Photography Eleanor Bentall
By Robert Jessel, LGB Alliance Press Officer
If the first rule of rock ‘n roll is “always leave them wanting more”, the fifth annual LGB Alliance conference was our best gig yet.
This year we bade a fond farewell to the QEII, an arena that served us well for Conference’s first four editions, and moved across the street to Church House. The new venue managed to be both bigger and more intimate, enabling us to switch up the tempo by mixing the usual plenary sessions with a wide range of break-out panels.
And like a good music festival, there were some tough choices to make.
As the spring sunshine streamed through the french windows and the strain of violins from Fantastic Fiddlers floated up from the street, delegates sipped coffee and circled sessions in their conference programme. Rosie Kay discussing freedom of speech in the arts, or Tish on “transing away the gay”? The redoubtable Cambridge Feminists, or gay men presenting the dark truth of chemsex? Andy Ngo or Julia Long?
At least no one had to miss the plenaries, and this year kicked off with an absolute banger. After Kate’s traditional welcome, she seamlessly segued into our opening session with our Gen Z panel. These rockstars got Conference off to a rollicking start, any green room nerves vanishing on stage. But while they frequently had the audience in stitches, these natural performers were in deadly earnest. Sim, Daniel, Gabriella and others all told the same story: young LGB people are tired of being told they are “same-gender” attracted, sick of being shamed for understanding basic biology – and increasingly unafraid to say so.
For me (and many others I spoke to afterwards), the most astonishing moment came when our panel discussed the challenge of coming out. Except their story is very different from early generations’. They don’t risk abuse or ostracisation for being gay or lesbian, but for admitting they are gender critical. Yet in their good-humoured but iron-willed resolve to do just that, they showed that the future for LGB people is in safe hands.
The theme of hope continued in our next session, when detransitioned gay man Michael Kerr discussed his story with LGB Alliance trustee Dermot Kehoe. This wasn’t an easy listen, as the soft-spoken Michael held the audience in rapt attention with his description the immense pressure from the #BeKind community to continue down the dark path towards irreversible damage and permanent sterilisation.
Particularly revealing was Michael’s discussion of the “love bombing” vulnerable young people receive when they start tentatively exploring a trans identity…and how viciously the same community will turn on you the moment you express doubts. It made me grateful (once again) I was born in 1980 and not 2000 – but also delighted that Michael has finally found a tribe that cares about his wellbeing.
Then came our first our first breakout sessions, for which I picked the LGB Alliance International presentation. Like so many of the panels down the years, this was fascinating, heartening and alarming in equal measure, as campaigners from around the world discussed the mix of unique and all-too-familiar challenges to LGB rights in their home countries. The biggest takeaway was how homophobia takes many guises, and that it rears its ugly head in “progressive” societies as much as repressive ones. Only the language is different.
After some stimulating conversation over a delicious lunch, it was back to the main hall to listen to therapist Mark Smith talking to Frederick Schminke about how his profession has been infiltrated and captured by TQ+ activists. This session had especial relevance given the spectre of a “trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban” – in reality, a prohibition of best practice talking therapies and watchful waiting – is once again being mooted in Westminster.
Then followed our next round of breakouts (for me, the superb, standing-room-only LGB Business Forum panel, of which more in a separate blog), before we reconvened for the star-studded panel on what’s changed for LGB people – and what hasn’t – a year on from the historic Supreme Court judgment. This clarion call to arms was the perfect way to end our biggest and best conference yet: a reminder of how much we’ve accomplished yet how much more remains at stake for lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals.
We’ve always had brilliant sessions at Conference, but this year felt different. In previous years it always seemed – to me at least – like the panels were of secondary importance to the gathering of the tribes. By contrast, in 2026 there was a palpable atmosphere of Taking Care of Business. With such a variety of sessions and speakers, this was a real rolling-up-of-sleeves; a girding of loins as we take the fight to the New Homophobia.
Our thanks to everyone for putting on such a special event. And to those who travelled from across the UK and even further afield: you were rockstars, too: headliner energy…and not a hint of crickets 🙂