Arts Fierce Festival’s artistic director Aaron Wright to step down After seven successful years, Aaron Wright, artistic director of Fierce Festival – a festival of international theatre, performance and experiences which takes place in and around Birmingham – is stepping down. By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Birmingham Birmingham’s Boltz Nightclub could soon be demolished Boltz nightclub – a fetish club on Kent Street in Birmingham’s gay village – could be demolished to accommodate a new 15-storey apartment block By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Birmingham Tales of the Second City: The Etiquette of Naked Dining Observing my fellow ramblers trapsing naked through the countryside (a line of grey heads, paunches, and drooping bottoms), I turned to the chap next to me and commented, “I feel like I’m in a very strange episode of Dad’s Army.” By Contributor • 3 min read
Birmingham Birmingham LGBT+ Centre targeted with queerphobic graffiti During LGBT+ History Month, Birmingham’s inclusive hub, the LGBT centre, was vandalised with homophobic graffiti. Staff working at Birmingham LGBT Centre – a leading charity advocating for and support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer community in Birmingham and neighbouring authorities – By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Birmingham Birmingham vigil for Brianna Ghey attacked by LGBTQ+ hate Trans rights activist and Birmingham Pride’s Director of Innovation, Eva Echo, was being interviewed by I Am Birmingham when a group of teenage boys arrived at Hippodrome Square and began shouting slurs, homophobic, and transphobic abuse. By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Arts Joe Lycett to host new series of live shows from Birmingham Following the success of Channel 4’s Joe Lycett’s Big Pride Party, a new live show series with the working title of The Joe Lycett Live Show has been commissioned by the broadcaster. By Catherine Muxworthy • 1 min read
Birmingham Birmingham’s Southside unveils strategy to support its future as a diverse cultural centre Southside Business Improvement District (Southside BID) – home to Birmingham’s gay village – has unveiled an ambitious new strategic vision which aims to “drive economic growth and support its future development as a diverse cultural centre”. By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Birmingham Fatt Butcher’s ‘Anywhere is a Dancefloor’ to release online Anywhere is a Dancefloor is a queer music video featuring many local talents, reclaiming public spaces across Birmingham’s city centre By Catherine Muxworthy • 1 min read
Birmingham Birmingham LGBT announces FREE Gender-Affirming Style Workshops with G(end)er Swap “Fashion and presentation can be an amazing way to relieve dysphoria, and these workshops will be beneficial to both beginners and experienced DIY-fashionistas.” By Graham Robson • 2 min read
Birmingham Tales of the Second City: Please, Don’t Let Me Trip “The Jester was a basement gay bar, lurking beneath Scala Building, a shabby curve of concrete and glass on Holloway Circus. This typical 1960s development, of the style old-school Birmingham is notorious, had seen better days, even back in the ’80s.” By Contributor • 4 min read
Birmingham Birmingham’s HIV and AIDS ‘Cover Up Quilts’ exhibition opened by activist Jonathan Blake Inspired by the original NAMES memorial quilt which began in San Francisco in 1985, this project saw the creation of over 50 quilt panels designed to educate, destigmatise, and commemorate those lost to AIDS. By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Birmingham COLUMN: Tales of the Second City Within the shadows… you can find gems in the darkroom. By Contributor • 3 min read
Birmingham Birmingham Pride Community Foundation seeks volunteers Birmingham Pride Community Foundation (BPCF), has put a call out for volunteers who will act as trustees to join the group that is responsible for distributing funds from the Birmingham Pride Festival to the LGBTQ+ community groups in Birmingham and the wider West Midlands (Coventry, Dudley, Sandwel By Catherine Muxworthy • 1 min read
Birmingham Census reveals most popular areas of Birmingham for LGBTQ+ people Census 2021 reveals the most popular areas of Birmingham for those identifying their sexuality as something other than heterosexual (gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer or other), and also provide some insight into figures for those who have a gender identity different from their sex registered By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Arts Short film written and directed by Birmingham-based filmmaker to explore AIDS and prejudice Birmingham-based queer filmmaker Ellie Hodgetts is writer and director of a new short film entitled The Side Ward, which tells the story of a nurse who confronts her own prejudice after building a connection with a patient with AIDS on her ward. By Catherine Muxworthy • 1 min read
Coventry and West Midlands Four arrested following ‘hate-related sexual assault’ in Birmingham’s Gay Village The victim, who is in her 20s, was subjected to a vicious assault, both verbally and physically, and threatened with a knife on Hurst Street just before 5.30am on Sunday, January 8. By Catherine Muxworthy • 1 min read
Coventry and West Midlands Mayor of the West Midlands and MPs across the region call for more funding for HIV testing In the West Midlands, five out of seven boroughs are deemed as high-prevalence areas for HIV – Wolverhampton (3.47 people per 1,000 adults), Coventry (3.1), Sandwell (2.92), Birmingham (2.69), and Walsall (2.45). By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Fundraising News Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents RFC to ‘take a dip’ on New Year’s Day to fundraise for Union Cup In April, the Union Cup is being held in Birmingham for all rugby clubs with a specific LGBTQ+ status and the Sea Serpents are planning to send a squad of 25 players to this tournament By Graham Robson • 1 min read
Birmingham New volunteer patrol service to begin in Birmingham’s gay village amid safety concerns A new patrol service, Rainbow StreetWatch, will begin in Birmingham’s gay village in response to concerns over safety from those in the city’s LGBTQ+ community who frequent the Southside area of Birmingham. By Catherine Muxworthy • 1 min read
Birmingham Birmingham’s Cover-Up HIV Memorial Quilt to go on display The Cover-Up Quilt Project is an Arts Council-funded community art project, led by Garry Jones, which features 40 quilt panels each of which signify a historic moment or memory – locally, nationally or internationally – in the 40 years since the first HIV diagnosis in the UK By Catherine Muxworthy • 3 min read
Birmingham Birmingham Pride could be forced out of city centre by new development A new development on Smithfield site could force Birmingham Pride’s organisers to move the festival to another site outside of the city centre. By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Birmingham Brum Against Hate calls on leaders to stand with the LGBTQ+ community Birmingham protest group Brum Against Hate is calling on faith, civic and community leaders in the city to stand with the LGBTQ+ community and take a stand against homophobia amid rising levels of hate crime against the community in the city. By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
Birmingham Birmingham LGBT Centre fundraising for Christmas appeal and warm bank Birmingham LGBT Centre has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to help support isolated LGBTQ+ people this Christmas and winter. By Catherine Muxworthy • 1 min read
News Court hears of life-threatening NHS waiting times for trans healthcare from Birmingham Pride’s Eva Echo and other claimants Eva Echo, trans rights activist and Director of Innovation at Birmingham Pride, was one of several claimants who spoke at the High Court about NHS waiting times for trans healthcare. By Catherine Muxworthy • 2 min read
