7 Queer Things to Be Excited About in 2024
As we brought in 2024 with the campest fireworks show London has ever produced, many were wondering just what on earth this year would have in store for the LGBTQIA+ community. Would this be the year The Tories finally ceased their dangerous transphobia? Would Ricky Gervais finally think of some jokes that didn’t use marginalized communities as the punchline? Probably not, but it’s worth a try.
So, whether you’ve successfully cooked yourself two week’s worth of (edible enough) meals for Veganuary, or you’ve decided that like one of the greats Cheryl Hole, you’re ready for another year of doing mediocre, here are a few exciting queer things to look forward to in 2024.
Olly Alexander will represent the UK at Eurovision 2024
In a twist predicted only by those on Twitter frantically trying to work out the name of the track using the background hands of CGI Big Ben, last year Olly Alexander was announced as the UK’s next entry for Eurovision. Given our pretty rubbish track record in the competition - and yes, Sam Ryder definitely only nearly won because he looked Scandinavian - it’ll be exciting to see if Olly can finally turn it around for the UK. Here’s hoping for something just as camp as his BRITS 2021 performance. Maybe then we could finally score some points…
The Eurovision final will take place on Saturday, 11 May, 2024.
The 2024 Olympics and Paralympics will welcome some amazing queer athletes
The Olympic and Paralympic Games are back… along with a logo that I can only describe as looking like Claire from Fleabag. The 2024 Games will take place in Paris and many openly LGBTQIA+ athletes are set to compete in this year’s competition. Following the committee’s promise that participants will have the chance to openly speak out about the injustices and issues facing the queer community in sports, many Olympic and Paralympic champions are hoping these upcoming games will unite athletes and evoke meaningful change.
The 2024 Olympic Games will take place between 26 July - 11 August 2024. The 2024 Paralympic Games will take place between 28 August - 8 September 2024.
The brand-new series of Doctor Who will grace our screens
After that Christmas special, I’ve never been as excited for a new Doctor Who episode as when Donna gave her keys to a suddenly reappeared Rose Tyler at the end of Partners in Crime. How can we possibly follow on from a fully choreographed goblin show? How are they going to weave in Yasmin Finney’s new role as Donna’s daughter? And when will they tell us what really happened with Harry Houdini?
Series 14 of Doctor Who will be out in May 2024.
LGBT History Month will mark another year of claiming our queer history
LGBT History Month is an important annual marker for not just the UK’s LGBTQIA+ community, but everyone else as well. Following the repeal of Section 28, this event was created to help queer people across the nation claim our past, celebrate our present - and create our future. While LGBT History Month is primarily for raising awareness and fighting prejudice against LGBTQIA+ people and our history, there are also lots of exciting things happening across the UK.
Manchester’s People History Museum are delving into their one-of-a-kind archive collection which includes the archive of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners and magazines collected by the founder of the famous London bookshop Gay’s the Word, while Sheffield is hosting a queer book talk about which books, poems or scripts opened a whole new queer world. You can contact your favourite local queer organisation or look on EventBrite for events celebrating LGBT History Month near you.
LGBT History Month will take place in February 2024 in the UK, and October 2024 in the US.
All of Us Strangers will finally be released
Renee Rapp confirming she’ll be playing Regina George as a lesbian in the musical revival of Mean Girls later this year could only be trumped by one thing: All of Us Strangers also coming out. You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone that isn’t excited to see the film that follows screenwriter Adam (played by Andrew Scott) who has a romantic encounter with his neighbour Harry, played by none other than Paul Mescal. The release of All of Us Strangers will finally confirm what’s been happening since photos of Mescal hanging out with Andrew Scott and Jonathan Bailey appeared online: he’s well and truly become an icon for the queer community.
All of Us Strangers will be released in cinemas on Friday, 26 Jan 2024.
Pride Season will once again be upon us
There’s no better place to celebrate being queer than Pride. Whether you’re attending the all-important marches, figuring out which season of Drag Race that queen was in, or trying to find a way to get biodegradable glitter delivered in time, there’s absolutely tons of Pride events happening up and down the UK, including:
Edinburgh Pride: 22 June 2024
Pride in London: 29 June 2024
Brighton Trans Pride: 20 July 2024
London Trans Pride: 27 July 2024
Brighton Pride: 03 August 2024
Manchester Pride: 24 August 2024
Some other fun queer things to look forward to this year:
- All these new books by LGBTQIA+ authors
- Music from these up-and-coming queer artists
- This list of LGBTQIA+ TV shows scheduled for this year
- These upcoming queer movies (including Kristen Stewart in a lesbian bodybuilding thriller, because why the hell not?)
Two weeks in and I’ve finally started to accept that 2024 is here. And with the best of luck, hopefully, it’ll be very bloody queer.
Tilly Brogan
Tilly is a queer Freelance Copywriter based in Manchester. She balances her time between working with LGBTQ+ organisations and women’s rights charities - and people watching in various Manchester cafes. She is also a proud lesbian. You can read more of her work here.
