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Fabulous Thanet Gay Pride Day ! The sun shone on Thanet's second LGBT Pride Day, waving the flag for Diversity, and what a great day it was! An excellent array of acts to suit all tastes turned out to entertain us. It was good to see Ava La Putaine, Jamie Watson, Kitty Monroe and the Boy George Experience, acts from the LGBT scene, who have all appeared at Margate's wonderful "Sundowners Club". "Boy George" was right on message, affirming that it's great to be LGBT, that we must live hand in hand with the straight community and that we must give our support to all those who are working for the LGBT Community and its causes. It was also good to see among others attending, the Thanet Councillors who turned out and seemed to be greatly enjoying themselves , the Kent Fire and Rescue Service, who were there recruiting -www.kent.fire-uk.org-, and the contingent from the Kingfisher Bar Dover, who had turned out to support the day. But above all, a very big thank you to EVERYONE, who worked so hard to make this wonderful day happen! Please give your support to make sure that Thanet Pride 2009 is even bigger and better. |
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1. Inspiring Pride Evening in Canterbury. Friday 9th May 2008. Our talk "Why Canterbury Needs Pride", at the Friends Meeting House in the City , proved to be both stimulating and inspiring. The speaker, John Dixon, a Counsellor and lifeskills Trainer, explained the importance of self-esteem to all people and highlighted the ways in which LGBT people, who can often feel themselves to be excluded and reviled by the wider community, can employ strategies and techniques to raise their self-esteem. Representatives of the Canterbury Branch of Relate attended the talk, as did Jean Law, the Deputy Chair of Canterbury City Council. We were pleased to receive the following in an email from Jean Law, after the talk:- " Just to say a sincere "thank you" for arranging such an interesting talk on self esteem. My personal view is that everyone has a part to play in community. It is essential in helping those who otherwise might be overlooked. Hidden talents are everywhere and it is our job to seek them within our community by whatever means. Well done!" It was disappointing however, that in spite of having been sent details of the talk, early in our plans, the NHS, Primary Care Trusts and Mental Health Charities, were among the caring organisations that did not feel it important to send along representatives. Surely their caring and their concern and interest does not exclude the LGBT community? But as a member of the audience said, it was their loss. A Great Night Out - Winter Gardens, Margate - Friday, 9th May. (Sent in by our roving reporter Ian.) The evening was warm, a reminder that summer is fast approaching, and with it, Thanet's LGBT Pride on 26th July. "A Great Night Out" was intended to be a fundraising event, but with just a handful of us gathered in the foyer of the Winter gardens fifteen minutes before the doors opened, it wasn't a good sign. A further omen of doom was the announcement that the event had been moved to the more intimate Queens Hall, due to slow ticket sales, and that the international drag star Amber Dextrous had had to pull out that afternoon. Despite these initial misgivings, "A Great Night Out" more than lived up to its name. Standing in for Amber at short notice, was the talented 18-year old- drag act Tammy T, gloriously attired and in dangerously highheels, who wasted no time in involving the small but appreciative audience in games, patter and song. Equally fabulous was Girls R Aloud, a tribute group, whose impressive musical contribution and stunning costume changes, brought many of us to our feet and onto the dance floor. Congratulations to the Thanet Pride committee and to Thanet Leisureforce for staging this enjoyable evening, but a special big thankyou to Horace, who directed the show despite having undergone a major operation just the week before. |
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A sequel - see box below. Once upon a time there lived the powerful Baron Harmony, who was famous throughout the land for his good works. The Baron had lots of children and some of them were fairy folk. He said to these fairy children "I love you just as much as I love my other children and I will help you all I can." This made these children feel safe, but one day, one of his fairy children had a problem. He went to Baron Harmony and said "I have a problem and I need your help" and the Baron said "Yes of course I will help you, but go away now and try to solve the problem on your own." So the boy went away, but he couldn't solve the problem on his own. Several times, he went to the Baron and asked for help, and each time, the Baron said that he would help him with his problem, but he didn't. After many weeks, the Baron's son went to him and said "I am very unhappy and angry with you. You said a long time ago that you would help me. I have tried to get your help on many occasions, but you do not help me." Then, powerful Baron Harmony became very angry. " You are a wicked, spiteful and ungrateful boy!", he said. " I HAVE helped you. I have given a lot of money to all my children, so that they can have lots of fun at parties throughout the land." Like many parents, the Baron did not understand that giving children money is not enough. "I am a busy man and do not have time to talk to you and advise you and you should not expect me to. You have become proud and insolent. How dare you be angry with me?" And with those words, the Baron cast his fairy son out of his protective home and left him to manage as best he could in the cold land outside, where few other fairies chose to visit, which of course was the son's problem. Will a fairy godparent appear? Watch this space......... |
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ARE THERE ANY UNISON MEMBERS OUT THERE? As you will see from elsewhere on this page, while we have had some useful contacts with, and support from, Canterbury City Council, there have also been problems. We are a small team at Pride in Canterbury, with little knowledge of the structure and workings of the City Council, and no time to study these. We, therefore, need help and advice as to what expectations we should have of the Council and how we can best, and realistically, work with them to pursue our aims - aims that we believe are not just to the advantage of the LGBT community, but of the whole area. At the beginning of the year, we contacted the Trade Union Council for advice and they referred us to Unison at their South East Headquarters. We received a letter from Teresa Donegan, their Regional Officer, in which she wrote: "I and, I am sure other members of the Southeast Regional LGBT group would be more than willing to help you with the concerns you have regarding Canterbury City Council." She referred us to Steve Haddock, the Unison Branch Sectretary at the City Council Offices in Canterbury. We wrote to him and received an email saying: "Thanks for your letter but I cannot understand what this has to do with the Canterbury City Branch of Unison....I am involved here with staff issues for Canterbury City Council and not those of outside bodies. Unfortunately Unison offices elsewhere have recently developed a habit of putting all sorts of issues my way that don't actually involve me at all. On the face of it nothing in this letter has any particular relevance to myself or the branch. We would not be involved locally as a branch in promoting the causes of outside groups or agencies." So no sign of the willing help we were assured of there then! Presumably, Mr Haddock has no knowledge of Unison's LGBT policies and assumes that he has no local LGBT members. We forwarded the email to Teresa Donegan and requested a meeting with her, but received no positive response. Unison, who this year donated £2,000 to Picnic in the Park, the Gay Pride event in Canterbury, had a stall and I was asked to contact Teresa Donegan there. I did this and we had a frank discussion, at the end of which, I left feeling that she would arrange for someone to meet us to discuss matters. Now, almost four months have passed since that meeting and although we have exchanged further emails, of which one to us requested that we put the Unison logo on our newsletter!, no one has significantly addressed the problems we have raised. There is vague mention of work being done, and possible help, but no suggestion of any meeting with us and the several points we raised in our letter of February 26th remain unanswered. We have taken up considerable time attempting to establish links with Unison, who said initially that they would help us, but are no further forward than we were a year ago. One of the points we have raised with the City Council and with Unison was our fear that if people only pay lip service to what we are trying to do but do not give us practical support then we will probably fail. Unison take full pages in the Gay press and attend Gay Pride days thus gaining favourable and valuable publicity, and no doubt members, but they must realise that small groups such as ours working with no established, supportive community in smaller towns and cities need their practical support. Together with the City Council we are supposed to be working towards the same ends. Just donating money for a celebration of Gay Pride attended by many from outside the area, one day a year, valuable as such days may be, is not enough. Steve Haddock referred to Pride in Canterbury as an outside group. Well, if there was an active LGBT group within the Council, hopefully, they would be helping us with our work and lightening our load. In this sense, I do not believe it is unreasonable to say that we are doing Unison's work for them. There is a message that we can not state often enough. It is that all those, who believe that a thriving, healthy LGBT community is important for EVERYONE in the area, need to give as much practical help to us and to other groups as they possibly can. Andrew Brettell |
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The following item was sent in to us some time ago. We do not know what has happened to the film, but the book is certainly worth a read. (15) 91 mins. Director: Patrick Stettner, Stars: Robin Williams, Toni Collette. Armistead Maupin, author of the bestselling "Tales of the City" books, published in 2000 "his most mature, mellow and moving novel yet" The Independent". "The Night Listener" has now been adapted by director Patrick Stettner, Maupin himself and Terry Anderson into a feature film, an eerie psychological thriller, based on semi-true events in 1992. Robin Williams plays a middle-aged gay author who attempts to discover the true identityof a 13-year old boy who has written a novel detailing his sexual abuse, whilst coming to terms with the break up of his own long-term partnership. With terrifically low key performances from Robin Williams and Toni Collette, and plenty of twists, this is a highly involving and emotional tale. As the film's tag line goes, you never know who's listening! |
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HOMOPHOBIA IN THE LOCAL PRESS You probably guessed that the answer to the puzzle posed in our "Snippets" section, was C J Stone of the Whitstable Times. Unfortunately, another Whitstable Times columnist, Steve Regan, has again used the pages of the newspaper to air his homophobic views, all the while attempting to present himself as liberal and reasonable. This time, he was critical of some lesbian's behaviour in his local, saying "as usual too much drink had been taken". There was no criticism of the publican for allowing the excessive drinking, or for not dealing with the resulting roudiness, if indeed it was excessive. He then went on to throw in a stereotypical remark about Dorothy Squires records and finished up with an oblique attack on the work of Pride in Canterbury and on Canterbury's successful and well received Gay Pride Days. Pride in Canterbury wrote to the letters page of the Whitstable Times criticising Steve Regan's homophobia, but although our letter was not printed this week, there was another letter from Father Kevin St Aubyn telling the lesbian and gay community that we are immoral. Father Aubyn's letter clearly shows why the Church is in the state it is and why people, not just lesbian and gays, are leaving it in droves. If you don't approve of the homophobia emiting from the Whitstable Times, then we suggest that you let them know - either through their letters page, or through their sales figures. 17th August 2006 ( PS 20th August 2006. See www.PinkNews.co.uk , 18th August - "Comment- Bible bashing homophobes") |
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Pink Paper - 21st September "Cambridge City Council is pleased to announce that it is now an outlet for the Pink Paper. Copies can be found in the following council venues: The Guildhall, Mill Road Depot and Mendela House, Margaret Walker, director of Central Services, Cambridge" When will Canterbury catch up? _____________________________ A Book for Your Christmas List? Gay Life and Culture: A World History Edited by Robert Aldridge ( Thames and Hudson, £24.95) Peter Parker's review in the Evening Standard starts "Perhaps the first account we have of a "homosexual" relationship dates from 1700BC.............Since then, and contrary to popular belief, homosexuality has permeated most countries and cultures, including those where it is not officially recongnised or remians strictly taboo." We've been around a long, long time. How lovely to see Madame Melody on the dance floor in fine form and collecting admirers. "So good to have you back where you belong" |
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