Disclosure does an incredible thing. It helps trans people to understand why we might feel the way we do and educates everyone about the power of representation, good or bad. It also shows hope and proves the power of visibility. In 2014, Time put on its cover, proclaiming the “transgender tipping point”. Since then, many doors have opened for trans storytellers and with it many people coming out. You can’t unsee the beauty and diversity of the trans community now. Perhaps that’s why they hate us. In spite of all the hate, our time has come for our stories to be told, by us and with love. PUBLISHED BY LEAPING HARE PRESS. WORDS FROM THE MINDFUL ART OF WILD SWIMMING BY TESSA WARDLEY, PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM SELMON, WWW.TOMSELMON.COM DIVE INTO THE GREAT OUTDOORS

“Make the most of the waterside; sit back, kick off your shoes, breathe deeply and take the time to look around; allow yourself to be healed and inspired” Scene 19

) During a year of lockdowns, the outdoors PUBLISHED BY LEAPING HARE PRESS. WORDS FROM THE MINDFUL ART OF WILD SWIMMING BY TESSA WARDLEY, PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM SELMON, WWW.TOMSELMON.COM has become a new haven for many people. “We can all benefit from some of the health- Denied what are, for many in our LGBTQ+ community, the natural social hubs of bars, giving properties of water to swim in, jump clubs and restaurants, refuge instead has in, splash our friends with or sit beside and been sought in the companionship afforded by being allowed to meet friends and reflect on life” relatives outside in the sunshine. Of course, even that has been banned since Christmas, despite the prime minister assuring everyone last September that everything would probably be back to normal by the festive season. So when we set this magazine’s themes for the coming year, we were labouring under the impression that we would all be enjoying at least some freedom to roam in the elements. Obviously, we were mistaken, although strangely the ‘great outdoors’ has actually taken on more resonance in recent weeks, that window of time afforded to exercise the only escape many currently have from their own four walls. And maybe an upside to this has been the inventive ways people have found to make the most of that time outside. New hobbies have been discovered – the first lockdown reportedly led to record sales of paddle boards, surf boards and kayaks as people sought the tranquillity of riverways or the thrills of the ocean, while on dry land skateboarding too saw an unprecedented boom. Wild swimming has become a thing, as has sea swimming – evidenced by the hoards of dry robe-wearing (please don’t let that become a fashion…) bathers on Brighton beach. Then there have been those who have discovered birdwatching, either by design or luck – the latter contributed to in no small part locally by the sweeping starling murmurations that accompany winter sunsets between the piers – fungi-foraging, star- gazing, frisbee… the list goes on. But the fact is our outdoors freedom is still severely curtailed and will remain so for some weeks with restrictions put in place to help check the spread of coronavirus not being fully lifted until June 21 at the earliest. So those pursuits that can be accomplished solo are likely to remain our only respite from the crushing monotony of being stuck in the same place for months on end. While there is some light at the end of the tunnel for those who play basketball, tennis and golf, many of the team sports enjoyed by vast swathes of the community look set to remain off-limits at least until May, but in the following pages we have some tips from the experts on keeping up team morale and how to continue ‘outdoor’ pursuits in other ways. We also look at how to enhance the solo walking or running experience, offer some suggestions of things to look forward to and generally bring the great outdoors to the pages of this magazine. PIC CRED: STEPHEN WRENCH - INSTAGRAM @ANURBANSHEPHERD ONE OF THE FLOCK ON SHEEPCOTE VALLEY, ABOVE . 20 Scene20 Gscene

invasive species such as brambles, allowing the return of indigenous plants. One is the Kidney Vetch, with its small yellow flowers, a favourite food for caterpillars of the smallest butterfly in Europe, with the endearing Latin name of Cupido Minimus. It too has returned in numbers. All because of the sheep. Do you do it rain or shine? The worse the weather the more important it is to check the sheep! There’s a rota with morning and afternoon shifts, so that the flock is checked by volunteers twice a day. I always do

evenings, going up an hour or so before sunset, whatever the conditions. NOT A BAAAD JOB What sort of clothing do you need to wear? Tough, outdoor gear, preferably resistant to Stephen Wrench chats to Jaq Bayles about his work brambles and emphatically resistant to whatever as a volunteer urban shepherd with the city council the weather can provide. Shorts are to be

avoided at all costs. Walking shoes are essential. ) What does the role There was a course not long after, so I applied. I always carry work gloves in case a sheep entail? What sort of training is involved? needs to be handled. I’m a lookerer, one of There’s a day of instruction on how to check the the volunteer shepherds “It’s the most extraordinary electric fences, how to handle sheep, why the who help look after privilege, a link to the shepherds project is important and what the legal position flocks of sheep grazed who’ve done this job for hundreds is if, for example, there’s an attacking dog by Brighton & Hove of years. My mental health can harming the sheep. City Council. First job be variable, but once out on the

STEPHEN WRENCH BY INSTAGRAM @ANURBANSHEPHERD on any shift: check How long have you been doing it? Downs, everything else fades the sheep and get them walking. Are they Eight years. The project has been going for 13 away” limping or suffering any other malaise? Sheep years and is unique in using volunteers to keep Do you get attached to the sheep? sometimes get stuck in brambles, searching it going. My job isn’t supposed to be at all sentimental: for tender shoots. They have to be cut out Where do you do it? some 95% of all sheep grazed in Britain end up with secateurs because they can otherwise die Mostly, I volunteer on Sheepcote Valley in east being someone’s dinner and it’s important to within hours, simply because they literally can’t Brighton, just behind where I live. The sheep remember that. There was a bossy pair of sheep see a way out. All fences have to be checked, are moved from one patch of grazing to another last summer who seemed to fuss around the rest particularly the electric fence powered by a as they nibble their way through the edibles. of the flock, so I named them the Misses Fleece. car battery that keeps the sheep in and dogs At the moment, I’m also on duty with a flock Embarrassing, but true. out. Occasional electric shocks are part of the below the racecourse. job. Water troughs need to be checked and, Does it benefit your mental health? if necessary, refilled from the on-site bowser. Do you need special skills? It’s the most extraordinary privilege, a link to Serious problems are reported to the farmer who Just a willingness to be outside in the most the shepherds who’ve done this job for hundreds owns the sheep. Otherwise I text the council inclement of conditions. That and infinite of years. My mental health can be variable, but ranger at the end of the shift. patience with sheep and their peculiar ways. once out on the Downs, everything else fades away. I’m 60; there’s no doubt that physically How did you get involved? What about it appeals to you most? I’m a fitter man through doing this work. A friend heard about a strange council project The sheer connection to the outdoors and to involving sheep and said: “You have to do this!” the flock. And then there’s the sense of doing Any funny stories to recount? I didn’t know the first thing about sheep but something – however small – for the planet. The sweetest sheep are the most trouble. I loved the idea of being an urban shepherd. The council grazes the sheep to eat back Herdwicks, more usually found on Lakeland PIC CRED: STEPHEN WRENCH - INSTAGRAM @ANURBANSHEPHERD SNOWY SHEEP ON TENANTRY DOWN AT THE TOP OF BEAR ROAD IN BRIGHTON,. Fells, are the most mischievous. One recently jumped a high fence and headed - of course - for dense scrub in search of something tender to munch. I attempted to emulate my professional counterparts who can direct sheep with just a few whistles. Naturally, that provoked only disdain in the sheep and amusement in passers- by who happily then joined me in physically persuading the escapee back over the fence to join the rest of her flock. Most memorable moments? Every shift has its memorable moments, whether it’s stoic sheep in the snow or seeing the flock in the soft beauty of a summer’s evening. There’s nothing to beat lambing time though, and the way the other sheep cluster around to

protect the new arrivals. Often, there’s a ram on sentry duty, stamping a foot as a warning to stay away from the lambs.

i Follow Stephen @anurbanshepherd Scene 21

“Embracing the elements and connecting with nature is great for our wellbeing, and one of the simplest ways to do that is by walking” the cycling leaders the opportunity to think up new rides. Overall the pandemic has, in fact, been good for cycling in Brighton & Hove in various ways and this might bring about some growth in the group on the other side. Alison Field, organiser of the BLAGSS Walking group: What does the concept of the great outdoors mean to walkers? Out & About Embracing the elements and connecting with nature is great for our wellbeing, and one of the Whatever your sport, the Brighton LGBTQ+ Sports Society simplest ways to do that is by walking: it’s free (BLAGSS) has you covered! and requires no special equipment or training. You can walk almost anywhere and at any time, Sport and social group BLAGSS aims to a ‘back to the track’ training scheme will be so it’s easy to fit into your everyday life. Even encourage LGBTQ+ people to play sport. provided so members can prepare further for in or near the city you can enjoy the outdoors Walking, running and cycling have been the returning to our sessions. It is likely only by walking on the Downs, in woodland or along main forms of exercise it has been able to smaller exercise clusters will be permitted the coast. continue throughout the pandemic. initially, so more convenors will be needed to support training within each of these groups, What has it meant to walkers during the Viv Woodcock-Downey, BLAGSS’ publicity but this should not be an issue. pandemic? officer, asked the organisers of these sports Recreational walking is a relatively low-risk what is so great about outdoor-based activities. Dee Lewis and Patrick James of BLAGSS activity when it comes to Covid-19, so finding Cycling group: Conor Sheehan of BLAGSS Running group: time to walk outside, even on the greyest days, What does the concept of the great outdoors is a great way to be active while getting some What does the concept of the great outdoors mean to cyclists? fresh air. And because we must stay local, we mean to runners? It is many things, but an important one is have the chance to slow down and take interest The weekly training sessions are opportunities exploration and discovery. Actually, we could in the small details. to improve fitness, make friends and enjoy talk about the little outdoors, because on a the parklands and green spaces of Brighton What have you done to try to keep your sport bicycle even small trips around areas that you and Sussex. The Saturday meetings combine going and people interested? thought you knew can bring discoveries. You are camaraderie and healthy competition in a At times of fewer restrictions we’ve been engaged with the environment and your senses diverse and inclusive environment. permitted to offer walks for groups of up to are alive so you see things you never saw six. Even during lockdowns, our members have While Preston Park acts as a base, activities before, have experiences that you’d never have been able to meet up for a local walk with one take place on the South Downs, from in a car. If, for example, you are passing some person from another household. We’ve also been Fort to Devil’s Dyke. For some, cows in a field you can stop and they will come sharing walk photos, links and route suggestions running in the countryside offers a sense of over to ‘talk’ with you. It is a small but lovely with each other on our WhatsApp and Facebook freedom and escape from work or domestic experience. groups. routine. New routes discovered by members What has it meant to cyclists during the running alone are shared and kept in the What are you planning to do to ‘relaunch’? pandemic? ‘treasure trove’ of new places the group can We offer a wide range of group walks and we’ll The pandemic has been a mixture of good and visit in the future start them up again as soon as allowed. We’ve bad for BLAGSS cyclists. The stricter lockdowns introduced some extra precautions to ensure What has it meant to runners during stopped cycling in groups, but then in the group walks are both Covid-safe and enjoyable. the pandemic? summer of 2020 there was a more relaxed period Maybe we’ll be able to organise one of our While the pandemic has necessitated many and cyclists were able to ride in groups of up walking weekends this year – fingers crossed. curtailments to everyone’s freedom, the to six. Those were great because there was so beautiful countryside has continued to beckon much less traffic on the roads. Anyone interested in getting involved in to us, offering a welcome space to run, relax BLAGSS can try a sport for free with a one-day What have you done to try to keep your sport and reflect. membership (court fees may apply). going and people interested? What have you done to try to keep your sport WhatsApp has become essential for keeping D To take part, visit the relevant sport page on going and people interested? the group going. It is good for information and the website (www.blagss.org) and message the The spirit of support continues and they have updates about rides but also for maintaining organiser. found ways to continue connecting. Running a sense of community and keeping people routes, times, photos and videos are shared on engaged. They still go out riding on their own social media and individual achievements are and they send pics to the WhatsApp group, celebrated. which is fun and motivating. We are still a cycling group even when we are not cycling as What are you planning to do to ‘relaunch’? a group. Keeping in touch during lockdown is important to encourage each other to remain active. When What are you planning to do to ‘relaunch’? the lifting of restrictions appears imminent, The space created by the pandemic has given 22 Scene

that are still the inspiration for the garden today, maintaining a wonderful freshness. Christopher had grown up at Great Dixter, the house had been renovated and extended by Gardener’s Delight Edwin Lutyens, an architect from the Arts & Laurie Lavender recommends some of Sussex’s Crafts movement responsible for the Cenotaph outdoor spaces to lift the spirits when lockdown ends in London, Lindisfarne Castle renovations and also many buildings in New Delhi. Christopher’s mother, Daisy, was a keen gardener and had ) I was thinking recently of places I would like in for the road to the Palace of Mopu in the introduced him to Gertrude Jekyll, a British to go when we are able to get out and about Himalayas! I worked there for a short time horticulturalist who had created gardens all safely again and one of them, even though I on the gardening team. We opened for over the UK, Europe and America. Her own have been before, is Great Dixter, the garden six weeks a year, four in spring for the house, Munstead Wood near Godalming designed by Christopher Lloyd, which is camelias, rhododendrons, azaleas and bluebells, (designed by Lutyens), is privately owned, but just off the A28 at Northiam just inside East and two weeks in the autumn for the colours there are open days when the public can visit Sussex. when the trees turned. the garden she designed. I first heard about this wonderful garden Anyway, back to Great Dixter and Christopher In the opposite direction, the village of when I was working at Leonardslee back in Lloyd. I was given his book, The Well-Tempered Winchelsea has open days in the spring and the 1970s. I was reminded about Leonardslee Gardener (without irony I might add), and was the summer but I don’t know if any dates have while watching the original film version of blown away by his use of colour when planting been provisionally allocated this year. Black Narcissus that was on over Christmas. It’s his beds. He was quite happy to break ‘the hard to believe that West Sussex could stand rules’ and create vibrant clashes and textures I was chatting with a friend of mine who works Scene 23

at Charleston Farmhouse and Garden and they are hoping to open the gardens at least in the spring, hopefully around Easter. Their website is www.charleston.org.uk, so all information will be on there (see also p40 of this issue for more about Charleston and the Bloomsbury Set). I also hear there is a new exhibition that is being prepared. Of course, after learning all about the Bloomsbury Set you can travel the short distance to St Michael’s and All Angels Church at Berwick to see the paintings by Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Quentin Bell. “[Christopher Lloyd was] quite happy to break ‘the rules’ and create vibrant clashes and textures that are still the inspiration for the garden today, maintaining a wonderful freshness” The other place I find I am looking forward to going back to when the weather is more clement is the walk from across the Downs to the Ditchling Post. This walk takes you past the Chattri and affords great vistas HAZELPITS REGULARS - SUE, PETER & JOHN. IN 1979/80 PIC: M northward over the Weald. The Chattri is where the bodies of Hindu and Sikh soldiers who had died fighting in World War One were taken to be cremated. Their ashes were then scattered in the English Channel. The monument was actually built in 1920 from Sicilian marble and ‘officially’ unveiled in February 1921 by Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII). I normally take a packed lunch to eat before I return back. NB: if it is a hot day take plenty of sunscreen and plenty of water as there is little shade on this walk. BRIGHTON & HOVE WOMEN'S RUNNING CLUB 2024 GsceneScene

group activities when lockdown regulations are lifted, ranging from outdoor strength and conditioning classes, to beginners’ groups and a buddy scheme to help people find plus one partners for running. The group prides itself on being a space for all self-identifying women, with Helena and club chair, Imogen Wallace, saying the club will continue to provide a safe space during the pandemic: “Overall, this period has reinforced to members how crucial running Activity for All is to mental and physical wellbeing and we will continue to strive to be an inclusive club which Rachel Badham talks to Brighton & Hove’s outdoor encourages all women to start running.” organisations about sporting inclusivity and staying ) Another local running club, designed with active during the pandemic LGBTQ+ people in mind is Brighton & Hove Frontrunners, which was established in ) Organisations which provide outdoor private and public life due to being unable 2018. Club marketing officer James Barron activities, ranging from team sports such as to live openly. A new project, the LGBTQ+ said the club’s aim is to be as inclusive as football to group walks and runs, are integral Outdoor Equality Index, aims to increase possible, and create a space “where everyone to Brighton & Hove’s community. While data surrounding the outdoor experience of can feel comfortable to be who they are coronavirus has severely limited our ability queer people. It said: “LGBTQ+ people lack without judgement”. Despite the pandemic, to interact with one another and do social representation, access, safety, opportunity, and Frontrunners has continued to help its members activities, it has also encouraged many to overall visibility in the outdoors and in most stay active: “We’ve run online Zoom fitness explore the great outdoors and incorporate diversity initiatives.” As LGBTQ+ people may classes, and we have a very lively WhatsApp more exercise into their daily routine. More struggle to participate in group activities, a group so used this to check in with each than ever, people are trying to get active and handful of our city’s most inclusive sporting other. We even did an 18-hour continuous are taking care of their physical and mental groups spoke to Scene about how they’ve been virtual relay around Brighton & Hove.” James wellbeing. encouraging all members to stay active during pointed out that LGBTQ+ people often feel these trying times. marginalised from sports, saying: “Queer people However, LGBTQ+ people are more likely to often feel apprehensive, nervous or hesitant feel discouraged from joining outdoor groups ) Helena Warburton, secretary of Brighton & about partaking in sport – perhaps due to bad than their cis-het counterparts, as prejudice Hove Women’s Running Club, said although experiences in the past, or negative memories continues to be all too common in the sporting the pandemic hindered group activity, the of PE lessons in school, or even just not world. A 2019 study by Outsport found 16% of organisation is continuing to support women knowing where to find specific LGBTQ+ LGBTQ+ respondents had negative experiences in the area by creating online networks sports groups.” in sporting groups, with an even greater and promoting the mental health benefits number of trans people reporting harassment. of exercise: “We’ve been encouraging daily However, Frontrunners wants to help LGBTQ+ The majority of the victims said the abuse came dancing by posting dance tracks, and checking- people reap the physical and mental benefits from their own team members or other group in individually with vulnerable members. Our of running, as well as create a sense of participants. online network has been a place for members community. James says that everyone is to get encouragement from others on days welcome at the club, and once lockdown LGBTQ+ people may feel excluded from when staying active is proving challenging.” restrictions are eased, running is due to outdoor spaces in general as, historically, they recommence: “We are hoping to be able to have experienced disparities between their The club is also able to offer socially distanced FRONTRUNNERS resume our weekly Wednesday Club Runs, Saturday Park Runs and social events as soon as we possibly can. We are optimistic about the coming year and many of us have already signed up for lots of races. We’ve also got some exciting plans for some additional sessions so watch this space!” ) For those who are wanting more gentle exercise, Brighton & Hove Healthwalks, which is part of the city’s Healthy Lifestyle programme, could be the perfect option. Shanni Collins, walk leader, said Healthwalks is great for beginners, and despite lockdown ceasing group activity, members have continued to participate in individual walking challenges: “Our walks are led by volunteer leaders and have a focus on socialising and getting some HEALTHWALKS Scene 25

element of the game has been reduced, it’s a great opportunity for beginners to get involved without feeling daunted: “In a time when we couldn’t play contact, a lot of new members have joined as they don’t have to jump straight into playing contact sport, which gives them time to learn the lower level skills and techniques.” The club has various groups for people of all ages and identities, and hopes to promote physical wellbeing for all its members, with Geraldine saying how important this has been throughout lockdown: “I spoke to a mother of a couple of members of our youth group. She said how important physical activity has been throughout lockdown and how pleased she is that her kids are involved in sport; it gave gentle to moderate exercise. We have kept community-driven club, we’re fully inclusive of them a routine and an outlet.” people walking through our Lockdown Walking all people and we try to get as much cricket HOVE RUGBY CLUB - WOMEN'S Challenge, which saw 150 people take part and and social activity in. It’s so important for the walk a grand total of 7,000 miles.” wellbeing of children and adults, and getting them all back into training was brilliant.” Healthwalks also has a group specifically for LGBTQ+ identifying people, which was set up Peter also highlighted the importance of in September 2020 and has seen great success. physical activity and how sports can be a Led by Shanni and Viv Woodcock-Downey, mode of social support, particularly during the LGBTQ+ Healthwalks is “a safe space for pandemic: “When my 12-year-old son could social interaction and welcoming to people meet up with his friends and start playing who feel socially excluded... Members of our cricket again after lockdown, you could see him LGBTQ+ group have said it is very inclusive brighten up. It’s about physical activity but and helps with their anxiety. They have found also about wellbeing.” it nice to feel connected and to be given the BRIGHTON & HOVE CRICKET CLUB Once lockdown is over, the club intends to start opportunity to socialise, and it comes with the up again, welcoming everyone to get involved benefits of good conversation, fresh air and and join the community: “We all miss the social great views.” LGBTQ+ Healthwalks also hopes side and the community hub, we’re all very to continue working alongside groups such much looking forward to that coming back. as LGBTQ Carers, Trans Can Sport and The Once we’re allowed to, there’ll be one hell Rainbow Hub. of a party.” Shanni has found Healthwalks has not just ) The city is also home to Brighton & provided physical benefits for its members, but Hove Sea Serpents Rugby Club, which was has helped their mental wellbeing and created founded in 2015. Chairman Ian Chaplin said a sense of community, particularly for LGBTQ+ the organisation aims to provide a space for people: “Some of our walkers have been with us To anyone thinking about starting cricket, Peter LGBTQ+ players. Like Hove Rugby Club, the Sea for years, and they have created really amazing added: “We’ll start again as soon as we can. We Serpents has been unable to play during the supportive communities, helping each other welcome everyone with open arms.” pandemic, but Ian said they are continuing to through bereavements, relationship break-ups ) For those into something a bit more rough give players help with their personal exercise and illness. Our regular walkers consistently and tumble, Brighton is home to a smattering and nutrition goals. The club is run by LGBTQ+ tell us the walks have hugely improved their of rugby groups. Geraldine Brown, chair of staff, and welcomes people of all sexualities physical, mental and social health.” After the Hove Rugby Club, explained how the club and gender identities: “We are not just gay current lockdown is lifted, the group plans has been running throughout the pandemic, men, we welcome everyone who can play on to “get the walks reignited and welcome but the contact element of the sport means our sides or support on the touchline, we want the community back”, with everyone of all adjustments had to be made to adhere to all people to socialise together and learn about orientations and identities being invited social distancing measures. As the contact each other to create a better society.” to join in. BRIGHTON & HOVE SEA SERPENTS ) As well as walking and running groups, Brighton is home to a handful of inclusive t eam sports organisations. Brighton & Hove Cricket Club colts manager, Peter Underwood, said local cricketers have remained active during the pandemic, with a busy summer season: “In the summer, we played a lot of friendly games with different clubs – we’ve done a lot since last April. Our autumn net practices then saw 75 sign up with a mixture of boys and girls from all age groups, training four nights a week.” The club encourages people from all backgrounds to participate and promotes the wellbeing of its members: “We’re a very BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION FC 2226 GsceneScene

benefits, with Iain saying: “There is a strong link between exercise and cold water immersion and mental health,” adding that the group’s focus is on personal improvement and supporting fellow members. LGBTQ+ people are often excluded from the benefits swimming can bring, which Out to Swim hopes to change: “Historically swimming has been primarily a male-focused activity, and swimming clubs can come across as internally competitive with many LGBTQ+ people then feeling left behind. It’s important that, as LGBTQ+ people, we are part of a new movement of older people who have recently rediscovered sports, and we are able to offer an inclusive environment regardless of identity, orientation or body type.” Once the current lockdown is lifted, the group aims to get back to swimming as soon as possible, with plans to increase its range of sea Historically, LGBTQ+ people have been excluded include lower blood pressure, improved sleep, swimming activities and launch development from team sports, which led to the first stronger bones and improved mood. Alongside lessons for beginners. inclusive rugby team in 1995, with the Sea this, we find just as important are the social Serpents continuing to promote tolerance and connections and interactions our participants Get Involved acceptance in the sport. Ian said: “There is get from coming together as a group to ) Brighton & Hove Women’s Running Club: clear academic research indicating LGBTQ+ play sport.” Paul hopes the pandemic has email [email protected], or visit people feel excluded from team sport. This encouraged more people to take care of their www.bhwrc.org begins at school, and is a major reason for the physical wellbeing, and hopes as many people starting of gay and inclusive rugby in 1995 as possible will get involved in Albion in the ) Brighton & Hove Frontrunners: email with the formation of the Kings Cross Steelers Community: “If there can be something positive [email protected], or in London. The problem is, if you don’t learn a to come from the coronavirus pandemic then visit www.bhfrontrunners.org.uk sport at the same time as your peers, it’s very I really hope it’s a greater understanding and ) Brighton & Hove Healthwalks: email hard to start at all. This is where we as a gay appreciation for the benefits of organised sport [email protected], or and inclusive club give a real benefit. Unlike and being physically active.” visit www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/health-walks local rugby clubs all over the country, we are ) As Brighton is situated on the coast, many more used to welcoming new players often way ) Brighton & Hove Cricket Club: email local people’s exercise of choice is swimming. past university age, who haven’t played before.” [email protected] Out to Swim Brighton is a swimming group for the youth programme, or visit www. The club has a handful of events planned inclusive of LGBTQ+ people; part of a larger brightonandhovecricketclub.co.uk/contact for in the coming year, with the team going to London based club, it encourages people of all a full list of club contacts Birmingham in July to play other inclusive abilities, body types, genders and sexualities teams. Touch rugby is due to be reinstated to get active. Club representative Iain Gowers ) Hove Rugby Club: email claire.slater@ in the summer, and Covid depending, the Sea said during the pandemic the sea became the hoverugby.club or geraldine.brown@ Serpents will be attending Brighton & Hove group’s new swimming pool, and members hoverugby.club Pride in August. Ian said as soon as the continued to support one another: “The whole ) Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents RFC: email coronavirus restrictions are lifted, the group club has really come together to support each [email protected] or visit www.bhssrfc.com will be getting together for “a cold beer and a other in this difficult time. We have multiple catch up”. events online each week, including swim- ) Albion in the Community: email paul. specific exercises and fitness. There are also [email protected], or ) Brighton & Hove Albion football club is socials, quizzes and talks. We even had a virtual visit www.albioninthecommunity.org.uk arguably Brighton’s most well-known sporting Pride Month during the summer.” group. Albion in the Community is the ) Out to Swim: visit official charity of The Albion and uses the Swimming comes with a handful of health www.outtoswim.org/brighton “global appeal of football” to support the local OUT TO SWIM BRIGHTON community. Paul Williams, head of community programmes, said the organisation hopes to break down the barriers which may prevent people, such as LGBTQ+ communities, from getting active: “Our role is to make it as easy as possible for people to engage and to break down any barriers that might be in their way so everyone can benefit from playing sport and being physically active. We use our platform to tackle discrimination, anti-social behaviour and promote positive mental health.” Despite coronavirus restrictions, the group is continuing to help all local people harvest the benefits of staying active: “Throughout 2020 we’ve managed to deliver nearly 350,000 minutes of online support, and the benefits 20 Gscene Scene 27

Freeing the mind Vajrasati yoga teacher Alistair McCall outlines the benefits of meditation along with some basic steps for the practice

Meditation can be defined as concentration. Not the sort of concentration you might apply to solving a problem, but rather a light, bright attention to your inner state. There are many benefits from meditating regularly. Stated conservatively, you will experience an increased sense of peace and wellbeing. If you continue in your practice you may notice that your daily life begins to feel richer and more vivid. Happily, you don’t have to fold yourself into a pretzel shape to practise meditation. The actual Healing Properties of practice is very simple. In the Satipatthana sutra, the Buddha’s advice is straightforward: Find a tree (or quiet space), sit with the body the World Around Us upright, and observe the breath. Try it. Find a Richard Jeneway offers some simple suggestions for time when you have 15 minutes to yourself. Sit comfortably with eyes gently closed and using nature to improve mental and physical health the spine straight – a hardback chair is fine – breathe freely and watch what arises within ) Yesterday, while walking my dogs along the I am acutely aware from speaking to a wide your mind and body. It could be a thought, a undercliff at , I took a moment to range of people in our community that many feeling, a sensation, or something else entirely. enjoy a glimpse of wintry sunshine, feeling its have a negative outlook, so accessing support warmth on my face while inhaling the salt- from friends and other sources is very important Most people’s minds struggle to accept that laden air. At the same time I was regaled by for mental health and wellbeing. anything that offers a great benefit can also the plaintive call of a curlew wading in the be this easily achieved. For this reason, people Sometimes getting out of our home environment rockpools – a sound seasonably linked in my often worry that they ‘aren’t doing it right’. can be achieved with a little encouragement to mind to winter, but in the knowledge that That’s where trust comes in. Trust whatever it is enjoy the beauty of springtime and putting the spring is on its way. you are noticing, keep your attention on it and dark days of winter behind us. see what it does. There’s no need to describe As a blind person my life is auditory, From childhood the spring has always filled the feeling to yourself or create an inner heightening my other senses and making me me with a sense of excitement and renewal. commentary on it. Just let it be what it is. Give reliant on sound and smellscapes to understand The swelling buds of hawthorn, the sticky buds it total acceptance. And, when the next thing my surroundings. Before I lost my sight, vision of horse chestnuts, the fluffy down of pussy pops into your head, do the same with that. You often dominated my other senses. willow, the early wild flowers and the heady might notice in time that the space in-between “Making the most of what is here fragrance of new season’s grasses along with the things ‘coming up’ increases. – whether park, beach or Downs – lengthening days. Bird song changes from the At some other point, your mind will probably is paramount to our wellbeing” wintry sound of the territorial robins and gulls stray. Mine does. This is normal and fine. Bring to the sound of chattering finches, sparrows and We are fortunate here in Brighton to have both your attention back to the breath. Don’t worry the gentle hum of bees brings a sense of joy. coastline and a city surrounded by downland about it. It is only by redeploying the energy forming part of the South Downs National Park. One of the few benefits of the current situation we lose to the various distractions of everyday At the time of writing, I am going to stress that is that many have discovered what is local and life that we get to focus on our true selves for we will be limited by travel restrictions for more on their doorstep. a while. time to come. So, making the most of what “As a blind person my life is I sometimes speak to people who have the is here – whether park, beach or Downs – is auditory, heightening my other impression that their meditation has been paramount to our wellbeing. It’s worth stopping senses and making me reliant unsuccessful unless it is a profound spiritual now and then, whether you’re out for a run or on sound and smellscapes to experience. The truth is that, for many people, just an amble around your neighbourhood, and understand my surroundings” most of the time, meditation is not like that at taking time to be in the moment. all. This is because when we meditate, we move Yoga and meditation are part of my own Following an extraordinary winter of lockdown, beyond what we sometimes refer to these days routine. With the warmer and longer days social isolation and much more, I’ve been as the ego, which is essentially a collection of ahead, maybe find a place in a local park or keeping in contact with a wide range of stories we have constructed about ourselves. within your local area and take time to sit people of all ages, some of whom experienced It is this ego that is gratified when we feel a under a tree and clear your mind of chatter depression for the first time and others a sense of achievement. and random thoughts. Learning to meditate paranoia of becoming infected with Covid. has heightened my sense of self but, more Surprisingly, it is this break from the need For many emerging from winter alongside importantly, my surroundings. The learnt ability to achieve or ‘be something’ that, for many Covid feelings of depression remain, but to focus with a clear mind is a result of some people, can be the most compelling aspect of hopefully with the roll out of vaccinations this very simple steps in meditation. I’ve asked a meditation. Meditation is unconditional love will get easier. However for some this won’t dear friend to make a contribution to this piece, applied to every aspect of our being. No wonder happen overnight. enjoy reading and try the practice. it does us so much good.

PUBLISHED BY LEAPING HARE PRESS. WORDS FROM THE MINDFUL ART OF WILD SWIMMING BY TESSA WARDLEY, PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM SELMON, WWW.TOMSELMON.COM

“Swimming alone in the exclusivity of unbroken water is sublime. It encourages you to consider new ideas and swim towards new territories; you expand your horizons, face new experiences and find new joys” WWW.TEMSELMON.COM DAVE LYNN. PHOTO BY TOM SELMON 2030 GsceneScene

became my party piece. I would go behind the door and my brother would give me light with a torch, and often take the piss. When I finished the family would sit there and applaud. I never dressed up at that point though. It never

crossed my mind. Then one day my friend from school encouraged me to go and do the talent contest at The Black Cap,” Dave recalls. The gay scene was very different in the 1970s and 80s, clandestine and often underground ensuring safety was paramount, and putting aside the obvious dangers from society more broadly, Dave remembers the fear of being a young and naive gay person and having to be constantly cautious: “I was scared. There were all types of perverts around. It was all new to me. When you’re young, you’re very impressionable. Looking back now it’s horrifying to think of some of the situations I was in. Thankfully I am able to look back.” “Everyone wanted to play the . I was hoping I didn’t because I was scared of falling off the bar” “I never knew what I was when I was very young, I just knew there was something DAVE LYNN - A LIVING LEGEND different about me because I wasn’t like the Jason Reid catches up with the iconic Dave Lynn, who rest of my friends. When I went to The Black has just celebrated 45 years of treading the boards Cap that night I was chatted up, admired, and something clicked. It was a huge learning ) Born and raised in Hackney, London, Dave been my whole life but everything changes so experience. Those days were about chatting Lynn is a living drag legend. Pure and simple. quickly on the scene, and the last decade was up and foreplay. It was a lovely underground An artist that has stood the test of time, and quicker than ever. Where did it go? I’m hoping thing, not many people knew about it. Sunday then some. Ordinarily when people talk of to have a proper celebration in-person when nights at The Black Cap featured the crème legends in a particular field of artistry they talk we’re out of all this [pandemic].” de la crème of drag: Hinge & Bracket, The of those who have been pivotal players and Harlequins, Disappointer Sisters to name but Dave Lynn first set foot on a stage in November have passed away. There are very few living drag a few; you always had to queue to get in there. 1975 at the young age of 17 when he entered artists who are held up in such high esteem by The Harlequins were mentors to me in the early a talent competition at the greatly idolised fans and peers alike. days, they taught me a lot about make-up and London cabaret venue that is no more, The glamour. Alistair and I were very close; we were in Camden. Now in his fifth decade of performing, there’s Black Cap kind of in a relationship for a bit.” no sign of Dave slowing down. And why should “It all started with me falling in love with Liza he when gigs are still coming in? I spoke to Seeing Dave perform it’s apparent that he has a Minnelli, the film Cabaret, and the song Liza him recently during lockdown and, as always, he natural flair, something very special; it’s almost with a ‘Z’, and also watching Shirley Bassey was charming and witty, full of showbiz stories, as though he was made to be a drag queen, yet perform. When I was very young I would DJ at punctuating sentences with a cheeky laugh. it was something that he never in his wildest family parties at home, and it was then that dreams imagined doing when he was that young I realised I had a knack for lip syncing, so it “It really doesn’t feel that long. Obviously it’s boy performing to just his family. WWW.TEMSELMON.COM DAVE LYNN. PHOTO BY TOM SELMON Soon after that first performance at The Black Cap, Dave found himself in the presence of the drag greats of the time. “I was starstruck many times. Especially by Mark Fleming; he was quite something to a young guy like me. Mark was an act that would go among the audience, you know the type, he really frightened people, and

he also said he was best friends with the Queen Mum – that story got me at such a young age “Mrs Shufflewick was barely audible most of the time, but I was totally in awe of her; I remember one time she was lying on the floor flat-out backstage and the compère called her name; when she got up I said, ‘Do you want me to do the back of your hair?’ to which she curtly replied, ‘Oh no, no-one touches that, dear’. She then went on and did her whole set and when she came off she lay back down on the floor and fell straight back to sleep again.” Dave’s love for drag is apparent when you talk GsceneScene 2131 WWW.TEMSELMON.COM DAVE LYNN. PHOTO BY TOM SELMON “It really doesn’t feel that long. Obviously it’s been my whole life but everything changes so quickly on the scene, and the last decade was quicker than ever. Where did it go?” WWW.TEMSELMON.COM DAVE LYNN. PHOTO BY TOM SELMON 22 Gscene

to him; that passion continues to burn deep: the Vauxhall. I was hoping I didn’t because I time. I remember years later when we were all “Drag is a special kind of magic. What I love is was scared of falling off the bar. When I did at some do my mum said she felt so guilty for the different types of characters that stick in eventually play there – on the stage, not the saying that because she thought it prevented your mind. The Trollettes were very important, bar – it was Pat and Breda McConnon (RVT me from making it, that I went in the back and Topping & Butch, Phil Starr, Nicky Young, landlord and landlady at the time) who got me door – so to speak – and I told her she should Hinge & Bracket and Adrella. I’ve been very properly into glamour when they asked me to never feel guilty. A comic who was present at lucky to do all of this, and feel very grateful.” host a sort of Mr Gay UK contest” the time said I was right to go in the back door, performing as a drag artist rather than going As well as playing alongside the greatest drag “I absolutely love and admire to drama school and the like, because that’s artists, Dave found himself playing the great the new acts of today. I look at how you learn, and I had a niche, I wasn’t just venues that catered specifically to gay drag some younger artists and think another actor among a sea of actors all vying and cabaret; places that served as safe havens they shouldn’t do this and that for the same job. It’s the best way in and you and creative community hubs for gay and trans because it’s a bit dangerous, get to understand everything.” people – some of which are still going strong to but then I was told I was this very day. dangerous years ago. If you’re not And now that Dave is, in his own words, “a dangerous, you’re boring” grandmother of drag”, what does he think of “When I was young and getting to know the the new British drag artists who are fearlessly scene, in my mind there were three royal variety Opportunities have come Dave’s way throughout taking the world by storm? venues: the Royal Vauxhall Tavern – if you his career that were very rare in the drag world got a gig at the Vauxhall it was like getting at the time, breaking through to the mainstream “I absolutely love and admire the new acts a huge thumbs up from everyone; The Black was not a given, only afforded to a select few of today. I look at some younger artists and DAVE LYNN WITH HIS MUM Cap, and then joining them later on, the Two drag artists of his generation and generations Brewers. The Union Tavern was also a big immediately before and after – there were no deal at that time – it was almost like a little Drag Race golden tickets offering instant fame theatre. But the Vauxhall was the most famous; every year. Dave worked hard to be seen as a I remember it being on TV, and seeing Lee Paris ‘serious actor’ and as such has been cast in performing on the bar. Everyone wanted to play numerous TV shows and films – most famously DAVE LYNN WITH MICHAEL TOPPING, HIS PARTNER FOR SEVEN YEARS Beautiful Thing, Silent Witness, Coronation Street. But at what price comes fame? “A lot of painful things start happening when you get very successful; people can be very cruel. Then there was the loss of my parents. You know... people change. And I know I certainly used alcohol a lot when I was miserable. Which sometimes was, actually sometimes is, still my enemy. But I fight against that. Truly I do. Life hasn’t been that perfect. My parents didn’t want me to go into showbiz because they thought I was too sensitive. And to be honest, I thought they were right at the GsceneScene 2333 DAVE LYNN BACK IN THE DAY think they shouldn’t do this and that because it’s a bit dangerous, but then I was told I was dangerous years ago. If you’re not dangerous, you’re boring.” Being a nurturer to young artists who are finding their feet on the scene is something that’s very important to Dave, and he believes that should be standard across the board. That sense of family and belonging has long been a part of the culture of drag: “Maisie Trollette and I used to always - and still do - encourage new acts because the gay and drag scene is a community, it always has been. Some other acts hated us because we were putting on shows to try and find new talent; I even had my own drag academy. I would say to other queens: ‘Darling, if we don’t carry this on, or encourage it as an art form it will die. We need young blood’. At first some were upset because new acts were getting more bookings and they were losing out, but that’s just how life goes. It happened when I was young, and has happened to me as I’ve grown older. We should be all encouraging acts – that’s so vital. I’m thrilled that in this terrible and dark time we are living through right now I can switch on my TV and see a friend or someone I know doing what I do, showcasing drag to a huge audience. That’s incredible.” “I never knew what I was when I was very young, I just knew there was something different about me because I wasn’t like the rest of my friends.” Now with the world on pause, but with glimmers of light finally shining through, what does the future hold for this giant of the drag world, where will Dave Lynn go from here? “I’ve been asking myself this a lot throughout the lockdowns. When I look back at my career I feel great. Not many people can say that. The age bit I never really understood. I often think of Maisie, who doesn’t care about age and just carries on doing what she loves. But of course not everyone is the same. I think after the pandemic it will be like a new beginning for all of us, when the venues are fully open and lockdowns are a distant memory. I would like to perhaps direct and write. I’d love to write a book. There’s a couple of things I’m currently working on, a documentary being one of them. “I’ve also been thinking more about a book that’s written from the heart – that’s very important to me, it must have real meaning. We’ve got to make things feel good. I’ve obviously got my battles; I’m old now, and there’s younger acts chomping at the bit. I will continue to work thanks to the reputation that I’ve built up over the years through hard work and determination. I can’t do the things I did 30 years ago, but I wanna see it though. Let’s just say that. I’ll continue performing beyond lockdowns and Covid-19. That’s not the way I want to stop, I’ll do it on my terms.” Piece illustrated with photography by Tom Selmon - www.tomselmon.com 34 Scene

Brighton & Hove Pride 2021 With Brighton & Hove Pride confirmed for August 6-8, 2021 The current pandemic has impacted hugely on charities, community groups and businesses, the organisers respond to some questions about the event and importantly on their ability to deliver put by Scene magazine their services, and Pride is no different. In a normal year we would advocate for ) How is Brighton & Hove Pride different the festival in Preston Park with its multiple community gatherings and events so we can to other Prides? sites and entertainment stages, dance tents, meet, support and celebrate our hard fought Here in Brighton & Hove we have a long cabaret venues, food stalls and so much more. for rights, but also campaign for the rights history of Pride and are recognised as one Most other cities in the UK do not have the of those marginalised communities at home of the most welcoming cities in the UK with size and location of facilities to match what and abroad who still suffer persecution on everyone from local businesses to education we can offer. a daily basis. We are committed to fighting hubs and residents really getting behind the What is the future of Pride? for the rights of all members of the LGBTQ+ celebrations to show off our fine city in the When we were handed the baton as the family and standing with those who suffer best light. organisers of Pride, the event was in dire homophobia, transphobia, biphobia and What makes us different from other Prides, financial difficulty, many of the themes were racism. and special, is that we have a high-profile somewhat frivolous and there was virtually no Under the seven-year tenure of Brighton city centre parade route that leads directly to campaigning and very little fundraising. Pride CIC, we are proud that the organisation BRIGHTON & HOVE PRIDE 2019. PHOTO: JAMES DALY has become more financially stable, with a small reserve that enables us to work on the year-round planning process. “Protest and campaigning will always be at the heart of Pride and we should never forget our roots and continue to fight for marginalised members of our community” Pride by nature has campaigning and protest at its roots, and in the changing political environment must continue to listen and evolve. We must continue, now more than ever, to stand together as one LGBTQ+ community. How can Pride respond to the voiced needs of the community who want a more politicised activist presence to raise legitimate concerns about the current political situation and real equality? Pride means different things to different BRIGHTON & HOVE PRIDE 2019. PHOTO: JAMES DALY Scene 35

“Pride by nature has campaigning and protest at its roots, and in the changing political environment must continue to listen and evolve. We must continue, now more than ever, to stand together as one LGBTQ+ community” the most important thing we have found is the benefit of positive working relationships with local partners, local authorities, the council, transport providers and blue light services. It is vital that we listen to and engage with the community, local business and their LGBTQ+ employees while being mindful that as your Pride grows there are greater challenges and requirements put in people. For some, Pride is a celebration Like many charities and local LGBTQ+ place with cost implications for health and of how far we have come, for some it is a organisations, sponsorship has become an safety, traffic management, transport etc. protest of issues and rights that still need essential part of their annual income to help Having a fundraising plan is also essential. fighting for and for others it is a combination with the ongoing provision of services and We have found that relying of people to put of the two. Protest and campaigning will certainly we’d not be able to deliver the Pride money in buckets on the day raises very little always be at the heart of Pride and we should weekend and see the huge benefits to the for charity, in fact the Brighton Rainbow never forget our roots and continue to fight city and our fundraising without sponsorship Fund calculated on the day giving at 11p for marginalised members of our community. support. per person, so having some specific ticketed We endeavour to offer a safe space at We are very mindful that all businesses we fundraising events allows you to support our events for the whole community to engage with must have a serious LGBTQ+ many more local charities and community demonstrate how Pride manifests in their policy and messaging and actively support groups. life, underpinned by a fundraising mechanism diversity and inclusion and their LGBTQ+ Brighton & Hove Pride to return in 2021! that ensures we can raise money for our local employees. This also applies to the Pride charities and community groups that do such Community Parade where all entrants must Following the roadmap to end lockdown in essential work all year round. adhere to a comprehensive set of standards. the UK, Brighton & Hove Pride has announced its 30th anniversary celebrations will be “We are committed to fighting We are not interested in companies that going ahead on the weekend of August 6-8, for the rights of all members just want to push their newest product on 2021. More info/tix: www.brighton-pride.org of the LGBTQ+ family and our community but we are interested in standing with those who suffer supporting companies with their LGBTQ+ Since 2013, Brighton & Hove Pride has raised homophobia, transphobia, campaigns and giving visibility to their just under £1million for LGBTQ+ causes in the biphobia and racism” employees’ networks, and over the last city, funds which are distributed by the three years several sponsors have agreed Brighton Rainbow Fund. After Pride’s previous management going to make direct contributions to the bankrupt in 2010, this model was agreed to Look out for more news on Pride with a Brighton Rainbow Fund. ensure ongoing funding for our local LGBTQ+ full breakdown of its Cultural Development charities, community groups and projects. Pride has become a beautiful monster, isn’t Programme in the next issue. it about time the city had a more strategic We are immensely proud to have raised Have your say on the future of Brighton approach to this magnificent beast? almost £1million in the past seven years & Hove Pride and WIN VIP tickets to the As event organisers we totally agree and at that, through the Brighton Rainbow Fund Pride Festival! our Pride Summit in 2018 specifically put and Pride Social Impact Fund, has directly forward the suggestion that there was a city- Pride is conducting a public survey to get supported marginalised people through the wide strategy for all large events in Brighton feedback on what you like and don’t like pandemic as well as throughout the year, and & Hove. While we take full responsibility about Brighton & Hove Pride to help them, ensured the viability of many of our essential for the safe running and clean-up of all our and their partner agencies, plan for the community groups that otherwise would not official event sites, we are not responsible for future. All answers will be anonymous and have survived during this period of austerity the whole city and all the visitors that come strictly confidential. and funding cuts from central government. for the beach and other attractions. Brighton & Hove Pride says: “We value your Criticism of some Prides is that they are Through our CityAngels initiative we already views and feedbackit helps us change and very corporate. How can Brighton & Hove sponsor beach cleans and put in place improve. Pride work in and with the corporate and additional resources for the cleaning of the commercial word to ensure fair treatment “We want to ensure we’re doing everything we city’s streets but there clearly needs to be a of LGBTQ+ people across the world is part can to achieve our vision and support LGBTQ+ city-wide strategy for events that attract large of its ethical engagements policy? people during the Festival and throughout the crowds such as Pride, the Brighton Marathon Historically, Pride organisations have always year.” and the Brighton Festival, as well as bank sought to engage with local groups and holiday weekends and rallies. All participants who respond to the survey businesses to help fund the delivery of by April 1 are eligible to be entered into the events. Indeed, looking back at a Pride What advice would you have, as leader of prize draw for VIP tickets. programme from 1995 the organisers were one of the most successful Pride events in looking for support from businesses and ‘big Europe, for smaller Prides just starting up? To complete the survey, visit: companies’. Pride cannot be organised in isolation and www.brighton-pride.org/survey2021 36 Scene

been proud of my husband as I’ve watched him listening to a young person’s story, and just being the supportive and caring guy that he is. “At the start of our journey with Nightstop we wondered how young people would react to being placed with a gay couple, but we quickly learned this wasn’t an issue at all. Young people today just don’t care so much about those things; we’ve just been seen as any other family they may have stayed with, and they’ve all been just as accepting of us as we are of them. And when we’ve had gay or trans young people to stay, it’s taken on an even greater meaning for us, as we’ve been able to do something meaningful for our own Sussex Nightstop community. Alison Marino is executive director of Brighton-based charity “None of this would be possible without Sussex Nightstop, which co-ordinates volunteer hosts who the confidence gained through the training provide a safe place to stay for people who are homeless or Nightstop provides, as well as the support at risk of homelessness provided when hosting. Advice is always just a phone call away, so you never feel you’re on ) Sussex Nightstop creates and coordinates What difference has Covid-19 made? your own. a community of volunteers who provide access Covid-19 has brought even more anxiety for “The biggest difference is giving to a safe, non-judgemental, inclusive place those facing or experiencing homelessness. me somewhere safe to be. Not to stay for people who are homeless or at Many families and individuals have faced needing to stress and worry about risk of homelessness. Its vision is a society challenging lockdown circumstances and the where everyone has access to a secure and end of the furlough scheme and the prospect where you are going to sleep that sustainable home and the opportunity to sleep of a recession on the horizon will only night” – Sussex Nightstop guest safe every night. precipitate the issues that place people at risk “I’d really encourage anyone with the time and of homelessness. Who does Sussex Nightstop help? space to get involved with Nightstop hosting Sussex Nightstop provides a safety-net for Never has a community response been so to give it a go. It really is the most wonderful young people and adults aged 16 upwards in needed and ensuring we have a pool of feeling knowing a young person is safe, well- the Brighton & Hove area who may otherwise volunteer hosts ready and waiting is a top fed and refreshed because of you and that be forced to sleep rough, with all the risks that priority. That is why we are currently looking you’re a part of them finding somewhere to call go with that, including the very real threat to for new host households. If you think you home. Plus, you get to meet some nice, smart, physical and mental wellbeing. could help someone experiencing homelessness funny, interesting people along the way.” through short stays (roughly four to seven Somewhere safe to sleep is essential. Feeling Get involved nights) then we’d love to hear from you. warm and secure, having a hot meal and being We’re inviting ALL members of our caring treated with dignity provides people with the and diverse community – all genders, faiths, rest, energy and confidence with which to ethnicities and sexual identities – with a access the resources and support necessary to spare room to join our community response find a safe, longer-term home. Our volunteer to homelessness. hosts provide that. By opening up their spare room for short stays, people can sleep well, If you think the rewarding role of volunteer share a family meal, access crucial amenities, host is for you then get in touch: including somewhere private to wash and, www.sussexnightstop.org.uk/contact-us/ above all, experience kindness in an otherwise Full training, support (including 24-hour on- bleak situation. call service) and nightly hosting expenses are The majority of Nightstop guests have either made available to all of our host volunteers. suffered a family or relationship breakdown D www.sussexnightstop.org.uk or breakdown of their tenancy, often brought t f DAVID & MARK @SussexNightstop Sussex Nightstop about by a number of combining pressures, David and his partner, Mark, have been such as financial strain, the challenge of living To make a donation, visit: https://localgiving. hosting with Sussex Nightstop since 2014. with poor mental health and a local private org/charity/sussexnightstop/ David says: rental market increasingly beyond affordability. We also know that some people are more “Me and my husband had been looking for vulnerable than others; worryingly 24% of a volunteering opportunity for some time young homeless people identify as LGBTQ+ when we came across Sussex Nightstop. Our with 77% believing that coming out to their first thought was that it was a brilliant idea, parents was the main factor. but also a little bit scary. Some of the most rewarding things in life are though, so we At Nightstop we also know that guests are decided to give it a shot. individuals – both interesting and interested in life, often working or studying, who have “Hosting the 40 or so young people we have aspirations and plans and who just need a taken in so far has been the most rewarding secure place from which to navigate this thing we’ve ever done, and has actually difficult time in their life. brought us together as a couple. I’ve often ROSE'S STILL-INTACT SOUVENIR BAG FROM GAY PRIDE 1979 Scene 37 'TIME OUT' ISSUE FOR GAY PRIDE 1979

The Boy and The Bear As part of her ongoing Arts Council England-funded Forty Years Out (And Counting): Performing The Archive multi-media project, The Boy and The Bear was written, performed, recorded, edited, arranged and produced by Seaford-based performer and writer Rose Collis during the 2020-21 lockdown ) The Boy and The Bear was inspired by, Funny, provocative and moving, the film several months of watching people do that, I and draws on, sections of the research and includes personal testimony, letters, figured that audiences might want something a script development of her new solo stage show photographs, diaries, ephemera, news cuttings little more interesting to watch or listen to, and (postponed until 2022) — a scripted and and others materials from the extensive archive I certainly wanted to work on something more performed audio-visual account of the rich of Rose Collis curated over five decades, plus challenging. personal and political journey taken by Rose some of her original music.

DAILY MAIL HEADLINE “After that, it took on a life of its own – and Collis and her then closest gay male friend, who this film is the result. It’s been really exciting both came out in 1978. to teach myself how to use all this fabulous The personal stories unwind against a social equipment and software, especially as it and political backdrop and context of early Gay presents me with new opportunities to take Pride marches; police harassment; anti-fascist/ work to global public audiences, now and in anti-racist activism; ‘agit-prop’ gay and feminist the future. theatre; the London lesbian and gay scene and “And I did it all here from my desk at home in media of the late 1970s and early ’80s; and the Seaford. What’s not to like? first decade of the AIDS crisis — all viewed through the lens of a veteran lesbian writer, “I hope what I’ve done inspires other older “It’s rather funny how this film came about,” performer and activist who participated in, women artists to be confident about embracing Rose Collis wryly reflects. “Once lockdown witnessed and chronicled these events. digital equipment and technology to create

ROSE COLLIS AGED 19 IN 1979 came and I had to postpone the stage show, I their work, and tell more women’s stories. We had to think about delivering different project are 51.9% of the population – the majority, outcomes. Arts Council England was very treated like a minority, and our histories are so flexible about re-purposing my Project Grant to often overlooked, hidden or forgotten. buy relevant equipment. “And I’m already planning my next film project “So – for less than £500 in total – I bought a – so watch this space.” complete podcast/audio recording equipment kit; a Canon professional quality digital video D To see The Boy and The Bear, visit: https:// camera kit; a digital projector, stand and youtu.be/g3pNXvMSlRM tripod project screen, and downloaded the D www.rosecollis.com free Windows Movie Maker video software and ROSE WHEN IT CAME TO LONDON IN THE EARLY 90S) SYLVESTER'S PANEL ON THE AIDS QUILT (PHOTO BY Audacity professional audio recording software. “I immediately saw the potential of simple audio-visual digital pieces and originally envisaged doing a series of five-minute, ‘straight-to-PC-camera’ vlogs. But then I realised just as quickly how boring that would be for audiences – and for me. I mean, that sort of piece is all well and good, but I think after 38 Scene

“I’m a huge fan of the cabaret scene in Brighton and have lived here for 15 years. I love all the performers and somebody gave me an introduction to David, saying he was lovely, colourful, and he let me into his life. I just sort of fell in love with him” the curtain falls. David can be challenging at times and it was an eye-opener, but it’s quite touching in the way he was so open to exposing himself and the frailties of old age. “There are many amazing coming out stories on film, but what about the other end of our experiences? It’s just not sexy – trying to raise money to help make the film was difficult. A The Doyenne of Drag lot of younger people in the community think Lee Cooper, of Proper Charlie Productions, made “an intimate drag is RuPaul and that very British, end- of-the-pier, panto-style of drag faces being portrait of ageing and friendship”, following the life of David Raven, replaced by pageant queens – which I do think the performer behind Maisie Trollette, in the run-up to their 85th are brilliant – so it’s a dying art form.” birthday. Lee talks to Jaq Bayles about the project In order to complete the documentary Lee ) Britain’s oldest performing drag artiste and project” as: “An intimate portrait of ageing and his cameraman, Sam Parsons, and sound scene treasure Maisie Trollette, aka David and friendship in the LGBTQ+ community. expert Shane Gravestock, spent three years Raven, is the subject of a new documentary Viewers can follow David as he counts down “on and off” following the cabaret legend by Brighton film-maker Lee Cooper, who set to his 85th birthday [in 2018] and all the around. out to make a piece of work that addresses celebrations on the way. Lee picks up the tale from the beginning. the twin concepts of ageing in the LGBTQ+ “It’s very much about exploring ageing in the “I am relatively new to film-making, my community and the “dying art” of panto-style community and it’s a warts-and-all look at background is in fashion art direction. But I drag. that. In some of the backstage footage he was went to film school and as part of the course Lee describes his 75-minute “passion generous enough to let us see everything when we were tasked with creating a documentary. A STILL FROM THE FILM A STILL FROM THE FILM LEE COOPER

The Trollettes , and are planning planning are , and , which was written for for written was , which Two To One To Two For more information, visit: information, more For

be released in the summer. in the be released are “We stop there. work doesn’t But the the including charities, of a number to talking Fund Brighton Rainbow of a charity single on releasing singing them. date a release of confirmation we get “When hopefully that and will release we film the for film.” to the soundtrack the release D www.propercharlieproductions.com

, The The Three Three The If I NeverIf I , Dave Lynn Dave Sonia and and came on board and helped helped and on board came . Lee is currently seeking seeking . Lee is currently ”, while viewers will catch in will catch ”, while viewers and the “big finish is one is one finish “big the and Miss Jason Rozalla and and BFI Doc Society everyone knows and loves him for, loves him for, and knows everyone Song Another Sing of likes the background the Degrees will documentary the hopes and distribution “really exploring how the cabaret community community cabaret the how exploring “really look after David”. supports and Luckily, songs. the are there course, of Then, the permission songs, the of usage the to pay for “This cheap. coming not in film to use them the to distribute will be able we means will be everyone and worldwide documentary behind watching well as to enjoy it. As able the in scenes the can enjoy they scenes the cabaret.” are feature that old favourites Among Lady is a Tramp birthday? He told us he was going to be in was going told us he He birthday? been to had never month, next the London The here. love to come would and Brighton stars aligned.” at together a performance artists did two The female as their met they but “before Legends, tea,” afternoon for men as met they alter egos US the of meeting big was the “It Lee. says Dame.” Queen with Britain’s Panto Pageant the theme, ageing the exploring While fun stuff skimp on the doesn’t documentary cabaret well-known other featuring either, as such names would love to have his involvement in the film in the involvement have his would love to David’s for something record he would and

, who “comes “comes , who put Lee on the trail trail put Lee on the Darcelle XV Darcelle aka aka Walter Cole, Walter David. David. out he we found when Walter contacted “We we said and holder world record was the of lives in queens”, drag of line a long from than two years older is and Oregon, Portland, there was anyone older doing the same thing thing same the doing older was anyone there world.” in the elsewhere Records Guinness World unexpected bonus. unexpected performing oldest was the David knew “We if we wondered in Britain, but artiste drag At that point Lee only had around four four had around Lee only that point At put together exclusively footage, of minutes in began then his course work, so filming for an unearthed research ensuing the and earnest the documentary about Maisie? She reignited reignited She about Maisie? documentary the it had been a I realised and in me that interest quite itched.” I had not scratch left turn and made a horror film in Spain. At film in Spain. At a horror made left turn and up came known, is who a director, premier the was where film but enjoyed the she said and colourful life. He was really generous about generous was really He colourful life. his life. into me letting a complete I did course the I finished “When colourful, and he let me into his life. I just his life. into let me he colourful, and him. with fell in love of sort a has led such and a character such “He’s “I’m a huge fan of the cabaret scene in scene cabaret the of fan a huge “I’m I 15 years. for lived here have and Brighton gave me somebody and performers love all the was lovely, he saying to David, an introduction 40 Scene

exploits inspired the sexual revolution of the 1960s, while the bohemian interiors of Charleston went on to inspire many designers. As you’re taking a tour around the house, you’re seeing the original vision that would go on to add a splash of colour and character to homes all over the world. The style of the property is timeless. Beyond the charming furnishings, the stories of what went on in the house are quite something. Your tour guide will fill you in on all the details. Although Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell lived together and had a child, Grant was openly gay. Social and sexual experimentation were the order of the day among the Bloomsbury Set. Such behaviour was not only allowed, in many cases it was encouraged. The columnist Peter Hitchens has credited the Jewel of the South Downs Bloomsbury Set with giving us the liberal sexual politics of today. As Quentin Crisp said, he Alex Klineberg gives a tour of Charleston, the came from a time that was so conservative, if a Bloomsbury Set’s glamorous country retreat near Firle girl wanted to wear nail polish she had to leave home for good. The Bloomsbury Set changed all ) One day, when we emerge from lockdown The London properties of the Bloomsbury Set of that. with terrible hair and depleted social skills, were destroyed in The Blitz. Charleston is the Another Bloomsbury and Charleston luminary booking a trip somewhere will be at the top of only Bloomsbury property to survive with the was economist John Maynard Keynes. He was my list. While travelling abroad might be off the original furnishings intact. And what lovely also gay, although he would later marry Lydia table for the foreseeable, staycations and day furnishings they are. Vanessa Bell and Duncan Lopokova, a Russian ballerina. One day, while trips might be the best we can hope for. Grant were both great designers and artists. sitting on a bench in Charleston garden, he Charleston became a life-long artistic project One of the best day trips you can take from wrote arguably the most important letter in as well as a home. They painted everything Brighton is to Charleston in Firle, which was British history. In the letter, he pleaded with themselves, from the fireplace to the dining the Sussex home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan the Americans to send financial and military aid table. The property has been preserved exactly Grant. It became a country retreat for the to support the fight against Nazi Germany. The as they left it. It’s now managed by the Bloomsbury Set, which was a group of writers, letter yielded the desired result, but the British National Trust. artists and intellectuals, many of whom lived in government wouldn’t finish off paying the debt Bloomsbury – yeah, that’s where they got the The Bloosbury Set is credited with helping to until Gordon Brown was prime minister. This is name. eshaping the culture we live in. Their sexual one of endless Bloomsbury anecdotes you might CHARLESTON STUDIO. PHOTO: PENELOPE FEWSTER DUNCAN GRANT'S STUDY. PHOTO: PENELOPE FEWSTER

hear as you explore the house. You can even a little morbid, you can retrace Virginia’s final You can still see the faded paint on the kitchen take a selfie on the bench looking all pensive. steps to the River Ouse where she ended her table made by decades of elbow marks. It’ll life – it’s just ten minutes from Monk’s House. make you wonder about the marks you’ll leave Virginia Woolf was Vanessa Bell’s sister. She behind. While few of us can hope to leave a lived in Monk’s House just outside Lewes. Anyhow, back to Charleston. As you’ve gathered mark like the luminaries of the Bloomsbury Set She used to walk to Charleston and join her by now, many of the most influential British did, visiting Charleston will inspire you to up sister’s friends in their bohemian exploits. If figures of the 20th century were regulars at your game. The Bloomsbury Set may have been you’re really looking to expand your Bloomsbury Charleston. Towards the end of her life, Virginia overachievers, but they also mastered the art knowledge, you can also take a trip to what Woolf said to her sister that while she had the of friendship and good living. “Only connect,” was Virginia’s house, which is nowhere near fame and the career, Vanessa Bell had the family Bloomsbury author EM Forster famously said. as interesting as Charleston. If you’re feeling and the beautiful home. DUNCAN GRANT'S BEDROOM. PHOTO: PENELOPE FEWSTER And as Virginia Woolf discovered at the end, although she became a legend, she’d probably have traded it all in to live the life her sister had at Charleston. After lockdown, book a trip to Charleston. The guided tour will take just over an hour. You’ll feel very sophisticated.

D www.charleston.org.uk CHARLESTON DINING ROOM. PHOTO LEE ROBBINS 42 Scene

non-binary people together, maybe a livestream – still working on this but check social media and our website for info nearer the time! How has the campaign grown since its inception? Football v Homophobia has been going for years now, but FvT only really started as a specific campaign in 2019 with the first week of action scheduled to coincide with Trans Day of Visibility. That year we did a few small awareness campaigns, some social media, and some clubs got involved with some designated fixtures, including football league match day programmes. Last year we had bigger plans, but of course the pandemic intervened, forcing us to do most of it online. This went a lot better than Football v Transphobia we could’ve imagined, as our #bintransphobia campaign got loads of people excited about The #FvT2021 campaign kicks off the week leading up filming themselves finding imaginative ways of to Trans Visibility Week on March 31. Natalie Washington, getting a football into a bin during lockdown. campaign lead, tells us more... This year we’re still doing the vast majority online, but hopefully next year we can have ) Organisers of Football v Transphobia (FvT) of allies, and how the game is enriched by the more actual football in the campaign. are putting the finishing touches to plans for presence of trans and non-binary people. Idea this year’s week of action, which takes place is to get people to share videos, images etc on the week leading up to Trans Visibility Week social media talking about who they are, what on March 31. Natalie Washington, FvT lead, they do in football, and, if they’re an ally, how shares what they’re working on and answers a trans people being in football has enriched couple of questions. To keep up to date with their experience, and if they are trans, how plans, visit www.footballvhomophobia.com or being in football has enriched their life. To get follow @FvHtweets on Twitter. involved in this part of the campaign, tweet #TransFootyAlly during the week of action. • Podcasts with some trans people in football – focusing a lot more on their actual involvement • We’re looking to share something on the in football than gender stuff, with the idea Pathway to Play – outlining the rules for

of inspiring trans and non-binary people, but gendered participation, highlighting the FvT KIT also portraying us as fully rounded people with difficulties this poses to the non-binary Has trans representation in football improved lives in the game. Hoping to have players, community, and giving a spotlight to the in recent years? supporters and people involved in administering LGBTQ+ and gender inclusive leagues and teams Trans people have always been in football, but or covering the game. in the UK that welcome trans and non-binary in recent years we have seen some first steps people to play. towards greater representation. We have some • #TransFootyAlly campaign asking for wider great trans football writers emerging, and there participation on social media around the value • Some sort of fun event to get some trans and are a good number of trans footballers playing at a grassroots level, with one or two at a really competitive semi-pro level in England. We’re seeing trans people taking their places in the LGBTQ+ supporters groups, and beginning to feel safer to be visible in stadia (when we can go to them), as well as in administrative and support roles on and off the pitch. There’s a long way to go but seeing players like the Canadian international player Quinn being open about their identity is a huge boost. Trans people still face real barriers in getting into the game, in many countries being restricted to their sex assigned at birth, and in the vast majority of cases there is little or no provision for non-binary people. We hope by continuing to celebrate trans and non-binary identity in the game, and by providing resources to help clubs and administrative bodies to be more inclusive, that we can move in the right direction. Get Involved The FvT week of action will take place the week leading up to Trans Day of Visibility on March 31. During the week of action, use #FvT2021, and/or #TransFootyAlly, and tag @FvHtweets. NATALIE WASHINGTON

Marcus H - Belfast Photography & words: Liam Campbell, editor & chief photographer of Elska magazine

Although I had suspicions about Northern Ireland being a conservative place, I kind of assumed that this was more just a stereotype. So I wasn’t prepared for how difficult it would be to find guys willing to take part in myElska magazine project when I arrived in Belfast. I decided to reach out to the local drag scene, figuring that drag queens are often some of the most bold, brave, and activist people in any city. One of the first people I spoke to was Marcus, aka Lady Portia Di’ Monte, who quickly got on board, and also helped spread the word to some other Belfast guys, as well as offering me a place to crash if I needed it. It was all and more that I expected from probably Northern Ireland’s most legendary queen. Funnily, Marcus was pretty nervous during our shoot, that is until he put on this dress. I suppose he’s more used to the camera when in drag, and even though our shoot was ‘untucked’, a bit of drag helped give him some of the courage and fierceness he needed.

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drag king competition called Man Up.” The pandemic has brought life grinding to a halt, as if you needed reminding. The effect has been especially extreme for the travel and hospitality industries. Successful businesses were forced to shut and watch their profits evaporate. And then came the tiers system that even government ministers struggle to clearly articulate. The Glory was able to open with restricted capacity and table service in Tier 2. The Culture Recovery Fund proved to be a lifeline. “We’ve been very lucky, not everyone got grants. The furlough scheme also helped. The government COLIN (IN PURPLE WIG) AT THE FIRST BUTTMITZVAH. PHOTO EIVIND HANSEN could have done more, of course. We were one of the last countries to lock down and our Hope & The Glory borders have been open. London is very much The Glory is the place to party in East London and is one of the most an international hub. There has been help, but popular LGBTQ+ bars in the country. But then the pandemic came hospitality has been hit the worst. Amazon along and it was forced to close. Colin Rothbart, a co-founder of The and the supermarkets have seen their profits Glory and TV director, tells us of its origins, how it became so popular increase. There are winners and losers in a and the nature of running a bar during a pandemic pandemic. It’s accelerating the move to online shopping and online everything. People are ) Colin dated performance artist Jonny Woo going to be called The Hackney Carriage; we using apps more, from Deliveroo to Grindr,” for several years. One day, they decided to open also considered Her Majesty’s Pleasure. The says Colin. a bar together. Colin explains: “While we were Crown and Glory was also in the offing, but that Tier 2 was only just profitable. Overheads together, I had an informal club in my garden sounds like a dentist so we called it The Glory.” remained just as high but profit margins were called The Shed. We had big after parties. It The venue has been a pub for around two dramatically squeezed. People were queuing up became quite well known in East London.” The centuries and it was called The Victory. The to get into The Glory, but the venue was forced Shed still pops up every once in a while from building itself dates back to around 1815, so to turn people away when it reached capacity. Colin’s garden. Well, it will when venues can ‘The Glory’ is also a reference to the Napoleonic reopen. “I’m a TV director; Jonny’s a performer. “Historically, pandemics seem to last for 18 Wars. East London queers dancing the night Opening a bar made sense, although venues are months to two years. Societies tend to go back away. Nelson and the Duke of Wellington really expensive in London and it took us years to normal after pandemics. After the Spanish Flu would be proud! to find one we could afford in the right area. in 1918 you had the Roaring 20s. It was a boom We went into business with John Sizzle and “We wanted somewhere with a performance time. Hopefully, we’ll have another Roaring 20s. opened The Glory in December 2014.” space,” Colin says. “It’s an alternative gay bar Make out on a dancefloor, go see live shows! – not your mainstream West End gay bar. It’s For the few months when things reopened in While it all happened quite quickly, taking over somewhere that gives stage time to someone summer, we were packed. The demand to go out the bar came with considerable risk. “I was who might not normally get it. We want it to was still there.” nervous. My whole life savings went into it. My appeal to the whole spectrum of the LGBTQ+ dad told me not to do it. Haggerston, where The internet cannot act as a substitute for real community – from gay to non-binary and the pub is, is called the Bermuda Triangle – not life, as we’ve all discovered during lockdown. trans. That’s why I think it works; it’s fun for quite Dalston and not quite Shoreditch. It has Scrolling through Instagram and watching everyone, regardless of sex, race or gender. to be a destination venue. Whereas Dalston YouTube videos doesn’t match making out on We do collaborations with performers and Superstore gets lots of passing trade due to its the dance floor of a packed club. promoters. We’ve collaborated with clubs in location. NYC and Berlin. We did a Jewish gay club night “We’re hoping we can open around April – “At the time, The Black Cap, The Joiners Arms called BUTTMITZVAH. We’ve done Polish, Latino, fingers crossed. It’ll be interesting to see what and various other gay bars had closed – it Afro-Caribbean and Spanish gay nights. We’ve happens with the vaccines. Do we need vaccine seemed like the time to do it. It was originally done lesbian nights, including a super-popular passports? Will low-risk people be vaccinated last?” The Glory’s patrons are generally in the low risk category! “Our capacity is 250 people and we had to go down to around 80 in Tier 2. It’s stressful for bar staff, cleaning the toilets every hour, everyone wearing masks. You go along with it because you have to. We want to be open but we have to do it in line with government guidelines. The key is to stay in business, we got support but many gay venues didn’t.” The Glory has a devoted following and it’s a truly unique venue. One thing is for sure: if the vaccine programme succeeds the new Roaring 20s will be in full swing at The Glory. D For more info on The Glory, visit: www.theglory.co COLIN ROTHBART (R) WITH BETH DITTO 20 Gscene Scene 45

that brave. Russell has definitely added his own imagination to that part of the story.” What is true to life is the depiction of the young Jill visiting patients with AIDS – often their only visitor. “My time visiting hospitals on a regular basis spanned the best part of a decade. In the early years I went as a volunteer just to help fight the stigma and then in a more intense way when people very close to me fell ill. I was always in a hospital ward, it seems.” ”My feelings at the time were fear and confusion – fear of a mystery illness and much like now, confusion and misinformation or simply lack of information” #BeMoreJill Jill has kept involved with AIDS-related fundraising with the charity West End Cares, Brian Butler catches up with Jill Nalder, the inspiration and over the years with some fundraising for behind the central character from Channel 4’s It’s A Sin The Sussex Beacon in Brighton with David Raven, aka Maisie Trollette. “Now our theatre ) Jill Nalder has had a distinguished and wide- We had the best flat ever,” she tells me. charity is called Theatre MAD – Make A ranging stage career, but I guess nothing could The staggering central theme of the series is the Difference – and we are right now planning our have prepared her for the amazing AIDS-era nature of the illness and its painful untreated next fundraising event in the West End when we TV series It’s A Sin, where she plays opposite a spread, leading almost always to death. Jill finally come out of lockdown.” fellow actor, Lydia West, who is playing Jill’s says: “The loss of my friends has left a big gap younger self. in my life. I feel so sad that they have missed And creator Russell T Davies adds another spin so many years. Sadly someone who was part – Jill plays TV Jill’s mother in the Channel 4 of the Pink Palace did die in the early 1990s. series. How was that I ask her – coming face to In It’s A Sin the characters are a mixture of face with her younger self? “It was very surreal the personalities of many of my friends and of – more so off the set in discussions rather than Russell’s. during the filming. Once you are actually acting “My time visiting hospitals on a you are so concerned with the job and making regular basis spanned the best the scene work, you forget the real-life story.“ part of a decade. In the early Her long connection with Russell started when years I went as a volunteer just to they met at West Glamorgan Youth Theatre as help fight the stigma and then in teenagers. “It was a county drama course. We a more intense way when people Jill’s theatre career has been heavily populated loved it. We had such a laugh, a lot of crazy very close to me fell ill” with musicals since she left college – Annie, times and we – a small group of us – have been Gypsy, Godspell, Oliver! and Les Mis as well as ”My feelings at the time were fear and friends ever since.“ extensive UK tours – a total of eight years in confusion – fear of a mystery illness and, the West End. “That was joy. Recently before Central to the story of It’s A Sin is the Pink much like now, confusion and misinformation It’s A Sin I was in a film called Finding Your Feet Palace where five young friends set up home or simply lack of information. The stigma and and I also work with my own theatre company, initially unaware of the tsunami approaching. prejudice then was very different though.” set up with fellow Les Mis performers Linda “The Pink Palace was our nickname for our flat Her parents were extremely supportive although Jarvis and Jon Osbaldeston, together with life- when we were in drama college. It was seriously they didn’t march as in the TV episode depicting long friend and West End MD Jae Alexander. pink! The furniture – sofa and chairs – were a demonstration. “However, they did come The company – WestEnders – performs staged dusky pink dralon. There were long pink velvet down from Wales many, many times to all our musical concerts everywhere from Brighton to curtains, dark pinky/purple wallpaper and sort fundraising events’ “ Jill says. the Amazon.” of dark pink carpets. It had many chandeliers and solid silver cutlery. It really was a palace. “I didn’t get arrested as Jill Baxter does. I’m not Was she surprised by the outpouring of feeling over It’s A Sin? “I’m overwhelmed by the public reaction to the series. We all are. It is so, so exciting. It seems we are trending all over social media – unbelievable!“ she says. As the weekly slot of the series comes to an end, it’s obvious that the young Jill is the glue that keeps these friends together and leads to behind-the-scenes work caring for those who suffered the onslaught of not only a then-deadly illness but the public and media ignorance and phobia at the time. And real-life Jill Nalder is still supplying that glue today – some 40 years on. It’s even been given a social media tag – #BeMoreJill. Fabulous lady. D For more info on Theatre MAD - Make a Difference, visit: www.madtrust.org.uk LYDIA WEST (L) AND JILL NALDER (R) 2046 GsceneScene

We chat to two couples from a new project which jobs where there was no pressure to hide my sexuality. London was becoming an exciting celebrates those who found love in the decade of and varied scene around then with places like social division, and the AIDS/HIV epidemic The Bell in Kings Cross and The Asylum at Heaven catering for a pretty left-field crowd of ) The We Found Love In The 80s project, it was a friend of a friend, then a friend and underground sounds and styles, which is where I launched to coincide with LGBTQ+ History ex-partners. It was terrifying, there was no test felt I fitted at last. Month last month and supported by Arts and I thought I was going to die. For a while Council England and Future Arts Centres, was I tried to block it out but that changed a few “My family, especially my sister, created by artist Dawinder Bansal and synth years later when I felt I had to learn as much was very supportive; I was pop musician Martyn Ware (of Human League as I could. I did a lot of training around HIV/ very lucky, I felt so much more and Heaven 17 fame). The project is part AIDS and became a volunteer at Switchboard confident and happy living as an of the Here and Now celebration of culture, in London. openly gay man” which celebrates couples who met in the era Tell us your coming out story. There was a strong political element to life, of innovation, social division, Section 28 and IJ: I was sexually active from a very early age not confined only to LGBTQ+ issues, but the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and explores how they but didn’t come out to family and friends until galvanised by the acts of a very right wing Tory overcame obstacles such as homophobia, racism I was 22. To my astonishment I had no problem government led by Thatcher, who was almost and class prejudice. with anyone, in fact most people I told said universally despised. D More info: www.wefoundloveinthe80s.com they thought I probably was anyway. My family, By this time we were beginning to appear especially my sister, was very supportive; I was in the media, but in the most horrific way – Ian & Ian very lucky, I felt so much more confident and represented as freaks, monsters and pariahs. Ian Bodenham and Ian Johns had to happy living as an openly gay man. Some of the coverage was so extreme, some grapple self-acceptance in a society rife IB: In 1981 I moved into a flatshare in were calling for draconian measures like exile with homophobia, Section 28, prejudice and Camberwell with a flamboyant girl called Fiona, and quarantine. This in turn emboldened an misinformation about AIDS. They came out to whom it was fairly easy for me to come out, already hostile minority to attack individuals to their families 10 years after starting their initially as bisexual – not that I was, but back and venues. Public services were also affected relationship. They were married in 2014, and then it was a way of testing the waters, perhaps by the paranoia – some healthcare workers now run a vintage shop in Brick Lane. it still is for some. Through Fiona early in 1982 refused to treat HIV+ people, or even How did you meet? I met a gay friend of a similar age and he took anyone gay, police conducted raids in PPE IJ: In late 1983 I spotted a cute young man me to the RVT, then clubs like Bang, Cha Chas style protective gear. But this hostility just at The Bell in Kings Cross and tried to catch and Heaven. Gradually I built up a network brought us together even more, lesbians were his eye, but he wouldn’t look at me. A few of friends with whom I could be myself. I’d particularly supportive and tireless in helping weeks later I saw him again at The Asylum at dropped out of college and was doing casual their ailing gay brothers. IAN & IAN. PHOTO CREDIT: DEE PATEL OF OUTROSLIDE PHOTOGRAPHY Heaven, still no luck. A short while later I got on a train at Tottenham Court Road and he was sitting directly opposite. He still would not look at me. A week or so later at Asylum he was there again – one last try and if it doesn’t work that’s it, I thought. I was in luck! He smiled at me and we finally met. I found out he had seen me too but was just too shy to reciprocate. What do you remember of the AIDS epidemic? IJ: The first time I heard about a strange new disease affecting gay men I clearly remember. It was in 1983 and I was talking to friends in Heaven nightclub. Someone was speaking about herpes, saying it never goes away. Another friend said there was a new disease that gay men were catching in America, you got flu and then died. It just got closer and closer until DEIRDRE & HELEN. PHOTO CREDIT: DEE PATEL OF OUTROSLIDE PHOTOGRAPHY Scene 47

book called Women and Bisexuality – she had a meltdown and didn’t speak to me for some weeks. Eventually she picked up the phone and has been incredibly supportive ever since. D: It has been a cautious and piecemeal process across life, friendship and work. I have always assessed a situation before deciding whether to come out or not. It’s only now in my 50s that I feel l can always be open, but for most of my life this hasn’t been the case. LGBTQ+ communities have made progress, Helen & Deirdre had to create new forms of family among an but do we have further to go? alternative community – what Thatcher’s Section H: Yes definitely – there is still a legacy of fear, Helen Juffs and Deirdre Figueiredo met 28 legislation described as ‘pretend families’. mistrust and unexpressed grief from people who in Nottingham while neither were ‘out’ nor identify as LGBTQ+ from the 1980s, and before. had had a relationship with a woman before. What do you remember of the AIDS While millennials are experiencing a renaissance Through support of gay friends, they established epidemic? in acceptance of fluid sexuality and gender their relationship and gradually confided in H: It wasn’t until 1992 that one of our close which hasn’t been seen globally for many years friends and family. They married in 2014. friends was diagnosed with AIDS. Even though (Ancient Greece, trans people in India, etc), the by then a lot more was known about the elders of our community are still reeling from How did you meet? disease and how it was passed on, our friend their experiences. H: Deirdre was working in the Exhibitions Team was reluctant to share his diagnosis with even at Nottingham Castle Museum (her first job), the closest of friends. We went to visit him in As we age people generally turn to authorities and I volunteered to gain experience just after I hospital, and he was desperate for some sign and institutions to provide extra assistance had left university. The first time I saw Deirdre of normalcy – asking Deirdre to kiss him on but for older LGBTQ+ this means either coming she was jetting off to Germany to courier a the lips, their usual greeting, rather than the out again and again, or having to hide again. painting and she was wearing gold shoes. hug she tentatively offered, not knowing what In cases where people have dementia this is Gradually we became friends and found we was safe. particularly confusing. Statistics show that shared interests. It was very much an analogue LGBTQ+ communities are just not accessing help world so we left each other handwritten notes “Growing up during the AIDS when they need it. and small gifts. Eventually Deirdre summoned up epidemic and introduction of D: The acceptance of the acronym LGBTQI+ and the courage to move things along. When I leant Section 28 set an underlying particularly the reclaiming of the word queer in to kiss her on the check when I was dropping feeling of fear and shame which has been liberating and would have made life her off at home she moved her head and kissed was difficult to overcome” in the 80s easier. I feel like I’m going through me on the lips. I reciprocated – a first with a D: In the early to mid-80s I remember a fear a renaissance of discovery and new possibilities woman for both of us. My head blew off and her and stigma with terrifying and marginalising for identity and belonging. heart melted – and the rest is history. adverts on national TV. “The acceptance of the acronym LGBTQI+ and particularly the What would you say if you could speak or reclaiming of the word queer has offer advice to your 1980s self? been liberating and would have H: Be confident to follow your instinct and made life in the 80s easier” intuition – don’t put other people’s feelings above your own. Don’t try to protect people For those who weren’t there, what was it like from the truth. Appreciate what you have – living as LGBTQ+ in the 1980s? youth, vigour, good health – have more fun and H: I came of age in the mid-80s – turning 16 be more outrageous! in 1983. Male homosexuality had only been D: Talk to someone. decriminalised since 1967 and the age of consent was 21. Tell us your coming out story. H: Given the fear caused by AIDS and Section I experienced strong feelings for men and 28, and the generally homophobic society, I women but lacked the vocabulary and was reluctant to come out until I was sure information to know what this meant. Growing what I was ‘coming out’ as. The first people up during the AIDS epidemic and introduction of I came out to were Deirdre’s gay friends, and Section 28 set an underlying feeling of fear and then some close work colleagues. This just shame which was difficult to overcome. happened naturally – though I did have to take D: I had no relatable role models and there were one colleague to the pub and spell it out! I no positive ones in the mainstream media. I felt wanted to come out to my immediate family different and was attracted to different people as soon as I felt secure in my relationship with not linked to a particular sex. Information was Deirdre – because I didn’t like being dishonest hard to come by. I didn’t feel I could be open about events. However, my dad was diagnosed with my immediate family or with friends or with cancer and I just didn’t want to add to the colleagues so I kept my feelings hidden. If we family trauma. After my dad had died I came couldn’t be ourselves with our blood family we out to my mum by showing her a copy of a SKIN. COPYRIGHT MARCO OVANDO 2048 GsceneScene

Releasing their debut record in 1994, they were loosely associated with the Britpop movement. But Skunk Anansie don’t fit into any one category. Led by a working-class, black, British gay woman, Skunk Anansie broke the mould. All these years later they still do. How many successful rock bands have emerged since with a singer like Skin? Her story is unique and she’s decided to tell it from her own perspective. Her memoir, It Takes Blood and Guts, came out in September 2020. “You’ve got to keep moving forward, keep striving for everything you want to be” According to Skin: “It’s been a very difficult thing being a lead singer of a rock band looking like me and it still is. I have to say it’s been a fight and it will always be a fight. That fight drives you and makes you want to work harder... It’s not supposed to be easy, particularly if you’re a woman, you’re black or you are gay like me. You’ve got to keep moving forward, keep striving for everything you want to be. It’s been a fight, and there has been a personal cost, but I wouldn’t have done it any other way.” Skill will be discussing the book at Southbank Centre as part of the Inside Out literary events programme. The event will be broadcast online on Thursday, March 4 at 7.30pm and will be available On Demand for seven days. IT TAKES BLOOD & GUTS She is set to return to Southbank Centre in Skin, lead singer of rock band Skunk Anansie, solo artist, LGBTQ+ June to perform at Grace Jones’ Meltdown festival. Naturally, Grace Jones broke the mould activist and all-around trailblazer, launches her memoir this month in in the same way back in the 70s and 80s. The a broadcast event hosted by Southbank Centre combined force of Skin and Grace will make for quite the post-lockdown treat. ) When Skunk Anansie emerged in the a star overnight. No one else in the music mid-90s, they did so with quite a bang. This industry looked or sounded like her. They According to Skin, Skunk Anansie are very much was largely due to Skin, the band’s almost released six albums and secured themselves a a live band. In 1999, they performed on the impossibly cool lead singer. With her shaved place in the Guinness Book of Records as one of biggest stage in British rock as Glastonbury head, big voice and charisma, she became the most successful British bands of the 1990s. headliners. Fast-forward 20 years, and Stormzy did the same to great effect. He initially claimed to be the first black artist to secure the headline slot, but when he realised his error he Tweeted: “Skin from the band Skunk Anansie was actually the first black artist to headline glasto she done it with her band in 1999 no disrespect intended and MASSIVE salute to you – my apologies! @skinskinny.” (sic) It’s unfortunate that her groundbreaking headline slot was all but forgotten, but as Stormzy’s Tweet demonstrated, Skin is finally getting the credit she deserves. D For tickets to Skin’s Inside Out literary event, visit: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/ whats-on/literature-poetry/skin-it-takes- blood-and-guts D For more info on Grace Jones’ Meltdown festival, visit: https://www.southbankcentre. co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/ meltdownblood-and-guts SKIN: IT TAKES BLOOD & GUTS Scene 49

"What I really want though is for straight, cis-gendered people to pick it up and understand our journeys. I don’t believe anyone could harbour homophobic or transphobic feelings after reading these heartfelt and inspirational stories” heard so many stories where the first reaction was negative, but eventually friends and relatives came around to it. Sometimes it’s the next day and sometimes it’s years down the line. Most people want to find a way. You’d have to be pretty callous or heavily steeped in religious ideology to reject your kids for being gay. It goes against human nature. Coming Out Stories is an important contribution to LGBTQ+ literature. It’s a book that’ll put your own coming out story into perspective. It’s also a guide for people who are wondering when and how to come out. As you’re reading this, there LIVE YOUR TRUTH will be people all over the world struggling with Alex Klineberg catches up with Emma Goswell, whose new their sexuality, waiting to live their truth. book, Coming Out Stories, aims to help people come to “I’m beyond proud of this book,” Emma says. terms with their sexuality and/or gender identity “If it helps one person come to terms with their sexuality or gender identity then I’ll be happy. ) Emma Goswell, who hosts the breakfast and pansexual later, lesbians who have later come What I really want though is for straight, cis drive-time shows on Gaydio, has appeared on out as trans men, trans men who have then gendered people to pick it up and understand many radio programmes over her long career as come out as non-binary. It’s a journey and it’s our journeys. I don’t believe anyone could a broadcaster, often for the BBC. Her voice has one for you to make on your own terms. I’d harbour homophobic or transphobic feelings that strangely familiar quality. never tell anyone they should come out. All I will say is that every single person I’ve spoken after reading these heartfelt and inspirational She recently launched Coming Out Stories, to is glad they did and felt a huge sense of stories. As Russell T Davies said: ‘This book her first podcast. Having interviewed over 50 relief to be finally living life as their true self.” is so vital. It should be in every school and people, the podcast has become something of home!’. Wouldn’t that be incredible?” an audio archive of LGBTQ+ history. Coming Out The podcast was Sam’s idea – she’s also a ) Coming Out Stories by Emma Goswell & Stories focuses on the stories of people out of writer and broadcaster. Emma wasn’t sure at Sam Walker is published by Jessica Kingsley the public eye. All too often, the coming out first – why do we still need to advise people Publishers, RRP £12.99. stories we hear most loudly are those of pop on coming out? She later had to eat her words. stars and famous actors. This podcast redresses Some kind of trauma comes through with D For more info on the Coming Out Stories the balance. coming out. Very few people she spoke to have podcast, visit: https://whatgoesonmedia.com/ had a seamless coming out. portfolio-item/coming-out-stories/ Getting a book published can be tricky, even EMMA GOSWELL for a professional writer. Emma and Sam Walker Over two years, she heard amazing stories. Some (her podcast co-host and co-founder) found were very sad; some heartwarming. Even people themselves in quite a rarefied situation. Jessica who were rejected by their families have moved Kingsely Publishers contacted them and asked on to find their own logical family. Coming out if they’d like to write a book based on their stories have similarities but each one is unique. podcast. One woman she spoke to was threatened with a lobotomy in the 1960s. We caught up with Emma to discuss the book and what she’s learnt about coming out. Emma cited her interview with Enoch as a “Coming out is a marathon – not a sprint. You particularly moving one. You would think need to prepare and you should never rush it. I his story happened in the 1950s, but it was spoke to one person who told themselves over contemporary. Raised in a very religious town and over again in the mirror that they were in Texas, he was outed on Myspace (remember gay – just to get used to saying it and to learn that?) and rejected by his family. He was also to accept themselves. You also need to accept kicked out of his Christian university. Enoch was that you might NOT get the instant reaction you also sent for conversion therapy. Today he lives want immediately. The person you’re telling may in West Hollywood with his partner and he’s also have never questioned your sexuality or gender found his logical family. His relatives no longer identity,” she said. speak to him. Quite often, people can find themselves coming Enoch’s story is certainly on the more extreme out more than once. Emma explains: “I’ve end of the spectrum. Emma’s main piece of spoken to bisexuals who have come out as advice for those coming out: it gets better. She 50 Scene JANE TRAIES COVER ART: KEMI OLOYEDE

FREE TO BE ME ) While admitting that her new book, Free To Be Me: Refugee Stories ) Earlier this year a very sexy-looking 92-page literary magazine called from the Lesbian Immigration Support Group (LISG), is “not an easy Covert was released to showcase the creativity of black, Asian and read”, Jane Traies hopes this selection of lesbian life stories by women ethnically diverse writers and artists. who have been part of the LISG in Manchester will be read as being Produced by Writing Our Legacy in association with New Writing South, “about courage, being yourself, the kindness of strangers”. the magazine’s theme was: Sussex Fortune Teller – What Do Writers See Jane’s journey into this book began three in the Future, and its impact in terms of both contributors and audience years ago when she received an email from a wasn’t necessarily something the editorial team could have predicted. volunteer with the group who had heard of “I think I blew people’s minds a little bit. I decided to the work she had done with older lesbians really push the boat out [...] .It’s nice to have something and wondered if she might have anything in a bit special, especially for readers of colour when they her research that could help a refugee from don’t have much validation.” Uganda. “We had more than 100 submissions in each of the categories: fiction, The woman, in her 70s, had been fighting for poetry, artwork,” says editorial team member and a driving force behind asylum for 13 years but been turned down the project, Amy Zamarripa Solis. because the Home Office didn’t believe she was a lesbian. Jane met with the group and helped “In 2019 we published an anthology of writers of colour called Hidden prepare a statement. Sussex, which was life stories, but this book [focusing on fiction and poetry] was something I had been thinking about for six years. Eventually the woman was granted asylum. “She and I were born in the same year and I kept thinking about her life and mine and I don’t think “I could observe that there were a lot of I’ve ever been so aware of my own privilege.” talented writers but they might not try to access opportunities or try to get published, Jane wanted to tell the stories and was able to carry out most of the so I thought if there was something local [that interviews face to face in Manchester “literally days before lockdown”. might sway them]. Jane says: “Some of the experiences of the women who have to leave “A lot of the work we do with people of colour their country were horrific and do include sexual violence. It’s not an is really about confidence building. We try to easy read but I hope it’s worthwhile.” AMY ZAMARRIPA SOLIS do things that still help with that and being “My mum called me and cried on the phone, saying I’d published is a great feeling. It really gave me a taste of what community brought shame to the family. My father said he never wanted publishing could achieve.” to set his eyes on me again and that the day he does, he will As with so many projects, it was somewhat hampered by the pandemic kill me.” (Faith) and the first lockdown, but the group applied for emergency funding from All proceeds from the book, to be published by Tollington Press on the Arts Council and from March to May was busy organising “lots of International Women’s Day, Monday, March 8, are going to go back to solidarity Zoom calls to try to help people stay connected”. the LISG, “so I have no shame in saying ‘buy my book’”. Amy and her fellow voluntary editorial team members, writer Sharon It wasn’t the easiest of projects to put together, as Jane explains: “If Duggal and poet John Prebble, made the initial selection of works and you’re seeking asylum and have had your claim rejected by the Home gave recommendations to guest editors for their consideration. Office they take away your support, so most of the women have no Each submission had to fit the theme, which, says Amy, was about asking income and nowhere to live; no computers, only a phone, and no money writers to look into the future. Fifteen contributors are showcased in the to use the phone. We do take all those things for granted.” magazine. There were also language barriers, so there was toing and froing to As for the final article, with its high-quality finish: “I think I blew ensure everyone was able to say what they wanted to say, but, despite people’s minds a little bit. I decided to really push the boat out. I was those hurdles and the restrictions of various lockdowns, all the stories originally thinking of doing something digital but with lockdown it’s nice were finally signed off and can now be told. to have something a bit special, especially for readers of colour when they “The ways are different here, and at first it was too odd. In the don’t have much validation.” winter, it is so, so cold! But I think I’m better off, far from my And the work doesn’t stop there. “The next phase will be approaching own country. Because even if things are so hard, I’m not being universities and libraries to get it to a wider audience,” says Amy. “We beaten, I’m open, I’m free. Nobody says anything like, ‘Why are haven’t put it on Amazon but we do have an e-book.” you wearing clothes like a man?’“ (Sophie) Writing Our Legacy has managed to secure further Arts Council funding “It’s been a journey,” says Jane. “This is only one small corner of the and is in the process of moving to become a Charitable Incorporated refugee world. I knew nothing about this three years ago and now I Organisation, along with planning how the next edition will be funded. know there are groups all over the UK. All these people have had horrible experiences here because of the culture of disbelief.” D For more info, visit: www.writingourlegacy.org.uk

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Soho and its endless opportunities for ‘cottaging’ are wonderfully evocative. With a cast of real-life characters from The Sex Pistols, Prime Minister Harold Wilson to adviser Lady Falkender, this is a well-balanced thriller which keeps the pages turning until the rather sharp, surprising sting in its closing chapter. ) Niven Govinden Diary of a Film (£14.99, published by Book Reviews by Eric Page Dialogue Books). This perfectly ) Justin David The Pharmacist poised story about cinema, (£8.99, published by flâneurs and queer love takes us Inkandescent). What a prodigious, into the world of the ‘maestro’ - heaving, sweaty, sexy book this is, based around the utterly compelling ) Meg Barker & Jules Scheele relationship between Billy, a young Sexuality A Graphic Guide man drawn into the sphere of (£13.99, published by Icon speaking, and strikingly debonair Books). This book impressed on Albert, The Pharmacist, a compelling every level, historically it gives and damaged older drug dealer. Set a pretty good introduction from deep in east London, they first meet earliest societies’ attitudes and in Columbia Road Flower Market, practices, then sweeps across pre-gentrification and drowning various global societies giving in drugs and sex – this is Harold & insight and learning from different Maude meets Aldous Huxley. The epochs, cultures and highlighting narrative swirls, dips, rages and social changes and who and explodes across a landscape of enlightenment and change and author what made them happen. The David’s prose manages to capture the throbbing urgency of the chemical fun and informative monochrome indulgences deeply entwined with the passion of these two men. This illustrations on every page bring isn’t chemsex, this is a new electrically sensual drug exploding across lighthearted insight to the topics London. The dialogue is electric and funny, although the humour is being discussed. The illustrations often dark, twisted and uncomfortable, perfectly queer. David captures immediately let you know what’s the crepuscular geography of Shoreditch with a loving grace, takes in being debated here and help to The Royal Oak pub, filled with seriously diverse queer patrons, noting auteur and creative. Clocking the highlight intersectional aspects sunshine brickwork and the dust of generations of Londoners. This is toil, keeping control of the stories for contemplation. Scheele’s deft a story of real contact, and physical presence, these men meet, touch, you harvest, create and define comic touch shines a light into live, share space – physical space – and being visible is urgent and you can take on the teller. We the darkness of shame, fear and necessary. As Billy learns more of his much older lover’s life the focus follow our ‘maestro’ and his lead frustrations. The book looks at lots of this short book changes, as the ecstasy thumps through his body he actors as they flounce around a of up-to-date concerns, examining begins to understand how accumulated loss can define you. By parts European festival at the premiere their roots in prejudice, bigotry or astonishingly tender and brutally honest, The Pharmacist should be on of his latest film. By chance he intolerance and looks at ways of every gay man’s reading list. It’s a seriously impressive book, which pulls meets a woman who invites him integrating previous taboo subjects you deliriously down into drugged up sensual exploration and fucks you to explore her world, her story, her into everyday healthy practice. senseless. It also reminds us of what we’ve lost, and that’s a sadness perspective and as her powerful This guide is fun, educational and worth reflecting on. Recommended. narrative captures his attention, makes you think, it presents as an they walk the streets together. easy to understand graphic guide ) Adam MacQueen Beneath is darkly funny, the streets as This gentle stroll contains an to sexuality, which it certainly is, the Streets (£8.99, published grubby as you’d imagine and urgent story of love, loss and but it’s also rather more reflective by Lightning Books). ‘What if the insights into gay life in this responsibility that the ‘maestro’ than that. As the book gathers Jeremy Thorpe had succeeded shadowy pre-AIDS world of queer wants to own, any way he can. pace, and leads on from previous in murdering Norman Scott?’. That’s it, the plot. The book is chapters, Barker’s solid historical MacQueen’s first novel gives us an written with no quotation marks, understanding gives us insight alternative history based around paragraphs or the usual signallers into the monsters and pitfalls that corrupt 1970s England and the to assist a reader, so the book hang in the glooms of sexuality dark London underbelly of sex for itself is an observation of the but there is a solid narrative drive sale and political intrigue. Set in creative process. It’s an oddly about acceptance of the infinite 1976, the naked corpse of a young distanced book, with some oddly diversity of human sexualities rent boy is fished out of a pond distanced queer love, which took and sex and how embracing, on Hampstead Heath. Since the some time to get into, but when it understanding and enjoying them police don’t seem to care, 20-year- unfolded itself into a study of the is the healthiest approach for a old Tommy – himself a former rent creative process it hit its stride. culture or society to take. boy – finds himself investigating. Govinden’s careful eye keeps the Barker and Scheele combine Dodging murderous Soho hoodlums story interesting, and his prose their talents again to serve this and the agents of a more sinister is rich in descriptive details. It’s entertaining book about sexuality power, Tommy follows the trail meditative in the way it roams, which manages to tease gently of guilt higher still. The ruthless both through our slightly arrogant along the balance between being Establishment will stop at nothing narrator’s thought processes and erotic and historically informative. to cover its tracks. The narrator the city he stalks through. Superb. 2052 GsceneScene

) Adele – TBA. Britain’s biggest pop star takes her time between albums. Rumours of a new record have been doing the rounds for quite some time. Former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain confirmed that he was working in the studio with Adele. He described hearing her voice in the headphones: “It was just so powerful and emotive. You know her voice, but to be across the room from somebody doing that, it’s just insane.” ADELE MUSIC TO WATCH THE YEAR GO BY 2020 saw a somewhat paradoxical disco rival. Albums by Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga and Kylie Minogue summoned us to dance floors that no longer existed. Sophie Ellis-Bextor brought the disco to our living rooms via her Kitchen Discos. Jarvis Cocker released a song that acquainted house music with dancing in your actual house – “We are one nation under a roof” he sang, and such we were

) As live gigs are unlikely to return anytime ) Billie Eilish – TBA. Billie Eilish is the first soon, you’ll have to make do with your artist born after the Millennium to top the Chromatica Oreos for now. There are, however, Billboard chart. Feeling old yet? Her debut plenty of exciting albums to expect in 2021... album, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, established her as the biggest pop star of her generation. Since releasing the album, she’s dropped a ) Madonna – Madame X Live. Madge’s last number of incredible singles, including No studio album had its moments, both good and Time To Die, My Future and Therefore I Am. bad. The accompanying tour was the most With three new bangers under her belt, she’s troubled of her career with persistent injuries highly likely to release her second studio forcing her to cancel a number of dates. album this year. Madame X was not her finest hour, sadly. That BILLIE EILISH

) Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over the Country Club. This brilliantly titled album will be out on March 19 and follows her 2019 album, Norman Fucking Rockwell, which was hailed as her best album by fans and critics. Lana Del Rey is a creature out of time. She’s kind of like a throwback to an imagined American Golden Age. She has a knack for writing about romance tinged with obsession, even violence. Jump off the edge of the Hollywood sign indeed! MADONNA Scene 53

of the year. If the single Baby It’s You is anything to go by, this will be an unmissable record. ) Lil Nas X – TBA. LGBTQ+ artist Lil Nas X brought country and a dose of queerness to hip-hop with Old Town Road, which broke Mariah Carey’s record as the longest running being said, the album felt more like a studio Prince – TBA. Prince’s legendary vault of number one on the Billboard chart. He is yet recording of a musical theatre show. The live unreleased material is so vast his estate could to release a full-length studio album but he album and DVD could well show the album in release a new album every year for about has confirmed that it will happen this year. a more favourable light. a century. Last year’s super-deluxe reissue ) Sade – TBA. Sade has released only six of Sign of the Times featured 45 unreleased If the music industry wasn’t so ageist, I studio albums in her career. Like Kate Bush, studio recordings and a live album. The suspect her single Crave would have been a she does things on her own terms and refuses next reissue is rumoured to be a super- smash. (Alas, she’s probably drying her tears to compromise. She recently reissued her deluxe version of Diamonds and Pearls. It’s with $500 notes). albums on vinyl and has confirmed that a new highly likely at least one ‘new’ Prince album album is imminent. will come out in 2021. His sister inherited everything and she’s essentially been given a ) SZA – TBA. SZA, who has emerged as one licence to print money. of the best vocalists and rappers in the US, combines funk, soul, rap and dream pop on ) Kate Bush – TBA. Nah, the grandest diva her albums. Her latest single Good Days is an of them all isn’t known to be working on irresistible track. The follow up to her 2017 anything. We can but dream... album CTRL is on the way. In the meantime, ) London Grammar – Californian Soil. Set check out her latest single and some of her for release on April 9, London Grammar will other stand-out tracks: I’d suggest Julia and release one of the most anticipated albums Supermodel. LIL NAS X BILLIE EILISH

) David Bowie – Brilliant Live Adventures. Bowie’s estate has swamped the market with ‘new’ albums since the Starman passed away in 2016. The latest round of releases comprises six unreleased live albums from the 1990s. The fourth instalment, Look at the Moon! (Live in Phoenix Festival, 1997), came out on February 12. The next two instalments will be released later this year. ) Rihanna – TBA. Her 2016 album ANTI became an instant classic. Since then she’s been quite occupied earning vast sums of money from her make-up line. Rumours of a new album continue to swirl and could well do so for years to come. 54 Scene

and its shimmering, fluttering textures are mesmerising, and Brown’s dexterity and sensitivity here, and in Oiseaux Tristes, is striking. Une Barque sur l’Océan is watery and flowing, and Brown brings out the stormy sea-sick swells as the movement develops. CLASSICAL NOTES In contrast, Albarado del Gracioso BY NICK BOSTON is an athletic dance, and Brown enjoys the jumpy, balletic rhythms, JOANNA MACGREGOR before the mysterious tolling bells outing. First, soprano Lucy Knight PREVIEWS and dark clashing harmonies of performs Tunder’s setting of Psalm Sadly, it’s too early to be celebrating the final movement, La Vallée des 137, Am Wasserflüssen Babylon the return of live performance to Cloches. Turning to the Medtner, The (By the Waters of Babylon), with a our diaries. But in the meantime, Song of the Water Nymph theme is beautifully clear voice, delivering here are some ideas for listening lyrical and watery, yet chromatically the text with precision over the opportunities coming up on the ambiguous, this contrast providing richly textured accompaniment. Alto radio or online, focusing on women the germ for the variations, Collin Shay brings us Salve mi Jesu, composers and performers. from twisting dark harmonies in steadily declamatory in tone, and ) She Scores on Scala Radio. A ensemble Voces8 are back with Meditation to shifting harmonic then emphasising Tunder’s word- new series on Sundays at 6pm, an even more ambitious festival, sands and virtuosic activity in La painting of sighing and weeping with from March 7, sees four women running from February to April. In cadenza. Yet there is lightness great sensitivity, and the stuttering composers present a programme March, they celebrate International too, in the sprightly Elves, frisky ornamentation is impressively adept. each, sharing some of their favourite Women’s Day a day early on Gnomes, and chattering Feathered Finally the bass, Christopher Webb classical music by women, as Sunday, March 7 at 7pm, with in Da mihi Domine, a highlight well as some a performance by pianist (and of the recording for me. Webb’s of their own recently appointed Music Director of voice is rich yet agile, and he compositions. Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra) shifts between tender pleading and The series Joanna MacGregor, including weighty declamation with ease. kicks off with music by Florence Price, Margaret The accompaniment also shines film music Bond, Mary Lou Williams and through, with rocking melodies composer Pinar Nina Simone, as well as some of passed between instruments, and the

JESSICA CURRY Toprak, the MacGregor’s own arrangements two violins echoing the vocal lines first woman to score a Marvel film, and compositions. Then on beautifully. They add two works from Captain Marvel. Jessica Curry (who Sunday, March 14 at 7pm, Dame Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643): I interviewed in these very pages DAME EMMA KIRBY Ones. Brown manages to bring O mors Illa, a short but beautiful a few years ago), the wonderful out these contrasting characters, duet for tenor (Peter Davoren) and Brighton & Hove-based composer for while still managing to create a bass, beautifully blended here, and video games, will celebrate her wide- unifying sense of direction, leading accompanied delicately by Toby Carr ranging influences, from Hildegard to a beautifully contemplative (theorbo) and Ruthven (organ), von Bingen to Errollyn Wallen, as Conclusion. Impressive throughout, and Partite sopra Passacagli for Brown demonstrates incredible solo organ, with its gently lilting virtuosity, but more than this, introduction, running, winding lines great sensitivity to the detail and and impressively fluid passacaglia. contrasts within this remarkably And the only time when all five Emma Kirkby is joined by friends evocative music. singers and the full band come including mezzo-sopranos Helen ) Oliver John Ruthven & Musica together are for Buxtehude’s Ad Charlston and Patricia Hammond, Poetica Tunder Appreciated Latus, from his Membra Jesu Nostri. and theorbo player Toby Carr for (Veterum Musica VM020). The The dancing string introduction here

ISOBEL WALLER-BRIDGE music by Hildegard von Bingen, early music ensemble Musica has a real spark. The blend of the five well as her own music from scores Clémence de Grandval and Margarita Poetica, directed by Oliver voices is initially not always even, such as Dear Esther and Everybody’s Mimi Fariña (sister of Joan Baez). John Ruthven, took part in the with a couple of voices dominating, Gone to the Rapture. Isobel Concerts are streamed live online Brighton Early Music Festival although when the opening music Waller-Bridge has written wide- then available on demand until the Live! scheme back in 2012. For returns, the balance seems to have ranging scores for film, television end of April. Tickets and info at their debut recording, Tunder settled. In the central sections, (including of course, Fleabag) and voces8.foundation. Appreciated, they present music the touch is light, and one is left theatre, as well as jazz, electronic by the German composer, Franz eager to hear their performance of and contemporary classical music. REVIEWS Tunder (1614-1667). A new one the complete work. So, impressive Nainita Desai, who concludes the ) Michael Brown Noctuelles (First for me, he was the father-in-law of performances here, and a great series, is a highly acclaimed film Hand Records FHR78). American Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), introduction to Tunder, of whom I and television composer, writing composer-pianist Michael Brown and there is a clear Lutheran line hope to hear more. scores for The Reason I Jump, and takes the title of this recording, through him to the music of Bach, More info Netflix’s documentary, American Noctuelles, from the first movement whilst at the same time elements Murder. Listen on digital radio or of Maurice Ravel’s (1875-1937) of Italian influence. Here there For more reviews, comment and online at www.planetradio.co.uk/ Miroirs. It is followed by the Second are three works for solo voice events, visit: scala-radio. Improvisation (in variation form), and viols, and a wonderful choral n nicks-classical-notes.blogspot. ) Live from London - Spring. Op. 47 by Russian composer-pianist, cantata, Ein feste Burg. In the co.uk Building on two successful online Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951). In solo works, three of the five singers T @nickb86uk concert series last year, vocal Miroirs, Noctuelles (Night moths), on the recording are given a solo E [email protected]

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ART MATTERS ALL THAT JAZZ BY ENZO MARRA BY SIMON ADAMS ) This month I will continue to explore approaches and artworks of local artists who actively employ their days in creativity, and who are REVIEWS ) ROB MAZUREK & EXPLODING STAR ORCHESTRA Dimensional hopefully still finding comfort in their needed obsessions in these dark Stardust (International Anthem/Firestone). Chicago-based days. The ability for the drawn and painted act to allow us to see what trumpet, composer and arranger Rob Mazurek is both prolific and is truly important in our usually hectic lives, a wordless communication endlessly fascinating. Employing that is even more important now that it has been denied to us. his 13-piece Exploding Star I’m very happy to introduce you Orchestra – one of his many outfits, to another Brighton-based artist, and his most adventurous – he Dawei Zhang, who explores the delivers a suite of songs that uses human condition via painted modernist compositional structures and drawn figurative imagery, all while looking back in reverence at executed from his studio based at Chicago’s substantial avant-garde Phoenix Brighton. His imagery riches. Lead trumpets and traditional intrinsically connected with themes solos might suggest jazz, but the of friendship, love, seduction, entire orchestra is on another level fragility. His friends and family altogether. The dominant voices are vibes and flute, the vibes locking visible in touching evocations, which slowly unfurl as their cautious in with the rhythm section to deliver repetitive pulses worthy of journey progresses from initial idea to finished set aside image. The Philip Glass at his best. To add the rich mix are the spoken vocals emotive ties that bind us together, keep us close, draw us together, of Damon Lock, tackling themes of inclusion and oppression as remind us of what is important to us, are only too visible in his works well as some otherworldly oddities. Holding everything together are and remind us of the relationships which we are missing, we are hoping startling arrangements of complexity and wonder. It all adds up to a to again be able to properly take part in, the lives we used to live, would remarkable brew that bears repeated listening. dearly love to be able to live again. ) MARY HALVORSON’S CODE GIRL Artlessly Falling (Firestone). American guitarist Mary Halvorson Having first seen his works too looks like a retiring librarian, but many years ago during an Open don’t let looks fool you, for she is House exhibition, and having been one the most innovatory of guitarists genuinely impressed, I have had the around at the moment. Her use of luxury of seeing them develop from distortion and delay pedal, and her an acutely textural all prima imagery double micing of both amp and with a genuinely gestural feel strings, make her sound quite unique. through to their more subtle and On this second set from her Code more washily applied contemporary Girl sextet, she is joined on three works. His use of charcoal in his tracks by the wondrous British singer drawn evocations equally as powerful in their renditions of portraiture Robert Wyatt. His tremulous, interrogative vocals contrast sharply and part and full figures, each graduated in all scales of grey to achieve with the often-Brechtian approach of Amirtha Kidami, heard on their photographic inspired yet equally distinctive hard fought effects. the other five tracks. All the music is by Halvorson, whose guitar Having previously been drawn by him a number of times, I have seen accompaniment is sometimes merely supportive but whose presence is how he can capture an individual’s personality, the glint in their eye, formidable throughout. A set of songs like you haven’t heard in ages. the almost invisible things that make them into a true likeness, that can ) JAKOB BRO, ARVE HENRIKSEN & JORGE ROSSY Uma Elmo (ECM). make you recognise things about yourself you hadn’t noticed previously. Now on his fifth ECM album as leader, Danish guitarist Jakob Bro has The way he can sometimes use pigment in his paintings can be much teamed up this time with famed Norwegian ambient trumpeter Arve more vivid, yet this potent palette doesn’t take away from the subject Henriksen and Spanish drummer Jorge Rossy, who is renowned for matter that it is utilised towards. his work with, among others, pianist His works have been exhibited Brad Mehldau. Amazingly, this was at the National Open Art the first time the trio had ever played Competition; I hope you will be together; indeed, the first time ever able to see more of them locally Bro met Henriksen was on the day and nationally once a new normality of recording! Despite, that, the trio returns. The opportunity to be able mesh together perfectly, their often to see such artworks face to face hushed lines and quiet delivery ideal in a real space, allowing us a truer for the measured material they play. connection with them, a form of Leader Bro’s guitar can be ominous communication that a screen can in its haunting lines and enhanced never mimic or adequately convey. electronic delays and reverbs, Henriksen’s trumpet is as ethereal and The need to see and be affected by windswept as ever, while Rossy’s drumming is consistently supple and imagery is a luxury I truly miss, an experience I will relish when gallery inventive. Luminous, unhurried, intriguing music that is perfect for doors open wide and allow me back in. our troubled times. THE LAST WARNING 56 Scene

AT HOME WITH MICHAEL HOOTMAN ) THE LAST WARNING (Eureka blu-ray). crazy, secretary; Carrie Daumery is a great landscapes on a souped-up camper van with This is a rollicking mystery – with shades of theatrical grand dame, and bears an uncanny solar sails, which is pretty cool. However, horror – from neglected silent master Paul resemblance to June Brown’s Dot Cotton. I the gameplay itself I found both frustrating also loved Mack Swain’s Robert Bunce doing and incredibly unchallenging. Tasks which a little dance for no discernible reason other I thought I’d completed seemed to become than to annoy his crotchety older brother. undone for no apparent reason and I’d The ending is fairly weak as the motivation sometimes have to go through a level again for the murder is ridiculously mundane, but after becoming stuck. Whether this was due apart from that it’s an enjoyable slice of to poor design, a bug or my own ineptitude theatrical absurdity. I couldn’t say. The puzzles themselves are hardly worthy of the name. Having played ) VANISHING GRACE (Monte Perdido the first two chapters over a fairly gruelling Studio). The ideal narrative-puzzle VR game few hours, the game simply requires you to has to immerse the player in its world, complete fairly monotonous tasks involving deliver a good story and have puzzles which putting an object in its appropriate slot. find the sweet spot of being neither too There’s none of the logical deduction of a easy nor so hard you have to resort to a Red Matter, the wit of I Expect You to Die or YouTube walkthrough. Vanishing Grace has the excitement of battling the laser-shooting an intriguing premise: in the middle of this scorpions of Moss. Perhaps Vanishing Grace century a man has to find a childhood friend is supposed to be more of a narrative than a who’s gone off-grid looking for a place of puzzle, even so I’m not sure I’m that invested sanctuary on a planet decimated by some in our hero’s journey to make it to the end. world-changing event. You travel through Available on the Oculus Quest. some gorgeously rendered, yet quite desolate, VANISHING GRACE

Leni. Based on an early whodunnit, and a subsequent 1920s stage play, the film starts with the murder of lead actor John Woodford during a performance of something called The Snare. The police are called and, in a tradition that was mastered by Agatha Christie, we’re introduced to the literal cast of suspects. Could the foul deed have been committed by other actors who were rivals, along with the deceased, for the affections of the play’s star Doris Terry (Laura La Plante)? Maybe Terry herself wanted to off her squeeze for reasons later to be revealed. How about the aptly named money men: the Bunce brothers? The cheery stage manager? The plot doesn’t really make any sense (I’m still not sure why the corpse goes missing) but the film has some remarkably fluid camerawork from Leni and there are some wonderfully ripe performances to enjoy. Torben Meyer pretty much steals the film playing the very suspicious, and slightly SUSSEX. PIC: BEN COLLINS Scene 57

more pleasure in wildlife and nature, set up a tent in your garden! BBQ in the winter, I promise that’s crazy fun – might weird out ya neighbours but what the heck? Look forward because your time will come again when you can get out and about. But what should we be doing outside? Take mother, for example. She loves to be in the garden, which for her is like therapy. It gives her peace of mind and joy to cultivate and to weed, to plant seeds, to see something grow from these tiny little things. That’s the THE REAL LIFE COACH thing with seeds right, you can plant one and a million things can grow from just one little The Great Outdoors, by Sam Adams seedling. Our life can be like that, our minds t @ThisIsSamAdams are like that. If you cultivate your mind and you plant positive little seeds, amazing buds i @samadamscoach will bloom in your mind as well. There’s just something wonderful about ) off feelings of anxiety and stress. Don’t live The thing about the outdoors is how good being outside. Even on the dark days when near the beach? Fresh air, trees and just being it is for us to be in nature, active, to just it’s raining and it’s overcast, the light is still outdoors are proven to have healing powers. drink in this amazing space, this planet that brighter than being in your own home. And we It can improve your mood, boost your immune we live on. need light, fresh air. We need to see different system, stimulate you mentally and physically. I’ve always loved being outside. I grew up in things to cultivate our minds, to change our the 1970s and ’80s when we were encouraged 2020 has been a weird year. We haven’t been thought patterns. to get outside and only return for tea. able to get out as much as we would like or do “Studies show that the beach the things that we wanted – walk, run, swim, I’d spend my holidays climbing trees, picking canoe, travel to foreign lands to visit new can relieve stress – the waves mushrooms and scrumpying for apples, buildings, people, and cultures. and sun combined have a building go-karts, playing games in the fields. calming effect. It’s enough to Bittersweet memories. It’s been tough. But hold on – it will come to make a person leave their stress an end. Nothing lasts forever. As a kid I didn’t understand how great Mother behind” Nature and the outdoors were. It’s one of the Think about past adventures or outings. What If we get in a slump, if our mood drops, things that I use to keep me grounded these was your greatest adventure? Your childhood one of the best things we can do is take days, to keep my mind in a good place by memories of being outside? I remember ourselves outside and just be in a field, getting outdoors. camping in our back garden – who didn’t the woods, by the sea, walk, cycle, run. do that, hey? Simple pleasures and actually A simple look up to the sky and I’m It can remove mental drift and shift your something you could do again, despite the mesmerised by the vastness of it. The beach, mood up. pandemic! my happy place. I sit, look out at the sea and So while we’re in these challenging times I’m mesmerised again. The one thing about There is something magical about being and can’t be outside as much, savour the being by the sea and at the beach is that it outside. Have you ever just laid in a field or on opportunities when you can and just look for calms me. the beach and looked up at the sky? Or at the the little things around you, the things that stars – they can just light up your soul. I take Studies show that the beach can relieve stress we probably take for granted – the greenery, comfort that it’s always there despite all else. – the waves and sun combined have a calming wildlife, the trees. effect. It’s enough to make a person leave their We take our holidays and adventures as a A friend who lives abroad is currently posting stress behind. The sun, the sound of waves, given, so now it’s time to appreciate the loads of pics of greenery as they have had a and your feet in the sand can help to fight little things that we take for granted. Take lot of rain, which is not normal so they are BRIGHTON. PIC: DARREN COLES absolutely loving it because they don’t usually see it, yet we take it for granted. Maybe don’t take it for granted today, go out and look at it anew with fresh eyes Abundance is everywhere. But you have to be willing to look. Everything is temporary, everything changes. While right now the great outdoors is limited, savour those moments when you do get there. It’s good to have something to look forward to. Even if you don’t know the date that you’re going to do it. Plan and think about your next trip, research it, find something to get excited about. I have decided I’m going to climb Kilimanjaro, so have started researching and looking into that. My biggest adventure is yet to come… It starts with you. 58 Scene

ROGER’S RUMINATIONS TWISTED GILDED GHETTO BY ROGER WHEELER BY ERIC PAGE Living dangerously Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus ) Naturally everyone enjoys a walk on the wild side even if it’s just a ) St David’s Day was my original experience of the transformative power stroll round the park. Obviously we all need fresh air and some gentle of donning a costume. My fundamental inkling that an amazing outfit exercise from time to time. But let’s not get carried away. There is a huge would change who you were – magically. People would act differently, industry trying to tempt us outdoors to spend money on new clothes, be charmed and amazed and this would give you power and freedom to shoes and hats. Not to mention the guide books and maps. do things usually not allowed. Admittedly being dressed as a leek by my smouldering Aunt Olga is not Drag Race quality (although a quick dip Climbing mountains has always been very popular; the adrenaline rush into H&M or hot gluing paper bags to your ass is setting a low bar…) must be quite something. They call it a sport but it’s a pretty dangerous but that green felt costume, with white crepe paper decorations, was my one. You can face falling rocks, ice, avalanches, crevasses, and the dangers introduction to the quivering, magical potential of ‘Dressing Up’. from altitude and sudden changes in weather. Quite why climbers should want to put their lives at risk for no apparent reason is quite worrying. Do My Aunt Olga, Russian, magnetic with her waist-length thick black they ever give a thought to the mountain rescue teams that have to go hair, ample bosom and ability to drink anyone under the table at the and bring them down? Oddfellow’s Arms, was very popular in the village most of my family lived in. My parents had moved across to the Ebbw Valley, another world in There are actual queues to climb Everest. The price for a standard climb those days, so our visits to her childhood home, where my grandparents ranges from £20,000 to £62,000. A fully custom climb will run to over and aunts lived, was always a big day out. £84,000. Sounds great, I’ll think about it, but there will be a television programme to save me the trouble. The guardians of almost every famous Olga had fallen in love when she met my uncle mountain now want large sums to allow you to risk life and limb to climb in Libya when they were both working on water it. They say it’s a challenge and exciting, I simply don’t understand. pipelines. She’d married him then they chose to live in Pontnewydd and Olga, from the Ural Mountains just outside Yekaterinburg, instantly fell in love with slate grey, damp South Wales, and most of Wales with her. Having been brought up in the Soviet Union she could do everything – weld, tango, backcomb, butcher, brick lay, type and play anything which was put in front of her. My grandmother Ivy called her ‘that lovely raven tornado’. She had toured the USSR playing in an orchestra and also making costumes for the cast and adored making sophisticated outfits for my sisters and I. My St David’s Day leek costume was exceptional, with long starched green felt leaves wrapping up and around my head, my green face poking out from a hole in their curved leaves, which she’d made to look Today there are plenty of people who are making money from wandering like a caterpillar had nibbled, which I also wore as a knitted moustache. around and disturbing nature. All except of course St David Attenborough, The white crepe paper body of the costume, combined with a daringly who stated the whole thing off many years ago undoubtedly for the best long white fringe as the roots, borrowed from her fandango ballgown, of scientific reasons and has now become a national treasure. But this combined to make me feel the best Welsh Vegetable in the Valleys. She’d genre has turned into a television monster with dozens of attractive, embroidered ‘Cymru am byth’ – Wales forever – on the back, in the 70s young, mainly male presenters trekking to some extremely inaccessible a seriously shocking and daring thing to do. Welsh had been suppressed parts of the world to bring their daring deeds to your sitting room. On for many years, not taught in schools and was only spoken by my most nights there is at least one television programme featuring acres grandmother’s generation. To wear it was provocative, Olga knew that but of rolling hills or arid deserts, so you can sit in the comfort of your own having married into the Cymru and being fiercely anti-colonial and hating home and look and admire and think how lucky you are not to actually the English for their mono-cultural dismissal of our much older culture had be there. Never mind about the many wild animals intent on doing them been learning Welsh herself. She already spoke a half dozen languages, harm. including Mongolian and Arabic, so that wasn’t a challenge. Of course sex outdoors can be fun, if only for the possibility of being Olga not only made the leek costume, but with a plate of huge chocolate seen. We found a meadow once in, what we thought was, the middle of ginger biscuits spent an hour teaching me how to Be Leek, Think Leek, nowhere, and so started to enjoy ourselves. Within a few minutes the to ‘feel the power of the leek in your blood’ while my father looked on 2.15 Brighton to Southampton trundled past about 20 feet away, we disapprovingly, surreptitiously checking out her breasts in her push-up bra. hadn’t noticed the railway line. If they had been looking, the passengers After an hour I was ready to wear and Be Leek, an essential symbol of the wouldn’t have been the least surprised. Cymru and somewhat confusingly connected to Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus. Ben Fogle’s television series New Lives in the Wild is enough to put anyone Now when I put any kind of costume or drag on and feel that electric off ever leaving their house. We have always said that it’s great having transformative power surge through me, I remember Olga, standing back, all that lovely countryside so close, we can go and look at it anytime and smiling at little Eric-da-Leek-boyo, pushing an extra chocolate ginger into then come home. We are constantly told that regular exercise results in the secret pocket she’d stitched into the costume and telling me as a leek a healthy mind and body, you can get both by simply resting quietly and I could do anything, that I would win the Ty-Sign Junior School costume thinking nice thoughts. competition (which I did), that I was powerful beyond belief behind The call of the wild? It should keep quiet. the magical folds and fringes of my costume and to step out there, be exquisite and never explain. 56 Gscene Scene 59

It’s not your fault, but it’s your responsibility if shouting in capital letters like an electronic replica of the Handforth Parish Council meeting. Peculiar, isn’t it? That we mocked the belligerence of such high blood pressured CRAIG’S THOUGHTS communication with an unaccountable It’s Not You, It’s Your Phone (It’s you) belligerence of our own across faceless social media soap boxes. By Craig Hanlon-Smith @craigscontinuum How horrified we are at the extreme racism ) With the exception of what now feels like world) is accessed through links to articles/ broadcast across these app-driven sites and an unwelcome belch of summer liberation, stories/sites shared across social media yet think nothing of screaming SHUT UP we’ve been living with current restrictions for platforms such as Facebook, not forgetting to those whose opinion differs to our own. almost 12 months. For some parts of the UK, they own Instagram and WhatsApp too. Granted, belligerent shouting isn’t racist but our short southern summer break was nothing both behaviours are bigoted and demonstrate A few problems with this. We only access what more than trapped wind as early experiments an inability to connect with one another in an drops into our feed, which is in itself decided of the so-called tier system meant areas of emotionally intellectual way. for us following years of computer-generated the north, both east and west, have been algorithms self-choreographed with every “We [...] find ourselves living completely locked down throughout. ‘like’, ‘dislike’, ‘love’, ‘guffaw’, ‘super-cute- through a second pandemic “Its label as the ‘I’ phone is no huggybunny-emoji’. We no longer get the full which has [...] firmly taken accident. Your entire everything picture. And if anyone reading this is thinking hold during the days, weeks, in one palm-held device. Just “Not me… I am SO aware of…”, yes you. months and now year of living swipe up and start screaming” Unless you drop by the newsagent, pick up all in lockdown. Our self-harm, the newspapers, read them, watch a range of self-destruction and community While enthusiasm for the vaccine appears news outlets and, after all of that, make up annihilation through the medium largely universal as we pin all of our future your own analytical observation, we consume of social media platforms” dreams on the mythological messiah we call and regurgitate a fraction of reality. hope, we’re also warned that the easing of In lockdown, it just got worse. Me, myself, my restrictions must be led by the data and not Social media makes it easier for us. It’s all phone. Its label as the ‘I’ phone is no accident. dates. I suspect anyone expecting a street in one place, we can access it anywhere Your entire everything in one palm-held party on March 8 should start polishing their on the go from our phone and the moment device. Just swipe up and start screaming. disappointment today. And rub hard, the stains we are outraged to learn whatever it is we The challenge with this style of communiqué of tarnished hope take some shifting. are outraged to learn, share said sudden is that we can already see the consequences, illumination and uneducated opinions across We half-hear reports of impending financial the future and it’s ugly. The different as many platforms as our tired little thumbs ruin, both personal and state level. While social movements across the world who can manage. If it weren’t for the hospitals I respectfully acknowledge not all have see the message of others as an assault on packed to the rafters with Covid-19 patients, benefited, the government hand-outs to one themselves – so we shout louder. The we’d have been seen for our repetitive strain support future jobs and business survival will misinformation and lies we are fed and in injuries months ago, but we soldier on because be paid for by all of us for years to come. most cases accept. The storming of the capital there’s so much to say. We are warned of the unseen pandemics. in Washington DC. The military coups in The seismic growth of struggles with our In many ways it’s not your fault in that this democratic states in 2021. The Covid denying. mental health, increases in domestic violence, has been 40 years in the making. The politics In the face of the highest death toll in Europe, addiction to drugs and alcohol, and the of individualism born out of the 80s across our leaders repeating the mantra that we are inability to access medical services we’ve come the Western hemisphere established a defiance world beating and doing better than everyone to expect in normal times, as usual. This is just of the self in real company, face to face. The else. And despite their lies, the popularity the beginning. difference being, then we had to make an measured in the polls continues to rise as argument stick with at least the flimsiest of oppositions crumble. We see that if you shout, We do, however, find ourselves living through evidence. Leap forward to now and we can and repeat, it works and so we all do it. a second pandemic which has been building drop the evidence and just shout. This form for the past 15 years, and which has firmly LGBTQ+ communities assault one another, was settled long before the pandemic of taken hold during the days, weeks, months and online. And no corner of our collective is course, the online discourse in the run-up now year of living in lockdown. Our self-harm, immune or innocent. In simple terms, it’s to the UK/EU referendum is a demonstration self-destruction and community annihilation the art of not listening. We’ve grown deaf by of that on both sides of the discussion, and through the medium of social media platforms. choice. And when we’re eased from lockdown? then there was the establishment of Trump’s If we do nothing to make a change, we’ll have The current furore in Australia involving America. Trump didn’t invent his route to never seen the like. Facebook and news websites is an the White House, he capitalised on a form of international indicator of just how far we have communication which we were all well versed Put the phone down, Mary. And yes, I’m fallen. Most news in the UK (and indeed the in by 2016. My way. Online. talking to you. 60 Scene

GOLDEN HOUR STUFF & THINGS BY BILLIE GOLD BY JON TAYLOR Bit nippy? The (not so) Great Outdoors ) Almost every year, in a post office far, far away, if you’re as inclined ) Ah, the great outdoors! Grass, birds, bees, woods, the whole gamut to earwigging as I am, you’ll hear a conversation between two people of nature. Haven’t been able to access most of nature or the great insisting that this winter has been the coldest winter in years. Well outdoors for a while now so have kinda forgotten what it’s like to go this year it is the coldest it’s been in a decade, and yet while taking my wandering through woodland or basking on a beach. stupid little walks along the seafront among the bundled up masses, I Heading outside of Brighton at the moment smacks of an unessential see something that never ceases to horrify and appal me. Winter sea journey, particularly as I’d need to get there by public transport. The swimmers. recent snow we’ve had gave me a yearning to go tramping through a “Refusing to believe in the holistics of this barbaric field leaving footprints in the newly laid drifts and for them to be the practice, I decided to do some research, and the only indication of life for miles around. To be away from the noise, first headline I found claimed: Swimming in sub- buildings and people of the city and to revel in the peace and quiet and zero temperatures likened to an orgasm” the stillness of the countryside. But then to come home to tea and a doughnut. Now don’t get me wrong, I can see the appeal of dipping in an icy pool in picturesque Sweden, steam rolling off a new bikini just enough But, I couldn’t do any of that (although I did have the tea and a jammy to post on Instagram and running into a very hot sauna, but what I treat). I did get down to the seafront while it was snowing which was find completely baffling is people I can only describe as death wish rather cute but it’s not quite the same. swimmers. People running scantily clad into the sea, as if we are in the “People have a hankering to retire to a little middle of the Bahamas. village in the middle of nowhere with the English I did have one wild thought where maybe I could be that person, countryside wrapped around it with bird song perhaps instead of staring grunting at an app on my phone twisting being the noisiest thing. I think it would drive me into an impossible yoga position I could be an outside girl, one that mad after a while” rides bikes and swims in a cold English Channel for absolutely no reason I was fortunate to be able to visit Toronto a number of years ago and except masochism, and then it hit me, why would a bunch of people so visited Niagara Falls, which is an amazing sight. We visited during choose to freeze to death on a February morning? winter and so the surrounding area was knee-deep in snow with Refusing to believe in the holistics of this barbaric practice, I decided railings covered in blocks of ice, with daytime temperatures at -22. to do some research, and the first headline I found claimed: Swimming Was brilliant. The Falls itself is stunning and gives an indication of in sub-zero temperatures likened to an orgasm. Colour me more confused the power of nature and how it really couldn’t care less about us wee but it’s apparently true, the endorphins released in the brain when a humans. If it’s going to do something, it will do it. person exposes themselves to extreme cold is likened to the little death, I think we all pretty much fall into two camps though – we’re either a receptors flooded with the need to keep the brain and the essential city or a country person. I’m much more of a city boy myself. I grew up organs from going into shock are sent into overdrive, leaving the in Brighton, went away to Northampton for University and came back to swimmer euphoric. Brighton where I’ve been ever since. “The description of it being called ‘a hangover in reverse’ by one enthusiast tells me that as I’ve seen the countryside from car windows and visited it usually during admirable as freezing your bits off for a high is, I holidays in France where the biggest town is usually a half-hour drive would rather watch them in awe from the safety of away. I do enjoy it. It’s nice to look over rolling hills and to see how the pebbles” the sunlight changes the colours of the fields and the trees. It’s calming and peaceful. But I would also like to be able to just pop down the To me this seems like a very uncomfortable way to get off but the effects road to buy a pint of milk without a major operation to do so. It’s nice of cold water swimming don’t end there. There’s actually scientific to visit! After a while I get a bit twitchy for the civilisation of a major studies going on right now that link this kind of activity to its abilities metropolis. to combat even the most serious depression, pain management problems People have a hankering to retire to a little village in the middle of and anxiety. An interview at the Highgate Swimmers’ Society found nowhere with the English countryside wrapped around it with bird song that about a third of the swimmers there are addicts in some form of being the noisiest thing. I think it recovery; having been a former addict myself, it makes total sense that would drive me mad after a while. someone would trade in a destructive addiction for one that hits a ‘reset’ Also, if you lived in such a small button. place, imagine not getting on with More euphoria, more shocks to the system, still as extreme, but cleaner. your neighbours or just not liking Reading some of the testimonials about ice swimming it almost (read, them and they’re the only people almost) made me want to take the five-minute walk from my door down around in a five mile radius! to Brighton seafront and jump in head-first, hoping to wash away all my Plus, have you seen Midsomer sins, however the description of it being called ‘a hangover in reverse’ by Murders? That’s what the countryside one enthusiast tells me that as admirable as freezing your bits off for a MIDSOMER MURDERS will get you! high is, I would rather watch them in awe from the safety of the pebbles. Scene 61

However, that’s not the case.” In addition, LGBTQ+ actors may not be considered for any kind of role in a certain film due to the prejudices which continue to exist in the mainstream film industry – casting discrimination not often discussed in the debate, which tends to focus on the rights of straight, cis people to tell stories which they have not lived, but is a crucial factor to consider if we are to unravel the bigger picture of LGBTQ+ issues in the film industry. RAE’S REFLECTIONS Ryan Cassata, a trans actor, said he rarely gets the chance to audition for cisgender The straight debate: can straight, characters: “That has nothing to do with my cis actors play queer characters? By agents... That’s just the way the industry is,” and argues the injustice lies in cisgender actors Rachel Badham taking away the few chances trans actors get to star in productions which feature a trans ) who holds authority over certain narratives, Following the launch of Russell T Davies’ character (another rare occurrence). It’s A Sin, the creator responded to a handful which is part of the reason why I too believe of comments which questioned his decision to LGBTQ+ roles should be reserved for LGBTQ+ This leads on to the lack of LGBTQ+ directors cast only queer actors in the groundbreaking TV actors. Many queer people have already acted in mainstream film studios; while Kristen show. His comment is just one of many in the in a straight story in their daily life, and now Stewart’s queer holiday romcom, The Happiest ongoing debate of whether straight, cisgender queer people need authority over their stories Season, was directed by the openly gay actress actors have the right to play LGBTQ+ characters. because they have, historically speaking, been turned director, Clea DuVall, many films which Of course, non-queer people are frequently cast denied it, unlike straight, cis people. contain LGBTQ+ characters do not have this as LGBTQ+ characters, but in recent years this level of input from queer people. As Cassata Queer actor Kristen Stewart has also weighed has sparked backlash, such as when Scarlett said, LGBTQ+ people are able to tell more in on this in a 2020 interview, discussing the Johansson quit her role playing a trans woman authentic stories about LGBTQ+ characters, but complexity of the issue: “I would never want following public retaliation. how are they able to do so if queer filmmakers to tell a story that really should be told by do not have access to mainstream audiences. However, what frustrates me about much of the somebody who’s lived that experience. Having discourse is that it fails to address the deeper said that, it’s a slippery slope conversation As GLAAD found, Hollywood films are issues going on behind the scenes. Perhaps because that means I could never play another disproportionately populated by straight, the issue at the heart of this is not whether straight character if I’m going to hold everyone cisgender characters and storylines, but what straight, cis characters should be playing to the letter of this particular law.” is often not considered is the extension of LGBTQ+ characters, but the fact there are so this issue to behind the scenes. As Stewart If Stewart were to be denied straight roles as a few queer characters and narratives within said, there are grey areas when questioning if result of her sexuality, her career – in terms of mainstream cinema. There are so few queer straight, cis people can play queer characters which films she would be able to be cast in – film characters that when a straight, cis person as it raises question of which roles LGBTQ+ would likely suffer significantly, so some have assumes the role of an LGBTQ+ character, it people have access to, but what is not a grey argued that actors should be able to play any deducts from one of the few chances queer area is the overall lack of LGBTQ+ narratives role; it is acting after all. So what is apparent people get to tell their stories. and acceptance within the industry. to me is that the debate should not just be “Gay is not a performance. I about casting but the politics of film industry Instead of just focusing on casting, I don’t think gay is performative. and a continuing lack of queer representation. strongly believe the debate needs to delve I genuinely think that casting Why is it that Stewart’s career opportunities into the deeper politics of the film industry, gay as gay now is the right would diminish if she was no longer allowed which is excluding both LGBTQ+ workers and thing to do” to play non-LGBTQ+ roles? It seems that representation. Perhaps one day, straight, cis discussing if straight, cis people should be people will be able to play LGBTQ+ characters Using the logic that non-LGBTQ+ people able to play LGBTQ+ people only scratches the with no backlash, and this day will come when shouldn’t be cast in LGBTQ+ roles, some people surface of exclusionary problems that exist in LGBTQ+ people are as widely and accurately – who are more often than not straight, cis, the media. represented in film, and queer actors and men – argue that queer people should then not filmmakers have equal opportunities. Until And again, this is why I do agree that LGBTQ+ assume non-LGBTQ+ roles. Yet I believe that then, LGBTQ+ people shouldn’t be denied the roles should be filled by LGBTQ+ people – there the problematic nature of a straight person few chances they get to tell their stories. simply isn’t enough LGBTQ+ representation in playing an LGBTQ+ person is made void when a cinema, and there isn’t enough space for queer ‘It’s A Sin creator Russell T Davies on queer queer person plays straight character because actors in the industry. According to GLAAD’s actors playing straight, gay Tories, TV erections the issue disproportionately affects LGBTQ+ annual Studio Responsibility Index, 22 of 118 and spunk’ – Darren Scott, Pink News, January narratives, which rarely appear on our screens. films released by major movie studios in 2019 22, 2021. In response to the arguments set out by those included characters who were lesbian, gay, ‘Kristen Stewart on ‘Happiest Season’ and the who believe LGBTQ+ people should not play bisexual, transgender and/or queer (18.6%). ‘Gray Area’ of Only Gay Actors Playing Gay straight characters, Russell T Davies said: “I In a November 2020 piece for USA Today, Jane Characters’ – Kate Aurthur, Variety, November believe in casting gay as straight. And I’ll tell Ward, a gender and sexuality studies professor 23, 2020. you why – because from the age of eight, we at the University of California, said: “It would are pretending to be straight. It’s the first be nice if there were enough LGBTQ+ roles that ‘Hollywood’s casting dilemma: Should straight, thing we learn to do.” What I think Davies is anyone could play them because there wasn’t cisgender actors play LGBTQ characters?’ – highlighting here is the deeper question of any scarcity of representation... David Oliver, USA Today, November 24, 2020. 32 Scene STREETS OF BRIGHTON Photography by Tom Selmon

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HARVEY I @Harvey_Frost 66 Scene Turn Back the Pages Gscene has been published every month for over 27 years, and is a rich chronicle of the history of our LGBTQ+ communities, in and around Brighton & Hove. Chris Gull raids the archives… Claudia Patrice, Topping & Butch and the DE Experience. From his time in Brighton, Drag With No Name and Maisie Trollette captured exactly what the show was all about – ‘the love of community.’ Finally, the crowd was brought to its feet by the Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus and the Rainbow Chorus, who delivered a magnificent finale to the show with their rendition of the show’s title song, When You Tell Me That You Love Me. It was a fabulous evening created by people COMMENT who had a genuine affection for him and it was ) “I approached Cllr Mary Mears last October held together with military precision by Lola after it became clear there was a distinct Lasagne, who is blossoming into a consummate possibility that Pride 2011 would be boycotted compère as well as performer and organiser of by some LGBT voluntary organisations if the community events. present organisers continued to organise the event. Over the following months many people, TORY ATTACKS ‘’ including the former Chair of Pride, David Harvey, ) A Tory councillor has attacked plans to who set Pride up as a charity, called for the upgrade the facilities in St James’s Street charity to close down because it was in his view to make the gay village a safer and more “wrong to raise money from people to stage March 2006 comfortable place for everyone to live. Councillor a party in Preston Park which did not benefit for & Knoll, Dawn Barnett, said in a Fifteen tears ago (!) Brighton came together LGBT community organisations”. The Women’s recent letter to : “I am in agreement to celebrate the life of Phil Starr, and James Performance Tent Organisers, Calabash, Lunch with the comments of Alan Bond of the St Ledward called out a Tory councillor as a bigot. Positive, in partnership with Wilde Ones and James’s Forum Action Group. As a heterosexual Aeon Events produced a consultative document PHIL STARR TRIBUTE SHOW person, I see no need to make a song and dance for a community business partnership to stage ) The Brighton LGBT community staged a tribute about it or decorate my street in a certain way. Pride in 2011. These organisations asked me to show for one of its favourite adopted sons on Thus, it is a little disappointing everyone’s taxes be a conduit between them and the council. Sunday, January 29 at The Dome. The Phil Starr should specifically finance LGBT taxpayers.” Tribute Show, When You Tell Me That You Love Me, attracted 1,400 devotees to the theatre to be entertained by colleagues from Phil’s 50 years in the business. All artists donated their services free of charge to help give ‘The Master’ the send-off he deserved from his fans and friends in Brighton. James Ledward, editor of Gscene, said: “There The Reclaim Pride organisers went to public Representing his days in variety, You Me and are many examples where LGBT people have consultation and developed a fully costed Him – Paul James, Peter Anthony and Billy historically paid taxes that only benefit people bid that would guarantee money for our LGBT Knutt – set the tone and standard for the show in the straight community. If LGBT people used organisations. They sat and waited for the with a 15-minute set of close vocal harmonies the same benchmark when paying their taxes, invitation to present their bid to the council. that set the audience buzzing. the children of bigots who express similar The invitation never came. Instead a round table Representing the acts that Phil worked with in sentiments to Dawn Barnett would never receive meeting was called at the beginning of February, London were Jacqui Cann, Katrina & the Boy, an education. I saw the Greens’ suggestions the purpose of which was not clear to anyone, about the development of St James’s Street myself included. published in The Argus as an attempt to flush At the round table meeting it emerged that out the bigots and trouble-makers, prior to the council officers leading for the council thought Gay Business Forum presenting their thought- the purpose of the process had been to have a out proposals for the upgrading of the area. As single Pride and it did not occur to them that expected, the bigots came out in force, many the council had to choose between two opposing hiding behind their gay-friendly credentials, bids. Behind the scenes the council had been to remind us all we have a long way to go to continuing to meet with Pride in Brighton & achieve full equality and fairness.” Hove organisers. March 2011 ) Ten years ago (!), the Pride debacle rolls on, with yet another incisive editorial from James Ledward, and Brighton named the third most gay-friendly destination in THE WORLD! Scene 67

The outcome of the meeting with the council evergreen Stephanie Starlet which brought many on February 2, 2011, effectively put the Pride old faces back out onto the scene for a night of Problem back to where it was last October. nostalgia, great music and serious dancing. The Women’s Performance Tent organisers, Calabash and Lunch Positive made it very clear BLAGSS’ 18TH BIRTHDAY to everyone round the table that they could not ) BLAGSS, Brighton Lesbian and Gay Sports work with the present Pride organisers, their Society, celebrated its 18th birthday at the end paid worker or production company. of January with a dinner dance at the Sussex Cricket Club. One-hundred members were treated To be honest, I believe council officers never to a sumptuous three-course sit down dinner took the bid by Reclaim Pride seriously, despite MISS JASON RECEIVES AWARD FROM SUSSEX followed by classic disco and line-dancing. the organisers having a wealth of experience POLICE in organising this event. The council’s only ) Jason Sutton aka as entertainer Miss Jason BLAGSS has more than 400 members of all feedback on the original consultation document has been presented with a special community different shapes, sizes, ages and abilities who was to comment the text was sexist, despite it award by Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp from participate in sports as varied as badminton, being cleared by the Women’s Performance Tent Sussex Police acknowledging the help he gave cricket, cycling, football, golf, orienteering, organisers and Women’s Centre. Funny that!” police officers during a bomb scare at the start petanque-boules, running, sailing, squash, table of the Brighton & Hove in 2015. tennis, tennis, tennis virgins, ten-pin bowling, BRIGHTON 3RD MOST GAY FRIENDLY TOURIST walking and yoga. DESTINATION IN WORLD The start of the Pride Parade was delayed by ) Brighton has been named third most two hours while police investigated a suspicious gay-friendly destination in the world after package strapped to a lamppost outside the San Francisco and Sydney by Lonely Planet, Brighton Hotel. the specialist travel website and magazine. Jason, who had been hosting a Pride breakfast Brighton’s citation reads: “Perhaps it’s at the Brighton Hotel, kept the crowds outside Brighton’s long-time association with the calm and entertained while police investigated theatre, but for more than 100 years the city the package and then evacuated the crowd has been a gay haven. while bomb squad officers carried out a controlled explosion. The package turned out to be a pinhole. The citation on the award, read: “Miss Jason BLAGSS’ aim is to encourage LGBT people to play is thanked by Sussex Police for assisting in the sport to enrich their lives and promote health and evacuation of a large number of people during fitness while developing sporting talent in the Brighton & Hove’s Pride 2015 celebrations LGBT community. The vibrant queer community is made-up of following the discovery of a suspicious package. 40,000 residents – almost a quarter of the WEIRD, CONTEMPORARY AND UNIQUE – total population. Kemptown (aka Camptown) is “Miss Jason displayed great professionalism TRAUMFRAU AT ENVY where it’s all at, with a rank of gay-owned bars, and helped to ensure a calm and organised ) Traumfrau, Brighton’s most unusual queer hotels, cafés, bookshops and saunas. There’s evacuation putting the safety of the local night, runs monthly from a different venue, even a Gay’s the Word walking tour.” community first.” in February it was above Charles Street at Envy. Expect to step into a colourful reality, March 2016 Miss Jason added: “It was so camp my dears! where you can dance until the late hours, I had a wonderful time keeping everyone watch unapologetic drag queens and incredible ) Just five years ago, still innocently pre- entertained in the long wait to establish how performers, be part of a show, enter a painting referendum, pre-Trump presidency, and pre-Covid, serious the situation was. Everyone played their competition, play a game, dance some more and we can reflect that the past really is another part and the most important thing is that no meet the most social and interesting people. country… one was hurt, everyone had a great day and I am very happy to have played my part.” DR BRIGHTONS CELEBRATE SEVEN YEARS AT THE TOP! ) On March 5, Charles Child and his team at Doctor Brightons will be celebrating their seventh birthday ‘gaying’ it up on Brighton seafront. Charles took over the reins in 2009 and was joined in 2010 by the barman with the dirtiest laugh in Brighton, Wayne Durant, who arrived hot from managing the Bulldog. Charles and Wayne both agree that one of the highlights of the last seven years was From outdoor festival-like parties, with fire pits, the Reunion Party last month, hosted by the a pool, and food, to club nights, performances, and great DJs, no two Traumfrau parties are ever the same. All are an unforgettable experience. An intellectual dancefloor for the unusual crowd. Bizarre and enlightening. Forget everything you know about a gay club, butch up your camp, camp up your butch, break all binaries, wear whatever you want, or very little, scr*w the pressure of having to be anything else than what you want. 68 Scene

NETTY’S WORLD HOMELY HOMILY BY NETTY WENDT BY GLENN STEVENS Let’s Go Outside ‘Appy days ) My partner and I moved to Brighton from Hammersmith over 20 ) I am ever hopeful that by the time of this going to print in years ago. Yes, we were drawn to the vibrant gay and lesbian scene, March’s Scene magazine the third lockdown is behind us and there is but it was the nature of a bohemian town flanked by the rolling green a glimmer of hope ahead and we are getting out more and embracing hills and the sea, that was truly the call of the wild as we sat in our all that is so good about living in Brighton. With the sea in front of London flat surrounded by traffic and tube stations. us, the South Downs at the back, and our vibrant city jewelled in the centre. But if the previous year has taught us anything, it is to have a “Now Brighton in turn is (to me at least) too Plan B up our sleeves. crowded. The wildlife on Hove Lawns is of a more human variety, and as hitting people who annoy “One of the tools in my belt, which has been a me is frowned upon, I’ve moved along the coast great comforter, has been practicing mindfulness. to Peacehaven” I will be forever grateful to Jackie and Judy for the free mindfulness classes they ran at The Sussex Similarly, since lockdown many other Londoners have heard the Beacon” mermaids singing too. Estate agents tell of an unprecedented exodus from the capital, and who can blame these runaways? We humans Also let us remember there will be a good proportion of Brighton have a biological need for the great outdoors as well as a cosy place people who are still self-isolating at home and will be only able to get to lay our heads. Psychologists have found that merely looking at a outdoors via the view from their window, so what to do? green wall is efficacious and calming. Indeed, a few years ago when One of the tools in my belt, which has been a great comforter, has studying for my psychology degree, I was asked to describe my ‘happy been practicing mindfulness. I will be forever grateful to Jackie and place’. To my surprise, it was not a pub. It was Hove Lawns. I know, Judy for the free mindfulness classes they ran at The Sussex Beacon. it’s hardly a nature reserve, but here I was surrounded by myriad This practice has been a simple yet powerful way or stopping a lot dogs, birds, greenery and the sea. I felt alive. of emotionally draining situations from getting out of hand, allowing I have often been struck by the way we gays have utilised outdoorsy me to centre my mind and bring myself back into the moment. If that pursuits to hook up or spend time with our own kind. A group may sound a little bit tree hugging (which I also like) then please just of women walking on Devil’s Dyke can safely enjoy each other’s drop the doubt and give it a try, there are plenty of online courses to company as well as the fresh air, far away from the prying eyes sign up to and once you have the basics, this practice can be a friend of heteronormativity. On that note, I hear the bushes are being for life. drastically trimmed at Duke’s Mound, where the hell will all the gay men go? That foliage has been the only bush they’ve been in for “The fantastic thing about this app is it not only years! I suppose Grindr caters for such casual encounters these days, helps with lowering stress levels but also takes the but I never thought I’d feel nostalgic about a cruising ground. imagination to places that many may not be able to get to due to self-isolating” “I hear the bushes are being drastically trimmed at Duke’s Mound, where the hell will all the gay Another great app to help with relaxation is one for people who live men go? That foliage has been the only bush with tinnitus, that ringing in your ear which I and thousands of other they’ve been in for years!” people live with. The app I use is ReSound which offers an array of soundscapes, including At the Beach and Evening Forest, to help you Time marches on, now Brighton in turn is (to me at least) too relax - one of the main causes for tinnitus to increase is stress. The crowded. The wildlife on Hove Lawns is of a more human variety, and fantastic thing about this app is it not only helps with lowering stress as hitting people who annoy me is frowned upon, I’ve moved along levels but also takes the imagination to places that many may not be the coast to Peacehaven. It’s not so far away, I can see the i360 able to get to due to self-isolating. The app, and I am sure there are from my daily walk along the cliffs, but it’s a world away from the many more out there, offers visual representations of nature’s powerful hustle and bustle, it’s big sky, crashing waves and rolling hills. After great outdoors as well as bite-size spoken meditations. my run-in with Covid-19 I walked this route to recover the use of my I do know that not everyone can connect with these types of therapies legs and breathed this air to heal my ravaged lungs, ultimately this and during self-isolation many may crave to get further afield in a walk healed my soul. different way. We are so lucky to be bang in the middle of the digital When walking I think how lucky I am to be alive. I pass my friend’s age where the world is at our fingertips. For a virtual South Downs house and wave in at him, we’re still in lockdown but one day soon walk, visit www.southdowns.gov.uk or for something more out of we’ll have a barbecue, even food tastes better al fresco. I pass a this world why not visit the edge of the universe with Sean Pertwee: lesbian couple I knew from Brighton days, they’ve just got a dog, https://youtu.be/68tpCpDOsyA. because now they have the great outdoors and a garden. I smile at a So if we are still in lockdown, grab yourself a cuppa, sit down, relax bearded chap in a Brighton Bear Weekend T-shirt. Perhaps he’s here with an app or log in and enjoy the virtual great outdoors. to heal his soul too? Nah, he’s cruising.

62 Gscene Scene 69 CLASSIFIEDS Email [email protected] by 15th March to book an advert

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) In a time when we are restricted to go and enjoy the outdoors due to the current coronavirus pandemic, our mental and physical health may have had a downward spiral. People who are living with HIV have become used to the idea of accessing regular support, whether to share a lunch, have an alternative therapy session, or meet friends in the pub. One aspect that may not be in the forefront of their mind is to leave the city buzz and engage with nature or the countryside. Walking in open spaces, woods, mountains or seashore, has been proven to have a beneficial effect on our minds, it enables us to recharge the batteries, reduces stress, helps sleep and relaxation and much more. We are fortunate to have such resources near to us; the seafront promenade and the South Downs which envelops the city. We have While every effort has been made to ensure good public transport to reach these places too. the accuracy of statements in this magazine we cannot accept responsibility for the views When the restrictions lift we should try our best to utilise these of contributors, errors, or ommisions, or resources. City life can be draining and the distractions of it can wear us for matters arising from clerical or printers down. Sometimes we can get mindlessly stuck in the mud, feel lethargic errors, or an advertiser not completing a or want to stay close to our creature comforts. We may even convince contract ourselves that there’s no real benefit or it’s too much effort to adventure into the countryside. From personal experience, when sitting by the sea watching the waves roll over, standing on top of Devils Dyke looking over the vast Sussex Wealds, or exploring through a quiet moss-laden wood, all my problems and worries fall away, my mind has clarity and the effort is so worth it. It’s like medicine, it’s like a tonic. These remedies need to be taken at regular intervals in order to keep the happy mood muscles at a consistent level; similar to the effects of the levels and adherence of our antiretrovirals that have been drummed into us! “When sitting by the sea watching the waves roll over, standing on top of Devils Dyke looking over the vast Sussex Wealds, or exploring through a quiet moss laden wood; all my problems and worries fall away, my mind has a clarity and the effort is so worth it” Walking has been one of my passions for a very long time, visiting places such as Cumbria, Northumberland, Isle of Skye and the Peak District. But Sussex is a place I know well and the gentle hills and chalky paths are quite lovely throughout the yearly seasons. Positive Walks is a social media group that gets HIV+ people out walking and hopefully connecting with nature, even just for a few hours a month. It helps people socialise in a different environment, away from the city, get exercise or just have fun. My HIV status is only a part of me, it lives with me, it doesn’t dictate my life, it’s not a prominent aspect of it. My enjoyment of walking, my creativity in making art and my work enables me to have a varied and full character. That’s why the project More to Me Than HIV was something I wanted to be involved with. Hopefully helping break the stigma and outdated views of what constitutes and makes up a person not just living, but ‘thriving’ with HIV. Please contact [email protected] for more information on both projects. 70 Scene SERVICES l Mindout info Independent, impartial services run by and for LGBTQ DIRECTORY l Sussex Beacon people with experience of mental health issues. 24 hr 24 hour nursing & medical care, day care confidential answerphone: 01273 234839 or email info@ 01273 694222 or www.sussexbeacon.org.uk mindout.org.uk and out of hours online chat LGBTQ+ Services www.mindout.org.uk l Terrence Higgins Trust services l Allsorts Youth Project For more info about these free services go to the THT l Navigate Drop-in for LGBT or unsure young people under 26 office, 61 Ship St, Brighton, Mon–Fri, 10am–5pm Social/peer support group for FTM, transmasculine & Tues 5.30–8.30pm 01273 721211 or email info@ 01273 764200 or [email protected] gender queer people, every 1st Wed 7-9pm & 3rd Sat of allsortsyouth.org.uk. www.allsortsyouth.org.uk • Venue Outreach: info on HIV, sexual health, personal month 1-3pm at Space for Change, Windlesham Venue, safety, safer drug/alcohol use, free condoms/lubricant l BN1 3AH. https://navigatebrighton.wordpress.com/ Brighton & Hove Police for men who have sex with men Report all homophobic, biphobic or transphobic incidents l Peer Action • The Bushes Outreach Service @ Dukes Mound: to: 24/7 assistance call Police on 101 (emergencies 999) Regular low cost yoga, therapies, swimming, meditation advice, support, info on HIV & sexual health, and free Report online at: www.sussex.police.uk & social groups for people with HIV. contact@peeraction. condoms & lube LGBT team (not 24/7) email: [email protected] net or www.peeraction.net • Netreach (online/mobile app outreach in Brighton & • LGBT Officer PC James Breeds: Tel: 101 ext 558168 Hove): info/advice on HIV/sexual health/local services. [email protected] l Rainbow Families THT Brighton Outreach workers online on Grindr, Scruff, Support group for lesbian and/or gay parents l Brighton & Hove LGBT Safety Forum & Squirt 07951 082013 or [email protected]. Independent LGBT forum working within the communities • Condom Male: discreet, confidential service posts free www.rainbowfamilies.org.uk to address and improve safety and access issues in condoms/lube/sexual health info to men who have sex Brighton & Hove. For more info: 01273 675445 l Rainbow Hub with men without access to East Sussex commercial gay or admin@-help.com or www.lgbt-help.com Information, contact, help and guidance to services for scene LGBT+ communities in Brighton, Hove and Sussex at • Positive Voices: volunteers who go to organisations to l Brighton & Hove LGBT Switchboard Rainbow Hub drop in LGBT+ one-stop shop: 93 St James talk about personal experiences of living with HIV • LGBT Older People’s Project Street, BN2 1TP, 01273 675445 or visit • Fastest (HIV testing): walk-in, (no appointment) rapid • LGBT Health Improvement and Engagement Project www.therainbowhubbrighton.com HIV testing service open to MSM (Men who have sex • LGBTQ Disabilities Project with Men). Anyone from the African communities, male • Rainbow Café: support for LGBT+ people with Dementia l Some People and female sex workers and anyone who identifies as • Volunteering opportunities 01273 234 009 Social/support group for LGB or questioning aged 14-19, Trans or non-binary. We now offer rapid 15 minutes Helpline hours: Wed & Thur, 7–9.30pm; trans-only Tue 5.30-7.30pm, Hastings. Call/text Cathrine Connelly results for HIV/Syphilis: Mon 10am-8pm, Tues-Fri webchat on Sun 3–5pm: call 01273 204 050 0797 3255076 or email [email protected] 10am-5pm, Thurs 10am-8pm (STI testing available) email [email protected] l TAGS – The Arun Gay Society • Sauna Fastest at The Brighton Sauna (HIV testing): webchat www.switchboard.org.uk/helpline walk-in, (no appointment) rapid HIV testing service for www.switchboard.org.uk/brighton Social Group welcome all in East & West Sussex Areas. Call/Text 07539 513171. More info: www.tagsonline.org. men who have sex with men, results in 20 minutes: l Brighton OneBodyOneFaith uk Wed: 6–8pm (STI testing available) Formerly The Gay Christian Movement. Contact: Nigel Nash • Face2Face: confidential info & advice on sexual health l [email protected]. www.onebodyonefaith.org.uk Victim Support & HIV for men who have sex with men, up to 6 one Practical, emotional support for victims of crime hour appointments l Brighton Women’s Centre 08453 899 528 • Specialist Training: wide range of courses for groups/ Info, counselling, drop-in space, support groups individuals, specific courses to suit needs l The Village MCC 01273 698036 or visit www.womenscentre.org.uk • Counselling: from qualified counsellors for up to Christian church serving the LGBTQ community. Sundays 12 sessions for people living with/affected by HIV l Lesbian & Gay AA 6pm, Somerset Day Centre, Kemptown. More info: 07476 • What Next? Thurs eve, 6 week peer support group 12-step self-help programme for alcohol addictions: 667353, www.thevillagemcc.org work programme for newly diagnosed HIV+ gay men Sun, 7.30pm, Chapel Royal, North St, Btn (side entrance). • HIV Support Services: info, support & practical 01273 203 343 (general AA line) HIV Prevention, Care advice for people living with/affected by HIV l LGBTQ+ Cocaine Anonymous & Treatment Services • HIV Welfare Rights Advice: Find out about benefits Meeting every Tues 6.30-8pm, 6 Tilbury Pl, Brighton, BN2 or benefit changes. Advice line: Tue–Thur 1:30- l 0GY, CA isn’t allied with any outside organisation, and AVERT 2:30pm. 1-2-1 appts for advice & workshops on key neither endorses or opposes any causes. Sussex HIV & AIDS info service 01403 210202 benefits Helpline 0800 6120225, or [email protected] l Terrence Higgins Eastbourne www.cocaineanonymous.org.uk l Brighton & Hove CAB HIV Project • Web support & info on HIV, sexual health & local www.sussexcocaineanonymous.co.uk Money, benefits, employment, housing, info, advocacy. services via netreach and www.myhiv.org.uk • Free condom postal service contact Grace Coughlan l LGBTQ+ NA Group Appointments: Tue-Thur 9am-4pm, Wed 9am-12.30pm on 07584086590 or [email protected] Brighton-based LGBTQ+ (welcomes others) Narcotics Brighton & Hove Citizens Advice Bureau, Brighton Town Hall. Anonymous group every Tue 6.30–8pm, Millwood Centre, 01273 733390 ext 520 or www.brightonhovecab.org.uk l Sexual Health Worthing Nelson Row, Kingswood St. 0300 999 1212 l Clinic M Free confidential tests & treatment for STIs inc HIVA; Hep vaccinations. Worthing-based 0845 111345645 l LGBT+ Meditation Group Free confidential testing & treatment for STIs including HIV, Meditation & discussion, every 2nd & 4th Thur, 5.30–7pm, plus Hep A & B vaccinations. Claude Nicol Centre, Sussex Anahata Clinic, 119 Edward St, Brighton. County Hospital, on Weds from 5-8pm. National Helplines 07789 861 367 or www.bodhitreebrighton.org.uk 01273 664 721 or www.brightonsexualhealth.com l National LGBT Domestic Abuse Helpline at www.galop.org.uk and 0800 999 5428 l l Lawson Unit Lunch Positive l Switchboard 0300 330 0630 Lunch club for people with HIV. Meet/make friends, find Medical advice, treatment for HIV+, specialist clinics, diet l Positiveline (Eddie Surman Trust) peer support in safe space. Every Fri, noon–2.30pm, & welfare advice, drug trials. 01273 664 722 Mon-Fri 11am-10pm, Sat & Sun 4-10pm 0800 1696806 Community Room, Dorset Gdns Methodist Church, Dorset l Martin Fisher Foundation l Mainliners 02075 825226 Gdns, Brighton. Lunch £1.50. HIV self-testing kits via digital vending machines available l National AIDS Helpline 08005 67123 07846 464 384 or www.lunchpositive.org from: The Brighton Sauna, Prowler, Marlborough Pub and l National Drugs Helpline 08007 76600 l The Rainbow Hub. www.martinfisherfoundation.org MCC Brighton l THT AIDS Treatment phoneline 08459 470047 Inclusive, affirming space where all are invited to come as l Substance Misuse Service l THT direct 0845 1221200 they are to explore their spirituality without judgement. Brighton & Hove: Change Grow Live: 01273 731900, 01273 515572 or [email protected] email [email protected], visit: www. www.mccbrighton.org.uk changegrowlive.org/brighton-hove-recovery-service/ OLD SHOREHAM RD HOOVE STATIOSTATION RD Gscene Advertisers’ Map

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YAL PAVILLION 15 ) Saunas RO 33 Brighton Sauna NOR 75 Grand Parade, 01273 689966 TH ST PRINCES STREET E www.thebrightonsauna.com DORSET GARDENS ) GEORGE STREET Shops HIGH STREET ST JAMES’ STREET 39 34 Prowler 20 112 St James’ St, 01273 683680 35 1 GARDENS 5 38 DEVONSHIRE PLACE 35K Sussex Beacon Charity Shop 13 21 130 St James’s St, 01273 682992 ST JAMES’ AVENU 34 36 Sussex Beacon Home Store 72-73 London Rd, 01273 680264 3 www.sussexbeacon.org.uk 12 40 UPPER ROC ) Legal Services 37 Engleharts 24 49 Vallance Hall, Hove St, 01273 204411

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Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Birmingham LGBTQ+ Games launches Pride House Project community reveals plans for ) On Friday, February 19, the Pride House project for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games was formally launched. The project aims to create a permanent HIV/AIDS memorial community hub – an inclusive space – to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in pic cap sport and the wider Commonwealth. Pride House will welcome LGBTQ+ athletes, spectators, officials and their allies before, during and after the games. It will be a physical space for people to experience the event with others from the community, and to build a relationship with mainstream sport.

As a concept, Pride House launched in Vancouver in 2010 when the local community established an LGBTQ+ safe space at the Winter Olympics. Since then, there have been more than 20 Pride Houses at international sporting events around the world. Created in association with Pride Sports – the UK-based LGBTQ+ sports organisation – Pride House Birmingham 2022 will showcase the very best in LGBTQ+ sports, providing education and encouraging participation in sport and physical activity across the West Midlands. ) Birmingham community groups, of Birmingham Pride, said: “For Piero Zizzi, one of the Pride House Birmingham organisers, said: “As a Brummie, I businesses and individuals are obvious reasons, many people would am hugely proud to be leading on this project. Pride House Birmingham will celebrate working together to raise money for a like to see it on the top of Hurst Street, the fantastic diversity of England’s second city, explore our permanent AIDS & HIV Memorial in near where the relationship with the Commonwealth and create a lasting legacy Birmingham’s Southside District within new Hippodrome for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport.” the LGBTQ+ village. Square will be, To mark the launch of the Pride House project, organisers are which is a central Garry Jones, an artist living and welcoming their first elite athletes – all hoping to compete in the point to the gay working in Birmingham, explained the PIERO ZIZZI upcoming Commonwealth Games – to the programme. Dutee PHIL OLDERSHAW community and moment the idea for the memorial came Chand is an Indian professional sprinter and the current national champion in the Hippodrome Theatre because a lot of to him. “It all happened after watching women’s 100m event. Michael Gunning is a Jamaican swimmer and currently holds people in the 1980s and 90s lost their It's A Sin on Channel 4, I just posted the national record for the 200m butterfly. Tom Bosworth is a British race walker, a lives that worked in the theatre industry. on a Facebook page whether anyone Commonwealth Games silver medallist and six times British record holder. would be interested in getting together, “However, we've got to work with officials Scottish wheelchair basketball player Robyn Love, a Paralympian and a World during this pandemic, to remember the in the city to find a suitable spot, which is Championship silver medallist, commented on her role as an forgotten pandemic in the 1980s and I convenient for all, that is the right place ambassador. She said: “I’m honoured to be an ambassador got an amazing response.” for a landmark to go.” for Pride House Birmingham. I think it will be a fantastic space Garry was 21 in 1981 and when the Plans for Birmingham’s HIV & AIDS in which we will not only celebrate the diversity of athletes HIV/AIDS pandemic first hit the UK he Memorial are still in their early stages of participating in the Commonwealth Games, but welcome all remembers: “Just as you were finding planning but fundraising is already well members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies in a safe, out who you were, this awful disease underway. Last month, the Nightingale

ROBYN LOVE welcoming and educational environment.” hit the scene. You just saw people Club raised over £4,000 with a Pride House organisers believe that this project has a particularly important role to disappear, you didn't know where they live-streamed, star-studded drag show play due to the global attention that will be on the Commonwealth Games in 2022. In a were, whether they'd died or gone home. featuring Ginny Lemon from season two press release, they highlighted the initiative’s goals to draw attention to LGBTQ+ rights of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and The Fox "I'd like the memorial to be a legacy, a globally, particularly given that homosexual activity is still a criminal offence in 35 of Bar hosted a back to the 80s night. suitable memorial for all those forgotten the 54 sovereign states of the Commonwealth. people.” Garry added: “I think it will be Phil Oldershaw stated: “It's about time Pride House is working closely with the Commonwealth Games Federation “to a symbol of hope Birmingham had a place for people to ensure that this initiative builds on Pride Houses at previous Games and forms part for the future too. I acknowledge those lost, acknowledge of wider plans for equality, diversity and inclusion across the Commonwealth Sport don't want them to those suffering… The community has Movement”. be forgotten, it will now got together to come on board and mean the world to help get this project and turn it from a

GARRY JONES me.” thought and vision and make it a reality.” Do you have a story? ) Scene in Birmingham is a new page sharing LGBTQ+ community news from the While there are no details on exactly D To donate to the Nightingale Club city and the West Midlands. where the memorial will go or what it will fundraiser, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/

look like, Phil Oldershaw, co-founder birminghamaidsmemorial If you have a story, email Catherine: [email protected]