Aurora Meeting 11th September 2006
It was another very full meeting, in which we covered a lot - over 25 topics. We were lucky to have another new face, but for various reasons several people had not been able to attend. We spent some time thinking how we could improve this situation.
Peace March
It had been suggested that Aurora might support the Croydon Peace March which fell on the same day as this meeting. We had far too little notice to do anything, but would try to support it next year.
Posting minutes and agendas
Our LGBT liaison officer offered to post agendas and minutes of the meetings to help keep people in touch. But he needs the names and addresses.
BT directory listings
The LGBT liaison officer was to have met BT about putting LGBT contacts in a dedicated page in the local telephone directory but the meeting had been postponed.
Lesbian and Gay Asylum Poster
There was some feedback from the poster advertising the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Helpline: the gay people asked tended to feel that it was suggesting a loophole for people to gain asylum. It was clear that it was in fact allowing the system to work more effectively while keeping asylum seekers on the right side of the system and the law. There was also a strong case to be made that gay asylum seekers needed the right, specialist legal advice early – more than other asylum seekers. But we agreed to report the feedback back to the UK Lesbian and Gay Asylum Group.
Metropolitan Police Authority Meeting
Our Community Administrator reported back on a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority. A fuller, written report will be circulated.
Police report
Although no attacks on gay people that were out-of-the-ordinary has been reported to the police, the police stressed that more common incidents, like those of partner abuse, were still being dealt with routinely.
However an incident from last year that began with some taunting in a pub over a ‘pink shirt’ and ended in violent attacks had now reach court: the assailant had been sentenced to four years in prison and will be on license for life. The press had been informed of the outcome.
Lloyd Park Loo
Further developments on the press article were discussed and are not reported here.
Gay Police Association Advertisement
Aurora sent a letter of support to the Gay Police Association. It had recently published an advertisement in The Independent to draw attention to a marked rise in incidents against gay people where the main motivation was religious belief. The advertisement had brought numerous protests from Christians. In support of the GPA’s initiative we included some factual material on the recent rise of such incidents. Others had done the same and the GPA had expressed its gratitude.
Promotion Working Party Report
The Aurora leaflets and a covering letter had, after a delay, been sent to members of the Croydon LGBT Forum, now sadly closed, in its final mailing.
Gay-to-Z website
The pages on cruising (a small section of the Gay-to-Z website) had contained some material on two of our local cruising grounds which would be likely to make them more dangerous. The webmaster had kindly modified these pages, at our suggestion, but the modifications had been removed before we had written to thank him. We’ve now made further enquiries and are waiting for a reply.
Procedures Working Party
This is the last meeting when we can change our ‘Procedures’ and ‘Standing Orders’ relatively easily. A couple of minor modifications were made and item 19, which permits easier modification and says it is to be deleted at this meeting was duly deleted.
We agreed to re-title ourselves as a ‘Consultative’ group: ‘Croydon’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Police Consultative Group’ as this term was more readily understood and ‘consultation’ with LGBT people was what was prescribed and regulated in legislation.
We took stock of the distribution of Aurora leaflets to Brighton Pride, Victim Support, and the LGBT liaison officer asked for a large number for the freshers event at Croydon College. We’d also got some coverage in the gay press for the forthcoming AGM and elections. It was felt that newspaper advertisements were too expensive and not very effective, while news of things we’d done was much less expensive and effective.
We still did not have an Aurora poster for (e.g.) local gay venues, but the LGBT liaison officer offered to request help from outside Aurora to produce one.
AGM
We agreed the arrangements for next meeting, the AGM, in which would try to include informal reports on what Aurora had done in the previous year.
Victim Support Survey
Croydon Victim Support had asked us to distribute a questionnaire on LGBT incidents and support services. We decided to suggest to them that they run this as a London-wide project and QX and other magazines would be pleased to print and distribute the questionnaire in their pages. We shall see how they reply.
Croydon Voluntary Action
We agreed to accept an invitation to join Croydon Voluntary Action (CVA) which will help make us better known and occasionally offers useful services.
Accessibility: Aurora Postal Address
We are also looking at the possibility of getting a postal address, preferably with a central Croydon post code.
Transgender Working Party
Section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004
The document that the Working Party prepared on this topic has been passed to the LGBT liaison officer for comment. In essence it says that the new legislation affects any case where the police may need a witness to appear in court. He believes that it is on the right lines and will be taking the matter forward for use in training.
Trans-safety
The webmaster said that he was adding the transsexual issue of the ‘Lone female on a motorway’ to the Aurora website and intended to write to the Highways Authority to propose a solution. It was suggested that it may be more appropriate for the letter to the Highway authority to be sent by Trans-Pol, which has a nationwide remit rather than Aurora.
Use of the Internet Working Party Report
It was proposed that the website would look simpler if two of the main menu options were removed. The secure text box function was still not finally working, in spite of a lot of work. But a good Site Search, Site Map and Site Index are now working and provided free by freefind.com
It was also proposed to add a section on the Asian, ‘Family Honour’ practice of ‘straightening out’ gay people but we would consult with members very carefully, as this is very sensitive.
The Moderator also reported that there had been a few requests to join the e-groups. He regretted turning anyone down, but most of the requests were frivolous and the correspondents did not bother to respond when they were contacted. It was important, especially on the transgender e-list to safe-guard the identity of existing members. The meeting agreed. On the positive side two unknown people had signed onto the e-newsletter.
School Bullying
We still don't know when the Stonewall DVD will be available. The LEA had yet to be contacted for a statement of support. It was possible that there may be a source of funding for some work in Croydon Schools and Chrysalis, which has done this work in Croydon Schools before, is willing to provide the service. It was noted that the Government's anti-bullying week is the 20th -26th November 2006.
Early Day Motion – Bullying
Early Day Motion 2535 on homophobic bullying. Community members of Aurora agreed write to Croydon's three M.P.s asking them to sign the EDM.
Other Correspondence
Youth Forum and GALOP research project on Homo/transphobic hate crimes will be passed to Gemini, Firebird and others.
Funding
The workshop on applying for a grant via ‘Awards for All’ may help us get funding, later in September.
Civil Partnerships
The meeting congratulated two members who have just returned from their honeymoon (we now have two pairs of civil partners as active members).
Date of Next Meeting – the AGM
The date and place of the next meeting was confirmed as the 8th November at Croydon Town Hall and the next meeting was proposed for 17th January.
AGM nominations
Two candidates for Deputy Community Representative were nominated for the election next meeting.
One nomination for Deputy Community Representative was as unexpected as it was welcome. As a result it was agreed that the role of acting Community Representative up to the AGM would be agreed informally after the present meeting.
The Community Representative was nominated unopposed, so he will take up his post at the next meeting (the AGM).
The meeting, and the call for nominations, closed at 9:06pm
