We’re delighted to announce our programme of events for this year’s LGBT History Month – taking place throughout February 2018.

LGBT History Month is a powerful and thought-provoking event that takes place annually. It aims to promote equality and diversity, for the benefit of everyone, by:

• increasing the visibility of LBGT people, their history, lives and their experiences,
• raising awareness and advancing education on matters affecting the LBGT community and,
• working to make educational and other institutions safe spaces for all LGBT communities.

The 2018 theme for LGBT History Month is ‘Geography: Mapping the World’ which in part celebrates the progress in the world over the last year to legalise same-sex marriage.

Schedule of events

Highlights from our LGBT History Month 2018 programme will include:

• Trans Awareness: The Basics
  12 noon-1.30pm, Wednesday 7 February
  We are delighted to welcome Gendered Intelligence — a not-for-profit Community Interest Company — to the University of Nottingham to present ‘Trans Awareness: The Basics’. This talk will set the wider context for trans identities, explore key terms and use of language, offer a basic ground in the legislation and begin to explore how organisations can ensure they are being trans-inclusive. The talk will finish with a Q&A session. This event is open to UoN staff only.

• LGBTQ+: The Nottingham Experience
  6pm-7:30pm, Wednesday 21 February
  In line with this year’s LGBT History Month theme (‘Geography: Mapping the World’), this event — open to all — aims to put Nottingham on the map and focus on the experience of LGBTQ people in our city. A panel discussion will bring together representatives from the University of Nottingham, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham University Hospitals, the Nottingham LGBT Network and more, to each provide a unique perspective on what it is like to be LGBTQ in Nottingham today.
• Hooking Up: gay men, spaces and desire 1960-2018
  6:30pm-7:30pm, Wednesday 28 February
  From the outset, the notion of ‘space’ has been central to the lives of gay and other men who have sex with men as a mechanism for making contact with each other. ‘Hooking up’ not only provides an opportunity for expressing sexuality and identity, but to gain love, affirmation and a sense of connection with a community. In this interactive lecture we work with the genre of performance ethnography to use multi-media and the voices of men who experience ‘hooking up’ at three bench marks in time between 1960 and the present day. All welcome (suitable for 16+).

There will also be a number of additional events taking place at the University of Nottingham throughout the month — including:

• Our marriages: When lesbians marry gay men
  2:30pm-3:30pm, Monday 5 February
  Film screening and director’s Q&A from leading Chinese queer filmmaker He Xiaopei. Presented by the Department of Culture, Film and Media.
• When an activist becomes an artist
  5pm-6pm, Monday 5 February 
  London-based artist, feminist and LGBT activist Whiskey Chow shares her experiences and explores how art and activism interact with each other.
• Fear of a Queer China: Activism, culture and resistance
  Monday 5 February – Tuesday 6 February
  This workshop, comprising two half-day sessions, brings together queer scholars and activists to discuss key issues concerning queer activism in contemporary China.
• Taiwan pride: Our fight for marriage equality
  4pm-6pm, Tuesday 6 February
  Legislator Mei-Nu Yu, a key Taiwanese politician behind Taiwan’s most recent marriage-equality bill, presents the latest Taiwan Studies Programme lecture.
• Beyond marriage equality: A conversation with LGTBQ+ activists from Taiwan and Nottingham
  7pm-9pm, Tuesday 6 February
  Legislator Mei-Nu Yu takes part in a public event engagement with Taiwanese LGBT and local LGBT groups.
• Queer cinema as art, activism and industry: Filmmaker Fan Popo in conversation
  Tuesday 6 February – Thursday 8 February
  A series of film screenings, director’s Q&As and workshops, presented by leading Chinese queer filmmaker Fan Popo.
• No Easy Walk to Freedom
  5:30pm-8:30pm, Wednesday 7 February
  Screening of documentary No Easy Walk to Freedom, followed by a Q&A with Commonwealth decriminialisation activist and Executive Director of the Kaleidoscope Trust, Paul J.Dillane. Proceeds to go to the Kaleidoscope Trust.
• A Global Look at Queer
  7pm-8:30pm, Thursday 8 February
  Academics from the University of Nottingham share and discuss aspects of their favourite works in order to explore some of the less well-known dimensions of queer lives across the world.
• What Become of Gay Liberation?
  7pm-8:30pm, Wednesday 14 February
  A discussion on the legacy of the gay liberation movement in the US, presented by Dr. Christopher Phelps (University of Nottingham) and Professor Jonathan Bell (University College London).
  
• Solidarity and support: An evening with the Nottingham LGBTQ+ community
  2pm-5pm, Saturday 17 February
  In this networking event, LGBTQ+ groups and allies discuss the future of the community and how we can take steps toward a fairer and more representative tomorrow.

For full listings across the month, please visit the University of Nottingham’s events pages.

Get involved

All event links are now live for you to book your place.

For updates throughout the month, subscribe to the People and Culture blog. Plus, don’t forget to join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #LGBTHM18.

We’ll be releasing more news when LGBT History Month officially commences on Thursday 1 February. You can also find out more about our LGBT History Month programme by emailing the People and Culture team.