For the first event, Bletchley Park will be celebrating the lives and achievements of the LGBT community.

Q:alliance and Pink Punters have been working with Bletchley Park over the last year to co-ordinate this event. Amongst other things, the event will focus on the life and work of codebreaker Alan Turing during his time at Bletchley Park, with special lectures and films.

Alan Turing who was one of many great mathematical minds who worked at Bletchley Park during World War Two, and was also a gay man. He is recognised for his great intellect and for his contribution towards breaking the Enigma codes and the development of the Bombe machine, all of which helped to shorten the war by two years and save thousands of lives. Later of course, his sexuality was to be the cause of his downfall.

• The Wartime Achievements of Alan Turing at Bletchley Park – Frank Carter, a college lecturer in mathematics and a longtime guide and researcher at Bletchley Park.
• Why we need to claim our history – Tony Fenwick, co-founder and Chair of LGBT History Month.
• Local issues around LGBT History Month and Bletchley Park – John Goss from Q:alliance, which provides information, support, representation and fun for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who live, work and play in the Milton Keynes area.

Stephen Kettle the Sculptor of the famous Alan Turing slate Statue will also be at Bletchley Park throughout the day talking about his famous creation.

A selection of films will be shown in the Bletchley Park Enigma Cinema, plus a documentary about the life of Alan Turing.

Dr Andrew Hodges, esteemed authority on Alan Turing, will be our special guest and will also be available to sign copies of his book, ‘Alan Turing; the Enigma’”

Visitors can also see the office in which Alan Turing worked in Hut 8 and the Bombe machine, designed by Turing with Gordon Welchman to speed up the process of breaking the Enigma codes.

The Pink Punters Rainbow Bus will also be on site throughout the day

In addition, later that evening Vagabond Cinema in collaboration with Pink Punters  are screening the amazing film Milk starring Sean Penn.

This is the story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California’s first openly gay elected official.

Tickets for this one are on first come first served basis. Doors open at 5.15pm Screening starts at 6pm and the bar will be open. More details on Facebook.

To celebrate International Women’s Day a ‘Festival of Womanhood’ will be held on Saturday 6th March from 11-3pm at Radcliffe School, Wolverton. The focus for the event will be celebrating womanhood and what women share as daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers, crossing over different nationalities and cultures.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to our event and hope that you would be interested in supporting or contributing to the day. We are looking for anything that will help us celebrate being Women, such as taster exercise sessions, information stalls, health and advice, cultural stalls, hair, beauty and therapy, fashion, crafts.

If you know of anybody or can help yourself  or if you have any ideas and would like to join us please get in touch with Mrs M Tumulty at Radcliffe School on 01908 682 208 or Tracy Whitmore, MKCVO Community Mobiliser on 07738 405378.

We want to make this an Annual celebration that women will talk about for years to come!

We look forward to hearing from you

Festival of Womanhood Committee

Many organisations are interested in the LGBT community. Who is offering what? What is out there? How can you participate in what already exists?

The objective is to bring together all those who are interested in the LGBT community in the area and facilitate communication. If you are interested in the LGBT community or in finding out what there is; whether you are lesbian, gay, bi- or trans, or whether you are interested, concerned or related to someone who is, come and join us for the day.

The day will include presentations by over twenty organisations that are organising or offering services, events or activities to the LGBT community.

During the day, you will have the opportunity to circulate, listen to the presentations which you believe may be of interest to you, and meet people.

Of particular interest will be a debate with questions and answers between local parliamentary candidates from the three main national parties and a projection of Olivia Humphreys “Latecomers” about older people coming out.

For more information, please contact PeterJLeeson {at} hotmail(.)com

This meeting is provided free of charge to all participants, no financial assistance to the costs of the day can be provided to the groups making presentations. It is recommended that participants bring a packed lunch. Coffee and tea will be available on site; doughnuts will be on sale for £1.00 each. Contributions towards the cost of organising are welcome.

Public Transport:

Free Rainbow Bus to pickup participants from  The Point, CMK at 9:30am.

Public Transport: MK Metro bus 7A from City Centre to Dulverton Drive.

Over the next few weeks theres a wide range of events, including social opportunities, walking groups, HIV Quicktesting, pub nights, counselling, meals out, the LGBT General Assembly (which is going to be HUGE – click here for details), International Day Against Homophobia in Football and a fantastic event looking at the life of Alan Turing at Bletchley Park in honour of LGBT History Month – check the calendar for details. If you have, or know of, an event that should be listed here, please email us at website {at} qalliance.org(.)uk.

Please note that try to provide accurate listings, but always get in contact with the event organiser to double check. Not all social groups are listed on the calendar, for a full list of groups that we know of in the area click here. Unless otherwise noted, the events are not run by Q:alliance.

In addition to the events listed, Pink Punters, the local LGBT club, is open Thurs-Sun from 9pm. For more details on Pink Punters visit www.pinkpunters.com.

I attended a conference on 1st Dec to look at what’s out there for people living with HIV in Milton Keynes. We had an interesting presentation by a HIV support organisation from Leicester which showed us what a good service looks like and spent time looking at what our needs were to live happily with HIV in MK.

Over half the people at the event were living with HIV, there was only one local gay positive man – most of the others were African people and there were a small number of white heterosexual women too.

It felt exciting to be in a safe space where people could talk honestly about their HIV status – their lives and the way they (often) need to keep it secret to avoid social stigma.

It was clear that there were vastly different needs for the different groups (gay men will often need different messages and services to African women) and also different needs at different stages – a newly diagnosed person will need very different things to someone who’s been on therapy for 10 years.

I was struck by the lack of communication at strategic level between people interested in HIV prevention and those interested in care services. This needs changing.

I was also struck by the importance of communications and advertising – most positive people in MK are unaware of the services available to them – we all need to get better at telling people about whet we do.

I was pleased to learn that MK has some specialist services – but I really don’t blame the (many) gay men I know who choose to access stuff in London – they just have more experience and resources there.

So, where’s it all going? If you are living with HIV and would like to tell us what you think of current services in MK, please get in touch (we will not share your details with anyone) – Q:alliance can let you know who’s out there to help or even talk directly to commissioners on your behalf if you prefer.

In the meantime, watch this space for news of NEW outreach in MK’s popular cruising areas next year and regular visits to Pink Punters.

Current HIV services in MK include:

• STaSS – HIV support organiastion
• H4 – Counselling for people living with HIV
• HIV Quick Testing – Free and confidential testing

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.

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

Pink Punters have come up with a great way to celebrate Guy Fawkes AND Gay Folks on Friday the 6th of November as well as raising some much needed money for Q:alliance! More info below and at the PP’s site.

Remember Remember the 5th of November, Gunpowder, Treason & Plot.

Discover what Guy Fawkes & Gay Folks have in common?
4 centuries ago, Catholics were treated as unequal citizens, they were persecuted, beaten, tortured and killed simply because of their religion.

4 decades ago. LGBT people were treated as unequal citizens, they too were persecuted, beaten, tortured and killed but in this case because of their sexuality.

Guy Fawkes was fighting for equal rights, tolerance and an end to catholic persecution. Unable to change the English laws, he and his co conspirators set about an ambitious plot to blow up parliament and kill King James 1st.

The Stonewall riots in New York 1969 were the result of an uprising in the LGBT communities fed up with constant harassment, abuse and persecution by New York police officers. The riots were the catalyst for a series of riots and afterwards protests, demonstrations that continued for many years. Thankfully these days we can now all enjoy the peaceful, fun filled Pride celebrations that are held up and down the UK every year.

On 6th November 2009, Pink Punters will mark Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night with a new and unique celebration of how much the equality laws have improved – Gay Folks Night – 40 years after the Stonewall Riots.

Gay Folks Night will draw comparisons between Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot of 4 centuries ago with Gay Folks and The Stonewall Riots of 4 decades ago. We will remember the past, celebrate the present and look forward with hope for the future.

Write & Light – Bonfires, Lanterns and Fireworks – Angels & Demons
Burning your Demons – Get rid of your demons forever by writing them down then throwing them into the bonfire.

Message the Angels – Write your dreams and messages of hope on a Sky Lantern, light the candle and release them into the night sky.

Sky Laterns can be purchased for £5 each with all profits going to the Q:alliance charity.

7.00pm – Gather together for ‘Bonfire soup’ at Pink Punters

7.15pm – Address by John Goss / Live Band

7.30pm – Demon destruction

7.45pm – Lantern messages

7.55pm – Light your lanterns (individual, couples, families or groups)

8.00pm – Release your lanterns, the angels await. Fireworks

A Day In Hand announces the second ever international same-sex hand holding (Sshh!) Saturday on October 31st 2009. On this day, same-sex couples and friends all over the world are encouraged to hold hands in public to support the visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans (LGBT) people. This is a revolutionary way of encouraging and inspiring LGBT people to take responsibility for their equality and live their lives without fear or restraint.

David Watkins, A Day In Founder was recently recognised by Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister as an award winning activist in his field, with the Sheila Mckechnie Foundation

Watkins says, “Sshh! Saturdays aim to ultimately create safer spaces for LGBT people. The last Saturday of every month should become a day of support for LGBT people who want to show their commitment in public. Many years ago in the UK, LGBT people knew that the last carriage of every train would be populated by members of the queer community. Today, A Day In Hand wants people to feel the same sense of support in public spaces on the last Saturday of every month.” Sshh! Saturdays are easily organised wherever you are. They are not prides or rallies. It only requires 2 people of the same sex to hold hands to make a Sshh! Saturday. The images sent to yourstories {at} adayinhand(.)com will be spread throughout the world via our website .

Visibility of same-sex love is particularly important so that LGBT people become part of the cultural fabric of people’s lives. Watkins adds “Same-sex hand holding (Sshh!) is a silent revolution for LGBT people, because nothing needs to be said: no bold speeches, no reactive arguments, no war of words. Each LGBT person has the power to change the hearts and minds of people in their local community quietly, subtly, by simply holding hands publicly and owning their space. However, hand holding is a simple powerful gesture that can happen anywhere, at any time.” In areas of the world where it is impossible for LGBT to hold hands publicly, we call on people to send messages of support to our website on Sshh! Saturdays, and send in their photos of them holding hands, in public or private to us.

For more information about this briliant project, check out their website www.adayinhand.com.