Window Open – A Play by Andrew Seedall

“There is an unmistakable look that two people have when they are in love. You can’t manufacture it. And if you’re experiencing it, you can’t hide it.” –Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell.

Window Open – A Play by Andrew Seedall

Bran and Tom’s world is changing after the death of Tom’s mother. Some of the changes they can control, most, they can’t. All they can do is make it up as they go along, blurring the lines between what they keep private and what others make public.

Window Open is a period piece, exploring the complicated lives of a gay couple in England during the late 1960s navigating the confusing worlds of private love and public fear.

A fictional story based on factual lives, exploring the hidden history of a life long same sex couple.

Developed as part of Studio Salford’s Write for the Stage programme, the play has had its public Script in Hand debut as part of ‘Development Week’ at the Kings Arms Theatre, Salford. Development Week is an opportunity for emerging writers to showcase new pieces of work performed with professional actors in front of a real audience.

Window Open [is] a fascinating exploration of a gay relationship back when being openly gay would get you in prison. He’s crafted the world beautifully and worked through a scenario that’s completely engaging. Mike Heath – Studio Salford.

Visual Ideas for portraiture to accompany Window Open

My name is Chris Currie, I am a photographer based in Manchester and I am excited to be a part of Andrew’s play, Window Open.

We are looking for lifelong same sex couples who have been together for 10 years or more and/or LGBTQ+ widows / widowers from lifelong relationships to volunteer for photography portraits. The portraits will accompany the main narrative arc in Andrews play and will also celebrate love within the LGBTQ+ community.

All the photographs you see in this proposal will give you an idea of what we are trying to achieve, from composition through to lighting. Ideally I would like to photograph each couple in their home environment but due to the current circumstances this may not be possible, however we could also use outside locations.

The process is a collaboration so from start to finish we can discuss ideas as we go. My main aim is to ensure each person involved feels comfortable with the process and is happy with the results. If anybody is interested then please contact Andrew at andrewseedall@googlemail.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

10 Points to Ponder as 2020 draws to a close …

1. The dumbest thing I ever bought was a 2020 planner.
2. 2019: Stay away from negative people. 2020: Stay away from positive people.
3. The world has turned upside down. Old folks are sneaking out of the house and their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!
4. This morning I saw a neighbour talking to her cat. It was obvious she thought her cat understood her. I came to my house and told my dog … we had a good laugh.
5. Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pyjamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.
6. Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands?
7. I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch him / her with a 6-foot pole” would become a national policy, but here we are!
8. I need to practice social-distancing … from the refrigerator.
9. I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip out to the bins!

10. Never in a million years could I have imagined I would go into a bank with a mask on and ask for money.

Sonder Radio

Tune into a really festive Christmas day with Rachel Oliver from Sonder Radio. She is proudly Australian and a trans activist.

Rachel will be wrapped up warm in front of her fire telling you how an Australian Christmas is celebrated and giving you her tips on having a stress free great holiday with friends and family if you’re LGBT.

Plus of course some fabulous Christmas music from her personal playlist. Listen to Sonder Radio at 2.00pm or 8.00pm on https://www.sonderradio.com/

New Year’s Resolutions:

New King Lear Prizes Spring 2021 Competition Announced

We are delighted to tell you that the King Lear Prizes are back, with a new round of the competition. What better way to make a fresh start in 2021, than to get stuck into a new creative project?

Start planning your new masterpieces and register here.

What’s new?

The King Lear Prizes are even better than last time, thanks to your excellent ideas, tips and feedback!

• Two new prize categories – write a short story from your life for the Real Story category, or record yourself playing or singing a piece of music for the Musical Performance category.
• Two categories from last time – write a work of poetry, or create a work of art using any media (painting, drawing, photography, textiles, knitting, ceramics, crafts etc.)
• You must enter at least one newly created work – they will accept other works, which you have done previously, so long as you enter at least one piece of new work done specifically for the competition.
• Compete against people at the same level as you – this round of the competition has a single age category (over 65s only), but separate categories for beginners and for more experienced amateurs.
• More prizes and opportunities to be recognised for your work – over £2,000 in prizes. Certificates and feedback if you are shortlisted, with hundreds of special commendations for high-quality work.
• A small fee of £5 per entry to cover their costs – the King Lear Prizes is a not-for-profit organisation, and they spent thousands of pounds of their own money putting on the competition last time. They would like to make it a regular competition which covers its own costs.
• If your personal financial circumstances mean you are unable to contribute in this way, please email andrew@kinglearprizes.org directly, and he will find a way to make sure you can take part.
• Deadline for entries will be 19 March 2021 – you have 11 weeks to complete your new work in the New Year! Entry form opens on 4 January 2021.

How to get involved

Register your details on the King Lear Prizes website to receive the full information about the competition.
Start thinking of ideas for what you might create for this new round of the competition
Follow them on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).

Get in touch

As always, please let them know what you think! If anything is not clear, or you think it could be improved, or indeed if you’d simply like to wish the team a Merry Christmas, please email andrew@kinglearprizes.org directly.

Manchester International Festival

Have you got a love story you’d like to share? Do you want to express your love for the important people, places, objects and experiences in your life?

We might be able to help, through a new project we’re creating for next summer’s Manchester International Festival.

If you’re interested, they would love to hear from you. Please drop a line via email to yatie.aziz@mif.co.uk or WhatsApp 07566 778445 and she will tell you more.

Gaydio’s Work Club (over 50s)

Want to learn new skills, meet new people and improve your job prospects in 2021? Then sign up to Gaydio’s Work Club!

Over six weeks you’ll not only refine your skill set but build on your CV by learning all about how to make great radio. You’ll learn from an experienced broadcast journalist and presenter from the world’s biggest LGBT Radio station! You’ll also learn about interview techniques and get support on CV writing and job applications.

This is a great opportunity to show potential employers you are willing to invest time into your future and get plenty of help along the way. No experience necessary.

Due to Covid restrictions, workshops will be on Zoom – but we hope to bring you in to Gaydio to the studios as soon as restrictions allow.

Please email emma@gaydio.co.uk for a registration form.

This is Manchester!

 

The perfect song for Christmas 2020? It’s 76 years old

There’s no question: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is the perfect song for this bizarre holiday season.

“But wait,” I can hear you say. “What does that syrupy tune about shining stars above the highest bough have to do with Coronavirus Christmas?”

The answer is: nothing. Because if the song you’re hearing has that line, it’s not the version I’m talking about. To hear the original (and in my opinion, better) version, one has to jump back in time to the November 1944 release of the smash musical film “Meet Me In St. Louis” starring Judy Garland.

“Merry Little Christmas,” which was composed by the songwriting duo Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, appears near the end. With a melody Martin called “madrigal-like,” Garland’s teenage character tries to comfort her little sister at Christmastime, while also bracing to leave behind the boy she loves. She’s consoling herself as much as anyone else: “Someday soon we all will be together, if the Fates allow,” she sings in the final verse. “Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.”

If it worked perfectly within the film’s context, it was even better on its own. “Meet Me In St. Louis” opened just before the three-year anniversary of the US entry into World War II, and troops and their families were steeling themselves for yet another holiday apart. “Merry Little Christmas’’ struck a chord with the public, capturing the melancholy and uncertainty of a wartime Yuletide while steadfastly hoping for happy times ahead.

Even without the wartime aspect, Garland’s version hits on a persistent truth – that being sad around the holidays can be profoundly difficult, especially if one is bombarded with quasi enforced cheer. Unlike many popular Christmas songs, it speaks directly to the lonely and downcast. It encourages listeners to make the best of a bad situation, to have themselves a merry little Christmas anyway.

So consider Garland’s version: There’s not a single word that couldn’t be about this Christmas. Next year all our troubles won’t be entirely out of sight, but with the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, it’s increasingly likely these particular troubles will be. We’ll be with our loved ones and friends “once again, as in olden days” — as in, the days before March 2020. With any luck, it’ll be soon. But in the meantime, we’ll all have to muddle through. Somehow.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” original lyrics:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

It may be your last.

Next year we may all be living in the past.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

Pop that champagne cork.

Next year we may all be living in New York.

No good times like the olden days.

Happy golden days of yore.

Faithful friends who were dear to us.

Will be near to us no more.

But at least we all will be together.

If the Lord allows.

From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.

So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

 

Out In The City member, Chris plays “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” on a digital piano. Press the red arrow.

 

Out In The City in 2020

On March 12 we didn’t know

We celebrated 6 birthdays

With four candles

40 of us mingling

Having fun at Church House

Now its almost Christmas

We spent months without meeting each other

Except on summer lawns

Thanks to Tony we are meeting again

At the Methodist Hall and Cross Street Chapel

 

Old and bold

Still with sparkles in our eyes

With laughter and jokes

About how we are still here

Proud of who we are

 

Our new home is welcoming

Gives us time to chat

Nibble mince pies with tea or coffee

Chat about the olden days

And those more recent

 

Some of us Zoom some don’t

We look forward to the vaccines

Sometime soon we can be safe

All of us still at risk

We look forward with hope

To new ventures in 2021

 

Pauline Smith – 15 December 2020

 

Future Meetings

The Out In The City meetings held during November and December 2020 were supported with funding from the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership.

The next meetings will be on Wednesday, 6 January 2021 and Thursday, 7 January 2021 and will be supported with funding from Comic relief’s LGBTQ+ COVID-19 Recovery Fund, in partnership with METRO Charity, Yorkshire MESMAC and Birmingham LGBT.

 

Trans people lifted up Biden. As president, he needs to do the same for them.

At least 41 trans and gender nonconforming people have been murdered this year in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Last month, Joe Biden did something no other president-elect had done in a victory speech — he specifically thanked the transgender community as part of what he called “the broadest and most diverse” coalition in history. It wasn’t the first time Biden mentioned the trans community, which has suffered its deadliest year ever. As the Democratic nominee, Biden called anti-trans violence “an epidemic that needs national leadership.”

When he becomes president next month, Biden must be that leader.

In the United States and Puerto Rico, at least 41 trans and gender nonconforming people have been murdered this year, most of them Black and Latinx transwomen. That’s a record, and there are still several weeks left in 2020. And I say “at least,” instead of a definitive number because trans people are often misgendered by police, in media reports, and by family members.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Trans Equality (NCTE), said that what’s facing Biden “is not just a criminal justice challenge. It’s also about eradicating the underlying issues that leave trans people vulnerable.”

“This is about economic opportunity and ending economic marginalisation. It’s about housing. In this country, people who are homeless are much more likely to face violence,” she said. “People who don’t have health insurance — that triggers other kinds of economic marginalisation where victimisation is more likely. We’re going to need anti-bullying legislation in schools. It’s going to require a comprehensive domestic policy plan across all agencies.”

According to NCTE, 25 percent of trans people have been fired due to bias, while 75 percent have experienced workplace discrimination. Twenty percent of trans people report facing discrimination when looking for a home; 10 percent have been evicted because of their gender identity. Up to 40 percent of young people who experience homelessness are trans or gender nonconforming. The Trump administration’s anti-trans policies have only exacerbated the problem.

“One of the first things we’re asking the new administration to do is create a comprehensive approach to implementing the Bostock Supreme Court decision, which basically said that job discrimination against LGBT people is sex discrimination,” Keisling said. “It’s about employment, but it clearly also implicates health care, housing, education, and credit. “What the Biden administration needs to do is enforce the law,” which Trump refused to do.

“The violence problem against trans people is a three-part problem — stigmatisation, marginalisation, criminalisation,” Keisling said. “In this country, once you get into the criminal justice system, it’s really hard to break out. It’s hard not to get economically marginalised, and the marginalisation is much worse right now. And President Trump has so viciously attacked trans people, he has made the stigmatisation much worse.”

That stigmatisation feeds the violence that kills trans and gender nonconforming people.

Married lesbian couple rejected from retirement community win lawsuit

The lesbian couple, who were told in 2018 that they would not be welcome at the Friendship Retirement Village have reached a settlement.

A lesbian couple who have been together for over 40 years has won a legal battle after they were refused entry into a retirement village together because they are married.

Mary Walsh, 74, and Bev Nance, 70, applied for a house in the Friendship Village senior living community in Sunset Hills, Missouri, where a number of their friends already live.

The couple attended a viewing in July 2016 and had put a $2,000 deposit on a home, however, their application was rejected.

They were told: “Your request to share a single unit does not fall within the categories permitted by the long-standing policy of Friendship Village Sunset Hills.”

Owners stated their cohabitation policy only extends to opposite-sex married couples citing their belief is that marriage is “the union of one man and one woman, as marriage is understood in the Bible.”

Mary and Bev were shocked by this as a couple who have been together since 1978 and married since 2009. They sued Friendship Village alleging housing discrimination but their case was dismissed with a judge finding that the discrimination was not illegal.

The brave couple did not give up and their case was reinstated in July 2019 following the landmark US Supreme Court ruling that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination, applies to cases of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The lesbian couple got their victory on 8 December 2020, having reached a confidential settlement with the retirement village.

“This has been a harrowing experience and one that I hope no other same-sex couple has to face,” Walsh said after the ruling was announced. “Bev and I are relieved that this case is now behind us and that we have closure after our lives were thrown into chaos.”

Mary and Bev’s focus now is only “on their health and each other,” and trying to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The Online LGBT+ Bookstore Our Community’s Been Asking For

Queer Lit is a new and exciting LGBT+ Bookstore who’s finally given the community somewhere online to discover over 1000 LGBT+ titles. If you want to learn more about LGBT+ Literature, you won’t have much luck heading into your local high street. Even the “Largest Book Shop in The North” doesn’t offer you a “safe place” to find out about LGBT+ books.

More than just a book shop

Queer Lit offers over 1000 LGBT+ titles including 175 titles discussing Coming Out, 102 on Trans & Non-binary, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Autobiographies, LGBT+ History and much more.

However, this is not just a bookstore. Queer Lit has created a community space where real readers and bloggers can discuss and review the latest books, listen to LGBT+ podcasts, discover hot topics, engage with LGBT+ authors, and up and coming aspiring writers.  We’re even helping LGBT+ book bloggers create even more exciting content with pre-launch books and arranging interviews with authors.

Matthew Cornford – Managing Director

Matthew has over 15 years of retail management and operations with some very big brands, he’s got the experience, passion and vision to make Queer Lit something really special.

“Like many people I love a good book and wanted to discover more Queer Literature. After heading into a store in Manchester describing itself as “the biggest book shop in the north” I was shocked to be told “We don’t have an LGBT+ section. You’ll need to go home and search the internet for gay books then come and find it in its relevant category”. This just wouldn’t do … and the idea for Queer Lit was born.

I didn’t want to just create an online bookstore. I wanted to create an immersive experience with everything Queer Lit. Even living in Manchester which has a vibrant gay community sadly there are still people who feel they cannot be open about who they are, or some are still on that journey of discovery, so I wanted to create a welcoming space where people can not only read about issues and characters that reflect their lives and experiences, but discuss it, and be inspired”.

Now it’s your turn to discover Queer Lit and the magnificent range of LGBT+ titles waiting to be explored.

 

This year there was a very different World AIDS Day Vigil. If you missed it you can watch the Vigil in full here. The vigil offered a moment of reflection, a chance to remember and an opportunity to look to the future.

 

Merry Christmas from The Jingle Belles