Event: WTF

We were invited along to join WTF! (What Thursdays are For) for their 1 year birthday party. The group is a weekly meet up, of mainly Gingerbeer members, and a few friends through word of mouth, who meet at the bar in Soho Theatre on Thursdays from 6.30pm.

I arrived early and was met by a few of the members and Gillian, who is one of the main organisers who set up this weekly meeting.

Within an hour the place was buzzing and there were enough women in the bar to fill over half the space. Everyone was really friendly, and though the first question was normally ‘what’s your name on the board’, once beyond that it was the same as any other night, albeit more friendly than most I’ve been to.

If you were going along to this event on your own to meet people, I’d recommend going along early, as it is easier to be introduced to a few people before it gets busy!

It is nice to find a regular social event that is fairly central, and has an open policy. All are welcome.

Review: Susan Calman, "This Lady's Not for Turning Either" (stand up)

Venue: Soho Theatre, Dean St Soho
Tickets: from £12

Susan Calman and Katie Bennett-Hall

According to the publicity material, Susan Calman’s show “This Lady’s Not For Turning Either”, is about growing up gay in Scotland in the 1980s. Is it b*llocks. This show is an extended heartfelt plea for equal marriage rights in the 2010s. It’s also very, very funny.

Things I have learned about Civil Partnerships thanks to Susan Calman are: you are not allowed to mention the word marriage at any point during the ceremony so that’s The Proclaimers song “Let’s Get Married” and Pam Ayer’s poem, “I’ll Marry You” banned but coming down the aisle to the “Darth Vader Death March” from “Star Wars” is highly acceptable. Your mother will insist on mustard spoons being added to the wedding list even though you have never had anyone round to dinner in the last nine years. This is because “people will look at your list and judge you. If you have condiment cutlery on the list they will think you are better than you are.” Sandi Toksvig bought them! If you want to wear tweed at your wedding go to Brewer’s in Perth where the clientelle is made up entirely of lesbians and horsey types and never the twain shall meet although where that leaves our own Clare Balding was never explained!

Apart from this not being a marriage or anything Susan has a list. A list of eight reasons Lee Cormack, her partner of the last nine years, should never ever want to marry her; how, thanks to a school girl crush on Stephanie Powers in “Hart to Hart” she now knows that should you ever be trapped in air tight glass box, use the massive diamond ring your loving partner recently gave you to cut your way to freedom and safety (Cue Susan waggling a diamond encrusted ring the size of Gibraltar courtesy of Lee Cormack.); the cats, (Including dressing the cats up, skyping the cats from London and being known locally as ‘the mad cat lady’.); why Susan should be president and biting her own toe nails.  The point of the list? If somebody wants to marry me that badly surely they should be allowed to.  She’s got a point with the toe nails.

In the closing minutes of the show Susan commented that she would also like to travel at the front of the bus.  For a moment I nearly missed the reference, on December 1^st 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama Rosa Parks refused the bus driver’s instruction to move from where she was to make space for a white passenger, sparking the American Civil Rights movement.  It’s a civil rights issue pure and simple.  This is stand up which wears its heart unusually loudly on its sleeve. 

Go, you will have a fab evening and if you end the night by clicking below and signing Peter Tatchell’s petition to Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport thank you from Susan Calman, Lee Cormack and thousands of shuttered hearts.

Peter Tatchell’s suggested petition to Maria Miller is at http://www.petertatchellfoundation.org/partnerships/lobby-equalities-minister-full-equality

Susan Calman is at the Soho Theatre, until Saturday 24^th November www.sohotheatre.com

Review by Laura

Read our interview with Susan on our features blog 
 

Book review: Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage - Stephanie Coontz

There are two arguments for and against gay marriage today.  The For argument is generally, ‘Love is a human right’ and the Against tends to be for ‘Protecting the Sanctity of Traditional Marriage’.  This book examines why both views were largely irrelevant for most of human history.  Not only was love not a human right, until recently love wasn’t even a consideration when planning a marriage.  Both men and women were discouraged from too much affection for their spouse, in case it undermined their loyalty for their family, their community, or God.  As for the sanctity of marriage, the ‘’traditional” 1950’s marriage deemed worthy of God’s love, was in fact a very unusual event in Western history, an event which lasted less than 20 years.  Prior to last century, marriages were more like business mergers or investment partnerships and the married couple almost always shared their home with others of their family or community.

Stephanie Coontz studies family history and was inspired to write this book after being repeatedly asked if the institution of marriage was falling apart.  While it is true that marriage is more fragile today than the days when the church held firm against divorce, she also shows that marriage has not always been the formal institution it is now, and that the church’s own position on marriage has changed many times.  Even same-sex marriage has been previously permitted in places, provided both partners were able to commit to gender roles as firmly as any heterosexual couple.  In Rome, where male-male marriages were derided, it wasn’t two men in love which was scandalous, but the idea of a man demeaning himself by doing ‘women’s work’.

This book is not about gay marriage; instead this is a book about the changing nature of marriage itself.  Stephanie shows us that it is not gay equality that is threatening the Sanctity of Traditional Marriage, rather it was heterosexuals themselves who forever altered the institution - the growing popularity of ‘love’ matches, the desire to choose their own spouse, the breakdown of gender roles, the rise of feminism, and the acceptance of divorce and cohabitating partners - all opened the door to the inevitability of same-sex marriage.

This is a brilliant book, particularly in her comparisons to marriage myths as opposed to measurable marriage trends.  It’s also an important read during this time when marriage is going through yet another upheaval.

Review by Ida Raine

 

Jolly good show (oh yes it is!)

Tonight we joined Belle, Sharia Law, and a bunch of cheesy pouffs at the preview of the RVT panto 'The Comatose Beauty'.

 

As we've come to expect from previous years, the topical and cynical drag panto humoured a mixed audience.

Belle and her Fairy Drag Mother, Whole Star

The play on amateurism of the RVT panto - forgotten words, missed time one liners, hummed songs and broken heels have you laughing just as much as the well delivered scripted lines and all the ad libbing.

Belle making friends with the audience

Although November, we enjoyed singing along to a medley of Christmas carols which opened the second act and from there things took a turn towards the filthy involving roller skates, a grassy knoll and a humping prince. Somewhere along the way Belle became Kimberley (pantomime continuity at its best).




Lady Mayoress of Vauxhall

Like all good (and not so good) pantos, good eventually triumphed over evil, ghosts came out to play, and the heroine found true love.


Sharia Law, Belle's mother

For tranny panto at its best and worst (in a good way), we recommend The Comatose Beauty. Certainly not a family event!! We especially liked the Lady Mayoress of Vauxhall rocking the Christmas to the bossa nova, and the bonus 'magic tricks'.

The RVT Panto 'The Comatose Beauty' is on in December Wed 12, Thu 13, Wed 19, Thu 20, Thu 27 and Fri 28 December. Tickets £10 or meal and show with reserved seating for £25. Arrive early for the best seats!

Love Panto? We've put together a feature of all the LGBT Pantos on offer in London this Christmas. Take a look!

A Piece of the Cake goes to...

Yesterday Planet London hosted a fundraising event for 3 London based LGBT charities; ELOP, London Friend and Stonewall Housing.

The event, which was kindly hosted by Candy in Soho, drew in a number of lesbian and bi women of the cake-loving genre!

Carrot cakes

The guests got to sample and judge 2 kinds of brownies, lime & coconut cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, lemon, orange & thyme cupcakes, chocolate cake, banana, baileys & fudge chip cake, meringues and minstrel cookies. All proceeds from the ticket sales are being donated to the three charities, and cake judges got to vote where their donations went with our fancy sticker chart.

The charity board

In addition to the cakes there was also a tombola, which some people found quite addictive ;)

It was a lovely atmosphere in the Candy Bar on Sunday afternoon, and might not be one you'd normally associate with the well known women's venue. Famous for its popular DJs and dancing nights, Sundays take a different vibe and play host to the Sunday Social, a relaxed atmosphere with good background music and a great happy hour. I'd be tempted to go back another Sunday or two, especially as it's the last women only space in Soho.

After 90 minutes of 'letting them eat cake', we got to hear the results of the event and hand out the prizes.

AJ won 2 prizes for her lime and coconut cupcakes and gluten-free brownies. Ann won a prize for her orange and thyme cupcakes. The Stonewall Housing and London Friend nominated cakes won their category so both received an additional £50 donation from Planet London.

Thank you to all of the women that attended the event - bakers and judges; we hope you enjoyed the cake, and had a nice afternoon.

The fundraising totals were:
ELOP £25
London Friend £70
Stonewall Housing £86

Book review: A Hole in the World – Sophie Robbins

Princess Alexandra of Calpaea has been kidnapped by an evil enchantress and is now trapped in a cave, guarded over by trolls.  When she is finally rescued it wasn’t the prince charming she was expecting, but a 16 year old English teenager named Bianca.

Bianca was four when she first discovers the hole in the wall near the centre of her town, yet eleven years later it still shows up in her dreams.  Sent home in disgrace from boarding school, she is still picking up the pieces of her life when the urge to explore the hole overtakes her.  Unbeknownst to her, the hole in the wall is really a hole between worlds and inside is a princess waiting to be saved.

The book is a modern day fairy tale with a twist. Bianca and her friends are imminently likeable and faced with the prospect of a princesses death, are more than willing to go into battle.  Weighed down with backpacks and smoke bombs, the four teenagers battle flying reptiles, rats, trolls and tentacles to save a kingdom.   I suspect this book was written for teenagers, but I, as an adult, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Review by Ida Raine

Book review: The Girl Back Home – R.E. Bradshaw

Jamie had it all, a stunning wife, a lucrative job and a luxurious mansion - only to lose it all after an affair with a younger woman.  Thrown out of her home and abandoned by her friends, she packed up everything she owned and moved back to the small country town where she grew up.  Once there she has her best friend Beth for support, as well as reconnecting with her first ever crush from her youth, a woman she hasn’t seen for 25 years.

Sandy was twenty years old and married with a small child when she met sixteen year old Jamie.  Now twenty five years later Jamie is back and this time Sandy can admit to herself that she wants more than friendship.  Unfortunately Sandy still has a husband, Jamie is still in love with her ex-wife and Beth is getting suspicious.

This is an interesting book of love between women at the prime of their lives.  At seventeen and twenty one, their lives were too far apart to ever contemplate a relationship.  Now at forty two and forty six the differences don’t seem as insurmountable.  Before that can happen however, Sandy has to sort through her feelings about her marriage and Jamie has to recognise the issues in her past relationship which drove her to the affair.  Of course, being a book about the rocky road to love there has to be a lot of drama along the way, yet the characters remain realistic throughout.  This book can be long-winded at times but otherwise it’s a good read.

Review by Ida Raine