UK's U-turn on Conversion therapy, Coming Out Day, Global LGBTQ+ rankings

Issue No. 42 - October 2023

Tromso Arctic Pride 2023, Tromsø, Norway 13th - 19th November 2023

The leaves may be turning colour, but we’re still bright Pink on LGBTQ+ rights and events in October. We hope you all had a great summer and hope you find our monthly news interesting. Even if the main Pride months have passed, there’s still a lot to do. Check out our listings about what’s going on with LGBTQ+ events around the world this month. October also means we are now approaching ghosts and gays gallivanting on Halloween. This year the 31st hits a Tuesday, so a lot will happen on the weekend before 28/29 Oct. Enjoy the festivities, scene events, clubs and other Halloween celebrations.

Keeping an eye on your rights
More widely on equalities, we thought we’d share an excellent LGBTQ+ equality monitoring site, Equaldex. For those unaware, it’s a Site, partly a collaborative wiki-style site which monitors LGBTQ+ equality around the world, similarly the International Lesbian & Gay Association (ILGA) does for Europe.

UK on same LGBTQ+ ranking as Cuba and Chile We covered the ILGA Europe rankings in our June 2023 edition. Like ILGA, Equaldex produces a ranking of all countries on LGBTQ+ friendliness with various indicators. Interestingly, the UK comes a relatively mediocre 15th on the score table with the same rating as Cuba and Chile. Sure, the UK is not yet Yemen or Afghanistan, who unsurprisingly did not do well, but the UK used to be a country that topped many rankings on LGBTQ+
equality.

Love and Pink Respect Team at PinkUk xxx

Conversion therapy - a threat to everyone

Alongside the fun, there are a few serious things happening to be aware of: we note with disappointment that the Tory UK Government has kicked the can down the road on a ban on ‘LGBTQ+ conversion therapy’. Conversion therapy affects mainly young people who may identify as a member of one or more of the LGBTQ+ communities but who are compelled to undertake ‘therapy’ to change their sexual orientation whether by their family, friends, school, faith organisation or another social influencer. Read more about conversion therapy >>

Coming Out Day, 11 October

An important date this month is Coming Out Day on Wednesday 11 October. It commemorates a big march in Washington DC, in 1988, advocating LGBTQ+ rights at the height of HIV/AIDS paranoia at a time when coming out may have been very difficult, not that it is easy today for many. Orlando Pride have a Come Out With Pride on Saturday the 21st October.UK campaign group Stonewall have some great information about it. Read more about 'Come Out With Pride' >>

Featured venue: Brierholme Guest House, Keswick, Cumbria, England

Brierholme Guest House offers a warm and friendly welcome awaits you at Brierholme Guest House in the centre of Keswick, a lovely market town in the English Lake District. Brierholme provides highly commended bed and breakfast holiday accommodation in an elegant Victorian house built in Lakeland stone, with views of the
surrounding fells to both the front and rear with private car parking for all guest.

More info about, Brierholme Guest House >>

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Featured pride: Phoenix Pride, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

This month we are choosing a pride in the USA, as there are none we know of in the UK. The 41st Phoenix Pride takes place Steele Indian School Park, Phoenix, Arizona, weekend 21st to 22nd October 2023. Phoenix Pride features over 150 entertainment performances, 7 stages and over 300 Exhibitors. The festival includes food vendors, Arts Expo, Main, and Community Stages, KidSpace, Erotic World, Dance Pavilion.

More info about Phoenix Pride 2023 >>

Prides/LGBTQ+ events

So far, for this new year, we have 313 pride festivals listed in the UK and 1,076 LGBTQ+ prides events in 56 countries worldwide for 2023. For 2024 we have 43 prides in the UK and 208 in 28 other countries. Keep us posted if you have or know of a pride festival or event that needs promoting.

See all the prides/LGBTQ+ events we have in October,               Add an LGBTQ+ event to PinkUk

We have 3,332 LGBTQ+ venues listed in 77 countries. Add a venue to PinkUk

Scene, recently relaunched with its fabulous new print copy. We are proud to support them.  See their latest edition. 
Scene is the top UK, free to read, online, LGBTQ+ magazine.