LGBT Consortium Newsletter

A monthly digest for the LGBT sector View this email in your browser

A warm welcome to the November edition of our Newsletter! We have important reminders about our upcoming Conference and Proxy voting for our Full Members who cannot attend the AGM. Read on for news from the sector, our Members and the Consortium team. Sector News  LGBT Consortium Annual Conference & AGM This is your last call for our 2017 Conference & AGM, which will take place in Manchester on Saturday 4th November from 10:30am to 5pm. This year the Conference will have a Health Check theme, to tie-in with the work we have been doing with Members throughout the year to support them to remain healthy and fit for purpose. Get the full details and book your place AGM Proxy Voting If you are a Full Member and are unable to attend the Annual General Meeting on the 4th November, you can submit a Proxy voting form via our website. Voting forms must be received by the charity no later than 16:00 on Friday 3rd November 2017. How Insightful We would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who filled out our Impact Survey last month. Your responses are helping to shape our 2017 Insight Report, which is currently being finalised and will be made available to all Members. Trans Reproductive Health Survey The National LGB&T Partnership have supported Public Health England in their development of a survey seeking the views of the trans community on reproductive health. It is the first and most diverse trans survey about reproductive health of its kind seen in the UK. PHE is inviting all self-identified trans people (and those with a trans history) in the UK over the age of 16 to take part. The aim of the survey is to gain a better understanding of trans people’s experiences, preferences and needs for reproductive health and healthcare to inform future PHE work in this area. Your next challenge starts here!   Ever considered becoming a trustee? Keen to share your skills, learn new ones and gain board experience? Give us a call on 020 7064 6500 or register your interest as a potential Trustee News from our Members 10th anniversary GFEST – Gaywise FESTival ® 2017 in venues across London London's annual "All Arts, All Welcome" GFEST films, performances, visual art exhibition and debates invite you to share awesome LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) stories from all over the world. Organised by arts charity Wise Thoughts, #GFEST2017 #ArtsProtest events will be running from Mon 13 Nov to Sat 25 Nov. Click here to find out more LGBTI equality charity welcomes announcement of apology by First Minister for past criminalisation of relationships between men Scottish LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) equality charity the Equality Network has welcomed the announcement that the First Minister will make a statement of apology to people convicted in the past under Scotland’s historical discriminatory “homosexual offences” laws. The Scottish Government have announced that the First Minister will make the apology in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 7th November, to coincide with the publication of a bill to give a pardon for such convictions. Click here to read more on this story Where can I find a LGBT Youth Group? There are groups all across the UK for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) young people, or those questioning their gender or sexuality. There are also some trans-only youth groups too. Most youth groups are confidential, this means your family or friends do not need to know you come along. The Proud Trust have created a Youth Group Finder, where you can put your postcode or area into a search box and they will locate your local youth group for you, plus key information about what the group provides and how to get in touch with them. Click here to find out more 'Hear me. Believe me. Respect me.’ How the National LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline supports victims of intimate partner violence. In the last few weeks the national press has reported the death of a lesbian woman as a result of years of domestic abuse perpetrated by her partner. Lyndsey Vaux had experienced years of emotional, psychological, financial and physical abuse against her by the person who was supposed to care, respect and love her the most. At the sentencing of Lyndsey’s abuser, a former partner of the perpetrator gave evidence and articulated how she had experienced 50 accounts of domestic abuse by the same person. Click here to read more on this story New research finds LGBTI people in Scotland face repeated hate crime 60% of LGBTI people have experienced hate crime multiple times, and 20% have experienced it more than ten times. Scottish LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) equality charity the Equality Network has today published the Scottish LGBTI hate crime report 2017. Based on a detailed survey of 1,445 people in Scotland, the report is Scotland’s most comprehensive study of hate crime against LGBTI people. It is published in advance of Hate Crime Awareness Week which starts on 14th October. Click here to read more on this story Intersex, Variations of Sex Characteristics and DSD: The Need for Change The University of Huddersfield are very pleased to announce the publication of a new report - Intersex, Variations of Sex Characteristics and DSD: The Need for Change, which they have written in collaboration with Intersex people and others affected by issues concerning variations of sex characteristics. This report is an important read, because more and more LGBT organisations are adding the 'I', and we need to be more aware of what issues Intersex people face and how we can be good allies. Click here to find out more

Consortium Team News Paul - Chief Executive Officer Another financial year has passed and we are excited to share with our Members how Consortium is performing during our AGM and Annual Conference on Saturday in Manchester. For those of you coming, I look forward to welcoming you. For those of you unable to attend, please do check out the documentation on our AGM page and let us know if you have any comments, queries or suggestions. Our team is here for our Members so any suggestions for new ways of working or approaching things are always welcome. Thank you to all our Members for engaging with us over the last year and here’s to further growth during 2018. Your Engagement Team  Vicky has been very busy over the past month analysing the many responses we had to our Impact Survey and creating our 2017 Insight Report, which is coming soon. Philip has been working hard organising our upcoming Conference & AGM and we are looking forward to seeing many of our Members there. The Trans Organisations Network (TON) has successfully completed a series of face-to-face and online Round Tables with its membership in September and October. The outcomes of this ‘mapping the future of TON exercise’ will feed into the network’s re-launch strategy. Two key outcomes and objectives are: creation of a TON online sharing platform; strategic engagement in the upcoming GRA process. In the coming weeks, TON is going to focus on developing its GRA consultation strategy with its membership. Please email Shaan to get involved. Jess - National LGBT Anti-Bullying Project Coordinator The HBT project is in full-swing and we are seeing excellent feedback from teachers. 87% of participants reported being ‘very satisfied’ with the support they received from our Alliance Members. We can also see that we are having a direct impact on the lives of LGBT+ school staff - we have experienced several instances where teachers and students have ‘come out’ as LGBT+ as a direct result of seeing their colleagues and fellow students respond positively to our programme. We are proud to be engendering such positive change in our education system! Unfortunately, Jess leaves us this month to pursue her academic ambitions. We would like to take this opportunity to give HUGE thanks to Jess for all her hard work. In the meantime, please get in touch with Vicky if you have any project queries. New Members A Warm Welcome to our Newest Members! We are delighted to welcome the following new members to LGBT Consortium. Please click on the name of the organisation to find out more about them. Choose Yr Own Adventure Events from our Members Upcoming Events in November Here are just a few of the exciting events from our Members which are coming up this month. But we don't have space to list them all here, so please visit the events page on our website for full details of all the upcoming events.

#gayWISE Drop-In Thursday 2nd November 5pm - 7pm LGBT Family and Relationship Legal Advice Surgery Tuesday 14th November 6pm - 8pm Queers Without Beers Thursday 2nd November 6:30pm - 9pm London Bisexuals Monthly Pub Social Thursday 23rd November 7pm - 11:30pm LGBT Consortium Annual Conference & AGM Saturday 4th November 10:30am - 5pm Click here to visit the events page on our website, where you can find a full list of all our Member's upcoming events.

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OVER THE RAINBOW - The Challenges of Finding Love for the LGBT Community

Hi GPN

I am putting another book together titled: OVER THE RAINBOW - The Challenges of Finding Love for the LGBT Community. I am looking for contributions from lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender writers around the world interested in writing about love and relationships, and the challenges and difficulties they face finding love, especially how these challenges differ between countries, cultures and nationalities. Would you be able to tell your community about this project in the hope that some of your LGBT writers might like to contribute? I have attached a working cover, and please do go to the website for more details.

Thank you,

Happy weekend!

Robin

http://www.collectionsofpoetryandprose.com/over-the-rainbow/

Collections of Poetry and Prose
Committed to publishing the works and words of writers and poets around the world
W: www.collectionsofpoetryandprose.com 

The Butch Monologues at Gerry's Studio Stratford East from Wed 8 to Fri 10 Nov at 7.30pm

THE BUTCH MONOLOGUES AUTUMN 2017 TOUR

Written by Laura Bridgman  Directed by Julie McNamara

Following sell-out performances to international festivals and theatres including La Mama and Abrons Arts Center, NYC and WOW festival in London, The Butch Monologues tours again in November.

A powerful and often humorous collection of secret stories exploring sexuality, vulnerability and desire taken from interviews with butches, masculine women, gender rebels and transmen, living world-wide. “An excellent piece of theatre and more than that, it’s a very tangible vehicle for social change.” Jude Kelly CBE, (Artistic Director, Southbank) “Succeeds in making us all feel loved.” Lois Weaver, Split Britches Gerry’s Studio Wed 8, Thu 9 & Fri 10 November 7.30 pm Theatre Royal Stratford East 8 Nov (preview) £10 9 & 10 Nov - £12 / £10 concs BOOK LAUNCH  9 November, 9 pm Gerry's Kitchen, Theatre Royal Stratford East Post show discussion 9 Nov, Chair: Meg-John Barker, author, academic, activist and psychotherapist 10 Nov, Chair: Sabah Choudrey, Pakistani trans activist  Attendance to this event is free but booking is essential.  Please email intouch@vitalxposure.co.uk to reserve your place The Butch Monologues brings together a collaboration between Vital Xposure, hotpencil press and The Drakes promoting female masculinity and butch pride.