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[Archive] Welcome to the 2025 #SaferToBeMe Conference
So what's happening?
Join us at #SaferToBeMe to stand in solidarity and counteract the roll back of our hard won LGBTQ+ rights
The #SaferToBeMe Summit
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500+ people attending
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45+ sessions across two days
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Beamed out to the globe
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Join the global fightback...
Across the globe and with increasing confidence, populist leaders are leveraging anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric to consolidate power, often portraying queer identities as threats to national identity, tradition, or religious or family values. Some nation states are introducing bans on 'LGBTQ+ propaganda,' crackdowns on Pride events, and the revocation of legal protections. Judicial systems in some countries have become complicit, eroding hard-won rights and ignoring international human rights commitments. Transgender and non-binary people, in particular, have become targets and scapegoats in both legal and cultural arenas, suffering disproportionate violence and exclusion. LGBTQ+ populations have become weaponised as geo-political tools, as the hard-won rights we have worked hard for, are being systematically stripped away. This has to stop. It is time to make the world #SaferToBeMe.
Under the theme of 'Power, Populism and Politics,' this international conference will bring together scholars, human rights activists, policymakers, members of the concerned public, allies, and civil society leaders to examine the alarming global trend of LGBTQ+ rights erosion in the context of rising populist and authoritarian regimes. Against a backdrop of increasing nationalism, religious fundamentalism, state-sanctioned discrimination, and democratic backsliding, this conference will assess the current state of LGBTQ+ rights in the United Kingdom and globally, identify patterns of regression and the points of light, and develop strategies for resistance and resilience.
As part of our wider week-long programme of Summit events, our two-day conference brings people from across the U.K. and from all parts of the globe to become better informed, work together to build partnerships and strategies, and to begin our process of fighting back in an ever changing world.
An historic conference.
Held in an historic region.
Find out more below...
#SaferToBeMe Conference Information
2
Day conference held on the 23rd and 24th October 2025
500
In-person tickets available available to buy, open to all
45+
Talks, sessions, and workshops, to learn, inspire, and strategise
1000s
Of people watching conference sessions live across the globe
1
Candlelit vigil and viewing of the U.K. AIDS Memorial Quilt
Our conference is joined by some headline keynote speakers who will provide you with an overview of what is happening to LGBTQ+ populations in the United Kingdom, and globally. Find out who they are, and what they will discuss, here. We will update as more are confirmed.
With over 45+ separate sessions and 500 people expected at the event, our conference has both United Kingdom and global strands. Check out the layout of the conference, as well as the sessions and speakers hosted at our two-day event, including information about our candlelit vigil. Book tickets here.
On the site of Gateshead International Stadium, the Gateshead College Academy for Sport, has been kindly granted to us by our sponsor Gateshead College, for our two-day conference. Click here to find out the venue address and additional details about the venue. We have also compiled a useful list of questions and answers about the conference!
Want a stall at the two-day conference for your business, charity, community organisation, or institution? Find out more on how you can book a stall for two days and showcase your organisation at this world-leading event.
At the end of the two-day conference, we will be unveiling the world's first ever Declaration of LGBTQ+ solidarity. Named the 'Newcastle-Gateshead Declaration,' this event will be held at The Assembly Rooms in Newcastle upon Tyne. This historic first is not to be missed. Find out more about it here.
Thanks to the generosity and support of leading hotels in the Newcastle area,, #SaferToBeMe attendees can 15% discount. Find out more about it here.
Whilst we are small charities putting together this Summit, we may be able to offer conference scholarships as part of our Advocacy Fund. These scholarships are a small contribution toward travel and hotel costs for LGBTQ+ activists, particularly from the Global South, to attend the Summit.
Please note that these are only available when funds allow. You can find out more information about these funds, here.
Over the two days of the conference, you will be able to view six huge sections of the powerful and symbolic U.K. AIDS Memorial Quilt and we will conclude the conference with a candlelit vigil. The quilt is part of the largest community arts project in history and helps us remember and celebrate all lives lost to HIV from the beginning of the pandemic in the 1980s to the present day.
The vigil and quilt are a poignant and timely reminder as to the consequences of actions when populist leaders, politicians, and authoritarian governments withdraw funding, or actively harm, LGBTQ+ people. More information about the quilt and candle lit vigil.
This conference is happening thanks to our wonderful partners and sponsors:
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