Bury and Stockport Prides
 
There was certainly “Unity in the Community” at Bury Pride. Held on Saturday 1 June – right at the beginning of Pride Month – Bury Pride featured plenty of stalls, a parade and a main stage, where Wolf performed a great set.

The next day Stockport Pride lit up the town celebrating equality, diversity and inclusion within the local LGBT+ community. There were a variety of stalls in Stockport’s Historic Market Place – hosted by charities, community groups and food and drink vendors, ensuring there was something for everyone.

Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy” Turns 40 with New Reworked Version of the Gay Classic

For gays of a certain age Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy” was a classic.

Released forty years ago on 25 May 1984, the haunting electro-pop track became an instant gay anthem of LGBT+ liberation as it detailed the experience of many people who left their repressive towns for life in the big city. The original video has been watched 106 million times on You Tube.

The video features Bronski Beat lead singer Jimmy Somerville in a semi-autobiographical role as the young man who faces oppression and violence in his small town and eventually finds his tribe as he embarks on a bigger life in London.

To celebrate the iconic single and video’s 40th anniversary, London Records has released a new reworked version by London-based DJ and producer ABSOLUTE (aka Ant McGinley).

The reworked single is set to the original video and is as powerful as ever.

Following the release of the new version, ABSOLUTE shared a poignant message of getting to put his mark on a classic song that is important to so many.

“What a very emotional honour to rework one of the greatest tracks of all time, Smalltown Boy,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “With a message that still resonates deeply with so many LGBTQ+ people today, creating this felt like I’ve been given an opportunity to add a very small piece to its legacy in queer history.”

Jimmy Somerville addressed how the world seems to be going backwards with the current rise of anti-LGBT+ legislation in right-wing areas.

“We seem to be regressing in so many places, in so many countries,” he added. “Rights are being chipped away and there’s a real surge of homophobia, aggression, and discrimination toward anyone who basically wants to be themselves and love who they choose.”

He continued: “And you know what? Piss off! Just get on with your own life and let everyone else live theirs.”

World Health Organisation (WHO) put the Day in World AIDS Day?

World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987 by James Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Programme on AIDS at the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland.

The first World AIDS Day took place in 1988, providing a platform to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and honour the lives of those affected by the epidemic.

But why did they pick 1 December?

James Bunn, a former television broadcast journalist from San Francisco, recommended the date of 1 December believing that it would maximise coverage of World AIDS Day, sufficiently long following Thanksgiving and the US elections but before the Christmas holidays, where there is usually a lull in the news cycle.

On 5 June 1981 the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) published an article in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Pneumocystis Pneumonia – Los Angeles. The article described cases of a rare lung infection, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), in five young, previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles. This type of pneumonia, the CDC noted, almost never affects people with uncompromised immune systems.

The following year, The New York Times published an alarming article about the new immune system disorder, which, by that time, had affected 335 people, killing 136 of them. Because the disease appeared to affect mostly homosexual men, officials initially called it gay-related immune deficiency, or GRID.

In September of 1982, the CDC used the term AIDS to describe the disease for the first time. By the end of the year, AIDS cases were also reported in a number of European countries.

Though the CDC discovered all major routes of the disease’s transmission – as well as that female partners of AIDS-positive men could be infected – in 1983, the public considered AIDS a gay disease. It was even called the “gay plague” for many years after.

So, I would argue that World AIDS Day should be commemorated on 5 June, the date when the disease was first discovered. The date of 1 December has no relevance.

Rather than World AIDS Day, the day should also be renamed World HIV Day.

5 Facts about HIV

• Effective and easy to take treatment means that HIV is now a manageable medical condition.

• People who are on effective HIV treatment with an undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV on during sex. Undetectable equals Untransmittable or U=U.

• HIV testing at a clinic is free and confidential. You can also test for HIV at home.

• Knowing your HIV status – whether positive or negative – means you can play a part in ending all new HIV transmissions by 2030.

• The red ribbon is the symbol of HIV awareness. Wear yours every day to show your solidarity with people living with HIV.

Blackpool Showtown

We started at Manchester Piccadilly, with others joining on route, arriving in Blackpool North just before 12.00 noon. It was a short walk to the Layton Rakes – one of four Wetherspoon’s pubs in the town.

After lunch we had the opportunity for a short walk on the prom – Blackpool’s seafront – before our welcome to Showtown.

Showtown opened in March this year and is Blackpool’s brand new all-singing, all-dancing museum, next door but one to Blackpool Tower!

We discovered the stories of the comedians, dancers, acrobats and characters who turned the resort into the home of show business.

The six galleries showcase the very best of the seaside, magic, circus, Illuminations, shows and dance.

There was so much to see – see photos here.

We’re Still Here

This project is the first permanent collection of LGBTQIA+ heritage in Blackpool.

Oral history stories from members of the community have been recorded and are available here.

As part of the We’re Still Here… project photographer Stuart Linden Rhodes has exhibited some of his images from Blackpool’s gay scene in the 90’s outside the Grundy Art Gallery. The exhibition is open until 11 June 2024.

Ghost screenwriter comes out as gay at 81

Bruce Joel Rubin, the screenwriter who penned 1990’s Ghost, has come out publicly as gay.

“I’ve never not been gay,” Rubin, 81, said. “I am fully gay, and I always knew it.”

The Oscar winner recently published a memoir, It’s Only a Movie, in which he revealed his sexuality publicly for the first time. “I don’t like that I was closeted for so long, but it would just have confused people.”

That’s because Rubin has been married to a woman for close to 50 years. His wife, Blanche, has known that he was gay since shortly after they met. Rubin kept his sexuality mostly “internalised” because at the time he didn’t know how to come out.

Rubin says the couple have had what he describes as a “conjoined relationship” with another man. “She had a private moment with him, and so did I,” he says. “Also, I had a few other things along the way, which I didn’t write about because they might embarrass people. It’s not like I’ve been dead to that world. But I’m happily gay.”

Rubin and Blanche remain married, and he says he’s recently come out to their children and grandchildren. “I didn’t want to leave this world with any secrets,” he explained.

But now Rubin is “happily gay” and enjoying embracing his sexuality in his later years. “When you hit your 80s and you think your libido is gone, it comes flying back,” he says. “Male beauty for me is overwhelmingly powerful. Just seeing someone in the supermarket, I feel this explosive joy.”

Barclays Bank Branches

Barclays Bank branches throughout the UK will be showing the campaign films from 2023 (filmed by Punch) across June to mark Pride Month 2024. This should give some great exposure to our amazing stories and the Pride in Ageing programme across June.

Pride on the Range

Whalley Range is an area of Manchester, located about two miles south-west of the city centre. It was formally known as Whalley in the Range, one of Manchester’s first suburbs, built by Manchester banker and businessman Samuel Brooks as “a desirable estate for gentlemen and their families.”

On Saturday 25 May before the annual Pride Parade, there was a placard making workshop with LazyPins Illustration outside the Nip and Tipple. People started to assemble and the parade set off at 12.00 noon ending at the Carlton Club.

Drag queen Banksy introduced vogue dancing, laughter yoga, speeches and cabaret. There was a dog show competition which included prizes for best dressed dog, campest walk and waggiest tail.

There were a number of stalls including the LGBT Foundation, the LGBTQ+ Majority Older Person’s Extra Care Housing Scheme and the Village Bakers.

We enjoyed the fish, chips, halloumi and mushy peas supplied by the Hip Hop Chip Shop. The sun shone and we had a brilliant day.

Pride Season – dates for the diary

Greater Manchester’s Pride Season has started and the following Prides are scheduled during June:

Saturday 1 June – Bury Pride

Sunday 2 June – Stockport Pride

Saturday 15 June – Tameside Pride

Saturday 22 June – Salford Pink Picnic

Sunday 30 June – Pride in Nature with RHS Garden Bridgewater 

Unlike previous years, this year at Bury Pride, you do not require a ‘free ticket’ to attend the event.

Come along on the day with your loved ones, friends, family, colleagues, glitter pens, flags and have a jolly good time!

Wolf will be performing around 2.15pm.

Why Modernist Women Liked Cross-Dressing

“What a relief it is to be freed from chignon, extra braids, fizzes, rats, mice, combs, pins, etc, etc,” declared Dr Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919), feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, surgeon, prisoner of war, the only woman to win the Medal of Honour and cross-dresser. Mary Walker wore trousers on the battlefields in the 1860s and, in her later years, the evening dress of the early twentieth century male, including the tall silk hat.

Dr Walker was proud of having been swapped “man for man” with a Confederate soldier at a prisoner exchange. Walker’s writing on the liberation inherent in getting rid of the bondage of Victorian women’s clothing helps set the stage for the women at the forefront of what was once thought of as the exclusively male movement: Modernism.

Women like Gertrude Stein, Romaine Brooks, Frida Kahlo, Radclyffe Hall, Djuna Barnes, Vita Sackville-West and others took it all a step further than “tom boys” of an earlier era, like Willa (“Willie”) Cather, who liked to wear trousers and a Civil War cap when young. The women of the early twentieth century were making a travesty of sexual signs.

Women in masculine garb could be thought of as women warriors, while men in women’s clothing were considered emasculated, ridiculous, or psychopathic. Women cross-dressers could be brooding, Byronic figures but for women the inversion of cross-dressing is not always or even primarily erotic.

The appeal of clearly seductive cross-dressers as Sarah Bernhardt and Marlene Dietrich can function as sex symbols for heterosexual men, reflecting masculine attitudes to eroticise independent women.

Female Modernists tended to be more extreme in playing the male role by using male names eg Charlotte Bronte (Currer Bell), Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot), and Olive Schreiner (Ralph Iron), among others.

A century after the Great War, women in trousers are mainstream, an illustration of the radical becoming conventional.

Manchester Urban Co Housing

If you are interested in cohousing, Manchester Urban Co Housing (MUCH) can be contacted on muchmanchester@gmail.com

Bridgewater Hall Community Day

Nine members of Out In The City had a really enjoyable day at the Bridgewater Hall’s Community Day.

We joined people from different community groups from all over Greater Manchester, some with disabilities and mental health issues. The day used music and art to promote a sense of well-being.

After tea/coffee and a brief introduction to the day’s events, our group began with an interesting and informative backstage tour of the Bridgewater Hall. We then attended the music/art workshop in the Barbirolli Room. We were invited to create a piece of artwork based on the harp and drum music that we listened to.

After a box lunch, we then attended the singing workshop. This took place in the auditorium on the Bridgewater Hall stage! We clapped and patted our bodies to make percussive sounds. Andy and Patrick even did a bass harmony duet to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. It was a fantastic experience.

Frankie Goes to Bollywood

From the makers of Britain’s Got Bhangra comes the world premiere of a new British musical “Frankie Goes to Bollywood”.

We went to see this spectacular musical at HOME Theatre 1. The musical is a breathtakingly colourful journey of romance, epic songs and dance – inspired by real stories of British women caught in the spotlight of the biggest film industry in the world.

Frankie never wanted to be a star, and after a chance encounter with a director, she finds herself transported to the ruthless world of Bollywood. As she climbs the sparkling staircase of stardom, Frankie must confront what she is willing to do for fame and fortune. Can she stay in the Bollywood family and still be true to herself?

Amidst the heroes and villains, ornate costumes and sweeping sets, get ready for this tale of being British in Bollywood. The show is totally fabulous and highly recommended.

Pride on the Range

Pride season is just around the corner. There are so many Prides in Greater Manchester that some of them overlap! So, we cannot attend every event.

In 2024, Pride marches can seem to be dominated by young faces. That, of course, isn’t a bad thing and shows how progressive we have become. Yet, WE think that it’s important that us older LGBT+ people are also visible and celebrated at Pride. 

Attending Pride on the Range on Saturday 25 May might be your first Pride OR you might be a regular attendee OR you’re returning.  We would love for you to join us at Pride on the Range this year. Collectively we will be VISIBLE, PROUD and CELEBRATED.

Meet at the Nip and Tipple, 197 Upper Chorlton Road, Whalley Range, Manchester M16 0BH at 11.30am. The parade will set off at 12.00 noon and end at the Carlton Club, 113 Carlton Road, Whalley Range,
Manchester
M16 8BE for an afternoon of stalls,  celebration and entertainment.

Bolton Pride

Bolton Pride is being held in Victoria Square, Bolton BL1 on Saturday, 25 May from 10.00am to 6.00pm and on Sunday, 26 May from 10.00am to 5.00pm. 

The event is organised by a not for profit community organisation focused on and shaped by the local Bolton LGBTQ+ Allies community and business partnerships.

Their mission is to reduce hate crime and normalise acceptance of the diverse community that resides in and around the amazing town of Bolton.

You must get your free tickets to enter the Pride Festival in Victoria Square here.

Register for the parade here.

Move Manchester

Move Manchester is an innovative North West and Greater Manchester Dance Theatre company, led by co-founders Jack Hilton (they/he) and Ayesha Fazal (she/her).

Director Jack together with members of the Queeries team visited Out In The City to deliver a workshop.

This is what they said: “What an incredible privilege the Queeries team and director Jack had this week, they delivered a workshop to members of the Out In The City group for LGBT+ people over 50 in Manchester.

Speaking with community elders, sharing our stories, our emotions and thoughts. Coming closer despite age and allowing our queerness to connect beyond generation. Thank you to all participants for jumping into the workshop, having fun with the dance element and speaking transparently, openly and with pride in conversation.

Extra thank you to our inspiring team of dancers who helped to facilitate the workshop and supported director Jack in delivery and conversation.”

Queeries is a new contemporary dance piece which will be shown at Waterside Arts, 1 Waterside, Sale M33 7ZF on Tuesday, 28 May from 5.30pm to 6.30pm. Tickets are free – contact us here urgently if interested.

Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he was elected to a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 – a milestone victory that made headlines in the US and beyond.

He was influential in advocating for LGBT+ rights and representation, making him an early pioneer in the fight for equality. His unapologetic proclamation of his identity gave new hope to people in the LGBT+ community, who faced severe discrimination.

In office, his ambitious agenda included protecting gay rights, as well as establishing day care centres for working mothers, converting military facilities to low-cost housing, reforming the tax code to attract industries to derelict warehouses and factories and other reforms.

Less than a year after he took office, Milk was assassinated, alongside Mayor George Moscone, by Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor who snuck into City Hall through a basement window. Thousands marched in his honour after his death.

The 2008 movie “Milk,” filmed partly in San Francisco, with Sean Penn as Milk led Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign legislation making Milk’s birthday a Day of Special Significance – Harvey Milk Day – which falls on 22 May. Also, President Barack Obama awarded Milk with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. On Milk’s 84th birthday, the US Postal Service issued a commemorative Forever stamp in his honour.

He became a public figure during his run for office, calling for hope and change rather than hate and hiding with many – now famous – Harvey Milk quotes. In many ways, he was the first openly gay man to capture the attention of the public eye, though it wasn’t always positive. He inspired hope not only in the gay community, but in the lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities, too.

Harvey Milk’s Most Memorable Quotes

Milk’s life is a lesson that one person can make a difference. A strong, united community inspired by Milk and others has changed and continues to change the world.

Rainbow Lottery Super Draw! It’s not too late to escape from it all this Summer!

Get ready to pack your bags and embark on the adventure of a lifetime! We’re thrilled to announce our latest Super Draw prize, and trust us, it’s one you won’t want to miss out on.

On Saturday 25 May, one lucky winner will walk away with a £1,000 holiday voucher, opening the doors to endless possibilities for your dream getaway. Already got your summer escape booked? Take the £1,000 cash alternative! Treat yourself to a little taste of luxury, or spend it your way at home!

You’re already in with a chance to win big – but don’t forget, you can top-up your tickets just for the week of the Super Draw!

Play here.