The University has a great tradition of celebrating its diverse community and in February we turn the spotlight to our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans staff and students by marking LGBT History Month.

Infact we have marked this important month every year since 2010 with a variety of events, awareness raising activities and calls to action to mark the contribution and importance of this community not only to our history, but to our present and future activities.

With the theme on ‘Mind, Body, Spirit’ we’ll celebrate the month with this in mind. And with our ongoing new ways of working and getting together the entire programme will be delivered online which means we can reach more people, engage with all of our population and make sure the message of awareness is heard as widely as possible.

We kick off the month by asking people to display their pronouns on email signatures and video calls. This may seem like a pointless act for some people, but when people include their pronouns in their email signatures on video calls it helps normalise the practice and is an easy way to prevent mis-gendering. It also helps demonstrate the point whether someone is cis or trans, their pronouns should never be assumed and that an individual has the right to be referred to with the correct pronoun.

Our other events will take a look at wellbeing – how the pandemic has impacted on our LGBT+ community and how allies can support them and what we can all do to look after our own wellbeing. We’ll look at intersectionality through the screening of a documentary followed by a subsequent discussion. Members of our alumni community will join a panel discussion to talk about the theme ‘mind, body, spirit’

But there’s a lighter side too. We’ll be raising awareness through sport and activity, encouraging everyone to wear their best rainbow colours to work out and the month is rounded-off by our traditional quiz where our host tests people’s knowledge across many LGBT related subjects (and more).

All events are FREE and open to staff, students and our community.

Full details can be found on our website.

LGBT History Month has been marked in the UK since 2005 and at the University we have held events every February since 2010.

2018 sees a rather topical theme of ‘Geography: Mapping Our History’. With many countries still viewing being LGBT as a crime it’s important to raise awareness of this and the freedoms which are enjoyed in other countries such as the UK.

This year we have a variety of events covering different aspects of the LGBT Community. All the events are free to attend and open to all University staff, students and visitors.

There’s the opportunity to attend a documentary screening; to hear stories from LGBT asylum seekers and refugees; to do something active with UMBUG and UMRUN or something more cerebral with our book group and annual quiz. We’re also delighted to be have a special performance of ‘Borderland’ at the Martin Harris Centre.

We’ll also be flying the rainbow flag at various places on campus and are encouraging people to tweet their picture with #UOMLGBTHM2018.

Even if you do not identify as LGBT you may want to find out more about a particular aspect, offer support to a friend, colleague or family member or even find out how you can be more involved.

All our events are listed with links to the Eventbrite booking pages.