• 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.

25 or under?
Would you like your voice to be heard?
Would you be prepared to talk about the experiences you’ve had?

FILL IN AN ONLINE SURVEY FOR A CHANCE TO WIN £50!!!

Solutions are conducting some research in association with Q:alliance and could really do with your input. Results from this survey will help improve the services young LGBT people get from a variety of agencies and help us all to get a better understanding of what life is like for young LGBT people in the city.

Complete our short online survey to be entered into a prize draw for a chance to win £50 of CMK shopping vouchers.

http://www.survey.gabba.net/people_mk_survey
OR
http://tinyurl.com/YoungLGBT

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THIS POSTER AND DISPLAY IT IN APPROPRIATE PLACES TO HELP SPREAD THE WORD

On behalf of Q:alliance, Solutions Research will be at the HQMK Youth Group on the 24th & 31st March and the 7th of April, you can come and share your thoughts and feelings with us and help us make the services you’re offered better.

If you are interested in taking part and would like to book a time on either of these evenings, please contact Caroline via caroline {at} solutions-research.co(.)uk

We are able to offer a £20 voucher incentive for taking part in the research.
All interviews are completely confidential and your information would be stored securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and not shared with any third parties.

Solutions are a member of the Market Research Society

(Image from MESMAC North)

Solutions Research have been commissioned by Q:alliance to carry out research into young people’s experiences. both positive and negative. This will include exploring issues such as prejudice, discrimination and bullying.

Whilst most of the project will involve talking with young people themselves about their experiences, part of the research is to obtain the views of staff who work directly with them across a wide range of services.

If you would like to contribute, please contact Caroline at Solutions Research on caroline {at} solutions-research.co(.)uk . Face to face interviews (by appointment) are being held on Thursday 25 March or telephone interviews can be arranged for a convenient time.

“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.

The 2009 Celebr8 parade will take place on World Peace Day, 21 September 2009, celebrating 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.

It’s about recognising that not all people are the same and that people have different, equally valuable, skills, experience and knowledge to offer. The parade will mark the launch of the entire fringemk Festival 2009 with the Mayor of Milton Keynes opening proceedings, along with Ruth Stone of the MKCVO (Milton Keynes Council of Voluntary Organisation).

The parade will allow groups to celebrate their differences with over 470 groups registered with the MKCVO alone and another 1200 being invited and encouraged to register and participate.

For more information visit the Fringe MK website, or join the Celebr8 group on Facebook.

Also, check out The Parks Trust site for information on some forthcoming FREE events in MK, including an outdoor film festival and World Picnic Day.

We get up to loads of stuff every week, including the odd trip! In early July we went to London Gay Pride with the team from Pink Punters nightclub. Picture the scene – 600,000 people, a double decker rainbow bus, drag queens and the biggest rainbow flag you’ve ever seen!

In September we’re joining in with Celebr8 – the big event on 21st Sept in CMK – it’s celebrating all the diverse communities that live in MK by having a parade from Campbell Park to the rail station. We’re sure the huge flag will come in handy!

It’s free to come along to the group, sometimes when we go on outings like the cinema or a restaurant, we charge a small amount to cover costs but try to keep them down as most young people are usually skint! Thanks to support from MK Council we have two youth workers at the drop-in.

So if you’re a LGBT or questioning teen in MK and you want to meet new friends and have a laugh, then come along! You can click here for further details or email Jen & John, our Youth Workers at HQMK {at} qalliance.org(.)uk.

Thanks again to Pink Punters who were just amazing!

Milton Keynes College is working to provide a supportive and inclusive environment for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff and students.

Q:alliance is conducting a survey on behalf of the college to find out about your experiences of studying or working at the college.

The survey will help to find out what’s working well and where improvements can be made.

You should only complete the survey if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and you work or study at MK College.

The information you give is in confidence.  No personal information will be given to the college that can be used to identify you.

Take the Student Survey Now • Take the Staff Survey Now

The survey will run between the 1st and 12th of June. Please tell your fellow LGBT students and staff about this survey – you can link to this page at http://www.qalliance.org.uk/2009/05/mkc or just use the buttons below to tell people via email, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google, Live or del.icio.us.

You can enter GroupSpace without reporting to reception by turning right once you enter Acorn House.

This week Pick Paper and Fyne Times will be available on the (unmanned) red reception desk, this may change next week, and we will be sure to inform you if it does. Huge thanks to Milton Keynes Council of Voluntary Organisations for helping to make this possible. We are looking for a distribution point in Aylesbury, so if you can help get in touch.

Pink Paper is Britain’s biggest gay publication and features, news, features, interviews and a whole bunch of greatness on a bi-weekly basis.

Fyne Times is a monthly magazine  for LGBT people in the south of the country. Each month features a wide range of news, reviews, listings and a fantastic column from leading human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

We will be trailing this service for the next 3 months, so if you want access to free, good quality LGBT publications, do take advantage!

If you have any enquiries about this service please get in contact with us by email, as Acorn House is not responsible for this service.