THE UK’S NATIONAL LGBT YOUTH ORGANISATION RUN BY AND FOR LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDERED YOUNG PEOPLE
OVERGROUND ISSUE 9
FEB / MARCH 08
IN THIS ISSUE: LGBT HISTORY MONTH SPECIAL
IN PICTURES
REGIONAL
EVENTS LISTINGS
NEWS
REGIONAL GROUPS FASHION PANEL SELF HARM
STAGECOACH BOYCOTT HEALTHY EATING MEMBER ARTICLES FEATURED BLOGS
Overground February to March 2008
Overground is the Queer Youth Network’s National Publication, the UK’s Network of LGBT Young people.
Letter from the editor Welcome to the February/March Issue of Overground. It’s been seven months since the previous issue of Overground, so we thought that it was time to let you all know just what has been going on at QYN Towers since your last installment. And boy, have we got a packed issue for you! Along with the organisation, Overground is evolving and we are looking for more people to join our team in distribution and regional reporting, it’s an exciting time for us as we strengthen the National Voice for LGBT Young People, and we hope that you will join us. Members of the Queer Youth Network are currently gearing themselves up for Pride events across the country, with regional groups hosting banner making events and pre-pride-meetings. If you would like to get involved in any aspect check out the regional pages or contact your regional coordinator directly.
Damian x
Save a tree!
Don’t forget, you can view this issue online and download back-issues from our web site www.queeryouth. org.uk If you are lucky enough to have a paper copy, please pass it on to someone who may find this useful when you have finished with it, or leave it at your local library, youth centre or shool.
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Publishers Adam Hodgson Anna Leach David Henry Jack Holroyde Rusty Lane
? Get your name here E-mail us editorial@queeryouth.org.uk
Editor Damian Griffiths
Regional Contacts Scotland North East North West Yorkshire East Midlands West Midlands London & South East South West
Josh@queeryouth.org.uk George@queeryouth.org.uk Adam@queeryouth.org.uk Laur@queeryouth.org.uk Si@queeryouth.org.uk Damian@queeryouth.org.uk Holly@queeyouth.org.uk SouthWest@queeryouth.org
Contents 04 03 05 07 11 20 18 20 14 12
EVENTS QYN official events History month listings in your region
POLITICS AND CAMPAIGNS Stagecoach Campaign Archive: Section 28 protests
IN PICTURES Five Monkeys, Coventry Pink Picnic event, Birmingham
SignUp! The best way to make sure you never miss a copy of Overground is to sign up on our website at queeryouth.org.uk Check out the Overground web forum where you can download the latest edition, along with previous issues.
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Contribute! We’re looking for Regional Reporters, writers, artists, poets, reviewers and much more! Submit to editorial@queeryouth.org.uk
BLOGS 08 by Adam Hodgson Lost Lesbians in London by Rusty Lane
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HEALTH AND WELL BEING Healthy Eating Fashion Panel
HISTORY OF QYN History and archives
MEMBER ARTICLES
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Just when you thought it was safe
33
CREATIVE QUEERS Poetry
Important :
Calling all existing and potential volunteers:
Come along to our free national training event on Saturday 29th March 2007 in Birmingham City Centre. Learn new skills, meet new people. You may even be able to reclaim travel expenses. Lunch provided. To book E-mail events@queeryouth.org.uk
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LGBT History Month
Queer Youth Alliance’s Section 28/ Anti-homophobia protest, Maidstone, Kent. November 2003
FEBRUARY IS LGBT HISTORY MONTH
From these come, at best, embarrassment; at worst, hostility and hate crimes.
“Since 1997 the position of LGBT people has improved as a result of human rights legislation. Section 28 was repealed in 2003”.
Together, we can break through the silence that surrounds the lives of people who do not conform to conventional notions about sexuality and gender. We can help to end the sense of isolation and bewilderment felt by so many LGBT people, particularly the young. We can make bullying unacceptable. We can also help to dispel the anxiety and confused rage that drive some people to aggressive behaviour”.
LGBT History month celebrates Now it’s time we began to deal with the legacy of silence. This is not only in the interests of LGBT people but of our whole society. Silence breeds ignorance and distorted imaginings. www.lgbthisotrymonth.org.uk
This except was provided by LGBT History Month.
Events for your diary Scotland Regional Meet - 23rd February
North East Regional Meet - Planning now!
North West Regional Meet - February 16th
East Midlands Tuesday, 12th February 2008 LGBT History Exhibition Regional Meet - Nottingham - March
Yorkshire Regional meet - Planning now!
West Midlands
Queer Youth: In your area
Saturday, 16th February 2008 Cinema - Regional Group Meeting - Birmingham Thursday, 21st February Gay Birmingham Remembered Launch, Bham. Wednesday, 27th February Hereford Out In the Sticks Conference
East Anglia Regional Meet planning in progress. Ipswitch Half Term Meet.
London & South East Brighton Meet - 22nd February.
South West Regional Meet planning in progress. For more details & events please visit: www.queeryouth.org.uk
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Campaigns
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Youth accelerate Stagecoach Boycott Wed, 23 Jan 2008
The Boycott will continue on all Stagecoach services - mainly buses, coaches, trams and trains and use alternatives where possible until these two young men receive an apology, and an additional commitment from the Stagecoach group to provide services that are safe and inclusive for all young people in made.’ Following the revelation of very serious complaints against the Stagecoach Group surrounding ongoing lack of support offered to it’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered passengers and employees, the Queer Youth Network would like to express it’s disbelief and concern at Stagecoach’s continued lack of action. Two complaints of homophobia made recently in Scotland detail separate and clear cases of open homophobia on a young gay couple in Aberdeen on the part of one of Stagecoach Driver. In Manchester, a young gay driver for Stagecoach has also spoken up about a ‘canteen culture’ of bigotry and ignorance perpetuated and ignored throughout the transport giant’s workplaces.
All young people all over the country are being called to boycott Stagecoach services where possible Josh Minor of the Scottish Queer Youth Network said “As yet Stagecoach has taken no action in relation to these complaints, and
the Queer Youth Network now is now calling upon all young people all over the country and anyone who believes in equality to completely boycott, where possible, ALL Stagecoach services until Stagecoach has suspended the driver in question, pending a full investigation.” Josh’s group was joining protests now being planned outside Stagecoach offices by activists, led by the Scottish Socialist Party.
Henry added “Every single day young people from all over Britain make up a sizable portion of Stagecoach’s customer base, that often have no choice but to use their franchised public transport services”. “Stagecoach’s failure to take action on this matter opens the door wide open for similar incidents in the future.
Gay Staff are “Frightened” “The company is stuck in the dark ages, I want to leave but there’s not many jobs driving for other companies as they have wiped them all out.” the 22 year old said, who does not want to be named. There’s no training about equal opportunities, it’s really hard to be gay and work here, I wouldn’t dream of coming out, I’d be crucified. There was an ‘out’-lesbian working here for years and in the end she just had enough. She had to go on sick leave that was over a year ago now”. His complaints to the management about the shovanistic atmosphere in his depot, and a barrage of daily sexist and homophobic remarks have fallen on deaf ears. David Henry, director of the national gay youth group the ‘Queer Youth Network’ feels Stagecoach’s upper-reaches of management’s powerless to act is down to the personal interference of the company’s ownership. In 2000 Chairman Brian Souter personally bankrolled a campaign in to unsuccessfully retain the anti-gay law ‘section 28’ which prevented the ‘promotion of homosexuality’.
The Boycott will continue on all Stagecoach services - mainly buses, coaches, trams and trains and use alternatives where possible until these two young men receive an apology, and an additional commitment from the Stagecoach group to provide services that are safe and inclusive for all young people in made.” Rosa Parks Similarities: “Are we living in 1960’s America? or are we living in a safe and civilised Britain where we can all travel freely without being ridiculed by those supposedly offering a basic public service?”. Continued Henry -making reference to long abolished laws in the United States which separated blacks from whites on public transport. “The travel giant has displayed a
blatant disregard for the recently introduced legal reforms designed to protect the LGBT Community from exactly this kind of prejudice.” Groups of young people angry at Stagecoach’s continuing silence have begun ‘hug-in’ protests and are distributing literature informing Stagecoach passengers on it’s recently acquired Metrolink tram network and at bus stops along the Oxford Road route in Manchester - Europe’s busiest, most competitive bus corridor.
trusted to provide a public service. We shall not rest on this issue until our demands are met.” - “Rosa Parks would spin in her grave” Henry concluded.
David Henry stated, “If Stagecoach feel QYN is slurring them and they do infact respect diversity then all they need to do is issue an apology to the two young men involved in this incident and draw attention to their equal ops
“We have a duty as customers and individuals not to tolerate this kind of behaviour from a company en-
Stagecoach continues to bully and harass young gay couple Nick-SSP LGBT Posted: Jan 13
On Friday 11th January, Mark Craig and Steven Black, a young gay couple from Old Meldrum in Aberdeenshire had been in Aberdeen visiting Steven’s mum. At around 10:30 they left to catch the last bus back to Old Meldrum. They arrived at Berryden Road bus stop at around 11:00pm and waited. Mark said: “The bus arrived at around 11:30. It pulled in to the bus stop as Steven and I were waiting. The bus doors opened slightly and the driver looked at us then looked around him and closed the doors and drove off leaving us standing on the street in the freezing cold. It was the same driver that tried to kick us off for hugging in the back of the bus last year.” Last October Mark and Steven were on the last Stagecoach bus of the night from Aberdeen to Old Meldrum, when the driver suddenly stopped the bus and demanded they get off. This was supposedly at the behest
of a fellow passenger, for sitting with their arm around the other, as many couples do. The driver then forced Mark and Steven to separate before continuing on the journey, leaving them shocked and humiliated. After hearing about this incident, the Scottish Socialist Party organised a mass email campaign to Stagecoach’s Director of Corporate Communications, Steven Stewart. Hundreds of gay rights activists and ordinary members of the public appalled by this sotry asked for an apology for illegally discriminating against the couple. Stagecoach ignored all of these requests, and made it clear that they thought the driver had done nothing wrong, and had stood by him 100%; accusing everyone else of not knowing the facts of the case. With the bus company refusing to apologise for illegally discriminating against the couple and fully backing the driver, ‘hug-in’ protests by same sex couples and friends took place on Stagecoach busses around Scotland, with members of the SSP retracing the same route from Aberdeen to Old Meldrum with Mark and
Steven. Now these two courageous young men need our help and support once more. The Scottish Socialist Party is standing fully behind the couple, as we did last year, because homophobic bullying is totally unacceptable, especially when it is perpetrated by a company with monopolies on many of the bus routes in Britain. We ask that the LGBT community and straight allies alike to stand with us and Mark and Steven in opposition to this continued bullying and harassment.
Please contact Steven Stewart, the Director of Corporate Communications at Stagecoach (Steven. Stewart@stagecoachgroup.com, Tel: 01738 642040 or fax: 01738 443076) for a full and immediate public apology to be issued to Mark Craig and Steven Black for the appalling way in which they are being treated.
Archive News snippet
On Saturday 13th November 2004 the Queer Youth Alliance launched a day of action in Maidstone. Members of the Alliance gathered to hold a public rally, street theatre, a silent vigil and petitioned in protest of Kent County Council.
Section 28 has been repealed, but Kent County Council is refusing to “intentionally promote” homosexual material in schools. The Section 28 repeal clause came into effect on 18th November 2003,
Readers of the Pink Paper voted Sir Sandy Bruce Lockhart, Leader of Kent County Council, the Villain of the Year 2003 (36%) ahead of Geroge Bush who got 23% for keeping a ban on the promotion of gay relationships in schools. ...however Kent County Council issued policy in 2000 to retain the policy irrespective of international law. The Alliance called for Kent County Council repeal to repeal its homophobic policy which barred the publication, purchasing or distribution of “material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” and restriction on teaching about homosexuality.
This homophobic education policy lead to a two year protest by members of the Alliance until a victory was claimed.
Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the closet... By David Henry
Equality has inadvertently created a new type of discrimination and instead of recognition - ‘special treatment’ sometimes takes it’s place. There are old threats and new ones that are now being ignored by many of the main gay rights groups - who are deliberately attempting to de-politisise the queer community, in particular the young members in the interests of their own political agenda. Extremist religious groups are growing fast, meaning many more LGBT Young People will be rejected at home as they grow up and forced deeper into the closet. Until there is a complete cure LGBT Young People will remain the biggest single group (per head) affected by HIV. Younger gay men will always be exploited, as the gay scene grows we will be targeted by businesses wanting to make money out of our ‘lifestyle choices’ - re-enforcing some of the big problems the gay community faces more so today - promiscuity, lack of self respect, feeling of being increasingly isolated (for those who feel they don’t fit into the mainstream gay world).
“The LGBT Community is subject to substantial commercial, media and political exploitation, particularly in Britain, more so infact that anywhere else in the world”. Queers are seen as a target audience for a wide range of products and services.
“Capitalism ensures we are now targeted sold a lifestyle that many cannot afford and a body image that many struggle to achieve”. We believe this attack can be held responsible for as well as promoting an inaccurate stereotype of sexual minorities as people who are hedonis tic and have large disposable incomes when we know this is far from the truth apart from a small yet influential majority of gay business leaders and public figures. Promotion of a unachievable body image to young gay men by certain aspects of the gay media, the gay scene, television, advertising and ‘party-hard’ pride events is causing a generation of young gay men to suffer from low self esteem leading to depression, withdrawal, to take risks with their health by turning to recreational drug abuse and steroids, promiscuous sexual encounters, self harm and in some cases, suicide. Many homophobes believe there is a ‘Gay Agenda’ - if there is one then this is it (and most LGBT people are not those behind it!) “Exploitation of the gay community is a serious but underlying issue, many in the gay community collude to make a profit out our fears and insecurities.” So you might now ask... now you’ve complained about all that what are we doing about it? Well lots of things actually, we broadcast a live radio program every week on Queer Youth Radio from the Basement Social Centre in Manchester called “HomoWatch” that invites LGBT youth, gay activists and community figures to expose and discuss what’s really going on. The first series of shows is exploring the increasing competition and aggressiveness of some LGBT charities and the disillusionment many now feel around ‘gay pride’.
Anyone can come on the show. Just turn up, details below. In principle we have always been a grass-routes civil rights/advocacy organisation that works with groups who are similar as a priority over some who are financed by and work in partnership with political parties and corporations. We work very closely with and continue to mutually support OutRage!, Schools Out, ILGYO (International Lesbian and Gay Youth Organisation) and FFLAG (Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). As a minority group we need to accept that will always face some kind of discrimination, being marginalised is a direct result of being a minority group. The problems we faced in the past will re-emerge. Events in Nazi Germany to attacks against us during the AIDS pandemic in the 80’s and the increase in violent homophobic hate crimes happening today teaches us that we are could become a target for scrutiny, scapegoating and mass public assualt at any given time in the future. We need to keep the strong alliances and networks like any other community otherwise we have no form of defense.
Remember, Remember.. LGBT History This article marking the first LGBT History Month first appeared in the Feb 2005 issue of London’s ‘QX Magazine’ which was part of my regular column. www.qxmagazine.com
It’s only as recent as 1992 that homosexuality was still officially classified as a ‘disease’ by the international community. February is LGBT History Month. David Henry, Founder of The Queer Youth Alliance, tells QX Magazine why it’s important to remember the past… with a hint of humor all in the best possible taste! IN a hundred and fifty years time, the likely hood is most people alive today, you, me, and even the eternal Joan Rivers will be spinning in our graves at the mess those after us have created on the planet we once called home. February has been declared officially LGBT History Month, a time in which we the queers of today are supposed to reflect on the queers of yesterday. We could just sit and reminisce about the state of Adam Rickett’s hair way back when he was in Corrie, or how Call my Bluff has never been the same since head les-
bian Sandy Toksvig left the show, but instead it might be wise to remember that for centuries, Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and our Transgendered friends have been persecuted because of who we love. What strikes me most about the horrors our queer brothers and sisters of yesteryear violently endured is that it’s not all Ancient History. Slavery of the African people ended sometime in the mid nineteenth century, however the atrocities carried out against the LGBT community were done so by institutions, groups and even individuals who are still around to this day! As recent as the 1970’s can you believe that you could walk into an NHS hospital and ask to be treated for homosexuality? The commonest ‘treatment’ being behavioural aversion therapy (electric shocks) one man even received this so called ‘cure’ in 1980! Nowadays, you can simply flick through the Clone Zone direct catalogue and order one of these amazing electro thingies to do all that malarkey on the comfort of your suede Ikea futon for you, and if Casualty is anything to go by then why not pick up some hunk in nurses
uniform to come over and crank it up a few volts?! Apparently they’re great and you’ll still be a raving poofta afterwards! Now that’s liberation! Seriously though, despite being classed as a mental illness by today’s loonies for centuries, in 1992 homosexuality was finally removed from the international classification of diseases, Maggie Thatcher realised that it was possible to resign and save the environment by using less hairspray, and London held it’s first ever EuroPride festival. All seemed to be going well until, that same year the Conservative Party was voted back in by the British public to uphold the ban on the “promotion of homosexuality”, deny same sex couples any degree of partnership rights or the right to adopt, and to keep the age of consent for gay men unequal for another decade. It may feel like we’ve come a long way in those mere 15 years since Britney spears was yet to get pubes and Channel Five was a good idea, but can we really say it was that long ago? “Oh stop living in the past David you
miserable git!” I hear uttered at the back of my mind, maybe the voice of reason is correct, and we should forgive, forget and move on with our snazzy new, socially acceptable, rainbow flag ridden lives as queer citizens of the new millennium? But then I hear this other, groaning, painful voice and it’s not at the back of my head. Could it be coming from the mass graves somewhere in Germany where 50,000 homosexuals were incarcerated, subjected to inhumane, barbaric scientific experiments and then gassed in concentration camps by the Nazis? “Remember us, so it never happens again, never ever” this other voice shrieks at me. Those 50,000 people died at the hands of homophobia, how can we today as homos ourselves live our perfect little lives without knowing something like that? That’s the same number of people who work for Birmingham City Council, the largest employer in a city of over 1 million people. All those snide Traffic Wardens, snotty Librarians and plain cruel Council Tax enforcers may piss everyone else off, but that’s a hell of a lot of people and they certainly would be missed by someone! So thinking about it, we’ll never be able to forget. How could we? The survivors of the Nazi holocaust told us not to or else it would most likely happen again. But what do they know? They were only around before it all happened!? How could have homosexuality still been such a hideous crime here in Britain over 30 years after the Nazi’s in 1967? Goodness, even ecstasy was legal back then… Don’t worry girls! Lesbianism has never been a crime in Britain despite a failed attempt by three Conservative MPs to make journeys to the ‘palace of furry carpets’
illegal back in 1921. But please! If you keep on with those finger snappingly atrocious “Alex Park’s meets something out of Jurassic Park” haircuts that seem to be all the rage right now, then they may try it again! Or worse still, Anne Widdecombe may pop into Toni and Guy and declare “I want one of those on my head!”. I couldn’t think of a worse way to cramp your style. What is in fashion (or so I’m told) at the minute are these little ‘Bully Bands’ from Radio One. You don’t need me to tell you that out of the closet or not, queerleaning young People remain one of the most picked on groups in the schoolyard. These bright blue wristbands have been printed to symbolise bullying in schools is unacceptable and are being been worn all over the country with an aim to stamp it out. Within six weeks the guys at Radio One had sent out over 1 Million bands. They’ve now completely run out, so you’ll have to look elsewhere for the latest hip craze, but in the meantime take a look at the new website that Stonewall and other leading gay groups have launched for their ‘Education for All’ campaign http://www.stonewall.org.uk which aims to deal with homophobic bullying head on. For more information on LGBT History month check out a dedicated site of resources, links and downloads that we’ve put together here at the good old Queer Youth Alliance http://www.queerhistory.org.uk Now I’m off to Clone Zone to max out my credit card purchasing the latest electric shock machine, if you see someone with a copy of QX in one hand and a surge protected extension lead training out of his backside darting up Old Compton Street later today, do say hello.
SECTION 28 FOUR YEARS ON: have things really changed? QYN’s Campaigns: - Stagecoach Boycott - Marriage Equality - Homophobic bullying
Keep up to date with our campaigns at queeryouth.org.uk or contact our Campaigns officer Jack@queeryouth.org.uk
A brief look through history.. 1956 Sexual Offences Act became law.
1967 Sexual Offences Act came into force in England and Wales and decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age and ‘in private.’
1969 Committee for Homosexual Equality (CHE) formed in Britain.
1971 First gay march through London took place, ending with a rally in Trafalgar Square, protesting against the unequal age of consent for gay men
1969 The Stonewall riots occur in New
1970 London Gay Liberation Front (GLF) founded
1975 BHS sack openly gay trainee Tony Whitehead. National campaign picketed their
1977 Lord Arran’s Bill to reduce the gay age of consent to 18 defeated in the House of Lords.
1982 Male homosexuality decriminalised in Northern Ireland
1988 Lesbians abseiled in the House of Lords and also got into BBC1’s news-
1992 The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its ICD-10
1999 The “Queer Youth Alliance” is founded in the UK
2000 - The United Kingdom’s ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces is
2001 the age of consent is equalised in the United Kingdom
2003 Section 28 is repealed in England and Wales
1978 International Gay Association (later International
2003 Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations
2005 UK introduces civil partnerships.
2007 Equality Act 2006 comes into force (protecting people from discrimination in goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation and establishing the Commission for Equality and Human Rights).
Five Monkeys Queer Youth West Midlands went out and about armed with a camera to the guysconnected. com launch party at Five Monkeys, Coventry. If you’ve been spotted check out dontstayin. com to find your picture. Guys connected is a social networking platform designed for guys over the age of 16. Female? Don’t worry, girlsconnected will be launching soon. ........................................................... Every Wednesday, Midweek Madness Every Saturday, Back to Life, guest dj’s open ‘til 3am Sundays, Karaoke Contact 6/7 Whitefriars Street 02476 633388 Photography by DamianGriffiths.co.uk
FASHION PANEL
This Midnight Floral Skirt is fresh, funky floral, feminine and fun! Price: £21.95 joebrowns.co.uk
We dont take life too seriously , and neither should you! These Strawberry Wellies will certainly make you stand out from the crowd. Perfect for splashing around this coming British summer! Price £24.95 from joebrowns.co.uk
This great looking BAMBOOTie Cardi is great for mix and matching, perfect for those cool summer evenings to throw over your tee. Whats more, it’s made from environmentally friendly Bamboo fabric! Lap it up while you can fellow eco-kids. Price: £28.95 from joebrowns.co.uk
FASHION PANEL
This soft cotton tee by Junk De Luxe is a versatile top that can be worn over a variety of tees. Great for those cool summer nights to throw on over a tee or shirt. £35.00 from asos.com Burton now stock a range of socks, right now in selected store you can grab yourself a bargain with two pairs for £5.00
This dashing Red Loop Detail Cardigan is great to throw over a tee on a night out.
£3.00 a pair from Burton
£30.00 from Topman
This funky reverse print Tee by Junk De Luxe looks great with accessories. £35.00 from asos.com Remember those pants from yesteryear with funky prints on? You’ll be happy to hear we’re not showcasing pants, but adults underwear is just plain and boring, right? Well not anymore Ginch Gonch have a fucky range including these Fire Truck sports briefs. £19 from iwantpants.com
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Featured
By Adam Hodgson
The New Year is very close and annoyingly i’m home alone. Came back to Liverpool early cause of my new job and it appears everyone else had other parties to go to. The guy I was supposed to be joining has yet to text me that he’s in town and the last train has already departed. So yeah, maybe not the best start to the New Year, but it is made up by the fact that I have a new job which I start on Wednesday. It’s working with Merseyside Police as a Custody Information Officer (read data input). I cross my fingers and hope it’ll be enjoyable, but if nothing else I get some decent training and experience. I thought i’d write down my New Year goals. I should say, while technically I didn’t quite manage last years goal, I did get extremely close, so i’m quite happy about that. This year has been quite decent; there have been plenty of highs and lows, but I think i’ve achieved more this year than ever before, but I do hope to top that during the coming year.So, my goals for this year. 1. Start swimming. I don’t think I could cope with a gym, but swimming is doable, plus there’s a pool reasonably near me. My goal is to join the pool and actually go along to it. 2. Get some flatmates. I live alone and i’ve two spare rooms. I want to find two flatmates, preferably very soon so they can start paying rent, but also for the company and the chance to make some new friends. 3. Enhance my volunteer roles. I currently hold three volunteering positions; here as regional coordinator, with my Union LGBT
Committee as Campaigns Coordinator and as North West Regional Coordinator for the International Day Against Homophobia. I’d really like to push myself in these roles, make some worthwhile and notable achievements and be proud of myself. No blog by me would be complete without some political statement, so i’ll also list what i’d like to see happen this year regarding LGBTQ rights. 1. Parenting rights for LGBTQ couples. 2. Better and compulsory PSHE lessons in schools. 3. UK condemnation of international homophobia. 4. Legal and social Trans acceptance. 5. Full religious acceptance of LGBTQ people (I can be hopeful). There’s probably a few more, but none off the top of my head. Not much remains but to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope 2008 brings you love, luck and happiness. Adam x x
QYN has recently blog feature off Perspectives from Bisexual & Tr
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y launched a new fering unique m Lesbian, Gay, rans Youth.
Lost Lesbians in London By Rusty Lane
We all know how exclusively clique the UK’s lesbian scene can be and girls is it dyke eat dyke world out there if you’re just starting to discover the haunts many of us find ourselves in most nights of the week. Stereotypes eat your heart out, tear your heart out, stomp on your world, I’m telling ya it’s not a pretty picture but there are still a few spaces for gay women who don’t want to conform to the norm or be intimidated by moody Rhona Cameron wannabe nobodies! Candy Bar was good about 5 years ago, but recently I’ve had a few nasty experiences there, at new year some ruff-lookin Dawn French meets Sonya from Eastenders party-goer and her ‘grrrrrl gang’ approached me as I was stepping into me taxi home and wanted my cab, the cheek! I told them I had to get home to my kids and then they start with the nastiness assuming I’m straight or not as gay as they are despite the fact that I was literally about to shut the door and had already given the driver his orders. The same gang approached me a few weeks later and whispered over the toilet door in the fore-mentioned haunt to “Watch your Black Back Bitch”. I always do. So Rusty ain’t scared of you ladies, she’s now happily buzzin off your insolence and actually finds ya all rather sad. Last weekend I strutted right past Candy Bar with me girl Charlene with no intention of going in when Charlene got a text to go in and meet a mate who was joining us but decided to leave early, as we got through the door she came running out with a blood pouring from
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her eye, she’d been bottled apparently some group of girls thought she had pushed in at the bar. After a rather speedy hour in A&E at Moorfields hospital we headed to the rather cosy ‘First Out Cafe’ on Totenham Court Road for a sandwich and a coffee, the atmosphere in there has an older, more mature friendly vibe and I’ve not been there before but it really was a breath of fresh air from the usual beer-breath soho-haunts. Reluctantly we headed by into the heart of Soho and found ourselves in a mixed club called “The Edge”, Charlene likes to dance, no she really likes to dance so I couldn’t deny her of her once a week thrill. Plus as it’s mixed with gay guys too the atmosphere was a bit more ‘fun’. The Playlist in The Edge is mostly cheese and lots of latin, and the dance floor is decorated in an array of pretty lights enough to give Blackpool a run for it’s money. For a moment my cynisism went into remission and I thought I’d found my new Saturday night... then from out of no-where in walked that “grrrl gang”! Continued soon..
Health & Well being 50 foods for
Healthy Living
Here’s a list of foods published in the Mirror last year to boost your brain power, happiness, immune system and even your sex life! Cut it out and stick it on your fridge to remind you of the foods to eat towards a healthy lifestyle.
1 CURLY KALE This green veg is packed with iron, a lack of which an lead to tiredness. 2 BROWN RICE If you want to keep going for longer, choose fibre dense brown rice, a complex carbohydrate that releases its energy slowly. 3 TURKEY A great lean source of protein, essential for muscle building. 4 QUINOA Often called a “perfect food”, as it’s a complete protein, one of the few foods to contain all eight amino acids, the building blocks of muscle tissue. 5 PRUNES If you need a quick hit of energy, prunes are a healthier option to chocolate. 6 FRUIT SMOOTHIE The fruit sugars will give you a lift when you’re flagging. 7 WALNUTS These are packed with protein and B vitamins – both of which are energy essentials. 8 SEAWEED According to nutritionist Gillian McKeith, sea vegetables are a great source of energy-boosting materials.
1 GREEN TEA Swap your usual cuppa for this healing brew and you’ll get the benefits of catehins, substances that help prevent disease. 2 RED PEPPERS These are one of the best sources of vitamin , vital for a healthy immune system. 3 BROCCOLI Packed with immune boosting vitamin C, this green veg also contains sulphorapanes, powerful chemicals that help resist the development of tumours. 4 SHITAKE MUSHROOMS These contain lentinan, a substance that can help to prevent cancer. 5 LIVE YOGHURT This contains friendly bacteria, which enables the body to fight infection. 6 GARLIC Allicin, the substance that gives garlic it’s kick, may help suppress the formation of tumors, and boosts the action of disease fighting white blood cells. 7 GRAPEFRUIT High in immune strengthening vitamin C, this helps fight infections. 8 BLACKCURRANTS Extremely rich in vitamin C.
9 SWEET POTATOES As well as being rich in vitamin C and betacarotene, sweet potatoes release their energy steadily.
9 KIWI FRUIT One of these contains more than 100 per cent of the adult’s recommended daily intake of vitamin C.
10 CHEESE High in protein for an energy lift without the low. But don’t overdo it, cheese is high in fat.
10 BRAZIL NUTS One of the best sources of selenium, which strengthens the immune system.
Health & Well being 50 foods for
Healthy Living
1 OYSTERS Contain zinc, a mineral that’s needed for the production of testosterone, important for keeping up sex drive in men and women. 2 CELERY This contains androsterone, a steroid hormone released through male sweat.
1 MACKERAL All oily fish will help, high levels of DHA keep your mind sharp. 2 BLUEBERRIES It’s thought substances called anthocyanins found in blueberries strengthen blood capillaries, strengthening circulation to the brain.
3 GINGER The zingy spice boost circulation to the sex organs, upping your passion rating.
3 CURRY Can help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s.
4 CHILLI PEPPERS Research suggests that eating spicy foods could trigger the release of feel-good endorphins.
4 EGGS Get cracking – eggs are dense in choline, a B vitamin that helps improve memory and concentration.
5 STRAWBERRIES Rich in vitamin C, which helps strengthen blood vessels, stimulating circulation to your vital bits. 6 MANGO Packed with betacarotene, needed for the production of estrogen and testosterone. 7 BEETROOT High in boron, vital to the production of sex hormones. 8 PRAWNS Boasting feel-good levels of phenylalanine, which can increase feelings of arousal. 9 POMEGRANATES Contain phytoestrogens, which mimic estrogen, stimulating arousal. 10 AVOCADO Rich in vitamin E. Low levels of this vitamin can result in flagging sex drive.
1 CHOCOLATE It contains phenylethylamine (released during orgasm) but you’ll need the highest quality dark chocolate. 2 BANANAS They’re crammed with tryptophan, which helps make serotonin. 3 PORRIDGE Rich in B vitamins, maintain the central nervous system and releases energy slowly. 4 SPINACH “It’s rich in magnesium, a mineral that relaxes the mind and body”, says nutritionist Patrick Holford.
5 SOYA BEANS They’re a rich source of lecithin, a major brain fuel.
5 OILY FISH Mackerel, contain omega 3 fatty acids, shown to help ease symptoms of depression.
6 WHOLEGRAIN BREAD All wholegrains are good sources of vitamins B1 and B5, crucial for memory and concentration.
6 ASPARAGUS It contains amino acids, known as asparagines, that help regulate nerve function,
7 CHICKPEAS Packed with zinc, which helps improve brain function.
7 SUNFLOWER SEEDS Dense in stress busting B vitamins and magnesium.
8 STEAK Red meat is high in zinc which will improve brain power.
8 CHICKEN It contains high levels of tryptophan, which helps make serotonin.
9 OLIVE OIL This is rich in monosaturated fat which can preserve mental powers as you age.
9 POTATOES Can apparently give you good dreams if eaten before you go to bed.
10 MILK A good source of B vitamins important for brain health.
10. ALMONDS An excellent source of magnesium, which helps support the adrenal glands, easing stress.
Check out the Mind, Body & Spirt forum for tips and dvice on healthy lifestyles!
Health & Well being Saturated fat, salt... just a couple of things to worry about. A look into the hidden sugars... By Damian Griffiths
Processed sugar contains no nutrients, and may turn to fat if unused due to excess sugar. So why is the sugar content in some processed foods so high? Food shopping for the concious shopper, let’s face it, can be a nightmare! Take a look in your fridge, freezer and cupbaords and look at how many ingredients each product contains. Do you know what half of them are? Can you pronounce them? Time to take a look at the sugar content, many manufactureres try to cram as much sugar into a product by using different sugars such as glucose, fructose, sorbitol, xylitol, maltodextrin and galactose to name just a few. Today’s manufaturer is required to list ingredients by weight first, so pay attention to the label. The concious shopper may look at the fat content in food, which over time has been reduced, often causing sugar levels in food to be increased. Sugar is absorbed quickly by the body raising insulin levels, and too much over time may cause obesity, a contributing factor to diabetes. Shockingly, over 50% of the adult population is classified as being obese It has been calculated that by eating one chocolate bar per day over the course of a year, that an extra two stone in weight would be gained. To put it into perspective, that is 45 minutes of cycling to burn it off. But where does all the salt and sugar come from? People crave salty, sugary foods. It’s often used to improve the taste of processed foods, a process which takes out many nutrients, hence the reason for fortyfying foods with vitamins such as in cereals. The UK consumes over 2 billion ready meals per year, but by making your own meals you can cut the amount of salt and sugar in your diet consideably. The upper guideline daily amount of salt for an adult is only 6 grams, and for sugar it is 100 grams. How much are you taking in? We all need some sugar in out diets, but eating wholemeal bread and other starchy foods are more beneficial to health than refined processed alternatives. Diet and lifestyle is all about informed choices and decisions. Faddy diets are not advised, but we can all take small steps on the road to good health. If you are pursuing a major lifestyle change, it’s always a good idea to have a health check and discuss any decisions with your general practitioner.
Activity:
Take a look at the following items and mark down how many teaspoons of sugar you think is in each: Answers P24
Fruit Shoot a popular drink with children. It contains real fruit juice, so is a great alternative to fizzy soft drinks that are high in sugar and often contain corrosive ingredients.
Baked beans on toast is infamous with all students. All beans are full of protien and contain vital nutrients such as zinc. If you use wholemeal bread and beans without added salth and sugar, then you’re on to a winner.
Health & Well being Jaffa Cakes only containg 1g fat per cake! But let’s get real, who ever just eats one?! How many teaspoons of sugar in 4 Jaffa Cakes?
Frosted Shreddies these are frosted with sugar, but how many of you go in to add an extra teaspoon? How many tespoons are in a 45g bowl with milk?
Haribo Starmix 300g not only a kids favourite, but with adults alike! How many teaspoons of sugar would you say was in 300g?
Cheerios are a firm family favourite. But per small 30g bowl with milk, how many many tespoons of sugar are there?
attackh?fruit and veg ks k c a n s Got a g on fres carrot stic
Dairy Milk we all like a bit of chocolate every now and then, but moderation is the key when it comes to treats.
in d Try snack lery, cucumber an e c uacamole e fresh Take som nd dip them into g at chocolate bar! a ce of th la p in esh fruit, s r f le p f p o a o g w ith Try eatin with a piece or t h down w s a W l. y a a d e r ur ce Start the t it in yo ’re on your way u p n e v e you you can juice and f o day! s s la ag to five a
If you’ve guessed the teaspoons of sugar in the boxes, turn to p24 for the answers.
Labels to confuse the concious shopper One could easily beleive that labels are designed to confuse and mislead our consious shopper. We’ve uncovered the use of sugar, and the many different types that exist to cram as much of this cheap material into our foods, but what about the other ingredients. We’ve taken a chocolate bar, and highlighted the sugar ingredient five times: Milk Chocolate: Milk, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Vegetable Fat, Emulsifier (E442), Flavourings. Caramel (30%) : Glucose Syrup, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Glucose-fructose Syrup, Caramelised Syrup (Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Flavouring) Dried Whey Protein Concentrate, Salt, Emulsifier (E471), Flavourings.
d r a c t s n a po
o s r e w Ans
ons teaspo 4 ) k h mil 45g wit s ( s ie d poon Shred .5 teas 3 oons s n 5 teasp ns Bea r a b te oo Chocola 0g - 13 teasp ns 30 spoo Haribo 1/2 tea poons 2 s Cheerio akes - 5 teas ural) ns (nat C o a o f f p a s J a 4 te hoot - 5 Fruit S
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Published by the Food Standards Agency. food.gov.uk
All nutritional information is extracted from the back of packaging. The Queer Youth Network cannot accept responsibility for any changes since going to press.
school Gay Straight Alliance at ..a historyisofLGBT the History Queer Month February Putney High School for Girls in South West London) and Chris Youth Network Morris, (founder of the former By David Henry
Part One 1999 - 2000 After several failed attempts to get official support the UK’s first college Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) at Shena Simon College (in Manchester’s Gay Village), David Henry and Catherine Warner were approached by Julia Grant (transrights activist, author, founder of Manchester GayFest, and star of the award-winning BBC TV Series ‘a change of sex’) on behalf of Manchester’s Gay Business community to offer support to the city’s queer youth community. Julia Grant had argued the case for fully-inclusive services for all young people, moving away from the stereotyped gay youth group offering different facilities based on gender which often excluded trans young people. Julia had given birth to a great many trans support groups and felt Queer Youth Manchester was founded as a weekly social support group on a Thursday night and later became Queer Youth North West after merging with it’s sibling group in Liverpool. In the same year, David and Catherine met Charlotte Lester (who had recently started the UK’s first
campaign group YouthSpeak and OutCast Magazine) at an OutRage age-of-consent protest in London where “16 - Equality for All” was famously projected onto Big Ben. The departure of Chris Morris from the gay rights scene to pursue other interests, basic ideological disagreements and a generalised lack of support from the gay community in London after the age of consent was equalised soon led to the demise of YouthSpeak, it’s loss left a large scar in the queer rights landscape that many other groups such as the NUS and Stonewall unsuccessfully tried to replicate. Eager to continue where YouthSpeak had left off and content with the growing provision of gay youth support groups being established by local health authorities, youth services, and the Voluntary Sector (at the time the Terrance Higgins Trust has received funding to start many more gay youth groups, and local independent support charities including the now defunct Peer Support Project were gaining ground in offering better support to LGBT Young People through groups, helplines and the first homophobic bullying initiatives ).
The Queer Youth Collective became increasing politicised and impassioned about focussed on campaigning, calling for more groups and better sexual health and mental health services for LGBT Young People. The call was echoed by several renowned advocates of LGBT young people, including Sue Sanders of the lesbian and gay teachers group Schools Out! felt there was a distinct lack of any kind of supported involvement from actual young people themselves despite so many campaigns at the time being fought on their behalf. Youth workers such as Jan Bridget, a founder of Gay and Lesbian Youth in Calderdale, a flagship project that she had fought to establish for many years and continues to do so at the time this was written had long echoed calls for a national infrastructure for supporting the needs of LGBT Youth, and went on to be an integral part of the National Network (of organisations working with LGBT Young People) which eventually was absorbed into an official project the Consortium (of LGB(T) Organisations). Inga Rhodes of FFLAG (Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) gained support from a large collective of parents groups also spoke in support of the formation. David Allison,
caretaker and dedicated OutRage! activist along with Peter Tatchell, veteran Human Rights Campaigner who David Henry sought guidance from during some of Queer Youth’s more turbulent times gave his public support and a great deal of his personal time during the lengthy establishment of what was to become, at long last the first nationwide body representing the needs and desires of Britain’s, until then rather silenced LGBT Youth. Until this pivotal time the only influential channels for the voices of younger queers to be heard was through the occasional column in the gay press or as a token spokesperson scripted by Stonewall. Chris Morris was recruited by Stonewall to challenge the Age of Consent Law (at the time it was illegal for two men to have sexual intercourse unless the were over the age of 21) at the European Court of Human Rights. Not long after Chris Began meeting senior gay rights movers-and-shakers at Stonewall he came to the conclusion that Stonewall was guilty of creating “a gay rights industry” and functioned by taking financial “back-handers” from business people in order for a place on it’s board of directors. He publicly departed the gay rights scene but not without launching a final slam against Stonewall in an article published in The New Statesman brandishing them as obsessed with corporate fund-raising deals and exposed many of their former donors are current decision-makers, a view that caused many in the gay rights movement including long-term supporters of Queer Youth Overground such as OutRage! and the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association to distance themselves from Stonewall entirely. The Queer Youth collective group
established an internet presence to bring together as many LGBT and queer young people as possible. If the at the time, a media frenzy and paranoia had caused many educational institutions to censor and in many cases completely sensor legitimate online access to information on any Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender related websites, On the ground, the collective launched a national peer-led outreach project named “Safe on the Scene” that toured colleges, universities, bars, clubs and youth groups all over the country to distribute literature banned from schools and youth groups, and many libraries by Section 28. During the Safe on the Scene project, a member of the group who wished not to be named but we shall call Gary for now was approached by a photographer touting a new ‘gay youth magazine’ and asked if he would like to be involved. During what he thought was a standard photo-shoot after giving an interview about his view of the gay scene and coming out he was asked if he would be willing to provide nude photographs for the magazine’s actual cover. Other young men at the shoot had already agreed and were of a similar age to Gary. Several weeks later Sally Carr, a respected youth worker and founder at Manchester’s Lesbian and Gay Youth group approached Queer Youth with a copy of a new magazine that had been delivered to the gay centre along with a letter from the publishers urging venues to ‘drop’ the Pink Paper and Boyz Magazine in favour of this new publication ‘SXT’. The magazine contained an arary of falsified gay news stories along with adverts for hardcore sex lines and premium-rate subscription websites that would today contravene trading standards.
Queer Youth Overground quickly aunched a boycott of SXT and it’s exploitative practices. After a week, David Henry received a writ from SXT’s Lawyers asking for a webpage containing a scan of the magazine’s cover and a petition to be removed from QYO’s website, a demand that David refused to abide to. In the meantime, a massive boycott of the publication spread to bars, clubs, gay saunas, gay support groups and bookshops angry at SXT’s attempts to extinguish the alreay small number other gay and lesbian newspapers and magazines. Many venue owners binned SXT as soon as it was delivered on a Thursday causing their expected advertising and chat-line revues to plummet. After the third issue it appeared concept had received the final nail in it’s coffin and the magazine folded. Catherine Warner had been involved with the National Union of Students (NUS), in particular their Lesbian and Gay Campaign and she argued the case for the campaign to be renamed Lesbian, Gay AND Bisexual, but after failing to win support of motions to include the term Transgender faced with fierce opposition (a battle that was strongly over-turned not for another five years in 2004) Catherine felt the support of the NUS in Queer Youth’s formation at least could not be assured. Ben Turner, leader of the now radicalised Queer Youth Manchester branch of the collective later organised a ‘sting’ on the NUS LGB National conference with David Henry and Catherine Warner in tow. Catherine had long argued for representation of FE (Further Education) students in the ‘old-school’ dominated NUS LGB campaign and was nominated to stand for an open place on the committee.
Despite being formally invited as guests to the event, and all qualifying members of the NUS at affiliated institutions and which was being hosted in their hometown (turf), the Queer Youth delegation were branded as gate-crashers and controversy ensued when David Henry deemed the entire conference as a ‘Puppet Show’. Convinced that the LGB wing of the NUS had suffered the same fate as many of it’s counterparts, the collective left the conference disillusioned by the obvious unmistakable hijacking of the promising, (somewhat) influential student body by a small but powerful group of political stringpullers, careerists and agendabenders, a view shared by Alex Lambert, another outspoken yet instrumental founding member of the Queer Youth collective who left Manchester to study in York, re-established their none-existent LGB Society, reformed it’s remit to include Transgendered people and enabled the entire York Students Union to became completely disaffiliated from the NUS. Lambert’s legacy to the organisation was an installed belief that party political meddling had little place if any at all in the struggle for human rights. An outlook that was aggressively defended through bitter exchanges in letters page of the Pink Paper in 2002 and 2003 between Lambert and James Davenport, former leader of TORCHE (Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality - now ‘Gay Conservatives’) who branded QYA as ‘Militant’ and ‘Tatchellite’, a view the entire collective denied. Unknown to Davenport, David Henry and Greg Justice (at the time President and Vice Presidents of QYA’s now dissolved Board) had been invited to meet with Conservative Party Chairman and Sussex MP Charles Hendry at the gay centre in Manchester, who
left impressed with the work the organisation had been pioneering to support LGBT Young People. After several venomous outbursts against Alex Lambert personally and the youth organisation (at the time Alex had been appointed as Campaigns Officer) Davenport was silenced by those higher up in the party after David Henry and Greg Justice complained about Davenport’s conduct. Charles Hendry distanced himself and the entire Conservative Party from TORCHE and made it clear that it was not a recognised group. Davenport soon resigned and it emerged TORCHE was soon disbanded. Having postponed her family ‘coming out’ dramas and coming to terms with her own gender identity, several years beyond the time she began establishing the country’s first Gay Straight Alliance and the Queer Youth collective, Charlotte Lester made a sudden but sincere departure from the collective (although still returns to Queer Youth Overground had it’s official launch at Gay Youth Pride in Manchester where it launched a website. Queer Youth Overground was featured in a number of press articles, NOW UK (now named “Bent”), Gay Times and The Pink Paper all ran stories hailing the launch. Meanwhile, online, bold, striking imagery of queer young people holding hands and kissing welcomed users of Nick Duriez’s ‘Gay Youth UK’ website and the newly launched Queer Youth Overground site began to draw attention. Gay Youth UK had been running initially as an IRC Chat Channel with a handful of younger gay people, at the time the only service of it’s time. Eventually Gay Youth UK became an outlet for support on coming-out with an Egroup which was eventually taken
over by Yahoo and became Yahoo Groups. With a minor sponsorship deal signed from Gay.com to provide them with youth content, David and Nick geared the Queer Youth Overground site into a resource site for challenging homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and a membership fringe of youth groups that existed as a bulletin board which was led by Damian Griffiths, Mark Leach, Lauren Clift, and Michael Bundock. Gay Youth UK was loosing it’s membersip base as people had begun to see emailing groups as somewhat old-fashioned, so a joint effort to transfer the e-group over to the message boards begun but some members resisted and did not want to be connected to the collective’s more politicised wing. At the time Nick and David were in a relationsip together and both sites were hosted from their flat. As David moved out after a few months and Nick turned 25 and felt Gay Youth UK should always be in the hands of young people and put an appeal out for someone to take it over. At the time websites were expensive to run and the Gay.com sponsorship deal soon came to an end. After discussions at a joint gathering of GYUK and QYO members at London Mardi Gras in July 2001, the collective decided they could not extinguish the core support group that existing on the e-group so Nick handed over responsibility of Gay Youth UK to Tim McGrath in 2002 later after the sponsorship deal from the gay internet-giant came to an end. Despite a rocky road to it’s birth, the original QYO web community, regional groups, combined with it’s strong links to Gay Youth UK and the Safe of the Scene outreach projects that later evolved into more Queer Youth regional groups involving young people in their own communities begun to inspire an ever growing
When Gay becomes Pédé: being gay in French. By Anna Leach
One thing they never teach you in French class is how to subtly work out if someone is gay while seductively chatting them up. And that’s hard enough in English. If you’ve ever done French at school you probably know how to ask what is in your classmate’s pencil-case and where he went on holiday last year, perhaps you can wade a bit deeper and talk about Immigration. But working out the gay code is just as hard as remembering the imperfect tense and is made especially difficult because the gay population has such a low-profile. Natacha, interviewed by the French gay magazine, Têtu, bemoans the
complete lack of coverage that gays suffer in the general French media. ‘You’d think there were only three lesbians in France, in so far as the French media are concerned… [she mentions Amélie Mauresmo, the tennis player, and two other famous French lesbians]. Society leads you to think that lesbians don’t exist, or at best that lesbianism is an adolescent phase which disappears when you grow up.’ The L-word’s been showing on subscription channels in France since last June. But it’s going to take more than an American television series to make gay publicly acceptable or even just public.
In the meantime, a British gay in France is left with the tricky game of gaydar guess-work in a foreign language. And some searching to do. If you’re lucky and the garçon/fille you’ve fallen for is in a gay club, or they’ve got a rainbow pin-badge, then you can dispense with the guessing, and then with the language bit pretty quickly. In nice clear cut ‘you’re-gay-I’m-gay-let’sget-it-on’ circumstances, the phrase, “What’s in your pencilcase?”, said with the right emphasis – might actually be all you need. Otherwise, it’s really
easy to put your foot in it. And not in a pencil-case. In a big social faux-pas. French gay talk is mostly in English. So ‘un gay’ would have a ‘coming-out’ and would go on a ‘manifestation du Pride’ (a Pride march) etc etc. You’d think this would make things easier for Franco-Bristish homosexual-relationships. Sadly, it is just a symptom of a general French attitude to homosexuality which does not make things easier. And that attitude could basically be called denial. The French tend to use English words for things are not actually French but get thrust on them by their anglo-saxon neighbours. Things like junk food and the internet, which they don’t bother inventing French words for, but just use the English ones. So they say ‘le fast-food’, le ‘beef-burger’ and ‘l’internet’ and ‘le chat-room’ as if they’re pretending internet surfing and Macdonalds are just one of those regrettable modern things Americans do. Because fast-food is foreign you use a foreign word for it. But gay isn’t a modern invention from New York. There have always been homosexuals in France and there are currently homosexuals in France and there always will be. There are home-grown French words for gay but these tend to be a variety of insults derived from the Bible, ‘pédé’ comes from ‘pederast’, or just from good old stereotypes, ‘camionneuse’ (meaning ‘lorrydriver’) is used for lesbians for example. Dipping into a little newsagents and picking up a copy of Têtu, the only generally available gay magazine in France, I get a gobsmacked look from the guy behind the counter. The November Têtu issue does have a headline about gay male orgasm and a large picture of a grinning twenty-year-old man, topless and hairless with a bowler hat and water droplets clinging to his well-developed pecs. He’s called Sven, I discover later. So I imagine that not many young foreign women walk in and buy it. In fact, I would be surprised if many women (well, lesbians) bought it all. Not least, because it is really just about men. Out of 164 pages, there are probably about ten devoted to lesbians. There are five pages plus a pull-out devoted to Sven, and his torso, and his bowler hat.
Anyway, returning to the newsagents, the man kindly asks me if I want a little bag. ‘No’, I say causally and stride out to be faced by two more gobsmacked looks from other customers. By the time I’ve got out of the shop I’ve rolled Têtu up and am covering the title with my hand. Cowardly, but I’ve run out of sang-froid and just want to walk down the street in peace. The Diva website rates France as fine for gays because of the ‘private morality’ ethos in the country. So that means people don’t mind if you do what you want in the privacy of your own bedroom. But the problem is getting anyone to come up to the privacy of your bedroom in the first place, if you don’t know who they are or where they are. Gays may be out of the closet and into the bedroom, but they’re not really in the street. One factor that makes it extra-hard for a British person is that lots of the French look gay. But they just aren’t. Loads of women have ruffled pixie haircuts, multiple face piercings and wear trousers all the time. Guys gel their hair up pretty, wear man perfume and strut about and kiss each other on greeting. Can they really all be straight? How’s a poor Brit to know? Plus, the French tend to just stare at you and it’s hard to know if they’re being rude, checking you out, or just mentally dissing your clothes. Social minefield for a British gay with a poor knowledge of this low-key scene and a shaky command of chat-up lines. So far, I’ve just been finding out the hard way that they’re hetero. At least the painless exit from those awkward situations is to babble some meaningless Franglais and look naïve… so they have to assume you didn’t actually come onto them but just got some vocab mixed up. This is helped by the fact that ‘gai’ still means cheerful as well as homosexual. Like the English word did, long ago, before it also meant shit. Still, I’m keeping optimistic. It’s not a huge consolation, but there seem to be lots of gay French films out right now. It may be a long distance from the privacy of the bedroom to the street, but it’s not so far from the cinema screen to the public consciousness. Things like Brokeback Mountain have an effect and there are some French equivalents. Maybe in future there’ll be a bit less of the pédé and a bit more of the pride, or maybe even some fierté.
In pictures - Pink Picnic, Birmingham Queer Youth West Midlands
Life’s a beach....
Slick the handbag competition
Regional Groups The Queer Youth Network operates nationally with regional groups in the following areas: Scotland North West North East Yorkshire West Midlands East Midlands East Anglia London & South East South West LGBT Youth Wales
Meet the coordinators, what they have to say:
In focus:
Damian Griffiths - Queer Youth West Midlands, Membership Diretor
Regional Groups give the opportunity to become involved at a local grass roots level, from attending local events and consultations and putting something back into the community. QYWM has attended Birmingham pre and post-Pride, consulted with local LGBT young people on local services, held informal social meetings and offered informal meetings from ice skating to simply going for
Banner Making Pride Season is approaching! Banner making workshops will be taking place in March, central Birmingham for all volunteers. To take part, check out the West Midlands Regional Forum.
?
Could you join our team?
coffee. It’s an invaluable resource which couldn’t run without the hard work of all our volunteers and attendees. We’re always looking for more people to get involved, we’re purely run for and by LGBT young people offering and have little overheads with no specific funding. Find out how you can get involved by E-mailing damian@queeryouth.org.uk or register your interest online.
Flying the flag... Birmingham Pride
Our QYN London team thinks we’re awesome! From Pride events to regional meetups we’ve got it covered. Our regional groups host regular social, political support groups catering for everyones needs. The regional forums enable you to keep up to date with the latest events, post meet gossip and planning for future events.
The past, the present, and the Future The generation game By Jack Holroyde, Campaigns Officer, Quer Youth Network
“No more wars. No more walls. A united world” – Graffiti, East side, Berlin wall (1989)
Most of us will have heard of Generation X. It’s used to describe the generation of young adults in the 60’s and 70’s who were the pioneers of a new way of living. The young people of Generation X opened their eyes and their minds, and began to see the world in a whole new light. They began to look at the world around them, to question it’s impact on them. They learned not to accept what they were told by those in power, an idea which fundamentally led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall. This event was one of the most significant moments in history. The fall of the Berlin wall represented more than just the unification of East and West Berlin. It signified the end of old ideas, the end
of demographics being calculated using borders and boundaries, and the end of a struggle between the West and East sides of the world which at points threatened to overcome the world. People no longer lived in fear of the end of everything they held dear. We were freed from our fear, and the youth of the late 80’s stepped out into a Brave, New World. I don’t remember the fall of the wall on November the 9th, 1989. I was 3 1/2 years old when the world as it was known, changed forever. I do remember those first years of my life, before it fell, as ones where nothing was taken for granted. Everyone tried their damndest to live for today, nothing else. After the wall fell, the people of Europe considered themselves free. “The matrix cannot tell you who you are” Generation X was then applied to the youths of
the early 90’s. It’s a long debated topic, but Evolutionary psychologists theorise that in our minds, in order to get an idea of who we are, we must have an idea of who we are not. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the West had lost its significant other. There was no easy way to describe what we were, because that which we were not had been removed. I remember the early 90’s. Rave culture hit the UK, hard. Young people, no longer bound by their fear, and with no real concept of who they were, set out to find out. It appears that, in hindsight, they didn’t. Something else, more profound happened, in that the way that we saw the world began to change. Lifestyle tribes and purchase decisions Now, we take for granted that people of the same age range, doing the same job, will not automatically have the same interests. This was an entirely new concept in the mid 90’s. The emergence of ‘Lifestyle tribes’ had begun many years previously, in the USA, with Harley Davidson. For certain people across the States, the name Harley Davidson embodied something more than just motorcycles. It embodied an idea of Freedom, of Comfort, of Luxury. Harley represented the American Dream. People from all sections of society, right across the country, and to a lesser extent, the world, began buying Harleys because of what they meant to them. The brand has since become one of the most iconic in the world. To most owners, owning a Harley is a lifestyle, not a purchase decision. This spread across Europe in the 90’s, when people found themselves unwilling to stereotype themselves and their interests because of their age, their occupation, or their marital status. So we have a group of people from all demo-
graphics, buying a product for what it means to them, as opposed to what marketing companies think they should buy. While this may seem insignificant at first, this is possibly the biggest change in the way we, as an economy work. Lifestyle tribes are now the single most important consideration in how we spend, and how marketing companies target us. Another example, lets look at the iPod generation. Without doubt, Apple has the most powerful brand in the world at the moment. People old and young, male and female, from bank managers to bank robbers own one. It transcends traditional marketing boundaries and reaches out to everyone So where are we going with this? I write an article for a Queer Youth publication, and I’m talking about history and the modern economy! What I’m trying to do is give you a picture of where we were, and where we are now. The world has changed, and that change has been brought in, more or less, by the way that we spend our money. I’d like to talk about today’s Generation. I like to call it Generation ‘Q’ Q ‘Generation Q’ question the world around them, as did Generation X. But while ‘X’ were forging a new path of enlightenment, ‘Q’ take this for granted. We take our freedom as an intrinsic right, and rebel in an unprecedented way when that freedom is taken away, or when there is a threat of it being taken. Generation Q look at the world, and see it for what it is. We don’t need to question it, because it questions itself. Society and government has become ‘self-policing’. The fundamental difference between ‘X’ and ‘Q’ is that ‘Q’ has learned not to look for something that defines what they are not, but to look to
themselves to define who they are. We look at ourselves and question our motives, our sexual feelings, our gender preference. We decide how we wish to be perceived, and who we want to perceive us. We choose our lifestyle tribes. We question the way we were made and look to change it. What started with body piercing and tattoos thousands of years ago, as a series of tribal markings, has been re-born. We mark our skin and flesh to show our allegiance to our lifestyle tribes. We integrate ourselves into our chosen culture, altering it and ourselves to suit our every whim. We are truly flexible. To prove this, look no further than the attitudes towards LGB people (I’ll come on to the T later, it’s slightly different!) over the last 10-15 years. When I came out, in 1998, being Gay was about drugs and illicit sex, about non-conformism and clubbing. It was considered shameful and disgusting. With the fall of Section 28 in our schools and colleges, the people of an older, less flexible generation lessened their grip on the thoughts of a younger, more supple mindset. While there is still so much to do in schools, the fact that today (1st February) marks the start of LGBT history month, discussed in schools right across the country, shows that open minded debate is creeping into our culture. By questioning ourselves, we open our minds and allow us to understand others. It has given us empathy. The T It is regrettable that, still, all these years on, that Trans people do not get a slice of this empathy. The disgust and loathing of the older generation keeps the younger people of the UK in check. With failure to provide legislation to protect, failure to provide services to aid the transition process, and the medicalisation of ‘Gender Dysphoria’ and ‘Body Dysmorphia’, the youth of today are not encouraged to debate the questions raised by studies of Trans issues. Until the grip of the ‘fear driven generation’ is released, there can be no progress. As once they stifled
the ‘gay’ debate, they now stop us from discussing what needs to be discussed. They will not release this grip willingly. We must fight for what we believe, we must fight for the equality of all people across the UK, and we must wrest control of the debate from them. We, the Youth of today, will not be controlled and we will not bow to the closed-minded previous generations. We will not stand by and watch ourselves be misrepresented by organisations claiming to know what we want. No longer are we Gay, Straight, Lesbian, Bi, Trans, Questioning, Curious, or Intersex We are Queer. We have reclaimed our playground taunts and jibes. We are here to stay. There is no ‘Gay agenda’. There is only a longing to be treated the same as our peers. Is that so much to ask for?
Background by: swiebel
Creative Queers
A casket open cold and free, As snow falls around for all to see, Blood shot eyes devoid of sleep, And make up streaks as the body weeps,
That pallid light of the hollow moon, how she kisses skin, with her heart and her waning soon, gives in to sorrows sin,
As water crashes against the rocks, The wild crow sits, screams and mocks, The fool of sorrow, bleeding eyes, Who sits and howls at the lustless sky,
The wider eye that gives to shame, to take in the sight, is humbled by the actions’ fame, and hallowed over night,
While i sit, entrapped in a chasm of ice, Chained here by my own device, A warmth of touch i swat away, No heart is left so willing to stay.
A temple, shrine, or worship’s site, is not confined to touch, is more the ground on which to fight, and hate itself as such. Writtn by Id: spare_parts
Feeling creative? Check out out creative queers section and get your reative juices flowing.
IN THE NEWS It’s all happening on the forums, check out www. queeryouth.org.uk for the latest headlines and join LGBT Young People giving thier thoughts an opinions.
FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR TRANS YOUTH New Trans Youth Network! Please get in touch if you want to get involved in supporting, training and advocating with and for young trans people in the UK! E-mail: transyouthnet@yahoo.co.uk info@transyouth.org Website: http://www.transyouth.org This project is unique and progressive, in that it is being led primarily by self-identified young trans people (inclusive of those questioning their gender identity, self-identifying as genderqueer/non-binary and intersex), with full consultations planned for early 2008, with the support and backing of Queer Youth Network
Whats on Queer Youth Network: TV? What will become of Peter Kumar? Part 1 QYN:TV brings you a short film about a young gay British Indian guy’s fight against forced arranged marriage, homophobia, drugs, booze and kylie! Filmed on location in Salford, Manchester (England). Part 1 of a new series from Queer Youth Network TV is streaming now.
A clear, bold message is being sent out by Stonewall in a nationwide billboard campaign: ‘Some people are gay. Get over it!’ Six hundred billboard panels will depict this legend in giant, tabloid-style capital letters, on a bright red background at sights in England, Scotland and Wales. The billboard advertising panels, kindly donated by Titan Outdoor Advertising Ltd, continue Stonewall’s simple, striking poster campaign which began in schools in November 2007. The uncompromising statement and powerful design were developed in collaboration with 150 secondary school pupils and teachers for Stonewall.
BNP organiser says it’s ok to rape and beat women The BNP’s London organiser, Nick Eriksen (also a presenter on the BNP’s television channel, BNPtv), writing under the pseudonym of ‘Sir John Bull’, has stated that it is ok to rape and beat women! In one article (‘RAPE: LIES, LIES, LIES’, 24th August 2005), Nick Eriksen says: “Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting that force feeding a woman chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched”. Join member FirstofOctober on th forums and debate these issues.
QUEERYOUTH.ORG.UK Dont forget Volunteers training event, Saturday 29th March 2007 Birmingham, visit the forums to book your free place.
Got something to say? We’d be delighted to hear your feedback or comments regarding any aspect of this issue. If you would like to contribute something to out next issue due out in March, please E-mail ediorial@queeryouth.org.uk
Youth Groups Submitted by: Panic!
SHES BACK! And hitting you like never before. Lock up your boyfriends! The new show will be streaming across Queer Youth Radio soon. Listen to the trailer online now! Queer Youth Radio is an online radio station broadcasting 24/7* featuring tallented young LGBT people featuring edgy drama productions and debates catering for a diverse range of music styles.
So we have all seen the adds on this site for LGBT groups. There’s loads all over the country. Do you go to them? Do you want to go to them? The biggest question is, can you go to them? For a while now I’ve wanted to go to a group and find out what other people go through and how they have coped with being gay and bi. I’m 15 and I’m sure that most of you have the same problems. Parents! My parents think that me being bi was just a phase and they think I’m over it.......I wonder how they’d react if they knew I was gay. The thing is, unless your out then its hard to start coming to youth groups because parents get in the way. “were are you going?” “what time will you be home?” “who will you be with?” “what will you be doing?” Not everyone has the ability to go youth groups and how many people discuss that with you?.....None. Theres barely any type of cover.
A youth led production by the Queer Youth Network
If you would like to advertise with us, or commment on any aspect of this edition, please E-mail editorial@queeryouth.org.uk
So, what is The Queer Got something for the Youth Network? next issue? We are a national organisation set up, run by and for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Young People. We aim to be the principal representative of queer youth in the UK. We campaign for equality and liberation as well as providing a range of support services for young people going through a difficult phase. Online our website has supported countless thousands of LGBT Young People to come to terms with their sexuality and our Local Groups in various cities have enabled people to make new friends and make informed decisions that are relevant to their lives.
We’re always looking for new and exciting content for the next issue of Overground! You don’t have to be a talented writer and you don’t have to stick to a theme. So if you feel you have something to add, be it news, gossip, comment piece to poetry or art, then drop us a line a the above addresses. The next issue of Overground will be out in April! Need more copies? Download them online or contact us via E-mail.
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Visit our website: www.queeryouth.org.uk Contact us by email: info@queeryouth.org.uk Give us a call: 07855031657 (24 hour line)