Tag Archives: Things-To-Do

Meet Yvonne Taylor, Laidback Party Queen

‘I love to party,’ says Yvonne Taylor as she hugs each of her friends in turn. ‘I just want to enjoy life’. Cool and laidback, Yvonne isn’t your typical pushy promoter, even though she has been organising Sunday Happy Day (SHD) for 7 years now.

LGBT London’s hottest happening, the SHD club night is known for its zany showgirls, flamboyant pole dancers, and irresistible house and soul music. Yvonne describes SHD’s home, the warehouse-like Soho Theatre Bar, as her ‘church … I always feel like I’ve found a great party [when I come here].’

SHD’s punters are an eclectic bunch. Alongside the Londoners busting their moves, you’ll find Americans, Egyptians, Spaniards and Bahamians having a blast too. Yvonne works hard to create a chilled-out atmosphere that welcomes everyone, whoever they are, wherever they’re from. For Yvonne a good party should not be ‘defined by issues like sexuality, gender and race. Just because I’m a gay woman, I don’t want to be defined by my sexuality. Many of the people that come to my events define themselves as gay, but they also bring their straight sister, brother or cousin.’

You might be surprised by Yvonne’s background. Born and brought up in Nottingham, she joined the British Army aged just 18 and started putting on events after being promoted to the rank of corporal. ‘I was being punished,’ she laughs, ‘and was sent off to some empty barracks where we decided to create our own club.’ A record collector from the earliest age, the then-Corporal Taylor had no problem enticing her colleagues onto the dancefloor.

Having a good time is ‘in my DNA’, she claims, and she’d be right. Her father was nicknamed “Party” in his younger days and her mother was a New York It Girl back in the 1970s.

Returning to civvy street in the early eighties, Yvonne carried on doing what she loved most: giving people a fantastic night out. ‘When I first came to London,’ she recalls, ‘it was a segregated community. You could only go to certain places if you were this colour or that sexuality. I wanted to change that.’ And she did, firstly as a successful DJ and now as one of the capital’s best-loved promoters.

SHD’s next party is this Sunday and  promises to be Yvonne’s best bash yet!

Source – www.colourfulpink.com

Harvey Milk to be First Openly Gay Elected Official on a Stamp

Harvey MilkHarvey Milk will be the first openly gay political official to appear on an American stamp. The stamp will be released on Harvey Milk Day, May 22.

Harvey Milk’s ground breaking election in 1977 as one of the world’s first openly gay elected officials-and its most visible one- symbolised the freedom to live life with authenticity to millions of LGBTQ women and men around the world. He was sadly shot and killed in November 1978 at the age of 48 by another member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Despite his short career in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and a martyr in the gay community. The stamp, which was revealed on Linn’s Stamp News, includes a black-and-white photograph of Milk, along with the pride rainbow flag colours stacked squarely in the upper left corner. U.S. Postal Service officials announced plans to feature the gay rights icon last October, but it was not known until this week what the stamp would look like. The stamp will make its debut in either San Francisco or Washington, D.C.

 

 

Official Trailer for New Lesbian Film, Concussion

Director Stacie Passon (The Kids Are All Right) tells the steamy tale of a bored suburban wife and mother who begins a secret life as lesbian escort. Watch the trailer here at KitschMix.

Concussion is in cinemas on 16 May.

Synopsis

For Abby, life can’t just be about the school run, gym classes with the other mums and frustrated nights in bed with her wife who falls asleep during sex. After an accidental blow to the head she realises she wants more. First she revives her career by renovating an apartment in the city with her friend Justin, but soon she is searching for something more adventurous to satisfy her. Abby becomes Eleanor, a lesbian ‘Belle de jour’, her apartment the perfect backdrop for secret trysts with paying customers. Weigert is excellent as the frustrated Abby, her sexual reawakening completely believable, and is ably supported by Siff as the client for whom Abby feels a little too much. Passon has crafted an eloquent film about female sexuality and the lengths one woman will go to feel alive again. Funny and very sexy.

“Passon’s impressive debut is a landmark, not just in LGBT cinema, but in cinema as a whole, taking an unflinching look at sex, parenting, privilege, feminism and boredom, from the point of view of a middle-aged lesbian couple,”

Joanna Benecke, DIVA Magazine

 

Million Women Rise 2014

JOIN US at Europe’s biggest #women-only march to end male violence against women and #girls! Sat 08-March #London – Share and invite as many women you know, transport from other UK cities and even Germany are being organised.

MEET: 12:00 NOON @ DUKE STREET, CENTRAL LONDON

See – https://www.facebook.com/events/246935428810959/

The Million Women Rise (MWR) Movement is made up of thousands of women who are united by outrage at the continued daily, hourly, minute-by-minute individual and institutionalised male violence enacted against women worldwide.

We believe that every woman and child has a right to live free from violence and that ongoing violence devastates not only the lives of the individuals directly affected but also the communities of which they are part. We want to highlight the continuation of all forms of violence against women, and demand that steps are taken to put an end to this.

Activities are predominantly based in London, England. Million Women Rise volunteers have facilitated regional actions and activities through out Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England.

Million Women Rise works in partnership with other international women’s movements on a variety of campaigns and projects.

For International Women’s Day to become a National Bank Holiday in the UK and Ireland in recognition of and to celebrate women’s achievements

The prevention of violence against women and children is a cultural, social and political issue and must be a priority for all levels of Government. Action for a national strategy to oppose men’s violence is the responsibility of all political parties and must encompass:

  1. PREVENTION: Active prevention of violence against women and children.
  2. PROVISION: Adequate provision of quality women-only support services for women and children.
  3. PROTECTION: Appropriate and effective legal protection for women and children.

To sign our Statement of Demands please click the link below

http://www.millionwomenrise.com/statement-of-demands.html

 

 

David Hockney at Dulwich Picture Gallery

To coincide with the 60th anniversary of his first print, an upcoming show at Dulwich Picture Gallery will shed light on David Hockney’s highly skilled and often overlooked work as a printmaker. Over 100 works will be on display – with a strong focus on etchings and lithographs – in what promises to be an instructive and entertaining overview of the artist’s career. Watch – http://youtu.be/cGYQjU_6Xms

LGBT History Month @University of East Anglia

This year the university will be presenting a number of events in support of LGBT History Month –  All talks are free and they take place in Arts 2.02 at 7 pm.

Visit www.uea.ac.uk/literature/engagement/lgbt-history-month

Music in Queer Fiction – Dr Clare Connors – 3 February 2014

When music is described in novels it serves all sorts of purposes. It can connote passion for example, or an experience of intimacy, or point to areas of meaning, life and feeling beyond the grasp of words, or impossible for cultural reasons to articulate. This talk explores the specific role played by the representation of music in a number of twentieth-century works of queer fiction, including novels by Alan Hollinghurst and Sylvia Townsend Warner.

“Marriage is so Gay.” The battle for same sex marriage in the US and Britain: A comparative perspective – Dr Emma Long – 6 February 2014

Same-sex marriage has been a controversial political issue in both the US and UK in recent years. Yet despite the fact the issue is the same, the nature of the campaigns in each country has been quite different. This lecture considers the history of the debate and looks at why the issue has been received differently in the two countries.

Southeast Gaysia!: LGBT Heritage and Activism in the ASEAN Region – Yi-Sheng Ng – 10 February 2014

Southeast Asia is a hugely diverse region, where different races, religions and government systems exist side by side. And yet there are common threads in our queer history that bind us together, from traditions of holy transgender shamans to modern-day lesbian weddings and gay rights marches. Singaporean activist Yi-Sheng Ng will share stories from Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam; these are tales of liberation and oppression, continuity and change.

Pitching Harmony: Thinking differently about the assimilation and difference debate – Dr Jonathan Mitchell – 13 February 2014

In this lecture I wish to speculate on the concept of harmony and how it offers creative possibilities for ways of thinking about LGBT politics. As LGBT politics becomes increasingly divided between a liberal acceptance and extreme differences – BDSM culture, bug-chasing, bare-backing etc. – I wish to muse on the concept of harmony, especially close harmony as a means to emphasize the ‘queer’ at work with and within the norm without having to lose one’s identity either to assimilation, or to the extremes. My own concepts here are fraught with problems and are highly value laden, and I aim to maintain these tensions as a process of self-critique.

“A Quiet Place”: Gay & Bisexual Classical Composers in 20th Century America – Malcolm Robertson – 17 February 2014

Perhaps due to the population size and the diversity of the cultural backgrounds of its citizens, the USA has produced a large number of diverse ‘classical’ composers in the 20th century of which a considerable proportion were/are gay or bisexual. The sheer variety of individual styles in which these composers expressed themselves is quite staggering and many of these composers have reputations that are of key importance to 20th century ‘classical’ music both nationally and internationally. The talk will look at the life and music of several of these composers, including works that seem to reflect their personal feelings and sexuality.

The Homosexual Steamroller: Queer “Propaganda” through Literature – Dr B.J. Epstein –  20 February 2014

Why are LGBTQ books for young readers considered so threatening? Can you turn people queer simply by featuring LGBTQ characters in literature? LGBTQ books for children and young adults are some of the most banned or censored books in the world. This talk will explore some of these texts and the many challenges they have faced. It will discuss the content of both picture books and young adult novels as well as how these works might influence readers.

Saints, Sinners and Martyrs in Queer Church History: The continuing evolution of religious responses to homoerotic relationships – Terry Weldon – 24 February 2014

History contradicts the common assumption that Christianity and homoerotic relationships are in direct conflict. There have been numerous examples of Christian saints, popes and bishops who have had same-sex relationships themselves, or celebrated them in writing, and blessed same-sex unions in church. There have also been long centuries of active persecution – but recent years have again seen the emergence of important straight allies for LGBT equality, and a notable reassessment of the scriptural verdict.

Trans & Gender Variant History 1800s onwards – Katy J Went – 27 February 2014

The development of modern theories, constructs and realities about gender, intersex, sex and trans. Changing social gender “norms”, sexual psychopathology, shifts in neuro and biological understanding of sex and gender, and modern medical possibility to redefine bodies. From crossdressing mollies to sexual inversion, transgenderism, non-binary gender and 80 shades of intersex. This is the second lecture in a series that began by covering the ancient and medieval history of gender variance until 1800, delivered at UEA in 2012.