My Double Life

Mark Foster is a former competitive swimmer and winner of 51 major international medals, including six world titles, two Commonwealth Games golds and eleven European titles. He represented the UK at five Olympic Games, and broke eight world records. He works as a commentator for the BBC during major sporting events.

Mark Foster was born in Billericay, Essex in 1970 and is old enough to join Out In The City!

His new memoir, My Double Life, was published on 2 July, and is a colourful story of one of Britain’s best loved sportsmen, and his thirty-year-long coming out journey.

If anyone was going to come out as gay at the height of their sporting career it should have been Mark Foster – a confident, laid-back guy who doesn’t care what anyone thinks. So how is it that it took someone like him half a lifetime to come out?

From a Jack-the-lad being expelled from one of the most prestigious schools in the country to becoming the fastest man through water on the planet and a television favourite, Mark takes readers on a remarkable journey.

He shares with us the sometimes serious and sometimes comic tactics that enabled him to live a double life for so long and convince himself he was happy doing so. But Mark’s experience, told with humour and honesty, makes us stop and reassess where we really are in terms of society’s approach to homosexuality and diversity in sport. Whether it’s his intimate coming out conversations, posing naked photo for the Elton John Aids Foundation, glittering appearances on Strictly Come Dancing or breaking eight world records in an unprecedented 20 year career in the pool, Mark reveals the other worldliness of being an Olympian.

Inspiring and moving, A Double Life is the tale of one man’s pursuit of sporting prowess and finding the freedom to live his truth.

Trans Unity Quilt

The media and far right figures are obsessed with trying to tell the public who trans people are and how the public should feel about them.

The giant patchwork quilt has been made by and for trans people and allies.

The almost 300 homemade patches range from memorials to inside jokes and family celebrations. It shows shared joy, grief, creativity and resilience, and the proud existence of a community standing together against transphobia and hate.

Inspired by the history of textile protest art, the quilt is a huge symbol of our strength and how, when we come together, we cannot and will not be divided. 

The quilt will be seen for the first time on Saturday, 25 July at London Trans+ Pride.

40 Years of HIV Activism – Movie Wins Award

A film by Nathaniel J Hall and Georgiana Ghetiu

We’re thrilled that “Acting Up – 40 Years of HIV Activism” has won a best documentary film at the LGBTQ+ Toronto and Los Angeles film festival, showcasing the best in LGBTQ+ films.

It has also been shortlisted for Scene Festival Irish prize for best British short!

It is incredible to see HIV and Manchester’s rich history of HIV activism recognised on the world’s stage.

Huge thank you to Nathaniel Hall and Georgiana Ghetiu for creating such a moving and reflective piece that beautifully illuminates the work of George House Trust and people living with HIV.

Watch here: