Transgender people and their supporters gather in Parliament Square to protest against potential changes to the Gender Recognition Act on 04 July, 2020 in London, England. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media via Getty Images) The trans and non-binary community has officially had enough, after JK Rowling launched yet another unprovoked and unnecessary tirade – this time branding
UK
One of the UK’s largest LGBT+ swingers festivals has been cancelled, citing coronavirus safeguarding measures. (Stock photograph via Elements Envato/Aurora Lifestyle Festival) Social distancing measures have imbued every aspect of life – pad-locking the economy, stonewalling loved ones from one another and… leading to the cancellation of Europe’s largest swingers festival. Nothing is sacred, not
Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss (WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty Images) The deputy chair of the LGBT Conservatives has urged the government to show more empathy towards trans people “instead of pandering to a culture war”. Writing in the i, John Cope called on the government to stop punishing trans people for male violence
Joe Ritchie-Bennett, David Wails and James Furlong have been named as the Reading victims. (Facebook) The three Reading victims killed in a suspected terror attack have been remembered as “true gentlemen” and proud members of the city’s LGBT+ community. James Furlong, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and David Wails tragically lost their lives on June 20, stabbed to
Peter Sheward and his father, Peter Sheward Snr, who died of prostate cancer in 2017. (Supplied) Father’s Day will always be special for Peter Sheward-Himpson, a gay man who never dreamed he could have a child. But it is also a reminder of the father he’s lost, and the grandfather his son will never have.
PrEP. (Justin Sullivan/Getty) A life-saving trial of the preventative HIV drug PrEP will be rolled out across Northern Ireland in a two-year pilot programme. PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis) is the most effective protection against HIV transmission. It is provided on the NHS in Scotland and in Wales but has not been as easily accessible in England and Northern
Bear Grylls. (Mike Pont/WireImage) Survival expert and chief scout Bear Grylls has said that the movement must learn from its homophobic, racist founder Robert Baden-Powell. It was announced last week that a statue of Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, is set to be removed from Poole Quay because it’s feared to be on a
Liz Truss gives a speech at think-tank ‘Onward’ on March 19, 2019 in London. (PLuke Dray/Getty Images) Topping off a dispiriting few years for trans Britons, vital plans to reform legislation around legally changing one’s gender have been reportedly abandoned. But ministers hope to, nevertheless, “placate” the LGBT+ community by introducing a state ban on
Startling video showed a gang of far-right white-supremacists flashing Nazi salutes during a riot to defend a statue of Winston Churchill, who famously defeated the Nazis. (Screen capture via Twitter) Waving Union Jack flags, occasionally wearing face masks, almost always sipping beer and flashing Nazi salutes, an angry far-right mob made its way through London,
JK Rowling. (Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images) JK Rowling has responded to the piles of criticism stacked at her for her recent string of anti-trans tweets, but she leap-frogged over two very important criticisms levelled at her. For weeks, Twitter timelines were vastly the same. A patchwork of users anxiously sharing the latest coronavirus death tolls, while
Emma Watson restored the eroding hopes of Harry Potter fans Wednesday night (June 10) when she shattered her dayslong silence towards JK Rowling and her tirade of anti-trans tweets. While the British author of the beloved children’s series issued a meandering essay that nobody asked for on her opinions towards trans rights – many based
Actors David Walliams (L) and Matt Lucas. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) Little Britain, the award-winning rapid-fire sketch show, has been pulled from all British streaming platforms due to concerns about the use of belittling Blackface by its two stars, David Walliams and Matt Lucas. The show, which aired from 2003 to 2005, trafficked in racially-charged humour
Katie Leung (L) has reacted to the firestorm caused by JK Rowling’s comments on the trans community. (Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty) In the wake of criticism pelting JK Rowling over her comments on trans people this Saturday (June 6), Harry Potter readers reignited the debate over the author’s racial stereotyping in her books and Katie Leung
Madonna at London’s Black Lives Matter protest, June 6. (Twitter) Madonna showed up to a Black Lives Matter march on crutches to protest racism, chanting “No justice, no peace” in central London. The pop star and longtime LGBT+ ally, on crutches because of a recent knee injury, was reportedly at the June 6 Black Lives
Munroe Bergdorf speaking at the Pride In London Gala Dinner 2019. (Venla Shalin/Getty Images for Pride in London) Munroe Bergdorf has broken her silence on L’Oréal’s controversial Black Lives Matter message that said “speaking out is worth it”. The company has been widely and heavily criticised for the June 1 message, given it abruptly dropped
British supermarket chain Marks & Spencers launched a “Rainbow Sale”, the latest “rebranding” of the LGBT+ Pride flag. (Marks & Spencers) In the sequel absolutely nobody asked for, Marks & Spencer launched a “Rainbow Sale” to raise money for the National Health Service and it’s the infamous “LGBT Pride sandwich” 2.0. The sale, launched May
MPs are required to walk the length of the Commons chamber – and we have definitely seen that somewhere before. The House of Commons has been transformed into a never-ending RuPaul’s Drag Race runway, thanks to Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg. Rees-Mogg, known for his antiquated views on everything from gay relationships to parliamentary reform, riled
The Trocadero Centre in Leicester Square, a hugely popular area for tourism in the West End, London. (Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images) A British LGBT+ community forum welcomed plans on Thursday (May 28) for a mosque and community centre in the heart of London’s gay district despite seething pushback. With its yellowing walls, the historic
A trans man described by British authorities as “out of control” has been locked up in a women’s prison for 21 months. Jay Lee Layton, 25, entered his ex-partner’s house in Spennymoor, County Durham, at 8pm on April 6 and threatened to stab her, breaching a civil order in the process. His partner refused to
Terry Reintke, lesbian German MEP and co-president of the European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup. (Twitter/TerryReintke) Lesbian German MEP Terry Reintke says “hateful” anti-trans language used by radical feminists in Britain is spilling into other countries. Reintke, 33, a Green politician who has been an MEP since 2013, made the comments in an Instagram Live with UK children’s
The singer Boy George, who was jailed in 2009 for imprisoning a male escort (Brian Rasic/WireImage) A Tory minister has quit due to the row over Dominic Cummings and, apparently, it’s all a bit much for Boy George. Junior government minister Douglas Ross became the first to resign over the row on Tuesday, one day
Boris Johnson. (Christopher Furlong – WPA Pool /Getty Images) The UK government has reportedly made no moves to ban conversion therapy almost two years after pledging to “eradicate” the harmful practice. So-called “conversion therapy” refers to the dangerous and discredited practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. All efforts to
Ruth Hunt, “unequivocal dyke”, giving her maiden speech in the House of Lords. The Baroness of our hearts, Ruth Hunt, has come out as an introvert and admitted that she didn’t expect to end up in the House of Lords. The ex-Stonewall boss, 40, also spoke about growing up gay, still wanting a cigarette and
Amal Fashanu, pictured here in 2019, told The Sun that at least five famous footballers are secretly gay. (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images) At least five famous footballers in the UK are gay and in the closet, according to the niece of Justin Fashanu – the UK’s first, and only, out gay footballer who died
Health secretary Matt Hancock has denied laughing at non-binary people when asked why a coronavirus announcement included a reference to “certain genders”. In an interview with Talkradio’s Julia Hartley-Brewer, Hancock was questioned about a tweet from the Department of Health which highlighted “the emerging evidence that coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on some ethnic
HIV transmission has dropped significantly with lockdown breaking the chain of new cases, a leading sexual health clinic has claimed. 56 Dean Street, a London-based sexual health clinic, is urging people to order free home test kits online in an effort to keep the number of new HIV cases down when the pandemic is over.
Freddy McConnell. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival) Trans man Freddy McConnell has lost a ruling today in his fight to be registered as the father of the child he gave birth to. McConnell, a journalist who gave birth to his child in 2018, has been fighting a drawn out and highly publicised legal
Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price has claimed she is a supporter of the LGB Alliance – despite her belief that gay people should not be allowed to get married. The heterosexual Conservative politician took to Twitter declare her support for the group, which campaigns to exclude transgender people from the LGBT+ community while claiming to represent
British television channel Channel 5 has become the hero we need but truly did not deserve after it confirmed it will air The Golden Girls from beginning to end. Let me tell you a story. Picture it, Sicily… OK, not quite that. The US show kept fans entertained for nearly a decade across 180 episodes,
Lady Gaga and Boris Johnson. (Getty/Global Citizen/Ray Tang/Anadolu Agency) An explosive article in today’s Sunday Times revealed that UK prime minister Boris Johnson skipped the first five crisis meetings about coronavirus – meanwhile, Lady Gaga raised $127m for the COVID-19 relief effort and curated a global star-studded concert. Johnson, whose poor handling of the pandemic