#SafeToSing - the power of music

Two gay men were attacked on a tram in Manchester earlier this month after receiving homophobic taunts because they were singing songs from the musical Wicked. One was knocked unconscious and suffered a split lip and broken nose, as well as losing all confidence. The response of the Manchester and Lesbian Gay Chorus was to organise the Safe To Sing event on Monday 11 November. Joined by a number of other choirs and hundreds of supporters, the singers sang songs and handed out cup-cakes to passengers on Manchesters tram system including a singalong version of Wicked's hit song Defying Gravity.

The Manchester Police force has confirmed that it is treating the attack as an homophobic hate crime, and Greater Mancheser police and crime commissioner Tony Lloyd said that the singalong showed read face.

LGBTv made a short video about the event which you can see after the break:




Elsewhere on this blog:

• Early baroque polyphony: The Sixteen at Temple Church - concert review
• Window onto 17th Century German opera: Boxberg's Sardanapalus - CD review
• Early Music galore: Greenwich Early Music Festival - concert review
• Regie-theater by numbers: Mozart'sIdomeneo at Covent Garden - opera review
• Vividly dramatic: Faramondo from Gottingen - CD review
• Seductive: New trumpet concertos played by Simon Desbruslais - CD review
• Intense and moving: Mythen Ensemble at Wimbledon Music Festival - concert review
• No ordinary recital: No Exemptions, No Exceptions from Robin Tritschler and Malcolm Martineau - CD review
• Magical: Purcell's Fairy Queen at Middle Temple Hall - opera review
• Intense & concentrated: Monteverdi's Vespers from the Sixteen - concert review
• Home