CHESHIRE CHEESE News & Information for Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual people in the county 172: July 2009 -------------------------------------------- Manchester Pride 09 Big Weekend Tickets The Big Weekend (21 - 24 August) is the 78-hour party climax of Manchester Pride and you'd be out of your mind to miss it! If you want to get yourself a part of the action, you'll need to make sure you get your hands on a ticket - just check Mancherster Pride website for all the info you need. Tickets cost £17.50 but, until July 1st, you can get your hands on one for the early bird price of only £12.50 - so hurry! Visit www.manchesterpride.com/tickets to find out all the details. -------------------------------------------- LGBT Youth North west Summer Events LGBT Youth North West is a regional organisation supporting LGBT young people and LGBT Youth organisations in the North West of England. The organisation is made up of existing LGBT Youth providers across the region covering Greater Manchester, Greater Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria. LGBT Youth North West Summer Events 15-19 July Annual LBT Young Women's Summer Health Camp - Yorkshire 24-28 August LGBT Young Peoples Summer School - Manchester 29 August Manchester Pride Parade float entry 29-31 August Info space in Manchester pride lifestyle expo 31 August Young LGBT Space at Manchester Pride For more information about LGBT Youth North Wales visit http://lgbtyouthnorthwest.org.uk -------------------------------------------- BiCon UK 2009 BiCon is the UK National Bisexual Convention, a fun weekend-long festival for bisexual people and their allies, held at a different location in the UK each year. This years event takes place from 20-24 August 2009 in Worcester and is a weekend-long gathering for bi people, their friends, partners, and others with a supportive interest in bisexuality. There are discussion groups and workshops, with social space & entertainment in the evening. Having got your pass (one-day or weekend), you're free to attend as much or as little as you like. Some discussions cover bi-related themes, e.g. coming out, our experiences of the Lesbian & Gay communities, and lots with a title like "Bisexuality and X". Other topics have ranged from parenting to "Buffy the vampire slayer". Some sessions are action more than talk: e.g. in past years belly dancing, sign language and massage. This year we're setting aside Thursday afternoon for discussions of a more academic nature, with updates from the UK Bi research group. Each evening there's a bar and social space, sometimes with performers or a disco, plus quiet space for board games or simply chilling out. If you like to dress up, bring your party clothes! For questions about BiCon, contact the 2009 BiCon team on info@bicon2009.org.uk. www.bicon.org.uk/ -------------------------------------------- Sex Between Men & Safety Your bum (anus) can be considered just as sexual as any other part of your body. There are pleasure receptors around the outside and inside your bum. In men the “male g-spot”, the prostate is best stimulated from inside the bum, and is approximately 7cm inside. Sex between men, when one man penetrates another man, is a way of stimulating the prostate. Penetration is not the only way two men can have sex together. Some people think that bums are a dirty place and are a one way only street. This is incorrect. One of the things your bum is really good at is absorbing stuff. If a guy cums (ejaculates) in your bum or just penetrates or rubs up against your bum without a condom, then you stand a good chance of being infected with an STI (sexually transmitted infection) he may be carrying. Sex between men should never hurt. The bum doesn’t produce its own lubricant, so if you have anal sex you need to use lots of water based or silicon based lubricants, such as Durex Play. Spit is not enough and can carry an STI. Sex needs to be slow and gentle to begin with and you need to listen to your partner. At this first sign of discomfort stop or slow down. Don’t move too fast. To protect yourself and your partner use a condom. If you catch an STI in your bum you may not know about it. The best way to stay safer is to use a condom and get tested every so often at the sexual health clinic. That goes for everyone. Not just men who have sex with men. Not all men who have sex with men are gay. Any questions about sexual health and sex between men? E-mail Christopher@outrite.org for a confidential enquiry. -------------------------------------------- Outrite Achievements Outrite, the prevention arm of Body Positive Cheshire and North Wales, in the last year (amongst many, many other things): Welcomed 1032 people through its doors for its social and support groups across the county. The groups are operated from Macclesfield and Crewe and are completely free to access. Provided 520 hours of face to face counselling to Cheshire residents, completely free of charge. Our counselling service is provided by a team of dedicated professional counsellors who are experienced in LGBT and health related issues. Distributed 50,000+ condoms, and 50,000+ sachets of lube to Central and Eastern Cheshire Residents (Supported by Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT). See the boxes to the far left of this article for information on how to access free condoms and lube within Cheshire. Provided specialist training sessions around HIV & Aids awareness issues to over 400 people. This training is provided free of charge and tailored to suit organisational requirements. Some organisations who have accessed this training include: the former Cheshire County Council, Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester Unitary Authorities, South Cheshire College and St Lukes Hospice. Worked in partnership with schools and colleges county wide, throughout the year, to help meet the needs of LGBT Students. This includes providing sex and relationship education packages and sexuality awareness training to over 650 students over 16 years old county wide. Continued to work closely with the Cheshire Police Force as a Hate Crime Reporting venue and to further foster the excellent relations between the Cheshire Constabulary and local community groups. Distributed 30,000 printed information resources across the county through outreach and training work and by post. Provided 364 hours of telephone helpline coverage. Developed a set of training packages to teach people with mild to moderate learning and mental health difficulties in conjunction with the “291 Group” part of the mental health provider services. Expanded our free smoking cessation service for Cheshire residents. Provided more than 1000 hours of varied outreach work across the county, seeing over 10,000 people in the course of this work. Continued to work at the highest levels to improve the health and wellbeing of LGBT people Responded to 736 email requests for information, help and assistance. Whilst this list is not exhaustive, it gives a flavour of what we are doing to work for LGBT people within Cheshire. The coming year holds out the prospect of exciting new developments for Outrite and BPCNW. www.outrite.org -------------------------------------------- We like to think we live in liberal times, where people can express themselves freely so long as no harm comes to others. Recent victories have questioned this security such as the continued racism expressed by some political parties. Findings by Stonewall show that prejudice is not limited to race (evidence cited by Stonewall in 'So Much Done, So Much More To Do' campaign e-mail). 24% of people surveyed thought 'gay sex' should be made illegal and 56% thought same sex couples should not be allowed to adopt children. 20% of gay and bisexual women have not had a cervical smear test after having been told they were not at risk. 66% of gay boys and girls are bulled at school, some with physical assault and or death threats. Study after study has found that adoption by same sex parents does not adversely affect children. They may understand a little more about sexuality diversity but they end up the same as any other child, sexual orientation unaltered. Further more 'gay sex' is not harmful, just like 'straight sex' is not harmful. The only reason these views are perpetuated is through ignorance and prejudice. Although modern times seem relatively peaceful in comparison to past decades in the UK, there is still work to be done. The work of those who fought for the rights gay and bisexual people today have to be maintained. Ignorance and prejudice need to be removed. Look around and ask yourself who would honestly stand by you when state and religion come to loggerheads with your sexual orientation? 20% of gay men and women have experienced hate crime and four-million have witnessed heterosexist (homophobic) bullying at work. We do not live in liberal times. Though better than they once were legislation seems to have given some protections but not enough to abate the suffering of a large number of gay and bisexual people in the UK. Rights are given and they can be taken away. If you have any responses to this article or experiences that you would like to share, please e-mail them to info@cheshirecheese.org.uk. For information on Stonewall please visit www.stonewall.org.uk . -------------------------------------------- The Cheeseboard, listings of what's happening in and around Cheshire are available through the printed edtion of Cheshire Cheese, available free of charge from the address below, or by visiting www.cheshirecheese.org.uk -------------------------------------------- Cheshire Cheese PO Box 321 Crewe CW2 7WZ Telephone 01270 653150 Fax 01270 653158 Email info@cheshirecheese.org.uk Website www.cheshirecheese.org.uk Editorial Contact Chris Flewitt Deadline 173 23 July 2009 Cheshire Cheese is published by Body Positive Cheshire & North Wales (Charity No. 1009850) 2009