girlfriend and sister were attacked and threatened with rape and murder at the end of May. A gay couple and their friend were attacked at knifepoint on June 11. In addition, two 19-year-old bisexual friends, Curtis Stewart and Josh Ormrod, were battered in separate assaults only days apart during the following week. The protest, organised by bar staff from Liverpool's LGBT venues, started at the corner of Church Street and Paradise Street at 1pm and consisted of a march past St Johns Shopping Centre, Williamson Square and finished at Victoria Street in the gay quarter. Speeches and statements in condemnation of the attacks were made by Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell and Andi Herring of Liverpool City Region Pride Foundation. Merseyside Police confirmed that patrols would increase in and around the city's Pride Quarter and would include "high visibility" and plain clothes officers. 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and Linda Gold's Funny Boyz In February 2021, a number of prominent members from Liverpool's LGBT community spoke to the Liverpool Echo to describe how the series of recent lockdowns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic had devastated the local LGBT community. In particular, the measures had led to a feeling of isolation amongst the city's drag queen circuit through them not being able to perform to live audiences, earn their living and to self express. Much of the drag queen community had also suffered a deterioration in their mental health. Between March 2020 and the time the Liverpool Echo article had been published, the UK had been through a sequence of restrictive controls to stem the spread of Coronavirus which had directly affected the hospitality industry. The measures included three full national lockdowns to bars and clubs, a local lockdown which applied specifically to the Liverpool City Region, 10pm curfews in the hospitality sector, the 'rule of six' on indoor and outdoor social gatherings, and a rule whereby patrons to bars and clubs could only drink alcohol in a venue when it was accompanied by a 'substantial meal'. Linda Gold, a Liverpool born drag queen, who had been entertaining crowds for over two decades, told the Liverpool Echo that the feeling amongst drag queens was that they had been 'cast aside'. Whilst suffering a loss to their income, many were also unable to use the Government's furlough scheme on account