Pink plaques for Brighton?

[looney]

'Pink plaques' call for Brighton

An example of what a pink plaque could look like
A Brighton and Hove councillor has called for a "pink plaques" scheme to be introduced in the city.
The plaques would commemorate the local contributions made by members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Councillor Bill Randall, from the Brighton and Hove Green Party, wants the city council to consider the idea.

Mr Randall said the LGBT community should be able to nominate people, buildings or events to be recognised.

He said pink plaques would mark "the special LGBT contribution that makes Brighton and Hove unique among cities in England".

"When enough plaques have been put up they should be linked together in a gay and lesbian heritage trail," said Mr Randall, the Greens' culture and tourism spokesperson.


Dusty Springfield died of breast cancer in 1999 at the age of 59

"We shall put our proposal to the council at the earliest opportunity," he added.

Brighton and Hove City Council would not comment on the suggestion, saying only that a new scheme for the more traditional blue heritage plaques was already being set up.

Mr Randall identified the late singer Dusty Springfield as one person who could be remembered with a pink plaque.

According to the Brighton Ourstory website, Ms Springfield, who was bisexual, often visited her parents' home in Hove.

A blue Dusty Springfield plaque was unveiled by The Heritage Foundation at her former home in Kensington, London, in 2001.

Another suggested name for a pink plaque was Tony Stuart, who ran the Forty Two Club on Brighton's seafront for more than 20 years during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.





http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4688460.stm


Daft.


Discuss

 

[dougdeep]

Seems reasonable. It was in yesterdays Argus.

 

[looney]

Well that settles it, if the argus wants em I dont.

 

[Icy Gull]

What's wrong with the plaques already used, why should the gay community have their own, or is that an um pc homophobic thought

 

[The Large One]

A plaque for Dusty Springfield (and her name on a bus) because her PARENTS lived in Hove? So, let's get this straight (her, her), her parents lived here, but - um- she didn't? Classic. Dusty Springfield commemorated purely because, um, she was popular.

Don't get me wrong, I adore most of her work and am a big fan (I AM NOT GAY), but don't dish them out willy-nilly.

Are there any gay/bi-sexual people who made an active contribution to the history or culture of the towns (now one city) of Brighton & Hove, other than just being a visitor? Do tell...

 

[bhaexpress]

What's wrong with the plaques already used, why should the gay community have their own, or is that an um pc homophobic thought

What gets me is that gays want to be allowed to live as 'normal' people but if that's the case why bother to draw attention to themselves ?

 

[looney]

And on a serious note how much will this little stunt cost the Brighton tax payer?

Isn't it rather conveniant with council elections comming up and do the householders have a veto over plaques placed on their property?


What would the effect on property values be? Up or down?

 

[jonny.rainbow]

OMFG



















Dusty Springfiled is dead?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

A real sign of PC madness.

So blue signifies heterosexual? Surely the people should be recognised for their work, not their sexuality. If we are expected to accept homosexuality as normal, then why should a pink plaque be used. Surely that signifies its abnormality.

 

[Grendel]

I didn't realise Dusty Springfield was dead. I thought she'd only just had a new album out.

 

[dougdeep]

What gets me is that gays want to be allowed to live as 'normal' people but if that's the case why bother to draw attention to themselves ?

Gays are normal people surely.

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

got no time for any of this





its all bollocks

 

[looney]

Gays are normal people surely.

The norm refers to what is standard, so with respect to shagging no. That doesn't mean they are abnormal as in Palace fans.

Ask NMH as he's a raving chutney ferret so we can hear it from the horses mouth, or homo's mouth.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

"When enough plaques have been put up they should be linked together in a gay and lesbian heritage trail," said Mr Randall, the Greens' culture and tourism spokesperson.

Yes, why not! It could be interesting traipsing from one public convenience to the next reading pink plaques recording such momentos events such as "Lord Olivier entertained Danny Kaye here"

FFS

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

as if we're not ridiculed enough

 

[The Large One]

I'm not so much worried about any ridicule (as Brighton fans, we already get plenty of that - yawn, yawn), or if it's going to cost the taxpayer money (the City Council does seem fairly ambivalent to the idea), it's the banal tokenism of it.

'Look at us, look at us, there was a gay person once lived here.. Oooooh'. Sake, who cares? Why should anyone be defined by their sexuality? It's all so utterly pointless.

 

[bhaexpress]

And on a serious note how much will this little stunt cost the Brighton tax payer?

Isn't it rather conveniant with council elections comming up and do the householders have a veto over plaques placed on their property?


What would the effect on property values be? Up or down?

Very astute questions especially the last one, very good point.

 

[Infernal Optimist]

Our council is run by a Gay mafia detirmined to pursue their own agenda.

I couldn't care less who people want to shag as long as there old enough to consent. What I do object to is the idea that Brighton should be defined by its largely imported gay community.

I've got news for them, this town was here long before they decided to turn it into a mini San Francisco and I think the local population is starting to tire of all this PC nonsense 'celebrating' diversity. Yeah, your different, so am I, I'm short, perhaps the council will support Short bloke pride?

Sod off back north and leave us alone...

 

[Lord Bracknell]

From http://gay.brighton.co.uk/famousnames.htm#


The front runners:-


Aubrey Beardsley 1872-1898

There is a plaque at 31 Buckingham Road, Brighton, where Victorian illustrator Beardsley was born. A complex character, he apparently desired affairs with both sexes and was rumoured to have fathered the child his sister Mabel miscarried in 1892.
The following year Beardsley met Oscar Wilde and illustrated his play Salome. His distinctive drawing style became associated with Wilde, and after Wilde's imprisonment for sexual offences with a male prostitute, work proved hard to get. It eventually lead to his dismissal as art editor of the literary journal The Yellow Book.


Edward Carpenter 1844-1929

A blue plaque at 45 Brunswick Square, Hove, commemorates where Carpenter was born. As an adult his political writings made him a key figure in British socialism but he also wrote on Homogenic Love. After sandal making and communes, Carpenter settled down in Sheffield with lover George Merrill. He published a collection of homoerotic poetry, and apparently Merrill inspired EM Forster to write his gay love story Maurice. Carpenter also helped set up the British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology, studying unheard of things like women's sexuality and homosexuality!


Ivy Compton-Burnett 1884-1969

One of 13 children, Ivy was born in London and brought up a vegetarian by her father, a successful doctor. The family owned property in Hove and soon settled at 20 The Drive, which is now marked by a blue plaque. In 1918 Ivy met writer and antiques specialist Margaret Jourdain, and a romantic friendship blossomed. They settled in London and Ivy carved herself a career as a writer, creating novels that feature some rather feminine men, and some independent women involved in strong friendships! She would be slightly alarmed to find herself here, but honest Ivy, we mean no offence.


Eric Gill 1882-1940

There is a commemorative plaque just to the right of the front door at 31 Hamilton Road, Brighton, where Gill was born.He married Ethel Moore in 1904 and moved to nearby Ditchling. The son of a local curate, Gill co-founded the Christian craft society The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic. A fine artist and stone carver, Gill carved the inscription on Oscar Wilde's tomb in Paris. As well as being fond of erotic imagery Gill was sexually inquisitive, and his diaries record his adventures, including same sex physical experience. Oh yes. Read them if you doubt me, that's where I read it!


Ivor Novello 1893-1951

David Ivor Davies to his mum, he became a household name in 1914 with his popular composition Keep The Home Fires Burning. A fine soprano and songwriter, Prime Minister Winston Churchill once joked that he had found him musical in bed! Novello the actor was hailed as the new Valentino, and in 1917 met his lover, the actor Bobbie Andrews. A plaque at the Lanes Hotel, 70-72 Marine Parade, Brighton, celebrates Novello staying there, writing his 1935 successful show Glamorous Nights. Regency Brighton inspired his 1945 hit Perchance To Dream, though who knows where he got the idea for his last show Gay's The Word!


Terence Rattigan 1911-1977

At 79 Marine Parade, the corner of Bedford Street, there's a blue plaque on Bedford House. It celebrates the playwright Terence Rattigan, who bought the property in 1961. He is probably best remembered for writing The Browning Version, as well as the play that became the film The Prince and the Showgirl, and the film script for Graham Greene's Brighton Rock. One time lover of the Tory MP 'Chips' Channon, Rattigan's work often dealt with difficult relationships. He continued to write after World War II, despite being seen as rather old - fashioned, and funded Joe Orton's first play Entertaining Mr Sloane in 1964.


Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie)

No plaques here, but the infamous pair made several trips to the Brighton area, indeed Wilde wrote The Importance of Being Earnest in nearby Worthing. Oscar's favourite hotel was apparently The Royal Albion, 35 Old Steine , Brighton. On one occasion while staying there, the unlucky pair crashed their horse - drawn carriage into the railings by Regency Square on Hove sea front, Wilde telling the papers it was an accident of no importance! Wilde left the country after his trial and imprisonment, while Douglas married and had a son. The marriage didn't work out and in 1925 he moved with his mum to 35 Fourth Avenue, Hove, before moving again in 1935 to Flat 1, St Anne's Court, Nizell's Avenue.


Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf

Again no plaques, but our passionate friends stayed in Brighton and Hove at various times. Virginia spent several summers as a child at 9 St Aubyns in Hove, and moved as an adult to nearby Lewes and eventually Rodmell, with husband Leonard. Vita on the other hand took up refuge at her mum's place, 39 - 40A Sussex Square in Brighton, during the scandal of her affair with Violet Trefusis in 1919. Incidentally it was at Brighton train station that Vita picked up a paper and discovered her Violet was engaged to be married!

 

[Porky]

Maybe the "Trail" should lead to the nearest clinic for the treatment of LGV Chlamydia. An ucoming plague.
I kid you not !!