There has been lots of equality and diversity activities going on across campus over the summer, here’s an update on just a few of them.

Pride

The University was once again proud to support Manchester Pride in August. Our activities were quite different this time and aside from our usual support to the event of providing use of our Sackville Street Building Roof for fireworks and free car parking in Charles Street for local residents we also ensured parts of our campus showed our commitment to LGBT equality and promoted our inclusive environment. ALLOUT – the University’s LGBT Staff Network Group – arranged for the Rainbow Flag to fly proudly on North Campus (Sackville Street Building) and South Campus (University Place) and also installed a banner on Oxford Road to show our support.

The Hijra

A lunchtime seminar about India’s 3^rd Gender – The Hijra – was a fascinating hour charting the history of this community from its beginnings to present day. This event was introduced by Rachel Brealey, Director of Faculty Operations for Faculty of Science and Engineering. Rachel is one of many ALLOUT Allies on campus who support the activities of the staff network group and demonstrate how inclusive the University is as a place of work and study for the LGBT Community.

The session was led by Sarah Newport who is a specialist in this area and shared her research and findings followed by a question and answer session. The popularity was such that this event will be repeated in November as part of our Transgender Day of Remembrance activities.

Showcasing outstanding athletes

As the Olympics were taking place in Rio we used the opportunity to showcase diverse sports stars who have faced different obstacles in their career. Concentrating on those from LGBT, Disabled and BME backgrounds we were able to showcase 12 outstanding athletes – from well-known faces such as Tom Daley, Amélie Mauresmo and Jesse Owens, to those who may not yet be household names. These included some of our very own Manchester graduates such as Rhianne Murray, Blaire Hannan, and Eleni Papadopolous. The gallery was on display in five different buildings and received some great comments both at the galleries and on social media. Clips of the gallery can be seen on our Twitter feed @UoMEandD.

To find out more about our staff networks go to the Equality and Diversity website.