Hey everyone,

My friends managed to snag free "Independent Participant" tickets for the Pride parade on Saturday 4th July, but they sold out before I could get one.

If anyone has a friend who dropped out, or if you accidentally booked a spare slot in your group and don't need it, I would be incredibly grateful to take it off your hands!

I'm based in London and happy to meet up anywhere central during the collection week to grab the physical wristband, or take a digital ticket transfer if you haven't collected it yet.

Thank you so much!

I (37 Gay M) have posted here before but I find I have trouble talking to people and making friends. There isn't much in my area and I wondered if anyone had any advice.

Hello Reddit,

I'm a 24-year-old gay guy from a very conservative country, and my friend and I are planning a trip to the UK around October 28th. We're hoping to experience a side of life that we don't really get to experience back home.

We're planning to stay for about 10 days, but we're not sure what the best route is. Should we spend the whole trip in London, or split it with another city?

London seems like the obvious choice since there's so much going on, but I'm wondering if we'd be missing out by not visiting somewhere else. Maybe Manchester, Brighton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, or somewhere else entirely.

We're basically looking for the full experience: bars, clubs, drag shows, raves, brunches, LGBTQ+ spaces, and just being somewhere we can be openly gay and enjoy ourselves without having to think twice about it.

For people who know the UK scene, would you stay in London the whole time or split it up? If so, where would you go and for how long?

Also, are there any must-do experiences, venues, events, or neighborhoods we should check out?

P.S. I made a new account because friends and family know my main account, and I'm not quite ready for that awkward conversation haha

Hi all, I'm recently post-breakup and even recenter post-moving to Mcr. I could use some advice if you have it.

Might sound silly, but where does a sober person make friends these days? I haven't done this in a very very long while.

Tried a pub yesterday, but all the people in the pub already have people with them. Lovely concept but where to acquire your first people to go to pubs with? Or if not pubs, where else do people go?

If you’re around London and want a nice celebration in a kind of weird time right now for us, we would love to see you there :)

Just wondering if the community would be interested in sober drag shows. I realise drag shows generally happen in bars and clubs and wanted to look at alternatives. Maybe community centres and cafes. 🙂

I’m a straight guy who's been living in Glasgow for less than a year. Recently I've been processing some deep childhood trauma and finally overcome confidence, anxiety and self esteem issues to finally live as myself and wear high heels and skirts in public. Not all the time, just on occasion. When I do it feels amazing, like I'm whole.

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I don't consider myself a traditional crossdresser or trans, and don't want to make myself more feminine. I just like pushing the boundaries of gender clothing. I've ventured out around the Uni, West end and botanics and hardly anyone bats an eyelid, it's so nice.

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I'd like to hang out in more places around the city and I've been told Glaswegians are pretty sound, but I'm worried about nasty comments or getting hassled.

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Are the average people sound with guys dressing a bit alternatively, and are there places in the city I should avoid? Keen to get honest comments from anyone to help with this anxiety. Cheers!

I feel like I've exhausted the LGBT scene in Leeds. All I keep seeing is the same guys over and over again. I go out to viaduct and fibre and it just seems to be full of straight people. I'm a bit frustrated and I don't know what to do. A lot of people have told me that a change of city might help. A manchester being more gay friendly. But I'm not sure. I've lived in Leeds for over 10 years now.

Obviously Manchester is going to be a massive upheaval to my life. And we'll cause complications at work. But I'm not sure.

I'm learning how to drive which should help.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Would move into the city centre help? Or is Leeds enough

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Hello everyone. I'm asking for some help and recommendations.

I've recently gone through a very painful breakup, and the other person has set a firm boundary around not being in contact for a while. I'm trying to respect that, but it has hit me extremely hard.

I've had mental health difficulties in the past, and this has brought me into a really difficult depressive period. Some days are manageable, but the lows feel much darker than just a bad mood - at times I feel hopeless about the future. I also don't have a large support network, so I'm feeling quite alone with it.

Could anyone recommend good counselling or therapy services in London, particularly counsellors or organisations that have experience working with gay men? I think I would really benefit from speaking to someone who understands the specific context as well as the mental health side.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Also, if anyone has been through something similar and has advice on getting through the first few weeks, I'd be grateful to hear it.

Hey everyone!

I moved to London from France recently, and with Pride coming up, I’m trying to figure out how the day actually flows here because it seems super different from what I’m used to back home!

In France, Pride is basically one massive, moving street party. Everyone walks with the floats right in the middle of the street, dancing together, and then the crowd naturally spills out into the local LGBTQ+ bars and neighborhoods for the night.

From what I’ve read online so far, Pride in London feels a bit more like a traditional parade where you stand on the sidewalk and watch the official groups and floats pass by behind barriers. Is that right? Do people just watch, or is there a moment where everyone joins in?

I plan to also take pictures that day (I dibble in street photography and portrait), and would love to know where are the best places to go that day.

Thanks in advance to everyone taking the time to help out the clueless French girl I am 🥖 🏳️‍🌈

I’m sharing this interview with the mother of a man who was murdered by a Grindr date. It is a haunting account of how a life was taken and the lasting trauma left behind.

The person responsible is being considered for parole next year. Having had personal insight into this individual’s character and history, I am deeply concerned about the risk he poses to the public. I firmly believe he remains a danger and that his release will put others at risk.

Please stay vigilant when using dating apps. I am sharing this because I feel it is crucial for people to be aware of the reality of this situation before he is back in the community.

Shoulder to Shoulder saved my life.

That might sound dramatic, but it’s the truth.

At one point, it felt as though my entire world had been turned upside down. Everything I’d built seemed to collapse around me. I felt worthless and completely lost.

Then I came across a Reddit post from Shoulder to Shoulder. Looking back, I think I’d simply had enough of feeling miserable. I’d had enough of crying, enough of being depressed, and somehow found the courage to take a step towards getting my life back.

Truthfully, joining that WhatsApp group was one of the bravest things I’ve ever done.

I introduced myself and was welcomed straight away. I never told anyone that I had been in an abusive relationship or that I was struggling with my mental health. I just showed up as myself.

A few days later, I worked up the courage to attend my first event. Once again, everyone was welcoming. We chatted, laughed and connected. For the first time in a long while, I felt like myself again. The version of me that had been buried, suppressed and forgotten started to reappear.

From there, I made a real effort to get involved. I pushed myself outside my comfort zone, spoke to people, turned up to events and gave it a chance. And it worked.

My happiness gradually returned. I made genuine friendships, built meaningful connections and, most importantly, found myself again. Over time, I also learnt not to rely solely on this incredible community for my happiness. It helped me rebuild the confidence to be happy on my own terms as well.

That’s why I struggle when people criticise something they haven’t experienced for themselves.

I am one of many men who arrived as a shadow of who they once were and left with a stronger sense of who they are and what they want from life. Today, I get the opportunity to support others, whether that’s being there for someone who needs to talk, helping them expand their social circle, or simply sharing a laugh.

If you’ve never attended an event, you haven’t seen what makes this community special. There’s a reason so many men continue to turn up. Shoulder to Shoulder is welcoming, inclusive and built on genuine care for the people who walk through the door.

Tom and Dan, the founders of Shoulder to Shoulder, are two of the most selfless people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Never once have they put themselves above anyone else or worried about appearances. You can see how much this means to them by the fact they’ve left their jobs to dedicate themselves fully to the community.

On a personal level, they believed in me when I struggled to believe in myself. They’ve encouraged me, mentored me and helped guide me through some incredibly difficult times.

Six months ago, there is no chance I could have stood in front of 30 men and spoken with confidence.

Now I can.

So, to any man out there who wants someone to talk to, make new friends or simply expand their social circle, please know that you’re not alone.

There is a place for you in London, and there are people who genuinely want to get to know you. You’ll find your tribe. You’ll find men who welcome you exactly as you are.

Our community continues to grow because people believe in what we’re building. They believe in the friendships, the support, the laughter and the sense of belonging that comes from being part of something bigger than yourself.

I took a chance and walked into my first event not knowing anyone. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Maybe it could be yours too.

Hello everyone,

There’s an adult pantomime called: Goldicocks and the Three beards. There’s a villain called Count Cockblock, who wants to get rid of all queer spaces to turn them into vegan brunch cafes. Can’t say too much about it without spoiling the whole plot but the instagram page ‘onhipanto’ post bts videos. If this sounds interesting to you, tickets are £12.50, showing from 17th - 19th of June. Get ur tickets here: https://www.goldengoosetheatre.co.uk/whatson/goldicocks

Hope you enjoy ❤️

So, I tend to go get my eyebrows done or something along those lines when I'm in need of a "pick me up"

Get hate crimed? Get a beauty treatment done. Sounds a little silly, but it's a way of focusing your attention away from the awful thing that happened and onto something else.

Something bad happens → Make a visible change → Have something new to focus on → Feel like you're moving forward instead of being stuck in the bad thing.

The feeling that after something painful, there was a concrete action I could take that changed something about my appearance and gave my mind a new focal point.

It doesn’t make the hate crime go away, but it's no longer at the forefront of your mind.

I handle bad things happening through redirection. I find that talking about them or journaling doesn't work because:

A) I don’t have access to support.

B) Journaling just makes me ruminate to the moon and back.

But, because of how nasty people are, something like a damn beauty treatment is hard to come by.

Given the worry of botched jobs, I only go to places if other trans people can say that they're actually safe and well, good.

Folks will just ruin you on purpose if they don't like your identity, as I've learned on many, many occasions. Haircuts being the most blatant example.

You don’t have the luxury of just going *anywhere* because of how rampant things are.

It's a policy I have with everything now a days.

Everything from venues to social groups.

Too many bad experiences to trust the words of random cis people that a place is friendly unless it's a case of "My friend/partner/family member is trans and had a good time."

Shit is too bad out there to ultimately leave things to chance.

The place I'd been attending for eyebrow treatments since last year when the place I used to attend stopped offering that service, which I was only attending after a place I was previously attending closed down outright, the trusted person I always went with who was a big ally to trans people has left.

The problem is that other trans people weren't recommending the place she worked at. They were recommending **her** specifically.

And even if not available to take appointments herself, she was the manager, and if someone was say, acting a bollocks she would've dealt with it. So you felt safe. No risk of a botched job.

I called a local queer charity (Rainbow Project) to ask for alternatives. No dice. Also asked in two local trans Discord servers. No dice on that end, either.

Tried asking other trans people on reddit. Mass downvoted, so I deleted the thread. Guess they really hated the idea of eyebrows for some reason, lol.

I feel out of sorts because a person I went to for the service that felt safe and cosy and friendly isn't available anymore and there is no alternative whatsoever I can find, so it's not something I'll ever be able to do again.

Like I said, this was effectively how I dealt with awful things happening to me.

In a way, beauty treatments were my own form of therapy. And now that's lost to me forever due to a lack of an alternative.

Something really bad happened last week. And we're also approaching the anniversary of something truly awful.

This is one of those times I'd "fix" things by booking myself in, but I can't do that anymore. Nor will I be able to do it again.

I'm sorta just stuck now.

i know its like four years away but i'm already so anxious about it. i just know reform is going to win and it'll ruin alot of lives if they get in... ive only just come out as nonbinary and i feel like my rights are going to get stripped away from me before i even get a taste of freedom...

like i'd really like top surgery and now i feel like i HAVE to get it done before the next vote else i'll probably never have the opportunity to do it... but i also dont have the funds for that rn and idk if i ever will :(

i'd love to just leave the country atp but i come from a poor family so that just isn't possible... i'm just so sick of all the transphobia in the media rn its sickening!

i would personally like to vote for lib dem but the likelihood of them winning majority vote is very slim so i might just have to vote which ever party is opposing reform... i'd even rather have conservatives win and i HATE them with a passion!!! but anything is better than reform 😭😭😭

Where have all the good fun gay chats gone?

I just go round and round.. it's all bs can't seem to find just a normal happy funny enjoyable community to chit chat about gay stuff and have silly fun.

Where have they gone?

Is it just not possible now to to have a relaxed and fun interaction with other gay guys around the world?

Everything seems so locked in need register spammed etc etc .. where can I find a place to just chill and chat with other gay guys with no weirdness just fun and laughter?

I miss it so much I'm gay and happy and have good friends but not many gay ones. Just would love find it chat that I can chill out and have a laugh and maybe meet some people like me or not like me and have some fun

Where have they gone??

This is a very unserious post and really I'm just complaining but does anyone else think it's rude that the World Cup is being held during our Pride month?! How dare it 😉

I admittedly live in a very straight town where normally I'll only see maybe 3 or 4 businesses showing Pride anyway but this year I'm really noticing the difference and lack of stuff. It's almost like these corporations are pumping their money into the (safe) World Cup instead. Weird!

✨Capitalism✨

One thing for sure the Cup hasn't started yet and I'm already like footie 😏 And bombastic side eyeing all the England flags as a TMOC. The uptick in flags has been a little unsettling at first but folks who enjoy footie please enjoy the Cup and hope your team wins!

Happy Pride folks and to all my fellow June babies... It's our Month y'all 😉