Biphobic Hate Crime

by nottmbitopia

**Trigger warning – hate crime**

The Crown Prosecution Service published new guidance last week on prosecuting hate crime. Their statement can be found here:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/latest_news/cps-publishes-new-public-statements/

I was particularly pleased to see that for the first time the CPS’ policy took into account that victims of biphobic hate crime will have different needs and experiences to victims of homophobic and transphobic hate crime.

The new policy doesn’t change the law on what defines hate crimes. However, it means that police and prosecutors will give hate crime additional focus, including biphobic hate crime.

All too often I feel that biphobia is simply treated as a subspecies of homophobia, when it is its own distinct issue. While bisexual people are less likely to be the victims of violent assaults, they are more likely to face constant tacit biphobia, from having their sexuality doubted to being interrogated about their sex lives and some people assuming they automatically be up for a threesome. It’s also an unfortunate fact that bisexuals sometimes face discrimination from within the LGBTQ community.

So while the proof will be whether there are any prosecutions for biphobic hate crime, I find it encouraging that the CPS has decided to take biphobia seriously.

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Nottinghamshire Police have invited me to attend their next LGBT hate crime meeting and I will do my best to represent the B in LGBT there. I would be very interested in hearing from anyone that’s experienced biphobic hate crime that would be willing for me to share their experiences at the meeting (on an anonymous basis). Please drop me (Alan) an email if you would like to discuss this:
nottinghambitopia@gmail.com.

Events coming up in February 2017

by unchartedworlds

There’s a lot of bi & LGBTQ stuff coming up in Nottingham (and Leicester and Derby) in February!

Sunday 5th, Nottingham

Intersections: In Conversation with Nottingham’s LGBT Community, at Nottingham Contemporary, 2pm to 6pm.  Free – please book.

Thursday 9th, Nottingham

Usual once-a-month informal BiTopia meetup at the Lord Roberts pub in Nottingham city centre.  All bi-friendly people welcome – just turn up.  Free, though you’ll probably want to buy a drink.  Small step to enter pub, stairs to toilets.

Saturday 11th, Nottingham

No More Valentines #2 at the Chameleon Arts Café.  Bands, buffet food, queer bingo, dancing.  5pm till late.  Fundraiser for QTIPOC Notts.  £3 to £6, “no-one turned away for lack of funds”.

Sunday 12th, Derby (note: erroneously listed here as 11th originally – sorry about that)

11am till 2pm: Derbyshire LGBT+ host a book launch for bi book “Purple Prose”, with brunch.  Free.

2pm till 3pm: Derbyshire bi people’s consultation about a possible new bi group.  Free.

Sunday 12th, Nottingham

12 noon to 4pm: Queer Kaffe at the Sumac Centre.  Live music, vegan brunch, haircuts.  Another fundraiser for the wonderful QTIPOC Notts.  The Sumac Centre has flat access via the back door on Beech Avenue, and a wheelchair toilet.

Also on Sunday 12th in Nottingham, a bit later on…

4.30pm:  “Purple Prose: Bisexuality in Britain” at Five Leaves bookshop. Talks from some of the bi writers behind the book.  £3.  Flat access to the shop, wheelchair toilet.

(If coming on from the Sumac Centre to Five Leaves, you can get any yellow line bus from Beech Avenue bus stop on Sherwood Rise.)

Monday 13th, Nottingham

Lesbian & bi women’s cafe at Nottingham Women’s Centre. Free. “A drop-in evening for any women identifying as lesbian, bisexual or questioning – with a little bit of food and a lot of conversation”.  5.30pm – 7.30pm every second Monday of the month at Nottingham Women’s Centre, 30 Chaucer Street, Nottingham, NG1 5LP. Contact Mel at the women’s centre if you want someone to meet you beforehand.

Friday 17th, Leicester

An evening with bi songwriter Tom Robinson.  Free – please book.

Sunday 19th, Nottingham

Screening of Pay It No Mind – The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson, at Broadway Cinema. Free – please book.  Part of the University of Nottingham’s LGBT History Month events. “All of our screens are accessible to wheelchair users and people with limited mobility, however we have limited spaces available. If you would like to reserve a wheelchair space or one of our more accessible seats, do contact us ahead of time so we can make sure to reserve the best seats available for you.”

Monday 20th, Nottingham

Finding a voice: minority identities within and beyond LGBTQ+ – details t.b.c.
Update: Details for this are now available, and it’s 6.30pm till 8.15pm at the New Art Exchange. Free – please book. NAE has good wheelchair access inc toilet and lifts. “New Art Exchange has 2 disabled parking spaces at the rear of the building, just off Noel Street. For access to the spaces, simply call New Art Exchange on 0115 924 8630 in advance of your visit.”

Wednesday 22nd, Nottingham

LGBT organising and the police: a discussion, at Five Leaves bookshop.  Free – please book.  Flat access to the shop, wheelchair toilet.

Monday 27th, Nottingham

Political upheaval and the LGBT community: building resilience in a changing world – details t.b.c.
Update:  Details for this are now available, and it’s 6.30pm till 8.15pm at the Arts Centre Lecture Theatre at Lakeside, University Park campus.  Free – please book.

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More listings here:

https://nottstranshub.wordpress.com/category/bulletin/

and here:

http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/peopleandculture/2017/01/26/events-lgbt-history-month-2017/

BiTopia at Notts Pride 2016

by nottmbitopia

Here is a very belated post to share photos from our third time participating in the Nottinghamshire Pride Parade in July.

I started the morning by arriving early to meet people who wanted to join BiTopia for the parade through the city centre. I know there are reservations and criticisms regarding the commercialisation of Prides (which I share too) but I still love to see local and national businesses put signs, flags, and rainbow coloured items on display. It makes me feel more supported, fosters an atmosphere of celebration, and raises awareness in the city centre that Pride is happening.

The photo shows four business decorated for Pride. A brightly coloured rainbow display in a local bead shop, a Costa & Sainsbury’s with banners, and the Hartley’s cafe cow wrapped in a rainbow flag.

As we stood waiting to set off we passed around signs, flags, banners, whistles, etc. and took photos of each other. There was a great buzz in the air as the fire engine drove into place and the samba music began – and then we were off!

One thing I love about Nottinghamshire Pride is that the city is so small the parade effectively shuts down all pedestrian streets through the centre making us very visible. People have to see and hear some our messages. They have to wait for us to pass. It is a wonderful (albeit brief) take over.

For me this Pride felt different from previous ones I’ve attended. It felt more inclusive of minority groups within the LGBTQ+ umbrella that are normally ignored, erased, and discriminated against as QTIPOC Notts and Notts BLM led the parade followed by local trans and bi groups. This was the first time I have ever seen a BME group lead a pride parade. I hope it happens more often in the future.

BiTopia attendance was difficult to count as many people were there holding signs and flags to support and represent more than one group which was great to see.

There was also a minutes silence for victims of the Orlando shootings which happened the month before.

As usual I have barely been able to find any photos of the bi, trans, QTIPOC and BLM groups in the media. This erasure angers, saddens, and disgusts me.

However BiTopia flags and members are visible in the background on the ITV news website, and there is a photo of QTIPOC members and the Chameleons banner there too. Communities Inc also have a shot of BiTopia members and a very brief video clip of BLM leading the parade. The Notts Post website has a photo featuring a lot of trans groups and trans flags.

A few more of my photos are below:

The first photo shows my view of the front of the parade waiting to set off. Everyone is facing away from the camera. Bi, trans, and rainbow flags are visible. There are signs against bi erasure. Intersectional signs with messages such as ‘Black Lesbian Lives Matter’ or ‘Black Nonbinary Lives Matter’ are also being held in the air.

 

A photo of some of the people walking in the parade with BiTopia. They are smiling and holding signs and bi flags. Some have rainbow coloured flowers round their necks and/or bi flags round their shoulders like capes. The main BiTopia banner is visible. The message reads ‘Bringing together bi people in the East Midlands.’

 

After the parade BiTopia members met up in various different venues around the city centre to socialise.

I have now left the area so this will be my last Nottinghamshire Pride for a while but I am really proud of what we have achieved over the past 3 years and have many great memories. Thank you to everyone for your support during these last three Prides.

If you still live in the area you are most welcome to join BiTopia for Pride in 2017!

 

Hannah

 

January 2016 BiTopia Pub Social

by nottmbitopia

We did think our usual hang out was going to be closed for refurbishment this month, however we are safe for now!

So join us for our pub social in The Lord Roberts pub at 24 Broad Street (NG1 3AN) on Thursday 14th January. We’ll be there at the usual times from 7:30pm-11:00pm.

Group leader Pete will meet and greet.

More info can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1006562626069786/

Bi Events in 2016

by nottmbitopia

Write these dates down for next year so you can keep them free and come along!

2016 BiTopia Pub Socials (always the 2nd Thursday of the month)

• 14th Jan
• 11th Feb
• 10th March
• 14th April
• 12th May
• 9th June
• 14th July
• 11th Aug
• 8th Sept
• 13th Oct
• 10th Nov
• 8th Dec

 

The Big Bi Fun Day – Sat 14th May
This is a family friendly afternoon at The Friends Meeting House in Leicester.

Nottinghamshire Pride – Sat 30th July.

BiCon 2016 – 4th – 7th August – tickets now on sale.

 

New Group Leader for BiTopia

by nottmbitopia

We have a new group leader to organise the monthly pub socials (and other events) for BiTopia. His name is Pete, and you can reach him by emailing nottinghambitopia-atsign-gmail.com if you have any problems or questions, or just want to chat to someone about the group.

We’re sure he will do a great job in keeping the group going and we wish him every success for the future.

We would like to say thanks to Pete and all the other attendees/volunteers who help out with the group for giving up their time to keep BiTopia running. We couldn’t do it without you!

 

Could you lead BiTopia?

by nottmbitopia

It is with great sadness that I am writing to let you know that I plan to leave Nottingham around February 2016. Before the big move I also plan on traveling abroad in December and January.

This means that going forward BiTopia will need someone, or a few people, to keep it going. I’m letting people know early so if anyone wants to volunteer their time we have time to do a handover and work together for a while.

What does running a group involve?

Here is a list of things I do:

• be at the pub once a month to run the pub social
• keep a blog of what we do, and promote events online
• write up events and news for Bi Community News Magazine
• march in the Nottinghamshire Pride Parade
• organise additional socials, eg. after BiCon, at Christmas, plus BiTalkias and workshops
• run something for Bi Visibility Day
• provide emotional support for members on an ad hoc basis, e.g. to help find a therapist, chat with when feeling suicidal, help nervous people feel welcome at the social, listen to people who turn to me for help when struggling with their sexuality
• keep up to date with bi news and issues, to filter information out to group members
• liaise with police, LGBT+ Groups in the area to provide speakers on bi issues when requested, and join in with activism such as IDAHoBiT Day events
• buddy up with/promote other groups in the area, e.g. QT Notts, Notts Trans Hub.

People can of course volunteer to do some of these things, or just what they want/are able to do. E.g. keep some form of regular meet up going, but not worry about the rest.

How much time do I spend running BiTopia?

During a week when nothing is happening, about an hour over the course of the week for things like tweeting, checking social media, and replying to emails.

During the week with an event on, like Bi Visibility Day, about 8-10 hours over the course of the week which includes getting everything sorted and running the event.

If anyone is interested, please let me know! If you want more info before making a decision, just let me know and we’ll have a chat about it.

Email nottinghambitopia-atsign-gmail.com

Thank you!

Hannah

Bi Visibility Day Success

by nottmbitopia

During the day I did a small bit of Bi activism on Twitter.

The photo shows a tweet from the BiTopia account.  (User handle NottmBiTopia.) It says “Don’t erase. Don’t ignore. Don’t stereotype. Don’t discriminate against me. Don’t be violent towards me. INCLUDE ME.”

That evening we had a wonderful turnout for the photos & speech at the Robin Hood Statue; many more people than I’d anticipated! The main bulk of the crowd were members of the LGBT+ Youth Group Outburst, as Jennifer (and friend) were going down to do a talk with them afterwards and their venue was just a few minutes away. Representatives from the police, Unison, and Nottingham University were also there along with members from a few different local LGBT+ groups.

The photo shows about 30 people, holding purple umbrellas, bi and trans flags, and banners from Unison, the police and the Uni of Nottingham. The crowd surrounds a statue of Robin Hood with an arrow in his bow, about to fire. The statue has been decorated with rainbow bunting and a bi flag.

I also got my photo taken with the representatives from the police. The uniformed officer present was actually the person whose image is used on the cardboard cut outs of policemen stood in shops in order to prevent shoplifting. It kind of felt like having a minor local celebrity present which was rather exciting. I enjoyed it when he put his hat on my head!

The photo captures the moment just before the intended shot is taken. Five people stand behind a rainbow flag with the Notts Police logo on, not quite ready for the camera. Some are looking at each other rather than the lens. A policeman in uniform is putting his hat on the woman next to him.

After the photos had been taken Jennifer gave a wonderful short speech about Bi Visibility Day and I handed out some cake. Once we had packed everything up Jennifer went over to Outburst whilst I headed up to the Friends’ Meeting House for the second event of the evening.

The photo shows a cake covered in white icing, with the words “Happy Bis Day!” iced in blue on top. A purple unicorn soft toy and a rubber duck sit next to the cake, looking happy as if they are about to take a bite!

An image showing Jennifer stood in front of the aforementioned statue, wearing a purple shirt for Bi Vis Day

We had a nice, quiet social at The Friends’ Meeting House with some interesting discussions taking place. Jennifer and her friend (sorry I’ve forgetton their name!) arrived later in the evening and said everything at Outburst had gone well. As usual for BiTopia events, somewhere between a quarter to a third of the people there were first time attendees. I was happy to note that they seemed to get a lot out of coming along, and two of them have since been to our monthly pub social. I was really happy with how well everything turned out, and I had a really great evening.

BiTopia Events in July & August

by nottmbitopia

I hope you can join us for the following if you’re free:

• July Pub Social, Thursday 9th July, The Lord Roberts Pub, Broad Street, Nottingham, NG1 3AN.
  7:30-11:00pm. Look for the rubber duck on the table to find us!

• Nottinghamshire Pride Parade, Saturday 25th July.
  Meet us at the corner of Listergate and Castlegate at 11:00am. More details below.

• BiCon 2015! http://2015.bicon.org.uk
  Many BiTopia attendees will be going.

• August Pub Social, Thursday 20th August. Same times and place as the July pub social. Please note the change of date.This has been pushed back a week because of BiCon 2015.

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Pride Parade Details

I would absolutely love to match the amazing turn out we had last year. Let’s put some purple into Pride and remind everyone bisexuals exist.

As usual the Pride organisers are not so…erm…organised. So I’m expecting some last minute time changes again, but here’s what we’ve got so far:

“The March will start from Castlegate and will set off at 11.30am. Be Colourful, Noisy and PROUD!!”

Unhelpfully, that’s all the info they’ve provided!

So let’s meet at 11:00pm on the corner of Listergate, Albert Street and Castlegate. If you came last year, it will be the same place we met last year. If you didn’t come last year, walk down Albert Street from St Peter’s Square as if you’re going to train station. The parade start point is the first crossroads you’ll come to. You will be able to find me very easily. I will be the person with long brown hair and specs carrying two washing poles and a banner!

I’m going to get a banner with the BiTopia logo printed on for us. Please can you bring whistles, flags, poi, etc. I’d suggest wearing flat, comfortable shoes if you’re walking. Please wear purple if you can!

Access: As soon as I know the route map for the parade I will post it. Last year the road/pavement surfaces were quite smooth and flat and there were no steps, however the parade did go up and down some slopes on streets like Pelham Street.

After the parade we can go and get some food and drink somewhere to unwind and relax.

IDAHOBIT 2015

by nottmbitopia

This year there will be a ‘stream’ in Nottingham city centre on Sunday 17th May for IDAHOBIT.

Join forces with us as we try and get as many people as possible to ‘stream in’ to the Brian Clough statue in Old Market Square from different starting points. The stream I’m co-leading will start at The Lord Roberts pub. Please meet us there at 12:30 and bring rainbow/bi/trans etc. flags or whistles or signs to hold whilst we walk to the statue.

After speeches at the statue from 1pm, there will be various LGBT activities held throughout the afternoon. Nottingham BiTopia will go for a picnic if the weather is nice! There will also be an after party at the Foresters, or a showing of Milk at Broadway.

Just in case some people reading don’t know, IDAHOBIT stands for the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. It happens on 17th May to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder. One activity that usually happens on the day is that local services, groups, businesses and organisations fly a rainbow flag to raise awareness and pledge their support to help stop violence and discrimination against LGBTQI people.

Some people/groups/organisations still call it IDAHO or IDAHOT day, but if they do please point them in the direction of the official website. 2015 is the first year bisexuals have (finally!) been officially included!

IDAHO was created in 2004.

“In 2009, Transphobia was added explicitly in the title of the name, in the recognition of the very different issues at stake between sexual orientation and gender expression. “IDAHOT” became another popular acronym used alongside the initial one.

Since 2015, biphobia is added to the title, to acknowledge the specific issues faced by bisexual people.”

This year, emails and Facebook groups about the events happening in Nottinghamshire for IDAHOBIT originally used the acronym IDAHO. These have now been changed to IDAHOBIT, along with wording that goes beyond just mentioning gay, lesbian and homophobia, so it is worth pushing for a name change for bi and trans inclusion if you have the spoons.

Here is the Facebook group for Nottinghamshire: https://www.facebook.com/groups/738691312817067

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Richard Townsley for being the main organiser behind the flag raisings and other events happening in the county for IDAHOBIT. He’s put so much time and hard work in. I have a lot of respect for him and the work he’s doing. Thanks to everyone else who’s helping and putting their time and resources in as well.

I highly recommend the following if you are looking for resources, information and statistics to use for IDAHOBIT:

• Official Site: http://dayagainsthomophobia.org
• Bi Resource Centre: http://www.biresource.net/bihealthmonthlinks.shtml
• Blog of BiPhoria group leader and editor of BCN Magazine: http://jenyockney.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/my-speech-for-manchester-idahobit-vigil.html

Whether you are able to organise or take part in an event or just mention IDAHOBIT on social media, these links are a great place to start.

Hannah