This is when new LGBTQ+ radio station Glitterbeam will launch in Blackpool transmitted from the top of the Tower

New LGBTQ+ radio station GlitterBeam is launching on DAB in Blackpool on Friday March 24. The station is aimed at the LGBTQ+ community and allies, broadcast anthems and featuring a variety of speech formats and topics.

Founded by Eugenio Ceriello and Michael Walton-Dalzell, the station has been streaming online since July 2019, before being made available on DAB in the North East of England, in Cambridgeshire and in Coventry. As well as playing music, GlitterBeam has also covered events such as Pride festivals in Birmingham, Brighton, Dover and London, and it’s media partner for Cambridge Pride and Scarborough Pride.

Eugenio Ceriello and Michael Walton-Dalzell said “We are extremely excited to broadcast in Blackpool, with its vibrant LGBTQ+ scene, and we hope to bring our ‘Music with Sparkle’ from the Blackpool Tower, where our transmitter is. We are planning a proper on-air party on the day of our launch!”

The founders hope that the station will be “a different voice for the big LGBTQ+ community in Blackpool, and be actively involved in initiatives and events that can make Blackpool more and more inclusive.” GlitterBeam has been shortlisted for the 2023 Rainbow Honours in the category Small Brand / Organisation of the Year.

CENSUS

Thousands of residents in Blackpool identify with an LGB+ sexual orientation, new census figures revealed for the first time in January. The Office for National Statistics introduced voluntary questions for people aged 16 and over on sexual orientation and gender identity in the 2021 census. Stonewall described the publication of the figures as a “historic step forward” after more than two centuries of LGBT+ lives being “missing from the national record”.

The ONS data shows 5,692 people in Blackpool identified as a sexual orientation other than heterosexual when the census was carried out in March 2021 – 4.9% of respondents. The most common LGB+ sexualities were gay or lesbian (66.7% of those who did not identify as straight) and bisexual (27.6%). The vast majority of residents said they were heterosexual (88.4%).

Across England and Wales, about 1.5 million people identified with an LGB+ sexual orientation in the 2021 census – 3.2% of those aged 16 and over.