Stephen Bailey sat down to speak to Manchester Pride and Gaydio on his experience with hate incidents as a gay man and why he's chosen to support our I Choose Kindness campaign.
In the latest 12 months (up to 30th June 2022) 2,100 people across Greater Manchester were subjected to hate crime because of their sexual orientation, up 23.7% from the year before.
In addition to this, 346 people across Greater Manchester were subjected to hate crime because of their gender identity, a 69.6% increase from the year before.
We're asking Greater Manchester to choose kindness, for us to connect and show each other compassion so we all feel safe to be our true selves.
Find out more about the campaign here.