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  • Barcelona to host WorldPride 2030

    Barcelona has been chosen to host WorldPride 2030, beating Bangkok in a vote by InterPride members in Phuket, Thailand. The city won 84 per cent of the vote. Celebrations will run from 28 June to 28 July 2030, marking 25 years since Spain legalised same-sex marriage. Pride Barcelona spent more than two years on the bid, backed by the city council, the Catalan government, Spain's equality ministry and more than 40 queer organisations. Spain last hosted WorldPride in Madrid in 2017. Amsterdam hosted this year's event, and Cape Town becomes the first African city to host, in 2028.

  • Willow Marler becomes first trans winner of LGBTQ+ New Comedian of the Year

    Worcester comedian Willow Marler has been named LGBTQ+ New Comedian of the Year, the first trans comic to take the title. She wins £1,000 after a final at London's Comedy Store, judged by Chloe Petts, Tia Kofi, James Barr and Josh Jones, with Glasgow's Scout Robertson runner-up. The Comedy Bloomers competition, now in its fifth year, drew more than 140 entries. Willow says stand-up has 'completely turned things around' after a difficult year with her mental health, and that comedy gives her a mic to talk about being trans.

  • Man offended by 'Pride bus' loses damages claim

    A devout Catholic who claimed a Pride-themed bus caused him distress has had his claim for damages dismissed. In a case heard in Scotland, Mark Jennings had brought the case against the Scottish-based Stagecoach company after a bus on the Whitstable to Canterbury route in Kent ran covered in rainbow colouring and a 'Ride with Pride logo.' The Kent Online news service reports the case was dismissed because Mr. Jennings had brought the action against the wrong company and should instead have sued the company which trades as Stagecoach South East. Mr Jennings is now liable for the costs of bringing the case. The court heard that three of Stagecoach South East's 408 buses displayed rainbow livery to support Pride Month. (Picture: Multishooter / Shutterstock.com)

  • UK court overturns Trinidad and Tobago's ban on gay sex

    The Privy Council in London has overturned Trinidad and Tobago's laws criminalising sex between consenting adults of the same sex. The court ruled unanimously in favour of Jason Jones, a Trinidad-born campaigner who lives in Britain, finding the laws breached his constitutional rights. He first challenged them in 2017. Jones said the laws told queer people they were criminals in their own country, and that message ends today. Similar colonial-era laws remain in several Caribbean countries.

  • Free trans healthcare course for UK medical students during Trans Awareness Week

    Medical students at UK universities can take a free online course on caring for trans and non-binary patients during Transgender Awareness Week, from 13 to 20 November. The course, from training platform Affirm, covers gender-affirming care, the history of trans health and first-hand accounts from trans and non-binary people. It comes after an NHS England review found that only one in eight medical students felt their knowledge of queer healthcare was good enough.

  • Manchester Village Pride gives record £183,500 to charities

    Manchester Village Pride has announced it's giving a record-breaking £183,500 to five charities after this year's event in August. The recipients are akt (the Albert Kennedy Trust); Sparkle, the national transgender charity; the Proud Trust, the LGBT Foundation and the George House Trust. Another £30,000 will go towards supporting grassroots LGBTQ+ community groups. Manchester Village Pride says the achievement belongs to all the people who stepped up to bring the event back to its community roots. The previous Manchester Pride company went bust last year with debts of £1.3 million. (Picture: Electric Egg / Shutterstock.com)

  • South Korea apologises after youth manual labelled homosexuality "delinquency"

    South Korea's government has apologised after a counselling manual for young people listed homosexuality as a form of juvenile delinquency, alongside sexual violence, theft and drug problems. The manual, used by youth workers, was published by the Korea Youth Counselling and Welfare Institute, which blamed an error by its compiling team. The wording first appeared in 2019 and was repeated last December. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said it regretted the discomfort and concern caused to queer young people, and has ordered the wording removed, a review of the manual and extra human rights training for staff. It follows new rules in August that stop youth shelters turning young people away because of their sexuality or gender identity.

  • Billie Jean King on being outed and the fight for equality

    Tennis legend Billie Jean King has spoken about her life in a new interview, as a documentary about her, Give Me the Ball!, tells the story of the "original 9" players who founded the first women's professional tennis tour in 1970. King, who won 39 grand slam titles and led the fight for equal prize money, reflects on her struggle with her sexuality and on confirming her relationship with a woman at a 1981 press conference after legal threats. She lost every endorsement overnight, but says the lies were finally over. King married Ilana Kloss in 2018 and graduated with a history degree this year, and says there is still plenty she wants to do.

  • Gran Canaria Winter Pride finale cancelled as Storm Bruna hits

    Gran Canaria's Winter Pride celebrations were cancelled on Sunday because of stormy weather. Severe winds from Storm Bruna posed a severe risk to safety, particularly as there were more than 100 tents erected for the event. Victims of the cancellation included the T-Dance pool party and the Sunday live show at the Yumbo Centre. The abandonment of the final day's activities followed a week of Winter Pride events, including the main Pride Walk.

  • Clapham's Two Brewers reopens with a glamorous new look

    Clapham's much-loved queer venue, the Two Brewers, is back after a refurbishment that kept its doors closed from 28 September to 14 October. The pub has swapped its black frontage for a deep red exterior. Inside, the front bar now has rich red and purple tones, new seating, a more open layout and a revamped stage with interchangeable backdrops to suit whatever gown a drag queen is wearing. The back room has become a dedicated club space with a new immersive lighting setup. General manager Oliver Blatherwick says the aim was to evolve the venue while celebrating its cabaret heritage. There's also a new £5 happy hour, Monday to Friday, 5pm to 9pm, and management say reopening week was a strong one.

  • Bash Croft on why gay people keep winning The Traitors

    Speaking to BuzzFeed after the finale of The Celebrity Traitors, Bash Croft has shared his theory on why gay contestants keep winning the franchise. He argues that growing up gay builds social skills that come in handy in the game. You learn to read rooms and to get on with people, he says, which he calls the subconscious skill sets, and he's grateful if that helps him win. Several recent winners have been queer, including Alan Carr, who won the first Celebrity series in 2025, and Stephen Libby and Rachel Duffy, who won a civilian series earlier this year. Croft and Romesh Ranganathan shared the series two win on Friday 30 October.

  • Lib Dems urge UK Government to push for queer equality across the Commonwealth

    Liberal Democrat MP Ben Maguire has tabled an Early Day Motion urging the UK Government to push for queer equality across the Commonwealth. It was tabled ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, held in Antigua and Barbuda from 1 to 4 November. Maguire, the party's Shadow Attorney General, also organised a cross-party letter to The Times asking Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to press member states to repeal laws that criminalise same-sex relationships. Consensual same-sex relationships are criminalised in 29 of the Commonwealth's 56 countries, and in places including Brunei, Pakistan and parts of Nigeria and Uganda the death penalty can apply. Maguire said silence is not a substitute for leadership, and that the issue goes far beyond party politics.

  • BBC begins search for the UK's Eurovision 2027 act

    The BBC has confirmed the search is under way for the UK's act and song for Eurovision 2027. The contest will be held in Burgas, Bulgaria, with semi-finals on 11 and 13 May and the Grand Final on 15 May. The BBC and BBC Studios say they want a clear focus on the best of contemporary British music. UK Eurovision Project Director David May, who previously worked with Sam Ryder, says the UK intends to be represented by an outstanding current British act. The act and song will be revealed before the European Broadcasting Union's deadline of March 2027. It follows a difficult year for the UK: Look Mum No Computer finished last in 2026 with one point.

  • Suzi Ruffell on finding her voice as a “loudly gay” comedian

    In the November/December issue of Attitude, comedian Suzi Ruffell talks about finding her voice as a “loudly gay” performer. She remembers watching Titanic in January 1998 and being hooked by her crush on Kate Winslet, then horrified at feeling different. “Now, I love being a lesbian,” she says, crediting her friends and her wife, and adds that there's no right way to come out or be queer. Raised in Portsmouth, Ruffell began stand-up in 2008. She has appeared on Live at the Apollo three times, her book Am I Having Fun Now? was a Sunday Times bestseller, and she hosts the podcast Attitude Presents: Out with Suzi Ruffell. She also won The Comedy Award at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards 2026.

  • Celebrity Traitors winners give their £83,000 prize to refugee charities

    Bash Croft and Romesh Ranganathan, who were crowned joint winners of The Celebrity Traitors on Friday 30 October, have donated the whole £83,000 prize fund to refugee charities. Croft gave his £41,500 share to Choose Love, which supports refugees and displaced people, particularly queer people forced to flee persecution. Ranganathan chose the Refugee Council. The donations drew criticism from some right-wing commentators, including broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer, who objected to licence fee money going to refugee causes. Other journalists defended the pair, with one describing the gesture as a bright spot in difficult times.

  • No pardons granted under Northern Ireland's “Turing's Law” in eight years

    Northern Ireland's scheme to disregard historic convictions for now-abolished gay sex offences has not granted a single disregard since it came into force in 2018. Only three people have applied, and none met the criteria. The scheme covers offences such as gross indecency, provided the act was consensual, involved someone aged 17 or over and is no longer an offence. Posthumous pardons apply automatically to anyone convicted who has since died. Male homosexual acts were criminalised in Northern Ireland until 1982. The Rainbow Project says it isn't surprised by the low uptake, but argues the scheme still sends a message that those convictions were wrong, and it urges anyone eligible to consider applying. The Department of Justice is reviewing the scheme's scope and plans to put reform proposals to ministers after the next Assembly elections.

  • Raye to headline BST Hyde Park next summer

    Mercury Prize winner Raye has been announced as a headliner for BST Hyde Park 2027, her debut at the London festival. She'll perform on Saturday 10 July, with Sienna Spiro joining as special guest and more acts still to be announced. It follows a landmark year for Raye, who won the 2026 Mercury Prize for her second album, THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE, which went straight to number one in the UK.

  • Stonewall report finds half of queer people pessimistic about the future of equality

    Stonewall has published its first major report since 2018. LGBTQ+ Life in the UK: 2026 draws on the experiences of almost 3,500 queer adults across the country. It found that 48% believe acceptance has increased over the past decade, but 50% are pessimistic about the direction of equality in the UK. Among trans+ people the picture is bleaker: just 26% think acceptance has improved and 80% are pessimistic. Fewer than one in five queer people believe politicians take their rights seriously, and 45% of trans+ respondents reported harassment, intimidation or assault of a potentially criminal nature in the past year. The report also found that 54% of respondents had considered suicide, rising to 71% of trans+ people. Stonewall's chief executive, Simon Blake, called the findings a wake-up call and said progress is not the same as arrival. If you've been affected by anything in this story, the Samaritans are there around the clock on 116 123.

  • Emmerdale and Heartstopper actor opens up about suicide attempt

    Emmerdale and Heartstopper actor Bradley Riches has been flooded with support after sharing that he attempted to take his own life in 2020. The actor, who plays Lewis Barton in the soap, posted an emotional message on Instagram to mark National Suicide Prevention Month, writing that he always gets nervous talking about his experience but wanted to share it. He described a time when he couldn't see a life beyond that moment, and didn't know who he was or whether things could ever feel different. He went on to list the experiences he has had since — including entering the Celebrity Big Brother house and writing a best-selling book — and urged anyone who might be struggling to stay for the things they haven't experienced yet, adding: "You are loved. You are important. Your story is not finished." Riches received an outpouring of support from fans and fellow cast members in response to the post.

    If anyone listening is affected by any of the themes in that story, the Samaritans are available around the clock on 116 123.

  • Founder of UK AIDS Memorial Quilt dies

    Ally Van Tillo, the founder of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, has died at home — peacefully on the thirtieth of August, with his husband Ian and his sister Vivienne by his side. Formerly known as Alastair Hume, Ally brought the concept of the AIDS memorial quilt to Britain after returning from San Francisco to Edinburgh in the late 1980s, inspired by the NAMES Project Quilt that had begun there in 1985. Today the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt commemorates more than six hundred people who died from HIV and AIDS across three hundred and thirty-five individual panels. It has been displayed at venues across the country, most recently at Tate Modern in London. In a fitting tribute to the quilt's next chapter, it is due to be displayed in full for the first time in Scotland at Glasgow's Tramway from the twelfth of September to the fourth of October. Ian Van Tillo announced his husband's death in an emotional social media tribute, writing simply: "Goodbye my love."

  • Pet Shop Boys announce new album exploring life of Alan Turing

    The Pet Shop Boys have announced a new album exploring the life of Alan Turing. Titled A Man From The Future, the eight-track record was created in collaboration with Turing's biographer Andrew Hodges and features spoken-word narration by Juliet Stevenson alongside orchestration by Sven Helbig. The album traces Turing's life from his school days through his codebreaking work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, his pioneering contributions to computing and artificial intelligence, his prosecution for homosexuality and his death in 1954. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe described it as a musical memorial to a man who gave so much to his country and the world and was rewarded by being prosecuted for his sexuality. The work was originally performed at the Proms in 2014 and has been reworked with a stronger electronic sound and new string arrangements.

  • Payment trickles through for Pride performers

    A number of performers who weren’t paid after last year’s Manchester Pride went bust will get some of their fees reimbursed. The Equity union says £15,000 has been secured from a social action pot funded by local businesses through the city council.
    More than 50 artists were left a total of £70,000 short when Pride went under with debts of £1.3million.
    This year’s Pride went ahead last month after a new not-for-profit company was set up, kick-started with funding from venues in the Gay Village, with many taking to social media to praise the community atmosphere of the event. All performers this year were paid on time.
    Meanwhile a charity commission investigation into the former Manchester Pride organisation is continuing.

  • Newquay Pride rained off

    A forecast of day-long heavy rain caused the organisers of Newquay Pride in Cornwall to cancel the event.
    It was scheduled for Saturday the 29th of August, but organisers said the safety of the community, traders and performers was their top priority.
    It’s hoped the event can be rearranged for later this year.

  • Luke Evans pays tribute to Tim Curry

    Welsh actor Luke Evans has paid a moving tribute to Tim Curry, who died yesterday aged 80, sharing a letter he wrote to the Rocky Horror icon near the end of his Broadway run as Dr Frank-N-Furter. Evans, who is openly gay and made his Broadway debut in the role earlier this year, posted the handwritten letter on Instagram alongside the words "there will only be one Tim Curry." In it, Evans wrote that every actor who puts on Frank inevitably walks into a conversation that started with Curry, and that he had felt that every single night. He was careful to stress he had never tried to recreate what Curry did — describing that as impossible — but said he had hoped to honour the extraordinary character Curry brought to life while finding his own way through him. He closed the letter by saying he hoped Curry would have approved of one more Frank having the time of his life in those heels. Tim Curry was best known for playing Dr Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a role that made him a beloved icon for generations of LGBTQ+ fans.

  • Welsh rugby player shares positive coming out story

    A Welsh rugby player is sharing his positive coming-out story in the hope of encouraging others in sport to live their truth. Kyle Tayler-Woolston, a back row forward for Newport RFC, came out to his teammates in 2018 — and this summer married his husband, George Woolston. He told BBC Sport that his biggest fear had been that he would be judged on his sexuality rather than his rugby skill, describing the experience of staying closeted as mentally draining. When he finally came out to his head coach Ty Morris, the response was disarming — Morris's first reaction was relief that Kyle wasn't signing for another club. Tayler-Woolston said he has never faced homophobia in rugby, and acknowledges he may have been lucky — but says the sport has progressed massively and he hopes his story gives others the confidence to be themselves. He said simply: "Love is love."

  • Wes Streeting talks about homophobia as Defence Secretary

    Wes Streeting has said he has experienced more online homophobia in the last three weeks than in his entire life following his appointment as the UK's first openly gay defence secretary. Speaking on Iain Dale's All Talk podcast, Streeting said the volume of abuse had been unbelievable, with people unable to cope with the idea that a gay person might lead the UK armed forces. He noted that his appointment had been almost entirely unremarked upon in the mainstream media — something he welcomed — but said the reaction online had been very different. Streeting said he was proud to have lived through a period in which gay people went from being banned from serving in the military to having an openly gay defence secretary. Until 2000, an estimated two hundred or more personnel were discharged from the forces each year because of their sexuality. One MoD employee told Streeting in his first week that it meant a lot to those who remembered the bad old days. He added that he saw great strength in the LGBTQ+ community, and said that being gay in Britain is ordinary now — which is brilliant.

  • 'Nana’ mural for Manchester Gay Village

    More than £2,500 has been raised to pay for a mural in Manchester’s Gay Village in memory of popular drag queen Madame Aries.
    The performer,affectionately known as ‘Nana’, died eight years ago and was one of the oldest drag acts in the north.
    Nana will take her place alongside other drag acts commemorated in the Gay Village, including Foo Foo Lamarr and Lily Savage.

  • Leeds to host gay rugby tournament

    It’s been announced that the Bingham Cup, the international gay rugby union tournament, will be held in Leeds in 2028. The event, which is expected to attract thousands of supporters to the city from across the globe, will be hosted by inclusive rugby club Leeds Hunters. The Bingham Cup is named after gay rugby player Mark Bingham, one of the people who tried to overcome the hijackers of a United Airlines flight during the September the 11th atrocities in 2001. It subsequently crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, killing all 40 people on board. The tournament’s been held every two years since 2002 and the current champions are London team Kings Cross Steelers.

  • Queer people make up 12% of US population

    A new analysis of US Census Bureau data suggests that LGBTQ+ people now make up twelve percent of the adult population in the United States — an all-time high of an estimated twenty-six and a half million people. The analysis, carried out by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, drew on more than two and a half million survey responses collected between 2021 and 2024. It found that LGBTQ+ adults make up more than ten percent of the population in forty states, including in traditionally conservative states such as Georgia, Arizona and Texas. More than half of those counted are aged between eighteen and thirty-four, and bisexual people make up the largest single group within the LGBTQ+ population, accounting for over seven percent of all US adults. HRC president Kelley Robinson said LGBTQ+ Americans are everywhere, adding that with twenty-five million people across the country, the community is no longer a niche constituency and no campaign, brand or employer can afford to treat them as one. The data used in the analysis was collected before the Trump administration removed sexuality and gender identity questions from hundreds of federal surveys.

  • Update on Priscilla sequel from Guy Pearce

    A sequel to the cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert could be with us as early as 2028, according to star Guy Pearce. Speaking on the red carpet at a Good Morning America appearance, Pearce said filming is likely to take place in 2027 with a 2028 release. The original 1994 film, written and directed by Stephan Elliott, starred Pearce alongside Hugo Weaving and the late Terence Stamp as two drag queens and a transgender woman travelling across the Australian outback. All three had been attached to reprise their roles in the sequel — and in a touching development, director Elliott revealed that Stamp had already completed his scenes before his death last year at the age of 87. Elliott said he had made the decision to pre-shoot all of Stamp's scenes across several sessions, adding that the veteran actor gave it everything he had and really did have the time of his life. Elliott described calling a wrap on Terence Stamp as words that would haunt him to the day he dies.

  • Government rejects appeal for Section 28 public enquiry

    The UK government has rejected calls for a public inquiry into the lasting impact of Section 28, the Thatcher-era law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools. The Section 28 Justice Coalition — which had gathered more than twenty-six thousand signatures, including support from Russell Tovey, Boy George and Hannah Drakeford — received the government's response this week, sixty-seven days after the petition crossed the ten-thousand-signature threshold that triggers a mandatory reply. The government said it acknowledged the devastating and lasting impact of the legislation but argued that a public inquiry would not establish any new facts, given that the law's origins and motivations are already on the public record. The Section 28 Justice Coalition said the response was disappointing, arguing that an inquiry would be able to recommend safeguards to prevent LGBTQ+ censorship from happening again — whether through law or through social pressure. The coalition said it remained open to other routes and hoped the government would meet with them to discuss next steps.

  • HIV awareness training for police

    A Metropolitan Police constable is campaigning for mandatory HIV-awareness training for officers across the country. Casey Pownall, who joined the Met in 2023, has already educated a hundred and twenty police officers and staff after noticing colleagues becoming anxious when dealing with suspects living with HIV — often due to misconceptions about how the virus is transmitted. Pownall, who is openly LGBTQ+ but does not himself have HIV, developed a training presentation with the HIV Peer Support Network, Positive Plus, which has since been reviewed by the Met's Chief Medical Officer and the National AIDS Trust. He is now co-chair of Positive Plus and is working with the Police Federation to push the College of Policing to make formal HIV training standard for all officers in the UK. He said having these conversations is vital, adding that there are police officers from different forces living with HIV who feel they have nobody to speak to — and that the expansion of the peer support network nationally is absolutely incredible.

  • Gay Village heritage trail.

    Visitors to Manchester’s Gay Village can now discover the area’s queer history through a new heritage trail. A series of place markers show how the Village emerged from a previously run-down canal area and largely-derelict Victorian buildings to become the bustling district it is today. The trail was created by volunteers from the north-west branch of the Royal Town Planning Institute, with support from the LGBT Foundation, Manchester Village Pride, Manchester Metropolitan University and the city council. At the moment, the markers are temporary and will stay there until early September while a consultation phase is underway.

  • New drug treats drug-resistant HIV strain

    The NHS is to prescribe a new drug to treat patients living with a drug-resistant strain of HIV, in what health officials are calling a landmark move. The medication, Lenacapavir, will initially be offered to around ninety-two eligible patients in the coming weeks, with that number expected to rise to around three hundred over the next three years. While the vast majority of the hundred thousand people living with HIV in England can manage the virus with existing medication, a small number have developed resistance — leaving them vulnerable to serious illness. Lenacapavir is taken as tablets for the first eight days, followed by an injection every six months. One woman who has been taking it said it had saved her life, describing how she had regularly been hospitalised before the drug restored her immune system and allowed her to return to full-time work. Health Minister Baroness Merron said the treatment would totally transform lives, and reaffirmed the government's commitment to ending new HIV transmissions in England by 2030.

  • Celebrity backed campaign for LGBTQ+ young people e

    Thirty celebrities have joined forces for a new campaign supporting LGBTQ+ young people in the UK. The #DeserveBetter campaign, launched by Manchester-based charity The Proud Trust, is fronted by Dannii Minogue, Sir Stephen Fry and Dame Kelly Holmes, and calls for greater understanding, safer spaces and better support. Research cited by the charity paints a stark picture — forty-three percent of LGBTQ+ pupils experience bullying because of who they are, fifty-eight percent have seriously considered suicide, and almost a quarter may never complete secondary school, twice the national average. Referrals to The Proud Trust's services rose by a hundred and seventy-one percent following last year's Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex. The campaign film brings all thirty celebrities together around a single message — that every LGBTQ+ young person deserves to feel safe, accepted, heard and able to thrive. Other names involved include Tom Allen, Heartstopper star Kizzy Edgell, Danny Beard, Nathaniel J Hall from It's a Sin, former Lioness Anita Asante and a host of sports stars, soap actors and drag performers.

  • Improving mental well being of LGBTQ+ people

    New research from Birmingham City University has found that comedy can be a powerful tool for improving mental wellbeing among LGBTQ+ people. The study, published in the psychology journal Behavioural Sciences, evaluated a programme called LGBTQTeeHee! — run at Birmingham Rep — which gives members of the community the chance to develop their own stand-up routines over a ten-week course, culminating in a live showcase. Researchers found that comedy gave participants far more than performance skills, providing a way to process difficult experiences, reframe adversity and build a sense of community and belonging. One participant said: "I've spent most of my life feeling like I'm broken. But when I'm with these guys, I don't feel broken. I feel normal." The programme returns again this autumn.

  • Coming out at the Edinburgh Fringe

    A heartwarming moment from the Edinburgh Fringe — a young woman came out to her mother in the middle of a comedy show. It happened during a performance of Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody at the Gilded Balloon, when performers asked every straight woman in the audience to stand up. One woman rose and gestured to her daughter to do the same — but the daughter simply shook her head. Performer Andrew Young said he started crying on the walk home, describing it as overwhelming to have someone feel safe enough to be true to themselves in front of a parent because of a moment in their show. To mark the occasion, the daughter got a banana tattoo — a nod to a joke in the show — to commemorate her very public coming out.

  • Two of Brighton's best known gay bars to close

    Two of Brighton's best-known gay bars are set to close their doors in September, dealing a double blow to the city's LGBTQ+ scene just days before this weekend's Brighton Pride. R-Bar, a popular seafront venue that has been part of the community for more than twenty-one years, announced it is closing due to dramatically rising costs that have made it financially unsustainable. The announcement came just days after the historic Charles Street Tap, which has been a fixture of Brighton's gay quarter for twenty-five years, revealed it too would be shutting when its lease ends in mid-September. R-Bar officials said they were absolutely devastated to be losing another queer venue at a time when safe spaces are more important than ever, and called on both the government and Brighton and Hove City Council to provide meaningful financial support to protect LGBTQ+ nightlife.

  • Birmingham Pride faces backlash over ticket prices


    Birmingham Pride has faced a backlash after releasing paid tickets for its 2027 thirtieth anniversary celebrations, despite the event's director previously expressing a desire to make it free. In April, Lawrence Barton had told local media he would love to bring the festival full circle for the milestone year by dropping ticket prices. However, tickets have now gone on sale at twenty-nine pounds fifty-one for a single day or fifty pounds seventy-nine for the full weekend, with VIP packages available at roughly twice those prices. Birmingham Pride responded to criticism by saying they had carefully considered what was needed to deliver a safe, accessible and sustainable event, and pointed to a free community event on the Friday, a low-income ticket scheme offering eligible people half-price tickets, and affordable loyalty tickets as ways of keeping the festival accessible.

  • Slovak refuses to recognise same-sex marriage

    Slovakia has refused to register the marriage of two Slovak men who wed in Austria in 2020, defying a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that member states must recognise same-sex marriages performed in other EU countries. Ivan Novotný and Metod Špaček applied to have their marriage registered in Slovakia last December and received a rejection letter this week — not from the registry office, but directly from the country's Interior Minister. Novotný claims Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico personally visited the registry office in June to order officials to refuse the application, citing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage rights that Slovakia passed last year. The couple plan to sue. The European Commission condemned the decision, warning that EU law takes precedence over national law and that it would not hesitate to use all instruments at its disposal if necessary.

  • New study challenges ban on transgender women in sport

    A major new scientific study is challenging one of the central arguments used to justify bans on transgender women in sport. Researchers in Brazil pooled the results of fifty-two studies involving thousands of participants, comparing the physical characteristics and fitness of transgender women and cisgender women following hormone therapy. While the study found that transgender women generally had greater lean muscle mass, that difference did not translate into any meaningful advantage in physical performance. Across the studies examined, there were no significant differences in upper-body strength, lower-body strength or aerobic fitness between the two groups after hormone therapy. Co-author Bruno Gualano of the University of São Paulo said the findings challenge the logic behind blanket bans on transgender women in sport, adding that many such policies are based on assumptions the data simply does not support. The researchers themselves noted that the available evidence varies in quality and that the findings do not mean every transgender athlete has identical physical characteristics.

  • Candid talk from Sam Smith

    Sam Smith has spoken candidly about their new album Hazel Eyes — a queer love story inspired by their fiancé, fashion designer Christian Cowan — saying it was lonely being a young queer artist and that they are in a very different place now. The non-binary singer is currently on a smaller, more intimate residency tour called To Be Free, playing just six cities rather than the large arenas of previous tours. Smith said they craved being able to look at people again, and that the album reflects a new sense of health, happiness and romantic security. They also acknowledged that their fanbase has shifted considerably since their 2014 debut In the Lonely Hour, noting that some wonderful people have stayed but that it is a completely different room. Smith has spoken previously about the challenges of navigating fame as an openly queer artist, describing the experience as accompanied by harsh controversies. Hazel Eyes — named after Cowan's eye colour — is out now.

  • 7.5 million euro for Dutch LGBTQ+ safety

    Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten has announced a new annual fund of seven and a half million euros to improve the safety of the LGBTQ+ community in the Netherlands. The investment, pledged for three years, was unveiled at the opening of the WorldPride Human Rights Conference in Amsterdam — a three-day event focused on equal rights. Jetten, who is himself an out gay man and the first sitting Dutch prime minister to take part in the Amsterdam Canal Parade, said the Netherlands must continue on the path taken all those decades ago. The announcement comes in the wake of the fatal attack at Berlin Pride last month, which has prompted governments across Europe to reassess the security of public LGBTQ+ events.

  • Liverpool to honour late drag icon The Vivienne

    Liverpool is to honour the late drag icon The Vivienne with a permanent life-size statue at the heart of the city's Pride Quarter. The statue will stand at the junction of Victoria Street and Stanley Street — the entrance to Liverpool's officially recognised LGBTQ+ district — and is intended to serve as a permanent guardian angel for the community in which James Lee Williams first found acceptance and the freedom to become The Vivienne. The project is being led by House of The Vivienne CIC, established by James's family following his death in January 2025, alongside Liverpool-based LGBTQ+ platform Proudly Said, and a community fundraising campaign has been launched with a target of one hundred thousand pounds. John Hyland of Proudly Said said The Vivienne was the Pride Quarter, and that James had a way of making everyone who walked through those doors feel they belonged. James moved to Liverpool from North Wales at the age of sixteen, going on to win the inaugural series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK in 2019 before reaching the final of Dancing on Ice — the first drag performer ever to do so. Those behind the statue say they hope it will become a catalyst for wider investment in the Pride Quarter, and a reminder to anyone who might be struggling that they do not have to do it alone.

  • Six London boroughs defy EHRC

    Six London borough councils have pledged to maintain trans-inclusive services despite new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission on single-sex spaces coming into force yesterday. The leaders of Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Lewisham, Southwark and Waltham Forest — all Labour, Green or Liberal Democrat-led — issued a joint letter saying they would not require staff to police access to public spaces such as toilets and changing rooms, arguing the guidance would make transgender and non-binary residents feel under attack. The EHRC guidance, which came into force on the fifth of August in England, Scotland and Wales, means access to single-sex spaces should now be determined by a person's sex as assigned at birth. However, the situation is already heading for the courts — Hackney Council has been served a formal legal challenge for failing to provide services exclusively for cisgender women. EHRC chair Mary-Ann Stephenson has warned that public bodies remain legally obliged to follow the law.

  • Leeds Pride announces dates for 2027

    Leeds Pride has announced it will return on the seventeenth and eighteenth of July 2027, cementing its status as a permanent fixture in the city's events calendar. The news follows what organisers have described as the biggest and most successful event in the festival's twenty-year history, with more than ninety thousand people attending this year's celebrations across the full weekend. The event was headlined by La Voix, Sweet Female Attitude and Baga Chipz, with presenters including Emmerdale's Bradley Riches keeping crowds entertained across multiple stages. One of the highlights was the launch of The Freedom Party — Leeds Pride's first-ever ticketed Saturday night event — which attracted thousands of attendees and generated vital income for the festival's future. Organisers say the expanded footprint, enhanced VIP experience and wider range of food, drink and community activities helped make it the largest Pride celebration the city has ever seen.

  • New lesbian bar for South London

    A new lesbian pub is coming to south London — and it needs the community's help to open its doors. Dorothy's, in Camberwell, is the brainchild of couple Beth and Molly, who are investing their life savings into creating what they describe as a proper boozer — complete with a beer garden, pub quizzes, Sunday roasts and football on the screens — built by and for the sapphic community. The pub's name is a nod to the legendary Gateways Club, where Dorothy was once the password for entry. The building hasn't operated as a pub for around five years and requires extensive renovation, including a kitchen that needs to be rebuilt entirely from scratch. A crowdfunding campaign has already attracted more than two hundred and fifty backers, with supporters buying drinks in advance and offering skills from bookkeeping to decorating. Beth and Molly say the response has blown their minds, and that Dorothy's is their answer to the serious lack of permanent sapphic spaces in London.

  • Political candidate jailed following "rainbow" video

    A political candidate in Russia has been sentenced to ten days in prison after posting a video of himself wearing a T-shirt with a rainbow on it. Daniil Neonov, who is running for municipal deputy in Moscow, was arrested following the video — posted on his Telegram channel on the sixteenth of July — in which he wore a black T-shirt with the word LOVE written in seven rainbow colours, along with a headband with ears and a cat mask. He was held for seven hours without access to a lawyer and told reporters he was choked and beaten at the police station. The Moscow court ruled he had violated Russia's law against displaying symbols associated with extremism — a label Russia applied to the entire LGBTQ+ movement in 2023. Neonov argued in his defence that the rainbow on his shirt had seven colours, while the Pride flag only has six. He was given the maximum possible sentence and is also banned from standing for public office. It is the latest in a string of crackdowns in Russia this year, which have included raids on an LGBTQ+ book publisher, fines for posting photos of drag queens and charges against streamers for distributing the gay hockey drama Heated Rivalry.

  • Donald Trump kisses Vladimir Putin

    One of the most eye-catching moments at Amsterdam's recent WorldPride Canal Parade was a giant inflatable installation depicting Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin locked in a kiss. The piece, titled The Kissing Couple, showed enormous figures of the two world leaders dressed in traditional Dutch Delft blue-and-white costumes and holding tulips — a playful nod to the ceramic souvenir figurines found in shops across the Netherlands. Organisers said they did not want to provoke but to pause power for a moment and highlight something human. Around eighty decorated boats filled Amsterdam's famous canals for the parade, watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators. The event was attended by Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten — an out gay man and the first sitting Dutch prime minister to take part in the Canal Parade — who said this year's celebration carried greater significance than ever, coming just days after the fatal attack at Berlin Pride.

  • Reform UK most supported among gay and bisexual man

    A poll carried out by research agency More in Common has found that Reform UK is the most supported party among gay and bisexual men in the UK, with a quarter saying they would vote for Nigel Farage's party. By contrast, the Greens — led by Zack Polanski, who is himself gay — were the most popular choice among lesbian and bisexual women, with more than a third backing the party. Labour, currently in government, was no group's first choice. The findings have raised eyebrows given Reform's openly anti-LGBTQ+ stance, which includes pledges to repeal the Equality Act, ban what the party calls transgender ideology in schools and — following last year's local elections — banning Pride flags from flying over the ten councils it controls. Farage himself has previously said he opposed same-sex marriage, calling it wrong to have introduced it without a manifesto commitment. The poll surveyed nearly nine thousand adults between November and December last year.

 

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