February is LGBT History month and Northern Pride has arranged some fantastic events throughout February. Full details of each event can be found HERE!. Spaces at these FREE events are limited so you need to book as soon as possible. The dates for the events are: Sat 11th Feb 2pm to 4pm Newcastle Central Library “North East LGBT people in the media” Wed 15th Feb 6.30pm to 9pm Stage 3 Northern Stage “women like us” Thurs 23rd Feb 7.30pm Star and Shadow Cinema “diagnosing Difference” Mon 27th Feb 6pm to 9pm The Peter Sarah Theatre “A Very British Sex Scanal” If you would like any further information or to book a place please email Ken Mortimer at lgbthistory@npride.org.uk If you follow this link you can also find a fantastic LGBT History Month resource.

Thursday 9th February, Committee Room 1A, County Hall, Durham, 10:00 – 15:00 (lunch provided) This event has been designed for LGB&T people and organisations wanting to know more about current strategic health information across England.
The National LGB&T Partnership is running the event looking at a range of strategic health based issues, including: Who is the National LGB&T Partnership and what do they do? What is the current makeup of the health system? Where is it heading? How LGB&T communities can find ways at engaging with their local health systems, New NHS and Local Authority initiatives that will be key to that engagement, Training on the Personalisation Agenda and what it means to our communities. The event has been designed to be as flexible as possible so people can come to as little or as much of the day as they want, providing bite size chunks of information. A full breakdown of the day and online booking form can be found at www.lgbtconsortium.org.uk . For more info contact Paul Roberts on 0207 064 6501 or email: paul.roberts@lgbtconsortium.org.uk

Have you always wanted to improve your communications skills so you can ask for what you want and say no to the things you don’t want to do? Want to learn to say no to sex you don’t want and ask for the things you do? Power Talking is a new 2 day course that will help you learn to communicate with the people in your life clearly and confidently, about all areas of your life -your sex life included. Power Talking Begins Saturday 18th February 2012 from 10.30am to 17.30 and Continues Saturday 25th February 2012. GMFA and MESMAC North East work together to deliver the courses for gay men in Newcastle. Book your place online at: www.gmfa.org.uk/national or call: 020 7738 6872

Northern Front Runners is a new group meeting in the North East which is aiming high! Not only are they organising new meetings in Newcastle and Sunderland but they are also aiming to organise a fun gay 5K marathon in the North East! The meetings scheduled for Newcastle’s ONLY LGBT Running club: WHEN: Every WEDNESDAY evening at 6.45pm. WHERE: Gosforth Swimming Pool, Regent Farm Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE3 3HD. Sunderland’s ONLY LGBT Running club: WHEN: Every MONDAY evening at 6.45pm. WHERE: We’ar Out Entrance, 12&14 Bridge House, Bridge Street, Sunderland. SR1 1TE.  Email:  Steven Duffy – Chairman – steven@northernfrontrunners.co.uk Website: www.northernfrontrunners.co.uk

Many life stories and social histories of LGBT people are sadly LOST as they are NEVER written down. Drew Dalton a local author and sociologist is eager to write about the life experiences of LGBT men & women, who are part of, in any small way, Newcastle’s gay community. This includes those who go to LGBT social groups, support groups or use the cruising areas. Would you be interested in being part of a focus group or to be individually interviewed for the book Drew is writing? Or do you have photo’s, information or flyers that can add to the history of the scene? All names will be anonymous and information kept confidential. All interviews and focus groups will be held at MESMAC, a safe and friendly LGBT space. Tea and coffee will also be supplied! If your interested please contact Drew Dalton:
Twitter: LGBTlifehistory, Facebook: www.facebook.com/LGBTlifehistories 
Email: drewdalton@blueyonder.co.uk 

Men who have sex with men make up 69% of all HIV infections acquired through sex in the UK. The Health Protection Agency have released figures that state that in 2010 there were 3,000 gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV in the UK, the highest yearly figure since records began. For the full report check out the website HERE. Your sexual health is just as important now as ever, full STI (sexually transmitted infection) screening is highly recommended, for a list of sexual health clinics in the North East please click HERE. If your worried about HIV you can also get a 1 hour HIV test at MESMAC in Newcastle and with We’Ar Out! in Sunderland.

An invitation to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in Tyneside. Please come and talk to us about your expectations of policing services. What we are doing: We are staging a number of consultation events for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people over the next few months. Why we are doing it: We want to know: What do you think about Northumbria Police? Does our service meet the needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people? What we can do to improve our services to you? When are we doing it? The first event is taking place in January at a venue in the centre of Newcastle. How you can get involved? If you are interested in attending, future events please use the link below to register your interest and we will advise you of future events. If you would like to take part : Follow this Link! If you want to talk to someone about this event please call Ann or Jenny on 01661 868309. If you want to report something that has happened to you please call 03456 043 043 for non-urgent issues and 999 for emergencies.

Lesbian, gay or bisexual? Think you might be? Aged 11 to 19? If you are, SPEAK OUT about what life’s like in your school or college. SPEAK OUT is an online survey and is completely anonymous. The study is being carried out by researchers at the Centre for Family Research in Cambridge for Stonewall. If you’d like to take part you can find further information at www.stonewall.org.uk/speakout Or email: speakout@sdp.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 334580

A group has been meeting to develop a network for Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people, who want to play an active part in improving the experience of being LGBT in Northumberland. The group is supported by the Northumberland Community Development Network as part of its equality programme and is run by and for LGBT people. This survey is seeking the views of LGBT people who live, work or socialise in Northumberland, whether or not they feel part of any particular LGBT community. We’re interested in finding out how belonging to the LGBT ‘community’ can be made difficult because of access, transport, costs, or attitudes and whether LGBT people feel they belong to their communities as well. The survey should take around 5-10 minutes to complete. All responses will remain confidential, and people need only share contact details if they would like to be kept in touch. The survey can be accessed at the link below.
Thank you for taking part. The Northumberland LGBT Survey

We’Ar Out! (Health and Wellbeing Project) is a new LGBT service in Sunderland. The service is now offering 1 hour HIV testing by appointment on Monday’s between 9am and 5pm. To make an appointment, please call We’Ar Out! on: 0191 514 5953. This service is operated by trained MESMAC staff. We’Ar Out! also offers a lesbian social group, health advice and information (including support with alcohol issues, smoking cessation), opportunities for community engagement, group work space available for meetings/groups etc for anyone wanting to be involved or organisations which would like to work with We’Ar Out! to offer specialist wellbeing services to the LGBT community. Contact We’Ar Out! on: 0191 514 5953. Check out the We’Ar Out! page HERE!