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Sofia Brizio

@sofiabrizio.bsky.social
219 followers 469 following 31 posts

PhD in Media Diversity at BCU. Alumna and ex TA @cujournmedcul.bsky.social 🎓| I write, edit and translate books 📚✨✒️| Disability rights activist. Occasional Paraswimmer| ♿️🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏳️‍🌈

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Reposted by Sofia Brizio
Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I’m on Opinion newsletter duty this morning and I wanted to start with a few words on The Telegraph’s toxic “How having a disability became cool” article.
Back in 2024, I wrote about “sickfluencers” – a rightwing moniker for disabled people who use social media to help others apply for benefits. Recently, I’ve noticed the term has expanded to include women who commit the crime of … using a mobility aid in public. This week, the Telegraph ran a piece claiming young women are “turning chronic illness into a lifestyle trend”, including by not working. The headline? “How having a disability became cool.”

It’s hard to think of a nastier narrative. You can say that the writers and editors publishing this stuff are just ignorant of disability, but I struggle to believe it. It feels like wilful ignorance: repeating tropes that fuel an agenda casting doubt on disabled people and the state’s duty to support us if we need it.Readers who use mobility aids often tell me about the impact of seeing these stories spread online; a growing sense of shame that eats at the stomach until one day, they put their cane back in the cupboard and walk to Tesco in pain. Or they don’t go out at all. Someone should be ashamed in all of this, sure, but it’s not disabled readers.
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
"People are really mad and however mad you are, it’s not enough. Because there is something so profound about no longer believing in the future, about seeing no value in our shared home, in the natural world. They’re traitors to creation.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’
She’s tackled neoliberalism and the digital world, now the writer and activist is taking on tech billionaires. She explains how the super-rich are capitalising on climate and financial chaos in pursui...
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
When I was 18, I developed vasculitis. I was hospitalized for a week, and then was told by a doctor I had anxiety. A year + later I had a life threatening flare (when diagnosed), and as a result I'm on the day-to-day more sick as a result of my chronic illness being disregarded a decade later.
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Andy Williams @llantwit.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
You can still smell & see this smoke in Cardiff. Climate change is here. No more data centres! acorntheunion.org.uk/cardiff-figh... “Smoke from a mountain wildfire equal to the size of about 300 football pitches has been smelt 30 miles away.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Blaenavon mountain wildfire smelt 30 miles away in Cardiff
One woman said she is concerned for her family's health because of the volume of smoke in the air.
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North East Bylines @northeastbylines.co.uk · 07/07/2026
“if modern life was set up in a way that was accessible for disabled people, then we would not be excluded or restricted” | Peter Sagar
northeastbylines.co.uk
We need to reform social care properly
“if modern life was set up in a way that was accessible for disabled people, then we would not be excluded or restricted”
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 06/07/2026
Punk-rap duo Bob Vylan are suing the BBC for defamation after it described their Glastonbury chants last year as "anti-Semitic sentiments" that were "utterly unacceptable". The duo said the BBC put "labels upon us that did not, do not and never will fit" www.phoenix-law.org/bob-vylan-su...
phoenix-law.org
Bob Vylan v BBC | Phoenix Law Defamation Solicitors
Phoenix Law's defamation solicitors act for Bob Vylan in new High Court proceedings against the BBC. Trusted defamation solicitors Dublin and Belfast businesses and individuals turn to.
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Flora Renz @florarenz.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Nothing quite as ominous as events saying 'if you require step-free access please contact us in advance'. Why is step-free access a special menu item that the chef needs a heads up for so they can pop to the shops first?
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Sam Byers @sambyers.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Genuine question: what exactly are we all doing.
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Disability Arts Online @disabilityarts.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Anna Li reflects on the dis_place exhibition, I need to be more than a lesson you learned, which proposes a model of ‘intrusive inclusion’. disabilityarts.online/magazine/opi...
Film still of a white woman on a mobility scooter wearing a fur coat, fluffy hat and sunglasses
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 17/04/2026
Inspirational success stories are great but is ADHD really a superpower for elite athletes? | Emma John
theguardian.com
Inspirational success stories are great but is ADHD really a superpower for elite athletes? | Emma John
Researchers say mainstream framing of the condition as a characteristic for success can be invalidating for those who are struggling
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East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · 02/04/2026
Good news? NHS dissatisfaction has fallen sharply. But have things really improved, or is it the media narrative that has changed?
eastangliabylines.co.uk
NHS dissatisfaction is falling – is this really a turning point?
Measures of satisfaction with the NHS suggest encouraging improvement. The mood is shifting. But what exactly are they measuring.
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 26/03/2026
New Pew Research Center survey reports 36% of US adults turn to their "preferred news organisation" for breaking news info, 28% use search engines and 19% use social media www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
pewresearch.org
Where do Americans look first for breaking news information? | Pew Research Center
When a breaking news event happens, 36% of U.S. adults say they typically turn first to their preferred news organization to get more information.
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Dr Keighley Perkins @perkinskeighley.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
The appointment of Matt Brittin as the new Director-General of the BBC comes at a pivotal moment for the broadcaster’s future. 🔗 tinyurl.com/2n94stbu 🧵👇 #BBC #journalism #mediastudies
tinyurl.com
Matt Brittin: BBC’s new director general appointed at an existential moment for the broadcaster
The BBC’s royal charter is renewed once a decade to make sure the broadcaster keeps up to date with political and technological changes.
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
anyway if you want to read a whole book and not just a skeet about why culture producers +even professional culture consumers are caught in a hamster wheel of literalism, intolerance for representation, inability to read metaphors,+ the demand for direct messages: www.versobooks.com/products/303...
versobooks.com
Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism
Contemporary cultural style boosts transparency and instantaneity. These are values absorbed from our current economic conditions of "disintermediation": cutting out the middleman. Like Uber, but for ...
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month 💚 I had the opportunity to talk on The Palsy Podcast about making a documentary, doing a PhD while swimming competitively, and getting my writing published. You can listen at this link or on your preferred platform podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
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Maxwell Modell @maxwellmodell.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
I have a new article out in @uk.theconversation.com outlining my thoughts on the Bafta racial slur controversy and how the BBC failed in its editorial responsibility causing substantial and avoidable harm to the black and disabled communities. theconversation.com/baftas-racia...
theconversation.com
Baftas racial slur controversy: what should the BBC have done?
In live broadcasting, when things go wrong, they can often be blamed on live conditions. Once a programme has been edited, this no longer applies.
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
This shows that the BBC is clearly at fault for irresponsible editing and microphone placement. However, I still feel like this is a missed opportunity for a proper apology on Davidson’s part - the involuntary nature doesn’t erase the very real impact of the slur for those on the receiving end
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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
“There is a deep irony that the platforms we seek escapism in are increasingly the most glaring demonstrations of the very darkness we wish to avoid.” I wrote about social media’s descent into Nazis and A.I porn and why we don’t log off (but Keir Starmer should). www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Given the toxicity of social media, a moral question now faces all of us: is it still ethical to use it? | Frances Ryan
With so many platforms rife with racism, misogyny and far-right rhetoric, there must be a point where decent people walk away, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Beyond/Tu Hwnt is one year old today ❤️ Forever grateful to @lucentdreaming.bsky.social for giving Welsh disabled, Deaf and neurodivergent writers a space to be heard and seen
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 01/12/2025
Nine regional newspaper publishers in the US are the latest to sue OpenAI and Microsoft alleging their AI models have "copied hundreds of thousands of articles and other materials" from their websites pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/ne...
pressgazette.co.uk
Who's suing AI and who's signing: Nine more US regional newspapers sue OpenAI
News AI deals revealed: Which publishers are suing and which are signing deal with the tech giants over generative AI.
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Dr Keighley Perkins @perkinskeighley.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Word of the Year season continues and Oxford University Press has now crowned rage bait as its 2025 winner. It’s a choice that perfectly captures the emotional temperature of our online world. 🔗 tinyurl.com/yhfuph5n 🧵👇 #linguistics #language #wordoftheyear #wordoftheyear2025 #woty2025
tinyurl.com
Rage bait named word of the year 2025 by Oxford University Press
The phrase - meaning to get angry scrolling through social media - beats aura farming and biohack to the title.
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404 Ink @404ink.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
ANNOUNCING: PUBLISHER NOT FOUND - our final book and the 404 Ink Bursary, coming 2026. We will be launching the bursary with an initial £3,000 pledged from us towards small press projects. We are also publishing PUBLISHER NOT FOUND, a behind the scenes look at 404. www.404ink.com/blog/publish...
404ink.com
404 Ink co-founders launch new book and industry fundraiser for small presses — 404 Ink
404 Ink to publish one final book as part of small press fundraiser, launching in 2026.
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 05/11/2025
UK Labour Force Survey data suggests sharp fall in younger journalists in past two years pressgazette.co.uk/diversity/jo...
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The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 29/10/2025
#OTD 41 years ago, Eleanor Bumpurs, a Black woman with mental health challenges, was killed by the NYPD. Her death still drives calls for police accountability. Historian Ashley Farmer, Bumpurs’ former neighbor, explores why people continue to #SayHerName. buff.ly/j8S3oQP
buff.ly
More than 40 years after police killed Eleanor Bumpurs in her Bronx apartment, people still #sayhername
The 1984 murder of a Black grandmother in her Bronx apartment sparked an ongoing movement against police brutality and neglect of the mentally ill.
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Had a wonderful time presenting my research at the 2025 BCU PGR symposium earlier this week ✨ thanks to everyone who organised and to all the inspiring fellow PGRs I had the pleasure to meet
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
I don’t update this profile much, but I thought a recap of the past couple weeks was in order. 1)Power of The Current won an honourable mention at the Breaking TV Film Festival. We are over the moon for our first award 💙 (continued below)
Blurred picture of a golden statue/award from the Breaking TV Film Festival 2025Black and white picture of a PowerPoint slide projected in an Italian library room. The slide features two pictures of Sofia dancing with her walker as part of a show and later a photoshoot. Picture of Sofia and two other panelists sitting and talking at a round table in an Italian library room
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Dr Keighley Perkins @perkinskeighley.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
I'm thrilled to share my first publication with @theconversation.com, co-authored with my colleagues Dr @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social & Dr @maxwellmodell.bsky.social, with behind-the-scenes support from Prof. @stephencushion.bsky.social. 🔗 tinyurl.com/526vx978 TLDR 👇 #impartiality #journalism
tinyurl.com
Bob Vylan Glastonbury complaints upheld: here’s what viewers complain to Ofcom and the BBC about most
The vast majority of audience complaints are not upheld by the BBC or by Ofcom.
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Matt Walsh @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
New research from Cardiff University, published today in The Conversation and on the project's blog, analyses all complaints filed with the BBC and Ofcom during the first half of the year. open.substack.com/pub/mattwals...
open.substack.com
Impartiality and broadcasters: what do the public complain about?
New research from Cardiff University's project examining impartiality
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The National Union of Journalists @nujofficial.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Tomorrow at 5.30pm, join the NUJ Ethics council chair and speakers for our webinar on reporting on transgender people within journalism. Spaces are free and the event will explore how journalists can ensure their reporting is accurate, fair and ethical. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1693187151...
eventbrite.co.uk
NUJ Ethics webinar: reporting on transgender people within journalism
Join the Ethics council and speakers online on 24th September from 5.30-6.30pm
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Sojourners @sojo.net · 27/08/2025
Amy Kenny’s 'My Body Is Not a Prayer Request' — part memoir and part disability justice hermeneutic — is a challenge the church desperately needs, writes Elisa Rowe. sojo.net/magazine/may...
sojo.net
Taking up a Theology of a Disabled God
Amy Kenny’s My Body Is Not a Prayer Request — part memoir and part disability justice hermeneutic — is a challenge the church desperately needs.
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Andy Lewis @andylewis.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Maybe they could all retrain as ballet dancers
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 13/08/2025
Reach hiring journalists in Australia to cover UK overnight hours for first time pressgazette.co.uk/news/reach-h...
pressgazette.co.uk
Reach hiring journalists in Australia to cover UK overnight hours
Expansion follows success from having journalists in UK writing for US brands.
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Disability Wales @disabilitywales.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
“We’re putting plasters over inaccessible properties by providing adaptations, which is welcomed, however the design of the properties themselves need to be accessible from the start.” We spoke to ITV Wales about the urgent need for more accessible homes across Wales. www.itv.com/watch/news/f...
itv.com
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Footpath closed and no way to go around the obstacle safely in a wheelchair. Almost got run over 3 times. What the hell @cardiffcouncil.bsky.social
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Sage @sagepub.com · 06/08/2025
Watch R Sánchez-Rivera discuss “Slippery Eugenics,” their new book for the Social Science for Social Justice series. In this interview, Sánchez-Rivera explores the lasting impacts of eugenic ideas. Learn more: www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/08/r-sa...
Social Science for Social Justice
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
No posts about disability pride month from me, because I feel no pride, just anger. Probably my own fault for choosing to do a content analysis of the Daily Mail and reading these headlines all month 🫠👇🏻
Daily mail headline saying “It’s time we wiped smirks off benefit cheats pretending to be disabled”
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
How did I not know Routledge has an entire series about Autocritical Disability Studies? Sharing the link in case anyone is interested and, like me, didn't know this existed www.routledge.com/Autocritical...
routledge.com
Autocritical Disability Studies - Book Series - Routledge & CRC Press
Routledge & CRC Press Series: This new book series represents both a contribution to, and a departure from, the academic field of critical disability studies. According to some concerns abou
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Media, Culture & Society Journal @mcsjournal.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
How do anonymous platforms like Queering the Map & PostSecret create intimate publics? Olivia Sutherland & @megansharp.bsky.social show how anonymity and ephemeral connections reveal new forms of digital intimacy. #OnlineFirst journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 23/07/2025
Cutting funding to PBS and NPR threatens a key pillar of American #democracy. Despite political claims of bias, research shows public media is among the most trusted and balanced sources of news. theconversation.com/pbs-and-npr-... #SavePublicMedia #PBS #NPR
theconversation.com
PBS and NPR are generally unbiased, independent of government propaganda and provide key benefits to US democracy
Studies link public broadcasting to higher voter turnout, better factual knowledge and lower susceptibility to extremist rhetoric. Those contributions to democracy may be diminished by Congress’ cuts.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Disabled people are 11 times more likely to die during labor/in the postpartum period than non-disabled people. Better education and smashing ableism is how we get out of this horrible stat. For the past year, I’ve been looking into the topic of disability and pregnancy for @motherjones.com 🧵
motherjones.com
Pregnancy is a minefield when you're disabled
Few OB-GYNs get disability training—and their disabled patients are far likelier to die.
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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
For the evening podcast crowd, I’m on Today In Focus chatting about a chaotic week of disability benefits (with lots more about other things that don’t make you want to scream). Listen here: www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
theguardian.com
“It’ll push disabled people into poverty”: Labour’s controversial welfare bill – podcast
Guardian columnist Frances Ryan on the reality of being disabled in the UK and the impact of the government’s proposed cuts
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Kit de Waal @kitdewaal.com · 27/06/2025
This is where I am. New book in the making. Thousand words a day if I can. They don’t have to be good words.
Sticky note on wood that says ‘Just make it exist first.  You can make it good later.’
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M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
How nice to be told by Keir Starmer that my mother who delivered babies, as a midwife, worked nights and damaged her back lifting patients as a nurse, was a pillar of her community as a health visitor has caused “incalculable damage” to the UK !
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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Lurching to the right on immigration will never get Reform supporters to vote Labour again but it will push progressive voters towards the Greens and Lib Dems. As well as being morally grotesque, truly baffling Starmer’s team don’t get the electoral maths of today’s speech.
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Sofia Brizio @sofiabrizio.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
If we don't laugh we'll cry... As an immigrant, I'm feeling defeated today, and also somewhat unsafe.
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Faculty of Humanities @uomhums.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
New report reveals increasing inequality in arts and culture. 🎭 Research found growing inequalities in arts and cultural participation, especially across class, ethnicity, and regions. The report makes clear the scale of the challenge facing policymakers. ⤵️ www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/n...
manchester.ac.uk
New report reveals increasing inequality in arts and culture
New research, co-authored by the University of Manchester’s Professor David O’Brien, reveals growing inequalities in arts and cultural participation, especially across class, ethnicity, and regions. F...
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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
A question that I haven't heard a good answer to: if cutting migration by a third in a year hasn't changed the narrative on it at all - what would make you think cutting it by another third (or half] would?
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 20/04/2025
Unexpected full page in today's Observer on yesterday's protests and it doesn't interview a single GC for 'balance'
United, undeterred and unafraid, trans people rally over court ruling
Thousands gather in London’s Parliament Square to protest at judges’ decision
The Observer20 Apr 2025James Tapper
Stephen Chung/ LNP
LEFT Crowds gather outside Parliament in a huge show of unity and solidarity.
After last week’s supreme court decision, activists had been worried trans people might become fearful of going out in public in case they were abused.

They weren’t afraid in London yesterday. Thousands of trans and nonbinary people thronged Parliament Square, alongside families and supporters waving baby blue, white and pink flags to demonstrate their anger at the judges’ ruling.

The numbers seemed to take the organisers and police by surprise. Protesters from a hastily assembled coalition of 24 groups gathered in a ring against the barriers surrounding the grass and began speeches. But after the roads became clogged with people, a woman wearing a “Nobody knows I’m a lesbian” top ran across with her dog and soon the square was full. “It’s one hell of a turnout and there is a really strong sense of unity and solidarity,” said Jamie Strudwick, one of the organisers. “I think it’s impossible to compare it – it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
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