To mark LGBT History Month 2015 (background on that at the bottom of the page), the University of Kent LGBT Staff Network has organized several events to promote awareness of LGBT issues and history on campus and provide opportunities for LGBT staff and allies to network and socialize. All members of staff (regardless of sexual orientation) and members of the public are welcome (unless indicated otherwise).
SPOKEN
CJ de Mooi (Actor/Television Personality) reflects on the importance of LGBT History Month
(click here to reserve a place)
Wednesday 18 February, 2015 – Introduction 17:45; talk at 18:00
Grimmond Lecture Theatre
CJ de Mooi is an actor with several west end and national stage credits. His first feature film The Renata Road is being released later this year and he’s currently writing his autobiography. CJ’s most recognisable achievement is to be one of the Eggheads on the long running BBC quiz show. In 2014, he appeared in his solo spin off, Revenge of the Egghead.
CJ reflects on the importance of LGBT History Month: “It is essential to know and learn from LGBT history. When I came out at 17, I was still 4 years younger than the legal age of consent and in the poisonous atmosphere of Section 28. The Stonewall Riots of 1969 began a seismic shift in the movement towards equality Despite the advances towards that aim around the world, there remain horrifying reversals. This is not about gay rights, it’s about human rights.”
FILMS
WEEKEND (18)
Tuesday 3rd February 2015 – 18:30, Gulbenkian Cinema
After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what’s expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special.
FRIDA (15)
Thursday 19th February 2015 – 18:30, Gulbenkian Cinema
This long-gestating biography of one of Mexico’s most prominent iconoclastic painters reachers the screen under the guiding hand of producer/star Salma Hayek.
ALL ABOUT YOUR MOTHER (15)
Wednesday 25th February 2015 – 18:30, Gulbenkian Cinema
Young Esteban want to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by the mother Manuela.
THE COLOR PURPLE (15)
Monday 2nd March – 20:45,Gulbenkian Cinema
This film follows the life of Celie, a young black girl growing up in the early 1900’s. The first time we see Celie, she is 14 – and pregnant – by her father. We stay with her for the next 30 years of her tough life…
MUSIC
Wednesday 18 February to 3 March, each weekday, Colyer-Fergusson Foyer, 1.15pm
A Variation a Day (first 10 variations)
Daniel Harding – piano & Kathryn Cox – soprano
A performance each weekday of a variation on “Bist du bei mir” from Bach’s Anna Magdalena Notebook. The 11 contemporary variations are by composers including Tarik O’Regan, Judith Weir, Thea Musgrave and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and together make up a set which was written in 2007 as a leaving present for the then executive Director of the Spitalfields Festival, Judith Serota. One of the composers featured (on Wednesday 25 February 2015) is Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012) who received an Honorary Degree from the University of Kent in 2006. In 1995, Gay Times nominated Sir Richard Rodney Bennett as one of the most influential gay people in music.
Wednesday 4 March, Colyer-Fergusson Hall, 1.10pm
Variations for Judith
Daniel Harding – piano & Kathryn Cox – soprano
The series culminates in a performance of the entire set of 11 contemporary variations.
More info: http://www.kent.ac.uk/music/whatson.html
LGBT WRITERS’ WEEK
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MANY OTHER EVENTS AROUND CAMPUS
The LGBT Student Society and Kent Union are organizing a large number of events this year which make up one of the largest sets of LGBT History Month activities in the country! All of the events are listed at:
https://www.facebook.com/LGBThistorymonthUKC/events
LGBT HISTORY MONTH BACKGROUND
LGBT History Month has been marked each February in the UK since 2005. It was first organized around the repeal of Section 28 which prohibited the teaching of anything in schools which was thought to promote homosexuality. Since 2005, the month has been used as a way to organize events that highlight the role that LGBT people have played in history. This is important for what can often be an invisible minority. For instance, Alan Turing’s story of being persecuted for his sexuality has been quite a powerful message especially given his involvement in major developments in computer science and code-breaking during the second world war. Many organizations around the country use the month as a focus point for awareness raising and LGBT month events are organized at many of our fellow universities.