Bradley Cooper says he almost quit Maestro prior after meeting on a plane with a woman who claimed to be Leonard Bernstein's goddaughter

Took the blindfold off midway to see that the other two women were her cousin and her best friend. I was then untied and allowed to continue on into a dominant role.More broadly, Parkinson underscores the importance of integrity when it comes to depicting trans stories. ”Trans people just want fair representation – and to keep telling our stories and sharing our experiences on the global stage,” they say. “We should be advocating for increased visibility and inclusion within society – and ensure these stories are told authentically”. I have such love for my country embedded in my DNA,’ Jason, now 54, explains. ‘But also I felt as if I’d outgrown my life there. The humanist in me believes everyone should live freely, and I wanted to go somewhere where I could do that.’

If there is one lesson she wants us to take from the book, it’s that friendliness, openness and kindness are the cardinal virtues. She wishes people were kinder to J K Rowling, who’s been pilloried for her views on gender, but also kinder to the trans community. Thanks to huge support from numerous LGBTQ+ support groups, hundreds of photos of Sam at Pride events across the country, and a change.org petition that gathered nearly 5,000 signatures, Sam was granted leave to remain in the UK for five years – something Sam is thankful for. Whether it’s taking a stand against systemic racism or advocating for transgender equality, Munroe Bergdorf has consistently used her platform for good. The model has become one of Britain’s most distinctive activists in doing so, receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Brighton in the process. In 2021, Munroe was recognised with the GAY TIMES Honour for British Community Trailblazer at the fifth annual GAY TIMES Honours celebration in London, where she was presented the award by Ellie Goulding. And earlier this year, Munroe made history as the first transgender person to feature on the front cover of Cosmopolitan UK for their 50th anniversary issue. “Equality doesn’t [currently] exist. We live within a system that thrives on inequality,” she told the publication. “We need to think about how we can build a system where all of us can win.” Jayne Ozanne Roughly 13% of players at the 2023 Women's World Cup identified as LGBTQ+, demonstrating strong representation at the game's highest level.

After he was arrested in 2016, Sam claimed asylum – but a judge rejected his claim as Sam had not had a partner after more than 10 years in the UK, warning Sam’s supporters that they had been ‘duped’. Later that morning as we had breakfast with our housemates, I asked him if he'd had a nightmare. He said he didn't, but I wondered if he'd simply forgotten and gave it no more thought. But Daniels said when he came out, first sending a message to his mum and sister in a group chat, the sense of relief had him "dancing around the room". When someone asks if their behavior was "right" I hesitate, because I think, within certain limits, in our social arrangements, it is right for us to behave according to how we feel. Feeling is a great regulator of human behavior; we behave well toward others partly out of our own goodness and partly out of self-interest because we want their feelings toward us to be full and kind, in part so that when there is a death in the family they will show up at our side.

But Daniels hopes incremental progress can continue to be achieved in the UK - and especially in the Premier League, which remains without any openly gay players. In basic terms, what anyone claiming asylum has to prove is that they are the sexuality they are claiming to be and that being that sexuality, or being perceived to be that sexuality, will lead to persecution from the country they are from.’ In the past six years, LGBTQ+ youth charity Just Like Us has collaborated with various primary schools, secondary schools and colleges from all corners of the UK to help improve the lives of queer youth. Thousands of institutions take part in their annual, UK-wide celebration of LGBTQ+ equality, titled School Diversity Week, which sees their ambassadors speak about the importance of allyship and their own experiences with sexuality and/or gender identity. Dominic Arnall, CEO, told GAY TIMES that young queer people are “twice as likely to be bullied, experience depression, have anxiety and contemplated suicide”. Independent research from Just Like Us found that half of secondary school pupils are getting little to zero positive messaging about being LGBTQ+, “despite LGBTQ+ inclusive education being linked to pupils feeling safer in school and being less likely to experience suicidal thoughts.” With a recent study from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing that the amount of people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual doubled in the UK from 2014 to 2020, services such as Just Like Us are crucial for LGBTQ+ young people. Khakan Qureshi Indeed, Murphy has led the way with fictionalising queer history for a popular TV audience: having finished its third and final season last week, Pose blew open the drag ball culture scene of New York in the late 80s, and last year's Hollywood was a LGBTQ+-themed fantasy set in 1940s Los Angeles. Elsewhere on the small screen, It’s a Sin's five episodes have had a total of over 18 million views in the UK, while it earned near-universal raves on both sides of the Atlantic. Add to this recent queer-themed period films Carol and Call Me By Your Name, plus the French indie hit 120 Beats Per Minute, a love story set amongst the Aids activist movement of 1980s Paris, and it is clear that there is now a huge scope for telling queer stories in mainstream film and TV. Most recently, the internet exploded with behind-the-scenes photos of Harry Styles from the shoot of new film My Policeman, an adaptation of Bethan Roberts's 2012 novel starring the pop superstar as a closeted gay man in the 1950s. In 1999, Faisal Alam founded Al Fatiha UK as a support network for LGBTQ+ Muslims. It was later renamed Imaan and has gone on to become the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ Muslim charity. Their mission is make sure no LGBTQ+ Muslim person living in the UK feels excluded from their family, their faith or their communities. Following 9/11 and later the 7/7 bombings in London, Islamaphobia became more rampant in the gay scene and Imaan was there to make sure they provided a safe space for those who needed it, but also connected with communities to break down the bigotry and discrimination that pervaded the LGBTQ+ community. They marched in anti-terrorism protest rallies in rainbow-coloured hijab, and featured in a Channel 4 documentary to educate the mainstream on what it really means to be LGBTQ+ and Muslim in the UK. But most importantly of all, it has served as a support network for LGBTQ+ Muslims who need it most, allowing them to create meaningful connections and celebrate the breadth of identities and experiences that LGBTQ+ people have within the Islamic faith. Russell T DaviesFor now, the asylum seekers that have been given leave to remain are enjoying the freedoms to be themselves that the UK. Meanwhile, Joel believes having people from the LGBTQ+ community interviewing gay asylum seekers would make the process much less damaging for claimants. In that regard, the Home Office have their cake and eat it,’ he explains. ‘If you don’t “look” gay, interviewers may say: “Well, you don’t present as a gay man so what’s the risk? We don’t accept you are gay as claimed.” In the book she rails against right-wing governments here and abroad. She describes Suella Braverman, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson as evil (partly, in Johnson’s case, because Brexit has prevented her and Sutherland living in their Italian house for more than 90 days of the year). ‘I don’t think the Tory party was always corrupt and incompetent. But it is now,’ she tells me. ‘And it’s very sad for people who are lifelong Tories. I don’t hate those people. I feel pity for them, actually. Where do they go? What do they do with their misplaced enthusiasms?’ Henderson, 33, was criticised by some LGBTQ+ campaigners over his transfer to Saudi, where same-sex sexual activity is illegal, after he had previously publicly shown support for the LGBTQ+ community.

The controversy surrounding I,Joan gestures to the risks of transplanting queer narratives from niche, community-centred venues and into mainstream theatres, where audiences may be less receptive to the ideas being explored – but this appears to be less of a deterrent and more of a motivation to theatre-makers like Josephine. No one has celebrated queerness in its many difference forms on British television quite like Russell T Davies. The screenwriter and television executive has placed LGBTQ+ representation at the forefront of his work throughout his career, bringing queer characters and narratives to a mainstream audience. His most notable works include: Queer as Folk, a 1999 drama that chronicled the lives of three gay men in Manchester’s gay village; Cucumber, a GLAAD-nominated mini-series focusing on middle-aged gay men; and It’s A Sin, a five-part series depicting the lives of gay men who lived during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the UK. The latter, which received universal critical acclaim, made history as the most binge-watched show on All4 and was also responsible for creating an upsurge in HIV testing. For his trailblazing work surrounding LGBTQ+ visibility on television, Russell was recognised with the 2020 GAY TIMES Honour for Outstanding Impact. Lady Phyll Sophia Bush posts 'toxic relationship' meme after ex-husband Chad Michael Murray sidestepped allegations he cheated on Erin Foster with her All of my wild sex escapades were in the midst of my disease and not with my wife. For me, it all centred around being pursued and pursuing others, it was never about the sex itself. As one of the greatest gay filmmakers of the late 20th century, Derek Jarman was a master of combining activism with art. His filmmaking debut Sebastiane – released in 1976 – was one of the very first British film to depict positive imagery of gay sexuality. But it was his 1986 classic Caravaggio that he is most remembered for. Starring Tilda Swinton is was revolutionary for its time, unashamed of its explicit depictions of same-sex love. Outside of film, Jarman was a committed LGBTQ+ rights campaigner, becoming one of the more vocal high profile people to challenge Thatcher’s Section 28 in the late 1980s. He also worked tirelessly to raise awareness around AIDS during the same decade and contributed to fundraising efforts to help those affected by it. He later acquired the virus and died of an AIDS-related illness in 1994. Lisa PowerDaniels did have role models from other sports to follow, including Olympic diving champion Tom Daley, who inspired him to make the decision to come out.