Friends Of Dorothy X Roman Udalov & Lee Baxter – Super Nature

Friends of Dorothy proudly present their third private art show in an ongoing series, dedicated to featuring some of the best queer artists from northern England.

This time, they are excited to present the work of local creative master, Lee Baxter alongside Roman Udalov, a legendary LA- based creative, whose captivating work transports us to the mysterious plant world of East Hollywood and other Californian dreamscapes.

Udalov’s art provides the perfect counterpoint to Manchester-based creative icon, Lee Baxter, who presents a new series of stunning photographs that capture the beauty of local plant life in and around his native Ancoats.

Witness the magic that happens when two artistic worlds collide in a breathtaking exploration of SUPER NATURE. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience a fusion of queer art that celebrates nature in all its glory.

The exhibition will run between Saturday 11 March 2023 to Sunday 2 April 2023 at the Friends of Dorothy Private Gallery in Castlefield, Manchester.

Viewing is available via pre booked tickets only.

Full gallery address details provided on booking tickets here.

State pension age: Waspi women

Waspi women (Women Against State Pension Inequality) are right to take legal action over the state pension age changes as they try to boost their compensation, according to a lawyer representing the group.

“The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), the Government watchdog, has come to the wrong conclusions in part of its report into how 50s-born women were affected by the policy decision”, said John Halford, a partner at law firm Bindmans.

It means the level of compensation recommended by the watchdog could be less than what the women believe they deserve.

Waspi has filed papers for a judicial review against the PHSO’s conclusions, having raised nearly £100,000 to pursue the case.

The PHSO now has a chance to respond. If no decision is made to reconsider what Waspi believes are flawed conclusions in its investigation, Mr Halford is confident the case will proceed to a full trial where a judge will “decide whether the ombudsman’s decision is legally sound or not”.

The state pension ages changes, which raised the retirement age from 60 to 65 in line with men, affected women born in the 50s.

Angela Madden, chair of Waspi, said: “Ensuring the ombudsman reaches correct, rational conclusions is a critical step to achieving a just resolution for women who took critical, life-changing decisions about their retirement in good faith, assuming they could retire at 60.

The mistakes meant many only learned a year or so before their 60th birthday that they had another six years to wait. After seven long years of campaigning, Waspi will not give up the fight for 50s-born women.”

The state pension age for both sexes is now 66, but it will increase to 67 by 2028.

Magnus Hirschfeld

Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist.

Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine and was an outspoken advocate for sexual minorities.

Hirschfeld is regarded as one of the most influential sexologists of the twentieth century. He founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee.

Historian Dustin Goltz characterised the committee as having carried out “the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights”.

In this paper, “Die intersexuelle Konstitution” (“The Intersexual Constitution”), published in the Yearbook for Sexual Intermediate Stages 1923, he became the first researcher to distinguish what he called “transsexualism” from transvestism. He described transsexualism as the adoption of the gender role opposite to their sex by men or women who held an unswerving conviction they were assigned to an incorrect sex.

Hirschfeld was targeted by Nazis for being Jewish and gay; in 1933 his Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was sacked and had its books burned by Nazis.