“History isn't something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”
~Marsha P. Johnson
February is LGBT+ History Month in the UK. (In the US, Canada and Australia, it is celebrated in October to coincide with National Coming Out Day on Oct 11th, and also to commemorate marches in Washington for LGBT rights in 1979 and 1987). The UK date coincides with the month in which Section 28 was abolished in 2003. Section 28 being the government act which stated that local authorities and schools couldn't intentionally promote homosexuality, which actually meant they couldn't show homosexuality as an acceptable family set up.
In the UK, LGBT+ History Month was founded in 2004 by Schools OUT. Every year the organisation sets a different theme for LGBT+ History Month and provides free resources for education settings, businesses, services and organisations to help them celebrate and usualise LGBT+ lives in their full diversity. The theme for this year is 'Behind the Lens' and is about celebrating LGBT+ peoples' contribution to cinema and film from behind the lens i.e, directors, cinematographers, screen writers, producers, etc.
It comes at an interesting time...
In the UK, renowned public school Eton has invited Laura Bates (the founder of the Everyday sexism project) to give a talk to pupils and Rugby School is allocating resources to exploring 'the historical intersection between schools, class and colonialism'. I read this and thought 'wow that's great'. Readers of The Times seem to disagree with me with 55% of them saying that schools shouldn't get involved in social justice issues. State school head and former social mobility tsar, Katharine Birbalsingh, has written an essay claiming that prestigious private schools have 'embraced the agenda of identity politics'. The problem with this, according to Melanie Phillips in The Times, is that 'elite establishments may educate a minority but they set down markers that lead wider culture'.
In the US, the recent Roe vs Wade ruling that overturned 50 years of women's right to abortion access could impact other rights for the LGBTQ community. Justice Clarence Thomas specifically said that 'we have a duty to correct the error established... in ... precedents', directly referring to Obergefell (which was the landmark 2015 decision that legalised gay marriage in all 50 States). Kamala Harris spoke recently to her fear that this will impact globally.
It seems that we can't take improvements in representation and human rights for granted. As such, I see LGBT+ History Month as important in schools and businesses. It is an attempt to understand where we have come from and also to give representation to voices that have been silenced through history. It is not about erasing other voices but adding to the diversity and breadth of the curriculum. It is about helping individuals feel less alone as they see people like them represented in culture and history. I try really hard in my work to avoid categorising different agendas and pitting 'sides' against each other. I had to dig deep for this one today! But we need to remember that we've got more in common than that which divides us, and always start there. Could we start by agreeing that we all want freedom over whom we love and we all want our children to learn and to feel like they belong?
Continuing to learn and grow at THC
We received some feedback when our LGBTQIA+ e-learning module was being peer reviewed that we weren't fully representing the intersex community. We're so grateful for that feedback and the chance to learn and grow! Intersex is a term used to refer to people born with differences in their sex traits or reproductive anatomy. About 1 in 2,000 babies (0.05% of all people) are born with visible genital differences and it's possible they may be forced to have surgery, which may prove unnecessary, to change their bodies to appear 'normal'. Challenges in the workplace may occur around self identification, dress codes and facilities. We're so grateful to have this feedback which helps us to improve our knowledge and, in turn, the knowledge we pass on to you all. This is a great resource to find out more: https://outandequal.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IntersexResource_R62.pdf
Get in touch with us to explore how we can support your workplace during LGBT+ history month!
Love,
Rox x