Bury Pride is back and bigger than ever on Saturday, 29 April from 10.00am to 6.00pm!

This year’s event is going to be bigger and better than any previous year so come on down to The Elizabethan Suite, Bury Town Hall, Knowsley Street, Bury BL9 0SW.

The fabulous Prairie Dogs will be there, dancing indoors from 12.00 noon to 12.45pm.

Our favourite band Wolf will also be performing on the main stage from 1.45pm to 2.30pm.

This is a ticket only event. You will need to present your ticket to gain entry. Tickets are free – reserve a spot here.

Lesbian Visibility Week 2023

Lesbian Visibility Week (related to Lesbian Visibility Day) is an annual observance in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries dedicated to increasing the awareness of lesbian women and their issues. It was originally celebrated in July in 1990 in California, and more recently in April. This year the celebration of lesbian love, culture and life is from 24 to 30 April.

International Lesbian Visibility Day is a day (26 April) to recognise and celebrate the contributions of lesbian women around the world. The day was created in 2008 to raise awareness of the issues faced by lesbians, and to encourage them to live authentically.

To celebrate International Lesbian Visibility Day, events and activities are held in cities and towns around the world, including marches, rallies, and other public events. Organisations such as the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) also hold events to raise awareness and celebrate the day. Additionally, many individuals take part in online initiatives such as social media campaigns, online forums, and blogs.

International Lesbian Visibility Day is a day to recognise and celebrate the achievements, contributions, and unique experiences of lesbian women. It is also a day to reflect on the challenges faced by these women, and to promote a greater understanding of the LGBT+ community. By celebrating International Lesbian Visibility Day, we can create a culture of acceptance and inclusion, and help to create a more equal and just society for all.

How did International Lesbian Visibility Day first start off? 

International Lesbian Visibility Day was first celebrated in 2008 to bring attention to the issues that lesbian women face around the world. The day was started in order to bring visibility to the struggles and successes of these women in the fight for equality. International Lesbian Visibility Day also serves to create a safe space for lesbians and bisexual women to celebrate and express themselves. 

The day was created after a group of activists and allies, working with the ILGA and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Youth and Student Organization (IGLYO) realised the need for a day to celebrate and bring visibility to the issues of lesbians and bisexual women. The day was created to celebrate the diversity of the lesbian, bisexual and queer community and to emphasize the importance of visibility for these women, and since its inception, International Lesbian Visibility Day has grown in popularity. 

What is the significance of International Lesbian Visibility Day? 

International Lesbian Visibility Day is an important event in the LGBTQ+ community, to recognise the contributions and accomplishments of lesbians, and to raise awareness about the challenges they face. 

This day marks an important step in the fight for lesbian rights and recognition, and it is an opportunity to honour and acknowledge the accomplishments of lesbians around the world, and unique contributions in culture, politics, and science. 

International Lesbian Visibility Day is an important event in the LGBTQ+ community, and it serves as a reminder that lesbians are an integral part of the LGBTQ+ movement. 

Australia is on track to become one of the first countries in the world to eliminate HIV

A 10-year study has found that Australia could become one of the first countries to “virtually eliminate” HIV transmissions, with new infections decreasing dramatically. 

The findings, published in Lancet HIV, showed that HIV infections decreased by 66 per cent between 2010 and 2019 in New South Wales and Victoria, while there was a 27 per cent rise in people accessing effective HIV treatment. 

Increased access to HIV treatment and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) – the medication that prevents a person from contracting HIV – was cited as a key reason for decreased transmissions. 

The journal also endorsed the public health strategy “treatment as prevention”, explaining that HIV treatment “results in virally suppressing the HIV virus”, which reduces a person’s risk of transmitting HIV to another person to zero. 

“We examined 10 years of clinical data from over 100,000 gay and bisexual men in New South Wales and Victoria,” said Dr Denton Callander, who led the research at the University of New South Wale’s Kirby Institute.

“We found that over time, as viral suppression increased, HIV incidence decreased. Indeed, every percentage point increase in successfully treated HIV saw a fivefold decrease in new infections, thus establishing treatment as prevention as a powerful public health strategy.”

Dr Callander also underlined the importance of access to HIV testing, as well as the “widespread availability” of PrEP.

Professor Mark Stoové from the Burnet Institute, co-senior author on the paper, added that the success of Australian measures such as education on HIV and reduced patient treatment costs could see the country “virtually eliminate” new HIV transmissions.

HIV experts have explained how medical breakthroughs have transformed the treatment and prevention of the virus.

The U=U (undetectable = untransmittable) slogan aims to tackle the misconception that people with HIV can pass the virus on even if they are receiving effective treatment.

In fact, U=U means that if a HIV-positive person has been taking effective HIV treatment, and their viral load has been undetectable for six months or more, they cannot pass the virus on through sex. 

In the UK, former health secretary Matt Hancock committed to ending new HIV transmissions by 2030, however, charities and activists have warned this won’t happen without better utilisation of all the tools to prevent HIV transmission. 

Richard Angell, chief executive at Terrence Higgins Trust, said it’s “possible but not probable” that the UK will reach the 2030 goal. It’s new campaign – HIV, time’s up – has been launched to ensure Hancock’s target is achieved on schedule.

It is calling for the expansion of opt-out HIV testing in A&Es to all areas with high HIV prevalence and for prevention pill PrEP to be made available outside of sexual health clinics.

Some “huge successes” were praised in terms of UK HIV prevention, but experts explained that inequality and stigma, as well as a lack of resources, were still hurdles to overcome in order to meet Hancock’s aim.

Staircase House

Staircase House was our destination this week. It’s a Grade II* listed medieval building dating from around 1460 situated in Stockport. The house is famous for its rare Jacobean cage newel staircase.

After a lovely meal sitting outside in The Courtyard at the Arden Arms – an old marketplace pub in Stockport – we walked up the hill to Staircase House. This is a real hidden gem. You can walk past it and not know it was there.

Very little is known of the property’s early history, though it is thought that it may have been the home of William Dodge who, in 1483, was the Mayor of Stockport.

The first residents of whom there is certainty were the Shallcross family who owned the House from 1605 to 1730. Members of the landed gentry, with their seat just across the county boundary, in Derbyshire, it was they who in 1618 installed the distinctive Jacobean cage newel staircase, from which the house takes its modern name.

The House, including the staircase, was painstaking restored using traditional materials, tools and techniques, following a major fire in 1995, the second of two arson attacks on the semi-derelict building.

There are lots of amazing photos to be seen here.

Elon Musk’s Twitter No Longer Shields LGBT+ People from Abuse

In October 2022 Elon Musk closed his deal to buy Twitter. He emphasised that he will allow for looser rules over what people can say on the platform. Immediately, far-right users started to celebrate the ability to freely use homophobic and transphobic rhetoric and make threats on the social media platform.

One person posted a photo of a drag queen smiling at a young drag performer with the caption, “This is a groomer.” The word “grooming” has long been associated with mischaracterising LGBT+ people, particularly gay men and transgender women, as child sex abusers.

LGBT+ people already face disproportionate rates of online harassment. Roughly 1.5 million, or 15 percent, of 10 million online posts analyzed between 2016 to 2019 were transphobic, according to a 2019 report by anti-bullying organisation Ditch the Label.

Researchers from the Anti-Defamation League found that throughout 2020 and 2021, 64 percent of LGBT+ respondents said they experienced online hate and harassment, compared to 46 percent of Muslims, 36 percent of Jews and about a third of Black and Asian respondents.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk got rid of Twitter’s protections for transgender people.

It’s now totally okay for people online to bully and abuse trans folks by deadnaming and misgendering them without consequence.

As part of its policy, Twitter quietly altered a section dealing with transgender people. The section considers a policy violation if a user repeatedly uses slurs, tropes, or other content that reinforces negative stereotypes about a protected category.

In particular on 8 April 2023, Twitter removed a phrase that described “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.”

Targeted misgendering and deadnaming are explicitly prohibited in TikTok and Pinterest’s hate and harassment policies, while Meta has stated the same for Facebook and Instagram.

Boys in Dresses: The Tradition

It’s difficult to read the gender of children in many old photos. That’s because coding children via clothing didn’t begin until the 1920s.

Exploring the biographies of men as disparate as Tsar Nicholas II (born 1868), Franklin Delano Roosevelt (born 1882), and Ernest Hemingway (born 1899), you’re apt to come across pictures of them as young boys looking indistinguishable from young girls. Their hair is long and they’re wearing dresses.

Scholar Jo B Paoletti examines the changing fashions in children’s wear at the turn of the twentieth century, as a long tradition transitioned to more overtly gender-coded clothing. As she notes, “Until World War I, little boys were dressed in skirts and had long hair. Sexual “colour coding” in the form of pink or blue clothing for infants was not common until the 1920s; before that time male and female infants were dressed in identical white dresses.”

Paoletti writes that young children’s clothing became more “sex-typed” as “adult women’s clothing was beginning to look more androgynous.” Before that transition, clothing styles for children followed a predictable progression.

“Infants of both sexes wore long white dresses until they began to walk,” while toddlers “wore short loose-fitting dresses until the age of two or three years.” After that, boys and girls wore dresses or suits with short skirts to the ages of five or six.

“Differences in colour, material, and trim” were used to separate boys and girls at the latter stage, although such details may be hard to read in old photos today. Paoletti quotes from an 1895 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal to give one example of differences: “little boys’ dresses button up the front, those of their sisters fasten in back.”

The reasoning behind boys in dresses has been attributed to several motivations. There were the necessities of toilet training but also just plain practicality, since sewing and fitting smock-like dresses was easier than making miniature suits. Paoletti points to another: “it was not considered important to differentiate boys and girls at such an early age.” But “it seems to have been very important to distinguish between children and adults.”

“A child’s maturation was noted by gradual adoption of adult dress,” Paoletti writes, “a process usually regarded as marking important milestones in her or his development. These stages became more distinct and more celebrated for boys than girls only after the age of five.”

The timing of “breeching” – putting on breeches, short pants, knickerbockers or shorts – was left to the mother’s discretion. “Advice columns very commonly included queries from mothers wondering if their sons were ready to put away dresses,” she notes. By 1900, however, little boys in dresses beyond the age of two or three became rarer. Mothers started being advised “not to keep their boys in skirts too long.”

Boys from five to twelve could be dressed in “costume style” outfits, including sailor suits and the “Little Lord Fauntleroy.” The enormously popular 1886 Frances Hodgson Burnett novel inspired this later outfit, made of velvet and trimmed with lace. Stage and screen versions of Burnett’s work sometimes featured girls in the title role.

By 1936, “Little Lord Fauntleroy” could be a taunt akin to “sissy,” and the popular movie version that year starred a boy without the suit (and the curls).

The Daily Mail published 115 articles on trans issues in January 2023

In 2018, then-Prime Minister Theresa May published an LGBT action plan that included the protection and expansion of transgender rights. “We can be proud that the UK is a world leader in advancing LGBT rights,” she said, as she promised to make the gender recognition process less intrusive, acknowledged the existence of non-binary people and condemned transphobic bullying in schools. “Everyone in this country should feel safe and happy to be who they are,” added Penny Mordaunt, the equalities minister at the time, “and to love who they love, without judgement or fear.”

Just four years later, their action plan reads like something from a parallel universe. Hate crime against trans people is up dramatically and public attitudes have hardened against trans rights. This rising tide of hate has not occurred in a vacuum. Increasingly, politicians have, at worst, used trans people as scapegoats and, at best, chosen to look the other way as the mainstream media has churned out stories opposing trans rights. 

Anti-trans hate crime was already high when May’s plan was published, with 1,700 cases reported in 2018. But since then its skyrocketed, increasing by an eye watering 156% in four years to hit 4,300 in 2022.

Hate crime has been on the up across the board in the last decade, with the total number of reported cases rising from 44k in 2012 to 119k in 2022 (+271%). But trans people have fared by far the worst, with cases rising from 300 in 2012 to over 4,300 in 2022. That’s an increase of nearly 1300%.

Research by trans rights activist MimmyMum suggests that UK media has published an average of 154 articles on trans issues every single month over the past seven years. That’s a total of 13,500 articles focusing on a minority group that makes up just 0.1% of the population.

Britain’s most-read newspaper, the Daily Mail, has certainly dramatically increased its coverage over the past few years. Comparing the first month of each year shows a rise from six articles in January 2013 to a jaw-dropping 115 articles in January 2023 (+1817%).

It’s not just the volume of coverage that has affected the national mood towards trans rights, however – it’s the negative slant of the articles. While neutral and positive coverage has remained largely flat since 2013, the Mail and others have begun to publish a large number of critical pieces. Of the 115 Mail articles on trans issues in January 2023, 100 of them (87%) could reasonably be categorised as negative, in comparison to zero negative articles in January 2013.

Negative articles published by the Daily Mail last month include: “Now Aretha Franklin’s song Natural Woman is deemed OFFENSIVE to trans women”, “Labour again in hock to extreme ideology” and “Show sense on gender”. With a press this opposed to trans rights, it isn’t really surprising that the general public is turning against trans people.

So how do we reverse hardening attitudes and growing hate crime?

Something must give, that much is clear. In 2021 there was still some evidence that the public was inclusive towards trans people despite their poor political leaders – this is no longer the case. Public opinion has become far more sceptical of trans rights, hate crime is rising exponentially, and even notionally supportive politicians are now generally hesitant to stand up for trans people.

As a driving force behind the problem, the media must also be part of any solution. Making the mainstream media listen often feels impossible. In the past staff at the Guardian have coordinated demand that the paper improves its coverage of trans people. Perhaps now is the time to try again?

Vintage postage stamps of male wrestlers

Once upon a time, long before the age of texting and emailing, human beings would communicate by letter, which they sent through the mail using something called a postage stamp.

Commemorative stamps have long been used by countries to mark a historic date such as an anniversary, or to honour an event, place, person, or object. Unlike definitive stamps, commemorative stamps are usually made in limited quantities and sold for a temporary period of time before going out of print.

For whatever reason, male wrestlers have long been a popular subject for commemorative stamps in countries all across the globe. Interestingly, many of the countries that printed them don’t have particularly friendly histories when it comes to gay people such as Russia, Cuba, Turkey or Poland.

While the governments of these places might’ve had (and, in some cases, still have) serious issues with two men loving one another in the privacy of their own homes, when it came to licking the backs of stamps depicting images of half naked bodies, they were totally fine with it.

Here are some of the very best totally-not-gay vintage postage stamps of male wrestlers from over the years, with some dating as far back as the 1940s:

Lady Lever Art Gallery

Out In The City members took the train to Port Sunlight. It’s quite an easy journey changing at Liverpool Lime Street.

Port Sunlight village is delightful and we had a lovely meal in The Bridge Inn. The food was terrific and great value. After dining we walked to the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

William Hesketh Lever was born in Bolton, the son of a wholesale grocer. He left school at 16 to join the family firm, which he expanded and transformed. In 1884 he decided to focus on just one product – household soap – primarily because of its potential for marketing in pre-wrapped bars under a brand name. Previously soap had to be cut to order from a single large block.

Two years later he began to manufacture soap himself and set up the firm of Lever Brothers with his brother. He initially produced his soap in an existing factory but by 1888 had outgrown the site and moved to a purpose built and much larger building on the Wirral.

The success of his company made Lever very rich. By 1912 in addition to his income, he had personal assets valued at nearly three million pounds. Within a few years the interests of his company Lever Brothers stretched from the United Kingdom to West Africa, the Pacific and the United States. Lever visited his business empire across the globe and collected works of art and everyday items during his travels. The company grew until Lever was employing 85,000 workers around the world in 1925.

There is some discussion about whether Lever exploited people in Africa, but he was certainly a philanthropist and made a large contribution to the lives of ordinary people in the UK. He built a village to house his employees and named it Port Sunlight after his most successful brand of soap. Port Sunlight was to provide his workforce with good housing. He campaigned for better welfare and a shorter working day, and supported building, education and medical projects.

He also founded the Lady Lever Art Gallery, which houses one of the UK’s finest collections of fine and decorative art.

Lord Leverhulme died at 73 of pneumonia at his home in Hampstead on 7 May 1925. His funeral was attended by 30,000 people.

More photos can be seen here.

Does the Titanic have a secret gay history? All signs point to yes

On Saturday 15 April it will be 111 years since the sinking of the Titanic. Over 1500 people perished when the ‘unsinkable’ ship sank in the Mid-Atlantic ocean, over two hours after striking an iceberg. The ship had only entered service four days prior and was expected to complete its maiden voyage to New York by 17 April.

The story of Titanic has been retold many times, most notably through the 1997 Blockbuster triggering a pop culture phenomena of iconic scenes, quotes and characters. The tragic love story of Jack and Rose enchanted the imagination of so many.

We all know what happened after Jack drew Rose, but it turns out there may have been a real-life couple on board the Titanic whose story is even more intriguing than James Cameron’s Oscar-winning tale of doomed love.

While it’s not 100% confirmed, all signs point to the likelihood that prominent military veterans Archibald Butt (above, left) and Francis Davis Millet (above, right), who both died when the Titanic sank in 1912, were much more than just friends.

The maybe-probably gay couple has been a source of fascination for years. Historian Richard Davenport-Hines wrote in 2012 that “the enduring partnership of Butt and Millet was an early case of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’” and a National Park Service website about a fountain built in their honour notes that “many “have asserted that Butt and Millet were involved in a romantic relationship.”

Millet was estranged from his wife and love letters show he had a previous relationship with writer Charles Warren Stoddard. Butt never married, and the two shared a mansion in Washington, DC, where they regularly threw parties. President William Howard Taft, who happened to be Butt’s boss, was a frequent guest.

Millet and Butt were booked in separate rooms on the Titanic, but given that they’d have to keep their love a secret to maintain their status and freedom, this is hardly surprising. The Post notes that the men were vacationing together in Europe before boarding the ship, and it honestly sounds quite romantic.

Millet served as a medical assistant in the Civil War before studying art at Harvard. He travelled the world as a reporter, and received high praise for murals he painted in Belgium. He also served as vice chair of the US Commission on Fine Arts.

Butt also worked as a reporter for some time, but joined the military at age 34 and quickly ascended the ranks. President Theodore Roosevelt called him back to Washington in 1908 to serve as an adviser. Taft kept him on when he assumed office, and the two men grew close.

Taft was devastated at the loss of Butt, taking it as if his son had died. After the tragedy, plans were formed to honour the men with a White House fountain.

The official reason was that the two were the only representatives of the federal government on board the ship, but we like to think it’s an enduring monument of same-sex love.

It’s located near the E Street entrance on the southwest side of the White House.

Collage workshops

A small number of us attended The Big Fandango in Bury to make collage pictures in preparation for Bury Pride:

Does anyone know where this is from? An intriguing bit of history, but I have no context or information.

LGBT+ Community In Ukraine: One Year Into The War

It has been one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. Despite resulting in displacement and violence, Ukraine’s LGBT+ community has found ways to strengthen its fight for political and civil rights.

In the last year, Ukraine’s society has shifted its perspective on the LGBT+ community. While LGBT+ activists worked to resist the imposition of conservative Russian attitudes, LGBT+ communities advanced their rights in multiple ways. In May of 2022, “Nash Svit,” a Ukrainian LGBT+ organisation, conducted a study finding that 64% of Ukrainians support providing equal rights to the LGBT+ community.

This study indicates a considerable jump, as this percentage also includes those who previously had negative views towards this community. Another study, showcased by the social media group “LGBTIQ Military,” stated that there are more self-identified LGBT+ members in the armed forces of Ukraine than ever before as they have gained more acceptance among the armed forces. In addition, new legislation has been introduced, such as partnership rights for same-sex couples and the prohibition against anti-LGBT+ hate speech. 

Anastasia Adriivna, a school teacher, was inspired by opposite-sex couples rushing to get married before joining the fight to launch her campaign for same-sex marriage. Her petition gained over 25,000 signatures, and under Ukrainian law, the president must formally respond to any petition with this many signatures. However, the president argued that this would require a constitutional change which was impossible due to current martial law. Therefore, despite the public support of the LGBT+ community advancing, there is still work to be done to make these rights recognised under the law. 

This setback is no surprise, as the LGBT+ community has demonstrated their commitment to pushing for democracy, despite the pushback they have received in the last decade. However, it is also clear that they have seen a significant jump in public support within the previous year. 

One of the many characteristics of a nation going to war is that its social norms shift and the conventional expectations of the government and public lessen. This is the same for Ukraine. Often, marginalised communities are mobilised by their nation during a time of chaos. For some groups, this dramatic change provides a gain, while others return to their marginalised status afterward.

An example is Britain granting women the right to vote after World War I. On the contrary, African American troops returned from both wars to continue facing racial discrimination. Therefore, some times of chaos may bring many benefits, such as the increased support of the LGBT+ community in Ukraine; however, there is still the need to expand that support into permanent laws. 

The LGBT+ community in Ukraine is gaining support, as the efforts of many activists have made tremendous progress in the past decade. However, although accepting the LGBT+ community by the Ukraine public is a huge step, it does not guarantee the community full access to resources and protection against all forms of hate and discrimination. 

Therefore, it is vital to utilise this time and increased support to push on the Ukraine government and lawmakers. Even though the LGBT+ community is on a great wave, it is essential to know that the goal isn’t just to gain public approval but to make legal changes that protect the entire spectrum of the LGBT+ community permanently.

I Just Want To Be Me

A new report on trans and gender diverse communities’ access to and experiences of palliative and end of life care has been produced by Hospice UK – I Just Want To Be Me.

Dr Ellie Kane, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, writes in the foreword: “Caring for people with life-limiting illness is one of the greatest privileges in healthcare.

We see people at their most vulnerable and fragile as we try to listen and hear their story, help them live freely, and ultimately care for them with dignity and compassion as they die. There are few things as powerful when it’s done well. There are few things that can cause as much harm when it’s not.

People who are trans and gender diverse deserve that support as much as anyone else. We have a legal duty to improve care both from the Health and Care Act 2022 and the Equality Act 2010 but we also have a moral duty to improve this simply because it’s the right thing to do.

I’m often asked why we should focus on such a small group of people when healthcare is stretched in so many ways. Evidence tells us making care better for one group makes it better for everyone. It is not one group versus another but rather, how can we make sure we provide the best care for all.”

The Executive Summary

This report shows that in many instances, the end of life care that trans and gender diverse people receive is not inclusive of them, and despite best intentions and a willingness to learn, staff feel they lack the knowledge and training needed.

Trans and gender diverse people who had accessed palliative and end of life care at times experienced insensitivity from staff, misgendering and confusion over their identity and instances of poor physical care.

Palliative and end of life care staff expressed a positive desire to learn and ensure their services are accessible, with those who had received end of life care sharing many positives about the staff they encountered. However, staff raised serious concerns over discriminatory views not being addressed in the workplace, a lack of training and understanding on LGBTQ+ issues, and a lack of access to information on providing medical and clinical care to trans people.

In wider trans and gender diverse communities, many expressed apprehension about one day having to access end of life care services, in part due to a range of negative experiences with other healthcare services. It is essential that palliative and end of life care providers put in the work to make their services inclusive to ensure that trans and gender diverse people do not miss out on vital quality care.

To do this, health and social care staff need to be better equipped to support trans people. They should receive training pre registration on trans and gender diverse communities, and be supported to access further training throughout their career.

Professional bodies and Royal Colleges should also produce guidance on providing medical and clinical care to trans and gender diverse people in palliative and end of life care.

To improve the end of life care experiences of trans and gender diverse people, and the experiences of trans staff and volunteers within end of life care, providers should develop robust policies that support trans and gender diverse people. Trans and gender diverse people within end of life care spaces must be protected from discrimination and supported to transition.

This includes providing trans and gender diverse people with information on medical and physical transition and ensuring that being at end of life is not an additional barrier to transition related healthcare.

The experiences of trans and gender diverse people remain under recognised in end of life care. There has been little research or attempts to platform trans and gender diverse voices in the sector. This report should be used as an opportunity to continue to make palliative and end of life care services more inclusive, and truly open to all. For Hospice UK, this is a first step and we look forward to developing this work.

Download the full report here.

ACT UP

Women’s History Month might be over but our recognition of women’s rights and gender equality doesn’t end in March. This ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) poster from 1989 demonstrates that all of us, including men, play a vital role in advocating for gender equality.

Women were sorely neglected during the tumultuous years of the AIDS crisis. The Los Angeles chapter of ACT UP was one of the foremost grassroots organisations in the US dedicated to creating change around AIDS responses through direct, non-violent action.

The march advertised in this poster was organised by ACT UP, in collaboration with other LGBT+ groups at the time, and was the second annual National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which originated in 1987. For such a prominent organisation to be organising around women’s rights and, in particular, for women affected by HIV/AIDS was extremely important at the time

Rainbow Lottery – Win an iPhone 14 Pro and an Apple Watch Series 8

The clocks have gone forward, there’s some light in the evenings, and we have a fantastic prize to welcome you into April!

To thank you for your ongoing support for Out In The City, we’re giving you the chance to win an amazing Apple tech bundle – a top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro, and an Apple Watch Series 8!

With a massive 48-megapixel camera, a crystal clear 6.1” display, and 128GB of storage – along with all the speed and processing power you’d expect, this really is the upgrade you’ve been waiting for! The Series 8 watch is fantastic for fitness, or just to keep you connected on the move – this combo is something you DON’T want to miss out on!

The special prize draw will take place on Saturday 29 April. Get your tickets here. If you already have tickets, there’s no need to buy separate tickets, you will be automatically entered into this prize draw. Of course, you are welcome to buy additional tickets here. Every ticket you buy is an extra chance to win, and an extra fundraising boost for Out In The City. It’s a win-win situation!

Thank you and good luck!