Saturday 2nd August
It was up and out early to the Pride Festival this morning to meet the Brighton and Hove Labour LGBT group. We were joined by friends from London including Goofy the dog, with his special purple Pride collar! The weather was appalling but it didn’t stop everyone having a good time and there seemed to be even more people here than last year. Here’s a photo to show just how soggy we all got!
I noticed that for the second year running the Tories have a float. If the Tories want gay and lesbian people to vote for them in elections, they should start to vote for gay and lesbian rights in Parliament. The Tories may say they've changed, but look at what they've done in 2008 so far. In January this year, when Labour was introducing protection for gay people from hate crime, just 5 Tory MPs supported us.
And just last month more than 9 out of 10 Tory MPs voted against making it easier for
lesbian couples to access IVF. Most Labour MPs voted to remove the barriers to Lesbian women. It remains true to this day that only Labour can deliver equality for LGBT people. The strength of Brighton Pride is that it is open to all; the same cannot be said of the Conservatives. Tory floats won't buy our votes.
Click here to see my comments in Pink News.
Monday 4th August
Before I headed off to Swansea for work this evening, I met up with Jean Spray, Chair and Gail Gray, Chief Executive of the Women’s Refuge Project in Brighton and Hove. The Women’s Refuge Project supports women, children, and young people affected by domestic abuse. It was good to catch up and learn more about their hopes and concerns.
Having worked in organisations such as the Maternity Alliance and the National Childbirth Trust, I know that whilst pregnancy is a happy time for many women, for others it’s when domestic violence starts or gets worse.
I am frequently concerned that organisations running essential services for women, such as The Women’s Refuge Project constantly have to battle for funding. We often see services and even whole organisations such as Threshold who I campaigned with last year, struggling for survival. It’s time that funders and grant holders realised the impact of late decision-making and the switch to project-based instead of core funding.
If you are a woman in Brighton and Hove or West Sussex, reading this and in need of support, you can call the Women’s Refuge Project on 01273 622 822. The National Domestic Violence Helpline number is 0808 2000 247 (24 hours).
Wednesday 6th August
I went to meet Unite bus drivers at Conway Street this morning before work. It was useful to catch up and hear more about their issues. They were concerned about the application of the Working Time Directive, something I am familiar with from when I worked at the transport trade union TSSA. We also discussed health and safety issues for bus drivers including the use of CCTV on buses and the impact of new road layouts. I’ll be following up on these issues with the health and safety reps shortly.
Monday 18th August
I worked with Jack Forester, founder of Brighton and Hove Skateparks Association, to organise a demonstration at The Level at lunchtime today. We had a great turnout of about 60 young people with boards and bikes and The Argus came along to take a photo. We were joined by Cllr Gill Mitchell, Leader of the Labour Group.
The Labour Government has £190 million set aside for new facilities for young people so they can take part in activities after school and at weekends, such as skateboarding, football and basketball, but Brighton and Hove City Council needs to engage with young people and formulate a bid within the next six weeks, in order to secure any of this funding.
The new money from the Labour Government is a fantastic opportunity for our area. Young skateboarders approached me to ask for my support for a new skatepark at The Level and I am ready to back any bid for funding so that we can upgrade all the facilities on this site.
The most important thing about ‘myplace’ funding is that young people themselves help to decide what sort of facilities are provided. In Brighton, we have a proactive group of young people stating very clearly what they want and the money is available. But they feel things are moving too slowly and are concerned they aren’t getting the support they need from the city council.
Tags: Pride
Posted on August 30, 2008 in LGBT.
