With video

How a fake descendent of the Russian Tsar fooled gay Manchester in 1991 (video)

It’s the evening of Monday 26th August 1991 and Manchester’s second ‘Carnival of Fun’ weekend is coming to a close. Of course, this is the forerunner of the current Manchester Pride.

In those days before the ‘no-money-left-for-charity’ scandal of 1999, the event attracted the support of some big names. Princess Diana sent a telegram wishing every success in 1991 and there was a buzz that someone important might make a surprise appearance on the final night.

Queer activists invade the Manchester Pride 2008 balloon launch (video)

Shout out: are you the person who was asked to remove their hooded top for the photoshoot and who refused and was then excluded, or did you witness this incident? I would be very interested to hear your story. Please contact me. Watch the six minute video (super-widescreen format!). It includes two minutes of exclusive Queer activists invade the Manchester Pride 2008 balloon launch (video)

Protest by Chinese students, Manchester (video)

More than 1000 people protested about Western media coverage of the Beijing Olympics and Tibet. After a two-hour demonstration outside the BBC, they marched up Oxford Street to Manchester Town Hall.

The ‘Pink Peak’ minority

Increasingly, it seems to me that life may have improved for a narrow segment of the UK lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population, but not for the majority. In some ways, for a large proportion of us things are worse now than they were 15-20 years ago.