Introduction: The Weight of Now
In 2025, we stand at a pivotal moment in the ongoing struggle for equality and dignity for all LGBTQ+ people. Around the world, rights once won are under threat, and in the UK, recent legal and political decisions are stirring urgent debate about identity, inclusion and the meaning of freedom.
This blog is a call to remembrance, reflection, and radical hope. Through powerful stories — from Holocaust Centre North to Gad Beck’s resistance, from Making Gay History to Pride in Trafford — we are reminded that queerness is not new. LGBTQ+ people have always existed, fought, survived, loved, and led.
But we also name today’s injustices. A recent UK Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 determined that “sex” in parts of the Equality Act 2010 should be interpreted only as biological sex — a judgment that, while legally limited in scope, is being misused in the public discourse to justify exclusion of trans people, especially trans women, from single-sex spaces. This ruling has emboldened anti-trans rhetoric in the press, schools, and even some public services.
Meanwhile, conversion practices remain legal in the UK, LGBTQ+ hate crimes are rising, and intersectional communities — especially LGBTQ+ people of colour, disabled queer people, and those of faith — are facing disproportionate levels of harm, poverty, and social exclusion.
In this climate, remembering queer history is not indulgent — it is resistance. Sharing inclusive stories is not optional — it is survival. And Pride is not a party — it is protest, joy, and radical self-affirmation.
Now Is the Time
A poem by Alyson Malach
Now is the time to lift the weight,
Of silence, judgement, fear and hate.
To speak the names we’ve pushed aside,
To hold a space, to turn the tide.
Now is the time to name what’s wrong,
To right the past, to make all strong.
To see each soul, each heart, each face,
And build a world of equal place.
Now is the time to change our speech,
To think, reflect, to learn, to teach.
To catch the slip, to shift the phrase,
And honour all in what we say.
Now is the time to share your truth,
To lead with hope, to teach the youth.
To pledge a way, to own your part,
And hold inclusion at the heart.
The Stories That Shape Us: Holocaust Centre North & Gad Beck
The Holocaust Centre North is home to the lived histories of Jewish survivors who rebuilt their lives in northern England. Their testimonies are vivid reminders of what happens when hatred is institutionalised, and people are dehumanised for being who they are.
Among those silenced by history are LGBTQ+ Holocaust victims — people like Gad Beck, a defiant gay teenager who led resistance efforts in Nazi Berlin and risked everything to rescue his Jewish lover. His courage was not only political, but it was also profoundly personal — a kind of love-led defiance we must still emulate today.
Making Gay History: Unearthing Queer Resistance
The podcast Making Gay History restores voices of LGBTQ+ individuals who resisted, survived, and saved others during the Nazi era. Trans woman Lucy Salani, lesbian resistance fighter Frieda Belinfante, and teenage lover Stefan Kosinski each remind us that queerness and resistance have always walked hand-in-hand.
These histories challenge the erasure of LGBTQ+ identities from narratives of war, bravery, and victimhood.
Pride in Trafford: Celebration as a Form of Resistance
The Pride in Trafford festival showcases the dynamism of queer arts and community. With cabaret, neurodiverse performers, drag workshops, and LGBTQ+ youth events, it carves out joyful, reflective, and creative spaces for everyone.
This matters, especially when young queer people are facing rising mental health needs, bullying, and cuts to LGBTQ+ youth services.
UK LGBTQ+ Issues in 2025: Progress Undermined
Supreme Court Ruling on Sex and Gender (April 2025):
While legally focused on specific exemptions in the Equality Act, this ruling has been weaponised to challenge trans inclusion in sport, education, and healthcare. Some schools have removed inclusive language policies or restricted trans students’ access to toilets and pronoun use.
Hate Crime and Fear:
LGBTQ+ hate crimes in England and Wales increased by over 150% between 2014 and 2023, with transphobic abuse seeing some of the sharpest rises. The absence of robust government strategy has left communities feeling unsafe and unsupported.
Conversion Practices Still Legal:
Despite years of campaigning, the UK still has not passed a full ban on conversion therapy. This disproportionately harms young queer people, particularly those from religious backgrounds or ethnically diverse families.
Media Hostility and Misinformation:
Public discourse has grown increasingly hostile, with trans people, especially trans women, being vilified in mainstream press. This drives isolation, anxiety, and policy regression.
Intersectionality: When LGBTQ+ Identity Meets Race, Religion, Disability and More
The impact of these issues is not equal.
Black and racially minoritised LGBTQ+ people often face racism within queer spaces and queerphobia in their racial communities.
Muslim and Christian LGBTQ+ individuals are frequently caught in cultural and theological tensions — their existence treated as a contradiction.
Disabled LGBTQ+ people face inaccessible events, support services, and often invisibility in LGBTQ+ representation.
LGBTQ+ asylum seekers are at risk of deportation to hostile countries, while facing dehumanising treatment in UK detention centres.
Key message: Queer liberation cannot be achieved without racial, religious, disability and migrant justice too.
Action: Use an intersectional lens in your EDI work, network events and Pride planning. Invite people with layered identities to speak and lead. Ensure accessibility, safety, and relevance for all.
Share and Amplify: How to Use This Blog
Share with your networks:
- Include in Pride Month or Holocaust Memorial Day communications
- Post in LGBTQ+ staff network groups and diversity newsletters
- Use in schools and universities as a learning resource
Use in practice:
- Pair Gad Beck’s story with a discussion on allyship and courage
- Use the full poem in team meetings, classrooms, or leadership forums
- Host a Making Gay History listening circle followed by a reflective session
Pledge your part:
In your workplace, classroom, community group — ask, what can we do differently so that everyone is included, seen, and safe?
Final Word: The Time is Now
We inherit the legacy of those who fought, danced, resisted and loved in the shadows. Today, we rise in their memory, with boldness, intersectionality, and joy.
Not tomorrow.
Not after another headline.
Not when it’s safe.
Now. Is. The. Time.