Royal Armouries Leeds

The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, West Yorkshire is a national museum, which displays the National Collection of Arms and Armour.

Situated close to the city centre on the bank of the River Aire the museum is among many buildings built in the same era that saw a rejuvenation of the Leeds waterfront. It is located on Armouries Square in Leeds Dock.

The Royal Armouries Museum is a £42.5 million purpose-built museum that opened in 1996, and is part of the Royal Armouries family of museums, the other sites being the Tower of London – its traditional home, Fort Nelson, Hampshire for the display of its National Collection of Artillery, and permanent galleries within the Frazier History Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

The Royal Armouries is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

More photos can be seen here.

Manchester’s protest against conversion therapy

Meet at 3.00pm Saturday, 16 April in St Peter’s Square, Manchester. There were 3,000 to 4,000 outside Downing Street last week:

Petition

Over 132,000 people have signed a petition to ensure any ban on conversion therapy fully includes trans people and all forms of conversion therapy. Parliament considers all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures for a debate.

It’s shameful that the UK intends to deliberately exclude trans people from a ban in contrast to the approach taken by many countries, despite trans people being at a greater risk of experiencing the harmful and degrading practices.

The government’s own figures show that trans people are nearly twice as likely to be at risk of experiencing the harmful and degrading practices of conversion therapy. A ban needs to ensure all forms of conversion therapy are banned.

You can sign here. There is also another petition here.

Rainbow Call Companions

Re-engage, a charity preventing loneliness and isolation for older people have just launched a new, UK-wide, LGBT+ specific service for older people aged over 75 who would like to speak to someone who’s also LGBT+.

The service is called Rainbow Call Companions and is designed to provide you with a regular telephone befriender who will give you the opportunity to develop friendship, free from judgement. They love a good chat and they are great listeners too.

Calls are usually weekly and last for half an hour or so and you can chat about anything that interests you. What’s great is that the same volunteer phones you every time, so you can get to know each other and share stories and laughter – for as long as you both want.

You can refer yourself here to find a Rainbow Call Companion.