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University of Reading

LGBT History Month - show your support

Thursday, 25 January 2018

LGBT Ally

February is LGBT History Month, a great time to show our support for our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans staff and students, and to find out more about LGBT+ experiences and history.

Our activities through this month are just one component of the wider work that we are doing across the University to support our LGBT+ staff and students, and to achieve the University's target of Top 50 in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index by 2020.

We encourage all staff and students to help us demonstrate that our University is a supportive and welcoming environment for our LGBT+ staff and students, to find out about LGBT+ experiences, and to consider signing up as an LGBT+ Ally, by which we mean simply "an individual who doesn't identify as LGBT and believes that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should experience full equality, at home, in their communities, and in their places of work".

Ways you can contribute and show your support throughout February include:

  • Displaying an LGBT+ Ally postcard and/or wearing an LGBT+ Ally lanyard through LGBT History Month (and beyond). These are available for collection from 31 January at the main receptions in Whiteknights House, Henley Business School, Palmer Building, London Road, and at the Henley Greenlands Reception and RUSU reception.
  • Joining our LGBT+ Allies Information and Recruitment Session, hosted by the VC, RUSU, and our LGBT Plus network for LGBT+ staff and allies, 12-13.30, 15th February. (If unable to attend do write directly to one of the LGBT Plus Co-Chairs Deb Heighes and Calvin Smith to sign up as an ally.)
  • Finding out about LGBT+ experiences in Reading and beyond on our #diversereading blog, through the many LGBT+ staff profiles on the University's Faces of Reading website, or on the display screens and notice boards in RUSU.
  • Coming along to one of our other LGBT History Month events, whether the showing of the triple Oscar-nominated film "Call Me By Your Name", our Round Table on Supporting LGBT+ Staff and Students in HE, a public lecture "Queer Classics: Sexuality, Scholarship, and the Personal", or the repeat of our popular Trans Awareness Training.

Here are full details of these events and how to book.

  • Showing of the triple-Oscar-nominated film "Call Me By Your Name", 1st February, 7.45pm-10pm, RFT, Palmer Building. Booking (tickets £5-£8) via Reading Film Theatre.
  • Round Table with Clara Barker (Oxford), Simon Chandler-Wilde (Reading), Alyssa Henley (SupportU), Alan Greaves (Liverpool) and Jessica Moody (ECU) on Policies and Support Strategies for LGBT+ Staff and Students in HE, 12th February, 4-5pm, Chancellor's G04. Booking by email to Katherine Harloe.
  • Public Lecture "Queer Classics: Sexuality, Scholarship, and the Personal", by Prof Jennifer Ingleheart, University of Durham, 12th February, 5.15pm, Edith Morley G27. Booking via Eventbrite.
  • LGBT+ Allies Information and Recruitment Session, hosted by the VC, RUSU, and our LGBT Plus staff network, 15th February, 12-13.30 (lunch provided), Van Emden Lecture Theatre, Edith Morley. In this session - see this blog by Rachel Helsby for more details - we will hear from LGBT+ staff and students why allies are needed and will discuss what LGBT+ allies can concretely do. Booking by ESS or by email to Sinead O'Flynn.
  • Trans Awareness Training with Rosemary Taylor, 21st February, 2-4pm, Palmer 106. This popular session looks at the range and variety of people who identify in one way or another as Transgender. The variables of gender, sexuality and other aspects are explored and explained, including: What it is like to be Trans; Coming Out; Being Trans in Public; Being Trans at work; How do staff react to trans people? All with time for discussion, questions and answers. Booking by ESS.