LGBTIQ+ Calendar

Bi Visibility Day, also known as International Celebrate Bisexuality Day, has been marked each year since 1999 to highlight biphobia and to help people find the bisexual community.

Every year on National Coming Out Day, we celebrate coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) or as an ally. Today we mark the 30th anniversary of National Coming Out Day!

Thirty years ago, on the anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, we first observed National Coming Out Day as a reminder that one of our most basic tools is the power of coming out. One out of every two Americans has someone close to them who is gay or lesbian. For transgender people, that number is only one in 10.

Coming out – whether it is as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or allied – STILL MATTERS. When people know someone who is LGBTQ, they are far more likely to support equality under the law. Beyond that, our stories can be powerful to each other.

In honor of National Coming Out Day, HRC honors all who have come out as LGBTQ or as a straight ally for equality – that takes bravery, and we commend you Every person who speaks up changes more hearts and minds, and creates new advocates for equality.

Intersex Awareness Day on October 26 marks the first public demonstration by intersex people in North America. Morgan Holmes and Max Beck of Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) were joined by allies from Transexual Menace and other organizations. It took place on October 26, 1996 in Boston, Massachusetts outside a conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Intersex Day of Solidarity takes place on November 8. The Day marks the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French intersex person whose memoirs were later published by the philosopher Michel Foucault, along with contemporary texts and a later fictionalized account

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

World AIDS Day takes place on 1 December each year. It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day.

Over 101,600 people are living with HIV in the UK. Globally, there are an estimated 36.7 million people who have the virus. Despite the virus only being identified in 1984, more than 35 million people have died of HIV or AIDS, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.

Today, scientific advances have been made in HIV treatment, there are laws to protect people living with HIV and we understand so much more about the condition. Despite this, each year in the UK over 4,300 people are diagnosed with HIV, people do not know the facts about how to protect themselves and others, and stigma and discrimination remain a reality for many people living with the condition.

World AIDS Day is important because it reminds the public and government that HIV has not gone away – there is still a vital need to raise money, increase awareness, fight prejudice and improve education.

The overall aim of LGBT History month is to promote equality and diversity for the benefit of the public. This is done by:

• Increasing the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) people, their history, lives and their experiences in the curriculum and culture of educational and other institutions, and the wider community;
• Raising awareness and advancing education on matters affecting the LGBT community;
• Working to make educational and other institutions safe spaces for all LGBT communities; and
• Promoting the welfare of LGBT people, by ensuring that the education system recognises and enables LGBT people to achieve their full potential, so they contribute fully to society and lead fulfilled lives, thus benefiting society as a whole.

Football v Homophobia (FvH) takes place year round and the campaign has its Month of Action in February. It is an international campaign to tackle homophobia and prejudice against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) people in football. The aim of FvH is to make football safe and welcoming for everyone.

An aromantic is someone who doesn’t experience romantic attraction. Aromanticism is often confused for asexuality, but asexuality is only a lack of sexual attraction. Not all asexuals are aromantic, nor are all aromantics asexual.

AAW is a week centered around spreading information and awareness about aromanticism and making sure aromantic spectrum voices and issues are heard and understood.

The Football v Transphobia week of action takes place in March, ending on Transgender Day of Visibility

Transgender (trans) people have long been part of football. Across the leagues trans fans have been supporting their clubs for many years and on pitches up and down the country, trans people have been playing the game they love.

In 2015 the FA updated their policy on trans people in football to make it easier and fairer for trans people to participate in the game. The FA believes that ‘gender identity should not be a barrier to participation in football’.

Nor do we. 

Lucy Clark, a Non-League referee who is trans talked to the papers about her transition. She told the press “I have kept this secret hidden away most of my life. Now is the time to be ME”. 

We believe that football is at its best when people can bring their whole selves to the game, which is why we’ve launched the Football v Transphobia week of action in March. We’re standing up for transgender people in the beautiful game. Will you? 

Transgender people come from all walks of life. We are your coworkers, family and neighbors. We are 7-year-old children and we are 70-year-old grandparents. We are a diverse community representing all racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as faith backgrounds.

International Transgender Day of Visibility is honored every year on March 31 and is a time to celebrate transgender people around the globe and the courage it takes to live openly and authentically, while also raising awareness around the discrimination trans people still face.

Held on April 26 every year, Lesbian Visibility Day showcases women-loving-women, providing a platform for lesbian role models to speak out on the issues facing female sexual minorities.

The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia was created in 2004 to draw the attention to the violence and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexuals, transgender, intersex people and all other people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.

The date of May 17th was specifically chosen to commemorate the World Health Organisation’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.

The Day represents a major global annual landmark to draw the attention of decision makers, the media, the public, corporations, opinion leaders, local authorities, etc. to the alarming situation faced by people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, and sex characteristics.

May 17 is now celebrated in more than 130 countries, including 37 where same-sex acts are illegal. Thousands of initiatives, big and small, are reported throughout the planet.

The International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia has received official recognition from several States, international institutions such as the European Parliament, and by countless local authorities. Most United Nations agencies also mark the Day with specific events.

Even if every year a “global focus issue” is promoted, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia is not one centralised campaign; rather it is a moment that everyone can take advantage of to take action, on whatever issue and in whatever format that they wish.

Many different entities participate in the global mobilisation around May 17 and as a consequence it receives many different denominations. Some organisations add Lesbophobia or Intersexphobia as distinct focuses. Acronyms also vary, from the initial IDAHO to IDAHOTB or IDAHOBIT. The Day is not one central trademarked brand and everyone is free to communicate as they wish.

Harvey Milk Day is celebrated each year on May 22 in memory of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist assassinated in 1978.

Harvey Milk served less than a year in public office before his brutal assassination but his life profoundly changed a city, state, nation and a global community. His courage, passion and sense of justice rocked a country and stirred the very core of a put down and pushed out community, bringing forward new hope and a new vision of freedom.

Pan Visibility Day is on May 24th and is a day to celebrate and recognize those who identify as pansexual.

Pan means ‘all’ and comes from the Geek’s. Pansexual people aren’t attracted to all other people, but they are attracted to people of all genders. This is different from being attracted to everyone; in the same way that a heterosexual woman will not be attracted to all men and a lesbian woman will not be attracted to all women, pansexual people will experience attraction to specific people and not others.

Pansexuality is different from bisexuality but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Being bisexual means being attracted to more than one gender, while being pansexual means being attracted to people regardless of gender. Pansexuality and bisexuality are not in conflict. In fact, some bisexual people also identify as pansexual, and vice versa. Pansexuality is included under the bisexual umbrella, which covers anyone who experiences sexual or romantic attraction to more than one gender.

The month of June was chosen for LGBT Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. As a result, many pride events are held during this month to recognize the impact LGBT people have had in the world.

On 28th June 1969, an uprising took place at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. As it was raided by the police in the early hours, three nights of unrest followed, with LGBT people, long frustrated by police brutality, finally fighting back. Lesbians and trans women of colour were some of the key people involved in the act of resistance, including Stormé DeLarverie, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. This anniversary is a reminder of the power of standing together in defiance of those who seek to divide us.

The 14 July is International Non-binary People’s Day, which aims to celebrate the wide range of people worldwide who identify as non-binary.

Non-binary is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity doesn’t sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman’. Non-binary identities are varied and can include people who identify with some aspects of binary identities, while others reject them entirely.

Non-binary people can feel that their gender identity and gender experience involves being both a man and a woman, or that it is fluid, in between, or completely outside of that binary.