As we enter February, it’s time for LGBTQ+ History Month, which is an opportunity every year to educate ourselves in celebration of the past, present and future of the LGBTQ+ community. Despite today being nearly 20 years on from the very first history month, during a critical period for the LGBTQ+ community in the UK we are currently in, it is arguably more important than ever to be honouring our heritage and continuing the fight for a future we deserve.
LGBTQ+ history month was first celebrated in the UK in February 2005, founded and organised by the School’s OUT UK organisation with the intention of ‘claiming our past, celebrating our present and creating our future’. This was originally sparked by the repeal of the section 28 law which, from 1988, prohibited the education or promotion of anyone who wasn’t cisgendered or heterosexual. Section 28 effectively erased LGBTQ+ history from the public up until the policy was abolished 20 years ago, meaning that entire generations of queer people were growing up in isolation due to a lack of representation or acknowledgement.
Special education teacher Sheila says that the increased diversity and inclusivity within education has helped significantly in producing a generation of welcoming and accepting young people, much different from her own experiences as a teen in the 1980s. She comments that she was not aware of section 28 at the time, however upon reflection can see a huge lack of diversity in the media and education. “Growing up there weren’t films or TV shows about being gay or trans, everything was quite macho … there was no representation. People need to see themselves in all sorts of guises, but back then there was nothing.”
As a result she has had to teach herself about the LGBTQ+ community more recently, and believes that partly due to this lack of education much of her generation and older ones still possess a lot of prejudice. “It’s true what they say: you’re not born racist or homophobic or anything like that, it comes later. When you’re younger you just accept people for who they are. Older generations still definitely see gay people as not equal and less important and it’s going to take a couple more generations to fully get rid of that … not everyone is as open as they should be.”
However, while things are far from perfect, Sheila holds a lot of hope for the young people of today, finding that many of her students are happy to embrace LGBTQ+ identities. “For things to change the older generations definitely need to be educated .. and maybe it’s the younger generations that are going to do that.”
She says that “education plays a big part” in the generational shift towards equality and acceptance but also as something that “has only recently been given adequate focus” within the curriculum. In particular, looking back on the history of the LGBTQ+ community has helped students to understand the progression of society and acknowledge how far we’ve come. “I teach 17-18 year olds who haven’t necessarily found where they are in that community … and could be thinking ‘that might be me’” she adds, arguing that by teaching students about “how things were” they are able to feel seen and get excited about their future. “It’s all about educating about those rights … how those rights have changed as well as how people have fought for those rights,” she said.
LGBTQ+ history month in the UK helps to take vital steps towards the diversification and inclusivity of education by linking the month each year to a different area of the National Curriculum as well as providing free educational resources on the history month website. This year’s focus is medicine, celebrating LGBTQ+ contributions to the medical and healthcare world. In particular this theme aims to highlight the recent prominence of the NHS staff and healthcare workers during the pandemic, as well as raising awareness of the health inequalities and complications faced by the community both historically and in the present day.
Outside of the UK’s celebrations during February, LGBTQ+ History Month is also celebrated in many other parts of the world. For example, in the USA, LGBTQ+ month has been celebrated every October since 1994, founded by Missouri’s first openly gay public school teacher Rodney Williams. October was chosen for history month in America due to its correlation with National Coming Out Day on the 11th of October, the first LGBTQ+ marches on Washington in October of 1979 and 1987, as well as falling within the academic year so as to maximise opportunities for education on these important matters. Many other countries such as Cuba, Italy and Australia also have their own LGBTQ+ History Months, which they use to raise awareness of local and international LGBTQ+ matters.
Back to history month in the UK: alongside the resources and events directly hosted by School’s OUT, they also encourage nationwide events and celebrations of all kinds to be run as well, many of which can be found via https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/calendar/
On a more local scale, whether you are an LGBTQ+ student wishing to celebrate your heritage, an ally looking to educate yourself, or anything else in between, the LGBTQ+ committee as well as Student’s Union are running plenty of events for everyone during this year’s History Month. For those of you looking for some nightlife, Grapefruit has you covered with its LGBTQ+ history month special on the 23rd, with a quiz being held in Raynor Lounge directly before. As well as this, on the 28th of February there is a Living Library, a great opportunity to hear about LGBTQ+ experiences directly from LGBTQ+ individuals.
Since the first LGBTQ+ history month of the UK in February 2005, so much has changed for the better, but at the same time it can often feel like the country is going back on itself. Legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2013 and increased representation in the media are just some of the victories the LGBTQ+ community have celebrated over the last 20 years. However we are still fighting for equality in many ways, such as a ban on conversion therapy and the protection of inclusive education, conflicts that shouldn’t still be ongoing in 2024. Therefore it is still as important as ever not just to educate ourselves on the past but to look after ourselves and each other in the present whilst campaigning for our future.
However you choose to celebrate this year, Happy LGBTQ+ history month!