Detention at The Lowry

Detention is the third and final part of a trilogy of dance theatre works following the multi award winning Coal and critically acclaimed Wasteland.

What unites this trilogy is 1980s Britain, a time when we were governed by Margaret Thatcher and how different marginalised communities fought for their human rights, their livelihoods and their existence.

Detention features violence, shame, isolation and suicide, but also incredible solidarity, community, heroism, activism, unlikely allies, protest and truly remarkable individuals and organisations of the time.

It’s a political, urgent, angry call to action and an attempt to honour a past that shaped our resilient and courageous community forever.

Frank Kameny

Franklin Edward Kameny (21 May 1925 – 11 October 2011) was an American gay rights activist. He would have been 100 years old on 21 May.

During the Lavender scare, in 1957, Kameny was dismissed from his position as an astronomer in the US Army’s Map Service in Washington DC, because of his homosexuality. This led him to begin a struggle with the American establishment that would spearhead a new period of militancy in the homosexual rights movement of the early 1960s.

Kameny formally appealed his firing by the US Civil Service Commission. Although unsuccessful, the proceeding was notable as the first known civil rights claim based on sexual orientation pursued in a US court.

Kameny organised the first demonstration by a homophile organisation. The 10-person protest took place outside the white house. Signs included the organisation’s demands: “WE WANT FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT, HONORABLE DISCHARGES, SECURITY CLEARANCES.” Kameny had strict standards for those participating. His requirements for picketers included men wearing suits and women wearing dresses, each sign measuring twenty-two by twenty-eight inches, and the message on the sign being the same on both sides. These efforts contributed to portraying a nonviolent and respectful protest.

Kameny coined the phrase “GAY IS GOOD,” in the 1960s to inspire pride and challenge societal prejudice.  He was one of the most significant figures in the American gay rights movement.

Global LGBT+ rights crackdown overshadows this year’s IDAHOBIT

Activists around the world marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia against the backdrop of efforts to curtail LGBT+ rights that are gaining traction in the US, UK and elsewhere.

The Trump-Vance administration since it took office in January has issued a number of executive orders that have specifically targeted transgender and nonbinary people.

ILGA-Europe (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) released its annual update to its Rainbow Map, which documents LGBT+ rights in European countries.

The UK has dropped to its lowest position ever (22nd) on the ILGA Europe ranking of the best and worst places to be LGBTQ+ in Europe.

Ten years ago, it ranked in first place. Here’s how the UK fared over the last 12 years.

The ILGA-Europe press release notes Hungary’s “prohibition of Pride events and criminalisation of participants” and the UK Supreme Court ruling last month that restricts “the legal recognition of trans people.” The European advocacy group also highlighted a “sweeping ban on all forms of LGBTI representation and assembly” that Georgian lawmakers passed last year.

“They are merely the most striking examples of a broader trend in which LGBTI human rights are being systematically dismantled under the guise of preserving public order,” said ILGA-Europe. “In reality, such measures pave the way for sweeping restrictions on fundamental freedoms, including the rights to protest and to political dissent.”

Argentine President Javier Milei in February issued a decree that restricts minors’ access to gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments. An appeals court in Trinidad and Tobago in March recriminalised consensual same-sex sexual relations in the Caribbean country.

The Trump-Vance administration’s decision to suspend most foreign aid has forced several LGBT+ rights groups and HIV/AIDS service organisations in South Africa, Kenya, and other African countries that received US funding to curtail operations or shut down. Lawmakers in Vanuatu are considering an amendment to the country’s constitution that would recognise only two sexes: male and female.

IDAHOBIT commemorates the World Health Organisation’s declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder on 17 May 1990.

This year’s IDAHOBiT theme was “the power of communities.” We are stronger together.

Our government must reverse, not further, this shocking decline in LGBT+ rights.

Man raged at NatWest bank over its Pride flag

When a client of the NatWest bank saw Pride flags at a local branch, he said the flags caused him emotional distress because of his disabilities and religious beliefs. He asked the bank to remove the decorations. The bank told him that the services he needed that day could have been completed online without visiting the branch in person.

The man, identified only as “Mr J,” complained last year after seeing the rainbow-coloured decorations in the bank. Apparently dissatisfied with the bank’s response compelled him to escalate the matter.

He complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service, a national group that settles complaints between consumers and financial services businesses. The man said that the decorations and the bank’s refusal to remove them violated his rights under the Equality Act 2010, a law which forbids discrimination based on personal characteristics.

The ombudsman decided in favour of the bank.

In her judgement, ombudsman Danielle Padden wrote, “NatWest is a bank that has chosen to display Pride materials along with other paraphernalia at certain times of the year. As a service, we wouldn’t be able to tell them not to do that, as they are entitled to celebrate and raise awareness to the communities they service.”

Padden said that, if the physical branch caused him so much discomfort, that the man could try “alternative methods of banking,” such as online banking, ATMs or the post office.

When the man said he needed to visit the bank in-person, Padden said he could legally appoint a third party representative to handle his bank business in a physical branch.

The bank’s website states, “We aim to continue to deliver a better LGBT+ colleague and customer experience through continuously challenging the status quo … We have worked hard to understand the issues our LGBT+ colleagues and customers face and engage with them regularly to demonstrate that NatWest Group is a welcoming place, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

This is a lesson for all bigots. Please leave LGBT+ people alone. To NatWest – thank you for flying the flag for the LGBT+ community.

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