NEWS FROM REGARD
NOVEMBER 2005

Annual General Meeting & Social

Regard’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Sunday 4 December 2005, together with a social to celebrate the previous day’s International Day of Disabled People. All disabled LGBT people are welcome (although non-members will only be able to observe the AGM), so bring your friends!

The venue is the Vicarage Lane Community Centre, Govier Close (off Vicarage Lane), Stratford, London E15 (see below for access details). This is an LGBT community centre and the manager and caterers are also disabled, so is a very safe space.

From 3-4pm we will have speakers and an informal discussion about transgendered issues. At our 2004 AGM, members amended the constitution so that our membership now includes disabled transgendered people along with lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. This is your chance to find out more about the issues and to decide the priorities for our future work in this area. Speakers to be confirmed.

From 4-5pm we will be holding the formal Regard Annual General Meeting (AGM). This will include the presentation of the annual report and accounts, and elections of the Regard officers and committee members for the following year.
space, answer with access queries, or and provide basic help.

Full details of the current committee positions are contained within the secretary’s section of the annual report (click here): each committee member takes responsibility for a specific area of work. If you feel that there are additional pieces of work Regard should be doing and you would like to volunteer, we are open to expanding the committee further so do suggest this.

Nominations can be by post to the BM Box or by email to the Secretary, and must be received by the Secretary by Monday 21 November. Please note that it is okay to nominate yourself, but please make sure you state which position (existing or new) you are nominating for. Nominations for vacant posts can be taken from the floor at the AGM.

Social

From 5pm onwards we will then be having a social event, with karaoke, cabaret and an open mic slot as well as refreshments. Please let us know if you would like to take part in the cabaret or contribute in any other way to the entertainment.

Access

Stratford station is served by two wheelchair-accessible train lines: the Jubilee Line and the Docklands Light Railway. Accessible buses run from the bus station next to the station. To find the best route from any part of London including from the mainline railway stations, visit the Transport for London website: http://journeyplanner.tfl.ogv.uk

There are three different bus routes serving the centre, all running from Bus Stop D at Stratford Bus Station. Take the 104 (Manor Park direction) or 238 (Barking direction) and get off the bus in Densham Road, or take the 276 (Newham Hospital direction) and get off in West Ham Lane. There is also a Black taxi rank at the station. There is Blue Badge parking next to the venue, and street parking in the immediate neighbourhood.

The community centre is wheelchair accessible. The event will be interpreted in British Sign Language, and there will be an induction loop for hearing aid wearers. Please let us know of any additional access requirements and we will do our best to meet them. If you require an escort from a mainline station or a London address, we should be able to help.

Please note that the community centre was built in the 1960s, so while the access is reasonable, it is not perfect. If you have any concerns about your individual needs being met, please contact us to discuss it further. We will endeavour to enable access for every member who wishes to attend. We may also have a small amount of money available to help cover expenses if you would otherwise be unable to come.

Karen Shook writes: As Co-Chair, I have been involved for the last two years with a joint project between Terrence Higgins Trust, REGARD and The Norah Fry Research Centre University of Bristol. This research is ‘Secret loves, hidden lives’ which explored issues for people with learning difficulties who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. It has now finished and as a result, several very useful resources are now available:

‘Secret loves, hidden lives’: exploring issues for people with learning difficulties who are gay, lesbian or bisexual by David Abbott and Joyce Howarth is published by The Policy Press and is available from Marston Book Services: Tel: 01235 465500. Email: direct.orders@marston.co.uk

There are several resources that can be downloaded free by going to the ‘Online documents’ section of the Norah Fry website: www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/NorahFry/

1. An ‘easy to read’ version of a summary of the booklet ‘Challenging homophobia and heterosexism’ by Joyce Howarth, David Abbott and Karen Gyde
2. ‘Phil’s story’: a photo-story about a gay man with learning difficulties
3. ‘Jan’s story: a photo-story about a lesbian with learning difficulties
4. A booklet about homophobia and heterosexism for people with learning difficulties and the staff that support them
5. A resource pack containing information. Ideas and training suggestions about sexuality designed to be used by staff working with people with learning difficulties

Europride 2006

Next year London is hosting Europride. This promises to be the biggest Pride event ever held in the United Kingdom. As always, Regard will be working with the organisers to try to ensure that the parade and other events are accessible to all. Organisational meetings take place regularly in central London, usually on a Monday night. If you would like to get involved, please let us know: it is always good to have as many Regard members attending the meetings as possible. We are also hoping to produce a resource pack for regional Prides. If you are involved, or would like to be involved, in your local Pride and would find a resource pack helpful, please let us know.

LGBT History Month

February 2006 is the second annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered History Month. Keep up with the news and find out what is happening in your area at http://www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk

Research participants sought for project about LGB experiences at work

Researchers at London Metropolitan University are carrying out a study funded by the European Social Fund about the experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people at work. The project aims to encourage positive and inclusive employment policies following the introduction of the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations in December 2003. The research is across a range of private, public and voluntary organisations in London, Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield.

Organisations participating in the research include Barnardos, NACRO, the Fire Service, Leeds City Council, London Borough of Croydon, London Borough of Lewisham, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Barclays Bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, British Telecom and IBM.

The research team is keen to ensure that the research will include the experiences of a wide variety of LGB people including disabled and black and minority ethnic LGB people in a range of occupations, plus those who are not out at work, as well as those who are. All interviews with LGB employees will be carried out in strict confidence by the researchers at a time and location convenient to the participants.

If you work for one of these organisations in London, Bradford, Leeds or Sheffield and are interested in taking part in the research, or if you know someone who does and would like to find out more about it, please contact Christopher Creegan tel: 0131 226 4223 email: c.creegan@londonmet.ac.uk or Fiona Colgan, tel: 0207 133 3033 email: f.colgan@londonmet.ac.uk More details are available on the web at www.workinglives.org/projects/

Research into what can go wrong in same-sex relationships

Researchers at Sunderland and Bristol universities want you to take part in the first ever national survey about what happens when and if things go wrong in same-sex relationships. They believe that people in same-sex relationships are entitled to the same support and services as heterosexuals when things go wrong. The research aims to contribute to developing these services appropriately.

The researchers are also interested in exploring the extent to which problems arise in same-sex relationships. It’s therefore important that they get as many responses as possible, even if the answer is most of the questions is ‘no’.

You can complete the questionnaire online at http://ldscf.sunderland.ac.uk or get a copy by post from Catherine Donovan, University of Sunderland, HNSS, Priestman Building, Green Terrace, Sunderland SR! 3PZ. Email: Catherine.Donovan@sunderland.ac.uk.

Are you living with someone and claiming benefits?

The Civil Partnerships Act comes into effect in December this year. Whilst Civil Partnerships legislation may benefit richer LGB people in terms of inheritance tax and transferred pension rights, many poorer LGB people will lose out.

From December, all LGB people living together will be deemed to be a "couple" for the purposes of state benefits. They will no longer be assessed as two single individuals, as has always been the case in the past. Even couples who decide that they do not want a civil partnership will be treated by the new law as if they had entered into a civil partnership.

This will mean that two people of the same-sex who are living together will be jointly assessed as a couple and will have their means-tested benefits reduced. Some may lose their benefits altogether. People on low incomes will be hit the hardest.

Even LGB people living together, who are not in couples, may be affected. The government has revised its definition of "living together as man and wife". The new definition is not based on whether people are in a sexual relationship, but on how they organise their household.

Many LGB people do not live in traditional relationship structures. Some, for example, live with ex-partners or best friends but remain economically independent. These people may be caught by the new rules and be classified as a couple. They may, for example, lose all their benefits if someone else in their household is earning a good income and has been assessed as the equivalent of their partner. Proving you are not in a relationship with another household member, especially a former partner, may be difficult and very stressful.

It could be argued that these changes provide parity with married and cohabiting heterosexual couples. This is true. With new rights come new responsibilities.

These new regulations are, however, being introduced without any transitional protection for couples who will be adversely affected by the change in the rules. Transitional protection is usually provided when benefit changes are introduced. Why not in this case? The absence of transitional protection is discrimination.

The LGB campaign groups OutRage! and Rainbow Ripples invite you to join the campaign to get transitional protection for existing claimants and, in the long term, to
argue for the right for each adult to have a basic income, irrespective of their living situation.

To sign up to the campaign, contact:

Rainbow Ripples, the Leeds Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Disabled People's Group, c/o Leeds Involvement Project, Block D, Grove House, Mansion Gate Drive, Leeds LS7 2LU. Tel: 0113 307 3280, email: lucy.wilkinson@leedsinvolvement.org.uk http://www.leedsinvolvement.org.uk/rr.html

OutRage!: Peter Tatchell 020 7403 1790 and info@outrage.org.uk www.outrage.org.uk

Please send your letters of protest to:

David Blunkett MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Department for Work and Pensions
Parliamentary Relations Unit
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London SW1A 2NS.
blunkettd@parliament.uk

And let us know at Regard if you are affected personally.

Return to Regard's Home Page