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Have a Gay Time in 2009!

Published: 29 December 2008

The coming year's queer events at a glance.

January

January is the month of resolutions, once you've recovered from all the Christmas and New Year festivities, it's time to get healthy and feel good about yourself and the LGF can help! One of the most popular New Year's resolutions is to stop smoking, so why not join the LGF's Queer As Smoke group? The group runs every Wednesday from 6pm till 8pm and is open to any LGB who needs advice and support on quitting smoking. For more information on the group email: helen.burdett@lgf.org.uk. Also, if you fancy getting fit in 2009 and meeting lots of new people, come along to Gay City Strollers - a new LGB walking group. To sign up for Gay City Strollers or to get more information email rachel.barlow@lgf.org.uk. On a more serious note, at the end of the month on the 27th it's Holocaust Memorial Day, and this year's theme is Stand Up To Hatred! Holocaust Memorial Day remembers all of the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi hatred, the millions affected by genocide since the end of World War II, and those people in our own communities today who face acts of hatred and hate crimes in their every day lives. www.hmd.org.uk.

February
February is LGBT History Month and 2009 will be the 5th year of the event which celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community. At the pre-event launch in November The Education Minister Kevin Brennan said: "I want homophobia to become taboo…from the flippant use of homophobic language to the deliberate bullying of people because they’re gay or ‘different’. Both are wrong, both need to stop.’ And when we say that ‘every child matters’, we mean that every young person – straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, black, white, disabled – boy or girl matters." www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk.

March
International Women’s Day is March 8th, to coincide with this the LGF will be holding their third annual conference for lesbian and bisexual women – Sugar and Spice, on March 7th - 8th. The theme of 2009’s event is Me, Myself and I; celebrating inspirations and aspirations, and empowering women to feel good about themselves and aspire to be all that they can be. To find out more e-mail:women@lgf.org.uk

May
On the 17th May 1990 the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders. Now, the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) exists to provoke action to end Homophobia. Manchester’s Weekend Against Homophobia will be between 1st - 4th May, with fundraising events happening throughout Manchester’s Gay Village all weekend. The Walk Against Homophobia will stride through the city centre on Sunday May 3rd. To get involved or promote local events e-mail:info@lgf.org.uk. It's Blackpool Pride over the weekend of May 16th and 17th. The parade is along the Promenade on the Saturday, with several events on the North pier over the gay weekend. Also this month, don't miss Manchester's International Queer Arts festival - Queerupnorth.

August
Manchester Pride will take place from Friday 21st to Monday 31st of August. For 2009, Manchester Pride would like to showcase more aspects of the city’s LGBT community than ever before, and are inviting applications from both commercial and community-based groups who will be holding events over Pride 2009. Successful applicants will have their event incorporated into Manchester Pride's official schedule. Applications need to be submitted by 23 March 2009 for inclusion in the Guide to Pride. You can download Pride application forms online at, www.manchesterpride.com.

November
Homotopia - Liverpool’s annual gay cultural festival has been hailed as the largest ever queer festival staged in Liverpool, and a key fixture in the city’s cultural calendar after attracting record audiences in 2008. 2009 looks set to be a fantastic year and organisers are already planning some exciting events that will make Liverpool the epicentre of Queer culture! www.homotopia.net. Also, on November the 23rd it's Trans Remembrance Day, when we remember those who have died as a result of anti transgender hatred or prejudice.

December
The World Health Organisation declared December 1, 1988 as the first World AIDS Day. 21 years on and 33 million people around the world are now living with HIV. For each World AIDS Day from 2005 through 2010, the theme is "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” Every year there's a sub-theme designed to encourage political leaders to keep their commitment to achieve universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care, and support by the year 2010.

For a more detailed run down of 2009's queer events click here to see Outnorthwest's "The Queer Year Ahead", or call the Lesbian and Gay Foundation on 0161 235 8035 for more information.

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