An injection to prevent HIV is something to celebrate

By Matt Cain

I’m celebrating because a bi-monthly injection to prevent the contraction of HIV is to be made available on the NHS across the UK. It offers an alternative to the daily pills that have been routinely available since 2020. Meanwhile, an annual injection that prevents HIV contraction has passed its first round of safety trials. Together, these advances give us hope that we can eradicate HIV transmission in the UK by 2030. So why isn’t everyone celebrating?

I suspect it’s because the group still most affected by HIV in the UK is gay men. In 2017, while I was editor of gay magazine Attitude, I took the daily pills – known as PrEP – and wrote about my experience, arguing that they should be available on the NHS. I was shocked by some of the responses. The sort of sentiment I heard from various straight people was: why should my taxes pay for you to sleep around without condoms? Even within the gay community there were concerns the drug would get us a bad reputation. I had thought the situation would be much improved but the comments under the news story on Mail Online proves otherwise. “Sounds like a licence for free and rampant cheek-clapping, the activity that brought us HIV in the first place,” one reader wrote in the messages.

Such responses ignore the fact that gay men, especially from older generations, suffer higher rates of poor mental health and addiction, in my view because of the shame instilled in growing up in a world that taught us who we were was wrong. For years I thought I was a pervert, suffocated my shame with binge drinking and punished myself with anonymous, sometimes reckless, sex. But the man I was still deserved the care of society. And yes, the NHS is short of money but it funds preventative remedies such as anti-smoking therapies and the contraceptive pill for straight people. So why not PrEP injections for gay men?

Negative responses to news of the injection hark back to the homophobia that impeded research into Aids treatments when HIV was first discovered in the early 1980s. President Ronald Reagan only publicly said the word “Aids” in 1985, four years into the epidemic. And it’s taken 40 years to get to this point. Compare that to what happened with Covid, when a vaccine was developed in less than a year of the World Health Organisation declaring a pandemic. An estimated 7 million people around the world have died of Covid; 44 million people have died of HIV-related causes.

As a gay man growing up in the 80s, I was terrified of contracting HIV and only ever had sex under the shadow of the threat. I knew I could protect myself with a condom but just getting one out served as a reminder of the threat. I found it impossible to have sex innocently or joyously. For me, PrEP changed that. The pills helped me finally shake off my shame, find love and get married. They have changed the lives of thousands of gay men like me. And they have allowed us to finally take control over the virus. In 2024, 111,000 HIV-negative people took daily PrEP pills in the UK, and the rate of HIV infections plummeted to just 3,043.

But some people find it hard to take daily pills; those with medical contraindications, addiction problems and less regulated lifestyles. Many people from faith-based backgrounds or less accepting cultures don’t want their families discovering their pills and asking questions. To offer people like this another means of protecting themselves against HIV is crucial. And surely as a society we can accept the efficacy and convenience of preventative treatment that could soon be taken once a year, as we do a flu shot?

If we believe all lives are valid, if we value the contribution of every member of our society, we should be welcoming the news. So please join me in celebrating.

ODEON Pride Nights 

ODEON Cinema, Great Northern, 235 Deansgate, Manchester M3 4EN

A community focused event, where they will be screening LGBTQI+ films.

The titles and dates so far are:

Monday, 3 November – 7.00pm – Born For You (1 hour 53 minutes) – £6.00 – £8.00

Alba has Down’s Syndrome and was left in the hospital when she was born. Thirty families rejected her before the court decided to entrust her to Luca.

Monday, 1 December – 7.00pm – Out (1 hour 34 minutes) – £6.00 – £8.00

Lovers Tom and Ajani dream of a new life in which their relationship does not have to be a secret. The two feel like outsiders in their conservative, small village.

Monday, 5 January – 7.00pm – The Bearded Mermaid (1 hour 37 minutes) – £6.00 – £8.00

The drag queens of the La Sirène à Barbe cabaret put on a grandiose show of song, circus and dance, the likes of which Dieppe has never seen before.

More info here.

Don’t miss this event! Mark your calendar! Add the date to your diary!

On Thursday, 27 November from 2.00pm to 4.00pm there will be a joint social of the LGBT+ group and the Women’s group at Cross Street Chapel, 29 Cross Street, Manchester M2 1NL.

There will be a short film show, entertainment with secret surprise guests and more!

In order to support Out In The City, please sign up for the Rainbow Lottery.

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Timeline

Visit to Ancoats

Out In The City members gathered in the city centre and walked up to Ancoats, a former industrial district in north Manchester.

There we dined at Rudy’s Pizza – the original Rudy’s serving true Neapolitan Pizzas. There are around 36 locations now, but Rudy’s is not a franchise. It’s a company owned and operated chain of restaurants. Rudy’s Pizza in Ancoats is based on Cotton Street, and “Cottonopolis” was a 19th-century nickname for Manchester, due to its central role in the global cotton industry. 

Just across the street is Hallé St Peter’s, which provides a home for the Hallé Orchestra’s rehearsals and recordings, its choirs and Youth Orchestra, as well as a space for education workshops and small performances.

We had come to hear a chamber music performance (but missed it due to a misunderstanding on timings), but we did attend a talk on “The Re-Opening Festival of the Free Trade Hall 1951”.

The talk was held in the Victoria Wood Hall. Victoria Wood was Patron of the Hallé Children’s Choir for several years and had a life-long affection for the Hallé Orchestra and classical music.

This hall is dedicated to the memory of Victoria Wood and acknowledges her huge contribution to the worlds of music, theatre and television.

Victoria was one of the UK’s most beloved performers and a very famous Northerner who developed some of the funniest characters ever crafted; a local woman whose love of music started as a child right here in Manchester.

Manchester Free Trade Hall

The Free Trade Hall was bought by Manchester Corporation in 1920; but was bombed and left an empty shell in the Manchester Blitz of December 1940. A new hall was constructed behind two walls of the original façade, opening as a concert hall in 1951.

As well as being the venue for the Hallé Orchestra, Manchester Free Trade Hall was also used for pop and rock concerts. I remember seeing Joan Armatrading, The Smiths, the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, Rory Gallagher, Kraftwerk, Aswad and many more there.

Nearly sixty years ago, Bob Dylan was at the centre of a storm, with arguments raging about whether his decision to play electric sets meant he had sold out his folk roots.

The controversy began at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival in the US, where he was booed when he played electric and it came to a head, unexpectedly, towards the end of his 1966 world tour at a concert in Manchester on 17 May.

Frustrated by what he was hearing, one man decided to vent his fury as the sound ebbed before Dylan’s final song of the set with a heckle that has become one of the most famous in musical history.

He shouted a single word – “Judas”.

John Waters on why “queer” can be so controversial

I don’t use it much. I’m not against it, but I don’t use it much. I have it in “Hairspray”, when Penny says, “He’s such a queer.” That just meant a nerd too. It wasn’t a gay thing. But being called a queer was very hurtful, yeah. And it’s the same like all bad words: You take it back. 

I like “ribbon clerk” – an anti-gay term that I find quite endearing. “There’s that little ribbon clerk.” It’s British. It means a snotty little queen that works in the gift wrap department at Harrods. There are some horrible things to say about people, but I don’t think anybody’s been convicted of a hate crime by calling somebody a ribbon clerk.

‘We’re here, we’re not queer, and nobody’s used to it.’ That’s really what it is now, because the young kids, they aren’t just queer. They’re open to everything.

These new extremes do surprise me even, but I think that’s very healthy. I am a survivor of the first sexual revolution, but there’s definitely a new one that is going on and the trans thing was, except recently, accepted by young people really quickly.

“Gay” took centuries. But right now, every trans person’s a murderer. That’s what they (homophobes) are trying to say now.”

Miss Major, trailblazing US trans rights activist and Stonewall veteran, dies aged 78

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a trailblazer of the transgender rights movement, longtime community organiser and veteran of the Stonewall riots, died on 13 October, her representatives announced.

The acclaimed activist died at her home in Little Rock, Arkansas, surrounded by family, the House of GG (Griffin-Gracy Retreat and Educational Centre – the final organisation she founded and led) announced. She was 78, and the group’s statement did not give a cause of death.

Miss Major was one of the US’s most celebrated trans rights pioneers and elders, at the forefront of the fight for trans rights for more than five decades. She spent her final years providing a sanctuary for trans and gender-nonconforming people in her conservative home state, while continuing to travel the country to rally for trans rights and meet with young trans people and other LGBT+ organisers.

Miss Major, known by her first name, earned a reputation as an outspoken and fearless champion for the liberation of Black trans women, fighting for communities that have long suffered extreme discrimination and violence and have been neglected by the gay rights movement.

She was considered a mother to trans women across the country, some of them prominent community organisers themselves.

Her mantra, “I’m still fucking here!”, captured the joy and humour she brought to her activism and became a rallying cry for the resiliency of Black trans people – a call to live long, full lives in a society that pushes to marginalise and erase the community.

Miss Major was born in Chicago. Her parents, a postal service administrator and beauty shop manager, took her to her first drag show but did not support her when she identified with the performers. Her family sent her to psychiatric institutions as a teenager to “get the gay outta me”, and her mother burned her dresses, she recounted in her book, Miss Major Speaks: Conversations With a Black Trans Revolutionary (2023).

She went on to perform in Jewel Box Revue, a drag show in Chicago, helped by a mentor named Kitty who gave her a wig, did her makeup and taught her to embrace her identity.

Forced out of college in Minnesota for being trans, she ended up in New York, where she survived by doing sex work. Some of her early activism was rooted in the networks of sex workers who worked together to keep themselves safe from police and violent clients.

Miss Major recounted suffering repeated police violence, including on 28 June 1969, when the New York police department raided the Stonewall Inn in the West Village, the rare gay bar that she said did not shun trans people.

 “I guess we were just sick of their shit,” she said in Miss Major Speaks. “And suddenly we were fighting, and we were kicking their ass.”

She and others fought back, and Miss Major recalled being knocked unconscious and jailed. “The cops beat on you till you drop. Everybody that stood up to them went through that. It wasn’t pretty. It was a riot. We were fighting for our lives. It was so sad,” she said in an interview in 2023.

The Stonewall protests launched Pride and were considered the birth of the contemporary gay rights movement, but the trans women of colour involved in the demonstrations were cast aside by the mainstream activism that followed.

“We fought for no reason. It’s a shame the way it turned out. We started the riots and what did we get? Nothing. Nothing,” she said, recalling that gay and lesbian leaders were “ashamed to be seen with us”.

During a later stint in a New York prison, Miss Major became a mentee of Frank “Big Black” Smith, who had led a major prison uprising and taught her principles of organising, and how “you can’t throw anybody under the bus”, a guidance that drove her later work, she recalled.

In the 1980s, Miss Major formed the Angels of Care, a group of trans women who served as caretakers for gay men dying in the Aids epidemic, with efforts in California and New York. In San Francisco, she became an accomplished community leader, driving the city’s first mobile needle exchange van and running a drop-in centre for trans sex workers.

Miss Major went on to lead the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), a group that fights the abuse of trans people of colour in prison and provides support during re-entry. Janetta Johnson, one of her adopted daughters, now leads the organisation, which today is called the Miss Major Alexander L Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Centre.

In recent years, Miss Major suffered repeated health challenges, yet she continued her work through the House of GG, which she also nicknamed Telling It Like It Fuckin’ Is (Tilifi). The organisation brings trans leaders to her colourful Little Rock guest house, called the Oasis, to provide a refuge for rest and relaxation.

“I’ve gotta make joy here, because it doesn’t exist in the normal world,” Miss Major said during a 2023 interview at her home. “They want us to live in the 1950s. No. Get off our fucking backs and let us live … I know the world I would like to live in. It’s in my head, but I try my best to live it now.”

Miss Major is survived by Beck Witt, her longtime partner; her three sons, Asaiah, Christopher, and Jonathon; and her “many daughters”.

“She was a world builder, a visionary, and unwavering in her devotion to making freedom possible for Black, trans, formerly and currently incarcerated people as well as the larger trans and LGB community. Because of her, countless new possibilities have been made for all of us to thrive – today and for generations to come,” the House of GG said in a post on Monday. “While her physical presence has shifted, we have gained an immensely powerful ancestor and there is no doubt that she is and always will be with us – guiding, protecting and reminding us that she is ‘still fucking here!’”

Miss Major was a revolutionary, a visionary, a legend – a foundational mother of our movement and an inspiration to those fighting for liberation. She was a sharp and unyielding truth teller. She was also undeniably loving and generous to those who called her Mother, Auntie, colleague and friend. There will never be another like her.

Birthdays

Congratulations to Manchester Prairie Dogs

Manchester Prairie Dogs are Manchester’s best LGBT Line Dancing Club! They are a non-profit club aimed primarily at the LGBT communities but everyone is welcome to come along and join them.

This year they are celebrating their 30^th anniversary!

On 10 October they were dancing the night away as the club continued its 30th anniversary celebrations with great music, dancing and merriment at Foley’s Club in Spinningfields, Manchester.

.The dancing kicked off at 7.15pm to get people warmed up ready for guest Thorne Hill’s fantastic singing at 8.00pm. Dancing, drinking and making more memories continued to the witching hour at midnight.

Thanks go out to all the committee for their hard work in arranging a wonderful evening.

The Prairie Dogs have members of all different ages – both beginners and more experienced dancers. They do charge a cover fee for attending as this covers their operating costs, but your first night is always free.

They dance on Tuesday evenings upstairs at The Thompsons Arms on Sackville Street in the Gay Village. There is a beginner’s session that starts at 7.30pm where they will bring you up to date with their “oldies but goodies” dances, and regular dancing then runs from 8.00pm to 10.00pm.

If you’re line dance curious, or a seasoned dancer, please come down and join them!

Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7

“Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7” is an award-winning podcast that Hugh Sheehan created, presented and produced as part of this year’s BBC Sounds Audio Lab scheme. Having come out in February to overwhelmingly positive responses from listeners, the five-part docu-series explores a landmark legal case in the late 90s that changed the lives of seven gay and bisexual men from Bolton forever, and how the case played a significant role in the fight for LGBT+ rights.

Having won specialist podcast of the year at the Press Gazette’s Future of Media Awards in September, the podcast was nominated for an award at this year’s British Podcast Awards.

Hugh’s podcast won gold at the British Podcast Awards in the sex and relationships category.

“Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7” recalls the stories of seven gay and bisexual men from Bolton, a former mill town north of Manchester, who were convicted of offences of gross indecency under the Sexual Offences Act 1967 in January 1998. The case has been described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in recent British LGBT+ history, with the series being released last February, coinciding with LGBT+ History Month.

Having won specialist podcast of the year at the Press Gazette’s Future of Media Awards in September 2025, the podcast has been described as “mind-bending” and “a staggering tale” by The Guardian and a “sad, startling story skilfully unravelled” by The Sunday Times.

Hugh is a multifaceted creative: an audio producer, musician / composer and theatre sound designer, who is originally from Birmingham. Much of his work explores questions around gender and sexuality, desire and shame, assimilation and radicalism. In 2020 he was commissioned as a New Creative by BBC Arts and Arts Council England to make Lost Time – an audio short contemplating LGBT+ people’s experiences in getting to live life on their own terms.

Link to podcast here.

7 million LGBT+ elders are coming

An estimated 3.6 million LGBT+ people over the age of 50 live in the United States, and by 2030, that number will grow to 7 million. Despite those growing numbers, LGBT+ older adults continue to face inequities in health care, housing and economic security due to discrimination and stigmatisation from legislators, elder care workers and medical professionals, as well as a lack of access to culturally competent healthcare and gender-affirming care.

Because all of these factors contribute to higher rates of depression, dementia and chronic health conditions among LGBT+ elders, the need for LGBT+-inclusive senior housing is rising. As such, the need for dedicated LGBT+-affirming retirement communities is more than a luxury – it’s a necessity.

Why inclusive senior housing matters

The aforementioned inequities are compounded by the fact that LGBT+ seniors are twice as likely to live alone and four times less likely to have children than their heterosexual peers, creating an even greater reliance on supportive housing solutions. This lack of traditional family support, combined with a lifetime of stigma and discrimination, can make aging especially isolating.

According to SAGE (Services & Advocacy for LGBT Elders), LGBT+ seniors in elder care facilities have been denied the right to share a room with their partner, pressured to hide their identities or mistreated by staff unfamiliar with LGBT+ lives. The fear of going “back in the closet” in a care facility remains a real and painful possibility.

Inclusive retirement communities aim to address these challenges by:

• Ensuring cultural competency training for staff: including the use of affirming language and pronouns; asking respectful and open-ended questions about relationships and family; understanding why LGBT+ people might not want to disclose their identities; and acknowledging the unique economic, social, physical and mental healthcare needs (and relationship styles) of aging LGBT+ people.

• Creating environments where residents can live openly and authentically: Providing awareness training to help facility staff recognise and minimise implicit biases in themselves, their professional colleagues and other facility residents; teaching community members how to respectfully engage with LGBT+ people; and providing various opportunities for LGBT+ residents to seek support.

• Building spaces for social connection and belonging: Creating community events and opportunities to express and explore sexuality through socialising, learning and artistic engagement; providing a mediator, counsellor, office or ombudsman to assess/address any LGBT+ community needs; understanding how isolation and discrimination can uniquely affect LGBT+ seniors.

These factors are critical for both the mental and physical health of older LGBT+ adults.

LGBT+ retirement homes across the US

While the number of communities remains relatively small compared to mainstream options, there are now dedicated LGBT+ senior housing developments and retirement villages in multiple states. Here are 21 around the United States:

Mary’s House (Washington, D.C.)

Birds of a Feather (Pecos, New Mexico)

The Palms of Manasota (Palmetto, Florida)

Stonewall Gardens (Palm Springs, California)

The Connie House (Boynton Beach, Florida)

A Place for Us (Cleveland, Ohio)

Triangle Square (West Hollywood, California)

John C. Anderson Apartments (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Open House Community at 55 Laguna (San Francisco, California)

Town Hall Apartments (Chicago, Illinois)

Fountaingrove Lodge (Santa Rosa, California)

North Park Senior Apartments (San Diego, California)

Stonewall House (Brooklyn, New York)

Crotona Pride House (Bronx, New York)

Bay Shore Senior Residences (Bayshore, New York)

Living Out (Palm Springs, California)

Pride Place (Seattle, Washington)

The Pryde (Hyde Park, Massachusetts)

The Opal (Portland, Oregon)

Rainbow Vista (Gresham, Oregon)

Village Hearth (Durham, North Carolina)

Many of these developments include independent living, assisted living, or affordable housing options – reflecting the diversity of financial and medical needs among LGBT+ elders.

Alternatives to dedicated LGBT+ retirement communities

Not every elder person has access to a specialised retirement community, but there are other options:

• LGBT+-friendly senior living facilities: More mainstream retirement communities are adopting anti-discrimination policies, staff training and LGBT+ resident programming.

• Nonprofit support: Organisations like the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging and SAGE connect seniors with inclusive housing and care resources.

• Inclusive cities: Urban areas with strong LGBT+ networks – such as San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta and Philadelphia – often provide supportive social services and affirming healthcare options, especially through their LGBT+ community centres or other elder care services.

Looking ahead

The US is on the cusp of a demographic shift. By 2030, all Baby Boomers will be over the age of 65, and that includes millions of openly LGBT+ adults. Ensuring they can age with dignity requires policy changes, cultural shifts and investment in inclusive housing.

LGBT+ retirement communities represent one part of the solution. They offer safety, visibility and belonging at a stage of life when many people need it most. But expanding access – through both dedicated communities and wider adoption of affirming practices in mainstream senior housing – remains essential.

Palm House, Sefton Park, Liverpool

When Sefton Park opened its gates in 1872 it was missing a centrepiece. A generous donation of £10,000 by local benefactor, Henry Yates Thompson, led the Parks Committee to abandon plans for a band pavilion and set their sights on a spectacular Palm House.

Construction of the Palm House commenced and by 1896, its elegant glass structure stood proudly as a symbol of Victorian horticultural ambition. The Palm House became a beloved landmark, housing exotic plants from around the world and providing a tranquil retreat for generations of Liverpudlians. The great glass domes provided the ideal conditions for plants from South East Asia, Australasia, the Americas, Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean to thrive.

Throughout the years, the Palm House faced its share of challenges, including bomb damage during the Second World War and periods of neglect. However, thanks to community efforts and restoration projects, it has been beautifully restored to its former glory.

The bronze Peter Pan statue, relocated in the grounds of the Palm House following restoration in the 1990s, is a full-size cast of the original, commissioned by author J M Barrie, and erected in Kensington Gardens in London in 1912. Sefton Park’s replica statue was erected on 16 June 1928 and continues to be a firm favourite with visitors of all ages.

Today, the Palm House is not only a botanical haven but also a vibrant venue for events, concerts and celebrations, continuing to enrich the cultural life of Liverpool.

More photos can be seen here.

National Coming Out Day

National Coming Out Day was first celebrated in 1988. Thirty seven years later, it’s still in our calendars – but why do we need it? 

National Coming Out Day is an annual celebration which takes place on 11 October every year. It was first celebrated on the one-year anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights – a date chosen to honour the bravery of LGBT+ individuals who decide to come out and live openly. Although it started off as an American awareness day, the meaning of National Coming Out Day is still highly relevant to LGBT+ communities across the world today.

Coming out is a unique experience for each LGBT+ person. It’s not a one-time event; many LGBT+ individuals who come out to their closest friends and family may later come out at work, to their extended family, or to casual acquaintances.

For some, coming out is no longer a big deal – it can be a simple matter of correcting someone’s assumptions about you, or introducing your partner. For others, coming out is still a huge challenge. The very real fear of facing discrimination, bullying or judgement can cause LGBT+ people to stay “in the closet”, struggling with anxiety while they strive to be themselves.

Talking about coming out and sharing our stories can help to strengthen our community and support one another with this experience. While coming out can be daunting and scary, it can also be the first time that LGBT+ individuals are able to be truly open with the people closest to them.

Over the last few decades since National Coming Out Day was first recognised, we’ve seen huge progress for the LGBT+ community, with legislation on same-sex marriage, discrimination laws and educational reforms all helping to protect and support LGBT+ people.

However, these legal developments don’t mean that the fight for LGBT+ rights is over. In the UK, we continue to see LGBT+ people suffer from attacks, hate and abuse. Across the world, LGBT+ people are still campaigning for laws and attitudes to change. For many, coming out can be dangerous – or simply not an option.

National Coming Out Day isn’t a day to force LGBT+ people to come out, or to shame people who haven’t done so. It’s a day to celebrate the beauty of being true to yourself, for having the courage to share an important part of your life with others, and for celebrating those who may come out to you. Rather than being perceived as exposing yourself or confessing something, we should see coming out as a marker of coming into your identity and allowing others to share in that knowledge. National Coming Out Day should also be a day to acknowledge the difficulties of coming out, and to remember that it’s still not something all LGBT+ people can safely do.

Today, some would argue that coming out (and having a day to celebrate it) is unnecessary. It’s true that no one should have to come out, and that not coming out doesn’t mean that you’re “hiding” or “lying”. In an ideal world, being straight and/or cis wouldn’t be perceived as default, and no one would make any assumptions about anyone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

But for so many in our communities, that day is still a long way off. Coming out has always been an important part of LGBT+ history.

For those who are questioning their identities or living in an unwelcoming environment, seeing someone come out can offer a feeling of hope, solidarity and reassurance.

Race, ethnicity, language, religion, culture, gender expression, sexual orientation and gender identity should never be barriers to us living our full lives.

Coming out is a personal choice and is a significant part of living in our identity publicly. We all deserve the right to live our lives genuinely, completely and honestly.

Hello, sailor!

Lord Nelson was “queer”, a prestigious gallery has suggested. 

The British naval hero was fatally shot during the Battle of Trafalgar, in which the Royal Navy triumphed over the combined forces of France and Spain in 1805.

His final moments aboard HMS Victory are depicted in two paintings at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. 

It is generally believed that Nelson’s last words on his deathbed after being shot were ‘kiss me Hardy’, which he uttered to his flag captain Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy.

According to the contested account, Hardy then kissed Nelson on his hands and forehead.

That account has prompted curators at the Walker Art Gallery to put Nelson in the “Queer Relationships” collection.

Online information from the gallery, which is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, states: “Historians have speculated about the exact nature of the relationship between Hardy and Nelson. Regardless of the truth, for many, Nelson’s famous request is symbolic of the sometimes hidden queer history of life at sea.”

It adds: “Whether or not their relationship was sexual remains unknown, but their friendship is reflective of the close relationships formed between men at sea. Intimate relationships, both sexual and platonic, could develop between those on board.”

The paintings depicting Nelson are by Daniel Maclise and Benjamin West.  

Maclise’s has been added to an article on the gallery’s website about the “history of LGBTQ+ love”. 

The move follows efforts by museums, galleries and other groups to highlight “hidden” stories of LGBT people throughout history. 

However, historians have not previously uncovered any evidence that Nelson was gay or bisexual. The fact is that he had a passionate relationship with his mistress Emma Hamilton and had been married for 18 years to his wife Frances Nisbet when he died. He also had a daughter, Horatia, with Lady Hamilton and sent passionate letters to her.

Was Nelson gay? The jury is still out.

Royal Northern College of Music

A group of us from Out in the City visited the RNCM on 2 October to hear a marvellous lunch-time concert. As on previous occasions there were six grand pianos for the programme, for me the most interesting was Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture (arranged for 4 pianos by John Wilson, who was present).

The two others were also very exciting to hear, ‘Shangri-La beneath the summer moon’ (world premiere), composed by a student at the college, Lucian Amette Crosby and ‘Aerobatics Over Lake Wanaka’ by Adrian Sutton.

(Review by Bruce)

Thank You For The Music

We took a chance on a super trouper afternoon at Central Library to celebrate International Older People’s Day.

We listened to two hours of ABBA classics with the fantastic solo tribute artist “One of Us”. Here are some photos of the event:

International Lesbian Day

There are two main days to recognise and celebrate lesbian communities: International Lesbian Day on 8 October and Lesbian Visibility Day on 26 April. 

International Lesbian Day is a day for celebration of lesbian culture and history and serves as an opportunity to raise awareness of the lesbian community and advocate for their rights and inclusion. 

We haven’t always had recognition. In the Scottish court case Woods and Pirie vs Dame Cumming Gordon (1811) two teachers were accused of having a lesbian relationship by a pupil, claiming they had indecent sexual relationships. However, one judge found that sex between women was “equally imaginary with witchcraft, sorcery or carnal copulation with the devil”, illustrating notions at the time that tied sexuality with masculinity.

Denholm Elliott (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992)

Today we are remembering Denholm Elliott, CBE on what would have been his 103rd birthday.

He was an English actor, with more than 125 film and television credits.  His well-known roles include the abortionist in Alfie (1966), Marcus Brody in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Coleman in Trading Places (1983), and Mr Emerson in A Room with a View (1985).

On TV he memorably portrayed the terrified title character in a Christmas 1976 adaptation of the Dickens ghost story The Signalman.

Secretly bisexual, Elliott was married twice: first to actress Virginia McKenna for a few months in 1954, and later, in an open marriage, to American actress Susan Robinson, with whom he had two children.

Pride in Ageing 2025

Since 2019, LGBT Foundation’s Pride in Ageing programme has been offering support and opportunities for members of the LGBTQ+ community aged 50+ in the North West of England. The success of this programme led to its expansion from Greater Manchester into Liverpool and Merseyside this year, with dedicated events to help older LGBTQ+ people connect, get involved in the community and shape the future of LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing provisions in the region.

2025 marks LGBT Foundation’s 50th Anniversary and the sixth consecutive year of Pride in Ageing, inviting reflection on the last 50 years of LGBT Foundation’s services, campaigns and advocacy to support LGBTQ+ people and highlight the issues they face throughout their lives. In this year’s video we hear from several of their volunteers about the impact of LGBT Foundation’s work and why Pride in Ageing continues to be one of their most valued programmes.

Throughout the year they are continuing to look back on this legacy – from conversations facilitated by 50th Anniversary Ambassador Dita Garbo (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, Season 6) with their Pride in Ageing volunteers, to an exhibition at Manchester Central Library featuring materials from their archives, showing the scale of work they’ve contributed to since 1975.

Find out more about Pride in Ageing and their 50th Anniversary by visiting http://www.lgbt.foundation/prideinageing and http://www.lgbt.foundation/50years, and please consider donating today or leaving a gift in your will with their free will writing service to help them continue this groundbreaking work.

Join their newsletter community: http://www.lgbt.foundation/newsletter

Donate today to fund their life-saving services: http://www.lgbt.foundation/donate

Write a will with them for FREE in October: http://www.lgbt.foundation/freewills