Very Interesting Pink Toon Plans

I met with a friend on Saturday afternoon in a pub in the Toon -after he sent a text telling me he was where we had agreed to meet! -Not working is messing with my head it weird ways.-Not to mention the fact that I rarely go out drinking and was still a bit dazed from Friday night, I had to jump into a taxi and got there 25 minutes late. Luckily; my friend is usually the late ones for these rendez-vous, so he let me off.

My friend has been instrumental in the continued success of the annual "Pride" event that takes place in Newcastle. I'd go as far as to say that were it not for him, the last three events would have been complete disasters. I've been critical of the organising group for being effectively closed to anyone who wasn't used to the unnecessarily bureacratic way they did things- it was also of note that most of the committee were former students who knew each other socially- but who didn't really use 'The Scene'. -I've spent lots of my professional life in (bloody) meetings, but I've worked in community settings where it was necessary to adapt the way organisations operated to fit the needs of the communities they were supposedly serving.

This committee hid their management inexperience behind a 'religious' adherance to organisational practices that were irrelevant to their actual situation and of no interest to their supposed beneficiaries. The situation was worsened by the participation of a junior local authority officer with the official status of "Observer" who in fact steered the organisation in directions they felt would be most acceptable to the city council. They would only attempt to get other people involved to deliver the crap bits of their big ideas- concepts such as consultation were never explored.

After a year bitching from the sidelines, I gave up a committe responsibility I had and submitted an application to stand for election as Chair of the organisation. 'Unfortunately' (!) my application was not received in time, though it was received well in advance of the election, the council 'Observer' deemed my application to be inadmissable and so a young woman whose stated experience was having 'been involved' in her university LGBT soc, was elected to the Chair unopposed... This prooved to be an ineffective move, but it did mean there was more reason for more 'support' from the Observer...

...But all that is "context": my friend delivered (on his trusty IPad) an exciting and well-thought out presentation about how to bring together various individuals, organisations, regular events and proposed activities to create a community interest company that could bridge the gap between the commercial operators and LGBT community groups and organisations, to create a much more palpable and dynamic concept of LGBT community than we have here at the moment. From many accounts, it would be a step back to the way the Newcastle 'Scene' used to be. And of course; if the ideas were implemented, there would be a lot more money for the commercial operators- as long as they provided what their customers actually want.

As the "Pride" festival- I'll not write too much here until its been released, but I think he's come up with a set of ideas that could really give people- and the council (!) what they really want.

The only problem was that he wanted me to rejoin the committee as a fund-raiser. I refused. I don't want anything to do with them until they take public steps to become inclusive and responsive and not (in my opinion) a predominantly middle class, young, degree-holding and inexperienced private club. Me raising funds for them is likely to perpetuate something I want to see fundamentally changed. -But I offered to be fully involved in the CIC and to restart discussions (for the third time) with the lease-holder of a building that might provide a base for LGBT community activities.