ACT UP London Announce Mass ‘Die-In’ at Trafalgar Square for World AIDS Day

ACT UP London (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic, are mobilising activists and citizens for a mass ‘Die-In’ in Trafalgar Square, on World AIDS Day, Monday 1 December 2025, from 8.00am, to ‘Remember the Dead and Fight for the Living’.

The group is calling for national action to confront the Government’s lethal complicity in international and domestic aid cuts that forces HIV/AIDS education, prevention and support services to shut down. 

A report from HIV Outcomes UK, a coalition of HIV experts, has warned that the target to end new HIV transmissions by 2030 is at risk with funding reductions leaving people living with and affected by HIV without vital voluntary sector support and services. The report – HIV services at the crossroads – draws on evidence taken from more than 50 HIV-focused organisations across the UK and more than 300 people living with HIV.

The UNAids chief is “shaken and disgusted” by US cuts that will mean “millions more deaths”. Global cuts to HIV programmes are predicted to cause up to 4 million deaths by 2029. The world was actually on track to end the global Aids pandemic by 2030, but that will be “impossible” if these cuts and disruptions continue.

Meanwhile, the same government chips away at the right to protest – the very tool that won life-saving drugs in the first place. Against this background ACT UP are calling for collective action.

The Evolution of LGBT+ Narratives on Broadway

It’s impossible to talk about the history of Broadway theatre without talking about the history of LGBT+ theatre. Stories featuring LGBT+ characters, storylines and themes have been told on stage since as far back as ancient Greece. Though they were suppressed for a long time, LGBT+ narratives have been integral in shaping modern plays and musicals. There would be no Broadway as we know it today without the LGBT+ playwrights, directors, actors and producers who have created many of the most important and successful shows of all time including Stephen Sondheim, Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams.

It wasn’t until the late 20th century that LGBT+ issues could be spoken about openly in front of mainstream audiences, and still more recently that they could be spoken about without fear of stigma or consequences. It’s been a long journey to get to a place of acceptance, and there’s still further to go.

The Early Years: Subtext and Secrecy

Homosexuality is known to have been openly practiced in ancient Greek society. Plays of the time referenced or included themes of same-sex love, including those by Aristophanes, Aeschylus and Plato, and many have interpreted the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus in Homer’s Iliad to have been romantic. Unfortunately, with the Christianisation of the Roman Empire, the social acceptance of same-sex relationships evaporated, and homosexuality eventually came to be criminalised.

Although playwrights throughout most of history were not able to mention LGBT+ themes explicitly, many continued to write about them using subtext and ambiguity. For example, despite heavy censorship and the threat of the death penalty in England during his time, Shakespeare often played with gender in his plays. The closest he comes to an overt portrayal of gay love is in Twelfth Night where the heroine disguises herself as a boy and her male love interest falls in love with her while believing she is a boy. Shakespeare himself is believed to have been bisexual by many historians who cite the large number of his sonnets addressed to a male subject.

Oscar Wilde is known as an icon of the gay rights movement today, but during his time in the late 1800s he was also subject to censorship laws and the threat of criminal punishment for homosexuality. Even so, there isn’t far to dig to reach the queer subtext in Wilde’s plays. He passed off the affection between his male characters as platonic love, but in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray he seems to have drawn the veil too thin. The novel was condemned as immoral, and when Wilde was eventually tried and convicted of “gross indecency for homosexual acts,” passages from Dorian Gray were read by the prosecution.

Fortunately, The Picture of Dorian Gray is better received by modern audiences. It was adapted as a film in 1945 and again in 2009. Sarah Snook won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her one-woman production which ran in London’s West End.

By the 1920s theatre makers in America were beginning to push back against LGBT+ censorship. In 1923 a play called The God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch opened on Broadway which featured a storyline about a Jewish brothel owner’s daughter who has a lesbian relationship with one of the female sex workers. The cast and producer were arrested and charged with obscenity after a performance. Another play featuring a lesbian love affair, The Captive by Edouard Bourdet, met the same fate in 1926. Soon after, New York City passed the Wales Padlock Act which “amended the public obscenity code to ban plays depicting or dealing with the subject of sex degeneracy, or sex perversion.” With the threat of their theatres being “padlocked” for a year if they were convicted, producers stopped backing plays with explicitly LGBT+ characters, and representation once again vanished from mainstream stages.

Breaking Boundaries: The 1960s to the 1980s

The 1960s ushered in an era of rebellion. With the rise of counterculture, young people rejected their parents’ traditional thinking and advocated for civil rights, women’s rights, free love and peace. Growing unrest in the LGBT+ community came to a head with the Stonewall Riots in New York City in June 1969.

Cabaret, a musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb, opened on Broadway in 1967. In the original production the LGBT+ dynamics of the story were not explicit, although strongly suggested. The 1972 film version, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, overtly portrays the male lead’s bisexuality.

In April 1968, a play opened Off-Broadway at Theatre Four in New York featuring eight gay characters. The Boys in the Band, written by Mart Crowley, was a landmark in the history of LGBT+ theatre. Homosexuality was still criminalised at the time, and initially no one wanted to be involved with the show. Eventually, and with the help of fellow gay playwright Edward Albee, Crowley managed to persuade actors and producers to come on board despite the risk to their careers. To everyone’s surprise, the play was a hit. The Boys in the Band ran for two years, and celebrities who attended included Jackie Kennedy, Marlene Dietrich, Groucho Marx and even the mayor of New York, John Lindsay. The play was adapted as a film in 1970 starring the original cast. A Broadway revival in 2018 celebrated the show’s 50-year anniversary starring some of the most famous openly gay actors of our generation, including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, and Matt Bomer. Netflix released a film version of the revival in 2020 starring the same cast.

The success of The Boys in the Band opened the gates for LGBT+ theatre. The Rocky Horror Show (1973) debuted at The Royal Court Theatre in London and was one of the first mainstream musicals to depict fluid sexuality. The show was written by Richard O’Brien who has since come out as trans. In 1975 the show transferred to Broadway and was adapted as a film which has become a cult classic.

Another Royal Court show, Bent (1979), written by Martin Sherman and starring Ian McKellan, tells the story of a gay man in Nazi Germany. It was one of the first plays to expose the lesser-known history of gay men being sent to concentration camps. The show transferred to the West End and then to Broadway where it starred Richard Gere who received a Tony nomination for his performance. Bent was adapted as a film in 1997 starring Clive Owen.

The Torch Song Trilogy, a semi-autobiographical play about a gay, Jewish drag performer, written by and starring Harvey Fierstein, began life as three separate plays staged off-off-Broadway. They were combined for a run at the Actor’s Playhouse in Greenwich Village where the cast included a young Matthew Broderick. The show transferred to Broadway in 1982. Another unexpected success, Fierstein won the Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor, becoming the first openly gay actor to win a Tony for playing a gay character.

The next year, in 1983, Fierstein wrote the book for the musical comedy La Cage aux Folles. It was based on the 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret, which had been adapted as a film in 1979. Another landmark in the history of LGBT+ theatre, La Cage was the first Broadway musical featuring a gay couple as principal characters. Despite a spike in homophobia associated with the escalating AIDS crisis, the show was a hit. It ran for four years and won six Tony Awards including Best Musical.

The AIDS Crisis: Art as Activism

“AIDS is probably the greatest catastrophe ever to hit the American theatre,” the LA Times wrote in 1993.

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, first appeared in the US sometime in the early 1970s. Sexually transmitted, or transmitted through blood, the disease quickly became an epidemic disproportionately affecting gay men and drug users. New York City was particularly hard-hit during the 1980s. The arts and theatre communities suffered devastating losses and Broadway and American theatre felt the impact. An economic recession combined with the downturn in tourism (New York was seen as a hotspot for AIDS) reduced Broadway audiences by half: from 11 million attendees in 1980 to just 6 million by 1985.

The slow response to the epidemic from the FDA and the Reagan Administration caused intense frustration and anger among the LGBT+ community and its allies. Protests and large-scale activism succeeded in spurring the government to raise the priority of the HIV/AIDS crisis and hastened medical breakthroughs. Theatre played a vital role in bringing awareness of the disease to the public and calling for action. A canon of “AIDS plays” arose which are now considered classics of LGBT+ theatre.

Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart was one of the first plays explicitly about HIV/AIDS and today is considered an important work of theatrical activism. The show opened at the Public Theatre in New York City in 1985 when there was still little official acknowledgement of the disease. A New York Times review called the play “a fiercely polemical drama.” A New York Times retrospective calls it “war reporting.” Mark Ruffalo and Julia Roberts starred in the 2014 HBO film adaptation.

Falsettos, a musical by William Finn and James Lapine, tells the story of a Jewish man who leaves his wife to be with his male lover who contracts AIDS. The show opened on Broadway in 1992 and won the Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score.

Tony Kushner’s Angels in America triumphed on Broadway. Originally produced in two parts, both won the Tony Award for Best Play in their respective years, 1993 and 1994. Part I: Millennium Approaches also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993. A 2003 HBO miniseries starred Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, and Emma Thompson and the play was revived on Broadway in 2018.

A musical theatre classic, Rent by Jonathan Larson is loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Bohème. It tells the story of starving artists in Manhattan’s Alphabet City coping with poverty, drugs, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The show opened on Broadway in 1996 and was a massive hit. It won the Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score, and the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The musical ran for 12 years making it one of Broadway’s longest running shows. Rent was adapted as a film in 2005. These plays increased public awareness of HIV/AIDS, fought against stigma, and helped garner support for the gay rights movement.

Mainstream Acceptance: The 1990s to 2000s

It wasn’t until the end of the 20th century that LGBT+ narratives on Broadway began to gain mainstream acceptance. Plays and musicals featuring LGBT+ characters not only increased in number but achieved greater success than their predecessors.

The Kiss of the Spider Woman by Kander and Ebb, based on the novel by Manuel Puig about two men who share an Argentinian prison cell, opened on Broadway in 1993. The show won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998), a musical by Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell about a genderqueer East German rock star, struck a victory for trans representation. It was adapted as a film in 2001 and played on Broadway in 2014.

In 1998 Cabaret returned to Broadway achieving greater success than it had previously. The show won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and continued to run for six years. A new adaptation played on Broadway starring Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin. 

Avenue Q opened on Broadway in 2003. A parody of Sesame Street featuring a mix of human and puppet characters, the story explores adult themes including racism, homosexuality and pornography. The show won the Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score.

The Boy from Oz, a jukebox musical about the life of singer Peter Allen follows Allen’s journey as a musician and coming to terms with his homosexuality. The 2004 Broadway production starred Hugh Jackman who won the Tony Award for Best Actor.

The 2005 musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel The Colour Purple brought one of the first stories of black lesbian love to Broadway. The novel was adapted as a film in 1985 starring Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, and the musical was adapted as a film in 2023.

The Modern Era: Diversity and Visibility

In looking at LGBT+ narratives on Broadway, it’s clear the ‘G’ has taken centre stage for most of history, with white, cisgender, upper middle class gay men dominating the genre. In recent years the spotlight has expanded to include more letters as well as more representation for intersectional experiences, which are the experiences of people who are affected by more than one form of systemic prejudice (eg a person who is gay and disabled).

There have been fewer Broadway musicals and plays featuring lesbian protagonists. Fun Home (2015), Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori’s musical based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel, won five Tony Awards including Best Musical. Paula Vogel’s Indecent (2015), which tells the story of the 1923 play The God of Vengeance, brings us back full circle to one of the first instances of lesbian representation on Broadway. The Prom (2018) draws from the true story of a Mississippi teen who was banned from bringing her girlfriend to the prom. The show was nominated for seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and was later adapted into a film in 2020. Lempicka (2024) tells the story of the real-life, bisexual artist Tamara de Lempicka with a focus on her love affair with a female sex worker.

Like the history of gay narratives, the most prominent lesbian shows also predominantly feature white protagonists. There have been calls for more diversity in LGBT+ theatre, and mainstream stages are beginning to see broader experiences than those of white, upper middle-class people.

Harvey Fierstein’s 2013 hit musical Kinky Boots (based on the 2005 film) starred Billy Porter as Lola, a Black drag performer. The show ran for six years and won six Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Actor for Porter. Jeremy O Harris’s Slave Play (2020), which portrays interracial and gay relationships, received twelve Tony nominations, setting a record at the time for a non-musical play. In his musical, A Strange Loop (2022), Michael R Jackson explores the experience of being gay, black, and overweight. Body types that differ from conventional ideals are underrepresented on Broadway stages in general, but in LGBT+ stories too, with gay culture particularly favouring fit bodies. Disability has also been largely excluded from both mainstream and LGBT+ narratives.

The representation for trans characters on Broadway has been limited. Apart from Rocky Horror and Hedwig, there have been just a handful of shows featuring trans characters in prominent roles. The 2018 play The Nap had a short run on Broadway but it starred trans actress Alexandra Billings in the role of a trans woman. 

The 2022 musical Some Like It Hot (based on the 1959 film starring Marilyn Monroe) reimagined the story so that the character Jerry / Daphne explores their gender identity and eventually comes out as a trans woman. Nonbinary actor J Harrison Ghee won the Tony award for Best Actor for their performance in the role. & Juliet features the nonbinary character May played by trans, nonbinary actor Justin David Sullivan. Notably, Sullivan has withdrawn themselves from Tony consideration due to the organisation’s gendered categories.

While LGBT+ representation on Broadway has made significant progress in recent history, the hope is that we will continue to see more diversity and further exploration of intersectional experiences in future plays and musicals.

Greater Manchester Older People’s Network

Learn more about the Greater Manchester Older People’s Network! 

The Greater Manchester Older People’s Network (GMOPN) brings together people aged 50+ from every borough of Greater Manchester to make sure older people’s voices are heard and valued. With more than 600 members, we are a strong, active network working to create an age-friendly city region where everyone can age well. 

By joining the GMOPN, you can: 

• Influence local decisions, services and policies 
• Meet new people and share experiences 
• Take part in consultations, events and campaigns 
• Help challenge ageism and promote positive ageing 
• Be part of a supportive, inclusive community. 

We focus on tackling social isolation, improving neighbourhoods, and making sure older people’s priorities are recognised across Greater Manchester.

As a member you would have the option to attend our events, Working Groups and project groups – including the GM Older People’s Equality Panel and GM Mature Minds Matter.

You would also receive our monthly newsletter with the latest relevant information and age-friendly events.

Whether you want to speak up, stay informed, connect with others, or help make change happen – we’d love you to join us. 

If you’re aged 50+, sign up here and help shape a fairer, more age-friendly Greater Manchester for everyone.

Smithills Hall

This week we gathered at Victoria Train Station and took the train to Bolton. The journey is just less than 20 minutes and then we walked through the “skylink” bridge to Bolton Interchange and on to the Olympus Chip Shop.

The restaurant is a beloved local institution, renowned for its traditional fish and chips served in a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. With its central location in Bolton, it has become a favourite spot for both residents and visitors seeking a classic British experience.

We then returned to the Interchange to take the bus to Smithills.

Located three miles north west of the town centre, Smithills Hall is a remarkable example of a historic manor house, offering visitors a fascinating glimpse into centuries of local history. A visit to Smithills Hall allows you to explore beautifully preserved rooms, including the medieval hall, Tudor and Victorian wings and picturesque gardens.

The house provides insights into the families who once lived there, the architectural evolution of the building and the intriguing stories associated with this heritage site.

Whether you are interested in architecture, history, or simply looking for a scenic afternoon out, Smithills Hall is a must-see destination in Bolton.

More photos can be seen here.

New book highlights long history of LGBT+ oppression

In “Queer Enlightenments: A Hidden History of Lovers, Lawbreakers, and Homemakers” by Anthony Delaney, the story of LGBT+ oppression, discrimination, persecution and inequality goes back to the 18^th century.

The first recorded instance of the word “homosexual” arrived loudly in the spring of 1868: Hungarian journalist Károly Mária Kerthbeny wrote a letter to German activist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs referring to “same-sex-attracted men” with that new term.

Many people believe that this was the “invention” of homosexuality, but Delaney begs to differ. “Queer histories run much deeper than this …” he says.

Unfolding between 1726 and 1836, Queer Enlightenments is a lively journey through the taverns, prisons and cruising grounds of a bygone era and into the lives of aristocrats, tradesmen and sex workers who pursued self-expression and freedom no matter the risk.

Take, for instance, the delightfully named Mrs Clap, who ran a “House” in London in which men often met other men for “marriage.” On a February night in 1726, Mrs Clap’s House was raided and 40 men were taken to jail, where they were put in filthy, dank confines until the courts could get to them. One of the men was ultimately hanged for the crime of sodomy. Mrs Clap was pilloried, and then disappeared from history.

William Pulteney had a duel with John, Lord Hervey, over insults flung at the latter man. The truth: Hervey was, in fact, openly a “sodomite.” He and his companion, Ste Fox had even set up a home together. At the court of King George, a silver-tongued noblewoman remarked of one of Queen Caroline’s confidants, “The world consists of men, women and Herveys.”

In about 1769, rumours spread that the lovely female spy, the Chevalier d’Éon, was actually Charles d’Éon de Beaumont, a man who had been dressing in feminine attire for much longer than his espionage career. Anne Lister’s masculine demeanour often left her an “outcast.” And as George Wilson brought his bride to America in 1821, he confessed to loving men, thus becoming North America’s first official “female husband.”

Inequality and persecution aren’t new things and our ancestors faced them head-on, just as people do today. The twist, in this often-chilling narrative, is that punishments levied on 18th- and 19th-century LGBT+ folk was harsher.

Delaney doesn’t soften those accounts for readers. Read this book, and you’re attending a hanging, in jail with an ally, at a duel, embedded in a King’s court and on a ship with a man whose new wife generously ignored his secret.

Queer Enlightenments delves into the archives and emerges with new discoveries and a fresh view of the people who challenged society’s expectations.

‘Queer Enlightenments: A Hidden History of Lovers, Lawbreakers, and Homemakers’
By Anthony Delaney
£21.99 / 352 pages

Thursday, 4 December 2025 – 6.00pm – The Hallé – Rush Hour Concert: Nutcracker Selection – Limited number of free tickets

Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3WS

Maria Seletskaja conductor

Borodin Polovtsian Dances
Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker: selection

Hear the magic of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, conducted by Maria Seletskaja, Music Director of the English National Ballet. From the ‘Chinese Dance’ (Tea), through the ‘Trepak’, to the ‘Arabian Dance’, Tchaikovsky’s abridged score of the beloved ballet takes the audience on a magical journey with snowflakes, sweets and – of course – a Sugar Plum Fairy. Before we embark on that journey, we hear Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from his unfinished opera Prince Igor.

If you want a FREE ticket, please contact us here.

Birthdays

Golden Age Big Band

This was our second visit to the John Alker Club, near Flixton, for a Golden Age Big Band music performance.

The Golden Age Big Band is renowned for its dynamic performances and timeless repertoire, capturing the spirit of the swing era. Their arrangements blend classic hits with fresh interpretations.

The club was packed out and the atmosphere was lively, with a sense of anticipation. The audience, many of whom were returning fans, eagerly awaited the first notes of “In The Mood”. We knew we were in for an afternoon filled with classic tunes and vibrant performances.

The audience joined in on Glenn Miller’s “Pennsylvania 6-5000” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo”. We enjoyed Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and Etta James’s “At Last”.

During the break we had an afternoon tea and raffle. All in all, it was a great afternoon.

63,000 cisgender women write powerful open letter in support of trans community: ‘We have had enough’

“Not in our Name” is the title of a collective of cisgender women who have written an open letter calling out the media and politicians for disseminating anti-trans rhetoric. 

In collaboration with the Good Law Project, the letter has so far been signed by more than 63,000 cisgender women, including high-profile figures such as Beverley Knight, Kate Nash and Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer MP.

To celebrate Transgender Awareness Week (13 to 19 November), one member of the collective spoke on behalf of the group about the letter’s purpose.

‘It is a voice that is missing from the conversation’

She explains that its aim is to show that the majority of women stand with the trans community, while also serving as “a tangible way” to push against anti-trans rhetoric. It is signed exclusively by cisgender women – referring to those who are not trans – as the collective felt, “it is a voice that is missing from the conversation”. 

“We’re everyday people who fundamentally believe all humans should have access to certain spaces and be treated with dignity and respect.” 

She highlights that gender critics, or TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists), as their opponents often call them, wrongfully claim to speak on behalf of all cisgender women. 

“The women with the strongest views, who tend to be gender critical, have risen to the surface and become emblematic of what women think. But that is not us. It’s not acceptable, and we do not believe that to be representative of the majority of women, despite certain media pushing the argument that supporting trans women means being against cisgender women.” 

‘Gender critical isn’t the norm’

She describes the trans community as having become a “totem” for “all the ills of the world”, adding that as a collective they believe “you can still be pro-woman by signing a letter that supports the trans community”.

As for prominent figures in the gender-critical movement, such as Harry Potter author JK Rowling, she questions why “anyone would use their platform to harm people”. 

“Being gender critical isn’t the norm and being inclusive of trans people – and trans women in particular – isn’t anti-woman. This is a narrative that is being pushed in order to create division and it’s one that we reject.”

Although she believes that gender critical women are perfectly within their rights to have their views, she also thinks that gender critics have an “inability to understand that, as humans, we come in all shapes and sizes,” and explained that her group are using their letter as a tool to demonstrate that this is not how the majority of women feel.

‘Stop scapegoating minorities’

The letter, she says, conveys “that you don’t have to be all or nothing. You just need to believe in the right of humans to exist with dignity and be treated with respect”.

As well as challenging anti-trans rhetoric, the letter also emphasises the collective’s desire to refocus attention on the issues that truly affect women. 

“Stop scapegoating minorities and put the focus back on the things that are really harming women,” she states. 

Last year, the Crime Survey for England and Wales revealed that more than 1.6 million women experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2024, while Cambridge Rape Crisis highlights Home Office statistics from 2018 showing 89 per cent of adults prosecuted for sexual offences are men. 

“Yes, women face massive challenges, but statistically, it’s not the trans community that are causing the problems. We have had enough,” she adds. 

Like free round-the-clock bus travel? Have your say on older person’s concessionary bus pass trial

In November, Greater Manchester is trialling 24-hour use of the older person’s concessionary bus pass – no 9.30am restriction or people arriving ‘too early’ to use their bus pass.

This pilot is being evaluated before a decision is made by Mayor Andy Burnham on whether to make the change permanent. 

Have your say on the pilot and whether you think the 9.30am restriction should be removed permanently

Fill in the online survey on the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) website here.

For those unable to respond online: 

please call the TfGM contact centre on 0161 244 1000 

(Monday to Friday: 7.00am to 8.00pm,

Weekends and Bank Holidays: 8.00am to 8.00pm)

or write to Transport for Greater Manchester, 2 Piccadilly Place, Manchester, M1 3BG.

Birthdays

Exercise For People Over 60

• Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side.

• With a 5 pound potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.

• Each day you’ll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.

• After a couple of weeks, move up to 10 pound potato bags. Then try 50 pound potato bags and eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100 pound potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. (I’m at this level!)

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.

Kirkstall Abbey and Abbey House Museum

Our day out at Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall promised a delightful journey into the past. We began our visit by exploring the fascinating recreated Victorian streets, where you can step inside traditional shops and homes, gaining a real sense of what daily life was like in Leeds during the 19th century.

The Hark to Rover pub was a refuge for the working classes who often had a miserable existence. It provided warmth, music, games and company along with a chance to forget about their troubles. Men were the main clientele and would often drink away their wages resulting in drunkenness and violence. In 1894, over 2,000 people were prosecuted for drunkenness in Leeds. Some pubs in Leeds only admitted women in the 1970s!

Theatre going was promoted as an alternative to pub going and as a result many theatres were constructed during this period. The Temperance Movement was led by middle class social reformers. Temperance rooms selling cocoa were set up but were never as popular as the pub!

The streets also featured the chemist, grocer, police station, Sunday school and many more.

The museum also features interactive exhibits in the form of original working penny slot machines. We watched the murder mystery, the haunted room and had our fortune told.

After wandering through the displays, we crossed the road to Kirkstall Abbey where there is an onsite café. We combined our visit with a walk around the beautiful abbey ruins, rounding off a memorable and educational day out.

More photos can be seen here.

Transgender Awareness Week

Each year between 13 – 19 November, people and organisations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help increase understanding about transgender people and the issues members of the community face.

Trans Awareness Week takes place the week before Transgender Day of Remembrance on 20 November. 

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), is an annual observance on 20 November that honours the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence that year.

Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil 2025 The Manchester Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil will take place on Thursday 20 November in Sackville Gardens, Sackville Street, Manchester M1 3HB⁠.
⁠
Arrival from 6.30pm and the service will start at 7.00pm⁠.
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There will be a service of speakers and performers. Candles will be provided and we can take the time to remember those trans & gender diverse lives we have sadly lost.

The history of LGBT+ kiss-in protests

Did you know that kissing can be a form of activism?

The first documented kiss-ins took place in 1970 in New York City during a gay liberation march commemorating the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. 

In 1972, members of Gay Liberation Front put on the UK’s first Gay Pride parade, which ended in a mass kiss-in.

In 1973, the first national lesbian kiss-in protested the lack of female artists at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts.

And in 1976, LGBT+ organisations in Toronto staged a kiss-in protesting the arrest of two gay men who kissed each other at an intersection.

While the use of kiss-ins petered out after the late 1970s, they became an organising strategy among ACT UP chapters in the US and Canada in the late 1980s and early 1990s – including at the historic HIV/AIDS protest at St Vincent’s Hospital in New York.

While more recent kiss-ins have taken place from 2002 up until 2018, they have once again become a less common form of activism. But its history and impact should not be forgotten.

We Have Always Been Here

In 1812 James Miranda Barry graduated from the Medical School of Edinburgh University as a doctor. Barry went on to serve as an army surgeon working overseas. Barry lived as a man but was found to be female-bodied upon his death in 1865.

In 1833, 24-year old actor Eliza Edwards was found dead. The corpse was taken to Guy’s Hospital for an autopsy, where it was discovered that Edwards was ‘a perfect man’.

Birthdays

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland (born 14 November 1900 – 2 December 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist and conductor of his own and other American music.

The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many consider the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as “populist”.

Works in this vein include the ballet Appalachian Spring, and his Fanfare for the Common Man. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.

Wendy Carlos 

Wendy Carlos (born 14 November 1939) is an American musician and composer known for electronic music and film scores.

Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving to New York City in 1962 to study music composition at Columbia University. Studying and working with various electronic musicians and technicians at the city’s Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, she helped in the development of the Moog synthesizer, Robert Moog’s first commercially available keyboard instrument.

Staircase House

By Angel Utset

Today we visited the “Staircase House” in Stockport, Greater Manchester. Built in 1459, it’s the oldest existing building in Stockport, right in the centre of the town. The house is famous for its rare Jacobean cage newel staircase, one of only three in the UK.

The “Staircase House” was wood and much of the original construction is lost. Excellently preserved, however, many of the updates were made in the 17th century, when the Shallcross family moved into the house. The biggest attraction is its box-shaped staircase, uncommon in those years. The original staircase was lost in a fire, but was rebuilt.

The house is now a museum, recreating Stockport life in the 17th century. Enter through the courtyard, where you can see part of the original construction and renovations done over the centuries. The house was inhabited until the mid-20th century.

Move from the courtyard to the basement, where crops and animals were kept. Although it is now in the centre of the town, in those years the house was surrounded by fields. It was situated in front of the market, making life easier for the Shallcross family. The basic diet was meat, milk and bread, which were processed in the house itself. Fruits and products from the home garden were also consumed. Stockport in particular was famous in the 17th century for its cheese.

On the upper floors are the kitchen and bedrooms. The glazed windows, originally made of wood, were installed in later centuries. In addition to meat, milk and products from the garden, spices, salt and sugar were obtained in the market.

Something very interesting about the museum is an original wall of the house, which shows the different constructive elements from its origins in the 15th century. Also the “Linen Room”. The British dressed in thick fabrics of cotton and wool, until silk and other fine fabrics were introduced from Italy and especially from India. Fine thread, silk and spices were the most important commodities of the “Company of India”, with headquarters in Kolkata and Mumbai. They started using fine fabrics with vivid colours, which was the precursor to the Industrial Revolution.

A very interesting and instructive visit.

We also went to visit Stockport Museum next door. More photos can be seen here.

New bill would send people to prison for 10 years for identifying as LGBTQ+ in Uganda

Not content with holding title to one of the harshest anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the world, Uganda’s parliament is considering a bill that would outlaw identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.

The country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, passed in 2023, already provides a sentence of life in prison for gay men who have sexual relations, and in extenuating circumstances, even death.

The new measure would criminalise Ugandans for simply saying they’re anything but straight.

Among more than 30 African nations that ban same-sex relations, the proposed law would be the first to criminalise just identifying as LGBTQ+, according to Human Rights Watch.

The proposed law was introduced with the goal of combating “threats to the traditional, heterosexual family”. 

The measure mandates punishment of up to 10 years in prison for any person who “holds out as a lesbian, gay, transgender, a queer or any other sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female.”

The bill also criminalises the “promotion” of homosexuality and “abetting” and “conspiring” to engage in same-sex relations.

Much of the bill’s content is revived from the original “Kill the Gays” law, passed in 2013 but overturned by Uganda’s high court on technical grounds. That law criminalised lesbianism.

“One of the most extreme features of this new bill is that it criminalises people simply for being who they are as well as further infringing on the rights to privacy, and freedoms of expression and association that are already compromised in Uganda,” said Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Speaker of the Parliament Anita Among, the rabidly homophobic lawmaker who helped usher the Anti-Homosexuality Act into law, sent the new bill to committee for debate and public hearings after it was read to legislators.  

Among urged fellow lawmakers to reject intimidation, referencing threats by Western countries to impose travel bans on those responsible for the legislation.

“This business of intimidating that ‘you will not go to America,’ what is America?” she asked.

Ugandan lawmakers, the speaker prominent among them, have for years warned of “degenerate Western values” threatening Ugandan families and sovereignty.

Among was urged on in her anti-Western pose by Russia’s ambassador to Uganda, who encouraged her to fast-track the “Kill the Gays” law through parliament in 2023. It passed overwhelmingly and was cheered by lawmakers.

“This is the time you are going to show us whether you’re a homo or you’re not,” Among told the packed chamber.

Manchester United fan gets 3-year ban after online homophobic post about Chelsea

A Manchester United fan has been told he is being suspended from the club’s games for three years after using homophobic language online.

The man has been handed what is likely to be the toughest punishment yet imposed by a professional football team on one of its own supporters for use of the “rent boy” slur on social media.

Two days before United hosted Chelsea in the Premier League in September, the 20-time champions issued an unequivocal statement about discriminatory chanting.

Fans were warned that the “rent boy” chant is considered discriminatory by the Football Association and the police.

The statement continued: “As such, supporters who engage in this behaviour risk serious consequences, including ejection from the stadium, banning orders, and potential criminal charges.

Within the club’s Official Club Sanctioning Document, this behaviour is identified as a Level 4(c) Offence and carries a three-year suspension.”

Six weeks later, the club’s clampdown has been shown to be in full effect after a supporter shared an image on X of a letter sent to him by the club.

The letter said: “It has recently come to our attention that you may have breached our official terms and conditions.

Specifically, we understand that you have used homophobic written communication online towards Chelsea and their supporters.

This offence contravenes ground regulations … For a first offence, this carries a three-year suspension (home and away).”

Level 4(c) offences are listed by United as being “racist, homophobic or discriminatory language / behaviour.”

The fan had “also joked that officials had tried to throw him out at a recent game after he referred to United full-back Diogo Dalot as “a gay ****”.

United’s statement from September also included an embed of a video produced by the anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out featuring out gay athletes Zander Murray and Jake Williamson, explaining the history and impact of the “rent boy” chant.

Rainbow Devils, which is United’s official supporters group for LGBT+ people and allies, previously issued its own statement about the chant, warning their fellow fans about the potential consequences of using the discriminatory term.

The group added: “We want to use education to hopefully avoid any of our fans being punished and to do our best to eradicate this outdated chant.”

Manchester United has zero tolerance of discriminatory language or behaviour of any kind.

The Premier League is due to launch a new initiative in February which is the UK’s LGBT+ History Month as well as the Month of Action for Football v Homophobia.

Birthday

Phyllis Ann Lyon (10 November 1924 – 9 April 2020) and Dorothy Louise Taliaferro “Del” Martin (5 May 1921 – 27 August 2008) were an American lesbian couple based in San Francisco who were known as feminist and gay rights activists. Lyon and Martin met in 1950, became lovers in 1952, and moved in together on Valentine’s Day 1953 in an apartment on Castro Street in San Francisco.

They had been together for three years when they cofounded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in 1955. This became the first social and political organisation for lesbians in the United States and soon had a national reach.