At the university we are committed to supporting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) for our staff and students.

The UoN theme for LGBT+ History Month 2022 is ‘Unmuting ourselves’, which aims to raise up and amplify the voices of our LGBT+ community, provide opportunities to educate ourselves and promote and encourage active allyship.

We aim to increase visibility of LGBT+ people, their history, lives, and experiences, promote their welfare, and increase inclusion.

A programme board of staff and student volunteers have organised central events in line with this year’s theme along with funding local projects at the university.

We’d like to encourage everyone to get involved, join our celebrations and share details of the programme as we work together towards unmuting ourselves.

Take a look at what’s on offer at the university throughout the month of February and book your place.

Central Events

Unmuting ourselves: the launch

Tuesday 1 February: 12pm – 12.30pm
The University of Nottingham’s LGBTQ+ Staff Network would like to welcome ALL staff and students to the launch of LGBT+ History Month.
This will be a hybrid event and a great opportunity to help kick-off the celebrations and activities we have scheduled.
Click here to join via Teams.

In-person location will be on University Park Campus – by the lake outside the Trent Building (not the University Boulevard side).

Access: please use either pathway at each end of the Trent Building East and West. Disabled access is via the West car park.

Unmuting ourselves: an exhibition showcasing projects in support of the LGBT+ community

An eclectic and visually engaging exhibition displaying work from both staff and students including personal artistic creations along with projects and areas of research relating to the LGBT+ community and that support LGBT+ allies.  Come along to learn, discuss and engage.

Exhibition launch and meet the exhibitors: 7 February: 12pm – 1pm
Exhibition: 8 – 11 February: 10:30am – 3:30pm daily
No booking required
The Studio, Portland Building
Click here for a virtual form of the exhibition. 

Unmuting ourselves: exploring media impact and influence on the LGBT+ community

Wednesday 9 February 1pm – 2pm

This virtual conversation, aimed at all staff, students and alumni, will explore the impact and influence of the media on shaping the LGBT+ narrative. Chaired by Lucy Jones, Associate Professor in English and Director of EDI for Faculty of Arts, panellists will share their lived experience of media representation of the LGBT+ community on their lives, perspectives and the views of those around them.  Panellists will reflect on early influences, study/career choices, positive and/or negative experiences and how forms of media have changed over time.

You can now watch a recording of this event here.

Local Events

LGBTQ+ reading list

Find your next good read with Libraries’ LGBTQ+ reading list of staff and student suggested titles including award-winning fiction, graphic novels, essay collections, poetry and more.  

Over the last two years, Libraries have purchased many of the suggested titles, in print or ebook format, to continue to develop and diversify our library collections. To check availability of a title, click on the title you’re interested in on the reading list or search for it using NUsearch. 

Do you have a favourite book by an LGBTQ+ writer or that explores LGBTQ+ culture and history? Let Libraries know by completing the online form. 

Creating a personal symbol in the company of others
Throughout the month

A cross campus crafting event with Health Sciences throughout the month. Packs will be available from both campuses for individuals to create their own embroidery masterpiece with instructions explaining how to do the seed stitch. There will also be a QR code linking to a Padlet where individuals can display their creations.  Further details will be available here in February.

LGBTQ+ reading group

Join University of Nottingham Libraries and Dr Hannah Robbins (Centre for Black Studies) at 12 noon on Thursday 24 February for a celebration of LGBTQ+ writing.
We’ll be sharing our favourite books and writers, and discussing why queer books matter. Join us to share your recommendations or to find out more about LGBTQ+ writing.
The first twenty students to register for the event will receive a free book from our LGBTQ+ reading list of staff and student suggestions.
Sign up for the reading group

The Dan Daw Show

Tuesday 8 February, 7.30pm – 9pm
Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts
Tickets costs £16 (£12) and can be booked via the Lakeside website.
Age suitability: 16+

After having spent a lifetime being an inspiration to others, Dan is finally seizing the moment to inspire himself and let go of who he once was, to make room for who he wants to be.  Teaming up with theatre director Mark Maughan (Petrification, The Claim), Dan is joined in an intimate evening of play by performer Christopher Owen (Joe Moran, Scottish Dance Theatre) where Dan takes back the power by being dominated on his own terms. The Dan Daw Show is a peep into the shiny and sweaty push pull of living with shame while bursting with pride. This is a show about care, intimacy and resilience, about letting go and reclaiming yourself.

Being on Placement: Mariana shares their unique story and toolkit to thrive

Wednesday 9 February, 6.30pm – 7.30pm

Click here to join the talk via Teams with Mariana

Mariana is a 3rd year Animal Science student who has taken their year in industry placement as a chance to promote diversity and inclusion in the farming community. Since disclosing their trans identity at FAI Farms, they have taken the opportunity to educate the wider global team with an “LGBTQIA+ Crash Course”. This has kick-started a company ethos change – a goal to make the future of farming a more diverse and inclusive space.

‘Ghost Empire’ film screening and panel discussion: British colonial law and LGBTQ+ rights

Friday 11 February, 6pm – 9pm
A30 Arts Lecture Theatre
Tickets are free and can be booked here

This event brings together artists, activists and scholars from different disciplines to reflect on the long-term legacies of British colonial laws regarding LGBTQ+ rights. The event, chaired by Martina Salvante, will include a screening of Ghost Empire § Cyprus with Susan Thomson; a roundtable discussion with scholars and activists responding to the film and its content and a Q&A session with the filmmaker, panellists, and the wider audience.

Why are all the best philosophers LGBTQ?

Wednesday 23 February, 12pm – 2pm
D10 Monica Partridge Building

Tickets are free and can be booked here

This interactive seminar will celebrate the LGBTQ community’s disproportionate contribution to philosophy. Highlighted will be the prevalence and importance of LGBTQ philosophers, including Bayard Rustin, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Simone de Beauvoir. These have and continue to help us think about and fight for what it means to be human, to be oneself, and to be happy. LGBTQ people’s experiences of, and often struggles with, navigating self and society, lend themselves to critical and practical thinking about. This informal session, refreshments provided, takes inspiration from the LGBTQ community to become better everyday philosophers.

‘Safe Distance’ film screening + Q&A

Thursday 24 February, 1pm-2.30pm
Djanogly Theatre, DH Lawrence Pavilion, Lakeside Arts
Booking is free via the Lakeside website.

Safe Distance’ directed by Jamie Chi is a documentary film that explores queer Chinese individuals’ lived experiences of discrimination and ostracization in the UK during the pandemic. It involves 31 queer-identified interviewees who come from Chinese societies and backgrounds, including the UK, mainland China, Hong Kong, Canada, the Netherlands and Singapore, and who currently reside in this country. It examines themes incorporating identity, intersectionality, mental health, discrimination, migration, and the notion of home and community. Jamie Chi draws parallels between Covid and the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the 1980s to alert people to the history of discrimination against the queer community. She also highlights how queer Chinese individuals have experienced particular discrimination through racism and homophobia. The film will be introduced by the producer Qiu Bai in conversation with Hongwei Bao with online participation by Jamie Chi from Hong Kong.

Removing the camouflage in a rural community: Emily talks openly about finding her true authentic self

Thursday 24 February, 6.30pm – 7.30pm

Click here to join the talk via Teams with Emily

Emily Brown is the current President for Harper Adams Students’ Union, having studied BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Farm Business Management at Harper Adams University from 2017-2021. She is from a farming family in Bedfordshire and has been strongly involved in Bedford Young Farmers. Emily has a keen interest in EDI in the agricultural industry, working with Agrespect, a movement which promotes and supports diversity in the countryside.

Holocaust: Untold Histories

Monday 28 February, 1pm – 2pm
Live-streamed event
You can now see a recording of this event here.

Dr. Anna Hájková (Associate Professor of History, University of Warwick) with Professor Maiken Umbach (History, UoN) discusses the experiences of those involved in same sex relationships under the Nazi regime and why certain stories connected to the sexuality of the Holocaust victims were never told.  Dr. Hájková’s book, The Last Ghetto, explored the everyday history of Theresienstadt. She is currently working on queer Holocaust history.  This online event has been organised to coincide with the exhibition ‘The Eye as Witness: Recording the Holocaust’ (Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts, 22 January – 13 March 2022) based on research by a multi-disciplinary team led by Prof. Umbach.