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L+ older LGBT social activity network
coffee morning Sunday 15 June |
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Have you heard about
L+?
 It's the new social and
activity network by and for older LGBT people (L
is the Roman numeral for 50!)
QueerSpace was delighted to support the L+
launch event on Saturday 17th May in Black Box - we were just one of a
great number of community groups with a stand at a community fair where
people were able to find out about available services and upcoming events.
The launch of
L+ on 17th May was timed to coincide with
International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO).
Coffee Morning - Sunday 15th June at 11.30am
L+
has been set up by and for older LGBT folk with support from QueerSpace
and a number of other LGBT community groups, as well as Age Concern and
Help the Aged.
Join
L+ for a
relaxing coffee morning at Cathedral Buildings, 64 Donegall Street,
Belfast on Sunday 15th June at 11.30am. As well as enjoying a cuppa and
chatting, the group will start planning activities - so join the group and
develop
L+ to reflect
what you want.
Visit www.lplus.org.uk
for more details on the group.
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Outburst 2008 presents readings of short plays by Shannon Yee |
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 Saturday
26th April 2 - 4pm
Café at Black Box Hill
Street, Belfast (free admission)
OUTBURST is all
about supporting vibrant new queer creativity and this afternoon of
readings is no exception. Local actors performed three works of local (via
New York) playwright, Shannon Yee.
Shannon has been living in Belfast since
2004. Her play 'Divinity', was recently produced as part of the 24-Hour
Plays, courtesy of Belfast's twentyfive collective. 'What's In A Name?' a
play about racism, toured schools across NI.
Shannon Yee's work aims to bring those that
live in our periphery into focus. She has received the James Baldwin
Playwriting Award, and was shortlisted for the 2006 Heideman Award.
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Outburst 2008 presents a queer country music night:
Rae Spoon & DJs |
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 Friday
28th March from 9pm
Dubarrys Bar, Gresham
Street - admission £5
Rae Spoon is a critically acclaimed Canadian bluegrass/alt.
country performer, influenced by the greats likes Hank Williams and Woodie
Guthrie but more in tune with modern day performers such as Joanna Newsome
and Sufjan Stevens.
Describing himself as "a transgendered person raised by
Albertan Evangelists", his warm and colourful musical storytelling has
seen him share a stage with everyone from Emmylou Harris to Ani Difranco
and Natalie Merchant.
If you like your music with a big honest queer heart and
lots of rich toe-tapping goodness, this one's not to be missed!
Outburst is
delighted to support such an intimate solo gig from an up-and-coming queer
recording artist who is set to be making big waves over the next couple of
years. Check out Rae's music at
www.raespoon.com and
www.myspace.com/raespoon.
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Belfast Out Resource Centre - new beginnings
Discussion workshop on Saturday 1st March |
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The management committee of
Belfast Out
Resource Centre invites all interested groups and individuals to attend a workshop to
be held at
Voluntary Service Bureau, 34 Shaftesbury Square, Belfast on Saturday 1st March 2008
from 10am until 3pm with refreshments on arrival and lunch provided. The
workshop will have an external facilitator.
 Belfast Out Resource Centre has applied for £1.5 million funding
from the Department for Social Development's
Modernisation Fund
to purchase accommodation to house as many of the existing professional,
social and recreational LGBT organisations. This building would also
potentially replace and enhance existing facilities such as
Cathedral Buildings and The Rainbow Project’s premises.
"We want you to tell us what you would like
to see for the city and the greater Belfast area. Some of the
organisations also have a province-wide remit; therefore, housing all of
these organisations under the one roof will be more economical and aid
partnership working, whilst increasing visibility.
"Ideas that could be discussed might include
a new logo, a new name, accommodation requirements, getting professional/technical
experts from within the LGBT community on board as
volunteers, exploring finances and vision. So it is vital that we get a good
attendance on the day.
"We need your input to build a better and
more secure future for our diverse organisations and individuals so that
they can continue to provide their vital services to the community. We look
forward to hearing from you; this should be an interesting and
stimulating day!
"It would be helpful if we had an idea of
numbers attending for catering purposes; please confirm attendance by emailing
tracy@coso.org.uk or phoning 02890
890 201."
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QueerSpace celebrates the success of the
Outburst festival |
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 Well
done to everyone involved in Outburst
- Northern Ireland's first annual LGBT arts festival - which took
place from 22 November to 1 December!
The 10 day
programme of events included great queer theatre, music, visual arts,
workshops and debate, in venues such as the Black Box and the Baby Grand
in the Grand Opera House.
Run by a collective of local LGBT artists and performers and dedicated to celebrating and highlighting queer creativity,
Outburst has been a resounding success for our entire community.
After a
well-earned break, we look forward to Outburst 2008(!)
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QueerSpace celebrates Pride with comedy and song
& unveils its Queer of the Year 2007 |
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 Queens:
The Musical
For Belfast Pride 2007,
QueerSpace teamed up with local acting group Drama Divas to present
Queens: The Musical in the
Black Box
on Tuesday 31 July.
Thanks go to the sell-out audience of around 200 who joined
us for the
hilarious rags to riches story of Sean, a 22 year old gay drama
student in Belfast,
 and his colourful flatmates.
Queer
of the Year 2007
The evening was all the more special as
QueerSpace took the opportunity to crown its Queer of the Year for 2007 -
Niall Gillespie was the recipient in
recognition of his time, effort, vision and work as a volunteer on behalf
of the LGBT community in Northern Ireland. Well done Niall!
Photos and videos now online
here.
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Belfast Pride 2007 -
the best festival yet! |
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Well the
dust has settled on the 17th
Belfast Pride Festival
- the biggest ever on the island of Ireland!
 Culminating on Saturday 4 August with the largest ever Pride
Parade and Party in the Square in its new venue - Custom House Square - the
week-long Festival had it all: spirituality, community action, drama,
debate, the list goes on.
QueerSpace volunteers worked on our stand at the community
fair section of the Party in the Square from midday until 6pm, providing
tea, coffee and homemade buns, as well as spreading the word about
QueerSpace's activities. The atmosphere was fantastic - thanks to all
involved in making the afternoon a success.
Photos and videos now online
here!
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Congratulations on a successful Foyle
Pride 2007 |
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QueerSpace congratulates the organisers of
Foyle Pride which
took place in the north-west from
Monday 13th to Saturday 18th August 2007.
With everything from film nights and queer history events to family
activities and the Big Pride Finale, there was something for everyone.
Here's to 2008!
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QueerSpace hosted Sandra Laframboise - Canadian
Native Elder - in March |
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Sandra Laframboise, a Native of
the Algonquin-Cree people, is chief and elder of the
Vancouver-based Dancing to Eagle Spirit Society.
Sandra is Two-Spirited (embracing both female and male
spirits), which means she is an individual who challenges
conventional gender roles.
In March, Sandra came to Belfast from
Vancouver to give a series of talks and workshops, aimed at the
entire community, which QueerSpace was honoured to
facilitate
in conjunction with the
Voluntary Service Bureau,
Belfast.
Read more
here about Sandra's inspirational visit. Photos and resources will be online
soon.
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QueerSpace presented
Beyond Hatred
film
followed by Debate in March 2007 |
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The
7th
Belfast Film Festival ran from 22 March - 1 April 2007.
QueerSpace
was delighted to work with the festival to present Beyond Hatred,
a deeply moving French documentary in which a family reflect on the
killing of their 29-year-old son, and try to move beyond feelings of
hatred and revenge.
Beyond Hatred was shown on Wednesday 28 March at 8.30pm in
the Studio Cinema at the Exchange Place in Donegall Street.
This film
resonates with LGBT people everywhere. The screening was followed by a
special Q&A event, chaired by Dr Gareth Higgins on behalf of QueerSpace.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the debate.
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QueerSpace leads successful Salsa Classes |
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QueerSpace's free
Salsa Classes which ran in
February and March have now ended.
The Tuesday evenings proved a real success!
Thanks to everyone who participated. We hope to
have photos on the website shortly.
QueerSpace gratefully acknowledges the support of our tutor
Viktoria, of the
Health Promotion
Agency and of
Mynt.
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underexposed:
QueerSpace photo exhibitions during
Belfast Pride and Anti-Homophobia NI 2006 |
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 In
January 2006, QueerSpace revealed we had
secured funding from the Arts
Council to work with
Belfast Exposed
on a photographic project
which aims to highlight and celebrate
diversity within the LGBT community, challenge stereotypes and break down
invisibility.
The
first results of our workshops were unveiled on Monday 31 July 2006 - our
exhibition entitled underexposed launched in the John Hewitt
Bar to a packed audience of invited guests, members of the LGBT and arts
communities.
underexposed
was scheduled
to coincide with Belfast Pride 2006 and ran until Saturday 5 August.
By November, following some serious
effort, we had over 50 images, ready for our next exhibition at Voluntary
Service Bureau's Artspace in Shaftesbury Square. The launch coincided with
Anti-Homophobia NI week and we were delighted to welcome Monica
McWilliams, the Human Rights Chief Commissioner and Bob Collins, the Chief
Equality Commissioner, to speak at the event.
Thanks to everyone
involved for making QueerSpace's underexposed events such a success.
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The Quire helps launch
Belfast Pride 2006 |
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Quire: Belfast LGBT Singers is a group of singers from
Northern Ireland's LGBT community, formed in early 2005 - maybe you saw
them perform at a number of events during Belfast Pride?
With the launch of its own
website at www.quire.org.uk, the
group is going
from strength to strength in 2007.
The
Quire helps launch
Belfast Pride 2006...
Quire: Belfast LGBT Singers was delighted to help launch
Belfast Pride 2006 at the Waterfront Hall on Saturday 29th
July.
Following the fantastic
success of our concerts with
Glória at the
Waterfront Studio in Belfast in May, and at Dublin's National Concert Hall
in June, this was another chance to catch your community choir in
action.
The Quire entertained the
audience with a medley of pieces from its recent concerts, including (very
appropriately!) My Lagan Love, Something Inside So Strong
and I Am What I Am.
The event was the perfect
opportunity for the Quire to celebrate a year of growing confidence and
success (its very first public performance was at Pride 2005).
...and marches
with Pride at the end of a wonderful week
The following Saturday, the
Quire joined over 6,500 people in celebrating the culmination of Belfast
Pride Week - the Parade and Party in the Square.
Carrying its new Banner with
enormous pride (huge thanks to Sally!), the Quire made its way through the
streets of Belfast city centre, regaling the crowds with some musical
numbers!
A huge thank-you to
everyone who supported us at our concerts in 2006 - at the Waterfront in
Belfast and the National Concert Hall in Dublin -
get in touch if you'd like to join
us.
Support the
Quire
If you are interested in
joining the Quire: Belfast LGBT Singers
or in supporting the work of this community initiative in any way, get in
touch via info@quire.org.uk .
The group is delighted to
include a small but growing number of female singers - we want to represent our community as fully as possible.
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QueerSpace
celebrates 8th Birthday in Salsa style |
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Thanks
to everyone who came along to QueerSpace's 8th Birthday Party at Shoe
Factory at the beginning of June 2006, and for making the evening such a success.
We were delighted to award the QueerSpace
Queer of the Year Award to Grainne and Shannon (pictured), in
recognition of their courage and dignity in representing the LGBT
community.
The evening had a salsa theme,
involving us all in dance tuition from Salsa Belfast - take
a look at the photos!
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QueerSpace
Hallowe'en Scary Boat Cruise - photos online! |
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 Our
event for Hallowe'en this year was a scary (did you SEE the wigs??!!) boat
cruise down the Lagan on Wednesday 26th October. About 35 of us were
entertained with spooky stories by our special guest Sister Mary and
enjoyed the hospitality of the Joyce II.
Thanks to everyone for joining us.
Take a look at the
photos.
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QueerSpace Trip to the Gobbins - photos
now online |
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 The recent
BBC Two series
Coast was the inspiration for QueerSpace's boat trip on Sunday
18th September when 14 of us got together to see the Gobbins - previously one of the most popular sites in Ireland, having
far more visitors than the Giants Causeway.
A narrow path was erected
in 1902 to take walkers around the cliffs at Whitehead (Islandmagee) but,
unfortunately, following the Second World War the path fell into disrepair
and was closed in 1962. You can however still see bits of the old walkway
from a boat.
As you can
see from these spectacular photos,
the boat trip proved a fantastic opportunity to take in some of our best
scenic coastline.
Congratulations to Andrew for organising such a successful event.
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Belfast Pride 2005: How
was it for you? |
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 Pride
2005 has been and gone - what a fantastic week it was with over 4,500
people parading proudly through the streets of Belfast on Saturday 6th
August.
UPDATE: Some Pride 2005
photos now on the website.
QueerSpace's Pride Event
QueerSpace held a Queer Pub
Quiz Crawl on Monday 1st August, taking in four of the bars in the
Cathedral Quarter. Thanks to everyone who came along and made the evening
so special - we raised £430 to be split equally between
Diabetes UK in
Northern Ireland and QueerSpace. QueerSpace bore any costs of running the
event. Huge thanks also to all the people who organised, prepared food,
sold ballots or donated prizes.
Have you any Pride photos
you'd like to share?
We have a few images from
Pride Week online now but we need your help - if you have any
photos of the Parade or Party in the Square that you would be willing to
share on this public website, please email them to
info@queerspace.org.uk. Try to
ensure that anyone featured in them is happy enough to appear. Of course,
the appearance of anyone’s image on this website is not an indication of
their sexual orientation.
Pride Committee looking
for your views
The Pride Committee is made
up of volunteers and therefore depends on people willing to give time and
effort. Could you get involved to help shape Pride 2006? Do you have
thoughts on how Pride should change and develop?
Get in touch with the
Secretary of the Pride Committee.
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QueerSpace welcomes guest speaker Dr Kate
O'Hanlan |
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 On
Wednesday 15th June, QueerSpace welcomed special guest speaker
Dr Kate O'Hanlan from
the US to talk to us about her work as a cancer surgeon in California,
especially her interest in LGBT health issues and in pushing these further
up the academic research agenda. Dr O'Hanlan emphasised that LGBT health
is about more than HIV/sexual health - it concerns increased risk factors
for conditions such as cancer (in both men and women). She and her partner
exchanged ideas and experiences with over 30 members of the community here
in NI.
The QueerSpace collective
would like to thank Kate and her partner Lé for taking time out of
their busy holiday schedule to help create such a thought-provoking
evening; it was obvious that we are lagging behind the United States in
considering this important issue, but I'm sure everyone attending was
inspired to make a start in the process. Thanks also to PA for all his
work in co-ordinating the event.
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QueerSpace celebrates InSpace's
redecoration and relaunch |
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 On
Saturday 28th May, QueerSpace celebrated the relaunch and revamp of its
popular InSpace Coffee Lounge, run every Saturday afternoon by volunteers.
Read the full story of the
redecoration and view the photos of the day itself
here.
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QueerSpace celebrates its 7th
Birthday! |
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 We welcomed
around 75 friends/Spacers to The Nest bar on Wednesday, 2nd
March to celebrate 7 years of QueerSpace.
The upstairs bar was the
venue for music, drinks, sausage rolls and birthday cake. With a plasma
screen flashing up photos from our many events over the years, the
conversation about worst fashion crime soon flowed!
We heard thoughts from a few
speakers about what QueerSpace has meant to them. And then it was time to
award our Queer of the Year: James Knox, Convener of the
Coalition on Sexual
Orientation. This was in recognition of all his hard work within the
LGBT community, especially the Anti-Homophobia NI week, held last
December.
Photos from the party now
online!
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LGBT Question Time: Vote 2005 -
summary of discussion |
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 The Coalition
on Sexual Orientation held a Gay Question Time event on
Saturday, 30th April with representatives from Alliance, SDLP, Sinn
Fein, the Ulster Unionists and Vote for Yourself. An extra seat lay empty
for Northern Ireland’s largest Unionist Party, the DUP, who refused to send
a representative, despite their manifesto pledge to “ensure equality for
all”.
The panel engaged with the audience on a wide variety of topics such as
Hate Crime, Education and Government Departments' lack of commitment to
equality for LGBT people. Civil Partnerships and Domestic Violence were also
discussed.
All parties, except the Ulster Unionists, recognised that commitment to LGBT
equality was no longer a matter of individual conscience but party policy.
Questioned by the audience, Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance agreed that elected
representatives that do not support gay equality will face disciplinary
action by the party.
Stephen Farry, from the Alliance Party pledged to help ensure “a more
representative police force” which includes gay and lesbian people whilst
Patricia Lewsley pledged action on lesbian and gay domestic violence and
funding.
Eóin O’Broin from Sinn Fein proposed that an ongoing dialogue with the
political parties and members of the gay community should take place
following the election.
It was agreed that action is required to ensure greater representation of
the gay community on the Task Force on funding the Voluntary and Community
Sector.
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QueerSpace
involved in Community Dialogue |
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 November
2004
saw the first of a series of monthly meetings where QueerSpace
gets involved with the special process of
Community Dialogue.
There's a great deal of enthusiasm among the Collective about the
potential results of the dialogue, so if it's something that interests you
-
and that you'd be able to commit to - contact us for more details.
A meeting to discuss the way
forward took place on
Wednesday, 18th May.
And as ever our latest
calendar contains details of other LGBT
community events coming up soon.
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Anti-Homophobia Northern Ireland 2004 |
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 QueerSpace was proud
to play a part in the first Anti-Homophobia Week in
Northern Ireland - a series of events designed to not only raise awareness
of new laws protecting gay people, but also to tackle homophobia itself -
which took place from 3rd - 14th December 2004.
QueerSpace hosted a
charity Pub Quiz in Union Street Bar on Monday 6th December.
The proceeds (over £250) went to the
Coalition on Sexual
Orientation to support the vital work undertaken on behalf of all LGBT
people in Northern Ireland. Thanks for your support - we know everyone had
a fab night.
Wednesday 8th
December saw QueerSpace present the Northern Ireland premiere of the
movie
Latter Days, which lived up to its description as a "charming, sexy, and moving tale
that will leave you believing in the transformational power of love". Aah.
For more info on Anti-Homophobia NI 2004, visit CoSO's
revamped website.
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Belfast Pride 2004 and QueerSpace |
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Belfast Pride 2004 has been and
gone! Running from 31st July till 7th August, the week
featured a packed schedule
of events. A highlight for many people was
QueerSpace's Queer Bus Tour of Belfast on Sunday 1st August. A
range of speakers kept us entertained with amusing and informative tales of
the Queer history and herstory of our city. Huge thanks to everyone involved in making the event such a success!
Photos of the Queer Bus Tour
and other Pride events are available in our Photo Gallery
here.
Pride 2005 had
its first meeting in September and is now up and running. Visit their
website for more
details about how you can get involved in the fun.
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QueerSpace's 6th
Birthday Party |
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 It was great to see so many of QueerSpace's friends and supporters at our
recent 6th birthday party. We held an informal reception on Wednesday, 31st
March 2004 in the Atrium at Clanmil Housing in Waring Street.
Sally Young (pictured left)
received our Queer of the Year 2004 award for her work with Belfast's
LGBT community, facilitating arts projects and organising Belfast Pride. With nibbles and drinks,
comedy performances and witty speeches, it was the perfect opportunity for
everybody to catch up.
Photos of the event are now
online in the photo gallery.
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Government
proposals for civil partnerships in Northern Ireland |
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The
Office of Law
Reform for Northern Ireland has published a
consultation document on the creation of a same-sex civil
partnership register for the province. This follows on from the
government’s intention to introduce a Civil Partnerships Bill in England
& Wales. The
document focuses on the rights and responsibilities of such a
partnership; during the partnership, on dissolution and following the
death of a civil partner. This is obviously a milestone in addressing
the serious inequality and social injustice faced by LGBT people in
committed relationships.
“CIVIL PARTNERSHIP: A LEGAL
STATUS FOR COMMITTED SAME-SEX COUPLES IN NORTHERN IRELAND” can be viewed
as an Adobe PDF file
here. The consultation
period closed on Friday, 5th March.
CoSO, the
Coalition on Sexual
Orientation, held a consultation meeting at 6.30pm on
Tuesday, 17th February 2004 at Clanmil Housing, Waring
Street.
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CoSO Pathways
for Change Consultations |
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TASK FORCE ON RESOURCING THE VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR
- PUBLIC CONSULTATION
The Task Force on Resourcing the Voluntary and Community
Sector was established by the Minister for Social Development in February
2003. It is due to report next year and has been examining what action is
required to enable the sector to continue to make a substantial contribution
to the well-being of the Northern Ireland community. The Task Force has
published a
Position Paper (Adobe PDF format - 900k file size) to share its thinking
on issues which are fundamental to the future of the voluntary and community
sector.
To facilitate this, the Coalition on Sexual Orientation held two
consultation events at Clanmil Housing on Waring Street,
Belfast on Monday March 8th and Tuesday March 9th,
both at 6.30pm. The March 9th
event was women-oriented. For more information,
contact admin@coso.org.uk
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Equality Commission roundtable on
Sexual Orientation and Disability |
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The Equality Commission held a roundtable on sexual orientation and
disability at NICVA on Tuesday, 24th February 2004. Michael
Brothers, Special Projects Manager with the Disability Rights Commission
discussed his research, It’s not just about
ramps and Braille: disability and sexual orientation.
The research is part of a project –
Rethinking Identity: the Challenge of Diversity – exploring
the reality of diversity in people’s identities, completed by the Joint
Equality and Human Rights Forum which brings together equality and human
rights bodies across Britain and Ireland. The roundtable looked at
the findings and also at the work done and planned in seeking to meet the
report’s recommendations.
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Holocaust Memorial Day
2004 |
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Belfast was the focal point of the fourth
annual Holocaust Memorial Day
on 27th January. Take a look at how QueerSpace
marked the occasion and the
official events that took place.
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