What happens when two newly-engaged chorus members get lost on Christmas Eve? What’s that mysterious light? And just who is throwing such a lavish party? The answers are guaranteed to make you do the pelvic thrust all night long.
Give yourself over to absolute pleasure with Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus this Christmas at Brighton Dome as they timewarp their way through seasonal songs and classic hits like no one else can.
This isn’t just any old show, it’s a double feature mash-up of one of the most outrageous musicals and the magic of Christmas. So, don’t dream it, be it! Grab your friends, your feather boas, and your sense of humour, and join them for an evening of fishnets and festive fun.
The Chorus can already see you shiver with antici… pation!
Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus Presents: The Rocky Holly Tinsel Show at Brighton Dome on Saturday, December 7.
Over 7,000 people are expected to attend Pride in Gloucester, now in its 18th year, which aims to boost visibility of the LGBTQ+ community.
A colourful Pride parade will today weave its way through the city and pop duo The Cheeky Girls will headline the music stage.
“Visibility is important to create a safe space for people, but for the wider community to learn more about what it’s like being LGBTQ+,” said Pride in Gloucester chair Richard Stevens.
Organisers promise today’s Pride event is as inclusive as possible.
“We have a youth zone, a family area and a speaker’s corner for debates.
“The idea is that we can grow but keep it inclusive, everyone is welcome and it’s a safe space for our community,” Richard added.
“People come up to me and they say that because of Pride they were able to accept themselves for who they are.
“Pride has literally saved people’s lives when they were in such a bad place mentally.
“Seeing everyone at events like this and being happy in themselves is just an amazing feeling.
“Lots of people said they are excited we are coming back,” he added.
The most decorated Irish Paralympic athlete of all time, Katie-George Dunlevy, discovered she had retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder of the eyes that causes loss of vision, when she was not yet 12 years old.
Now the English-born, out gay athlete, who won a gold and two silver medals at this year’s Paralympics in Paris, hopes to inspire visually impaired children and the LGBTQ+ community.
On losing her sight at such a young age, Dunlevy said: “I didn’t understand because I was used to seeing what I could see and didn’t know what everyone else could see.”
For Dunlevy, it was running and rowing first, and at 17 Britain selected her for the Blind Sports European Championships, where she won bronze in 400m. At university in Southampton she became more serious about rowing and received a call from a British rowing coach to try out.
However, paracycling coach Brian Nugent threw a lifeline. With her core strength and cardio, he asked if she wanted to try out cycling. A couple of months later Dunlevy arrived in Ireland. She tried out and was selected for the World Championships at the end of the year, winning a silver medal in the road race.
“One of the reasons to carry on is to inspire visually impaired children and the LGBTQ+ community, just to give anyone hope to be themselves.”
“I think you find at a lot of awards the Olympic medal would seem higher than a Paralympic medal, which shouldn’t be the case. So, a silver Olympic medal would be seen as something higher than a gold Paralympic medal. Right. You just go, eh, what do you need to do as a Paralympic athlete to been seen? So, there are barriers.”
“But one of the reasons to carry on is to inspire visually impaired children and the LGBTQ+ community, just to give anyone hope to be themselves.
“I want to go to schools to show my medals to the children and let them hold my medals because I didn’t have that as a kid,” she says.
“If I can inspire anyone just not to give up, that’s my job done. It will have been worth it.
More details have emerged of a new gay men’s sauna opening in Leeds, which will include a steam room, dry sauna, cold dunk showers, swimming pool and a rooftop spa area.
The sauna, part of Pipeworks company, which describes its Glasgow premises as “Scotland’s best and largest gay sauna club”, will be the first Pipeworks club in England and will open ”between February and March 2025”.
Director of operations, David Cooper, said £1.6m was set to be invested into the venue, adding: “We did a lot of research on different locations and Leeds seemed the ideal place because it’s very up and coming and has a large LGBTQ+ population. We want to embrace that.”
Pipeworks Leeds will be open for 24 hours on weekends and alcohol will be served Monday – Thursday, 11am-midnight, and from 11amFriday until midnight on Sunday.
Fighting With Pride, the military charity which supports the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ veterans, has announced the launch of a survey asking for your views on an LGBT Armed Forces Community Memorial.
A community-led and inspired memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum would be funded by the government and was one of the key recommendations in the Etherton Report, which examined the experiences of armed forces personnel perceived to be LGBTQ between 1967-2000.
Fighting With Pride said: “This is your opportunity to make your voice heard and to tell us what you would like to see in the memorial.
”Whilst your personal ideas might not be fully incorporated, rest assured that all responses will be considered when the design brief is drawn-up. More details can be found on the Reparations tab on our website.”
Complete the survey HERE. You can send it anonymously or fill in your details if you prefer to.
Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanual Macron, has been awarded €8,000 in damages after two women made claims ‘France’s first lady’ is transgender.
AmandineRoy and Natacha Rey had posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging the French president’s wife had once been a man named Jean-Michel. The video subsequently went viral just weeks before the 2022 presidential election and prompted Macron to file a libel complaint.
Posts spread on social media claiming the first lady, formerly Brigitte Trogneux, had never existed and that her brother Jean-Michel had changed gender and assumed that identity.
The women have since been ordered to pay a total of €8,000 (£6,750) in damages to the president’s wife, and €5,000 to her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux. They were also given a suspended fine of €500.
Join Brighton & Hove’s LGBTQ+ Rainbow Chorus for a ding-dong of a musical evening on Saturday, December 14 at St Mary’s Church, Kemptown.
Tickets are now on sale for the Big Festive Rainbow Bellterwhere you can expect a festive and uplifting evening of songs including a mix of uplifting pop, carols and standards. There may be some bells!
The evening is hosted by Musical Director Aneesa Chaudhry and accompanist Olly Parr and will be BSL interpreted. The Rainbow Chorus will have their famous raffle of beautiful festive hampers – get a ticket or two to be in with a chance to win. And treat yourself to a glass or two of mulled wine from the well-stocked bar.
Get your tickets now and save the date in your diary for what promises to be a fantastic, diverse uplifting evening of entertainment.
The Rainbow Chorus said: “An evening out with the Rainbow Chorus is more than just going to a concert, it’s an expression of belonging, solidarity and inclusion that defines the very notion of community that many aspire to in Brighton & Hove.”
Big Festive Rainbow Bellter with Rainbow Chorus St Mary’s Church, 61 St James’s Street, Brighton BN2 1PR on Saturday, December 14 with doors at 6.30pm for concert starts 7.30pm.
Tickets £18, Conc £13, kids (under 15) £10.
To learn more about the Rainbow Chorus and their award-winning RC+ monthly choir, check out their website HERE.
Netflix has unveiled plans to create a Heartstopper Pride Flag, which will be displayed at Queer Britain to coincide with a new season of Heartstopper in October, and will feature personal messages from fans shared during a nationwide tour of this year’s Pride events, including Brighton & Hove Pride.
Heartstopper fans across the UK and around the world were invited to contribute to a unique art installation: the Heartstopper Pride Flag, commissioned by Netflix and displayed at Queer Britain.
Over summer, a nationwide tour of Pride events featured a Heartstopper pop-up experience, bringing lead character Charlie Spring’s iconic bedroom to Glasgow, Liverpool and Brighton. Fans were not only able to experience the world of Heartstopper by stepping into the sets of the hit series, but they were also given exclusive access to watch never-before-seen clips from the upcoming season, and heard personal messages from the cast, ahead of the its anticipated launch on Netflix on October 3.
Heartstopper Experience
At each pop-up event, fans wrote personal notes about how the show had impacted their lives, focusing in particular on messages to anyone who has given them support or strength in their life. Messages will be integrated into the creation of the Heartstopper Pride Flag, with fans worldwide also able to contribute messages online HERE.
Alice Oseman, writer and creator of Heartstopper, said: “I’ve heard so many stories about Heartstopper fans saying the series has helped them through pivotal moments in their personal lives, like coming out to family and friends. As the characters in the series are growing up, so are their stories, and season three will see them having to support each other through difficult moments.
“I’m so hopeful that Heartstopper can continue to be a source of inspiration and support for young people, and thrilled that fans’ personal stories will now be immortalised in this piece of artwork.”
Joseph Galliano-Doig MBE, Director of Queer Britain, said: “As the UK’s only LGBTQ+ museum, we are delighted to be partnering with Netflix and their groundbreaking show Heartstopper, and excited to be displaying artwork which will give fans’ stories a lasting legacy.
“Queer Britain is the perfect place for the characters of Charlie, Nick, their friends and family to explore their histories and culture – and the welcome we offer is as warm and inclusive as Heartstopper is. I only wish both had existed when I was younger.”
Erica Hannfrom Legends, one of Brighton’s premier LGBTQ+ venues, will have her running shoes on this weekend, as she does The Laparound the stunning Lake Windemere, all 47 miles of it!
This run is part of her fundraising on behalf of local HIV charity, the Sussex Beacon, which will culminate in Erica running the London Marathon for the charity on April 27, 2025.
Erica said: “I guess running has always been in my blood. As a teen I was actually quite good (but that’s a story for another day) Returning to it some 30 years later during the pandemic, I trained from Couch to Ultra running my first 100km race in Oct 2021 – it was brutal, but I absolutely loved it!
“Of course, the London Marathon is the dream for any runner, but after 16 years of rejection in the ballot I had all but given up! Imagine my delight then, when the team at the Sussex Beacon contacted me and offered one of their few precious places.
“Not only do I have the chance to achieve another running challenge, but it means I can use this amazing opportunity to remember my friend Jason Sutton (Miss Jason) and raise funds for the incredible cause that meant so much to him.”
A family is asking for the murder of a Black trans woman to be investigated as a hate crime after she was shot dead on a Chicago street.
Redd, 25, known to friends and family as Barbie, was pronounced dead at the scene after beiong shot multiple times in the back after a lone gunman opened fire around 1.30am. on Sunday, September 8. A second unidentified victim aged 34 was taken to a local hospital in critical condition suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest, according to police.
A friend of Redd’s, Michelle Lee, said the pair gathered with other friends on a street corner on Sunday morning when a man they did not recognise walked past their group to talk with a girl in another group nearby. He then left the area, but Lee said the man returned about 30 minutes later with a gun and opened fire.
She said everyone ran after the first shot and that the man continued to shoot as they fled the scene. When they returned, they found Redd lying motionless on the pavement.
Despite the violent and hateful nature of the crime, police have yet to investigate Redd’s murder as a hate crime. And her family is asking questions.
“I do feel like it was a hate crime,” Redd’s cousin Mariyah Phillips said. “I want to start [bringing] awareness [that] people are really attacking that community. I want people to know that they are being attacked.”
Her friends remembered Redd as a kind and loving person. “She wanted to be loved and respected,” Trevon Pope, a friend, said. “That’s how she was. That’s one thing she didn’t play about. She loved and respected people.”
Redd is the 26th known trans or gender-nonconforming person to die by violence in the United States in 2024.
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