Latest 7 magazine

Last year’s street party in St James’s Street after Preston Park was one of the highlights of Pride festival

This year’s Village Street Party will take place on the first three days of August. The group of local businesses behind the community event include: Michael Conran and Darren Hulcoop (Aquarium Theatre Bar), Ben Davie (Amsterdam), Dean Holmes (Bulldog), Simon Timpson (White Horse) Nicky Delmage and Gillian Scovell (The PV at Jury’s Out) and Dulcie Danger (DJ).

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From left Graeme Wotherspoon (Stonewall), Laura Doughty (Stonewall), Ben Summerskill (Stonewall), Simon Burgess (Labour candidate for Kemp Town), Cllr Paul Elgood (Lib Dem), and Michaela Greene (Stonewall).

It was all smiles and nods of approval at the Square Hotel in New Steine as Stonewall’s chief executive Ben Summerskill launched this year’s Brighton Equality Walk.

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Rev Debbie Gaston talks to Latest Gay about a life serving God, and why all are welcome under the umbrella of the Metropolitan church

Describe yourself. I am a woman. I am a vicar in the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC). I am a partner and a mother. I am also a lesbian but there is a lot more to me than all of the above.

Why Brighton and Hove?
Ask God. I had been living in Watford in Hertfordshire but had always felt an irresistible pull to Brighton and Hove. I eventually moved here with my partner in 1998. It was my partner Elaine’s decision, she just woke up one morning and said, “Why don’t we go now.”

This coincided with my father dying so we moved down to look after my mother, and things just started from there really. Ironically, the year we moved to Brighton was the year that the existing MCC closed down.

Tell me about Brighton MCC?
MCC is a fully inclusive Christian church in the city of Brighton and Hove. We welcome everybody who celebrates the diversity of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. When we first started in 2002 we had seven members, very mixed straight/gay congregation. We currently have around 50 members in Brighton and Hove. The MCC has over 300 churches worldwide.

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Over 70 per cent of LGBT people have suffered homophobic attacks during the past five years

Brighton and Hove is a great city to live in, the visibility of LGBT people on the streets and in the restaurants and bars indicates a thriving LGBT culture. However, a recent report from Spectrum, ‘Count Me In Too‘ – a Community Safety Report, indicates hate crimes are still very much with us.

The report indicates more than 70 per cent of LGBT people have experienced a hate crime over the past five years. Alarmingly, out of those, only a quarter reported it. While 55 per cent of those went to the police, seven per cent contacted Brighton and Hove’s LGBT community safety teams.

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