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Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lesbian Spaces Are Disappearing. Where Do Queer Women Find Love?
During LGBTQIA+ History Month, I read a post from Gay's The Word about First Out, an iconic cafe/bar tucked away behind Tottenham Court Road, that I used to go to before it sadly closed down in 2011. It was a great place to catch up with like-minded others, and well, if I'm honest, to meet a potential girlfriend. Sadly, many lesbian bars and haunts have become part of our history, rather than the future, despite the fact that research suggests almost 10% of the population identify as LGBTQIA+, especially when you look at Gen Z. Internet dating became the space to meet, with research from the Pew Centre suggesting that since the launch of 30 years ago, a massive 24% of LGBT people met their long-term partner online. But according to recent reports, fake profiles and certainly the feedback from my queer female and non-binary audience, shows people are tired of swiping and liking. So where do queer women go to find love? I have been running events for queer women for the last 10 years, and during COVID saw a real desire from queer women to meet up in real life again. It's why I set up Out & Wild, now the UK's biggest festival for lesbian, bi, trans and queer women and those who are non-binary, to attempt to create fun, safe and supportive spaces to extend friendship circles and meet potential dates. Please don't call me Cilla, but my events have brought lots of couples together. We even had a proposal last year, from a couple that met at the 2023 festival. And I've also had some lovely messages from couples that have connected in London and other regional events I have run over the last 4 years. When I set up Out & Wild, it became really clear in the research that queer women were not just up to meeting at bars. They were much more interested in connecting with potential partners through shared experiences and common interests. We do not run speed dating or any other type of 'forced matchmaking' at Out & Wild events or ask you to wear different coloured stickers to show if you are single. We just have lots of focused activities and experiences that bring people together, like wild swimming, hiking, spoken word and interactive workshops. The events encourage participation and conversation and well, the rest flows from there. Bars will always be popular, and much needed, especially for those that identify as poly or who are looking for more casual relationships. But if you check out meet up or outsaavy you will see a real growth in experience driven events for queer women, from games nights, campervan nights away, to gong baths, and group dog walks. I constantly tell LGBTQIA+ work networks that they will never grow their female attendees by solely going to the pub/watching drag queens. And even when we are going to a bar, we really value facilitated 'solo meet ups'. I am also seeing the rise of lesbian 'speed friending', where you get to move around and do your 5 minute spiel, but without the pressure or stress of knowing if someone wants your number or not. These events simply promote opening conversations and then allow those who are keen to continue chatting afterwards. I get asked a lot how people can find dates, and my answer is to spread your bets. Go to events that spark your interest as well as bars. There is nothing wrong with dating sites, but try to widen your friendship circles, it's a great way to meet new people. And the biggest one, if you do connect with someone, just bite the bullet and ask for their number, fortune favours the brave. Polly Shute is a partnership and sponsorship expert, formerly having worked as a Board Member of Pride in London for four years. Now the Co-founder of Out and Wild Festival, Polly is passionate to connect the LGBTQIA+ community and create inclusive events across the country. Having been named as one of the OUTstanding Top 20 LGBT Public Sector Leaders, Polly is now a popular speaker, activist and influencer on gender and LGBTQIA+. Last year she was shortlisted for a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British LGBT Awards. Polly was honoured with awards such as the 2019 Social Purpose Award, the 2013 Most Innovative Fundraising Campaign award and recognised on both the Pride Power List and DIVA Power List. This Artist Is Giving Lesbian Couples The Retro, Pinup Treatment 'I Screamed For About A Minute!': Lesbian Couples Finally Have Equal Access To NHS IVF Are Gay and Lesbian Daters Paying More For Tinder Plus?
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Even Prince Harry's Own Charity Has Had Enough of His ‘Woke Agenda' and Feud With Trump
Senior figures in the Invictus Games, the paralympic style event for wounded veterans founded by Prince Harry, have criticized the royal for a 'woke agenda' and using a speech at the opening of the games to criticize 'weak moral character in the world,' remarks which have been generally interpreted as an attack on Donald Trump. Harry's speech was met with cheers in the Invictus arena, and many will enthusiastically support his stance. However, the remarks represented a significant departure from standard royal practice. It is normal for members of the royal family to avoid any mention of global affairs, lest they risk being seen to be meddling in politics, let alone the political choices of a specific country. Harry said the competitors' 'courage, values and humanity' deserved special respect at a time 'when there is no shortage of crises, no absence of uncertainty, no lack of weak moral character in the world.' His office has not responded to a request for comment on what he meant. But Harry's decision to take on Trumpian values in an arena full of veterans and their families was a slightly bizarre choice. Although he is much loved in the Invictus community, veterans typically tend to trend conservative politically, and in the U.S. support Trump by a wide margin, research by the Pew Centre shows. One organizer of the event told the Daily Mail: 'While we remain committed to supporting the veterans and their families, there is growing frustration over how Harry and Meghan have dominated the narrative. Public sentiment, especially among veterans, reflects this frustration—most do not respect how they continuously insert themselves into the spotlight. Unlike them, veterans and their families do not see themselves as victims. Their 'woke' agenda dies with veterans.' Harry made his veiled dig at Trump after the president said he wouldn't deport Harry over historical drug use, but then added: 'I don't want to do that. He's got enough problems with his wife. She's terrible.' Another Invictus insider told the Mail that while they could 'understand' Harry's upset reaction to Trump, 'it is a shame that Harry chose to say what he did, when he did. This event should be about the veterans, not royal spectacle.' Harry's remarks represented an escalation of his and Meghan's simmering feud with Trump. He also saluted the Invictus 'spirit of unity' in a 'moment of difficulty and division.' Trump's deeply personal attack on Meghan distracted from Trump's climbdown on deporting Harry, whose immigration status has been the subject of debate and court actions ever since he admitted to taking drugs in his memoir, Spare. In the book, Harry wrote of the time he got high on mushrooms at Friends star Courteney Cox's house and thought a toilet was talking to him. He also revealed he had used cocaine at 17 'to feel different.' The Heritage Foundation, the right-wing lobby group which authored Project 2025, has launched legal efforts to force the U.S. authorities to release details of Harry's immigration application. The Sussex-Trump feud dates to a 2016 Comedy Central panel show in which Meghan, then an actress and not linked to Harry, expressed her contempt for Trump, labeling him 'misogynistic' and 'divisive,' and joking that she might move to Canada if Trump was elected president. Trump later famously referred to her comment as 'nasty' ahead of his state visit to the U.K. in June 2019, by which time he was president and Meghan had married Harry. In 2022, Trump told fellow Meghan critic Piers Morgan: 'Harry is whipped like no person I think I've ever seen.' He predicted the couple would divorce, saying, 'It'll end, and it'll end bad… I want to know what's going to happen when Harry decides he's had enough of being bossed around… Or maybe when she decides that she likes some other guy better. I want to know what's going to happen when it ends, OK?' Trump used his new interview with the New York Post to praise Harry's estranged older brother, William, with whom he met in Paris in December. 'I think William is a great young man,' he said.
