Manchester Pride have organised a Listening Group for Women. This will happen on Friday, 5 June 2020, 5.00pm to 7.00pm via Zoom.

The Listening Groups are consultations so that the Manchester Pride team can better represent, support and celebrate the community, not just at Pride, but all year round.

More info on how to sign up here

You can take part using video and audio, video or audio or simply using the chat function. If you would like to take part but don’t feel comfortable using these methods please contact engagement@manchesterpride.com

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Pride is an incredibly important time for many LGBT people. Understandably, many pride events have been cancelled or postponed this year.

#MyPrideIs is a new national LGBT pride campaign set up by the LGBT Foundation to celebrate pride in all its forms – our histories, our love, our families, our communities, our identities, our movement, our rights and more.

Pride is an incredibly important time for many LGBT people. It is a chance for us to celebrate how far we have come on the road to equality, and reenergise ourselves for the struggles ahead. In a world which often tells us there is something wrong with who we are, it is a time to come together as a community and celebrate our richly diverse identities.

For some, Pride is the only time of the year that we see same-gender couples holding hands. For others, it may be the only time of the year that we see others who look like us. When you have spent the majority of your life being a minority, there is magic in being amongst people like you and no longer being the “other”. Pride can be a place where you feel like you finally belong.

In a recent study by LGBT Foundation on the impact of coronavirus on LGBT communities, one person responded:

“Most of the prides have been cancelled […] This makes it extremely hard to have any motivation to work, as all the rewards I work for have been taken away.”

Our sense of Pride comes from our collectiveness, our unity and our resilience. This will never fade away.

#MyPrideIs is a new national LGBT pride campaign to reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness by reassuring our communities that although we can’t be together physically at the moment, our sense of community will prevail. The campaign celebrates the rich diversity and shared histories of our communities – giving a voice to those in our communities who have been marginalised and underrepresented for too long.

The LGBT Foundation are asking you to reflect on what pride means to you, share memories of previous pride events that have played a big role in your life and offer hope and support to others who may be struggling.

#MyPrideIs is all about bringing our communities together, and the LGBT Foundation would LOVE you be a part of it! Below are some of the ways you can get involved:

• To be featured in the campaign, send a photo which represents pride for you and complete the sentence “My pride is…”. You can send this to joe.nellist@lgbt.foundation
• Share your favourite memory of a pride event on social media with your friends and family using #MyPrideIs
• Learn about the history of pride, from the stonewall riots in 1969, the UK Gay Pride Rally of 1972 to the start of your local pride
• Why not host your own pride event at home and invite your friends to join you on videochat? In your photos use the tag #MyPrideIs

There’s a number of digital pride events popping up. This gives us the chance to come together as a global LGBT community like never before!

The LGBT Foundation asked people what pride means to them. Below are some of the responses. What does pride mean to you?

 “My Pride Is…

• supporting my child 110% in whatever choices they make. Not saying it’s easy all of the time, but love comes above all… #bewhoyouare #beproud
• solidarity with LGBT people from across the world
• remembering the struggles & our heroes & using #Pride to highlight the global battles #LGBTQ still need to win!
• celebrating how far we’ve come that we’re able to parade our community through the streets of cities globally showing the diversity of the LGBTQI+ spectrum and all its eccentric uniqueness. Prides may be cancelled this year, but the celebration lives within us. Pride will still be happening this year in the small moments we cultivate to show how proud we are. #lovewins
• finally being able to go to my first pride parade in Philly and NYC last year and finally coming out to friends and family
• to be myself and knowing my existence matters
• celebrating the freedom that for centuries people never had
• people standing up together and saying to the world this is who we are, and also working together every day to make a better world
• coming together, celebrating our progress, showing solidarity with others who suffer and work towards a more inclusive world.
• learning about and understanding all the things that have happened. And celebrating the positive changes.
• we are all together fighting for rights.

Here is my submission:

The LGBT Foundation are still taking submissions for the campaign and plan to run it throughout the summer. If you would like to be a part of the campaign, please contact joe.nellist@lgbt.foundation

There are over 30 places called Manchester in the United States, as well as places called Manchester in Australia, Canada, Jamaica and South America.

But we are talking about “our” Manchester the second most visited city in the UK after London. It is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact and sports clubs.

Manchester is a city of notable firsts: Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the world’s first inter-city passenger railway station and the oldest remaining railway station. The city has also excelled in scientific advancement, as it was at The University of Manchester, in 1917, that scientist Ernest Rutherford first split the atom. The university’s further achievements include the development of the world’s first stored-programme computer in 1948; and, in 2004, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov successfully isolated and characterised the first graphene.

Bands that have emerged from the Manchester music scene include Van der Graaf Generator, Oasis, The Smiths, Joy Division and its successor group New Order, Buzzcocks, The Stone Roses, The Fall, The Durutti Column, 10cc, Godley & Creme, The Verve, Elbow, Doves, The Charlatans, M People, The 1975, Simply Red and Take That.

Previously, notable Manchester acts of the 1960s include The Hollies, Herman’s Hermits and Davy Jones of the Monkees as well as the Bee Gees who grew up in Chorlton.

So it’s no wonder that the website of Out In The City, based in Manchester – a small social and support group catering for members of the LGBT communities over 50 – should attract visitors from many countries around the world!

Since the website started in July 2017 there have been visitors from 54 countries, and since lockdown in March 2020 we have had 172 visitors from 23 countries: Australia 14; Bangladesh 1; Brazil 2; Canada 5; China 18; Finland 1; France 4; Greece 2; India 7; Indonesia 1; Isle of Man 1; Moldova 2; Netherlands 2; New Zealand 1; Philippines 2; Poland 2; Russia 1; Slovenia    2; Spain 7; Switzerland 4; Uganda 4; US 88; and Vietnam 1.

Manchester is a friendly place, and we wish a HUGE “Thank You” greeting to all our international readers, as well as those who have adopted the city as their home.

 

Happy Birthday to Paul R on 28^th May

and

Happy Birthday to Jackie on 30^th May.

 

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LGB population rises to 2.2%, while proportion identifying as heterosexual falls to 94.6%

The number of people identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) in the UK has increased by more than a third in four years, figures show.

Data taken from the annual population survey (APS), which collects information on self-perceived sexual identity from people aged 16 and over, found that the number had increased from 1.6% in 2014 to 2.2% in 2018.

The overall proportion of the UK population that identify as heterosexual, or straight, decreased from 95.3% in 2014 to 94.6% in 2018.

In 2018, there were an estimated 1.2 million people aged 16 years and over who identified as LGB. Young people, aged between 16 and 24, were the most likely to identify as LGB at 4.4%.

More than two-thirds of the UK’s LGB population were unmarried or had not entered into a civil partnership by 2018, according to the figures.

Sophie Sanders, from the Office for National Statistics population statistics division, said: “People in their late teens and early 20s are more likely to identify as LGB than older age groups.

“Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the LGB population are single and have never married or entered into a civil partnership.

“This reflects the younger age structure of this population, the changing attitudes of the general population to marriage and the fact that legal unions have only been recently available for same-sex couples.”

Civil partnerships were introduced for same-sex couples in the UK in December 2005 and same-sex marriage has been legal in England, Wales and Scotland since 2014 and in Northern Ireland from February this year.

Robyn Peoples, 26, and Sharni Edwards, 27, made history when they became the first same-sex couple to tie the knot in Northern Ireland.

Laura Russell, the director of campaigns, strategy and research at Stonewall, welcomed the rise in the number of people identifying as LGB.

“This is likely because more and more people feel comfortable to be open about who they are,” she said.

“But we know these figures still won’t be an entirely accurate representation of the number of lesbian, gay and bi people in the UK.

“If we want to live in a world where everyone is accepted without exception, we need every person who believes in equality to stand up and support their LGBT friends, family and the wider community.”

We have been contacted regarding a new study by Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA) at the University of Manchester.

It is a small project looking into LGBT people over 60 who were experiencing social exclusion / isolation before the pandemic and the impact of social distancing rules on their circumstances.

Please contact me if interested, so arrangements can be made.

Introduction to Research

Background

This research is being led by researcher at the Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing (MICRA) at the University of Manchester.

The research will involve interviews (by telephone) with older people about their current experiences of social distancing and self-isolation at the time of the Covid 19 pandemic. We are interested in how people are coping with social distancing, what support they are able to access and what gaps in support might exist.

We want to find out how social distancing is affecting people’s everyday lives, from your perspective. We will talk to a range of people from a range of backgrounds, different communities and who are living a range of circumstances such as those living alone and those who live with their extended families.

The reason that we are carrying out this research is that there has been lots of attention brought to the negative impact of the virus on older people. But we feel that the voices and stories of older people have not yet been heard, and that older people have not been consulted about the types of support which have been provided so far.

The aim of our research is to collect a range of detailed accounts of everyday live during coronavirus, so we can advise services about what is currently working well, and where people over 60 need more support.

We feel that it is important to understand the experiences of a range of groups of people over 60 and to raise attention to where there are gaps or issues which need to be addressed.

If you do choose to take part in the research your anonymity will be protected and all names and other identifying information removed.

Taking part

The research will involve you speaking to our researcher, Luciana Lang by telephone.

The first telephone call will be short and a chance for you to introduce yourself to each other and for you to ask any questions you have about the research. Luciana will also ask for some background information such as your age, who lives in your household, occupation and health status etc.

The first interview will take place about a week later. All interviews will be audio recorded for our note taking and then transcribed. The interview should last around 30 minutes.

You will then receive a check up phone call about 2-3 weeks later to see how you are getting on and to update you on how the research is progressing. We will then organise another time for follow up interview to see how their experiences have changed over time.

The Second interview again will be audio recorded.

Ethics

• Ethical approval has been given by the University of Manchester.
• Verbal consent will be required over the telephone.
• All interviews will be recorded and transcribed
• We may wish to use some of the interviews at a later date to create a podcast, or to play in presentations

Data protocol

All documents containing participant information should be locked – a password will be agreed by the project team.

One of the issues arising from the lockdown is that I need my hair cutting badly … or do I mean, I badly need my hair cutting?

It’s Norman G’s birthday on 20 May. I wonder how old he is? Here’s a clue:

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Talking About My Generation

I was interviewed by Talking About My Generation and this is the article they have produced:

Campaigners celebrate 30-year anniversary of homosexuality being declassified as a mental disease

It has been three decades since the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the classification of diseases and related health problems.

And while this now seems an absurd reality in 2020, it is a time that was lived through by many people across Greater Manchester – and 68 countries still criminalise same-sex relations.

Sunday (May 17) marked the start of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHO) celebrations, which aims to raise awareness of LGBT rights and discriminations.

This year the theme is Breaking the Silence, so to help with that we caught up with Tony Openshaw, who runs Out in the City – a social group for over 50s in the LGBT community to get his thoughts on how far we have come in society to be inclusive, what more needs to be campaigned for and the lasting effects discrimination has on people’s mental health.

Tony said: “For LGBT people, IDAHO serves as an interesting retrospective on our history and how much has changed and how much we need to continue pushing for change.

“It is also a rallying cry for the eradication of the continued discrimination, prejudice, and violence LGBT people face at home, in public, and in written law every day.

“We have come so far, there have been many positive changes in my lifetime. But I am of the generation that it was very difficult for. My parents sent me to a psychiatrist because I told them I was gay, I was evicted from a house I was living in for being gay at one point in time, and I know two people who have been given electric shock therapy to ‘help’ them to not be gay, and a women offered a lobotomy.

“If you ask many young people today, they would be shocked that up until 1990, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder – but this is not something people from my generation in the LGBT community easily forgets.

“I am glad that it is better for this generation – that is what we fought for. But it can still be a big stigma for older LGBT people

“Discrimination and violence against LGBT people continues to occur at unacceptable rates, and we all have a responsibility to use our voices to speak up, in relation to our own challenges and the struggles of others. A culture of inclusivity and freedom can only extend to everyone if we fight for it.

 

“The anniversary of this pivotal day also falls in Mental Health Awareness Week, and it is important to remember that while Manchester is leading the way when it comes to acceptance and inclusivity for the LGBT community, there are still many people struggling with how to cope with coming out from every walk of life.

“But one area of society that I feel passionate about is supporting LGBT asylum seekers, who have had so much discrimination in their own countries and need support to start a new and better life here in the UK.”

As well as his campaigning work, Tony runs Out in the City, a project (supported by Age UK Manchester) to support members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities who are over 50 years of age.

For more information go to https://outinthecity.org/

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King Lear Prizes:

The new national creative arts competition for the over 70s stuck at home because of Coronavirus

Many people in the UK are still staying at home due to Coronavirus, and older people have been particularly restricted in what they can do and who they can see.

Our greatest writer, William Shakespeare, was faced with a similar situation, with outbreaks of the plague throughout his career, and in particular in 1605 – 06, when he wrote his King Lear.

The King Lear Prize Committee have launched the King Lear Prizes to encourage amateurs and beginners to have a project to get stuck into, and to create new works of literature, poetry, music, drama and art during the time they are quarantined.

There are various categories with a chance to win £1,000. See the following link for rules and how to enter:

https://www.kinglearprizes.org.uk/

Pauline has already made a start:

Light the Torch ~~~~ Pride in Ageing

50 thousand of us

Old and bold

Old and not so bold

We are the older LGBT people

In Our Place

In all ten boroughs across Manchester.

 

Last June we lit the torch

to fight yet again for what we believe

Dignity, compassion, self worth

In our place

We are everywhere

Your neighbour…your gran, your grandad.

 

Pride in Ageing is about

Our self worth…our inner being

We are 50 plussers

50 thousand strong

Determined and feisty.

 

Do we want to be taken into care?

Not now

Covid 19 is not the real issue for us

Discrimination is

Can we be who are are,

And want to be in our twilight?

 

Last year something new

As oldies we lit the torch

With Barclays and the LGBT Foundation

Pride in Ageing its called

For a reason…..

 

As young people we fought

Just to be us…with Pride

Against Section 28 and other rules

We survived Aids

We have lit the torch again

 

And the flame burns brightly

We will pass on the torch

To those who come after us

All of us LGBT people

“Who take a walk on the wild side”

 

Yes …we do care

About dignity, self worth and compassion

In our older years

For all of us

And all those who come after.

Pauline Smith May 2020

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The LGBT Foundation is launching a new national campaign #MyPrideIs which will debut in the new issue of a major LGBT publication. Does anybody have any photos from Pride events which could be used in the campaign? Please let us know.