As colleges around Cambridge fly the Rainbow Flag to mark the start of LGBT+ History Month, some requests to fly the flag have been met with resistance.

In some colleges, there are strict constitutional rules concerning which flags may be flown on the main flag pole.

This has been an issue in regards to flying the Rainbow Flag in the past, and continues to pose a problem for some colleges. St Edmunds, Emmanuel, Girton, Fitzwilliam, Jesus, Trinity and Trinity Hall have all been prevented from flying the Rainbow Flag on the main flag pole.

In the case of Jesus College, a specific flag-flying committee was set up last year to prevent any flag other than the college flag or the Royal Standard from being flown. However, Holly Bracewell, LGBT+ officer for Jesus, stated that Jesus would be celebrating the month in other ways: “The flag will be displayed on the college gates for the last day of LGBT+ History Month (28th) and there are plans to hopefully get rainbow lights for the front of the college.”

Fitzwilliam has also had to find alternative ways to display the flag.

“We haven’t been allowed to fly the flag due to ‘college policy’ on how the flag is meant to be used,” Savannah Adeniyan, Fitzwilliam’s LGBT+ officer, told Varsity. “We have, however, received a concession in being allowed to affix rainbow flags to two college display sites on Huntingdon Road and Storeys Way respectively.”

Adeniyan said that reaching this agreement with the college had been something of a struggle.  

“I did encounter some problems getting everything sorted, to be perfectly honest; it took me four emails across two months to get a response from the Senior Tutor at all, and another two emails and two weeks to hear from the Domestic Bursar onto whom I was passed after the Senior Tutor’s initial approval. I did receive a swift response from the College Maintenance Manager (who the Domestic Bursar passed me onto) regarding the actual process of affixing the flags to the display sites, which was lovely after much emailing!

“The general feeling at Fitz is, I believe, one of excitement as it is the first time the College has ever come through regarding the display of a flag for LGBT+ History Month (I’m unsure to what extent previous LGBT+ Officers tried to make this happen before myself, though; I am uncharacteristically pushy for past LGBT+ reps).

“They have also agreed to host an LGBT+ formal later in the month, although I’m waiting for confirmation about whether we can display a flag at that too.”

Having been prevented from doing so last year, Darwin College will now be flying the Rainbow Flag. This will be the first time the college will fly a flag that does not display the Union colours or College Arms. Dan Dennis, the LGBT+ officer for the DCSA, spoke of how proud he was of this result:

“The LGBT+ community at Darwin College, along with the DCSA Executive Committee and many other students at the College, will be very happy to see the Rainbow Flag fly on 1st February for LGBT History Month, 2017.

I know that some colleges of the University decide not to fly the Rainbow flag because it makes a political statement or reflects some kind of agenda or principle that perhaps not every member of the College would identify with. However, I think it is important to remember that the very flying of a flag, whatever it depicts, is principled in nature and I am content to be a member of a college that is proud to fly a flag that represents the principles of hope, diversity and pride; the Rainbow Flag.

These principles have been, and will always be, important to the LGBT+ community for reasons of our history. But, perhaps in the political climate of today they might also resonate with many other communities at the University and I hope we can unite under them.”