Hannah Stewart talks about LGBT history…
February, in the UK is officially LGBT History Month. It was first established in 2005 and takes place in February as to coincide with the abolition of Section 28, which prohibited schools from teaching about homosexuality and the publishing of materials which were considered to be “promoting” homosexuality. It was abolished in 2003 and LGBT History Month followed in the wake of this as a way of combatting prejudice against LGBT people and raising awareness.
Sam and I, the LGBT+ Part Time Officers at the Union are planning to hold different events throughout the month of February in order to raise awareness through the University. The month will begin with a showing of Pride, a film telling the story of a group of gay and lesbian activists from London who raised money for the striking Welsh miners during the Miners’ Strike from 1984 to 1985. We choose this film as we thought it would be interesting for people to see a little-known role that was played by LGBT activists in a significant part of Wales’ history.
There will be other events throughout the month, including another film night and a cocktail night. We will also be running a week long stall to raise awareness of a different identity in the LGBT+ Acronym each day. We plan to finish off the month with a pub quiz event, testing people’s knowledge of LGBT+ history and culture as well as general knowledge, with some prizes to be won. Throughout the month, there will be materials posted around Fulton House and the Union building to raise awareness of the month and of events. We intend to have the gay, bi and transgender pride flags displayed on the front of Fulton House for the entirety of the month.
We also want to raise money throughout the month, which will then be donated to an LGBT charity at the end. There will also be events organised by the LGBT+ Society throughout the month, as well as the LGBT+ Staff Network, who are planning to run an Equal Opportunities Lecture on the 17th of February and a stall of famous LGBT people in history on the 2nd and 16th of February. They will also be running a blog series on LGBT history throughout February.
LGBT History Month is an important event in the year for the LGBT community. Although there are other days which are celebrated throughout the year, LGBT History Month is the one huge campaign in the year that is dedicated to raising awareness of LGBT+ history. We hope to do our best to give this event the recognition it deserves and to make the students here at Swansea University more aware of it as well.
