Aug06 to Jul07

Marlene Dietrich

The Marlene Dietrich Story – The success of our Marlene Dietrich evening last year has encouraged us to put it on again as part of this year’s Pride Festival. If you missed it the first time round, now is your chance to catch this engrossing presentation in which Terry Sanderson explores the personal and public life of one of history’s most magnificent gay divas. Marlene Dietrich was a bisexual entertainer who lost her religion during the war, but went on from her fantastic film career to become one of the great cabaret entertainers of all time. In this show we see a generous selection of her best film numbers, take a look at her war work, and then see a full showing of Marlene in concert, in 1963 when she was at the top of her game, accompanied by Burt Bacharach and his orchestra. An evening of fun, nostalgia and camp. Admission is £10 per person. Tickets are limited so please book early to ensure a place. This event is part of the Pride London Festival and proceeds go to GALHA. See separate pages for further details and online bookings.

Introducing Gay Families to Schoolchildren – a panel discussion to mark the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO).

On 11 March this year The Observer newspaper ran a story with the subheading “Religious groups attack circulation of books raising gay issues among primary school pupils”. There has been a great deal of scaremongering and misinformation about books aimed at primary school pupils that deal honestly with gay issues, such as same-sex parents or gay youth. Come along to find out the truth behind the headlines and discuss these issues with our distinguished panellists, including:

• Sue Sanders from Schools OUT, an organisation providing a formal and informal support network for all people who want to raise the issue of homophobia and heterosexism in education.
• Vanda Carter, illustrator of Spacegirl Pukes, one of the books at the centre of the controversy.
• Sophie Laws and Wendy Nicholson from Out For Our Children, a London-based group of lesbian parents producing books and resources that reflect their children’s lives and family experiences.

Members of the panel will give a short presentation and then the floor will be opened up for questions. For more information, contact Cliff James (secretary@galha.org).

The GALHA Film Festival 2007 takes place just ahead of the famous London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival which opens on 21 March. See separate pages for full details and online bookings.

Darwinism versus Intelligent Design: the Dover Case Revisited – a special meeting to mark Darwin Day, which is now an annual feature of the humanist calendar. Our speaker, Peter Hearty, explains:

“Intelligent Design (ID) is the proposal that there is evidence of design in nature and that this can only be explained by the existence of an intelligent designer. Its proponents claim that this is a scientific theory and therefore merits inclusion in school science classes. In Autumn 2005, they had the opportunity to put their case before a court of law, as parents from the US town of Dover, Pennsylvania, sued their local school board over the issue. This was the first independent public test of ID’s claims. It failed that test miserably.“

Brought up in a Catholic family, Peter was sent off to a junior seminary for budding priests in his teens. He found that career opportunities for atheists within the Roman Catholic Church were limited, and left to study maths and physics instead. He has been arguing with creationists, both online and offline, for about five years and has lectured to South Place Ethical Society at Conway Hall on the scientific case against creationism. He has debated on Premier Christian Radio with advocates of Intelligent Design including Dr Tom Woodward, director of the C. S. Lewis Society and author of Doubts about Darwin, and Peter Williams of the Damaris Trust – the latter interview winning a gold medal at the New York Radio Awards last year. He is a life member of the National Secular Society and is currently studying for a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of London.

Marlene Dietrich

“Good Evening, Miss Dietrich” – a show hosted by Terry Sanderson. Marlene Dietrich was not only an A-grade film star and entertainer; she was also a lesbian and an atheist. She led an extraordinary life, explored here using extremely rare archive material. The show explores in detail her achievement as one of the great entertainers of the 20th century – not only her film career (with many great camp classics), but also her war heroism. It concludes with a showing, in its entirety, of one of her famous cabaret performances, recorded in Stockholm in 1963, when she was at the height of her powers and accompanied by Burt Bacharach. This film is not available anywhere else and this represents a unique opportunity to see it. Admission is £10 per person. Tickets are limited so please book now. See separate pages for further details and online bookings.

GALHA is pleased to announce that the courageous young Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev (see 10 November below) is the guest-of-honour and speaker at our popular Annual Lunch. As last year, the lunch will be held in the private function room of Chez Gerard, South Bank, London. The price is £26.50 per person. To book, just e-mail secretary@galha.org or phone 01926 858450.

Nikolai Alekseev

The Russian gay rights campaigner Nikolai Alekseev and a panel discuss homophobia in Russia and other Eastern European countries and talk about their experiences at Moscow’s first gay pride march, held on 27 May 2006. The meeting includes a film presentation.

Nikolai Alekseev is a lawyer who lives and works in Moscow. He is the founder and head of Project GayRussia and the executive secretary of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). He has been actively challenging homophobia in Russia for the last four years and took a leading role in Moscow Pride in May. Since then he has been very active in campaigns in other Eastern European countries, notably Latvia. Joining him on the panel are:

• Andy Harley – editor of UK Gay News
• Derek Lennard – former chairperson of GALHA and a speaker at IDAHO 2006 in Moscow
• Jason Pollock – executive director of Pride London
• Peter Tatchell – campaigner for gay and human rights

George Hargreaves

Religious Rights versus Gay Rights: Should the Gay Police Association be prosecuted for inciting religious hatred? – a panel discussion on threats to prosecute members of the Gay Police Association (GPA) following their advert in the 29 June 2006 edition of The Independent. The panellists include a representative from the GPA, Ted Brown from Black Gays and Lesbians Against Media Homophobia, Savi Hensman from the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, and the Rev. George Hargreaves, the evangelical Christian who is planning to bring a private prosecution of members of the GPA.

The advert pictured a bible next to a pool of blood with the text: “In the last 12 months, the Gay Police Association has recorded a 74% increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious belief of the perpetrator.” Was the advert justified? What is the extent of religiously-motivated attacks on gay people? Does the advert incite religious hatred? Is there a basis for the prosecution? Are too many people – both religious and gay – being investigated for simply speaking their minds?

The audience will have an opportunity to challenge the panellists, so come along and join the debate.

This year’s GALHA Annual Residential Weekend Gathering takes place at the Chaucer Hotel in the historic city of Canterbury, of which the novelist Virginia Woolf is said to have written “there is no lovelier place in the world ... and I have seen Venice too.” The Chaucer Hotel has three-star accommodation and is two minutes’ walk from the city centre and cathedral. As usual, the programme for the weekend will include a tour of the city, an entertainment or talk, our AGM and a coach excursion. The price per person per night for dinner, bed and breakfast is £54.00 (standard rate), or £27.00 (discount rate for people on low income). Members paying the standard rate are encouraged to pay a little extra to subsidise the discount rate. A limited number of single rooms are available without supplementary charge; when these are taken, a supplement of £15 per night is payable for single occupancy of a double or twin room. All members of GALHA and their friends are welcome. For further details and a booking form, please contact George Broadhead (e-mail secretary@galha.org).

Women’s Rights, the Veil and Islamic and religious laws – a seminar for International Women’s Day, with speakers:

• Sonja Eggerickx – President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union
• Ann Harrison – Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Department of Amnesty International’s International Secretariat
• Maryam Namazie – Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran’s International Relations Committee, winner of the National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year Award 2005 and international TV producer
• Taslima Nasrin – Physician, writer, radical feminist, human rights activist and secular humanist

We will also show, for the first time, a short film entitled In the name of honour by Reza Naradi.

Admission is free. Refreshments will be served. Nearest tube stations: Russell Square and Goodge Street. For more information call 07719 111 738 or 07950 924 434.

The seminar is co-sponsored by the International Campaign in Defense of Women’s Rights in Iran – UK, the National Secular Society and the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.

Francis Crick’s place in history – the British Humanist Association Darwin Day Lecture 2007, given by Matt Ridley and chaired by Professor Richard Dawkins FRS. Tickets: £7 (£5 for BHA members). Order by telephone on 020 7079 3580. See the BHA website for further information.

LGBT History Month – an opportunity for all of us to learn more about the histories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Britain and Northern Ireland, with events across the country throughout February. See the Events Calendar on the LGBT History Month website for full details.