United Kingdom
U.K. to host global LGBTQ rights conference
Event to coincide with London Pride’s 50th anniversary
The U.K. this summer will host a global LGBTQ rights conference that will coincide with London Pride’s 50th anniversary.
The Safe to Be Me Conference will take place in London from June 29-July 1.
The conference will focus on four areas: Fighting violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, expanding legal protections for LGBTQ people, ensuring equal access to HIV/AIDS treatment and other public services and working with businesses to promote LGBTQ-inclusive practices.
Nick Herbert, a member of the British House of Lords who advises British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on LGBTQ issues, on March 24 told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview the criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations is one of the issues the conference will highlight. Herbert also said he expects Johnson will be among those who will speak at the event.
“There is a huge enthusiasm for this event, a feeling that it is very timely, that it’s important for like-minded countries to get together … but also to try and bring other countries to the event that are on the journey towards LGBT+ rights and we encourage them to move in the right direction,” said Herbert. “I’m excited about the potential for this event, which I think could do real good.”
The Equal Rights Coalition, a group the U.K. currently co-chairs with Argentina, seeks to promote LGBTQ rights around the world.
Herbert said an Equal Rights Coalition meeting will take place in London on June 28, the day before the conference begins. The London Pride parade will happen on July 2.
Ruling against marriage equality in Bermuda, Cayman Islands ‘difficult’
Herbert spoke with the Blade ahead of the expected introduction of a bill in the British Parliament that would ban so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales. The interview took place less than two weeks after the Privy Council’s Judicial Committee blocked marriage for same-sex couples in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
“I was personally sorry to see that decision, but I respect the fact that it is a decision by a court and we have to respect the legal process,” said Herbert, referring to the March 14 ruling. “Some people have been urging the U.K. government to step in … these are sovereign countries with their own elected parliaments and stepping in to override them would not be a small thing. And you could see it as a form of neocolonialism.”
“It is difficult,” he added. “What they need to do is to work with those countries to try and persuade them to change their own laws.”
‘Situation in Ukraine is deeply worrying’
The conference will begin less than five months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“The situation in Ukraine is deeply worrying,” said Herbert. “It is appalling to see the impact on people in Ukraine.”
“We need to do everything that we can to help them, and that will include LGBT+ people,” he added. “Where there are special circumstances affecting LGBT+ people, we need to address those and I have been in discussions with other governments and officials about that.”
Herbert told the Blade that “what is happening in Ukraine does mean that we have to reassert our values; which are about the importance of human rights, of democracy, of self-determination.”
“The values that we bring to our conference in June are the same values,” he said. “I do see what we are doing in June is being consistent with the stance we are taking in Ukraine.”
The British government last fall helped evacuate two groups of LGBTQ Afghans from Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control of the country. Herbert told the Blade that “this work continues” with the U.N. and NGOs that include Stonewall in the U.K. and Rainbow Railroad in Canada.
“We continue to work to provide a safe place for LGBT+ refugees from Afghanistan,” he said. “We have a specific program to welcome people who are fleeing the regime in Afghanistan and we’ve identified LGBT+ people as potentially vulnerable who will need our help.”
United Kingdom
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign
Announcement comes after Labour Party election loses, ambassador scandal
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday announced he will step down once his party chooses his successor.
Starmer succeeded Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party in No. 10 Downing St. in 2024.
The Labour Party included a ban on so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales in its elections manifesto. King Charles III in last month’s King Speech that he delivered in the British House of Lords said a transgender-inclusive ban is among the British government’s legislative priorities.
Charles delivered his King’s Speech days after the Labour lost more than 1,000 council seats in local and regional elections. The May 7 vote took place against the backdrop of widespread criticism over Starmer’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S., despite his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is seen as the frontrunner to become Labour’s new leader — and the UK’s next prime minister. Burnham was sworn in as an MP in the House of Commons hours after Starmer announced his resignation.
Starmer in his resignation announcement said he expects his successor will be in place before MPs return from their summer recess on Sept. 1.
United Kingdom
UK government makes trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban a legislative priority
King Charles III on Wednesday delivered King’s Speech
King Charles III on Wednesday said a transgender-inclusive ban on so-called conversion therapy in England and Wales is among the British government’s legislative priorities.
“My government will bring forward a bill to speed up remediation for people living in homes with unsafe cladding [Remediation Bill] and a draft bill to ban abusive conversion practices [Draft Conversion Practices Bill],” said Charles in his King’s Speech that he delivered in the British House of Lords.
The government writes the King’s Speech, which outlines its legislative agenda. The British monarch delivers it at Parliament’s ceremonial opening.
“Conversion practices are abuse, and the government will deliver the manifesto commitment to bring forward a trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices,” said the government in an addendum to the speech.
Then-Prime Minister Theresa May’s government in 2018 announced it would “bring forward proposals to end the practice of conversion therapy in the U.K.”
Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government in 2022 said it would support a ban that did not include gender identity. The decision sparked outrage among British advocacy groups, and prompted them to boycott a government-sponsored LGBTQ conference that was ultimately cancelled.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party ahead of the 2024 elections included a conversion therapy ban in its manifesto. Charles delivered the King’s Speech against the backdrop of growing calls for Starmer to resign after the Labour Party lost more than 1,000 council seats in local and regional elections that took place on May 7.
Stonewall, a British advocacy group, on April 30 said the government “has failed to meet its own timeline to publish a draft bill to ban conversion practices.”
“We should not have to wait any longer,” said Stonewall CEO Simon Blake in his group’s statement. “Conversion practices are abuse. LGBTQ+ people do not need fixing or changing. They need to hear and feel that government is going to protect their safety and dignity. Not at some random date in the future. No more delays.”
United Kingdom
King Charles III unveils memorial to British LGBTQ servicemembers
Ceremony is first time monarch held ‘official engagement’ in support of community.
King Charles III on Monday unveiled a memorial to British LGBTQ servicemembers.
The memorial is located at the National Memorial Arboretum in Burton-on-Trent, England.
“We see all the LGBT+ serving members and veterans of the Armed Forces, and we salute you,” said the Royal Family in a social media post that contained a video of Charles placing flowers at the memorial.
“Throughout the 20th century, gay men, lesbians, and bisexual people were banned from serving in the UK Armed Forces,” it adds.
We see all the LGBT+ serving members and veterans of the Armed Forces, and we salute you. 🌈
This afternoon at the National Memorial Arboretum, The King attended the Dedication Ceremony of a new memorial in recognition of all LGBT+ people who have served and continue to serve… pic.twitter.com/tEbkzsQHTG
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 27, 2025
“Today marks a historic step for healing and reconciliation,” said the British Defense Ministry.
The BBC notes gay servicemembers could not serve openly in the UK until 2000.
Monday’s ceremony is the first time Charles held an “official engagement” in support of LGBTQ rights.
His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, gave royal assent to the Sexual Offenses Act of 1967, which decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations among men in England and Wales who are at least 21, and to a law that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples in England and Wales in 2014. Elizabeth, among other things, also pardoned Alan Turing, an acclaimed World War II codebreaker and computer scientist who died by suicide two years after his 1952 conviction for “gross indecency.”
Then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2023 apologized to LGBTQ servicemembers who “endured the most horrific sexual abuse and violence, homophobic bullying, and harassment, all while bravely serving this country.”
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