LGBT History Month 2015 Launch

I was privileged to represent Prospect at the British Library at the recent launch of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month 2015.

“Coded Lives” is the theme of the LGBT HM 2015, held every February, and the launch night on 18 November 2015 took that theme at face value!

History is often dominated by narratives focussing on rich white straight cis-men, which impoverishes both our understanding of events and the ways we see LGBT (and the questioning, queer, intersex, asexual and related co-travellers) communities.

LGBT History Month, which runs throughout February every year, seeks to challenge that perspective, usualising and actualising the experiences and stories of queer people, making us more visible, raising awareness of the issues that affect us, making educational establishments safe and promoting LGBT well-being. These objectives align nicely with Prospect’s policies to promote the equality of minority groups in society.

The launch night was certainly a spectacular display of the diversity in our communities, and highlighted the lives and experiences of many LGBT people, and also celebrated the unique culture of gay communities.

A lively programme opened Rose Collis singing Masculine Women and Feminine Men, accompanied by her banjolele, highlighting the change in attitudes towards gender binaries over the past decades.

Sprinkled throughout were mini lectures about key LGBT characters from the past, some of which I’ll post about in February.

We were treated to an extract from the intimate play, For the Trumpets Shall Sound, in which a gay officer in world war one trenches comes out to a fellow officer, a move which results in the scene being more intimate than one anticipates, and a dramatic reading of “Dear Bert…”, continuing the recognition of the experiences of LGBT men and women in the great war.

We were also treated to music, including the Diversity Choir’s renditions of Something Inside So Strong, The Shall Not Grow Old, Siyahamba and We’ll Gather Lilacs, which was sung with Champagne Charlie.

Champagne Charlie also sang Lavender Nights, probably the first gay rights anthem, from tthe 1920s, and sang a song entitled, thematically, Bona Eek.

Bona Eek opened a series of contributions on Polari, the subcultural language of the gay male community which flourished in the nineteen fifties and sixties.

In a time when homosexuality was outlawed and actively oppressed by the police, the language allowed a gay men to talk about other men, exchange gossip and identify as members of the community.

A number of other contributions, including a poem, song and a demonstration of the languages use, were also performed.

The intention is for Prospect to work with the Library to host an event to recognise the contributions of LGBT to the cultural and literary things of the UK and beyond.

More information about LGBT history month can be found a on the LGBT History Month website.