History month to tackle small town homophobia
A series of events for the LGBT community in a largely rural part of the UK will take place early next year.
Police and local councils have lent their support to the month-long programme aimed at people living in Herefordshire, Worcerstershire, Shropshire and mid-Wales.
Herefordshire’s Equality Partnership is planning their contribution to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans History Month in February 2008, called Out In The Sticks, and already a list of events is taking shape.
Authors including Paul Burston and Stella Duffy will be appearing at the county’s libraries and there will be a week-long film festival at the Courtyard, featuring gay-themed films such as the groundbreaking Dirk Bogarde film Victim, the British classic Beautiful Thing and the camp road movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
There will also be a Civil Partnership fair – a one-off event similar to bridal/wedding fairs but exclusively for civil partnerships – and a one-day conference to address issues for young LGBT people in rural areas.
Fabulous live events include: Filthy Gorgeous – Scissor Sisters Tribute Show Meets Magic of the 80s; Ceri Dupree – The UK’s greatest female impersonator since Danny La Rue and Comedy Camp, an LGBT Comedy Club.
A spokesperson for Out In The Sticks told PinkNews.co.uk:
“This is a huge project in Herefordshire which is aiming to challenge small-town homophobia.
“We’ve got funding from various sources and we’re really going for it with a month long programme of events.”
