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• LGBT Youth Scotland
• Scotsgay
• Stonewall Scotland

FINDHORN WORKSHOPS
The Findhorn Foundation in Moray organises various LGBTQ workshops during the year - visit their web site for full details.

Our Latest Newsletter is now available online.

Scottish government launches equal marriage consultation
The Scottish Government have launched their consultation on marriage equality. The deadline for responses is December 9th. The Equality Network was in Inverness on 15 November to hear local LGBT views and an audience of 20 people took part in the discussions. For more info about the issues or to contribute your views online, visit www.equalmarriage.org.uk

World AIDS Day - Inverness
On Thursday 1 December, Waverley Care will be hosting a Community Gathering event at 7.30pm at the cathedral in Inverness. The event will provide an opportunity to take time out of busy lives and reflect on HIV in a global and a local context. The stories of those who are living positively with HIV will be heard and there will also be a time and space to remember those who have died of AIDS. Included in the event will be music and readings. Entry is free. Soup and sandwiches will be available from about 6pm. Contact 01463 711585.

The Gay Police Association in Scotland had an open evening in Inverness on Thursday 22 September where members of the local LGBT community were able to meet GPA reps from across Scotland.

INFO STALLS In 2011, the Highland LGBT Forum has run information stands with leaflets and health information at Inverness Highland Games, Aberdeen Pride, at freshers' fayres in Inverness and at an equality & diversity evening in Thurso. Our thanks go to NHS Highland, Brook Highland, Age Scotland, Highland Council, Equality Network, Stonewall Scotland and many others for providing leaflets, condoms, etc.

NETWORKING WITH THE FORUM
The Highland LGBT Forum organised 2 networking afternoons in 2011 for over 30 people in Inverness and Dingwall. This included representatives from the the Equality Network, LGBT Youth Scotland, Samaritans, Age Scotland, NHS Highland, Scottish Health Council Highland, HUG (Highland Users Group - Action for Mental Health), Highland Learning Disabilities Relationship Group, Rape and Abuse Line (Dingwall), Waverley Care Highland, CAB, Highland Carers Advocacy, UNISON Highland, Inverness Women's Aid, Women@Work, Brook Highland, LGBT Moray, Birchwood Highland and CourageSCOTLAND. We'd like to thank RAL at Dingwall for the use of their premises. We look forward to organising future events in Highland.

Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2010: Attitudes to Discrimination and Positive Action
The latest data is now available - click here. The report explores attitudes to discrimination and positive action in Scotland in relation to: age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment and sexual orientation.

Older lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender volunteers wanted
Highland Rainbow folk is a local group of volunteers who work to raise awareness of issues facing older lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people (LGBT). They have produced a booklet for health and social care professionals and are currently presenting awareness sessions to professionals through story telling. If you have a story to tell and would like to support the group in its objectives, please get in touch via their new web site.

WAVERLEY CARE OUTREACH WORK
Waverley Care Highland is now offering twice weekly online information and support through Gaydar. The new service provides the LGBT community, and men who have sex with men, online access to confidential and anonymous sexual health and personal safety advice. Information and support is also offered around sexual health screening and testing for HIV and Hepatitis.
Waverley Care support staff will be online in the Inverness Chatroom on Gaydar between 18:30 and 20:00 every Tuesday and Thursday. Feel free to ping them a request for a private chat, or you can email them through their Gaydar profile or at outreach@waverleycare.org.

The charity has outreach work in Highland cruising areas where they are available to answer questions around safer sex/cruising, HIV & Hepatitis and can give you free condoms and lube. Their car will show a Waverley Care logo in the front window.
Waverley Care offer information and support on sexual health and HIV/Hepatitis testing, treatment or support. Get in contact by calling the Inverness office on 01463 711585

NHS HIGHLAND - Getting involved
There are several options to have your say within NHS Highland.

• Patient Participation Groups
  Several GP practices have their own Patient Participation Group (PPG) - just ask at your local surgery. The Inverness Joint PPG is co-ordinated by Diane Wortham.
• Patient Councils
  These are groups set up for people who use or have used the services of Highland hospitals such as Raigmore, Belford and Caithness Hospital. Just contact your local hospital.
• Highland HealthVOICES Network
  This is a network of people throughout the Highlands who want to get involved in helping to improve health or wellbeing, including health and community care services. It is NHS Highland's Public Partnership Forum to enable as many voices as possible to speak to decision-makers about local healthcare provision and get accurate and relevant information. NHS Highland wants a broad membership so that a wide range of interests and views can be heard. You could help to influence changes and contribute to the work of NHS Highland. You may just want to be kept informed, you may wish to have your say or you may wish to be more actively involved, joining meetings or committees with health service staff.
  To read the latest Highland HealthVOICES newsletters - click here.
  For more information, read the PDF leaflet. To join, simply fill in the registration form.

SWAN - Scottish Workplace Networking for LGBT people in Scotland
SWAN was founded in Autumn 2008 by Ian Arnot and Robert Cole from BT Kaleidoscope, the people network for LGBT employees in BT Group. The intention in setting up SWAN was to bring people who belonged to different LGBT people networks in Scotland together and form a pan-organisation people network. Since then, they have held regular events hosted by many organisations and companies in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. The aim is to provide networking opportunities for people across different sectors and support LGBT people in Scotland. Shared learning on how to run people networks is also enabled through these events. SWAN has a Facebook group and a web site with more info.

MORAY
The LGBT Moray group formed in 2010 and now has 3 different meetings a month (see events page). If you're nervous about going along, someone can meet you in advance - call the group mobile on 07598418638. Feel free to bring along a friend for support if you wish. Join the LGBT Moray Facebook page for updates.

HIV Comeback Tour
Gay Men's Health in partnership with other voluntary organisations and NHS Lothian have launched a new phase of the award winning HIV prevention campaign in Edinburgh. The campaign features images of men in bars and saunas and highlights the fact that condoms are still our best protection against HIV transmission.
The campaign also reminds us of some of the facts about HIV e.g. that every week in Lothian a gay or bisexual man is diagnosed with HIV.
In a survey recently published by the Medical Research Council, almost a third of gay and bisexual men with HIV did not know they were infected. The campaign stresses that the only way to know if you have HIV is to have a test. For more information on HIV testing click here.

DONATIONS
UNISON Scotland kindly made a donation of £400 to the Highland LGBT Forum as sponsorship for our Halloween party in October 2010.
The Forum was one of the lucky winners in the Highland Council's Advent Calendar Prize Draw for charities which was made at the Christmas lights switch-on in November 2010 and we received £100.
Also in 2010, Highland Home Carers kindly made a donation of £100 to the Highland LGBT Forum. HHC is registered with the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care to provide Care at Home and Housing Support Services. They provide a flexible, quality home care and support service, enabling individuals to remain in their own home with assistance in maintaining their current lifestyle and promoting independence where possible.

DONATIONS
If you'd like to make a regular donation to the Highland LGBT Forum, you can download the standing order mandate. Simply fill in your bank details and return the form to us. We will then process it for you.