Category Archives: LGBT

England Cricketers become First LGBT Couple to read CBeebies Bedtime Story

England cricketers  Nat and Katherine Sciver-Brunt will become the first LGBT couple to feature on CBeebies Bedtime Stories, as part of Pride month.

The couple, who married last year, will read Emily Coxhead’s Find Your Happy, about a sloth learning to navigate their emotions.

Abtaha Maqsood, Britain’s first Hijab-wearing cricketer, will read a story to mark July’s South Asian Heritage Month.

The stories are being filmed from Trent Bridge Cricket Ground. More

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – February 2023

February is LGBT History Month and with that in mind we have chosen Alicya Eyo as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Alicya is an actress, best known for her roles as Denny Blood in the ITV prison drama series Bad Girls and Ruby Haswell in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.

A|icya’s love drama started when she was nine and she attended drama and dance classes every Saturday. When she was 14, she moved to London with her family where she trained at the Courtyard Theatre School.

Her first television appearance was in 1997, in Casualty, She also made an appearance on Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and appeared in Gold the follow up drama series to Band Of Gold as a young prostitute In 1999, she appeared with Goldie in the David Bowie film Everybody Loves Sunshine known as B.U.S.T.E.D., internationally. She also starred in the movie G:MT – Greenwich Mean Time. However, Alicya’s big break came in 1998 when she was offered the part of Denny Blood, in Bad Girls.

Alicya is a supporter and patron of The Proud Trust, an LGBT charity that provides services and support for young people. This is what it means to her:

‘I’m totally honoured to have this association with The Proud Trust. Coming from the North West myself, being a lesbian, I’m thrilled to see organisations such as this. The Proud Trust is doing, and has been doing, some incredible work with our young people which I think is vital in terms of developing confidence, identity and a sense of place in this crazy world! I’m looking forward to meeting everyone involved and doing as much as I can to support them.’

To find out more about LGBT History Month see here

To find out more about Alicya see here

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0264198/

Peppa Pig: First same-sex couple for children’s show

Loved by pre-school audiences in the UK, US, Australia and Latin America, Peppa Pig is arguably one of the most recognisable – and popular – cartoon animals in the world.

It is perhaps no wonder, then, that the programme’s decision to introduce its first same-sex couple has made waves.

During an episode titled Families, which first aired on Tuesday on Channel 5 in the UK, where Peppa Pig is made, the eponymous character was introduced to friend Penny Polar Bear’s mothers.

While drawing a portrait of her family, Penny explained: “I live with my mummy and my other mummy. One mummy is a doctor and one mummy cooks spaghetti.”

The programme, created by British animators Mark Baker and Neville Astley, has been running since 2004. This is the first time in its 18-year history a same-sex couple has been featured. More

Jack Dunne: Exeter Chiefs lock hopes to inspire other LGBTQ+ men

An imposing 6ft 8in lock is nothing new in the Premiership, but Exeter’s Jack Dunne will be the league’s only openly LGBTQ+ player when he makes his debut for the club.

The 23-year-old summer signing from Leinster follows in the footsteps of Gareth Thomas and former Saracens back Sam Stanley, as well as current Premiership referee Craig Maxwell-Keys and long-serving Welsh official Nigel Owens.

“Hopefully once there are one or two more people it will start to feel that this is something they can say and it won’t be a big thing,” Dunne, who identifies as bisexual, told BBC Sport.

“Hopefully it would be good for other gay or bisexual men to see people like me and hopefully it’ll give them a bit of confidence to be able to be who they are.” More

April Ashley: Transgender pioneer’s ‘spectacular legacy’ to be celebrated

The friends of transgender pioneer April Ashley are to celebrate her “spectacular” legacy in her home city.

Liverpool-born Ashley, who died in 2021, was one of the first people to undergo surgery and went on to become a famous model, restaurateur and actress.

Her personal papers document everything from dinners with David Hockney to correspondence with Elizabeth Taylor.

Her friends Lou Muddle and Bev Ayre said a new archive would show who she really was and “not just the myth”.

The pair, who are both from Liverpool, were tasked by Ashley to sort through her belongings after discovering she “kept absolutely everything”.

Ms Ayre said Ashley had been “truly spectacular” and was “family to us”, though she admits that closeness came with more than a touch of stardust. More

New LGBT+ Podcast

Spill the Tea

Ayomide Oluyemi and Panagiotis Pentaris have finished the production of the pilot episode of the very new LGBT+ Podcast that has launched on transistor.fm and is available on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podcast Addict, Player FM, and Deezer, and soon on Apple podcasts as well.

This podcast show focuses on matters pertinent to LGBT+ Culture. The show hosts guests who share their lived experience and through conversations help us understand further issues that this population is facing or has faced, raising thus awareness and providing a creative educational platform.

The first episode hosts Peter McGraith, a long-standing activist of LGBT+ rights in the UK, and half of the very first same-sex couple to get married in England once it was legalised, in 2014. Peter is having a conversation with us about Pride and Pride month, its meaning, significance and future. This is to celebrate Pride Month and increase inclusivity.

We hope you all enjoy and share with colleagues in and outside of the University. It seems that before we even announced its release, the episode has been accessed generously and internationally!

Access the episode here Spill the Tea (transistor.fm)

(https://spill-the-tea.transistor.fm)

Josh Cavallo: ‘I’m a footballer and I’m gay,’ says Australian player

Adelaide United player Josh Cavallo has come out as gay, becoming the only current male professional footballer in the world to do so.

The 21-year-old wrote on social media that he was “ready to speak about something personal that I’m finally comfortable to talk about in my life”.

“I’m a footballer and I’m gay,” the midfielder said in an accompanying video.

“All I want to do is play football and be treated equally.” More

LGBT Sport Podcast at 200: Jessica Andrade, Gareth Thomas, Jack Dunne and other memorable episodes

There was the cricket match that made history. The 9/11 hero who inspired the world’s largest amateur rugby tournament. The Formula 1 world champion who spoke out as an LGBTQ+ ally. And the elite referee who shared his story publicly for the first time.

The LGBT Sport Podcast has covered all of those stories – and many, many more – over its 200 episodes. So picking out its most memorable moments is quite a challenge.

When we published our very first podcast on 25 September 2018, with a basic and only a general understanding of how to get episodes into a person’s feed, we weren’t sure how long we would be around for.

Yet in the three years since, we’ve covered a wealth of stories across more than 40 sports. More

First UK LGBT business champion appointed

The UK’s first LGBT business champion has pledged to build a bridge between the government and the LGBT community.

Iain Anderson, executive chairman of public relations firm Cicero, will focus on improving workplace equality at a small business level.

One CIPD report suggested 40% of LGBT employees had experienced conflict at work, rising to 55% of trans employees.

Earlier this year, the government’s LGBT advisory panel was disbanded after several members quit.

One, Jayne Ozanne, accused the government of creating a “hostile environment” for LGBT people.

The members left over the government’s handling of LGBT rights and amid claims it was “dragging its feet” on a pledge to ban so-called conversion therapy.

“I definitely see my role as a link between the LGBT community, government and business and I want to build a bridge between the three parties,” Mr Anderson said.

“If businesses see me, and in turn government, putting in place tangible ways to allow LGBT people to be themselves, they’ll understand that this is a priority area and do more about it.”

Mr Anderson, a Stonewall ambassador, was appointed to the new unpaid position by equalities minister Liz Truss. More

Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – AUgust 2021

The Paralympics starts on 24 August and with that in mind we have chosen Lee Pearson as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

After discovering para-equestrian dressage whilst watching the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics on TV, Lee started riding and has gone on to win gold at every Paralympic Games since. He took the triple title (team, individual and freestyle) at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, 2004 Athens Paralympics and 2008 Beijing Paralympics, setting an equestrian world record by being unbeaten at three consecutive Paralympic Games.

In 2003, he became the first disabled person to have won a title at the British Dressage National Championships competing against non-disabled riders when he took the 2003 elementary restricted title.

Competing at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, Lee came away with three medals, Team gold, Individual silver and bronze in the Grade Ib competition; 2015 saw him secure Team gold and two Individual silvers at the European Championships out in Deauville.

At Rio 2016, Lee’s career achievements were recognised when he was chosen to be the Paralympics GB flagbearer for the Opening Ceremony, leading the team into the Maracana at his fifth Games. 

Once competition got under way, Lee swiftly claimed the 13th Paralympic dressage medal of his career with a silver in the individual competition, scoring an impressive 74.103 on his horse Zion.  Lee’s fortunes changed in the individual freestyle test (Ib) where he went on to secure his eleventh Paralympic gold medal – his 14th of any colour.

Lee is a charity ambassador for the Donna Louise Hospice in Stoke and the Midlands Air Ambulance amongst others.

Awarded an MBE in 2001 and an OBE in 2005 in recognition of his monumental equestrian success and services to sport for the disabled; he then received a CBE in the 2009 New Year Honours List for services to equestrianism and disabled sport.

Lee’s achievements and contribution to equestrian sport was recognised when he was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours.

To find out more about Lee see here https://www.paralympic.org/lee-pearson

To find out more about the Paralympics see here

https://www.paralympic.org/tokyo-2020