LGBT+ History Month Resources

Dawn Langley Pepita Simmons (c.1922 – 2000): our trans Face is probably the least well-known but undoubtedly had a fascinating story. The child of Vita Sackville West’s chauffeur, before transitioning Dawn wrote an acclaimed biography of Princess Margaret. After transition she wrote a biography of eccentric actress Dame Margaret Rutherford, and was semi-adopted by her. But probably most interesting is the fact that Dawn’s marriage to John-Paul Simmons on 21 January 1969 was the first legal interracial marriage in South Carolina!

E.M. Forster (1879 – 1970): gay author, widely regarded as one of the greatest British writers of the 20^th century. ‘A Passage To India’ brought him his first success, and he has had several other books adapted as Merchant Ivory films – ‘A Room With A View’, ‘Where Angels Fear To Tread’ and most significantly ‘Maurice’, a gay love story. Forster wrote the novel in 1913, but left instructions that it was not to be published after he died. This year is the 50^th anniversary of Edward Morgan Forster’s death, and we anticipate there will be much in the media about him.

Lorraine Hansberry (1930 – 1965): lesbian playwright; author of ‘A Raisin In The Sun’, the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway. The title comes from the poem “Harlem” (also known as “A Dream Deferred“) by Langston Hughes. For some time the play was part of the O Level and GCSE syllabuses. Hansberry inspired the song by Nina Simone “To Be Young, Gifted and Black“.

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616): quintessentially British, we have chosen Shakespeare as our bisexual reference, as his work is very much at the heart of the English curriculum. This is important given the ongoing difficulties over inclusive teaching. Sonnet 20 is widely quoted as being written about a man.

‘My name is Karolina Bednarz. I am studying Graphic Design. I am a person with a lot of interests. Besides graphics, art, and painting I love nature and time spent outside in the fresh air. Originally I’m from Poland but wanted to expand my knowledge and experience new things I came to study abroad at the University of Bedfordshire. The Design of the badge I created to represent the history of the LGBT community for 2019 event. My idea is based on the pride parades. First pride parade took place on June 28, 1970, in New York, this event was the anniversary of the Stonewall riots which are the initial part of LGBT history. To present my idea I decided to combine the LGBT colours with the concept of a parade. I wanted to give them a look of the peaceful yet powerful wave because I think this is what the community stands for nowadays.’

I am Cristian-Emanuel Buda, studying Advertising and Branding Design at the University of Bedfordshire. I am passionate about arts, photography, music and love to travel.  My LGBT History Month badge design for 2018 illustrates the theme “Geography – Mapping the world”. During my research I tried to avoid using a cliché idea. This is the reason I chose not to use the symbol of the earth and maps. Some of my ideas were inspired by means of travelling and navigation. I developed some scamps using the image of planes, compasses, symbols used in digital navigation apps and the symbols of LGBT community. The main colours I used are the colours of the rainbow. I considered the rainbow as an important subject, being linked with LGBT people. In my final design I chose to use two compasses facing each other. I consider this to have a strong visual impact. The compass suggests that LGBT people can find their way in a world that is not always accepting. It is emphasizing that love wins and their unity is important because only together they can fight for their rights and “travel” with honour in their life journey.

Find a trans support group near you

The Inclusive City from The Academy of Urbanism

76 Countries Where Homosexuality Is A Crime

ILGA Report – State Sponsored Homophobia

ILGA – ILGA – Sexual Orientation Laws In The World: Overview (PDF)

ILGA – Rainbow Europe 

DAZED –  The queer Caribbean women fighting a vital, dangerous culture war

Social Mapping of LGBT+ Spaces in Deptford, London

British Psychology Society – free event  

The native American two-spirit culture of trans inclusion

The importance of LGBT History Month

Havering proudly flies the rainbow flag

How to plan and design a gay-friendly city

Huffpost: The LGBT Historic World, Mapped

A brief look at Trans History around the world 

Don’t separate trans people from the LGBT movement – that’s what the bigots want 

Historic England – LGBTQ Architecture

My best LGBT+ heritage sites – Stephen Williams Blog

Know your rainbow flag!

LGBT History Month 2018 Education Pack

My design for the 2017 LGBT History Month badge was based on the theme “Law and Citizenship”. I wanted to create a visual symbol that would join together both.
After my research, I came up with the idea of using a finger print, since in a lot of places it is the mark left after voting, participating actively in society and the creation of community. At the same time, it represents identity, and how every person is different and unique (just as their finger prints) and why it is a motive for pride, since it is the seal of who we are. I incorporated the rainbow flag celebrating LGBT citizens, and embracing them as unique members of society.

ARELI JACOBS, 2017 Badge Designer, University of Bedfordshire

The PSHE Association is the national body for Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, leading the effort to ensure that every pupil receives high-quality provision.

Terrence Higgins Trust’s ‘SRE: Shh… No Talking’ report, published in July 2016, highlighted that sex and relationships education (SRE) is inadequate or absent in many schools.

This magazine aims to show how straightforward it can be to make SRE inclusive. I hope you will be inspired to be creative and confident in developing your SRE to celebrate diversity and let love and respect shine through.

Rainbow Teaching is a volunteer run project aimed at supporting teachers in LGBTQIA+ inclusive teaching. LGBTQIA+ inclusion extends far beyond PSHE and into the language that we as teachers use, the policies we adopt, the activities we include in our lessons and tutor times, as well as our interactions with students, parents and staff. The project is headed by Allie – a bisexual, genderqueer English, Media and PSHE teacher – and our volunteers are LGBTQIA+ members of the teaching and academic communities who are all passionate about equality and inclusion.

Prejudice and Pride

The National Trust Magazine have produced an article supporting their Prejudice and Pride exhibitions across some of their sites.

“Many of our places were home to, and shaped by, people who challenged conventional ideas of gender and sexuality. 50 years after the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, we’re exploring our LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer) heritage with a programme called Prejudice and Pride. We’ll be holding events, special exhibitions and much more.”

To mark LGBT History Month, RCNi have brought together a selection of our articles for you to read for free, simply by registering to their website.

LGBT+ Objects showcases material from across UK museums which reveals the diversity of ideas about gender and sexuality throughout world history, together with free lesson ideas for using each object as the basis of LGBT+ focused discussions with young people (in PSHE, RSE, other school subjects or out-of-school youth activities).

ACT is the subject assocation for Citizenship representing teachers and others involved in Citizenship education.

Our mission is to support the teaching of high quality Citizenship and to promote wider public understanding of the subject. We also promote research into the participation of young people in society.

University of Bristol Produce LGBT+ History Interactive PHSE Lessons (KS 3-5)

This resource pack contains five lesson plans that can be used as a cohesive unit of work or as one off sessions and contains an extensive introduction and guidance for teachers.

The lesson make use of a digital map of Bristol’s LBGT+ history as an innovative and exciting method of engaging students in local LGBT+ history and its geographies. They are designed for use in within the PHSE curriculum but they will have crossover value in English, Geography and History.

“The inspiration behind the badge design came from the phrase “leap of faith”. I chose this phrase because I believe It is a very powerful, and personal message. It is about believing and having faith. both in one’s religion, and in oneself. It represents a risk we take for a better outcome and future, a push forward in acceptance and tolerance within and towards to LGBT community, and the strength it can take to come out as a homosexual, bisexual or trans person.” – Gareth Marshall, 2016 Badge Designer, University of Bedfordshire

NEW for 2018 – Stonewall have produced a series of posters featuring real-life LGBT people of faith on their RESOURCE PAGE

The Proud Trust has teamed up with Schools OUT UK to bring you this free LGBT History Month Pack for February 2016. The theme of History Month is ‘Religion, Belief and Philosophy: A Leap of Faith’.
The pack is full of handy session plans, ideas and a useful FAQs section. Click the link below to access:GET YOUR FREE LGBT HISTORY MONTH RESOURCE PACK HERE!

Founder of Europe’s first LGBT-friendly mosque says being gay and Muslim is ‘like deciding which arm to cut off’“It has nothing to do with Islam as spirituality, because our tradition is much more peaceful in terms of dealing with sexuality and gender identity.”

Watch the interview here – Independent

ESOL & LGBT TEACHING RESOURCES AND MATERIALSFebruary is LGBT History MonthIts celebration is a great opportunity to embed LGBT lives and issues within the curriculum along with equipping teachers and students with strategies to deal with discriminatory behaviour. The paucity of LGBT teaching resources and materials for adults in Further Education, especially for ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) could hinder the development of a more inclusive curriculum offer.This blog offers some ready made , easy to download lesson plans and teaching resources along with links to useful organisations and research. Click the image above to go to the website

RVA LGBTQ Black History Month Honoree: Reverend E. Taylor Doctor

As a openly-gay Black male and minister, he has been known for his confidence in being a trailblazer and using his agency to be a conduit for advocacy for the marginalized, creating culturally competent communities. His professional and personal platforms have allowed him to work daily in a field that reaches the masses through public health policy and administration in Richmond and beyond. He resides in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
See the article here

Last year, we produced a short documentary called ‘Katie’. Katie is a nurse on a children’s ward and a practicing Christian in the Roman Catholic Church. She is also gay. She talks honestly and movingly about how she struggled to reconcile her faith with her feelings, and about the welcome she eventually found in the church community. She represents a much wider community of people who identify as being both gay and religious. Her film can be seen here:https://www.truetube.co.uk/film/katie

Timeline of UK LGBT Religion, Belief and Philosophy

This is a Timeline of UK LGBT Religion, Belief and Philosophy, created in connection with the theme of LGBT History Month 2016. Each of the events listed below has an article about it on this wiki: click the words in blue for more information.

This Spring’s edition of Fyne Times features LGBT History Month 2016Click on the image on the left to take you to the online publication.

12 celebrities showing you can be LGBTI and a Christian
Talented, successful, LGBTI – and Christian? These men and women show you can be all of the aboveSee article on GayStarNews here

GNRC declares: The exaggerated rhetoric of Pope Francis against “gender” exposes the contradictions in his pastoral care for LGBTI people.
The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics (GNRC) appreciates that Pope Francis has made major acknowledgements of LGBTI persons and their families during his last official trip to Georgia, and later in the press conference on his way back to Rome. His words contain very important messages about the way Pope Francis envisions pastoral care for LGBTI people as an accompaniment on the way to Jesus which needs a huge sense of proper discernment.
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Churches driving gay and bi people to suicide warns major Christian charity

A major Christian charity in the UK is out with a new reporttaking churches to task for stigmatizing same-sex relationships to the point that it is driving many in the lesbian, gay and bisexual community to suffer from mental health issues, all too often resulting in suicide.
See the full article here

As homosexuality remains illegal in India, Amash busts some myths surrounding the traditional Hindu perspective on same-sex desire. Go here

The church and LGBT History Month
An article By Rev. Dwight Welch United Church of Norman UCC on the Norman Transcript News website.
Available here