TURN BACK THE PAGES by Chris Gull

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…

March 2006

Fifteen tears ago (!) Brighton came together to celebrate the life of Phil Starr, and James Ledward called out a Tory councillor as a bigot.

PHIL STARR TRIBUTE SHOW

The Brighton LGBT community staged a tribute show for one of its favourite adopted sons on Sunday, January 29 at The Dome. The Phil Starr Tribute Show, When You Tell Me That You Love Me, attracted 1,400 devotees to the theatre to be entertained by colleagues from Phil’s 50 years in the business. All artists donated their services free of charge to help give ‘The Master’ the send-off he deserved from his fans and friends in Brighton.

Representing his days in variety, You Me and Him – Paul James, Peter Anthony and Billy Knutt – set the tone and standard for the show with a 15-minute set of close vocal harmonies that set the audience buzzing.

Representing the acts that Phil worked with in London were Jacqui Cann, Katrina & the Boy, Claudia Patrice, Topping & Butch and the DE Experience.

From his time in Brighton, Drag With No Name and Maisie Trollette captured exactly what the show was all about – ‘the love of community.’

Finally, the crowd was brought to its feet by the Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus and the Rainbow Chorus, who delivered a magnificent finale to the show with their rendition of the show’s title song, When You Tell Me That You Love Me.

It was a fabulous evening created by people who had a genuine affection for him and it was held together with military precision by Lola Lasagne, who is blossoming into a consummate compère as well as performer and organiser of community events.

TORY ATTACKS ‘GAY VILLAGE’

A Tory councillor has attacked plans to upgrade the facilities in St James’s Street to make the gay village a safer and more comfortable place for everyone to live. Councillor for Hangleton & Knoll, Dawn Barnett, said in a recent letter to The Argus: “I am in agreement with the comments of Alan Bond of the St James’s Forum Action Group. As a heterosexual person, I see no need to make a song and dance about it or decorate my street in a certain way. Thus, it is a little disappointing everyone’s taxes should specifically finance LGBT taxpayers.”

James Ledward, editor of Gscene, said: “There are many examples where LGBT people have historically paid taxes that only benefit people in the straight community. If LGBT people used the same benchmark when paying their taxes, the children of bigots who express similar sentiments to Dawn Barnett would never receive an education. I saw the Greens’ suggestions about the development of St James’s Street published in The Argus as an attempt to flush out the bigots and trouble-makers, prior to the Gay Business Forum presenting their thoughtout proposals for the upgrading of the area. As expected, the bigots came out in force, many hiding behind their gay-friendly credentials, to remind us all we have a long way to go to achieve full equality and fairness.”

March 2011

Ten years ago (!), the Pride debacle rolls on, with yet another incisive editorial from James Ledward, and Brighton named the third most gay-friendly destination in THE WORLD!

COMMENT

“I approached Cllr Mary Mears last October after it became clear there was a distinct possibility that Pride 2011 would be boycotted by some LGBT voluntary organisations if the present organisers continued to organise the event. Over the following months many people, including the former Chair of Pride, David Harvey, who set Pride up as a charity, called for the charity to close down because it was in his view “wrong to raise money from people to stage a party in Preston Park which did not benefit LGBT community organisations”. The Women’s Performance Tent Organisers, Calabash, Lunch Positive, in partnership with Wilde Ones and Aeon Events produced a consultative document for a community business partnership to stage Pride in 2011. These organisations asked me to be a conduit between them and the council.

The Reclaim Pride organisers went to public consultation and developed a fully costed bid that would guarantee money for our LGBT organisations. They sat and waited for the invitation to present their bid to the council. The invitation never came. Instead a round table meeting was called at the beginning of February, the purpose of which was not clear to anyone, myself included.

At the round table meeting it emerged that council officers leading for the council thought the purpose of the process had been to have a single Pride and it did not occur to them that the council had to choose between two opposing bids. Behind the scenes the council had been continuing to meet with Pride in Brighton & Hove organisers.

The outcome of the meeting with the council on February 2, 2011, effectively put the Pride Problem back to where it was last October. The Women’s Performance Tent organisers, Calabash and Lunch Positive made it very clear to everyone round the table that they could not work with the present Pride organisers, their paid worker or production company.

To be honest, I believe council officers never took the bid by Reclaim Pride seriously, despite the organisers having a wealth of experience in organising this event. The council’s only feedback on the original consultation document was to comment the text was sexist, despite it being cleared by the Women’s Performance Tent organisers and Women’s Centre. Funny that!”

BRIGHTON 3RD MOST GAY FRIENDLY TOURIST DESTINATION IN WORLD

Brighton has been named third most gay-friendly destination in the world after San Francisco and Sydney by Lonely Planet, the specialist travel website and magazine. Brighton’s citation reads: “Perhaps it’s Brighton’s long-time association with the theatre, but for more than 100 years the city has been a gay haven.

The vibrant queer community is made-up of 40,000 residents – almost a quarter of the total population. Kemptown (aka Camptown) is where it’s all at, with a rank of gay-owned bars, hotels, cafés, bookshops and saunas. There’s even a Gay’s the Word walking tour.”

March 2016

Just five years ago, still innocently prereferendum, pre-Trump presidency, and pre-Covid, we can reflect that the past really is another country…

MISS JASON RECEIVES AWARD FROM SUSSEX POLICE

Jason Sutton aka as entertainer Miss Jason has been presented with a special community award by Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp from Sussex Police acknowledging the help he gave police officers during a bomb scare at the start of the Brighton & Hove Pride Parade in 2015.

The start of the Pride Parade was delayed by two hours while police investigated a suspicious package strapped to a lamppost outside the Brighton Hotel.

Jason, who had been hosting a Pride breakfast at the Brighton Hotel, kept the crowds outside calm and entertained while police investigated the package and then evacuated the crowd while bomb squad officers carried out a controlled explosion. The package turned out to be a pinhole.

The citation on the award, read: “Miss Jason is thanked by Sussex Police for assisting in the evacuation of a large number of people during Brighton & Hove’s Pride 2015 celebrations following the discovery of a suspicious package.

“Miss Jason displayed great professionalism and helped to ensure a calm and organised evacuation putting the safety of the local community first.”

Miss Jason added: “It was so camp my dears! I had a wonderful time keeping everyone entertained in the long wait to establish how serious the situation was. Everyone played their part and the most important thing is that no one was hurt, everyone had a great day and I am very happy to have played my part.”

DR BRIGHTONS CELEBRATE SEVEN YEARS AT THE TOP!

On March 5, Charles Child and his team at Doctor Brightons will be celebrating their seventh birthday ‘gaying’ it up on Brighton seafront. Charles took over the reins in 2009 and was joined in 2010 by the barman with the dirtiest laugh in Brighton, Wayne Durant, who arrived hot from managing the Bulldog.

Charles and Wayne both agree that one of the highlights of the last seven years was the Reunion Party last month, hosted by the evergreen Stephanie Starlet which brought many old faces back out onto the scene for a night of nostalgia, great music and serious dancing.

BLAGSS’ 18TH BIRTHDAY

BLAGSS, Brighton Lesbian and Gay Sports Society, celebrated its 18th birthday at the end of January with a dinner dance at the Sussex Cricket Club. One-hundred members were treated to a sumptuous three-course sit down dinner followed by classic disco and line-dancing.

BLAGSS has more than 400 members of all different shapes, sizes, ages and abilities who participate in sports as varied as badminton, cricket, cycling, football, golf, orienteering, petanque-boules, running, sailing, squash, table tennis, tennis, tennis virgins, ten-pin bowling, walking and yoga.

BLAGSS’ aim is to encourage LGBT people to play sport to enrich their lives and promote health and fitness while developing sporting talent in the LGBT community.

WEIRD, CONTEMPORARY AND UNIQUE – TRAUMFRAU AT ENVY

Traumfrau, Brighton’s most unusual queer night, runs monthly from a different venue, in February it was above Charles Street at Envy. Expect to step into a colourful reality, where you can dance until the late hours, watch unapologetic drag queens and incredible performers, be part of a show, enter a painting competition, play a game, dance some more and meet the most social and interesting people.

From outdoor festival-like parties, with fire pits, a pool, and food, to club nights, performances, and great DJs, no two Traumfrau parties are ever the same. All are an unforgettable experience. An intellectual dancefloor for the unusual crowd.

Bizarre and enlightening. Forget everything you know about a gay club, butch up your camp, camp up your butch, break all binaries, wear whatever you want, or very little, scr*w the pressure of having to be anything else than what you want.