Talks, parties and formals organised as Cambridge celebrates LGBT+ history month

Medwards will host a talk from the first transgender officer in the British army, while Newnham have organised an ‘anti-heteronormativity’ party at the college bar

by Juliette Kendal

This article is 4 years old

Tuesday February 8 2022, 12:40pm

The start of February marked the beginning of LGBT+ history month. To celebrate, the University, Student Union (SU) and a number of societies and colleges have planned special events.

The University has organised a calendar of events to celebrate LGBT+ history. These include conversations with trans activist Christine Burns and model Yasmin Benoit, as well as talks on poetry, activism and religious art. On Monday 28th February the University will hold a LGBT+ history month lecture with more details to be announced.

Chair of Cambridge's LGBT+ staff network, Dr Duncan Astle said: “This LGBT+ History Month we take stock and reflect on our past, while remembering that our long march to equality is far from over.”

On February 24th, London Queer Writers (LQW) will collaborate with CamQueerHistory, a group of undergraduates, grads and staff, to present an evening of poetry and spoken word at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse, celebrating queer history.

The SU has also organised events. Their LGBT+ campaign is planning to hold LGBT+ film nights on the 12th and 26th, and will host an 'anti-heteronormativity' party at Newnham's college bar.

Caius votes to stop flying pride flag

Colleges have also planned events to celebrate the month. Students at St Catharine's will be holding a formal and bop, while Murray Edwards will be hosting a talk from Abi Austen – the first transgender officer in the British Army.

However, in the wake of Gonville and Caius' move to stop flying the pride flag, a student at the College told Varsity that they hadn’t heard of any events organised by the College as part of LGBT+ history month.

Support Varsity

Varsity is the independent newspaper for the University of Cambridge, established in its current form in 1947. In order to maintain our editorial independence, our print newspaper and news website receives no funding from the University of Cambridge or its constituent Colleges.

We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead.

In spite of this situation, we are going to look at inventive ways to look at serving our readership with digital content and of course in print too!

Therefore we are asking our readers, if they wish, to make a donation from as little as £1, to help with our running costs. Many thanks, we hope you can help!