LGBTQ

Tom Allen to celebrate equal marriage with new BBC special My Big Gay Wedding

As well as organising the wedding, Allen will look back on the years spent fighting for marriage rights, and his own years growing up gay.  He will meet the LGBTQIA+ activists who made equal marriage possible and reflect on how far gay rights have come over the last decade.

In pursuit of the most spectacular wedding, the couple will be introduced to Allen’s famous friends who will help out with everything from the entertainment to the wedding outfits.

I Kissed a Boy: Meet the cast of the UK’s first gay dating show

two contestants kiss in front of Dannii Minogue with the lettering "i kissed a boy" overlaid

I Kissed a Boy is aptly named, as all contestants will begin their journey by kissing their new partners upon their first meeting, without even exchanging words.

The 10 participants in the UK's first gay dating show have been paired up by self-proclaimed “fairy-godmother/cupid” and Australian pop icon Dannii Minogue. She says: "When dating fatigue sets in and you are tired of swiping right, or you have not had the opportunity to meet enough potential dates – Mama Minogue is here to help.”

BBC weatherman Owain Wyn Evans is positive role model

Evans, who grew up in a working-class family in Ammanford, became the presenter of S4C’s Welsh language children’s news programme Ffeil at just 18. 

His screen test was nervy, but “they must have seen something because I had no experience”, he said.

Since 2012, he has presented the weather for the BBC across the UK, bringing his flamboyant personality and social media innovation to forecasting.

Soaps are powerful in changing people's perceptions say Corrie's Daniel Brocklebank

Coronation Street's Daniel Brocklebank (Credit: Richard Kendal)

But, argued the actors, writers and producers on the panel at an RTS event in mid-July – “LGBTQ in soap: job done?” ­– the fight against prejudice is not yet won.

“Soaps are incredibly powerful in terms of being able to get a message out and in changing people’s perceptions,” said Daniel Brocklebank, who plays gay vicar Billy Mayhew in Coronation Street.

BBC announces major new series of LGBTQ programming, Gay Britannia

Gay Britannia will feature bold stories that celebrate the LGBTQ community and highlight what it means to be gay in Britain today, whilst challenging existing preconceptions and prejudices.

The season of programming will mark 50 years since The Sexual Offences Act 1967, which partially decriminalised homosexual acts that took place in private between two men over the age of 21.