what is LGBT History Month (UK)
January 30, 2019Well for years LGBT people and issues were either invisible or and were presented extremely negatively. We were lied to by omission, children in schools may be reading novels and plays, or poetry written by LGBT people but that was never revealed. It was assumed that everybody was heterosexual. The effect of section 28, which ran from 1988 to 2003, meant that not only did people not ‘promote homosexuality’ they colluded with profound homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. Which resulted in massive bullying, which I prefer to call hate crime, which led to physical attacks. and gave rise to massive self-doubt, mental health problems and in extreme cases, suicide. The social atmosphere was toxic for LGBT people in schools, in the workplace and often even, at home.
In 2003 when 28 was finally rescinded and the labour party began to talk about organizing legislation that would cover sexual orientation and gender, as well as requiring those that received government money to outlaw discrimination, advance equal opportunity and foster good relations.
Paul Patrick and I the then co-chairs of Schools OUT UK decided to explore the founding of LGBT History Month so that we could legitimise a space where we could enable people to make visible and celebrate LGBT people and their contribution to society.
This year our theme is peace reconciliation and activism and our four faces that link with the theme are Mariella Franco, Magnus Hirschfield, Robert Graves and Marsha P. Johnson. The intention is to reflect the rich diversity of our community and introduce key figures. See free resources here
Over the years we have become less invisible, if we are white gay men, however the rest of our community, especially if we are disabled are still barely visible in the media. We have seen museums especially since 2017, when some made a supreme effort to recognise the 50 year anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, begin the work to make their exhibitions more inclusive but there is a long way to go before the full diversity of our community is represented.
LGBT history month is passionate about being fully representative and consistently strives to both educate institutions and ensure that our resources reflect that passion. We chose February as it has ½ term and we hope to that libraries museums and theatres etc would embrace the month and give teachers confidence to celebrate the month in their schools.
In 2019 I cannot say with any confidence that all schools celebrate the month , even though the equality act of 2010 and the public duty require them to take seriously educating their pupils about LGBT issues. We will continue to produce resources for teachers and myriad institutions so that they can educate out prejudice by making visible, the rich diversity of LGBT people and their contributions.
To ensure that the concept of visibilising LGBT people is not corralled into one month we at Schools OUT UK have also produced our website the classroom which contains over 80 free lesson plans across the curriculum and for all ages that Usualise LGBT existence and experience.
Five years ago we initiated OUTing the Past a festival of LGBT history and this year we had over 100 offers of presentations. 18 hubs across England the island of Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and New York will host a variety of those presentations which cover a rich variety of LGBT lived experience. We will also be hosting our original theatre, which explores hidden history. At the end of March in Belfast the festival terminates with the gathering of academics of international academics and activists. This gathering is crucial in building free resources for everyone to do the vital work challenging prejudice and making society a safer place crucial in these times when Hate crime in on the increase.
So use the resources get posters up and around your work places enable the culture of tyour worl place to celebrate LGBT people in all their diversity, check out what is on near you here and get to one of the 1500 events round the country
Have a great LGBT History Month 19!
