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Lola Dickinson

@loladickinson.bsky.social
415 followers 580 following 31 posts

historian, PhD @BirkbeckUoL on sex work, public health and HIV/AIDS in late 20thc Britain 🍞🌹 she/her 🍉

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Reposted by Lola Dickinson
Priska Komaromi @priskakomaromi.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Very happy to announce that my article on sexual practices in 1980s Hungary is now out and Open Access in Sexualities journal! It will be part of a Special Issue on investigating sexual practices through the history of sex work, coming soon! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
‘Have you ever climaxed… during business?’ Investigating Sexual Practices in Late State-Socialist Hungary through Histories of Commercial Sex - Priska Komaromi, 2026
Beginning in the late 1950s, state socialist discourses on sexuality emphasized centrality of emotional attachment for fulfilling sexual relationships and the i...
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Reposting as this is now CBH’s 4th most read article of those published in the last year!
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Gina Gwenffrewi @ginagwenffrewi.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
My academic book, ‘JK Rowling and the Anti-Trans Panic,’ is out September 2026. It is my analysis of the moral panic from Edinburgh, the ‘city of JK Rowling,’ where I study and work at JKR’s former university as it became a hub for anti-trans organizing … ohiostatepress.org/books/titles...
ohiostatepress.org
J. K. Rowling and the Anti-Trans Panic
Weaves the author’s lived experience as a trans woman with pop culture and media analysis to dissect J. K. Rowling’s emergence as an anti-trans activist within the context of the UK’s anti-trans moral...
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Beagle 🏴 🏳️‍⚧️ @afriendlybeagle.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
NHS Wales have "paused" (cancelled) all upcoming gender-affirming surgeries, and the statement released strongly implies that this was done because - unlike NHS England - they actually process patients. Reprehensible, sadistic decision making from the board.
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
New article (open access!!) online now with Contemporary British History www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
‘In the eyes of the law I might be a man but what do I look like?’: trans women and sex work in 1980s and 1990s England
This article considers the precarious position of trans sex workers in 1980 s and early 1990 s England by examining the ambiguities of medico-legal interpretations of their identities and labour. D...
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Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
“Pimping in the Non-Traditional Sense”: How Police Discretion and Abuse Allowed Authorities to Benefit from the Labor of Sex Workers in Late-1970s and Early-1980s Boston www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
“Pimping in the Non-Traditional Sense”: How Police Discretion and Abuse Allowed Authorities to Benefit from the Labor of Sex Workers in Late-1970s and Early-1980s Boston | Law & Social Inquiry | C...
“Pimping in the Non-Traditional Sense”: How Police Discretion and Abuse Allowed Authorities to Benefit from the Labor of Sex Workers in Late-1970s and Early-1980s Boston
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Sam Caslin @moderndecorum.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
This is great research which brings together histories of sex work and trans histories in England. The article notes that trans women who sold sex were targeted using laws on homosexuality, furthering our understanding of the ways medical and legal models were used to construct sex.
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Alison Pedley (Dr when appropriate ) @aliped.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Finally after editing & refining, my article was published online today. Many thanks to Prof Hilary Marland, @fabiolacreed.bsky.social for your invaluable help ‘Kind, Judicious Treatment’: Infanticidal Mothers, Criminal Insanity, and Institutional Care, 1895 to 1919 academic.oup.com/shm/article/...
academic.oup.com
‘Kind, Judicious Treatment’ 1: Infanticidal Mothers, Criminal Insanity, and Institutional Care, c. 1895 to c. 1919
Abstract. Between 1895 and 1919, 185 women were admitted to Broadmoor and Rampton State Criminal Lunatic Asylums for the murder or attempted murder of thei
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Still in shock but so pleased to say I passed my viva this afternoon. Couldn’t have done it without @julialaite.bsky.social and her fantastic supervision. And of course, my brilliant examiners Matt Cook and Janet Weston! 🎉🎉🎉
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Dove 🕊️🪻🏳️‍⚧️ Transpeculative Reviews @transpeculative.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Just read this article (open access!) by Lola Dickinson about trans women sex workers in 80s and 90s England. 👌 scholarship all round - a really interesting source base and writing that's really engaging with the context the sources exist within www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
We've known for a while that trans exclusionary radicals (I've decided they don't deserve the F) don't speak for the majority of women; and that the majority of people see these policies as cruel, unworkable, and against human rights. So let's prove it. Sign and support: goodlawproject.org/s/d23a8a
goodlawproject.org
I stand with trans people | Good Law Project
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Elise A. Mitchell @bydreamphd.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I am so delighted and honored to be a part of this Past & Present Supplement, “Medicine, Race, and Slavery in the Transatlantic World, 1600–1850.” It was a pleasure and so enriching to work with @hsmurphy.bsky.social and the editors at @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/past...
doi.org
Medicine, Race, and Slavery in the Transatlantic World, 1600–1850
As the title suggests, the provocation of this Supplement is simple: that the histories of medicine, transatlantic slavery, and race cannot, and should not
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Prof. Ian Walker @ianwalker.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Can't help thinking that closing schools because it's hot shifts the problem from cooling one building to cooling a thousand homes
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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
the media and voter messaging should be this: the current government and the government in waiting do not want your children to be able to go to university, they will not support people in the UK to do original research, they do not care about job losses in one of the largest sectors in the economy
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Karrie Fransman @karriefransman.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Delighted to share my collab with @loladickinson.bsky.social on sex work and AIDs activism in the 80s. Working with oral histories from sex worker activists like Ruth Morgan Thomas of Scot-PEP was so inspiring- so many brilliant stories to choose from. Please read and share!
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History of Vaccines @historyvaccines.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Science is not neutral or automatic; it is shaped by people. This History of Vaccines blog post highlights LGBTQ+ contributions from Alan L. Hart’s TB work to ACT UP’s transformation of HIV research and drug approval. historyofvaccines.org/blog/people-...
historyofvaccines.org
The People Behind the Shots: LGBTQ+ Contributions to Vaccine Science and Public Health
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Really pleased to share the comic by the fantastic @karriefransman.bsky.social on Sex Work and AIDS Activism in Edinburgh. Research by me and based on an oral history interview with Ruth Morgan Thomas of Scot-PEP.
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George Severs @georgesevers.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
My latest article has just been published in The Historical Journal. It looks at the ways in which HIV/AIDS was positioned as not just an urban problem, but one that was antithetical to rural spaces. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
HIV/AIDS and the English Countryside | The Historical Journal | Cambridge Core
HIV/AIDS and the English Countryside
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Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth @sexhistorian.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
There's just under 10 days left to apply for this funded PhD studentship on the history of unorthodox health activism in Britain! #HistMed #PhDFunding Strathclyde is a lovely place to work and Glasgow is a seriously great city! www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/...
static.klipy.com
Amaris: We Are Hiring! Animated Ad
Alt: Amaris: We Are Hiring! Animated Ad
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Kay @gothwhoreofbabylon.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
This new article by @loladickinson.bsky.social on trans sex workers in England in the 1980s and 1990s is really good.
doi.org
‘In the eyes of the law I might be a man but what do I look like?’: trans women and sex work in 1980s and 1990s England
This article considers the precarious position of trans sex workers in 1980 s and early 1990 s England by examining the ambiguities of medico-legal interpretations of their identities and labour. D...
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
New article (open access!!) online now with Contemporary British History www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
‘In the eyes of the law I might be a man but what do I look like?’: trans women and sex work in 1980s and 1990s England
This article considers the precarious position of trans sex workers in 1980 s and early 1990 s England by examining the ambiguities of medico-legal interpretations of their identities and labour. D...
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Laura Kelly @tortietabby.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
I have a new article out on miscarriage in late twentieth-century Ireland. Special thanks to @delaycara.bsky.social for organising a 2024 workshop from which this & the other articles in the special issue stemmed, and for all the support through to publication. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
‘It’s a really empty feeling’: women’s experiences of miscarriage and pregnancy loss in late twentieth-century Ireland
This article explores women's experiences of miscarriage and pregnancy loss in late twentieth-century Ireland. Drawing on oral history interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, the newsletters o...
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Matt Houlbrook @tricksterprince.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Coming soon: #Incarcerated bluecoatpress.co.uk/product/inca...
The front cover of a book with the title Incarcerated.
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Caroline Rusterholz @carorusterholz.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
My copy of Dealing With Drugs. New Histories of Risk and Benefit has just arrived. Very pleased to see my chapter published in this wonderful volume!
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 10/06/2026
This women's group wanted to raise £1,000 to help the victims of last night's attacks in Belfast. It's already at £56,000. chuffed.org/project/1854...
chuffed.org
Support people and groups impacted by racist attacks
We are raising funds to support people who have been attacked, displaced and traumatised in racist attacks in Belfast.
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Saima Nasar @saimanasar.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I’m really pleased to see my article on “The Asian Mother and Baby Campaign” in the @jbritishstudies.bsky.social Many thanks to @leverhulme.ac.uk for funding this research. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
The “Asian Mother and Baby Campaign”: Race, Healthcare, and Citizenship in late Twentieth-Century Britain | Journal of British Studies | Cambridge Core
The “Asian Mother and Baby Campaign”: Race, Healthcare, and Citizenship in late Twentieth-Century Britain - Volume 65
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Mic Wright @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
You are creating that debate. There is no debate. There is a far right talking point and a media willing to traffic it into the mainstream.
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Jason Okundaye @jaseokundaye.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
On Henry Nowak www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Henry Nowak was failed in the last moments of his life – and then again by Britain’s disgraceful political class | Jason Okundaye
There are vital lessons to be learned from Nowak’s death. Instead, it has been used to refuel a pervasive lie about ethnic minorities and ‘two-tier’ policing, says Guardian Opinion assistant editor Ja...
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The Historical Journal @historicaljnl.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
📣Out now on #firstview! George J. Severs @georgesevers.bsky.social @gvagrad.bsky.social on 'HIV/AIDS and the English Countryside' #Urban #Rural #Heteronormativity #Sexual #Morality #History #Demography 20thc 🗃️ 👉Read open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Britain was an overwhelmingly urban phenomenon. Towns and cities were home to the majority of people living with HIV and boasted most of the hospitals which diagnosed and treated them. The epidemic was not simply understood as urban because of demographic epidemiological factors; it was also seen as antithetical to rural life. This article explores the ways in which HIV/AIDS was positioned as urban through a particular cultural construction of rurality in late twentieth-century England. This cultural imaginary rested on a nostalgic construction of the English countryside in which conventional heteronormativity buttressed social, moral, and sanitary stability. The English countryside was frequently thought to be in need of protection from HIV/AIDS, whether in the form of metropolitan producers shoe-horning the virus into cherished rural soap operas, or more directly from the urban import of HIV and the gay men understood to be its most likely carriers. This article examines the cultural mentality in which rurality was mobilized as distinct from HIV/AIDS, pointing to the wider anxieties about changing rural life for which the epidemic often acted as a proxy.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
In Doppelganger, @naomiaklein.bsky.social shows how white supremacists assume the victimhood of those they oppress, presenting the evils they do as evils done to them. In Britain, where black people are 7 times more likely than white people to die after police restraint, this is what we are seeing.
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
nothing quite like finishing a PhD in the UK right now. we were well prepped for never getting a position in academia but not, I don't think, the abject joblessness we would graduate into. (tl;dr it's the week of my hand in and I have already had multiple job rejections)
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George Severs @georgesevers.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
I'm so pleased to see that this chapter has been published. It's in a wonderful open access collection, Sexual Violence in Medicine and Psychiatry: Addressing Harms Through Interdisciplinarity which emerged from the SHaME project at Birkbeck. Link here: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
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Dr Hannah J. Elizabeth @sexhistorian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Do you know someone interested in the history of health and/or activism who might want to do a cool funded PhD in an even cooler city (Glasgow)? Tell them about this #studentship on the history of unorthodox health activism in Britain! #HistMed www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/...
static.klipy.com
Camp Summer2023: We're Hiring
Alt: We're Hiring
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Took me over ten years to be diagnosed, in part because an ultrasound I had in my early 20s didn't show any signs of polycystic ovaries. Very happy to see this change! Plus now I can say don't PMO, I have PMOS.
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Metal Gear Summer '27 ☀️🥀☠️ @mgearsolidarity.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Interesting analysis for those of us interested in hope and aware of the big graph that shows Reform peaked in October last year and is sliding inexorably down.
Peter Kellner, the elections expert and former YouGov president, has posted a good analysis of the results so far on his Substack blog. It is well worth reading in full, but here’s an extract.

Behind the impressive tally of Reform’s gains – likely to end up well over 1,000 – Nigel Farage should be privately worried. In last year’s local elections Reform won 41 per cent of all seats contested across England. On the basis of the overnight figures, this year’s tally is around 33 per cent. If there were no polls, and there had been no elections last year, this year’s figure would be astonishing. But we do have the record of recent polls and elections, and it seems clear that Reform has peaked …

In contrast to Reform, Labour has cause for relief, despite losing half the seats it was defending yesterday. It’s bad – and in normal times it would be catastrophic – but it’s not as bad as its record in local council by-elections over the past 12 months, where it hast lost three-quarters of the seats it was defending …

However, even on the most optimistic interpretation of Labour’s performance, the overnight figures contain a stark warning. John Curtice told BBC viewers in the early hours that while Labour has lost many SEATS to Reform, it has lost VOTES more to the Greens.
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Reform took a £5m donation and they're trying to distract you. Farage is just another establishment stooge. Like in Gorton & Denton - the only way to stop Reform on Thursday - Vote Green. Join.greenparty.org.uk
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Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
@zackpolanski.bsky.social : "Antisemitism and Jewish safety is not some abstract concept for me. In fact, in the last 6 weeks alone 2 people have been arrested in relation to antisemitic actions towards me and yesterday the Times newspaper published a vile antisemitic cartoon.."
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
We must stand in solidarity with Jews being attacked by antisemitic criminals and terrorists: no ifs or buts. We must stand in solidarity with Palestinians being murdered by the Israeli government: no ifs or buts. These are not contradictory positions. They are consistent ones. 🧵1/5
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Had the best time at the Sexuality, Activism and the State in Modern Europe workshop last Friday! Co-organised with the wonderful @zsofia-v.bsky.social and @georgiakat.bsky.social
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EUI Queer and Feminist Studies Working Group @eui-qfg.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
👏 Thank you to all the participants of the “Sexuality, activism, and the state in modern Europe” workshop 👏 We had a great day of inspiring presentations, illuminating discussions and thought-provoking questions ✨🦄💥 👀🎤Find a sum-up of the keynote and panels in the thread! 🎤👀
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EUI Queer and Feminist Studies Working Group @eui-qfg.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
This one-day workshop, organised jointly by the Interviewing and Oral History Working Group and @loladickinson.bsky.social, aims to integrate the history of sexuality, sexual politics and sexual governance in 20th-century Europe into a coherent transnational analytical framework
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EUI Queer and Feminist Studies Working Group @eui-qfg.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
💥💅🏽Join our Workshop on sexuality in Western, East Central and South Eastern Europe!💅🏽💥 🏫Sala del Torrino, Villa Salviati ⏳24 April, 9:30-18:00 🧑🏼‍🎨Illustration by Emese Veszely (1991 World AIDS Day in Budapest)
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 14/04/2026
‘The rearmament agenda may be cloaked in the language of defence, but it serves a colonial foreign policy that looks desperately outdated in a multipolar world.’ New on the blog from Rebekah Diski and Khem Rogaly: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ap...
lrb.co.uk
Rebekah Diski and Khem Rogaly | City of Peace
The 2300 workers at the Volkswagen factory in Osnabrück, northwest Germany, have been confronted with an unexpected...
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
So excited for the upcoming workshop ‘Sexuality, Activism and the State in Modern Europe’ which I have organised with the brilliant @zsofia-v.bsky.social and @georgiakat.bsky.social. Promises to be a fantastic day of talks and beautiful Italian sunshine! www.eui.eu/events?id=58...
Poster for the Workshop ‘Sexuality, Activism and the State in Modern Europe’ describing the workshop aims.
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Lola Dickinson @loladickinson.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Lucky, as ever, to engage with George’s work. I urge everyone to buy + read his brilliant book!
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National AIDS Trust @nat.org.uk · 04/03/2026
🚨Urgent action needed to ensure people living with #HIV in prisons are not left behind. With @sophiaforum.bsky.social, Ci2 Bureau & @tht.org.uk, we are calling for the HIV Action Plan to be complemented with a set of concrete actions to meet the challenges of HIV care in prisons.
nat.org.uk
Cross-sector report urges government to meet the challenges of HIV care in prisons
HIV Health Equity and Justice Partnership calls for people living with HIV in prisons to not be left behind
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Kim Kelly @kimkelly.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
When faced with a shockingly exploitative new employment contract that would’ve forced them to sign away their IP, their likeness rights, and their power of attorney, Jupiter Jetson and her coworkers at Sheri’s fought back—fast. They organized a union in SIX DAYS. www.thenation.com/article/econ...
thenation.com
How Brothel Workers in Nevada Just Made Labor History
The courtesans at Sheri’s Ranch were staring down a horrifying new contract. So they did what workers everywhere do: They got organized.
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Joss Morfitt @jossmorfitt.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
So thrilled to announce that I will be presenting an original research presentation, 'The Story of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival', at British Film Institute (BFI) Flare's 40th Anniversary on March 23rd! 🎥 🏳️‍🌈 🎞️ 🏳️‍⚧️ Tickets go live on 26th February 12pm! whatson.bfi.org.uk/flare/Online...
whatson.bfi.org.uk
The Story of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival | BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival 2026
An illustrated talk exploring the 40-year history of BFI Flare.
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National AIDS Trust @nat.org.uk · 09/02/2026
It’s National #HIV Testing Week! Take a few minutes to order your free test kit – it’s quick, simple, and you can do it all at home 🏡 Testing is the only way to know your HIV status, and now’s the perfect time to test. Get your FREE test now: freetesting.hiv #ITest #HIVTestingWeek
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