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    It’s LGBT+ History Month – but what’s it all about?

    3 February 2023

    LGBT+ History Month was founded in 2004 by Schools Out,a charity that aims to make schools safe and inclusive for everyone – which is exactly what we want our University to be.

    The LGBT+ History Month motto is "Claiming our Past – Celebrating our Present – Creating our Future" and the aim of the annual celebration is to promote equality and diversity for the benefit of the public but particularly through education initiatives.

    Every year Schools OUT sets a different theme and provides resources for education settings, businesses, services and organisations to help them celebrate and usualise LGBT+ lives in their full diversity.

    This year’s theme is #BehindTheLens - celebrating LGBT+ peoples’ contribution to cinema and film, including directors, cinematographers, screen writers, producers, animators, costume designers, special effects, make-up artists, lighting directors, musicians, choreographers and beyond.

    “At a time when LGBT+ lives are in the media we also encourage you to look ‘Behind the Lens’ and listen to LGBT+ peoples’ lived experiences,” -  Schools Out .


    Harper Adams University is proud to be a partner in AgRespect – the movement promoting respect and inclusion for LGBTQ+ people in the rural sector. Their site has a vast range of profiles and stories which we recommend you take some time to read.

    One person profiled is former Harper Adams Student and most recent past Students’ Union President, Emily Brown, who is a strong advocate for better representation of the community in the media.

    In her 2020 blog, Emily gave her top film recommendations:

    “For films, God’s Own Country is a great one to watch, which is centred around a gay farmer’s son from Yorkshire. Another good film is Pride which is based on the true story of a lesbian and gay activist group who raised money to support the families of Welsh miners during the strike of 1984. I found this particular film powerful because when the group first arrived in Wales many of the miners and their wives were hostile, however once they had met the group, most were very accepting and accommodating. Later on in the film one of the older rural Welsh characters comes out as gay.”

    And she has also taken the cause to the small screen – appearing on The One Show thanks to her involvement in AgRespect and the rainbow tractor they took to Birmingham Pride. Read more here.

    “When I was younger there were very few role models from rural areas, so to be given the chance to openly talk about rural diversity and inclusion was amazing.

    “It’s great to see the number of people from the rural community getting behind diversity and inclusion.”

    The charity Stonewall UK started LGBT+ History Month with a celebration of all 1.5 million LGBT+ individuals in the UK making history by being counted in the census for the first time

     

    See the University’s first annual report on its Respect Policy and action plan for details of our efforts to make the university safe and inclusive for everyone. 

    Want to share your story? Contact the team via press@harper-adams.ac.uk


    Schools OUT UK is an education charity that began life as The Gay Teachers Association in 1974. Our overarching goal is to make our schools and educational institutions safe spaces for our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) communities as teachers, lecturers and trainers; as pupils and students; as parents; as teaching and learning support staff; as site-officers, catering and cleaning staff; and as headteachers, managers and governors. There is no other organisation that supports such a wide community in attaining such a wide, yet simple overarching goal. Learn more

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    #respect#lgbtq#inclusion#community#SU#studentlife#union

    Author

    J
    Jaclyn - Harper Adams Press

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