Dandy Style, 250 Years of British Men’s Fashion

Most of the group dined at the China Buffet restaurant, but we all gathered at Manchester Art Gallery at 1.30pm in order to view the latest exhibition “Dandy Style”.

The exhibition explores approaches to men’s style and self-image. Fashion and art show what certain British men have chosen to wear and how painters and photographers have depicted them. On display was a vibrant mix of the historic and the contemporary, the provocative and the respectable, the personal and the public.

Beginning with the example of the Regency socialite Beau Brummell around 1800, the term dandy has come to define a range of contrasting, always rather mannered male styles; from tailored simplicity to flamboyant embellishment. This exhibition presents this elegance, carefulness and spectacle from the 18^th century to the present day.

During the 18^th century, fashionable British men dressed in highly decorated clothing. This remained the norm for those men able to afford it until around 1800. Embroidery represented the costliest of decorative techniques and still provides a rich source of creative inspiration for recent designers such as Versace and McQueen.

Although British menswear took a more sober turn in the 19^th century, even then, colour and decoration could be incorporated in subtle ways according to personal taste. Striped, checked and patterned trousers and waistcoats remained popular into the 1860s. Middle and upper class Victorian men also dressed flamboyantly in a domestic context wearing decorated or patterned gowns or smoking jackets to receive guests. Men dressed themselves as dandies, revelling in military-inspired ornamental braiding, subverting the seriousness of army uniform and wearing garments with deliberately aesthetic decoration such as floral embroidery.

The 1960s saw another generational revolt against social norms and restrictions towards more imaginative dress. Colour and pattern were allowed far freer rein. Shirt frills and ruffles, bold rococo patterns, bright printing and braiding were reintegrated into men’s wardrobes.

Menswear has retained a certain, though not universal, extravagance in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries, largely driven by street culture. It now has an established confidence in a vibrant, unapologetic and multi-cultural context

It was an interesting exhibition and more photos can be seen here.

National Trust members vote to continue celebrating Pride despite bigots’ best efforts

The National Trust is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and owns a wide array of land and historic buildings across the country.

Earlier this year, anti-LGBT+ National Trust members submitted a motion to be put to a vote at the AGM asking members to back banning “divisive” Pride events.

The effort was spearheaded by Stephen Green, a National Trust member and director of the far-right, anti-LGBT+, anti-abortion, anti-evolution and anti-feminism website Christian Voice.

But at the AGM on Saturday, 5 November, when 127,000 (out of six million National Trust members) voted on resolutions, 65 per cent voted against the anti-LGBT+ motion.

The AGM also saw a vote for seven vacant council positions, with Green and other candidates running for election, under the banner Restore Trust. Green has referred to being gay as a “deviant lifestyle”, supported the death penalty for LGBT+ people, and argued that it is impossible for a husband to rape his wife.

Luckily, he and six other Restore Trust candidates were all unsuccessful.

On the Pride motion, a National Trust spokesperson said: “The National Trust was founded for the benefit of everyone. We serve the whole of our wonderfully diverse society and we want to do that to the very best of our ability. This includes supporting our staff, volunteers and visitors to take part in cultural celebrations including Pride, which they have been doing for many years. We fully support our staff, volunteers and visitors being able to take part in celebrations of LGBT+ society and history, including Pride.”

Transgender Awareness Week

Transgender Awareness Week between 13 – 19 November is a week when transgender people and their allies take action to bring attention to the community by educating the public about who transgender people are, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around the issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community.

The event is closely followed by the Transgender Day of Remembrance on 20 November, which shows support for victims of transphobic violence.

There have been many pivotal historical moments that relate to transgender advocacy:

1952: Christine Jorgensen is featured in American national media – provided a large number of people with access to information about transgender issues for the first time as she was the first American publicly known to have undergone sex reassignment surgery.

1954: news of the first known British trans woman, Roberta Cowell, broke, gaining public interest around the world.

1964: American trans man Reed Erickson creates the Erickson Educational Foundation – the first foundation to donate millions to promote transgender and gay equality.

1972: Sweden legalises gender reassignment – the first country to legally allow citizens to change sex.

1975: the Gender Dysphoria Clinic at Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne was established by Dr Trudy Kennedy and Dr Herbert Bower.

1979: the Victorian Transsexual Coalition and the Victorian Transsexual Association is formed, Australia’s first transgender rights and advocacy organisations were established.

1979: A Change of Sex, the BBC documentary about male to female transgender person Julia Grant.

1986: Lou Sullivan founds FTM International – the first advocacy group for transgender men; the purpose was to challenge the popular idea that all trans men were lesbians before they transitioned into male.

1998: Rita Hester‘s murder – murdered on 28 November because of gender identity, a candlelight vigil was held on 4 December to honour Hester’s life; death lead to inspiration for the idea of the first International Transgender Day of Remembrance started by trans woman Gwendolyn Ann Smith.

1999: The murder of Private Barry Winchell for dating a trans-woman Calpernia Addams.

1999: The first observance of International Transgender Day of Remembrance to commemorate victims of anti-transgender hate crimes, observed on 20 November.

2002: Transgender Law Center founded – aimed to alter laws and opinions regarding transgender people so they could live a life without discrimination based on gender identity.

2002: Sylvia Rivera Law Project founded – provides legal and educational services and works towards altering policies.

2003: National Center for Transgender Equality founded – founded to progress the equality of transgender people through advocacy, collaboration, and empowerment.

2009: The first observance of International Transgender Day of Visibility – this day was created by Michigan transgender activist Rachel Crandall to serve as a positive counterpart to Transgender Day of Remembrance,

2010: the Australian Defence Force policy was amended to allow transgender Australians to openly serve.

2010: Gender Health Center, Sacramento, California, United States of America opened its doors.

2012: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declares transgender people protected against employment discrimination because of violations to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

These are just a few of the many important moments that have led to increased transgender advocacy and awareness.

Central Library Backstage Tour

Last week we visited Manchester Central Library where we met our guide, Siobhan from Archives+. She showed us around the interactive items on the ground floor before visiting the lower ground floor strong rooms – an area not normally accessible to the general public.

The archives include documents, books, maps, photographs, plans, newspapers and magazines. Siobhan explained to us how to access the archives and collections free of charge.

A section of the archives is dedicated to the history of the LGBT+ community as it is an important part of the social and cultural history of Manchester and the North West.

Manchester has the United Kingdom’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community outside London and is renowned for its Gay Village centred around Canal Street. It has been the home of festivals such as Pride, It’s Queer Up North and Get Bent as well as celebrations around LGBT History Month.

The LGBT Foundation is the UK’s biggest LGBT charity while The Proud Trust has supported young people for more than 30 years. Manchester was the birthplace of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in 1964 and we were hugely influential in the campaign against Clause 28 in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The LGBT Foundation’s archive is now held at Central Library. It includes the LGBT Foundation’s own project and event files on HIV, sexuality, LGBT culture and sexual health as well as press cuttings, photographs and lots more.

There is also a wide range of published sources including Attitude magazine (1994 to present), the Pink Paper (1991 to present) and many other lesbian and gay publications such as Gay Times, Gay News, Diva, Boyz and Outnorthwest. The LGBT Foundation published Outnorthwest, the North West’s only free LGBT bi-monthly lifestyle, health and listings magazine, from 2000 to 2014.

The library archives even includes a copy of Tales from Out in the City: an Anthology of Memories (2009) – a volume of memories and reminiscences from older members of the gay community in Manchester, published by Out In The City / Age Concern.

It’s Queer Up North archives

Dance and debate, clubs and comedy, literature and live art, films and fairies, plays and puppetry, thespians and theory – these were just some of the experiences on offer from our city’s very own international LGBT arts festival, It’s Queer Up North.

Thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the archives have been catalogued, repackaged and made available at Central Library. The collection as a whole includes promotional materials, artists’ files, photographs, and film from 1992-2006. In addition, an oral history project has recorded the memories and experiences of those involved with the festival.

Lots of great photos can be seen here.

Community Group of the Year Award

Out In The City has been shortlisted for an award at Forever Manchester’s annual Birthday Party on Friday 10 February 2023 at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, Oxford Street, Manchester.

The Forever Manchester Birthday Party brings together over 400 passionate and dedicated Forever Manchester supporters to celebrate another great year of helping local people to do extraordinary things together.

This award is in the “Community Group of the Year” category and given in recognition of a community group or project that has made a meaningful and significant impact, strengthening communities, making a difference, and putting smiles on peoples faces.

The shortlist of Community Groups is:

Ashton Community Chess Club, Buile Hill Mansion Association, Community Buds, On Top of the World, Out In The City and Trafford Handball.

‘I’ve had hundreds of death threats, hundreds of violent assaults’

Interview with Zoe Williams from The Guardian:

I speak to Peter Tatchell by zoom from Sydney, where he has recently arrived after his day in Qatar, protesting against that nation’s human rights abuses. He hasn’t slept in three days but is perfectly lucid and the weariness only tells in his minute corrections: “No, let me rephrase that”; “Sorry, let me think.” He is 70 years old, wrung out, back in Australia where he was born and raised, talking to me while fielding frequent phone calls. Has he no plans just to hang out for a bit, see some cousins? He’s a bit bemused by the question: “That’d be a very fine thing. But after Qatar I’ve got two other campaigns coming up – quiet time would be a stretch. I, with many others, have contributed to so many positive changes. It’s a great motivator.”

The protest in Qatar, which happened on 25 October, comprised only Tatchell and a colleague, Simon Harris, from Tatchell’s eponymous foundation. It featured a single placard, which they had smuggled into the country between the pages of a copy of the Daily Telegraph. “The only existing broadsheet newspaper today,” he says, pleased at the irony of the paper coming in handy, despite itself. The wording on the placard was: “Qatar arrests, jails & subjects LGBTs to ‘conversion’ #QatarAntiGay.” “I never dictated the terms,” he says. “I took the message directly from my contacts in Qatar.”

Tatchell held up his placard outside the National Museum of Qatar in Doha at 11.30am. “A Muslim woman walked past,” he says, “a horrified look on her face. She said: ‘You’d better put that away, you’ll end up in prison.’” He corrects himself. “Maybe those weren’t her exact words; she basically warned me that it’s not permitted.” He didn’t put it away, and 35 minutes later, state security officials arrived in big white Land Cruisers, the police soon joining them, nine men in all. Harris managed to upload some video of the protest – on Instagram, Tatchell looks dignified, solitary and incongruous, stood on sandy pebbles in front of the statement architecture of the museum – before the police took his camera and deleted the rest. The pair’s details were taken, their documents scrutinised. Tatchell says they were told, “what you’re doing is illegal, it’s not permitted in Qatar, the conversation was a mixture of broken English and broken French. It was very clear that we were not free to leave. We were there for 49 minutes before they eventually said: ‘OK, we advise you to go to the airport and get your flight.’ I interpreted that as a warning.”

There was some beef on social media later, as Tatchell’s YouTube channel had described the men as being “seized by the Qatari security services”; one academic at Qatar’s research university complained that Tatchell had misled people, lied even, since they were not arrested. It was just the fog of protest, the office losing contact briefly with Tatchell and Harris. Maybe Tatchell himself puts things a little strongly at times, but it’s hard to overstate how much sheer cortisol is coursing through the man during actions like these. “I knew that it was possible I’d spend some time in a police cell and possibly be prosecuted, even jailed. The view was that was unlikely and more likely that I’d be deported straight to Sydney. But I was very anxious, and we were always worrying that we’d made some inadvertent misstep and put the security services on to us. On Sunday night [before they left London], I hardly slept, rehearsing in my mind all the different scenarios. On the Monday night – it was an overnight flight – I was so anxious I couldn’t sleep a wink. In Doha on the day of the protest, my stomach was churning over, I had a very strong headache and despite the heat, I felt cold and a bit shivery. I had a constant urge to urinate and defecate.” The idea that he does this stuff blithely, for self-promotion, is for the birds, I think.

Yet, as last year’s Netflix documentary, Hating Peter Tatchell, puts it pithily, he is the focal point of an awful lot of hatred: “I’ve got a lot of bile and hatred against me over the decades because I ruffle feathers. I have made powerful people and their apologists very angry. It’s led to tens of thousands of hate mails, hundreds of death threats, hundreds of violent assaults.”

But if you engage seriously with what Tatchell is saying, I feel that he’s only doing what we all should be doing: the World Cup is about to take place in a country where LGBT+ people, women and migrant workers are oppressed and victimised. In waving this through on the promise that Qatar would somehow change, between the decision in 2010 and now, Fifa has legitimised the nation’s impunity and traduced the idea of universal human rights as a minimum entry requirement into the international club. The foreign secretary James Cleverly – this was presumably inadvertent, like so many of his remarks – distilled what this actually means, when he asked football fans to be “respectful of the host nation”, concluding: “I think with a little bit of flex and compromise at both ends, it can be a safe and secure World Cup.” Be a bit less gay just for a couple of weeks, and it’ll all be fine.

“The primary motivation of my work has always been a love of other people and a love of freedom, justice and equality of all human beings on this planet. I wouldn’t like to suffer. If I was suffering, I’d want other people to help.”

He hasn’t come out unscathed from this life. “It’s very tough,” he says at one point. “I have periods of real emotional meltdown and depression, feeling that despite the efforts of myself and many, many other people, we haven’t been able to prevent some terrible abuses.” But “lots of the issues that I and others championed decades ago are now mainstream,” he adds. Besides, “when you’re living under a tyrannical regime, you need international solidarity. The roll of issues that need to be addressed is endless.”

Records of gay military sackings deleted by Ministry of Defence

Military police records of service personnel who were dismissed from the Armed Forces for being gay have been destroyed.

Veterans who requested documents about investigations and interrogations into them by the military police have been told the files were deleted in 2010.

The Ministry of Defence advised it had a legal duty to ensure the details were erased from service records.

But one veterans’ group said: “To many, this may feel like a cover-up.”

The MoD only revealed the data had been destroyed after two veterans had been unable to obtain records of military investigations into their sexuality.

Campaign group Fighting with Pride said, without the information, it could be difficult for its members to reclaim lost pensions or compensation from the government.

Until 2000, people who were gay were barred from serving in the military. An independent review is currently looking at how the Armed Forces dealt with members of the LGBT+ community.

Full of shame

Jean MacDonald was a lance corporal in the Women’s Royal Army Corps. But in 1981 she was dismissed from the service for being gay.

“All of a sudden you’ve lost your whole career, you’ve lost your friends, you’ve lost your accommodation, you know, your whole way of life – it’s just full of shame,” she said.

After years of poor mental health she was diagnosed with complex PTSD. And in May this year, she requested her complete service records from the MoD.

Earlier this month, she received an email saying all record of the investigation into her by the Royal Military Police was destroyed in 2010. The email said it followed an order from the “Defence Police Chiefs’ Council”.

It added: “All investigations into offences relating solely to sexuality … were to be removed from our systems and deleted from the records of the affected service personnel.”

A search of the service police database produced only one document, which detailed the reasons for her dismissal. It read: “Conducting oneself disgracefully – unnatural act.”

Ms MacDonald said it left her feeling “invisible”. “We’re a bit of hidden history”.

Another veteran also discovered his Military Police Service record had been destroyed.

Tremaine Cornish, 66, was a private in the Royal Army Catering Corps, and also passed the All Arms Commando course. He joined at the age of 15 and was dismissed in 1977, having been accused of being homosexual.

It makes me furious

He said the Army “took away my life, my prospects, my sense of worth”.

When he applied for his complete service records this year, he was also told papers relating to the police investigation were “safely and appropriately disposed of”.

He was told it was done “in accordance with policing and data protection principles”.

However, Mr Cornish said it reinforced “the institutional homophobia we were attacked with”. “It makes me furious – furious about the state, furious about the institution, about the forces that we had signed up to.”

In January this year, the government announced it was setting up an independent review to look into the impact of the military ban on members of the LGBT+ community.

Lord Etherton, who is leading the review, has begun gathering evidence and is likely to look at possible means of compensation.

A MoD spokesman said the “historical policy prohibiting homosexuality in the Armed Forces was abhorrent”.

The spokesman added: “We deeply regret LGBT+ members serving in defence suffered injustice as a consequence. Our priority now is to understand the full impact of the historic ban and find appropriate ways to address the wrongs of the past. 

“The policy followed at the time was to remove references to these former offences and investigations from service records. There was a legal duty to ensure these records were erased from individuals service records.”

Fighting with Pride estimates that between 5,000 and 15,000 men and women may have been affected by the policy between 1967 and 2000.

Craig Jones, from the organisation, is now calling for an urgent meeting with the defence secretary. “You can imagine what that looks like to people who will have a great deal of difficulty trusting the MoD and the government.”

Mr Jones said the MoD needs to provide clarity about what it has done and why.

Gay Rwandan man who found safety in the UK warns LGBT+ asylum seekers will be seen as criminals

Martin Luther King had a dream to end segregation; Nelson Mandela had a dream to end apartheid in South Africa; Emmeline Pankhurst had a dream to gain equality for women in a sexist society. The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman shared with the public her ultimate dream: to witness a flight sending refugees and asylum seekers to Rwanda.

In June the 11th-hour European Court of Human Rights intervention prevented the first planned removal of asylum seekers, by a previous Home Secretary, from the UK to Rwanda.

What is the situation for LGBT+ asylum seekers in Rwanda?

Growing up gay in Rwanda was like “living in prison” for Innocent.

As a child, he was singled out by children and adults alike because he was seen as “feminine”. Teachers who should have tried to put a stop to homophobic bullying instead encouraged it, saying Rwandan culture didn’t accept queer people.

Innocent fled Rwanda and arrived in the UK as a refugee. He’s built a new life for himself as an openly gay man. For the first time, he feels free.

That’s why he was so shaken when he heard that the UK government is planning to deport asylum seekers it deems “illegal” to Rwanda. The plan, launched by previous Home Secretary Priti Patel, has been denounced as unnecessary, inhumane, racist, and a recipe guaranteed to result in the deaths of LGBT+ asylum seekers.

It has been met with legal challenges – including those that grounded the first scheduled deportation flight – but a change in leadership hasn’t stopped ministers from pushing ahead. Patel’s successor Suella Braverman has been slammed for saying it’s her “dream” and “obsession” to get the plan up and running.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow for Rwandans like Innocent – his experience of growing up in the country proved to him how dangerous it can be for LGBT+ people. 

You feel like no one cares about your life – even God doesn’t like you, even God doesn’t love you.

Innocent knew he was gay by the time he was 13. 

“Emotionally it was really challenging because all I wanted was just to change it,” he explains. 

As a teenager, Innocent went to a priest to seek guidance about his sexuality. He hoped he would get support, but the response he received was “devastating”. 

“At church they were preaching that God is love. I was naive and I was thinking, if God is love and this is a man of God, he’s going to be able to accept it – to at least see me as a human being.”

But the priest had the “opposite reaction” – he told Innocent that his feelings were sinful and that he must change if he wanted to avoid burning in hell.

“You feel like no one cares about your life – even God doesn’t like you, even God doesn’t love you. I felt powerless.” 

At that time, Innocent was still reeling from the trauma of living through the Rwandan genocide. Over just 100 days in 1994, around 500,000 to 662,000 people – mostly from the Tutsi minority ethnic group – were murdered – Innocent’s parents were among them.

Because he was an orphan, Innocent was eligible to go to the UK as a refugee at the age of 16. He knew moving away would give him the chance to live openly as a gay man – something he would never be able to do in Rwanda.

“When I arrived in Europe, it was like getting out of hell,” he says.

Innocent has built a life for himself in the UK – he is now an out and proud gay man. He still keeps his sexuality from some of his relatives back home because he knows that attitudes have not changed.

That’s why he was “horrified” when he discovered the UK government was planning on deporting some asylum seekers to Rwanda. 

“I was just wondering how that could happen,” he says.

“There’s a lot of evidence that sexual orientation and gender identity is still taboo and the government doesn’t want to do anything about that. 

“People are still being bullied, being put in prison, being tortured almost, and rejected by the community wherever they go. That is how it is now for LGBT people who live there.”

If he had a chance to sit down with the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, his message to them would be simple. “The policy has to change,” Innocent says.

“You can’t do it. You can’t just send people to a place where they will face discrimination. They will be seen as criminals. 

What I would say is just do more research, understand how the LGBT community live in that country. Most of the people there – even some of my friends who are still there – they don’t exist. They live a lie, they get married, they have to lie to the police, they have to lie to their wives. You live a lie your entire life.”

He doesn’t think it’s right for asylum seekers to be sent away as part of the government’s wider effort to deter immigration. 

“Even if it worked, do we really want to compromise human rights just to prevent people from coming to the UK? For me, that doesn’t sound like the UK values that I know.” 

Rwanda refugee plan carries ‘disproportionately higher risk for LGBT+ people’

A spokesperson for Rainbow Migration, an LGBT+ asylum advocacy group, noted that the UK government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda has been held up by legal challenges – but it is still planning flights for this year.

“We see that the risk is disproportionately higher for LGBTQI+ people, as Rwanda is a country from which people like Innocent flee and claim asylum because they are persecuted for their sexual orientation or gender identity,” the spokesperson said.

While homosexuality is no longer criminalised in Rwanda, same-sex sexual relations is still seen as a taboo issue – public attitudes towards LGBT+ people are not kind.

Even the UK government’s own website acknowledges that homosexuality is “frowned on” by many in Rwanda and that LGBT+ people may experience “discrimination and abuse, including from local authorities”

In June, a gay man from Uganda told Africa News that he was “beaten terribly” in Rwanda for being gay, while a trans woman told the publication: “I cannot go anywhere or apply for a job. Not because I am not capable of that, but because of who I am.”

A spokesperson for Rainbow Migration said there is “not much of a screening process that takes place” within the Home Office when a person’s asylum claim is being considered.

“This creates a high risk that they could be sent to Rwanda if the plan is eventually allowed to proceed.”

Britain’s Strongest Lesbian Couple

Sam Taylor and Sue Taylor-Franklin hope their presence in weightlifting will change people’s perceptions of women doing strength sports.

But they’re subjected to online abuse for simply being strong. While succeeding in weightlifting they are often subjected to nasty comments from people online, with some people “misgendering” them.

“I think there is a stigma that goes with being a strong woman. We look different, you know, we’re muscular and that’s our choice,” says Sue, who holds a world silver dollar record for deadlifting 300kgs from an 18 inch height.

“You don’t have to take it to the extreme, but we have because we’re not small people anyway.”

Their impressive strength has seen Sam and Sue featured in the BBC’s Our Lives series, where viewers get insight into their world of weightlifting.

Following the airing of Our Lives, the couple said they received some “nasty comments comparing them to men”.

“Even the most feminine people in the sport will get comments … they say horrendous things,” says Sam, who holds the title of the third Strongest Woman in the world for her age category.

“Sadly we’re used to it, but that isn’t right. We’re continually trying to break down those barriers to say you can look how you want and someone else’s opinion of how you look or present yourself is not their business.”

The couple agreed comments tend to come from “keyboard warriors” and thankfully they have never received any abuse in real life.

The couple, who live in Aberdare, South Wales, with their 12-year-old son Ollie, met in 2006 through mutual friends. They initially bonded over their devotion to the gym and in September 2019 tied the knot at Cardiff City Hall.

But the couple haven’t always been into weightlifting, with Sue, now 54, confessing she didn’t lift a weight until she was 50, in April 2018. 

“We hope that people under the LGBTQ+ umbrella look at us and think if they can go lift weights so can I.”

Sometimes, while competing, the couple go head to head, which has seen them become the first married couple to do so in a world competition. 

They train together three to four times a week and are now preparing to win new titles. Next year they will take on a double Guinness World Record attempt and they’ll also compete again in the World’s Strongest Woman competition in Florida. They already hold the Guinness World Record for pulling a 48-tonne AirBus A320.

“We wanted to promote positivity and try to inspire others to show you can really hit rock bottom but then get on. Also to show it’s OK to be yourself.”

Concorde Classic Tour

A group of us met at Piccadilly Train Station, made our way to Platform 13 and took the train to Manchester Airport. The Runway Visitor Park is about three miles away and so we took taxis to arrive in good time, meeting two or three others on the way.

The Runway Visitor Park is adjacent to the busy runways of Manchester Airport and has a raised viewing area where you can stand literally just a few yards away from the planes as they go past.

The Park is home to a variety of retired planes including the spectacular supersonic airline Concorde and former military spy plane, Nimrod. There’s also a DC-10, Avro RJX and a retro Trident airliner, offering a glimpse of what flying was like in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

We sat in the Avro Centre to watch a short film before making our way to the hangar, which housed the de-commissioned Concorde, one of the most iconic aircraft in history. We visited the flight deck in small groups, and were amazed at the array of switches and dials.

Once sat in the luxury leather seats, our guide gave us an interesting and informative talk and pointed out which regular seats were taken by Madonna, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Audrey Hepburn and David Frost. It was an amazingly unique experience.

Later we walked to the Romper Pub, just half a mile away and enjoyed a great meal.

More beautiful photographs can be seen here.

Where does Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stand on LGBT+ issues?

Conservative party leader and former treasury minister Rishi Sunak has become Britain’s Prime Minister.

Conservatives have helped secure vital LGBT+ rights in the country, including marriage equality, the pardoning of gay sex convictions, LGBT+ inclusive sex education, and eased blood donation restrictions for men who have sex with men.

However, the party has also overseen a rise in transphobic speech and hate crimes while rejecting a conversion therapy ban and asylum cases for LGBT+ refugees.

What is Rishi Sunak’s stance on transgender issues?

Transphobia seems unlikely to decrease under Sunak since he himself said that transgender women are not women during a Q&A on 25 August. A former minister accused Sunak of “pandering to bigots” with his comments.

He has said that transgender people should be respected, but has also called gender-neutral language and trans-inclusive policies part of “recent trends to erase women”. He has promised to release a “manifesto for women’s rights” that would call for banning trans women from women’s toilets and sports, positions that will likely increase the public harassment and isolation of trans individuals.

He also spoke about his desire to reform sex education at schools to ensure pupils are “shielded from inappropriate material”.

“Our laws must protect free speech, block biological men from competing in women’s sport and ensure that children are allowed to be children”, he said.

The LGBT+ Conservatives asked him about the “rising problem of transphobia” in the party.

He answered: “Prejudice against trans people is wrong. The Conservative Party is an open, welcoming family to everybody across society, no matter who they are and irrespective of their background”.

What is Rishi Sunak’s stance on conversion therapy?

Studies have shown that trans people are sent to conversion therapy in large numbers, even though the harmful pseudoscientific form of psychological torture has been disavowed by most major health associations. Despite this, the Conservative party has supported dropping trans people from a proposed national ban on conversion therapy, stating that a ban could have “unintended consequences.”

Some worry that teachers, parents, and therapists might be reluctant to work with children struggling with their gender identity if a trans-inclusive ban is passed. However, others say that such a ban could allow counsellors to “still help people fully explore their gender identity where appropriate” without using conversion therapy.

Mr Sunak has not said anything for or against banning conversion therapy – an issue which has been controversial for the Conservative Party for some years now. The Tories promised to ban it under Theresa May, in 2018, but went on to make multiple U-turns on the issue when Boris Johnson was PM.

What is Rishi Sunak’s stance on LGBTQ hate crimes?

Sunak has previously said, “I don’t want anybody in Britain to have to hide who they are or who they love out of fear. I want this to be the safest and greatest country in the world to be LGBT+.” But it’s unclear what steps he might take to address the issue, as anti-LGBT+ hate crimes have risen exponentially in Britain.

What is Rishi Sunak’s stance on LGBT+ refugees?

Sunak hasn’t seemed to make any comments about LGBT+ refugees seeking asylum in Britain. But he has expressed support for a government plan to send any asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing and possible resettlement there or somewhere other than Britain.

Though same-sex sexual encounters aren’t illegal in Rwanda, the country lacks LGBT+ anti-discrimination protections and has other human rights issues. British voters largely oppose the Rwanda Plan, despite Conservative support.

What is Rishi Sunak’s stance on HIV?

Sunak has said that he supports efforts to end HIV transmission in the UK by 2030 by following the HIV Action Plan, a national proposal to instate widespread prevention, testing, treatment, and retention country-wide.

But when Sunak served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, his proposed budget for autumn 2021 contained no funding for the plan.

What has Mr Sunak said in general?

Mr Sunak most recently spoke about the community during this summer’s leadership race, when he and the candidates he was running against were questioned by the LGBT+ Conservatives.

He said: “There is so much more we can do to take forward this country’s proud record of progress on LGBT+ rights.

From ending new HIV transmissions by 2030, to addressing instances of hate crime, to fostering a more tolerant, accepting society – there are many areas we need to address to improve the lives of LGBT+ people

I’m proud of the fact it was the Conservative Party that led the way and delivered marriage equality for LGBT+ people. I want to carry that torch forward and address the issues you face in day-to-day life. 

Because I don’t want anybody in Britain to have to hide who they are or who they love out of fear. I want this to be the safest and greatest country in the world to be LGBT+”.

Sunak was elected by 100 Conservative party members in an undemocratic closed-door meeting rather than by British voters. As such, Sunak’s policy stances don’t reflect the people’s will.