Queer The Marly

16/05/2025

Come down to George St, Hove this Sunday, 18th May, from midday to get some homemade cake! All baked goods will be given away by donation to go towards our fundraiser. Cash and card payments will be accepted!

If you would like to contribute a cake, please let us know!

***r    

14/05/2025

Thank you so much Kathy for having us on your show "Out with Kathy"! 💜

The show covers the full South and South East area and simultaneously streamed via BBC Sounds.

It will be available to listen to again shortly after broadcast at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p06jxp4p

***r

14/05/2025

We are entering the next period of the project, and we are looking for new directors to join the team! Please let people in your networks know so we can find people to help us with our goals!

This will be a voluntary position, in line with having a volunteer run CIC. Everyone involved in the project is currently a volunteer from our community.

Directors have legal responsibility for the company. Companies House does require the use of your legal name and address on the public record.

Q***r the Marly CIC are looking for people who can contribute to the skills and experience listed in the picture. We do not expect or require any one director to meet all of these. We are particularly interested in applications from people who have been part of the community in the space over the past 60 years.

Directors must act and make decisions in the best interest of our beneficiary communities. Directors should share our values which include: active support for q***r and trans people, our protected groups and the wider community; protecting safe spaces; and working directly with the community and Third sector to create plans for the future.

Directors are expected to regularly attend meetings. Currently, we're having weekly meetings, but this will slow down to monthly meetings after this next stage.

If you would like to have a say in the company but don't feel able to apply for directorship, we will be advertising for Members soon.

If you have any reasonable adjustments that would make this process more accessible for you, please let us know.

We particularly welcome expressions of interest from q***r people under our protected groups who include: people of colour, people with disabilities and unpaid carers, people of faith, unemployed and economically inactive people, people of No Fixed Abode (including the GRT community), and people in both younger and older life stages.

***r

01/05/2025

Come along to our favourite pub later today and say hi to the current Directors. We will be able to answer any questions and would love to hear any suggestions or feedback you have on the project so far. Happy May Day everyone 🩷🤎🤍🖤🩵

29/04/2025

Thank you to everyone that has donated this week, particularly in such hard times. We have now raised £5,168 towards our mortgage deposit. Please keep sharing our fundraising link (in bio) to your allies and networks who believe in protecting q***r community spaces.

Thank you 🙏

***r

28/04/2025

🔗 Meeting link in our story. If you need a plain text version please DM us. We hope to see you there!

27/04/2025

History post 2 - 🩷🤎🤍🖤🩵

The Marly community has been occupying the building since at least the 60s, when homosexuality was still unsavoury. Groups like the and Campaign for Homosexual Equality started off the now long tradition of hosting organising meetings, social gatherings and parties for our Gay, Trans and Q***r community along the way. 🏳️‍🌈 Human rights 🏳️‍⚧️ campaigners have tackled legal and social discrimination, such as Section 28, and caused many grassroots groups to form over a pint here, many today have gone on to become some of the largest q***r charities and CICs in Brighton and the UK.

The theatre has provided space for unrestricted expression of q***r pain, joy, love and imagination, at times when other venues would never consider hosting q***r and trans artists. Since the early 90s such wonderful expression has led to the venue to become a regular host venue for and , among other wonderful festivals and arts conferences along the way! The theatre has helped to grow local talent, and received artists of international fame. , , , , , and . Theatre groups such as Aids Positive Underground Theatre, and started their journeys on our community’s little stage.

The next history post will look at our ‘human history’ at the venue. If you have photos or stories you would like us to share as part of that please comment or send us a DM.💜

***r

24/04/2025

Thank you The Argus! 💜

“More than a pub, this building has been a community tavern, an arts venue, a cultural site, a space to support human rights, and a place to find belonging."

They've said they might do a follow-up piece, so keep an eye out for that 👀

A q***r community group has launched a fundraiser to save a historic pub

23/04/2025

Thank you so, so much to everyone who has shared and donated in our first week of the GoFundMe.

We shall update our donors shortly on all the exciting things that have happened since we went live last Tuesday!

So far we have raised £3,643 towards our mortgage deposit. Please keep sharing our fundraising link (in bio) to your allies and networks who believe in protecting q***r community spaces.

Thank you

18/04/2025

Our CIC intends to be run by and for our community, so we want everyone to have a voice at every stage and to join us in making decisions. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share with us how you would like us to make our open meetings more accessible. If you have any other suggestions please let us know!

We have designed a rolling day schedule, we have tried to vary the times to allow shift workers a chance to attend more meetings. We will hold some meetings earlier in the day for parents with small children. We are releasing this now as a working schedule so that people can have advance notice of the meeting dates.

We want to make it easier for disabled q***rs, older q***rs and q***rs who live further away to attend. So we will aim to hold hybrid meetings, with a baseline of “at least online” meetings. After trying out the three suggested platforms we feel that Google Meets worked best for our needs, so we will use this platform for hosting the online part of meetings. The link will continue to be released in our stories shortly before, to reduce online risks.

We understand how important it is to the community to be together, and that communication through a screen can be really challenging for some neurodivergent q***rs. We want to be in a physical room with you whenever it is possible, this is dependent on securing free and wheelchair accessible room hire. We are in discussion with venues about this, so some of the times may vary slightly according to room availability, but we will keep you updated on this each week through our stories. We hope to see you at one of our meetings soon 🙂

***r

17/04/2025

Thank you, Scene Magazine! 💜💜💜

Q***r The Marly, a group of q***r people who have come together to protect the building fondly known by many as ‘The Marly’, is seeking donations for a mortgage deposit so they can turn the venue into a permanent q***r cultural centre, owned by and for the LGBTQ+ community.

https://www.gscene.com/news/community-news/q***r-the-marly-group-seeks-donations-to-secure-future-of-lgbtq-venue/