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Turn back the pages. Gscene Archive feature
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…
June 2016
Fifteen years ago, there was much to report. The city said goodbye to what has now grown into a national charity, supported by Lady Gaga and other high-profile celebrities, and three news stories were on the level of attacks on (in these cases) gay men.
The first call out for participants in a survey of the LGBTQ+ population of Brighton & Hove, which went on to become an important and oft-cited piece of research, took place, and reports that crystal meth use by gay men was still low but growing. This in the days before the chemsex phenomenon was recognised as a phenomenon.
A leading charity working with LGBT homeless young people, the Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT), has been forced to withdraw from providing services in Brighton and Hove. This follows a decision by Brighton & Hove City Council not to recommend that the charity be permitted to submit a full funding application.
AKT Chief executive, Richard McKendrick, said: “Following encouragement from council officers and a positive recommendation by the council’s Voluntary Sector and External Funding Unit I was stunned to read Brighton & Hove’s decision particularly as the decision cites ‘the appraisers did not feel these services added sufficient value to the city council’s priorities, commitments and directorate development plans’.
“Brighton & Hove City Council has always purported to be at the forefront of service development for those in need from the LGBT communities and this decision is a huge setback.”
AKT has been funded by Comic Relief for the last three years to provide a supported housing and mentoring alternative for LGBT homeless young people in Brighton & Hove but this grant ended on March 31, 2006.
AKT is the UK’s only charity providing foster care and supported lodgings services to LGBT young people who are homeless or living in a hostile environment.
Council leader Simon Burgess said: “I was very concerned at reports that ‘we had cut funding’ to an organisation that serves members of the LGBT community. In fact the council has never funded AKT and their application was for 2007-10. Their cross-party view was that taking forward the applications for Allsorts, the Young People’s Centre, LGBT Switchboard, Spectrum, Stopover and others was the best way to meet those vital council’s goals.“
PRINCES STREET ASSAULT
Police investigating a serious assault that took place in Princes St, Brighton at 3.05am on Wednesday, May 17 are looking at the possibility that it was a homophobic attack. Princes Street is next to the Marlborough pub and leads from near the foot of Edward Street to the Old Steine. Two men attacked two men as they made their way home after a night out. One man suffered serious head injuries and the other man suffered minor facial injuries. Both had their mobile telephones stolen.
DS Kate Witt from Brighton & Hove CID said: “This was a particularly violent attack leaving one man in a coma for several hours. We are currently viewing CCTV footage from that night in a bid to identify the two offenders. I urge them to come forward and contact the police.”
WITNESS APPEAL: ST JAMES’S STREET, SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2006
Witnesses are sought for an incident that took place on St James’s St just after 10pm on Saturday, May 13. The incident occurred near to the Bulldog public house where one male was punched to side of the head and another received homophobic verbal abuse.
DUKES MOUND ATTACKS
Police are distributing warning posters to LGBT venues following a sharp increase in the number of reports of assaults and robberies in the Dukes Mound and Marine Parade area. The assaults have mainly occurred late at night and police are appealing for witnesses and also warning men in the area of the increase in attacks. Police are advising men that if they are considering going to Dukes Mound late at night that they will be putting themselves at risk as the offenders in the most recent incidents have not yet been caught. Sgt Mark Andrews said: “Police will be carrying out high visibility patrols in the area to provide reassurance to the community and for the purpose of identifying potential offenders”.
CRYSTAL METH USAGE
New data from the annual National Gay Men’s Sex Survey 2005 shows that only a small minority of gay men in the UK had used the drug crystal meth in the last year. The annual survey asked over 16,000 gay and bisexual men questions about their recreational drug use.
The initial findings show that fewer than 3% of gay men had used crystal meth in the previous year and just 0.3% of men used crystal once or more a week.
Will Nutland, Head of Health Promotion at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “Recent media portrayals have given the impression that crystal meth use is widespread and is driving the HIV epidemic in the UK. This data provides us with the first reliable snapshot of what is really happening. Whilst crystal meth use is a minority activity, it is also important to recognise that its use could increase and that crystal meth use will be problematic for some men”
COUNT ME IN TOO! SURVEY ONLINE
The Count Me In Too! (CMIT!) questionnaire, organised by University of Brighton, was put online last month, and is ready for you to fill in. CMIT! will explore the needs, views and experiences of Brighton & Hove’s estimated 35,000 strong LGBT population, so make sure you have your say. “If Brighton & Hove is to live up to its reputation as an inclusive and cosmopolitan city, it’s important to question assumptions and take account of the actual needs, views and experiences of its LGBT citizens,” said Arthur Law, Spectrum’s coordinator. “Back in 2000, three out of five local LGBT people had experienced abuse and violence and much work needed to be done to make services safer and friendlier for all LGBT people. It’s now time to see what still needs to be achieved.”
June 2011
The big news ten years ago was the loss of Spectrum (see also previous story from 2006), which described itself as the LGBT Community Forum, but is not to be confused with the LGBT Community Safety Forum, which also closed down recently (2021).
LGBT COMMUNITY FORUM TO CLOSE DOWN
Following months of uncertainty over the future of Spectrum, the LGBT Community Forum, trustees have decided to commence steps to close the organisation down. In an open letter to the LGBT community, the trustees wrote: “It’s with great regret we need to inform you of our intention to begin the process of closing down Spectrum. Significant changes in the way services are commissioned and consulted within the public sector required major changes in the way Spectrum went about its work within the community. Spectrum’s trustees had problems reconciling our passion for transparent, effective community engagement and long history of using tried and tested methods to understand needs within the community with some of the new criteria being imposed by government.
June 2016
And finally we look back just the five years to revisit the debacle around the licencing travails of the Bulldog, and Daniel Harris’ nomination for a prestigious award.
BRIGHTON’S LONGEST ESTABLISHED GAY BAR, THE BULLDOG IN ST JAMES STREET, HAS BEEN PUT UP FOR SALE
The owner, Dean Homes, has decided to sell after a prolonged battle with the licensing team at Sussex Police. The parties ended up in court following an appeal by Sussex Police for a review of the Bulldog licence which was heard by city councillors in September 2015. Sussex Police and the Bulldog both appealed to city magistrates the decision of the council’s licensing panel, which was made up of elected councillors and chaired by Cllr Mo Marsh, the Labour councillor for Moulsecoomb & Bevendean. The council’s original licensing decision of September 2015 included reducing the Bulldog’s hours at weekends till 2am with one hour drinking-up time (affecting their busiest time for trading) and reducing opening hours on Sunday to Thursday from 11am to midnight with a closing time of 1am. Under the new agreement the Bulldog gained an extra drinking hour on Friday and Saturday nights to 3am with a closing time of 4am and in return agreed to install an ID scanner which will be implemented when door staff are on duty. Dean Holmes, owner of the Bulldog, said: “I deeply regret that I have had to put my business up for sale after running a highly successful gay business for nearly 20 years. The outcome of the recent police review has severely damaged my reputation and respect in the gay community. Due to months of bad press and the damage I have done to my own reputation in a desperate attempt to save my threatened licence, I imposed extremely strict methods on my regular customers upsetting so many who used to enjoy the Bulldog’s facilities on a daily and weekly basis. I am confident that under new ownership the Bulldog can regain respect from its lost customers and thrive again as one of the longest running gay bars in the UK.”
LOCAL CAMPAIGNER NOMINATED FOR NATIONAL DIVERSITY AWARD
Local activist Daniel Harris has been nominated for a Positive Role Model - LGBT Award in this year’s National Diversity Awards. In the last year, while overcoming many personal
obstacles, Daniel has spoken out against wrongdoings locally in the city. He successfully petitioned Brighton & Hove City Council to improve the standard of the emergency accommodation they offer the most vulnerable while at the same time facing his own demons and attempting to move on with his own life. He has worked to raise awareness around mental health while promoting the rights of the wider LGBT communities. Daniel said: “In the last 12 months, despite my addictions, being diagnosed bipolar, and being homeless, I’ve taken control of my life and used my voice to inspire, educate and evoke change.”
