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Tag: Brighton News

The latest LGBT news from Brighton and Hove. Brighton is famous for it’s friendly and accepting atmosphere. It is home to one of the largest LGBT communities in the UK.

  • Brighton Pride goers prepare for rail misery and turmoil

    As one of the busiest prides in the UK is set to take place this weekend, railway firm, Southern Rail issues journey warnings and long delays.

    CREDIT: Martine314 / Bigstock

     

    Hundreds of thousands of people attending Brighton Pride face travel turmoil as Southern Rail continues to grapple with industrial disputes and infrastructure issues.

    The company recently announced it was cancelling 350 daily services.

    Southern Rail which runs the service between London and Brighton released a statement to warn passengers of long delays and station closures during the Brighton Pride weekend and asked people to consider about alternative routes and journeys if they were planning to visit Brighton over this weekend.

    The company said in a statement,

    “Reduced train service will mean very busy trains.

    “Preston Park station will be closed for the safety of passengers and staff.”

    “There will be a reduced service over the weekend to and from Brighton meaning very busy trains.

    “Given the large attendance expected at Pride, as usual there will be a queuing system in place at Brighton Station for return journeys – and the closure of Preston Park Station and the continuing engineering works at London Bridge mean that customers should expect long waiting times before they can board a train home.”

    Queuing System

    The queuing system at Brighton station will be in place from 06:00, and customers will be allowed on to the platforms on a first-come-first served basis as space allows.

    Security precautions

    The problems may further be compounded with added security features to protect pride goers over the weekend.

    Sussex Police said that concrete barriers will be installed as security is stepped up after the terror events in Orlando in June and Nice in July – and all though the UK’s terror threat level is the same as last year – officers are taking no risks.

    Ch Supt Nev Kemp said,

    “[But] most people are unlikely to notice any difference from previous years and none of the changes that we have made should affect the enjoyment of people involved.”

  • 21-year-old student charged with ‘homophobic’ attack Brighton

    A twenty-one year old student has been charged with committing grievous bodily harm to a gay man in Brighton.

    Sussex police have confirmed that Arain Moradi, 21, from London is accused of committing grievous bodily harm against a man in the early hours of Sunday, 8th May on Madeira Drive, in Brighton.

    He allegedly used homophobic language before attacking the victim and breaking his jaw.

    According to the Brighton and Hove Independent, the student is on conditional bail and is due to appear Brighton Magistrates’ Court on September 1.

     

  • Service helping people living with HIV get back into work relaunched

    The Terrence Higgins Trust has relaunched its Work Positive campaign which aims to help people living with HIV back into work.

    CREDIT: ©-monkeybusiness-Depositphotos
    CREDIT: ©-monkeybusiness-Depositphotos

     

    The UK’s biggest HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust has relaunched a service that aims to help people living with HIV in London, Essex, Brighton, Shrewsbury and Cambridge to get back to work.

    According to the charity, 25 per cent of people with HIV are out of work, and the Positive programme aims to provide work experience, mentoring, peer support, employment coaching and training for people with HIV who have been unemployed for two years.

    With funding from the Big Lottery Fund the service will relaunch for the sixth year. It is accepting application until 7th August

    Micael, who completed Work Positive last year, said,

    “I’d tried other back to work schemes before but I wasn’t getting anywhere and when I left for the day the support stopped, but with Work Positive I was made to feel like a real person, who could contribute to society.

    “Ruth gave me the opportunity to get out and get work, but the programme also gave me the wider support I needed to live a happy and healthy life, like helping me eat well – and on the morning of my graduation I was offered a paid job!”

    Ruth Burns, Work Positive co-ordinator at Terrence Higgins Trust, says,

    “The Work Positive Programme has gone from strength to strength over the last six years. Every year we see our participants transform into confident professionals who are a real asset to the workplace.

    “We want this year’s scheme to be just as successful, and we encourage anyone with HIV who feels they need a boost onto the career ladder to apply.”

  • Brighton Police “Very Concerned” After Two Homophobic Attacks

    Police in Brighton has released a video to reassure the LGBTI community in Brighton after two separate attacks against gay men.

    Police in Brighton have released a “reassurance” message to the LGBTI community after two separate attacks over two consecutive weekends have left three men hospitalised.

    On both occasions suspects were arrested. The first attack happened to two boyfriends, one of which is fearing for his sight and the most recent left a former model unconsious and hopsitalised for three days.

    Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp released a video to thank members of the public and door staff in helping the police to apprehend the suspects quickly.

    Mr Kemp was quick to remind viewers that hate crime of that nature are very rare in Brighton but two attacks over two consecutive weekends was “very concerning”, but stressed the attacks were unconnected.

    He went on to say that Brighton was not a place that tolerated “homophobic attitudes or hate crimes of any description.”

     

  • Second Homophobic Attack In Brighton

    A second homophobic attack has happened in Brighton days after a first assault leaves man fearing for his sight.

    CREDIT: ©-Chalabala-Depositphotos
    CREDIT: ©-Chalabala-Depositphotos

    A second attack against a gay man has happened in Brighton just days after another attack on two boyfriends which left one fearing for his sight.

    Police in Brighton have confirmed that an arrest has been made in connection to this latest attack but have warned Brighton’s gay community to be vigilant against homophobia in the popular seaside town.

    In this latest attack, former model Aaron Woods, 26, was left unconscious and with a broken jaw when he tried to defend two men who said they were being homophobically abused by a man.

    When Mr Wood tried to intervene he says he was knocked to the floor – and doesn’t remember what happened next.

    The alleged attack happened outside the Legends nightclub on Brighton’s seafront. Speaking to The Argus, Mr Woods said,

    “My memory is pretty hazy but apparently I stepped in to help out these two young gay guys and he hit me. I went down and the next thing I knew I was in hospital covered in blood.

    “It was a very heavy blow.

    “I haven’t been able to sleep since the attack. I cant relax. I am absolutely terrified. I’m usually a very trusting person but this is scary.”

    Mr. Woods, who is from Eastbourne, went on to say that he would never return to Brighton.

    Mr Wood’s friend Katie Ripley along with a Legend’s doorman apprehended the the 21-year-old suspect from London. He has been charged with GBH with intent.

    The suspect has been bailed until the 13th June.

    Six days previously, Dain Louis and James Loxton were both attacked very close to this latest incident, however police are not linking the two attacks.

     

     

  • Boyfriends Suffer Brutal “Homophobic” Attack Leaving One Of Them Fearing For His Sight

    Boyfriends Suffer Brutal “Homophobic” Attack Leaving One Of Them Fearing For His Sight

    A gay man in Brighton has opened up about a vicious assault to him and his boyfriend in Brighton, he says left him battered and fearing for the sight in his left side.

    (more…)

  • Court Forces ID Scanner Use At Brighton Gay Bar

    A court has ruled that a gay bar in Brighton must install an ID scanner if it is to stay open until 4AM.

    (more…)

  • Homophobic Beating Leads To Theatrical Celebration

    Homophobic Beating Leads To Theatrical Celebration

    Nando Messias was beaten up on a street in an act of homophobic hatred. Years later he’s ready to give his response to that incident, a spectacle of provocation, celebration and hyper flamboyancy in The Sissy’s Progress.

    CREDIT: Nando Messias
    CREDIT: Nando Messias

     

    Part dance-theatre, part walking performance, The Sissy’s Progress leads its audience out onto the streets with a live marching band playing original music composed by Jordan Hunt. The Sissy’s Progress confronts the harsh contradictions of gender and violence of city life, standing up for sissies everywhere.

    Nando says, “It’s genuinely frightening. I almost always get abuse from passers-by when we’re doing the performance. The audience gets to experience that and that makes it feel uniquely relevant. I’m particularly proud that we take this performance precisely to places where such

    work wouldn’t normally be seen. It’s a universal theme.”     

    The Sissy’s Progress has been performed at Homotopia, Liverpool and OUTBURST, Belfast. with further performances on:

    20th February, Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate 7.30pm  £10   www.tomthumbtheatre.co.uk

    17th/18th March, Toynbee Studios, London 17th: 7.30pm. 18th: 7pm & 8.45pm   £10/£8    

    www.artsadmin.co.uk

    7th May,   Marlborough Theatre, Brighton, Brighton Fringe   www.marlboroughtheatre.org.uk


    12    th May, Horniman Museum & Gardens, London as part of Queer Lates, from 6.30pm 

    www.horniman.ac.uk

  • Leading UK HIV Specialist, Martin Fisher Dies

    Professor Martin Fisher a leading HIV specialist has died. He was instrumental in field of HIV medicine and research over two decades. (more…)

  • Man Punched Unconscious In Homophobic Attack At Brighton Pride

    Three men who attended Brighton Pride were verbally abused and physically attacked, which left one of the men unconscious in Preston Park during Brighton Pride.

    A police investigation has been mounted and an appeal for witnesses has been launched after one man was left unconscious during Brighton Pride this past weekend.

    The incident took place after two men started to urinate near to where the victims were sitting. When they asked that the men use the toilets, the attackers became violent.

    A single blow to the face knocked one of the victims, a 44-year-old man out. The two other men chased the suspects but were attacked themselves. St John Ambulance staff treated all three of the victims.

    Detective constable Chris Bishop said: ‘The two suspects are described as being white men in their 20s or 30s with Irish accents. One of them was topless and had tattoos on his body and the other was wearing a blue vest top.

    ‘This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and we are appealing to anyone with information or saw what happened to speak to us on 101 or email 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk quoting 1901 of 2/8.’

    Information of the attack comes just a day after residents in Hanover received homophobic leaflets posted through their doors.

  • Brighton Gay Scene Targeted By Anti-Gay Leaflet Campaign

    Hateful leaflets, which condemned “homosexualism”, were posted through the letterboxes of Brighton households ahead of Brighton’s Pride event.

    An investigation is underway in Brighton today after a number of leaflets condemning homosexuality were posted through the letterboxes of residents in the Hanover area before Brighton’s pride which took part this past weekend.

    The leaflet in parts states, ‘The practice of homosexuality is both blasphemy against God and rebellion against nature.

    ‘It [is] abundantly evident that a penis is made for a vagina, and not for an anus. An anus is in fact designed solely for defecation.

    ‘Homosexuality, as well as being a sin and a vice, is essentially a neurosis, a pathological condition, the result of several factors including childhood experiences.

    ‘Homosexualism has become a cult, and by the indoctrination of school children and regular propaganda through the media, it seeks converts.

    ‘The general acceptance of homosexuality(…) will only lead to a continuing degeneration and corruption of morals, and the disintegration of family life. There is no such thing, and never can be any such thing as ‘gay marriage’.

    ‘If the practice of homosexuality is acceptable, then in time any form of sexual deviation, perversion and experimentation will be acceptable, including the progressive lowering of the age of consent, taking it below the age of puberty, and thus legalizing paedophilia.’

    A number of people in the area said that they had seen a ‘sinister looking monk’ delivering the leaflets.

    A spokesperson from Brighton’s police force said,

    ‘Police received reports on Wednesday, July 30 that homophobic leaflets had been delivered in the Hanover area of Brighton.

    ‘The PCSO for the area made contact with those who had reported the leaflets and the LGBT team at Brighton police station were made aware.’