News

Several MPS are calling for an investigation to be launched into Dudley Councillor Caley Ashman over social media posts using racist and homophobic language.

A mother whose daughter passed away in 2023 has launched a campaign with Trans Legal Clinic against NHS England, Wolverhampton NHS Trust, and Bart NHS Trust, claiming her daughter missed out on much-needed treatment due to her gender identity.

Reform UK-led Staffordshire County Council has announced new guidance for libraries that appears to exclude celebrations such as Pride Month and Black History Month from its schedule.

Leicestershire-based trans ambassador and campaigner, Katie Neeves (AKA Cool2BTrans) has collaborated with Pride in Education founder, Laïla El-Métoui to publish a new report that shines a stark light on young people’s experience of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) and Relationships, Sex, and Health Education (RSHE/RSE).

Drag icon and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season six, Bianca Del Rio, is set to return to the UK with her latest tour in 2027. The ‘It Gets Bitter’ tour will play at venues across the UK and the Republic of Ireland including theatres in Birmingham and Nottingham.

An independent feature film created by a Wolverhampton-based company, exploring queer love and South Asian culture, has been picked up by a major distributor. A Teacher’s Gift, co-produced by New Lion Films, based in Wolverhampton city, will be given a limited cinema release later this year by Peccadillo Pictures; a UK-based distributor of art house, gay and lesbian, independent and world cinema.

Leicestershire LGBTQ+ Centre, one of Britian’s longest running organisations for the community, celebrates a historic 50th anniversary in 2026.

Over thirty new Hate Crime Reporting points have been rolled out across Warwickshire as part of a project developed by equality charity EQuIP in partnership with Warwickshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner.

Birmingham Museums are set to celebrate Pride in STEM Day with an event at the Think Tank.

Birmingham Literature Festival returns this Autumn with a line-up of literary events exploring a range of topics, themes, and genres. Among the bookish events programmed for 2027 are several that shine a spotlight on LGBTQ+ authors and queer stories.

Drag performer and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star, Divina De Campo, has been announced for an upcoming UK tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.

Shelter Birmingham has announced ‘Stride with Pride’; a daytime walk, raising awareness and funds for the charity, to take place on World Homelessness Day. The event that plans to map three cities in the UK — Birmingham, Manchester, and London — will bring together community in a group walk, pinpointing local queer landmarks.

In association with SHOUT Festival, The Pansy Project will be returning to Birmingham. The project, launched and run by artist, Paul Harfleet, plants pansies at the sites of homophobic and transphobic abuse.

Walsall Pride returned to the Arboretum extension on Saturday 29th August, and come rain or shine the show went on. Following extreme heat and drought, then thunder, lightning and heavy rain in the area, and with more rain forecast for the bank holiday weekend organisers were forced pivot and adapt to the changing circumstances to deliver this year’s event.

New research by Birmingham City University (BCU) has found comedy can be a useful tool for improving mental wellbeing and resilience for Birmingham’s LGBTQ+ community. A new study published in the psychology journal, Behavioural Sciences, reveals findings from the LGBTQTeeHee! course, which has taken place at Birmingham Rep Theatre since 2024.

Redditch Pride CIC, which runs the annual Pride event in the town, are set to host a summer Pride Fete. The family-friendly event which caters to all ages will be held at Arrow Valley Lake Boat House at the end of August.

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is set to return to BBC iPlayer and BBC Three this autumn, and among the fresh new cast of drag queens are three performers hailing from the West Midlands. Staffordshire’s KY Kelly, Dudley’s Naya Thorn, and Birmingham’s Anita Piss will hit TV screens in series 8 of Drag Race UK, competing for the title of the UK’s next drag superstar.

Reform UK leader of West Northamptonshire Council, Mark Arnull has announced that no funding had been given to Northampton Pride in 2026, and no funding will be offered in the future.

Organisers of Kidderminster Pride have made the sad announcement that 2026’s event will not be going ahead as planned due to ‘impossible costs’. They add that this does not mean the complete disappearance of Pride in the town, with something on a smaller scale being planned instead.

Redditch Pride organisers have responded after Reform UK councillor Sue Eacock, the Mayor of Redditch, issued a public apology for a series of historical social media posts in which she appears to criticise Black, Asian and LGBTQ+ communities.