Community Session: Out In The City

Manchester Pride invited Out In The City to present a Community Session to celebrate and let people know more about the incredible work we do to make LGBT+ life in Manchester so special for people over 50.

We informed the audience about who we are and the difficulties and challenges we have faced in our lifetimes. With talks, a short film, powerpoint presentations and a poem, we provided an opportunity for attendees to get to know us better and it all added up to an interesting evening.

Mystery trip

Eighteen of us met at Piccadilly Gardens Tram Stop at 11.00am to embark on a mystery trip. No clues had been provided other than we were taking the tram!

We changed at Cornbrook, got off at The Trafford Centre, walked through Selfridges, up the escalator, through to the ‘French Quarter’, past The Odeon Cinema … to the Paradise Island Adventure Golf.

We split into teams and teed off on the Temple Ruins Adventure – an amazing 18 hole crazy golf course, with a background of exotic wildlife, magnificent stone carvings and all sorts of paradise themed fun.

We were super competitive and I think we all scored a “hole in one”. Our scores varied widely, but Peter was the overall winner with a score of 45.

We dined at the Mardi Gras, a Wetherspoons pub, before taking the tram back to Manchester city centre. 

It was a very enjoyable day and there are lots of photos here.

New steps for Little Amal this Manchester Day

Last November we welcomed Little Amal, a 3.5-metre puppet of a ten-year-old refugee girl, as she ended an 8,000km journey in Manchester. On Sunday 19 June you can see her again as she walks in the iconic Manchester Day Parade before travelling across the UK, marking World Refugee Week.

You can plan your visit at the Manchester Day website and learn more about Amal’s journey by following @walkwithamal on social media.

We can’t wait to see the mesmerising Little Amal take to the street of Manchester!

5 of the best LGBT+ podcasts on BBC Sounds

Whilst the importance of hearing from LGBT+ people doesn’t just fall to a few weeks, Pride Month offers us time to commemorate just how far the movement has come. We can support the LGBT+ community by standing in solidarity and learning more about its history and present realities.

In the lead up to Pride, BBC Sounds has a wealth of podcasts that platform vital stories exploring queer joy, trans visibility and more. So, whether you’re a fan of sports or Yungblud’s Doncaster accent, they’ve got you covered with an easy fix of brilliant LGBT+ podcasts, but be quick as they are only available for a few weeks. Go to BBC Sounds and search for the following:

Conversion Therapy Ban

On Monday 13 June, MPs debated a petition calling for transgender people to be included in the Government’s proposed conversion therapy ban.

The debate was opened by Petitions Committee member Elliot Colburn MP, and Equalities Minister Mike Freer MP responded for the Government. A full transcript of everything that was said during the debate can be read here.