Every year, when International Lesbian Day comes around, someone inevitably asks why we still need days like this. Surely, in 2026, we've achieved equality? We can marry, live openly, raise families and enjoy legal protections that previous generations could only have dreamed of. So why do we still need a day dedicated to lesbians? Because equality written into legislation is not the same as equality experienced in everyday life. And because, despite decades of progress, lesb

Last Sunday Bridget Phillipson the Women's & Equalities minister commented about not allowing trans women into women's refuges risk reducing an extraordinarily complex issue to a question about who can and cannot enter one particular type of building. I come to this debate with more than a passing interest. I spent many years of my career overseeing a national LGBT domestic abuse service. During that time, I saw the number of points of contact with the service grow from the l

Pride can be criticised. But criticism is increasingly becoming something much uglier. An article about Medway Pride caught my attention recently. Not simply because of what it said, but because it felt increasingly familiar. Throughout Pride season, and particularly in the days following Pride events, I have noticed article after article, Facebook post after Facebook post and comment after comment picking apart Pride. Some raise legitimate questions. Others are full of judge

At the end of last year, I made one of the hardest professional decisions I’ve ever had to make. I closed my consultancy. For years I’d poured my heart into equality, diversity and inclusion consultancy, leadership development and organisational change. I worked with organisations that genuinely wanted to become fairer, more inclusive places to work and access services. It was work I believed in deeply, and I still do. Walking away wasn’t because I’d fallen out of love with i

The rainbow flags have come down. The social media logos have quietly returned to their usual colours. The Pride merchandise has been packed away for another year. Now comes the question that really matters: What does authentic allyship look like for the other eleven months of the year? Being an ally isn't about a logo or a hashtag. It is about what happens after the celebrations are over. It is about creating workplaces where LGBTQ+ people don't simply survive, they thrive.

There is something deeply symbolic about a library. Libraries are not simply buildings filled with books. They are one of the last truly public spaces we have left, places where people can exist without needing to buy something, justify themselves, or prove they belong. For generations of LGBTQ+ people, libraries have been places of discovery, safety, and survival. Which is why recent decisions by some local councils to scale back Pride-related promotion in libraries feel so