Celebrating Manchester's LGBTQ+ Communities

We have collected information about and interviews with prominent figures from the LGBTQ+ community in Manchester. We have also compiled volunteering opportunities and reading lists of authors and stories from LGBTQ+ communities. Scroll past the timeline and click the different icons below to find out more.

Key Awareness Days

February

  • LGBT+ History Month - It is celebrated every February across the UK and was founded in 2004 by Schools OUT co-chairs Paul Patrick & Professor Emeritus Sue Sanders.
  • Children's Mental Health Week 2024 (5 - 11 February) - Children's Mental Health Week was launched in 2015 and each year, hundreds of schools, children, parents and carers take part. Now in its 10th year, the theme is ‘My Voice Matters’.
  • Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week (18 - 24 February) - This event is intended to spread awareness and acceptance of aromantic spectrum identities and the issues which they face. It is also a time for the community to celebrate their own experiences and existence!

March

  • Zero Discrimination Day - On Zero Discrimination Day, 1 March, we celebrate the right of everyone to live a full and productive life—and live it with dignity. Zero Discrimination Day highlights how people can become informed about and promote inclusion, compassion, peace and, above all, a movement for change.
  • International Transgender Day of Visibility (31st March) - Trans Day of Visbility marks a time to celebrate trans and non-binary people, and to raise awareness of the discrimination faced by the community worldwide.

April

  • Lesbian Visibility Week (22 - 28 April) - Lesbian Visibility Week aims to show solidarity with all LGBTQI woman and non binary people in the community, as well as celebrate lesbians. It is essential that Lesbian Visibility Week is a voice for unity and lifts up all women, especially those who come from marginalised communities.

May

  • Mental Health Awareness Week (13 - 19 May)
  • International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (17 May) - International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia aims to coordinate international events around the world to raise further important awareness of LBGTQ+ rights violations and to stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide. 
  • Agender Pride Day (19 May) - Although Agender Pride Day is a great time to celebrate those who identify as agender, it's also important to highlight the hate, discrimination and inequality faced by agender people around the world. 
  • Pansexual Visibility Day (24 May) - Pansexual Visibility Day (also called Pansexual Awareness Day) is an annual event celebrated in May to recognise, celebrate, and honour the experiences of people who identify as pansexual. This day was created to acknowledge and recognise the existence of pansexual individuals around the world, as well as to raise awareness of pansexuality and the issues that pansexual people face.

June

  • LGBT+ Pride Month - One of the most celebrated times within the LGBTQ+ Pride calendar, Pride month is a time for the entire LGBTQ+ community to come together globally and celebrate Pride in a full spectrum of activities, pride events, campaigns and much more.This is also a time to celebrate the progress that has been made for the LGBT+ community, and to continue to fight for equality.

July

  • International Non-Binary People's Day (14 July) - An occasion to shine a light on those who identify as non-binary and celebrates the rich diversity of the community.
  • International Drag Day (16 July) - International Drag Day aims to celebrate and recognise the Drag art internationally. Founded back in 2009 by Adam Stewart with the main objective to provide Drag artists with a safe space to expose their creativity and culture in a proper way. 

August

September

  • World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September) - A time for organisations and communities worldwide to come together and raise important awareness on how we can all create a world where fewer people lose their lives to suicide. LGBTIQ+ people still experience a higher risk of suicidal behaviours than non-LGBTIQ+ people. 'Creating Hope Through Action' is the triennial theme for the World Suicide Prevention Day from 2021 - 2023.
  • Bi Visibility Day (23 September) - Marked each year since 1999, Bi Visibility Day raises bi awareness and challenges bisexual & biromantic erasure.

October

  • World Mental Health Day 2023 (10 October) 
  • National Coming Out Day (11 October) 
  • International Pronouns Day (16 October)
  • Intersex Awareness Day (26 October) - Intersex Awareness Day strives to inform and educate people about intersex people, their human rights issues and the discriminations they face in daily life, including the decision for many to “normalise” their own sex in their own time and if they want to.

November

  • Anti-Bullying Week (11 - 17  November 2023) - ABA are official organisers of Anti-Bullying Week and Odd Socks Day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Anti-Bullying Week 2023 will take place from Monday 13th - Friday 17th November. The theme is Make A Noise About Bullying.
  • Transgender Day of Remembrance (20 November) - This is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. It's an important day to honour the lives of our trans siblings who have been taken from us too soon. 

December

  • World AIDS Day (1 December) - World AIDS Day is a day where we stand in solidarity with people living with HIV, remember those we lost, commit to fight against HIV stigma and look forward with hope.
  • Human Rights Day (10 December) - Human Rights Day falls on the same day that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights back in 1948. This declaration was a huge milestone in proclaiming the inalienable rights which everyone is entitled to as a human being, regardless of their race, colour, religion, sex, language, identity, or any other opinion or feeling.