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17.30 – 18.25: Arrival, refreshments
and pre-event networking
18.25 – 18.30: Welcome
and introductions
Lee Hawkins, Hate Crime Coordinator, Metropolitan Police
Lee Hawkins, Hate Crime Coordinator, Metropolitan Police
Sarah Humphreys, Chair, ELOP and Tower
Hamlets LGBT Voices
18.30 – 19.30: ‘People,
Power and Parliament’
Charlotte Dobson, Senior Community Outreach Officer for Parliament in London
Charlotte Dobson, Senior Community Outreach Officer for Parliament in London
@CharlotteD_Hop @YourUKParl
The ‘People, Power and
Parliament’ session will cover the basics of How Parliament works and how
members of the public can get involved. With a focus on LGBT rights, Charlotte
will cover the different ways in which MPs and members of the House of Lords can
raise issues on your behalf as well as how you can begin to influence the UK
Parliament and get your voice heard.
19.30 – 20.00: Activism & Reconciliation: LGBT+
Community and the Police
Pliny Soocoormanee, Executive
Assistant, Peter Tatchell Foundation
@PT_Foundation www.petertatchellfoundation.org
The
year 1967 is an important milestone for LGBT History, it marks the partial
decriminalisation of homosexuality in England. The very first steps on a very
long road, a very long road of the struggle for LGBT+ liberation.
The
law & the police have not always been on the side of the LGBT+ community.
Tonight we will remember the tense relationship between these two groups paying
special attention to some milestone events. We will consider how activism
and the change in law played a role in reshaping the relationship between the
police and the LGBT+ community. Long gone are the days of harassment and
entrapment, today the police take homophobic hate crimes seriously and they are
present in full uniform at Pride marches. Change does happen!
20.00 – 20.20: European
Court of Human Rights - Challenging ‘the age of consent’
Richard Desmond, Chair of Victoria Park
Friends, Activist and Volunteer
Richard
Desmond’s European Court of Human Rights case was the first to challenge
the age of consent, when he was 16, with the brilliant Barrister Peter
Ashman really doing the work, it failed but it proved the principle
that cases could be taken.
20.20 – 20.50: ‘Any Old
Iron’
Linda Wilkinson, Award-winning Author, Playwright and Historian
Linda Wilkinson, Award-winning Author, Playwright and Historian
www.lindawilkinson.org
Throughout
history the London Borough of Tower Hamlets has been on the edge. The edge of
the City, the edge of acceptability and nowadays perhaps just edgy. Is it pure
romanticism to think that we also had an edge on tolerance for difference? Join
us for a look back over the centuries, including the 21st, to see
how our forbearers lived, loved and helped establish the nature of the East End.
20.50 – 21.00: Closing Remarks
20.50 – 21.00: Closing Remarks
Lee Hawkins, Hate Crime Coordinator,
Metropolitan Police
Nicóla Puma, LGBT Events &
Community Worker, ELOP and Tower Hamlets LGBT Voices
About the speakers
Session 1 (18.30): ‘People,
Power and Parliament’
Charlotte Dobson, Senior Community Outreach Officer for Parliament in London
Charlotte Dobson, Senior Community Outreach Officer for Parliament in London
@CharlotteD_Hop @YourUKParl |
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Charlotte Dobson is a
Senior Community Outreach Officer for Parliament, covering London and the
South East. The focus of her role is deliver interactive presentations and
workshops to help increase public understanding and engagement with
Parliament.
Charlotte is
particularly passionate about delivering sessions out in the community and
working with groups of people that are stereotypically less likely to become
involved in Politics which includes young people, black and ethnic minority
groups, women and disabled adults. Consequently lots of time is spent
travelling across London and seeking out grassroots organisations to work
with.
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Session 2 (19.30): Activism & Reconciliation: LGBT+
Community and the Police
Pliny Soocoormanee, Executive Assistant, Peter Tatchell Foundation
Pliny Soocoormanee, Executive Assistant, Peter Tatchell Foundation
@PT_Foundation www.petertatchellfoundation.org|
|
Pliny
Soocoormanee is the Executive Assistant to Peter Tatchell and has been
actively involved in LGBT+ activism since the campaign for same-sex marriage
in 2012. He was once detained by the Police with Peter Tatchell while
disrupting a meeting of the British Iranian chamber of commerce while
highlighting the issue of human rights abuse of Ahwazi Arabs.
He
has supported numerous LGBT+ initiatives in Shropshire and the West Midlands
as well as LGBT+ organisations in Mauritius. He dreams of a
world where people will no longer be persecuted based on their sexual
orientation. In his free time, Pliny is an avid historical reenactor
and tends to do a lot of running.
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Session 3 (20.00): European Court of Human
Rights - challenging ‘the age of consent’
Richard Desmond, Chair of Victoria Park Friends, Activist and Volunteer
Richard Desmond, Chair of Victoria Park Friends, Activist and Volunteer
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Richard
Desmond is a long serving volunteer with LGBT Switchboard and has been
on various committees and numerous organisations over the
years.
Richard
was diagnosed with HIV (HTLV III) in 1985 and has been involved in HIV
activism since then. Richard currently serves on the
UK Community Advisory Board and the Minorities of Gender &
Sexuality Special Interest Group (MGS SIG), of the British Association
for Sexual Health & HIV (BASHH) as well as being Chair of
Victoria Park Friends and active within the local community.
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Session 3 (20.20): ‘Any
Old Iron’
Linda Wilkinson,
Award-winning Author, Playwright and Historian
www.lindawilkinson.org
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Linda
Wilkinson is an award-winning author, playwright and historian.
Born
in Bethnal Green her family roots in the East End can be traced back to
the1600’s. She has also been a scientist and Chair of Amnesty International
UK and founder member of Amnesty’s global networks for LGBT Human Rights.
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Getting Here
Address: The Reach Community Hub, 11 Oliphant Street,
London, E14 0GB.
Nearest stations: All Saints DLR or Blackwall Reach DLR (To plan journeys from other London stations e.g. Stratford use the journey planner at www.tfl.gov.uk).
Nearest stations: All Saints DLR or Blackwall Reach DLR (To plan journeys from other London stations e.g. Stratford use the journey planner at www.tfl.gov.uk).
(For Sat Navs / Google Maps please
use the post code of our office next door – 9 Webber Path, London, E14 0FZ)
