LGBTQ+ History Month is a time to educate, celebrate and empower.
A lot of people think that queer history only started 20 years ago with Section 28’s repeal in 2003, which finally allowed queerness to be mentioned in schools, but there is a wealth of history that has been buried for centuries. Not just figuratively either with Nazis burning books on trans science as well as history in 1933. The fight for rights is still happening today with the UK government refusing to recognise Scottish Gender Recognition Certificates following Scotland’s passing of the Gender Recognition Reform Act at the end of 2022.
It is still important to highlight and recognise the queer pioneers in the past that helped us get to where we are today. Take Anne Lister, for example, ‘the first modern lesbian’ who in the 1800s kept her same sex relationships secret through an encrypted diary – a precursor to other queer cryptologists such as Alan Turing.
Glued to your phone and can’t live without Google? You probably owe that to queer inventors too; Sophie Wilson, who transitioned in 1994, made the designs that modern phone chips are based on and the first search engine, “Archie” in 1989, was made by a gay man, Alan Emtage!
On a personal note too, queer history is essential. For the LGBTQ+ community, growing up can often be scary because of the narrative that there is no queer history. The idea that we are alone in growing up, not only hurts the ability for acceptance, but makes it hard for queer people to believe in a future where we are loved and safe. Queer history leaves a mark, showing we were always here. And I think that that’s important for everyone to see.
Whether you are part of the LGBTQ+ community or one of our allies, we’d love to see you at one of the events we are hosting throughout February to celebrate and educate. You can find out more at subu.org.uk/lgbthistorymonth