A date for your calendars. On Saturday January 30th, the LGBT General Assembly 2010 (North Buckinghamshire) will be held at the Ridgeway Community Centre in Milton Keynes (map link). The objective is to bring together all those who are interested in the LGBT community in the area.

Whether you organise events or activities, or are interested in attending them, this is the opportunity. The day will consist of:

• Brief presentations by the various organisations as to what they do and offer
• Discussion as to what people would like to see as events
• Discussion on what is the LGBT community itself
• Public viewing of Olivia Humphreys’ film “Late-Comers” about “older” people coming out.

Topics to be covered include support, healthcare, sports, social evenings and more.

Tell us what you do, tell us what you want.

To be kept informed or to mark your interest, please get in contact with Peter Leeson – PeterJLeeson {at} hotmail(.)com or 01908 501426.

Homophobic bullying creates an ugly climate of intimidation and can make it harder for young people to come out…. http://bit.ly/4ubZb

• Recession = homophobia… any thoughts? – http://bit.ly/18h9ix

• Relate help build stronger LGBT relationships –  http://bit.ly/4npFkd

• Terrible homophobic attack near Trafalgar Square http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8288412.stm

• Advice on resolving Gay & Homophopic bullying  - http://twit.ac/pShm

• Black History Month ‘09 Profile: Bessie Smith, aka “The Empress of Blues” – http://bit.ly/1ubmul

• In the UK, African communities are the second most affected communities by HIV. Gay communities are the first.

• Have you signed the petition to include a question on sexual orientation on the 2011 census yet? –  http://bit.ly/2A6Yh2

• Gay football lover? The Gay Football Supporters Network’s mission is to promote the support and participation of gay men and women in football, and to act as a medium for LGBT football supporters to get together - http://bit.ly/ChSPW

• Chris Crocker on the Gay Divide (a great, great video that is well worth a watch)… http://bit.ly/xXE25

• Langston Hughes was the incredibly talented (and closeted) poet who wrote “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, which… http://bit.ly/JYH0H

• October is Black History Month in the UK. To celebrate we will be linking to profiles of various famous and/or influential black LGBT people throughout the month. If you have suggestions of who we should feature – let us know!

• http://bit.ly/12ndQL

To join us on Facebook, you can become a fan at www.facebook.com/Qalliance, or you can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Qalliance.

• Tell the BBC to give us at least 1 hour of LGBT programming a week! http://is.gd/3QV7t

• The HQMK youth group are off to see The Rocky Horror Show next week. We have changed our profile pic in honour of this momentous occasion! Find out more about the youth group at http://bit.ly/OXmVN

• A new social group is starting soon in MK (yay!) and are looking for name suggestions. What do you think it should be called?

• Eleven to Sixteen? Check out an essential guide to using the internet - http://bit.ly/eutIc

• Stonewall have recently published an online guide for gay asylum-seekers –  http://bit.ly/2q2NBX

• Our training for professionals looking to support and empower LGBT youth on 14th Oct in CMK has a few spaces left – more details: http://bit.ly/e0hqz

• Got a problem you want to sort out? Need someone to talk to in confidence? Q:alliance offers counselling in Milton Keynes… http://bit.ly/3AQ24k

• We still want your Celebr8 pictures – send them to website {at} qalliance.org(.)uk and tell us if you want credit.

• What do you think of Labour’s exclusion of LGBT people from the anti-harassment clauses of the Equality Bill? Vote here - http://bit.ly/DisZt

• Should gay sports stars come out of the closet? Urm, yes! http://bit.ly/4gcnd

• Gay Education (a funny You Tube video) - http://bit.ly/9ViUG

• Video of a kiss-in in a Parisian shopping centre to combat homophobia… (via Towelroad.com) –  http://bit.ly/bRI4h

• Is it a steakhouse or gay bar – you decide! - http://bit.ly/GtiEz

• He needs regulating -Warren G’s remarks about gay people - http://bit.ly/3LocdF

• Desmond Tutu says that homophobia equals apartheid - http://bit.ly/Ub0uN

• British Government continues to deny gays protection in law! – http://bit.ly/1Uerg8

• A quote: “Some women can’t say the word lesbian… even when their mouth is full of one.”- Kate Clinton

• Training on how to support, enable + include young lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people on Oct 14th in Milton Keynes – http://is.gd/3F1nF

To join us on Facebook, you can become a fan at www.facebook.com/Qalliance, or you can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Qalliance.

• Know of anyone that could do with a greater understanding of how to support and empower lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people? We have some spaces left on our October the 14th training in CMK – visit Qalliance.org.uk/training for details!

• Here’s a short video of MK council leader’s vision for MK – what do you think?

• Did you know that LGBT young people are more likely to become homeless than their straight friends? If you are, or know someone who is, homeless or in danger of becoming homeless in Milton Keynes the following information may be of help – http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/housing-needs/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=17538

• The Citizen has a gallery of Celebr8 pics up on their website

• It’s Celebrate Bisexuality Day in the US today.  AfterElton are celebrating with a list of their 8 favourite male bisexuals – who are yours?

• Great Celebr8 article and pictures in this weeks MK News! Click here to see the e-edition.

• A wonderful article looking at how you can learn to love yourself - http://www.breaktheillusion.com/?p=1805

• Lovely lesbian site – check it out - http://www.lesbilicious.co.uk/

• Latest celebrity coming out – Mika! He’s a lovely bisexual! Who’s next?

• Including a question on sexual orientation in the next Census will end the bizarre state of the LGB community still being an ‘invisible’ minority on what is the one survey which has such a central role in defining our population! Sign the petition here – http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/lgb2011census/ (we also think getting ‘T’ information would be useful!)

To join us on Facebook – become a fan at www.facebook.com/Qalliance.

If you don’t see the video above then click here to go to the video on the AskMK.tv website.

The video above is a lovely montage of yesterday’s fantastic Celebr8 Diversity Parade in Milton Keynes! (for a full set of pictures see our Facebook page – you don’t need to be a member to see the album). What an amazing, fun and well organised day – congratulations to all involved. Roll on next year!!!

We’ve developed some amazing LGBT awareness training that will appeal to all kinds of people and the profits made from running them help us to fund great services to support local LGBT people!

And now YOU can help us fill the training days and EARN MONEY for doing it! We’ve got places available on courses running from now until March 2010 and we’ll pay you commission to help us fill them.

How to earn up to £20 per booking

It’s really simple!

1) Use the publicity resources on our website and your own contacts, skill and charm to get people to register online for one or more of our training days.

2) Ask them to put your name in the ‘where did you hear about us’ box on the registration form.

3) Email us with the details and we’ll pay you 10% of the fee they pay us.

Depending on the type of organisation they work for, you could earn up to £20 per booking.

Example 1: You get someone from the public sector to book onto a full day session. They pay Q:alliance £120. We pay you £12.

Example 2: You get someone from a private company to book onto a full day session. They pay Q:alliance £175. We pay you £17.50.

Everything you need to get started promoting our training days is available on our website at www.qalliance.org.uk/training or if you have any questions, email us at training {at} qalliance.org(.)uk

This information is available in a poster. It would really help us out if you could print off a copy and display it in appropriate places!

Download the Poster here

THE PLANET – A new event to be held on the second Sunday of the month, starts on the 13th September at The Stables Bar, The Bull Hotel, 64 High Street, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11 1AQ, 7 -10.30pm. £3 admission on the door. For further information please email gezzigirl {at} aol(.)com, alternatively call or text on 07889 179596. The evening is all about meeting people, relaxing and listening to good music from Heartbeat disco. There will be a licensed bar with the option of coffee, cocktails and non-alcoholic cocktails.

ABSOLUTE LADS – A new males-only night at Pink Punters with Resident DJ Jamie Bond, open from 9pm to 2am with no dress code. It starts on Thursday 17th of December at Pink Punters.

CELEBR8 – The 2009 Celebr8 parade will take place on World Peace Day to celebrate the diversity of our community, past, present and future and looking outwards towards the issues of global poverty. The parade at its core celebrates the seven strands of diversity. Diversity is about ‘difference’ – difference across race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, faith, age and economic circumstance. The parade starts at Campbell Park at 4:30 on Monday the 21st of September. For more info visit Fringe MK.

In addition there’s still lots of LGBT social groups meeting in Milton Keynes and Buckingham – visit our Groups Section for more details, or if you are a young LGBT Person who can get to Milton Keynes there’s our HQMK youth group.