Hate Crime and Hate Incidents are on the rise against almost everyone with a visible protected characteristic. Today I am going to look at the statistics released by the Home Office last week and the implications. These disturbing trends also mean that we have to seriously consider what we can all do to help reverse this trend by supporting and allying with anyone who is vulnerable.

Changing the Law is relatively easy compared to changing attitudes. In this short presentation I will look at the breakthrough events that started the process of changing the laws in the western world that were mostly based on Henry VIII's Buggery Act 1533. Changing attitudes towards homosexuality in the western world is still an ongoing process.

In the news today I see that Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller are the latest celebrities to sign a letter of solidarity with J K Rowling referring to the online hate directed against her. I certainly will never defend online hate in any form, which is why i am critical of JK Rowling and the people who are supporting her because many have a history of publishing anti trans comments and twisting the facts to support their version of the truth.

Today I want to look at some of the claims and counter claims and hopefully put them into perspective.

Magnus Hirschfeld was the first and one of the most influential gay rights activists in history. He is also know as the father if transgenderism. At the beginning of the 20th Century there was no real distinction between transpeople and gay people. However this was also a time when sexuality had becoe a subject of considerable academic interest.

Freud was probably the most famous to begin developing explanations for human behaviour - but soon there were many. Richard Kraft Ebbing, Henry Havelock Ellis and Magnus Hirschfeld all developed theories around transgenderism and homosexuality,

Today I am going to look at the work of Magnus Hirschfeld in developing the first gender identity clinic and the impact of the Nazis in bringing his work to an end.

This is the last day of my personal 30 Day Online Challenge talking about gender issues. So what next. Next week is a very busy week - it's the PSA Summit and I will be attending a lot of sessions and networking all week

However I will be continuing the GenderSpeaker Live Show on a twice weekly basis. On Sundays - starting Sunday 4th October, I will be doing a regular LGBTQ history show - and on Wednesdays, starting on October 7th I will be broadcasting my regular Gender issues show.

Join me today at 4.00pm for more details of this and other plans for October and beyond.

Today I am talking to another transgender speaker and member of the Professional Speaking Association. Joanne Lockwood has had a successful career in technology and was a Past National President of the Round Table, an all male organisation; well we just have to talk about that. In 2017 Joanne sold her IT consultancy when she decided to undergo a complete personal rebrand - including changing gender.

Since then she has concentrated on developing her reputation as a successful diversity speaker and trainer and shares her tech knowledge with other speakers helping them to improve their skills as online presenters. Today I will be asking her a little about her past, the challenges she faced in coming out and what we can all do to get better at virtual presenting.

In this very stressful times, is life more stressful for LGBTQ people? That is one of the questions I will be asking Pam Burrows, today. Pam is a member one of the LGBTQ members of the professional Speaking Association and she specialises helping people and organisations to manage stress more effectively. But I am hearing that people who do not conform to gender norms are more at risk of losing their jobs and find it more difficult to get jobs leading to higher levels of stress.

We have been looking at inclusion a lot over this past month, and there is no doubt that the more inclusive the environment, the lower the stress levels experiences by all so I want to find out from Pam, what we can do from a gender perspective to make our workplaces less stressful.

Today we see drag queens and kings on the TV every week and if you ever go to a pride event, well, they wouldn't be pride events without a drag and general non conformist dressing. When I first came out, it was the diversity of people at LGBTQ events that encouraged me to come out .

But where did all this cross dressing start - why do we have such a rich history of gender nonconformity? That's what I want to talk about today - Drag and cross dressing - where did it start and why - and it's a fascinating history that dates back over thousands of years.

The past couple of weeks have seen a shift in UK Government attitudes against Trans and Non-binary people, despite the TUC and British Medical Association making clear their support and an employment tribunal confirming that Non Binary people are protected by the Equality Act 2010.

Liz Truss, the government minister for Women and Equalities has announced a u-turn on the Gender Recognition Act Reform and the publication of the Gender Recognition Act Review shows the full extent of the anti trans campaign. In the house of Lords the government refused to provide any evidence to support the oft quoted view that self ID would result in men using the act to enter safe spaces for women in order to attack them.

Added to this, the guidelines for schools for delivering sex education are suggesting that supporting trans pupils would be promoting dangerous stereotypes. So today, a little later than usual I am looking at uncomfortable shift in government attitudes towards trans people that is reversing all planned improvements.

When looking for guests for my show, my first stop was the Professional Speakers Association "Find a Speaker" database looking for people who spoke on gender issues. I have not met Nathalie, but as I decided to make one of my lockdown goals to finally learn French, and Nathalie is a primary school French teacher, I was immediately keen to meet and speak to her.

Nathalie speaks at least four languages (she also speaks Geordie), and travels around the northeast of England on her mobile library bus storytelling in different languages to children. She also speaks about gendering of picture books, and that is a something I am keen to speak to her about. I am also interested in how Europeans are handling the shift to non-binary, because while learning French I have noticed that most European languages are far more gendered than English.

So join me for a fascinating chat with someone who has really gone all out to take her expertise and uniquely package it - Nathalie is also a great inspiration for anyone in business for themselves. You can find out More about Nathalie at nattalingo.co.uk