Pride Month takes place every June - read on for our round-up of events and key resources for students and staff, plus a foreword from Professor Anthony Smith, Vice-Provost (Faculties) and LGBTQ+ champion on the University Management Committee.
On this page:
Foreword from Professor Anthony Smith, Vice-Provost (Faculties) and LGBTQ+ champion on the University Management Committee.
Pride Month means so many different things to different people, a reflection of the diversity of our community, friends and allies.
For some, it is a reminder of just how far we have come since the first Gay Pride parade in New York in 1970, a year after the Stonewall Riots were triggered by the NYPD raid on the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Marches followed in other large US cities and the first UK Pride took place in London two years later, on 1 July, 1972. While it is a time to celebrate, Pride is also an important reminder, not just for the LGBTQ+ community but for the whole of society, that many people here and around the world continue to face oppression and marginalisation. And for others, participation in Pride is a much more personal moment in their journey as a member of our community.
This year marks 40 years since the seemingly unlikely alliance between a Lesbian and Gay group from London and Miners in South Wales, during the tumultuous months of the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike - the longest strike in British history. As memorably captured in the 2014 film Pride, the group raised more money for the miners than any other fundraiser in the UK and included driving from London to South Wales in a minibus emblazoned with the logo LGSM: Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. Those same miners showed their gratitude to the LGBTQ+ community by marching in Pride 1985, doing much to break down barriers and prejudices.
Returning to the present, this year marks new beginnings for me. In April I married Michael, my partner of sixteen years, and I retire from UCL at the end of July. It has been an honour and privilege to be the LGBTQ+ champion on the Senior Management Team and University Management Committee for the past twelve years. Thank you to everyone from Out@UCL and friends for your support and friendship - it has always been a great network. Whenever you go into Student Centre, see if you can spot the Out@UCL branding that I got in there to signal that building’s commitment to inclusivity.
Happy Pride!
Anthony Smith
Events
We’ll be updating this page with additional events as they are announced so please do check back to see the latest updates! If you are hosting a UCL event for Pride Month that you’d like included in this article, please get in touch with the UCL Communications team.
5 June, 2.30pm-4.30pm: Trans-inclusivity Seminar Series: ’Cancel Culture’ and politics of vulnerability in queer/trans online spaces
In person/online, open to all
Dr Kata Kyrölä will explore how notions of ’cancel culture’ circulate online in relation to issues of sexual and gender diversity, and how conflicts around ’cancelation’ speak to broader cultural-affective tendencies, theorised through politics of vulnerability, paranoid reading, and platform drama.
6 June, 10am: LGBTQ+ Parents and Families Group launch
Online, open to UCL staff and students Join us for the launch of this new group, co-chaired by members of the Ioe LGBTQ+ Advisory Group. More information and contact details can be found on Staff News.
19 July 2024, 2-3pm: Diverse Founders’ Network panel discussion: Support for LGBTQIA+ founders
In person, open to all This panel discussion on support for LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs will be delivered in collaboration with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). This event is free and open to all.
Resources and networks for students
Students’ Union UCL’s LGBTQ+ Network aims to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or any other marginalised gender or sexual identities.
Students’ Union UCL’s Trans* Students Network provides an opportunity for students self-defining as Trans* to be part of a community of their peers, providing events, support and resources.
Students’ Union UCL’s Gender Expression Fund provides financial assistance for students to purchase items that will make them more comfortable with their gender presentation.
UCL Student Support and Wellbeing have listed information and support for LGBTQ+ students , including our policy and guidance for those transitioning gender.
UCL’s LGBTQ+ Equality Steering Group is open to all lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer staff and those interested in promoting LGBTQ+ equality at UCL, and also steers the Out@UCL staff social network.
UCL’s Trans Network is for staff and mature and PhD students at UCL who identify as trans (including non-binary, genderqueer and all’other identities not identical with the gender assigned at birth).
The LGBTQ+ STEM network is for members of the LGBTQ+ community allies working in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) discipline.
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