On 1 November Jean-Claude Manseau and Jake Heaton were the victims of a brutal homophobic attack in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester. This Monday the Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus is responding to this horrific attack with a Safe to Sing event on Manchester’s Metrolink trams and in Piccadilly Gardens in the city centre – and you can join in!
The MLGC choir has orchestrated a big anti-homopbia campaign for this Monday evening where they will sing songs about freedom on trams in Manchester city centre in an attempt to fight homphobia and offer support to the victims. After this they will join LGBT groups, other choirs, members of the public and the Manchester police at Piccadilly Gardens in one big singalong.
“This is Manchester’s LGBT community’s way to reclaim the city,” said a spokesperson from the choir.
“When faced with such violence and where words fail, music speaks to the heart. We are all devastated and shocked and this is a way for us to come together in support of Jean-Claude and Jake, members of our own community. We want to reintroduce them into the city where they felt safe enough to sing before. We want help them to feel safe to sing again, feel celebrated and accepted for who they are.”
Wicked support
The Producers of Wicked have lent their full support to the event, as has Gregory Maguire, the writer of Wicked:
“On behalf of everyone in the Wicked UK companies, our thoughts and best wishes go out to both Jean Claude Manseau and Jake Heaton, and we wish them a continued recovery from the senseless and violent attack that took place in Manchester. We would also like to show our support for the Manchester Gay and Lesbian choir and wish them the very best of luck in their ‘Safe to Sing’ event – we hope it is a huge success.”
Take part
The MLGC choir will sing on a few short tram journeys between 8pm and approximately 8.45pm between St Peter’s Square and Piccadilly Station on Monday 17 November.
The songs will will celebrate freedom and love as a community response to this brutal attack and as a way for the choir to reach out to Jean-Claude and Jake and to assure them they will defend the right to safe passage on public transport for all people, especially those from the LGBT community.
The choir will exit their final tram journey at Piccadilly Gardens, the location of the attack, between 8.30 and 8.45 they will join all the other LGBT groups, choirs and members of general public who will have gathered there. Here all will join in the singing before there will be a few words of thanks from the Council and the Police Commissioner. Finally all will walk Canal Street in solidarity, culminating in a celebration of song.
All the song words are available to download as a song sheet from www.mlgc.org.uk/events. They won’t be able to provide copies on the night, so make sure you bring your own.
The song parts are also available on the events page, so people can learn them in advance of Monday. The emphasis is on a mass singalong, not an MLGC choir performance. The power of the message is in the numbers and in the sound.
The chosen songs
Get Ready (also referred to as Freedom)
Thank You (Sinead O’Connor)
Somewhere (from West Side Story)
Canal Street (our version of Downtown)
Defying Gravity
This is going to be a wonderful celebration of inclusion and diversity, a real stand against homophobia, and team Climax encourages everyone to join in if they can.
Facebook event
#SafeToSing