“Toxic” at The Lowry Studio

Toxic is the hotly anticipated explosive new show from award-winning theatre maker Nathaniel J Hall (First Time, It’s A Sin), celebrating the survival and resilience of the queer spirit.

Following its sell-out debut at HOME in Manchester in 2023, actor, writer and HIV activist Nathaniel J Hall is taking his critically acclaimed second play, Toxic on tour from March 2025 to venues across the UK. Produced by Dibby Theatre, this hilarious and heartbreaking semi-autobiographical show is written and performed by Hall alongside Josh-Susan Enright.

Seventeen of us met up at The Lowry to watch the sold out play set in the hedonistic world of Manchester’s underground queer rave scene. Toxic tells the story of two people who, in their own words, ‘meet, fall in love, and f*ck it up.’ Born into Thatcher’s Britain of race riots and rampant homophobia and growing up in the shadow of AIDS and Section 28, the pair form a bond so tight, they might just survive it all. But sometimes survival means knowing when to leave.

Told through a heady mix of storytelling, movement, witty dialogue, original music and club visuals, this powerful and passionate play dares to pull back the glittery curtain of pride to reveal a place where many still suffer the impact of generational homophobia, racism, toxic gender norms and HIV stigma.

London’s first dedicated LGBT+ cinema

The Arzner, which proudly bills itself as London’s first dedicated LGBT+ cinema, is now fully up and running in 10 Bermondsey Square, London SE1 3UN.

Named after Dorothy Arzner, a pioneering lesbian filmmaker who became the first woman to direct a talkie with 1928’s Manhattan Cocktail, the cinema-cum-cocktail bar is independent and gay-owned. 

The programme is a mix of LGBT+ films representing everyone and camp classics. Going forward, they want to unearth some more obscure LGBT+ films that might be in need of restoration.

Among other films, on the bill recently was Jamie Babbit’s sapphic classic But I’m a Cheerleader, Gus Van Sant’s landmark My Own Private Idaho, and Bob Fosse’s Oscar-winning musical Cabaret starring a luminous Liza Minnelli.

Minnelli is one of many gold-plated gay icons adorning the bar’s walls, while the cocktails are named after Hollywood legends like Rock Hudson, Bette Davis and Marlene Dietrich. The sole cinema screen has plush red carpets and gleaming faux-leather seats: in contemporary parlance, it’s giving old Hollywood with a modern sheen. 

The Arzner is the brainchild of Simon Burke and Piers Greenlees, who also own The Rising, an LGBT+ pub in nearby Elephant & Castle that opened just under a year ago. The Arzner has taken over premises formerly occupied by Kino Bermondsey, an independent cinema that closed in January 2023.

During daytime hours, people with laptops sip flat whites under the watchful eyes of queer icons like Candy Darling and Katharine Hepburn. After dark, the cocktail bar offers a cosy alternative to London’s noisier LGBT+ bars and clubs.

The Arzner feels timely because authentic LGBT+ stories on film are finally starting to become more mainstream. But above all, London’s newest independent cinema wants to earn its stripes as a community space that fosters inclusivity and sparks conversations. 

Historically, so many LGBT+ stories told on film have been heart-wrenching with very sad endings. The Arzner will definitely be showing those films because they’re important, but they also want to find films that spread queer joy because that’s what the community needs right now.

Head to the website for programme info.

All photos by Jess Hand / Time Out

Make A Scene Film Club

Make A Scene Film Club is back! Two screenings are coming in the next two months! It’s a chance for Friends of Dorothy and their friends all to get together and watch and discuss fabulous films with a new monthly mid-week screening at Cultplex.

This is a place to re-discover or discover for the first time those films that make up the queer and camp canon. Each month there will be movies with an LGBT+ theme or ones that have been taken to heart by the community.

May’s film club screening is the hilarious The Birdcage which is programmed as a little tribute to great screen actor Gene Hackman who died in February.

The Birdcage – Wednesday, 7 May 7.00pm – (doors 7.00pm, film starts at 7.15pm)

Cultplex, First Floor, GRUB, 50 Red Bank, Cheetham Hill, Manchester M4 4HF

The Birdcage is the 1996 update of the seminal 1978 French queer comedy film La Cage aux Folles directed by Édouard Molinaro, based on Jean Poiret’s 1973 play about a middle-aged gay couple who run a drag nightclub whose lives become upended when their straight son is set to marry a girl from a conservative family.

Robin Williams and Nathan Lane play the gayest of gay soulmates and the late, great Gene Hackman stars alongside Diane Weist as the Republican senator and his wife who Williams and Lane try to hide their world of camp, glitter and sequins from as they visit their home above The Birdcage nightclub in Miami when the two families meet.

Come and enjoy this camp classic queer comedy which features Hank Azeria as a flamboyant house boy and culminates in musical numbers and Gene Hackman in full drag!

Click here for tickets.

A Single Man – Thursday, 26 June 7.00pm – (doors 7.00pm, film starts at 7.15pm)

Cultplex, First Floor, GRUB, 50 Red Bank, Cheetham Hill, Manchester M4 4HF

Based on the 1964 Christopher Isherwood novella A Single Man is a heart wrenching but uplifting first film from fashion designer Tom Ford. Ford takes the words of Isherwood (who is best known for his Berlin diaries that were the basis for the musical Cabaret) and turns them into the sort of perfectly put together, sexy and sumptuous concoction you would expect from one of his dresses or suits.

The film sees Colin Firth as George Falconer, a depressed gay British university professor living in Southern California in 1962 who – after the death of his partner in a car accident leaves him totally alone and back in the closet – decides this day will be the day he takes his own life.

George’s “last day on earth” sees him, strangely, at his most alive as he takes in every moment and connection – all beautifully shot by Ford – including an assignation with a young man in a parking lot and a visit to his best friend played by Julianne Moore for a drunken dance. Firth was Oscar nominated for the role and brims with inner life, all hidden behind his brittle British demeanour, framed by perfect Tom Ford thick rimmed glasses.

The film is deep, beautiful, sad and life affirming, soulful, romantic and gorgeous and a real jewel in the queer film canon.

Click here for tickets.

Hetty King

Winifred Emms (born on 21 April 1883 in New Brighton, Wallasey) is best known by her stage name, Hetty King.

She was an English entertainer who performed in the music halls as a male impersonator for over 70 years, having adopted the name, Hetty King, at the age of six. Her signature song was “All the Nice Girls love a Sailor”.

By around 1930, King was reputedly the highest-paid music hall star in the world. Much of her success was due to her painstaking observation of the mannerisms of such men as sailors and soldiers. She learned how to march, salute, light a pipe, and swing a kitbag of the right weight, so as to give the correct appearance of a man, while always ensuring that her femininity shone through, sometimes winking at the audience as if to let them in on the subterfuge.

Hetty King was a key contributor to the empowerment and advancement of women in comedy. She is ripe for a revival of interest and appreciation, as well as richly deserving, in the broader terms of comic history, of much greater prominence and respect.

All the nice girls loved Hetty, and all the nice boys ought to, too.

Bolton Parish Church

Our visit this week was to St Peter’s Church, Bolton-le-Moors which is more commonly known as the Bolton Parish Church.

We were greeted by our hosts – Evelyn (Churchwarden), Hannah (Vicar) and Linda (Tower guide), who made us feel very welcome.

The church is an example of the Gothic Revival style, and although its resplendent hall is magnificent, one of its greatest facets is its tower – standing at 182 feet high. It is the tallest in the historic county of Lancashire. Some of us felt fit enough to climb the 193 tight spiral steps to reach the lofty vantage point of the tower roof. I just hope we don’t regret it in the morning! Before you reach the roof there is a ringing room and a belfry. The roof offers commanding views over Bolton and you can even see Manchester.

The population of Bolton expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution and the previous 15^th century church was demolished and replaced by the present church costing £47,000 (equivalent to about £7 million today). Evelyn talked about the historical, educational and architectural aspects of the building which along with Churchgate represented the old town centre of Bolton.

Samuel Crompton is buried in the church grounds. He built on the work of James Hargreaves and Richard Arkwright and invented the spinning mule, a machine that revolutionised the spinning industry worldwide.

We walked past Ye Old Man & Scythe, the fourth oldest pub in the UK, dating back to 1251. In times gone by there were several theatres along the street including “The Grand” and the “Theatre Royal”. However, the prosperous facade was only skin deep and behind the main street was a maze of squalid courtyards and alleyways where the inhabitants often shared the accommodation with the family pig!

More photos can be seen here.

LGBT+ Hungarians Fight Back

The prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, has passed an anti-LGBT+ law banning Pride Marches in the European country – and was met by photos of him kissing Putin and colourful smoke bombs.

The law proposes fines of up to 200,000 forints (£420) for organisers of Budapest Pride, and anyone attending, claiming the event could be considered harmful to children.

In a statement Budapest Pride said: “This is not child protection, this is fascism. The Hungarian government is trying to restrict peaceful protests with a critical voice by targeting a minority. Therefore, as a movement, we will fight for the freedom of all Hungarians to protest!

Hungarians are a freedom-loving nation. We know that if the government tries to ban protests with critical voices, they will face resistance from the whole of society. That is why we need a scapegoat, a distraction, another wave of hatred … they lie to their voters about a child protection measure, but there is no child protection in this bill.”

Hungary’s Pride ban mocked with ‘Grey Pride’ march

Members of the LGBT+ community gathered in Hungary’s capital Budapest to mock the right-wing government’s recently passed law banning LGBT+ Pride marches.

For weeks, protesters have staged demonstrations in Budapest against the legislation, with thousands of queer folks and allies flooding the streets with signs and flags.

In previous years, more than 30,000 LGBT+ people and allies have marched in Budapest Pride.

On Saturday, 12 April, protesters took a different tack: rather than protesting with rainbow Pride colours, they went grey for a tongue-in-cheek jibe at the anti-LGBT+ law.

At the rally – organised by the parody political party the Two-tailed Dog Party – demonstrators waved flags that were monochrome and held ironic signs with satirical slogans such as “sameness is trendy”.

Although homosexuality is legal in Hungary and discrimination based on sexuality and gender is against the law, marriage is defined as between a man and a woman and LGBT+ couples cannot adopt children.

In recent years, Orbán’s right-wing government has cracked down on the LGBT+ community with legislation that has included banning discussion of LGBT+ people in schools and in the media.

In response, the EU launched legal action against Hungary over the law and froze funding due to concerns over LGBT+ rights, the asylum system, academic freedoms and more – with the EU stipulating a total of 17 conditions for the central European nation to meet before money is granted. 

But at the beginning of 2024, Orbán – who has been prime minister of Hungary since 2010 – doubled down on his anti-LGBT+ rhetoric, saying “no money in the world” would make him accept what he called ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda’.

“There is not enough money in the world to force us to let migrants in, and there is not enough money in the world for which we would put our children or grandchildren in the hands of LGBTQ+ activists,” he said in a video posted to Twitter/X. 

Reenactment of 1965 Gay Rights Protest Set for 17 April at White House

Among those expected to participate in the 17 April White House reenactment picketing is longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Paul Kuntzler, who is shown here participating in a similar reenactment event in front of the White House one year ago.

The Rainbow History Project is inviting members of the local LGBT+ community and its supporters to participate in a reenactment of the historic 1965 first gay rights protest outside the White House.

The event is scheduled to begin on Thursday, 17 April at 4.00pm on the pavement in front of the White House.

In a statement, Rainbow History Project says the 1965 protest was organised by local gay rights pioneers Frank Kameny and Lilli Vincenz on behalf of the Mattachine Society of Washington, one of DC’s first gay rights groups that Kameny co-founded in the early 1960s.

The statement says: “Led by Dr Kameny and Dr Vincenz, picketers demanded action on the Mattachine Society’s four major issues: the exclusion of homosexuals from Federal employment; the punitive policies of the US Military; blanket denial of security clearances to gay people; and government refusal to meet with the LGBTQ community.  

Although Dr Kameny died in 2011, and Dr Vincenz in 2023, Rainbow History Project and its all-volunteer corps will picket in their honour and demonstrate there is a new generation of young activists ready to take up their signs and their fight for equal rights for all LGBTQ people.”

Among those expected to participate in the reenactment picketing is longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Paul Kuntzler, who is the last known survivor of the 1965 White House gay rights protest. Kuntzler was expected to carry a picket sign similar to the one he carried in 1965.

In its research on the 1965 gay White House protest, Rainbow History Project learned of a letter that Kameny sent to then President Lyndon B Johnson outlining the demands of the White House protesters.

“We ask, Mr President, for what all American citizens – singly and collectively – have the right to ask, that our problems be given fair, unbiased consideration … consideration in which we, ourselves, are allowed to participate actively and are invited to do so.”

The Rainbow History Project statement says the group “will carry replicas of the original protest signs and hand out literature explaining the picket to passersby and tourists.”

Dame Kelly Holmes

Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance  athlete and television personality.

Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set British records in numerous events and still holds the records over the 600, and 1,000 metre distances. She held the British 800 metre record until 2021.

In June 2022, Holmes came out as gay in an interview with the Sunday Mirror, adding that she felt “finally free”. She said that she had known she was a lesbian since 1988, when she was in the army; she could not come out then as it was illegal at the time to be gay in the military. After winning two Olympic gold medals at Athens in 2004 and becoming a public figure, she feared there may still be consequences from the army if she came out after leaving, and that she may be shunned within athletics as there were no openly gay sportspeople she knew of.

LGBT campaigners celebrated Holmes coming out, saying that it sheds light on the historic homophobia that can still serve as a barrier to older people coming out.

Later that month, on 26 June, ITV broadcast a 55-minute documentary Kelly Holmes: Being Me in which she describes her fears of her sexuality being exposed, and meets two people who were discharged from the military for being gay. Holmes wrote: “The documentary taught me so much about generational and social advancements when it comes to the LGBTQ+ world.”

Previously, on 18 March 2019, Holmes, along with Paula Radcliffe and Sharron Davies, announced they would be writing a letter to the International Olympic Committee targeting trans women who compete in women’s sports categories.

On January 2023, Holmes spoke again on the subject of transgender individuals’ inclusion in sports stating she had “been ignorant”, and believes that transgender individuals should receive fair outcomes in all areas of life, including sports. “As a former international athlete, a gay women and now openly a member of the LGBTQIA community, I want to firstly say I totally support my trans siblings.”

Queer Treasures at Manchester Central Library – 6

‘Wild Honey from Various Thyme’ (1908) by Michael Field (pseudonym)

(This is the sixth in a series of articles about queer treasures that are currently found in the Archives held at Manchester Central Library.)

Michael Field was the pseudonym adopted by the English lesbian couple Katherine Harris Bradley (1846 – 1914) and Edith Emma Cooper (1862 – 1913), who together under the name of Field wrote approximately 40 volumes of verse and prose writings. Their adopted nom de plume was intended to remain a secret, but was carelessly revealed to the public by their friend, the poet, Robert Browning.

Edith was Katherine’s niece and became her ward when ill health prevented Edith’s mother from caring for her. By the mid-1880s however their relationship had developed into an intense love affair that lasted for over 30 years. In their letters they often addressed each other using the terms of ‘Sweet Wife’ and ‘my own husband’. Yet they also had infatuations with some men, with whom they formed close bonds of friendship. Their relationship with each other did not initially present problems to them, though others adversely commented on their apparent excessive closeness.

They were enthusiastic supporters of Aesthetic Movement ideas in Art and Literature and were friends with many other artists and writers, including the painters Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon, and the writers Robert Browning and Oscar Wilde. Ricketts and Shannon lived openly together as a gay couple in Richmond and were very close to Edith and Katherine.

Much of the women’s early verse drew inspiration from the works of Ancient Greek Literature, in particular the poetry of Sappho, herself a celebrated Lesbian artist. ‘Wild Honey from Various Thyme’ appeared in 1908, and marks the transition in their poetry from being inspired by pagan classical themes to overtly Christian ones. True to their aesthetic disposition, the actual book itself is a work of art, with dark green silk on the outer boards bearing a gilt-embossed decoration of bees and honeycombs, designed by their friend, Charles Ricketts. On the spine there is a corresponding motif of bees and flower-bells.

In Ancient Greek Literature, poets were often referred to as bees, as the sweetness of their verse was compared to honey: Sappho herself had the epithet of the ‘Pierian bee’.

‘Wild Honey’ opens with a poem addressed to the Ancient Greek pagan deity, Pan –

And while he sleeps the bees are numbering …

And smear with honey his wide, smiling lip. (p1)

Of note here is the god Pan’s fin-de-siècle popularity as a symbol for queer sexualities, indicating a knowing playfulness in their verse. As Marion Thane* in her book on Field observes –

Bees seem to have a peculiarly Decadent and homosexual sexual significance … which is born out in other writings upon poetry in the nineteenth century. This association can be traced back to 1873, when Alfred Lord Tennyson condemned ‘Art with poisonous honey stolen from France’. Here, the influence of France, is, of course, decadence; France coming to signify all that is corrupt, morally, and particularly sexually. ‘Honey’ is used here as a conventional metaphor for poetry, but it is also clear that Tennyson’s talk of ‘poisonous honey’ created a potent image of a homosexual, Decadent aesthetic. (Thane 2009 p143)

Additional poems and verses praise Eros and Dionysus, but yet others hint at the writers’ later conversion to Roman Catholicism, before the work climaxes with the Christian-inspired poem of ‘Good Friday’ (p194).  

Resolute in their love for one another when inspired by the pagan world, sadly towards the end of her life, under the influence of the poisonous honey of Catholicism, Edith worried about having to confess her ‘secret sins’.  Nonetheless, certain poems, such as ‘Constancy’, seem directly to address the continuing strength of their love for each other –

I love her with the seasons, with the winds,
As the stars worship, as anemones
Shudder in secret for the sun, as bees
Buzz round an open flower: in all kinds
My love is perfect, and in each she finds
Herself the goal: (p173)

Edith died from cancer in December 1913; sadly, Katherine survived only a few months, before she too passed away the following September. As a testament to their love for each other, they were buried together in the cemetery of St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church in Mortlake.

* Thain, M. ‘Michael Field’: Poetry, Aestheticism and the Fin-de-siècle. Cambridge University Press: 2009.

Arthur Martland © 2025

Queer Noise

Enjoy having a scroll through the Manchester Digital Music Archive, an online archive celebrating Manchester’s music history. We particularly enjoyed this online exhibition about Manchester’s LGBT music history.

Introduction by: Jon Savage

Welcome to the Queer Noise exhibition: an online project that explores the hidden history of Manchester’s LGBT+ music culture and club life. The key word here is hidden. Despite the fact that there have now been dozens of books written about Manchester music and pop culture – relating to Factory, the Haçienda and Madchester in particular – LGBT+ people are rarely given space in the city’s ‘official’ histories.

Believing that this is a severe omission, Abigail Ward decided to set up an online project that would invite queer people from across the generations to share their memories, pictures, artefacts and stories – with the aim of constructing a fuller history of the city’s oft-forgotten queer scenes and their wider influence upon British pop and club culture.

The memories go back to the nineteen-fifties, when venues such as The Union Hotel (now the New Union), The Café Royal and the Gaumont Cinema bar provided safe spaces for gay men. In the 70s we see the launch of the Gaslight, one of the first lesbian clubs in the region, opened by Joyce Edwards.

Then there’s the early 80s peak where, despite the attentions of police Chief Constable James Anderton, venues like Hero’s, High Society and Napoleon’s flourished.

Manchester’s LGBT+ scene exploded in 1991 with the success of Paul Cons’ and Lucy Scher’s Flesh at the Haçienda (again an alternative story to the laddish ‘Madchester’ groups who dominate the histories of that club). This helped Manchester’s Gay Village to thrive, although there are many debates about the commercialisation of Canal Street and the dilution of the queer subculture.

In more recent times we have seen the emergence of a fascinating Queer Alternative scene with clubs like Bollox, Homo Electric and Club Brenda the helm. These club are all notably eclectic musically and trans-friendly, as are smaller nights such as Tranarchy and Drunk At Vogue.

But there are still many gaps, particularly from the trans scene, and we’d like your help to fill them. If you own artefacts that you think should be included in this exhibition, please upload them to the main Manchester Digital Music Archive website, or email them to info@mdmarchive.co.uk. Every contribution will be properly credited.

With your support, we hope to construct a proper people’s history and to reclaim Manchester’s vibrant LGBT+ music and club culture from the shadows.

New NHS Video launched

The Pride in Ageing Advisory Group at the LGBT Foundation have been working with the Health Innovation Accelerator project by NHS Health Innovation Manchester to improve the diagnosis and treatment of disease in the Greater Manchester population.

One of the results of the project is a video about accessing health services for older LGBTQ+ people, which you can access here.

As part of the continued public and community engagement work that is being undertaken as part of the Health Innovation Accelerator programme, Health Innovation Manchester invited members of the LGBT Foundation Pride in Ageing programme to share their thoughts and experiences of engaging with the healthcare system.

These conversations focussed on potential ways to increase engagement within the LGBTQ+ community in terms of access to NHS screening, and in raising awareness of health risks associated with prevalent diseases across Greater Manchester.

Through conversation and active listening with members, Health Innovation Manchester was able to better understand lived experiences within the LGBTQ+ community, including needs, and perspectives on how the health and care system can better engage with its diverse communities across the city-region.

Coach trip to York

We travelled by coach to York to visit The National Railway Museum, which opened in 1975, and which has been making memories for 50 years.

We were also celebrating 200 years since the first fare-paying passenger journey on the Stockton and Darlington Line on 27 September 1825 – widely regarded as the birth of the modern railway.

The exhibitions promote the past, present and future of the railways, and in the Great Hall we were greeted by a stunning array of railway vehicles including The Rocket, Mallard and Shinkansen.

Mallard travelled at a record 126 miles per hour and we had the opportunity to view the cab. We also stepped inside the only Japanese bullet train that’s not in Japan! This beautiful Series 0 Shinkansen from the 1960s was completely restored before leaving its home country. In 1829 The Derby Mercury newspaper described the way the Rocket “darted past the spectators”, comparing it with the “rapidity with which the swallow darts through the air”.

It was fascinating to learn about how innovation and ingenuity led to a world changing transport revolution.

More photos can be seen here.

Fear, joy, solidarity: exhibition explores 40 years of HIV activism in Manchester

Paul Fairweather was in his late 20s when he volunteered to take calls from terrified members of the public for Manchester AIDSline, an organisation he set up with five friends in response to the impact of HIV across the city.

Though it was four decades ago now, he still remembers some of the conversations. “Some of the calls had a really big impact on you,” he says.

“I had a phone call from a woman who was phoning up about her son who had AIDS. And as she was talking, I realised that I knew her son.

She was just in tears – and it was really early on, so you wanted to reassure people, but the reality was he was probably going to die quite soon because there were no treatments.”

Now for the first time in history, the logbook from this invaluable service can be seen by the public as part of the exhibition ACTING UP! 40 Years of HIV Activism at Manchester Central Library, which is open until December.

Handwritten notes about calls taken over a span of a couple of days in November 1985 show how people phoned to ask questions about the risk of oral sex, to discuss virus symptoms they might have had and to ask about clinic opening times.

Many callers were the “worried well” who were anxious about catching HIV despite being at no risk, such was the stigma of the virus, says Fairweather. “People would phone up either too nervous or too scared to say anything,” he says.

“It feels really strange,” says the activist on this piece of his history becoming part of a public exhibition, which was created by the George House Trust, the HIV charity that Manchester AIDSline turned into. “It doesn’t seem 40 years ago, but it’s great to see it. To remember what it was like in those early days is really important.”

The logs and other materials from the George House Trust’s archive were used by the charity’s patron, Russell T Davies, in writing the Channel 4 television drama It’s A Sin, which went on to receive a record-busting 12 Bafta nominations after it aired in 2021.

Joe Tanzer, the project lead, says: “The phone calls that happen in It’s a Sin are real-life stories from the Manchester AIDSline logbooks.”

The year 1985, when the phone line was started, was also when the first HIV tests became available, and the materials made at the time helped people weigh up the positives and negatives of testing.

Tanzer says: “So people have this dilemma of: ‘Do I test for it or not, because there’s no treatment. Do I want to know that I’ve got that?’”

Fast forward to 2025 and the message has changed entirely. “It’s very different to the kind of context now where it’s all about knowing your status.”

The archive shows that, as well as the help and support provided to gay men, the charity had services specifically for women and black communities, who also found themselves affected.

Personal testimonies tell stories from the past four decades, and there is an emphasis on the oral histories of five women, who include Michelle Croston, a professor who spent much of her career as a HIV nurse, and Agatha Phiri, a woman originally from Malawi who runs a charity for women with HIV in Oldham called Agatha’s Space.

There are fundraising materials, such as raffle tickets, flyers, comics and protest T-shirts, some of which were worn by Fairweather, who was awarded an MBE in 2023 for his activism.

Tanzer said he hoped the exhibition would “put the north on the map”, adding: “Because as the history of HIV gets written, London is tending to eclipse other centres of activism, and Manchester really was one of them, and still is.”

The city is fiercely proud of its activist history around HIV. While London is working on a memorial to those killed by the disease, Manchester has had one for 25 years, a metal sculpture called the Beacon of Hope in Sackville Gardens in Manchester’s gay village.

“Manchester has been kind of leading the way in that sense but it’s not as well known,” Tanzer said.

Also featured in the exhibition, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, are protest banners used in the 1980s, which are displayed in the library’s grand first-floor reading room until the end of May.

The materials on display show how the campaigners deployed wit to help spread their message.

Tanzer says: “In 1993, Virginia Bottomley, the then health secretary for the Conservative government, cut funding to HIV. So they protested against her … and at some point someone worked out her name was an anagram.

“There’s a picture of them all standing there spelling out her name, Virginia Bottomley, and they do a little shuffle, and then it says ‘I’m an evil Tory bigot’. It’s just brilliant.”

Tanzer adds: “So it’s not just sad. There’s so much involved in the activism, it’s about joy and solidarity and action, and strength in community as well.”

Lived experiences of older LGBTQI+ adults aged 60 or older

Huntley, R. et al., Journal of Homosexuality – February 2025.

Despite increasing research on LGBT+ people’s experiences, studies specifically focusing on those aged 60 and older remain scarce. This group has faced unique challenges that younger generations may not have encountered.

The aim of this study is to explore the lived experience of LGBT+ people aged 60 or older. Based on a review of eight studies, key findings highlight challenges in navigating openness, the need for recognition and belonging, and resilience despite adversity. Recommendations emphasise the need for future research on intersectional LGBT+ experiences.

The article can be read in full here.

New booklet on LGBT+ ageing

A new booklet (Ageing On Our Own Terms) highlighting the need for LGBT+ inclusive support for older LGBT+ people was released in March 2025.  

Published by the Furzedown Project, a London based community organisation supporting older people, the report was supported by Wandsworth Council and covers a number of areas including:

• Historical context
• Hopes and fears for the future
• Support needs
• Planning for later life.

The report also includes direct quotes from older LGBT+ people about what “living well” means for them as they get older, with common themes including not having to go back in the closet, having an LGBT+ friendly place to live, gay culture remaining part of their lives and recognition of chosen families.

Ageing On Our Own Terms is designed as a resource for commissioners, providers and regulators of health and social care to assist them in meeting the needs and aspirations of LGBT+ people as they age.

You can read the booklet here.

You can also watch this video about the booklet on YouTube.

Police Museum

We organised a private visit to the Police Museum in Manchester, which included a guided tour and a reading of the play “Justice” whilst in the Magistrates Court. The play tells the story of the Altrincham case, and has been added to the Resources section of our website here.

Also more photos can be seen here.

In the “Good Old” bad old days of 1936 when homosexuality was not only disapproved of but also prosecuted, a conviction could destroy the lives of gay men without them having committed a single wrong act. The case was reported in The Manchester Guardian on 6 November 1936 detailing their names, ages, occupation, address and sentence.

In this article by Allan Horsfall (written in 1986), he takes a closer look at one of the largest homosexual prosecutions in British legal history and the shock waves that reverberated around the small Cheshire market town of Altrincham.

The Altrincham Case

Fifty years ago a huge group prosecution devastated the lives of the men involved and placed a mark of “shame” upon the Cheshire town of Altrincham – around which it was centred – which was to persist for generations. Because of this Altrincham became identified among a large section of the population as being synonymous with everything perverted. Whenever the town was mentioned in these circles it was almost certain that homosexuality would rear its head. And if homosexuality was discussed or – more probably – joked about, then the name of Altrincham would invariably be dragged in.

The vision was of a town populated entirely by predatory sodomites. “If you should happen to drop a half-crown in Altrincham,” people were solemnly warned, “don’t ever pick it up.”

I have heard this warning repeated where the half-crown had given way to a fifty-pence piece, demonstrating that this slanderous image of the place persisted at least into the 1970’s and there may well be areas where it lives on still.

Oscar Wilde said the road to homosexual law reform would be “long and red with monstrous martyrdoms,” and this was certainly the case in the years between 1885 and 1967 during which all male homosexual acts were outlawed.

But the pattern of prosecutions was uneven – and not only in relation to times and places. Although one might have expected that those who took the most risks would face the greatest danger, this was often not the case. A stereotypical homosexual who consistently behaved outrageously might sail through life quite untroubled by the law, while for others whose conduct was discretion itself Authority’s heavy knock on the door might come – sometimes even in the middle of the night – many years after the activity for which they were being hunted down.

The atmosphere was captured exactly by Dr R W Reid in a letter published in the Spectator on 3 January 1958:

“The pogroms continue, one in this neighbourhood having started with long and weary police court proceedings on the eve of Christmas, so that the festival may presumably be spent in contemplation of the Spring Assize.

And this for a lad of seventeen. The pattern is much the same in all these cases. The police go round from house to house, bringing ruin in their train, always attacking the younger men first, extracting information with lengthy questioning and specious promises of light sentences as they proceed from clue to clue, ie from home to home, often up to twenty.

This time the age range is seventeen to forty, which is about average. Last time a man of thirty-seven dropped dead in the dock at Assize. Just because this happens in country places and at country assizes it all goes largely unreported.”

Too Many to Ignore

But it did not go unreported when it happened in Altrincham. Although no famous names were involved, it was too big for the national press to ignore. Twenty-nine men were brought before the courts and the number was only limited because others, who had got wind of the police inquiries, had fled the country.

There were no allegations of importuning or public indecency. The men had met, it was said, in cafes and bars in Manchester. It is extremely doubtful whether each of these men knew, and were known by, more than a few of the others, but they were seen by authority -as in nearly all similar prosecutions – as a gang. “I am quite satisfied,” said the judge, “that the prisoners in the dock at this Assizes are a gang.”

Gangs, of course, need to have leaders and this role invariably ascribed not to the oldest accused, but to the one facing most charges. I recall this label being pinned on to a 24 year old man during a group prosecution in Bolton as recently as 1963.

Viewed from today, the press were strangely inhibited in their reportage of the Altrincham case. With the single exception of the ever-salacious Manchester Evening News, there was no mention of gross indecency and certainly none of buggery. The local paper referred throughout to “improper conduct” and both national and local papers reported it simply as “The Altrincham case”, which is probably why the memory of it endured for so long to haunt the town.

Mr Alfred Keogh (prosecuting) said he “did not suppose that in the criminal history of the country had a batch of prisoners been brought before a court on such serious charges – certain of the charges were about the most serious which could be brought against any man. It was something just less than murder.”

There had been no direct complaints to the police. The ages of the accused ranged from 17 to 59. The youngest, “who was unable to work for several months did not make a complaint to anybody, but his employer dragged the truth out of him. As a result the prosecution spread, one prisoner incriminating another.”

Gay Solidarity

The defendants, who had been reported as looking drawn and dejected at the start of the preliminary hearing, had apparently brightened up considerably by the second day, as evidenced by the following defending counsel, Mr Backhouse (addressing the magistrates) said, “However much you admire the Cheshire police, it is impossible for your worships to believe that one after another these men, against whom the police had no evidence, immediately volunteered statements which convicted themselves.”

This was followed by a spontaneous outbreak of applause from all the defendants. I am quite certain that this early and previously unheard-of demonstration of gay solidarity in adversity must have come as a profound shock to the prosecution and the Bench. And as quite an eye-opener to the defending solicitors and counsel as well, I should imagine.

There were signs, too, that even some of the police did not regard the defendants as belonging to the general body of criminality. Cross-examining Detective Harris on his evidence, Mr Lustgarden asked, “Did you ever know a more accommodating crowd of defendants?”

Detective Harris: “No, Sir.”

“They have an extraordinary urge to write statements?”

“They are not criminals, Sir.”

The prosecution was not content to rest its case on the confessions of frightened and confused prisoners. Dr W H Grace, pathologist at Chester Royal Infirmary, stated that he had medically examined 24 of the 29 prisoners. He came to the conclusion, as a result of his examinations, that 12 of them “had acted as receiving agents in the committal of a certain offence” (as the papers put it). He had made his examinations on the instructions of the police superintendent at Altrincham.

Strenuous efforts were made by the defence to have the trial held in Manchester rather than Chester. Mr Turner said his client lived in Stretford. He was a youth of 20 years of age and his widowed mother had raised money for his defence. It would be a great hardship if they were put to more expense than was necessary. Manchester Assize Courts were only a twopenny (tram) car ride from his client’s house.

All the solicitors in the case and all the counsel, with the exception of one, were not in the Chester circuit. It would be beyond the means of the defendants to support their own defence if the case went to Chester. But to Chester it was sent!

Beacon of Humanity

The prosecution there followed the drearily familiar pattern of such cases. Seized letters and photographs, powder, lipstick, greasepaint. Evidence of presents – slippers, flowers, chocolates. Hotel registers were produced to demonstrate who had stayed with whom and where and when. Evidence of nicknames – one of them had been known as the Queen Mother.

Perhaps worst of all, the mother of one of the defendants was put up by the prosecution to testify that her son had entertained a male friend while she was away on Good Friday.

A tiny beacon of ‘humanity’ flickered when the employer of one of the accused pleaded in court that if any treatment could be found for his workman as an alternative to imprisonment he would be willing to meet the full cost of it, including accommodation. This was the only defendant to be subsequently dealt with by way of a treatment order.

A handful were acquitted and a few were treated leniently, but brutality was the order of the day. Men were sent away for terms of two, three and four years and, in the most savage case, one man was sentenced to seven years penal servitude with 18 months hard labour.

Paul Tench, writing about the case in the Sunday Empire News, produced a strange mixture of moralising and attempted explanation.

“Less than two years ago Herr Hitler started a campaign to eradicate this brand of vice from Germany. His method was drastic and sentences against those convicted ranged from the death sentence to life imprisonment.

There is good reason for saying that the Altrincham round-up has touched only the fringe of the scandal rampant in other areas now receiving police attention.”

But the writing was already on the (admittedly distant) wall for the German dictator in a war which served to concentrate British minds wonderfully on more important and worthwhile pursuits than legalised queerbashing.

Commemoration?

And no subsequent trawl of homosexuals was to net so many victims – not even when the British police were acting under post-war pressure from the American security agencies. So the Altrincham case remains unique in the breadth and intensity of its persecution – a pinnacle of cruelty in an 82 years long homosexual wilderness – the result, as the Empire News put it, “of one of the most searching investigations that have ever been undertaken in this respect with a large number of detectives working day and night.”

Although it is easy now to portray these men as the victims which they undoubtably were, there seems to be no ready way in which their suffering and the injustice of it can be commemorated in a form more permanent than this article.

And even here I have named nobody, although most of them will now be where publicity can do no further damage and where they stand in no need of any protection from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.

But the time has surely come to lay the ghost so far as Altrincham is concerned. No City of Vice, this pleasant, wealthy town, but merely – like some of its unlucky sons – the hapless victim of an unjust law and a capricious prosecution policy.

The town, in its turn, has a duty to help in rehabilitating the memory of the victims. Though it may not be exactly another Tolpuddle, fate has nevertheless awarded Altrincham a minor but undeniable place in the unhappy chronicle of martyrdom.

The trial requires a permanent memorial. A blue plaque on the courthouse or the new library would be appropriate. This idea, however, is unlikely to commend itself to civic leaders who have within this decade elected as Mayor a man who, immediately before his installation to that office, prescribed “a bullet between the eyes” as appropriate treatment for homosexuals.

The political composition of the council has changed a little since that disgraceful comment was perceived as no bar to high office in the borough, but not so much as to easily permit the act of atonement which is still called for.

But it might be worth a try.

Kathleen Stock: New ruling could make it harder to prevent anti-trans bullying in UK Universities

Thanks to Jamie Wareham for this article.

The regulator who oversees universities in the UK has fined the University of Sussex over its transgender-inclusive policies that banned speakers from making anti-trans statements.

The university has been fined £585,000 by the higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS). It follows a three-year battle over the regulator’s rules about protecting free speech and academic freedom on campuses – BBC

The regulator said the university’s policies that included a requirement to “positively represent trans people” could lead to staff and students preventing themselves from voicing opposing views. The university plans to appeal the ruling, accusing the regulator of pursuing a “vindictive and unreasonable campaign.”

It says that if the ruling goes unchallenged, it will leave the institution and universities across the UK “powerless to prevent abusive, bullying and harassing speech.”

Arif Ahmed, OfS director for freedom of speech, said the fine could have been as high as £3.7m and there was “potential for higher fines in the future” – BBC

The investigation started because of the wider debate around Professor Kathleen Stock. She left the university in 2021 amid on-campus protests accusing her of transphobia because of her ‘gender-critical’ books, lectures and views – The Guardian

Who is Kathleen Stock?

Stock is the author of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters For Feminism and has a background in philosophy, publishing academic work on sexual objectification and sexual orientation. The book, which takes a trans-exclusionary approach to feminism, was at the centre of the row that ultimately led to her leaving the university. 

Stock quickly became a darling of the right-wing press after her departure.

Despite regularly claiming over the past four years that she has been silenced, she has become one of the most common commentators on broadcast TV and in right-wing newspapers on transgender rights. She has picked up a number of newspaper columns and helped prominent anti-trans and so-called ‘gender-critical’ organisations to grow in prominence.

As well as being a trustee for the LGB Alliance for a significant period, she also launched The Lesbian Project to much fanfare. The organisation said it would lobby, build communities and develop research into lesbian communities. However, since launching it has done little more than produce a short blog series and a paid-for podcast.

Analysis: A dangerous precedent from a regulator with an “absolutist” approach to free speech

When I was at university, I learned an important theory during a discussion with a lecturer in the LGBTQIA+ staff group about the approach of ‘no-platforming’ those with hateful views. 

He explained how the absolutist idea of free speech is ultimately self-defeating. The logic is simple: if you allow all speech – even hate speech – that hate speech will be used to end free speech. To put it another way, hateful actors will use democratic principles in order to take over and impose their hateful views on everyone else. One look to the US, and Trump’s control over scientific research and shuttering of the Department of Education is a clear example. 

That’s why whenever you hear people arguing for unlimited free speech, you should question their intentions. As a society, we’ve always had rules about where to draw the line on speech or actions that harm people and society. The claims from the right-wing press that free speech is under attack are hypocritical because they, too are arguing for a different form of control over language.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says she will use “robust action” to uphold the legal right to ‘Academic Freedom’ established by the 1988 Education Reform Act. But as the University of Sussex points out, this free-for-all approach to speech has a detrimental impact. It’s the same ideology that Musk shares, and we saw what that meant for the hellhole formerly known as Twitter.

If the University of Sussex is unable to overturn this ruling, it will have a chilling effect at universities across the UK. At their best, our unis are bastions of progressive nurturing, but this precedent would undermine their purpose with hateful views when they should be focusing on imagining a better future for our world.

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The University of Sussex was fined £585,000 for “failing to uphold freedom of speech”, which is the largest-ever issued by the regulator at around 15 times larger than any other sanction imposed.

The university intends to challenge the fine. Professor Sasha Roseneil, vice chancellor at the university, described the investigation as “Kafkaesque”, adding that the fine was “disproportionate”. She stated: “We will strongly contest these findings and have grave concerns about the implications of its decisions for students and staff, especially those from minoritised groups. Sussex will not be the last to face the challenge of a debate on gender, sex and identity that has become toxic.” 

She added: ”Universities across England are grappling with claims and counterclaims about academic freedom and freedom of speech regarding issues of equality, identity and inclusion. … Levying a wholly disproportionate fine after a flawed, politically motivated, and wasteful investigation – when the higher education sector is in financial crisis – serves no one. ”

A University of Sussex spokesperson confirmed: “We have taken legal advice and, as our Vice-Chancellor Professor Sasha Roseneil has already said, we will be challenging the OfS’s findings proceeding via a judicial review. Our lawyers are currently drafting a pre-action protocol letter.”

Richard Chamberlain, heartthrob actor, dies at the age of 90

Richard Chamberlain, who was dubbed “the King of the miniseries” for his iconic leading performances in some of the most celebrated television productions of the 1980s, came out of the closet to the public in 2003 at the age of 70 in connection with the publication of his memoir “Shattered Love.”

In interviews promoting the book, Chamberlain talked about the difficulty some people face in coming out.

“There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture,” he said. “Please, don’t pretend that we’re suddenly all wonderfully, blissfully accepted.”

Chamberlain shot to fame as TV heart throb Dr Kildare on the series of the same name in the 1960s. His dashing good looks won him legions of female fans, as well as some male fans.

Cat-and-mouse game with the press

During middle age, 20 years later, his career spiked once more.

Chamberlain became king of the 1980s TV mini-series after playing a western prisoner in “Shogun” (1980) and a Catholic priest tempted by love in “The Thorn Birds” (1983).

“I played a cat-and-mouse game with the press,” Chamberlain said about keeping his love life private through the years before coming out.

“I had to be very careful and very circumspect. Magazines did lots and lots of interviews, and they sort of suspected. They would ask me questions like, when are you going to get married and have children? I would say, ‘Well, not quite yet. I’m awfully busy.’ I had to be careful for a long time.”

“It was inhibiting,” Chamberlain added. “But I got so used to it that it was just habitual to be sort of careful and on guard in certain situations. Yes, I would’ve been a happier person to be out and free and all that. But I already had so much to be happy about. I was a working actor, and that’s the main thing I wanted out of this lifetime.”

Richard Chamberlain’s death, partner Martin Rabbett

Chamberlain died on 29 March in Waimanalo, Hawaii, of complications from a recent stroke, at the age of 90, just before his 91st birthday.

“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us,” Martin Rabbett, his life-long partner said. “How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.”

Rabbet and Chamberlain started their long-term relationship in 1977 and had a commitment ceremony in the 1980s. They remained a couple until 2010 when they separated. But the couple recently resumed living together. Rabbett is a writer, actor and producer, whose credits include “Island Son,” “Finite Water,” “The Bourne Identity,” “All the Winters That Have Been” and “Bare Essence.” He appeared in “Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold with Chamberlain” in 1986.