On every page of this website, there’s now a section called ‘Support Us.’ Inside it there is a button for LocalGiving.com. Clicking on this button will take you to our webpage there.

LocalGiving is a new up-and-coming website for local charities and organisations. It’s there to help make donations easier to our local community organisations.

In joining LocalGiving we can automatically claim back Gift Aid on any donation without any hassle.

In turn, each member of the community can now see how much it costs to run parts of the organisation. Did you know it costs £100 to run HQMK for a week? You do now.

There’s also a separate page on there for funding our next General Assembly in January 2012. Direct link here:

http://localgiving.com/charity/qalliance/project/lgbtq-general-assembly-2012

Please spread the word, and do what you can to support our cause. Thank you.

• Find out full spec of projects available here.

In return you will receive a FREE ticket to an exclusive concert, to be held in Milton Keynes on 4^th November. You will also be offered exposure and publicity and the chance to get involved in video production, photography, Rap & Grime music and a fashion show.

The projects are all commencing within the next 4 weeks. If you  or you know anyone who may be interested in getting involved, please contact Ash Washington.

• 01908 843609

• ash.washington {at} maybemagazine.co(.)uk

• For more information on Maybe magazine for Milton Keynes and Bucks visit their website.

Find out more about the services we offer for you in Milton Keynes.

• Q:Training
• Q:Counselling
• HQMK
• Q:Membership

(you may need flash installed on your PC or Mac to view the following video)

Stay alert with all things Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, from latest news to local events on Facebook. We have everything LGBT in MK, also become our fan and you can share your news, views and events on our site too!

• www.facebook.com/qalliance

If you would like us to print of copies to send to you (or to pick up from CMK) please email info {at} qalliance.org(.)uk with the number of copies you require, where you’ll be putting them and a postal address to send them to or when you’d like to pick them up. We have arranged with Milton Keynes Council of Voluntary Organisations to enable you to pick them up from Acorn House, just opposite The Hub on Midsummer Boulevard (map link).

Click to download (65kb PDF File)

“I got a HIV related illness, although I didn’t know it at the time. I was incredibly ill for a year- stomach pains, diarrhoea, weight loss. I ended up in hospital. It wasn’t until I was in hospital that the doctor suggested an HIV test. As soon as the doctor came in, it dawned on me it was bad news. But to be honest by then it was almost a relief; it meant they could treat me. I wish I had been diagnosed earlier, I think I was partly in denial. If I’d had a test sooner I wouldn’t have been in hospital. Being that ill has taken a physical toll on my body. They caught it just in time, they told me I could have been blind by April and dead by June. If I could turn back the clock and have a test earlier I would.” – Gary

Next Tuesday (1st December) is World AIDS Day. The theme this year is HIV:reality. Some people with HIV suffer side-effects including nausea, diarrhoea and prolonged headaches. In some cases treatment causes changes in body shape, depression and mental health issues. Other people find they are able to lead a very healthy life with HIV and may not suffer the same side-effects.

To see a full range of  information, people’s HIV stories and HIV myths, visit the National AIDS Trust’s World AIDS Day Page. For details of sexual health services in Milton Keynes, including how to get a free, confidential HIV test, visit our information page. If you just want to talk to someone confidentially, you can get in contact with our counselling service by emailing counselling {at} qalliance.org(.)uk for a free initial appointment or visit the new NHS Choices Sexual Health Advice page to email in specific questions.

This week Richard Solly from Safer MK come to talk to HQMK, our weekly LGBT youth group, about their experiences of homophobia and transphobia. The discussion was productive and enlightening for all involved. The youth were really interested in what he had to say and shared their experiences of homophobia and transphobia in MK  (some of which we will publish on our site over the weekend).

As mentioned last week, Ask Jo is coming back! Our website advice column for LGBT, or questioning, people in MK is back after far too long an absence. If you have a problem or dilemma that you want advice on send an email to jo {at} qalliance.org(.)uk – In the past Jo has helped people with coming out, relationship issues, coping with bullies, how to date well, sex advice and a whole range of other issues. We’re also still looking for more of your coming out stories. Reading other people’s coming out stories is often an essential part of the coming out process; by sharing your experience – good, bad or boring – it can help people prepare to share themselves with the world as well as providing an interesting insight for yourself to see how far you’ve come.

This week was Domestic Abuse Awareness Week. 30% of LGBT people experience violence, abuse or harassment from a family member or someone close to them in their lifetimes. Domestic abuse is not always physical, and that means that the signs may not be obvious. It can involve controlling a person’s contact with their friends and family (isolating them), destroying property, verbal threats in private or public, etc.

Are you age 16 to 21 and want to do something against homophobic bullying? Then take part in Stonewall’s Film Clip Competition and get your message heard across the country! More info on their website.

Have you seen this boy?

Some other things we have linked to on our Facebook and Twitter accounts:

• Family appeals to gay community to find missing son
• Brussels says churches must lift ban on employing homosexuals
• Schoolboy thanks fellow pupils for pointing out his homosexuality
• Short video about new memorial for Freddy Mercury
• Marriage should move with the times
• Milton Keynes Laughter Club info
• Liverpool’s bishops defend gay rights

“Everything we fear in the world & want to change can be transformed through happiness, the simplest desire we have & also the most profound” – Deepak Chopra

Finally, don’t forget that Saturday (the 28th) is another of A Day in Hand’s wonderful Sshh! (Same Sex Hand Holding) days. More info at their site.

Rainbow, the biggest gayest bus in the world outside the British Museum for the LGBT History Month pre-launch

In this posting are some highlights of what our volunteers have been up to in the past week and things that have caught our attention. You can follow our Facebook and Twitter accounts to get the latest from Q:alliance and can check out our Events Calendar to keep up to date with LGBT-focused or related activity in MK.

We went to the LGBT History Month pre-launch on Thursday and learnt lots about some fabulous projects that took place across the country for the last LGBT History Month, as well as hearing some great news about what’ll be happening next February. There’s *lots* of exciting and/or interesting things that’ll be happening in MK -from Q:alliance and others – and we’ll make sure to tell you more about them when things are firmed up. We’ll also link to the presentations we went to when LGBT History Month make them available.

Ask Jo is coming back! Our website advice column for LGBT, or questioning, people in MK is back after far too long an absence. If you have a problem or dilemma that you want advice on send an email to jo {at} qalliance.org(.)uk – In the past Jo has helped people with coming out, relationship issues, coping with bullies, how to date well, sex advice and a whole range of other issues. We’re also looking for more of your coming out stories.

One of our volunteers popped along to CMK Library to see their Out & Proud section, and we asked people for book suggestions we could send the library to make it even better. If you have any suggestions, do email us at info {at} qalliance.org(.)uk or, even better, tell the library service yourself.

Our counsellors have some appointments available. If you want to talk to someone in confidence, or find out more, see our Counselling page.

Today is International Transgender Day of Remembrance. The 20th of November is set aside to memorialise those who are killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. This year 117 trans people worldwide are known to have been murdered out of hate and ignorance. Many hundreds, if not thousands, more have taken or attempted to take their own lives. In the past two months, two transsexual women have been murdered in the UK – Andrea Waddell from Brighton and Destiny Lauren who was killed in Kentish Town, London…

We’ve just launched our brand new Events Calendar, containing events that are specifically aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in Milton Keynes (or general events that incorporate a specific LGBT aspect). If you have, or know of, an event that should be listed here, please email website {at} qalliance.org(.)uk.

You may also have noticed that we’re testing out a new look for the website this weekend. Some things may look a little off or a bit strange, but it should all work. If you spot a major error or problem, or have any comments on the new look, go ahead and email us at website {at} qalliance.org(.)uk