LGBT History Month Launch Evening

	LGBT History Month 2019 Launch Evening @MPSTowerHam @SwanHousing @thLGBT_Voices @TowerHamletsNow Friday 1st February 2019 6.30pm – 9pm (arrival, refreshments & pre-event networking from 5.30pm) The Reach Community Hub 11 Oliphant Street, London, E14 0GB (see ‘getting here’ instructions and map on back page)

17.30 – 18.25: Arrival, refreshments and pre-event networking

18.25 – 18.30: Welcome and introductions
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

@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

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 21^st, to see how our forbearers lived, loved and helped establish the nature of the East End.

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

@CharlotteD_Hop   @YourUKParl

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.

Session 2 (19.30): Activism & Reconciliation: LGBT+ Community and the Police
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.

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 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.

Session 3 (20.20): ‘Any Old Iron’

Linda Wilkinson, Award-winning Author, Playwright and Historian

www.lindawilkinson.org

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.

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).

(For Sat Navs / Google Maps please use the post code of our office next door – 9 Webber Path, London, E14 0FZ)