Activities and events are taking place across the University and Colleges to mark LGBT+ History Month at Cambridge, along with online campaigns, podcasts and articles produced by students and staff.  

This LGBT+ History Month we take stock and reflect on our past, while remembering that our long march to equality is far from over.

Dr Duncan Astle, Chair of the LGBT+ staff network

LGBT+ History Month takes place every February to promote equality and increase the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, their history, lives and their experiences.

At Cambridge, sexuality and gender will be explored through poetry, politics, art and archaeology - with a blend of online and in-person events.

Dr Duncan Astle, Chair of the LGBT+ staff network at the University, said: “Every LGBT+ History Month we recognise the progress made towards equality and highlight the injustice that persists. Across the UK there has been a substantial rise in homo-, bi- and transphobic hate crime, fuelled by a widespread campaign of misinformation. Transphobic hate crime in particular has quadrupled over the past five years. 

“This LGBT+ History Month we take stock and reflect on our past, while remembering that our long march to equality is far from over. With so many events across Cambridge, in person and online, there are more ways than ever for people to get involved.” 

 

This year’s LGBT+ History Month events include:

Shon Faye in Conversation with Christine Burns

5pm-7pm, Tuesday 1 February
Online event

Shon Faye in conversation with Christine Burns about her new book The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice. The event is being hosted by the University of Cambridge Students' Union LGBT Campaign, and multidisciplinary network for LGBTQ+ research, lgbtQ+@cam.

For more information, click here.

 

In Conversation with Yasmin Benoit – hosted by The Beard Society

5pm-6.30pm, Tuesday 8 February 
Upper Hall, Peterhouse

Writer, model, activist, and the creator of #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike Yasmin Benoit will be talking about her experiences in the LGBTQ+ community, her work as an activist in increasing visibility and educating people on asexuality and aromanticism, and how her sexuality has informed her modelling career.

For more information, click here.


Overlapping Activisms 

5pm-6.30pm, Tuesday 8 February
Online event

Solidarity among activist movements can be an incredible force for good - but it's not automatic or easy. Is feminism in conflict with queer and trans activism? Is there a tension between identity politics and class politics? Come to this panel discussion to hear three activists take a long view on the overlaps of the queer movement with other forms of activism. Speakers: Tamsin Omond, Nicola Field. 

For more information, click here.

 

Religious Art, Queer Possibility

1.15pm-2pm, Wednesday 9 February
Online event

Using works from the Fitzwilliam Museum collection, this online talk will explore how Western European religious painting was embraced and transformed by women and queer artists working in the 19th and 20th century in Britain.

For more information, click here.

 

Cambridge Visual Culture Seminar: Queer Curation and Aesthetic Practices

5.30pm, Thursday 10 February
Lecture Theatre G.19, Faculty of Classics, Sidgwick Avenue

Gayatri Gopinath, Professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, and the Director of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at New York University, in conversation with photographer Sunil Gupta. This conversation will seek to understand the stakes of creating and interpreting archives of the contemporary queer diaspora.

For more information, click here.

 

#LivefromLucy: LGBTQ+ Inclusion at Universities: Testimonies and Recommendations from the ‘Out at Cambridge’ Study with Elisabeth Sandler

6pm-7pm, Wednesday 16 February
Online event

Based on participants’ narratives from the ‘Out at Cambridge’ study (2019), Elisabeth Sandler will discuss the importance of LGBTQ+ inclusion at universities, and what universities and Cambridge colleges can do to create more LGBTQ+ welcoming spaces.

For more information, click here.


Queer Necropoetics 

6pm-7pm, Thursday 17 February 
Online event

A panel with scholars Lee Colwill (University of Cambridge) and Patricia MacCormack (Anglia Ruskin University) on the subject of varying representations and poetics surrounding queer death.

For more information, click here.

 

Gabriela Oré Menéndez: Redefining (my) archaeological practice through queer lenses

5pm-6.30pm, Tuesday 22 February
Online event

Co-organised by the University of Cambridge Archaeological Field Club, the Department of Archaeology's annual LGBT+ History Month event explores the topics of sexuality, gender and archaeological practice.

For more information, click here.


LQW Presents: LGBTQ+ History Month Poetry Takeover

7.30pm, Thursday 24 February
Cinema Bar – Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge 

Join us for a friendly evening of poetry and spoken word celebrating queer history, in collaboration with LondonQueerWriters. With featured poets and eight open mic slots, this is an inclusive event offering a safe space to platform and celebrate LGBTQIA+ poets and spoken word artists. Come down for a night of queer community, speak your truth or just to listen and soak up the vibes. 

For more information, click here.

 

LGBT+ History Month Lecture: Education as Liberation

5pm-6pm, Monday, 28 February
Online event

What role should education, and the education system, play in queer liberation? We conclude this year’s LGBT+ History Month with a Q&A discussion, exploring both the historical role of the education system in the experience of sexuality and gender minorities, and a future perspective on the role that education can play in achieving equality. Our panel of Shon Faye, Sarah Franklin and Duncan Astle will be fielding your questions and discussing the role of education in queer liberation.

For more information, click here.

 

Also happening:

Winning Together – with Helen Richardson-Walsh

6.30pm, Thursday 3 February
Anglia Ruskin University, East Road

In this ARU Excellence in Sport lecture, Helen Walsh shares learnings from her 18-year career with GB hockey, which culminated in Olympic gold.

For more information, click here.


Livestreamed book launch for Outrageous!

7.30pm, Monday 7 February
Online event

Writer and academic Paul Baker discusses the story of Section 28 and Britain's battle for LGBT education.

For more information, click here.

 

That which never can be suppressed: LGBTQ+ history in the RCP collections

6pm-7pm, Thursday 17 February
Online event

Exploring queer history through the Royal College of Physicians' archives.

For more information, click here.

 
For the full line-up of events across Cambridgeshire during LGBT+ History Month, visit: https://encompassnetwork.org.uk/history-month-2020/


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