LGBT
Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication to gay@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Suzanne Black. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
Thursday 27 Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See review, right. Part of Glasgay!
Friday 28 Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27.
Saturday 29
Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. See Thu 27. ■ Opportunity Frocks Arta, 62 Albion Street, 07505 835723. 7–10.30pm. £12.50. Get out the fishnets and the rouge: it’s the final of the search for the UK’s Next Top Drag Queen with proceeds to Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland. Tickets from www.jpevents.co.uk or 07505 835723. ■ Cheri’s Christmas Cracker Classic Grand, 18 Jamaica Street, 847 0820. 8pm–midnight. £15. Festive innuendo from female impersonator Cheri Trieffel and a cabaret night that includes a Robbie Williams tribute act, male strippers and male vocalists. Tickets from 0870 220 1116. Edinburgh FREE Queer Mutiny Forest Café (Upstairs hall), 3 Bristo Place, 220 4538. 8pm–2am. This month the party begins with a short talk by residents of Faslane peace camp before the usual music and cake. See edinburghqueermutiny@gmail.com for details.
Sunday 30
Glasgow ✽✽ Eat Me Drink Me Stereo, 20–28 Renfield Lane, 222 2254. 8pm–3am. £5 (£4 if dressed for the theme). Club Swallows and Amazons promises ‘an ectoplasmic evening of Victorian psychedelia’ with bands, DJs, cabaret, a Victorian photo booth and fortune telling. FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. See Thu 27. Edinburgh FREE Scottish Scene Calendar Launch Café Habana, 22 Greenside Place, 558 1270. 4pm. Each month feature a local name/place in the LGBT scene and £2 from each copy goes to LGBT Youth Scotland and the Terence Higgins Trust. FREE More Cabaret Voltaire, 36–38 Blair Street, 220 6176. 11pm–3am. Kaupuss and Miss Chris deliver the best in funky vocal house, club classics and electro. ■ Taste The Liquid Room, 9c Victoria Street, 225 2564. 11pm–3am. £6–£7. Fisher & Price are back for a St Andrew’s Day/World AIDS Day Special in underground dance music and attitude free clubbing.
Monday 1
Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27. FREE Glasgow World AIDS Day Service St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, 300 Great Western Road, 337 2862. 7–8pm. A community gathering to reflect upon and celebrate the lives of those affected by HIV and AIDS. 60 THE LIST 27 Nov–11 Dec 2008
■ Brother for a Day: A World AIDS Day Cabaret Fundraiser The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 352 9996. 9pm–midnight. Suggested donation £5. Diane Torr presents a benefit for HIV/AIDS charity and the Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland. ■ Passionality Byblos, Unit Q, Merchant Square, 71 Albion Street, 552 3895. 11.30pm–3am. £3 (£2). DJ Roberts plays chart hits for the gay/mixed crowd. Edinburgh FREE Celebrate, Reflect, Remember St John’s Church, Princes Street, 221 2273. 6pm. Annual commemorative event with music by Loud & Proud, Scotland’s LGBT choir, and the reading of names of those known to attendees who have died of AIDS. With a collection for Waverley Care.
Tuesday 2
Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27. ■ Audioculture Byblos, Unit Q, Merchant Square, 71 Albion Street, 552 3895. 11pm–3am. £3. Chart, cheese and R&B from DJ Shazza Halliwell. Edinburgh ■ Wicked Wenches The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £3). Host Susan Calman hosts the delightful Lucy Porter, AL Kennedy, Elaine Malcolmson and Katie Craig. ■ Vibe Luna, 14 Picardy Place, 556 3553. 11pm–3am. £4. The touchstone of Edinburgh’s queer club scene finds a new home at the revamped Luna nightclub.
Wednesday 3 Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27. ■ Wicked Wenches The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £3). See Tue 2. ■ Allure The Tunnel, 84 Mitchell Street, 204 1000. 11.30pm–3am. £3 (students two for one). Cheesy pop sounds from DJ Darren and the guys behind Passionality.
Thursday 4 Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27.
Friday 5 Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27.
Saturday 6
Glasgow FREE Our World – Our Rights Renfield St Stephen’s Church, 260 Bath Street, 332 2826. 10am–4pm. Public conference organised by Amnesty International to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ■ Our World – Our Rights Queen Margaret Union, 22 University Gardens, 339 9784. 7.30pm. Donations. Special fundraising comedy evening organised by Glasgow University Amnesty Society. FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. See Thu 27. Edinburgh ✽✽ Loud & Proud Choir Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Place, 225 1900. 7.30pm. £9 (£7). The Edinburgh LGBT choir returns for its annual festive concert of seasonal favourites, with a guest appearance by Birmingham-based choir Rainbow Voices. ■ Luvely The Liquid Room, 9c Victoria
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REVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY HATE AND PRIDE IN RIGA Q! Gallery, Glasgow, until Wed 10 Dec ●●●●●
Presented by Amnesty International, this display of work by photographer Reuben Steains documents the 2008 Pride march in Riga, capital of Latvia. In scene-setting texts, stories about the previous two years’ marches being marred by significant homophobic violence and inadequate police protection do little to explode the stereotype of Baltic and Eastern European countries as being spectacularly intolerant places. Yet, while this appears to be a photojournalistic project, it’s hard to avoid
the suspicion that there has been a certain amount of editorialising on Steains’ part, or at least within the selection of images displayed here. While those involved in the march are pictured smiling and looking fresh- faced and thoughtful under rainbow flags, many of those who seek to stop them are depicted as twisted and angry, sporting T-shirts festooned with crude, unfunny, anti-gay slogans. With around 100 Amnesty activists from around the world marching in solidarity this year, the police presence was strong and sufficient, and no violence is recorded here other than the verbal kind.
Still, that’s enough to make the situation a sad and unpleasant one, despite the fact this all takes place on a bright summer’s day against the setting of Riga’s beautiful Old Town. While the detail of events must be found in the accompanying texts, some images do remain striking for all the wrong reasons. Young boys booing and giving thumbs-down gestures, and otherwise normal-looking young men and women in hazard suits carrying placards bearing messages like ‘Stop Pride, Stop AIDS’ and ‘The more gays, the less Latvians’ appear sadly oblivious to the hateful, throwback nature of their protest. (David Pollock)
Street, 225 2564. 10.30pm–3am. £12 (members £10). Full-on, driving house music with residents Tommy Kay, Dean Newton, Grum Stone and Jon Edwards. ‘Snow Ball’ Christmas party. ■ Fever Luna, 14 Picardy Place, 556 3553. 11pm–3am. £10 (£5 members before 11.15pm; £8 after). DJs Fisher & Price (Taste) play a mix of the best underground dance music with regular guest the Visitor (aka Jon Pleased).
Sunday 7
Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. See Thu 27. Edinburgh FREE More Cabaret Voltaire, 36–38 Blair Street, 220 6176. 11pm–3am. See Sun 30.
Monday 8 Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27. ■ Passionality Byblos, Unit Q, Merchant Square, 71 Albion Street, 552 3895. 11.30pm–3am. £3 (£2). See Mon 1.
Tuesday 9
Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27. ■ Audioculture Byblos, Unit Q, Merchant Square, 71 Albion Street, 552 3895. 11pm–3am. £3. See Tue 2. Edinburgh ■ Vibe Luna, 14 Picardy Place, 556 3553. 11pm–3am. £4. See Tue 2.
Wednesday 10 Glasgow FREE Hate and Pride in Riga Q! Gallery, 87–91 Saltmarket, 552 7578. 11am–5pm. See Thu 27. ■ Allure The Tunnel, 84 Mitchell Street, 204 1000. 11.30pm–3am. £3 (students two for one). See Wed 3.
Edinburgh FREE Icebreakers CC Blooms, 23–24 Greenside Place, 556 9331. 7.30pm. Social group for people who want to make new friends in LGBT company. This welcoming and non-threatening group is ideal if you’re new to the city or recently out.