PRIDE FM NEWS

A former Doncaster area Conservative MP has taken to social media to urge people to say ‘no’ to this weekend’s Doncaster Pride.
Nick Fletcher who represented Don Valley for five years until 2024 and failed in a bid to become Doncaster mayor last year, claims pride is associated with puberty blockers for children, biological males using women’s toilets and competing in women’s sport, drag queen story times for children and sexualised themes being paraded through the streets.
He says he’s personally seen the pain some of these issues have caused, and there is no going along ‘for a bit of fun.’ Although some Facebook users have supported his views, many have condemned his statement, with one saying no one person has the right to dictate how someone should be, and others saying his comments illustrate why pride is needed.

London is to bid as the host city for 2032 World Pride, the event that brings together LGBTQ+ people from across the globe every other year. If the bid’s successful, it will coincide with the 60th anniversary of London’s first ever Pride in 1972, which was in response to the Stonewall riots in New York. It’s since grown to an event attended by an estimated 1.5 million. World Pride, which usually goes on for two weeks, is currently being hosted by Amsterdam, with Cape Town taking up the reins in 2028, and Bangkok and Barcelona in the final run-off to host in 2030.

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 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 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.

Pride in Gloucestershire is charging for entry for the first time in its twenty-year history, citing rising costs. The event takes place at Gloucester Park on the twelfth of September and will mark its twentieth anniversary with tickets priced at eight pounds in advance and ten pounds on the day. Organisers say the cost of security, medical provision, staging, sound, lighting and entertainment continues to rise and that as a charity they must balance affordability with sustainability. Last year they faced a twenty-five thousand pound budget shortfall. To mark the anniversary, the event is staging a bigger programme than ever, with Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle headlining alongside the Cheeky Girls, RuPaul's Drag Race performers, EastEnders actress Cheryl Ferguson and X Factor winner Matt Terry. A Pay It Forward scheme will allow supporters to cover tickets for those who cannot afford them, and a True Cost Supporter Ticket is also available at forty-two pounds twenty — covering the full estimated cost of one person's attendance. The free Pride march through Gloucester city centre will still take place, starting at the cathedral at eleven o'clock.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sam Smith has quietly confirmed they are engaged to fashion designer Christian Cowan, letting slip the news in a New York Times interview by casually referring to Cowan as their fiancé. The non-binary singer, 34, and Cowan, 32, are believed to have been together since late 2022 and made their public debut as a couple at the Met Gala in 2024. Smith also revealed their forthcoming album, Hazel Eyes — named after Cowan's eye colour — is due for release on the twelfth of August. Speaking about performing queer love songs, Smith said there is something radical about being queer in this time and in this world, and that they would not allow the poison they see around them to affect the way they love.

A previously unstudied short story by Alan Turing has shed new light on the gay mathematician, revealing a very different man to the tragic, isolated figure often portrayed in popular culture. The six-page handwritten piece, titled Pryce's Bouy, is held in the Turing archive at King's College Cambridge and has now been analysed in depth for the first time by Cambridge professor Sarah Dillon. She says the story — believed to have been written in 1952 or 1953, shortly after Turing's conviction for gross indecency — shows a man who was playful, funny, cheeky, literary and someone who really liked sex. Dillon says Turing was likely using fiction to process his experiences, drawing directly on the encounter that led to his arrest. She told the New York Times that although Turing was prosecuted for his homosexuality, he was never ashamed of it — he was a proud gay man.

One of Blackpool's best-known gay bars has reopened after a major refurbishment. Kaos, on Queen Street in the heart of the town's Gay Village, closed its doors in April for a twelve-week transformation that included new flooring, toilets, bars and drainage, finished off with glitterballs and neon rainbow lights. Under new ownership, the venue also brought in new security and DJs, with late-night sessions running until four in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays. The first public opening night was greeted with overwhelmingly positive responses, with one visitor saying they felt welcome, accepted and safe. The refurbishment was celebrated with a performance by RuPaul's Drag Race UK star Zahirah Zapanta, which organisers described as an incredible night.

Armed police will be deployed at Brighton and Hove Pride this weekend following last Friday's attack at Berlin Pride, in which one person was killed and at least twenty-nine others were injured after a man drove a van into crowds before attacking people with a machete. Sussex Police confirmed that specialist firearms officers will patrol the two-day festival alongside neighbourhood officers, plain-clothed police and other specialist teams, as part of an operation that has been in planning for several months. Around five hundred thousand people are expected to attend, making it the UK's largest Pride event. Brighton and Hove Council leader Bella Sankey said the city was deeply saddened by events in Berlin, and pledged that Pride would go ahead as a celebration of the diversity, joy and unity of the community.

Queer representation in gaming is on the rise, with a new feature in Attitude magazine charting how far the industry has come. While early games often used queer characters as stereotypes or villains, the tide began to turn with The Sims in 2000, which quietly allowed same-sex relationships from launch — an inclusion its own developers initially tried to remove. The real watershed, though, came with The Last of Us, whose portrayal of protagonist Ellie as gay felt genuinely revolutionary — not because it made a grand statement, but precisely because it didn't. Its sequel placed a same-sex relationship at the very heart of the story. The feature's author says that for queer players who grew up searching for themselves in pixels, seeing that shift has felt nothing short of profound.

A new play about Paul O'Grady's alter ego Lily Savage is due to hit London's West End next year. Written by Jonathan Harvey, and starring Danny Beard in the title role, the play - titled 'Savage' - will tell the story of how O'Grady created Lily in a funny and heartfelt way. Jonathan Harvey said O'Grady knew he was working on the play before his death in 2023 and was delighted at the prospect. The play will premiere in Leicester in February before heading to London.

The anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out received two hundred and three reports of homophobic incidents during the 2025/26 season — a forty-three percent rise from the previous year and equivalent to the total number of reports received across the previous four seasons combined. Incidents in youth football rose by ninety percent. The campaign group Football v Homophobia issued an urgent call to action, saying divisive political rhetoric in Britain is fuelling discrimination and that senior leaders in the sport must take more meaningful steps in support of education and allyship.

RuPaul has helped smash a Guinness World Record for the largest drag show ever staged, after seven thousand four hundred and twenty-three people packed out the Drag Me to Cowboys show at Calgary's Cowboys Music Festival in Alberta, Canada earlier this month. Drag Race legends Sasha Velour, Sasha Colby, Roxxxy Andrews and Coco Montrese appeared alongside RuPaul, who arrived to dance and DJ before grabbing the microphone to lip-sync to We Are the Champions as the record was confirmed. The festival, which has been running for thirty years, said it wanted to prove the community was more alive than ever.

Russell T Davies has spoken in detail for the first time about filming the devastating final scene of Tip Toe, in which the character Leo — played by Alan Cumming — is lynched by a mob. Davies told the Independent the sequence took three days to film and required elaborate precautions, including erecting huge screens along a major A road and stopping filming every afternoon when a nearby school broke up. He said that when the crew first hoisted a dummy in the air, absolute silence fell over the entire street as the enormity of it hit everyone. Alan Cumming, he added, was absolutely delighted when it was over. Channel 4’s compliance department had serious concerns about broadcasting the scene, though Davies said he was careful not to linger on it in a way that would be torturous.

London Trans+ Pride has broken its own record, with an estimated hundred and fifty thousand people taking to the streets of the capital on Saturday under the theme Our Future, Our Fight. The march ended at Trafalgar Square for the first time in the event's eight-year history — a fifty percent increase on last year's turnout, making it the largest trans rights protest ever held anywhere in the world. Speakers called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to listen and act, with author Juno Dawson urging that trans people urgently need access to timely healthcare, legal recognition, and the freedom to live openly without fear.

A major new Dutch medical review has strongly endorsed gender-affirming care for transgender young people, directly challenging the direction taken by the UK's Cass Review. The report, commissioned by the Netherlands' health authorities, concluded that withholding such care causes serious harm and described the need to provide it as morally urgent. It found that puberty blockers and hormone therapy, when properly supervised, significantly improve the mental health and wellbeing of trans youth. The findings have been welcomed by LGBTQ+ organisations in the UK who argue that access to care here has been severely curtailed in recent years.

The pioneering Queer Up North arts festival, which ran in Manchester for twenty years, is being celebrated again this year. It originally ran in the city’s venues, clubs and streets from 1990 to 2010, showcasing LGBTQ+ history and culture. Now, thanks to support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Manchester Histories and the Granada Foundation, Queer Up North will be brought to a new generation from August and will run until the end of October. The event - running across several venues - will feature live performances, panel discussions, exhibitions and archive material.

London Trans+ Pride has broken its own record, with an estimated hundred and fifty thousand people taking to the streets of the capital on Saturday under the theme Our Future, Our Fight. The march ended at Trafalgar Square for the first time in the event’s eight-year history — a fifty percent increase on last year’s turnout, making it the largest trans rights protest ever held anywhere in the world. Speakers called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to listen and act, with author Juno Dawson urging that trans people urgently need access to timely healthcare, legal recognition, and the freedom to live openly without fear.

One person’s died and at least 16 have been injured after a vehicle was driven into a crowd at Berlin Pride in Tiergarten park. The incident happened on Saturday and forced organisers to curtail the annual event known as the Christopher Street Parade, commemorating New York’s Stonewall riots. The suspect - who was known to the German authorities - was shot and killed by police on Sunday after an intensive manhunt. They say officers shot him after he rushed at them with a knife-like weapon. He was a 21-year-old German citizen of Lebanese heritage. The mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, called the incident an attack on Germany’s free and fair minded society.

Barnsley Community Alliance, the social media network that supports the town’s Pride and other events, says it’s taking robust action against online homophobic abuse. It says it’s already banned nearly 40 users for what it describes as ‘disgusting and homophobic comments’ and is now looking to see which ones should be referred to South Yorkshire Police.
Barnsley Pride took place on Saturday, July the 25th in the town’s Mandela Gardens and Barnsley Community Alliance is the latest organisation to pledge a fight back against increasing online homophobia.

A major new Dutch medical review has strongly endorsed gender-affirming care for transgender young people, directly challenging the direction taken by the UK’s Cass Review. The report, commissioned by the Netherlands’ health authorities, concluded that withholding such care causes serious harm and described the need to provide it as morally urgent. It found that puberty blockers and hormone therapy, when properly supervised, significantly improve the mental health and wellbeing of trans youth. The findings have been welcomed by LGBTQ+ organisations in the UK who argue that access to care here has been severely curtailed in recent years.

The organisers of Durham Pride have hit out at continuing homophobic abuse on its Facebook page. The event took place in May after trades unions and the public stepped in to plug the fundraising gap left by Reform-led Durham council withdrawing its annual grant and other support. But the organisation says vile abuse on social media is continuing. Defending its decision to block abusers, Durham Pride says its Facebook page isn’t a free-for-all for haters and it wants to be positive and uplifting, particularly as a lot of young LGBT+ people in Durham are finding their way.

Russell T Davies has spoken movingly about the death of his husband Andrew Smith, describing it as his greatest loss. The pair were together for twenty years, marrying in 2012. Smith died in 2018 after an eight-year battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Speaking on a podcast for the charity Marie Curie, Davies said caring for his husband in his final years — though hard and exhausting — included some of their happiest memories together. He has since gone public with a new relationship, celebrating his first anniversary with his boyfriend Oliver Cole earlier this month.

This year’s Bingley Pride in West Yorkshire - due to take place on Saturday, September the 12th - has been cancelled. The organisers say this is because of unforeseen difficulties, but they’ve promised to return in July next year after planning several months of fund-raising. Last year’s Pride was the first one held in the town.

Poland's President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a bill that would have given unmarried couples, including same-sex couples, a limited set of legal rights — blocking what would have been the country's first ever legal recognition of same-sex relationships. The bill, which had been backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's coalition and passed by both houses of parliament, fell short of introducing full civil partnerships but would have granted couples rights including joint property ownership and access to medical information. Nawrocki argued it would create civil partnerships through the back door. Despite the veto, polling shows sixty-two percent of Poles now support legal recognition for same-sex couples.

FIFA's own anti-discrimination partner has urged the governing body not to follow the International Olympic Committee's lead and introduce a blanket ban on transgender athletes for the 2031 Women's World Cup. The head of the Fare network, Piara Powar, warned that such a ban would stigmatise trans athletes and women with intersex characteristics, and called on FIFA not to embed any exclusion permanently into its regulations. The warning comes after the White House reportedly pressed FIFA to guarantee that only biological women compete in the Women's World Cup.

A new YouGov study has found that the proportion of British people who think it is acceptable to make jokes about gay people has risen to its highest level since records began in 2019, with thirty percent now saying gay jokes are acceptable regardless of whether or not you identify as gay yourself. The number saying such jokes are unacceptable has fallen to its lowest recorded level. The findings add to a broader picture of rising homophobia in the UK, with schools also reporting a sharp increase in suspensions for homophobic and transphobic abuse.

A new photobook documenting the experience of queer Ukrainians during the war with Russia has been published, featuring portraits and profiles gathered by American journalist J Lester Feder. The Queer Face of War, which was displayed in the official programme of this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, explores how Ukraine's LGBTQ+ community has not only faced specific dangers under Russian occupation but has actively embraced civic participation and military service as part of the country's democratic resistance. Feder warns that Russia's anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda laws — dramatically tightened since 2022 — have transformed what was once a tool of harassment into a genuine threat of persecution for queer people living there.

Queer comedian Linus Karp is bringing a new show to the Edinburgh Fringe this August based on his own experience of being attacked in a homophobic assault in London's Soho in 2024. The show, called Linus Karp Was Hit With an Umbrella, recounts how his husband tackled the attacker and held him until police arrived, as well as the investigation and emotional aftermath that followed. Karp says that while the show deals with serious themes, it still has plenty of room for ridiculous comedy — and that queer visibility in public spaces remains more important than ever.

GB News has received more than nine thousand Ofcom complaints following comments made by a guest on the show Alex Armstrong Tonight, in which Catholic journalist Caroline Farrow falsely linked Pride events with paedophilia. Host Alex Armstrong, who is openly gay, later used his programme to say he fundamentally rejects the claim, describing it as an age-old homophobic trope used to demonise queer people. GB News said the comments were the guest's own views and did not reflect the channel's editorial position. Two other GB News programmes have also received significant numbers of Ofcom complaints in recent weeks over anti-LGBTQ+ comments made by guests.

WorldPride is coming to Amsterdam this summer, with an impressive line-up of performers already confirmed. Billy Porter, Beth Ditto and Olly Alexander are among those set to take to the stage as the Dutch capital hosts the world's biggest LGBTQ+ celebration. The event runs across several days in August, combining a canal parade, outdoor concerts and community events across the city.

LGBTQ+ people in Indonesia are facing an escalating threat following a presidential regulation that classified queer culture as a national security threat alongside terrorism and drug abuse. Human Rights Watch says harassment and physical attacks on LGBTQ+ university students surged during Pride Month, with at least ten public universities adopting discriminatory regulations. An LGBTQ+ advocacy group reported that at least fifteen trans women were attacked by an anti-LGBTQ+ group in the city of Bogor — beaten, chased and subjected to degrading abuse. Human Rights Watch said Indonesian authorities are looking the other way during the upsurge of violence.

The leader of Essex County Council has said some books featured in Pride Month library displays could be upsetting for parents. Peter Harris, whose Reform UK administration took control of the authority in May, told the BBC the council's libraries should represent all residents rather than things that might be deemed ideological. When asked which specific books or displays he found inappropriate, he was unable to identify any. Several Essex libraries continued to put up Pride displays despite earlier guidance telling staff not to promote themed events. A protest is planned outside County Hall ahead of a full council meeting at which thousands of residents' signatures will be presented.

East London queer football club Goal Diggers FC is hosting a weekend of events to coincide with London Trans+ Pride later this month. Running from the twenty-fourth to the twenty-sixth of July, the programme includes a club night at Hackney Bridge, a march with the football bloc at Trans+ Pride, and a community football tournament in Islington open to women and non-binary players. All events will operate under a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination of any kind.

LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream Hollywood films has fallen for the third year in a row, according to the latest annual report from the media watchdog GLAAD. Of the 225 films tracked from the industry's ten largest distributors, fewer than one in five featured any LGBTQ+ characters — down more than eight percent from a 2023 high. Most strikingly, the report found zero transgender characters across all 225 films, and not a single LGBTQ+ character in any animated or family film. GLAAD's chief executive said studios risk losing a generation of younger viewers who will simply go elsewhere to find entertainment that includes their community.

The co-owners of New York's Stonewall Inn have accused JK Rowling of damaging LGBTQ+ people worldwide through her platform. Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly, who brought a replica of the historic bar to London Pride last weekend, said Rowling's influence extends far beyond the UK and that they now have to go back and educate people as a result. They also warned of a growing threat to gay marriage and same-sex adoption rights, saying the community cannot afford to take hard-won protections for granted.

There's been an unexpected change of cast in the West End production of Oh, Mary!. Catherine Tate has left the show for personal reasons, with non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park stepping back in to play Mary Todd Lincoln until the eighteenth of July. Creator and Tony Award winner Cole Escola will then take over the role from the twentieth of July until the production closes in August.

To mark Disability Pride Month, a new study by the Belonging Forum has found that nearly half of disabled LGBTQ+ people in the UK experience frequent loneliness — significantly higher than among disabled people overall. The research, which surveyed more than ten thousand adults, also found that four in ten disabled LGBTQ+ people do not feel they belong in their communities. The Belonging Forum's founder Kim Samuel called for workplaces, communities and public institutions to put belonging at the heart of everything they design.

Russell T Davies has warned that LGBTQ+ people are facing new threats, speaking at the Attitude Pride Awards. The writer of Queer as Folk, It's a Sin and Tip Toe said the direction of gay, queer and especially trans rights had shaped his latest work, and argued its themes were far from niche. He also revealed he is already writing his next project, saying there is always a lot to say and that if he can write this stuff forever, then he will.

A teacher has been banned from the profession after making discriminatory remarks to a Year 11 class, including stating that gay and transgender people are mentally ill. William Garwood, 60, was teaching at a Catholic school in West Yorkshire when the comments were made in 2023. The Teaching Regulation Agency found the remarks were clearly inappropriate and significantly outside the bounds of acceptable teaching practice, and said they were especially problematic given their potential impact on school-aged children. Garwood cannot apply to have the banning order lifted until 2032.

Russia has censored a rainbow from an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants under its laws banning so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda. In the famous scene — which has been a viral meme for years — SpongeBob uses his hands to paint a rainbow over his head while talking about the power of imagination. In the Russian version, the rainbow has been replaced with a plain yellow arc. The change is thought to be connected to President Putin's propaganda laws, which were first introduced in 2013 and expanded in 2022 to ban any content deemed to promote homosexuality across all ages. There has long been speculation about SpongeBob's sexuality, which may have further fuelled the decision to censor the moment.

Halifax-based Calderdale council is removing dozens of rainbow banners put up in the area through an £8,500 crowdfunding initiative.The Reform-led council says it’s removing the banners because they were placed on council property without approval. But the Labour Party in Calderdale says the banners were put up by a commercial company that has a contract with the council, and claims the move is politically motivated.

Egypt has followed Turkey in turning away an LGBTQ+ cruise ship. The Scarlet Lady, with 2,000 passengers on board, was first turned away from Turkey with authorities there saying the cruise had been chartered by groups known for behaviour that doesn’t align with the country’s society and moral values. Now the Egyptian government has followed l suit, without giving a reason for its decision. Cruise organisers are now looking for alternative ports. The Scarlet Lady is part-way through a 10-day Athens to Venice trip around the Mediterranean.

A summer-long experiment to provide more seating outside venues in Manchester’s Gay Village is now underway. The city council says it wants to help businesses away from the main Canal Street thoroughfare and has given the go-ahead for outside seating at bars in Bloom Street and Richmond Street. Venues such as The Lodge, The Goose and New York, New York have already set up chairs and tables outdoors - perfectly timed to take advantage of the present heatwave! The council’s monitoring the move, which, it’s hoped,will become a permanent feature.