LGBT History Month

LGBT History Month logo

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans History Month (now LGBT+ History Month) in the UK was founded in 2004, had its first LGBT History Month in 2005 and takes place every year in February.^[1] It celebrates the lives and achievements of LGBT communities.

It is committed to celebrate its diversity and that of the society as a whole. It encourages everyone to see diversity and cultural pluralism as the positive forces that they are, and endeavours to reflect this in all it does.

LGBT History Month (UK) was founded and is run by Sue Sanders, originally with the late Paul Patrick, then with the late Tony Fenwick and subsequently Jeff Evans.

Themes

Since 2011 each LGBT History Month has had a theme, as follows:

2011 and 2012; Sport (for the London 2012 Olympics)
2013: Maths, Science and Engineering (for the centenary of Alan Turing)
2014: Music (for the centenary of Benjamin Britten)
2015: Hidden Histories and Coded Lives
2016: Religion, Belief and Philosophy
2017: Citizenship, PSHE and Law (for the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of gay sex).
2018: Geography: mapping the world
2019: History II: Peace, Reconciliation and Activism
2020: English: Poetry, Prose and Plays
2021: PSHE II: Mind, Body, Spirit
2022: Art & Politics: The Arc is Long
2023: Art II: Behind the Lens

For selected years, Timelines have been created on this Wiki in conjunction with the History Month theme:

2021 logo

2023 logo

Pre-launch

Each autumn since 2004, a pre-launch event has been held in advance of the following February. Since the Covid outbreak of 2020 these have been held online with in 2022 a smaller in person event. The venues for these have been:

2004 (Pre-launch for 2005): Tate Modern
2005 (Pre-launch for 2006): Metropolitan Police, Empress State Building
2006 (Pre-launch for 2007): TUC Congress House
2007 (Pre-launch for 2008): Royal Courts of Justice
2008 (Pre-launch for 2009): Hackney Free and Parochial School
2009 (Pre-launch for 2010): the British Museum
2010 (Pre-launch for 2011): Twickenham Rugby Centre ("Sport")
2011 (Pre-launch for 2012): the Oval Cricket Ground ("Sport")
2012 (Pre-launch for 2013): Bletchley Park ("Maths, Science and Engineering")
2013 (Pre-launch for 2014): the Bramall Music Centre, Birmingham University ("Music")
2014 (Pre-launch for 2015): the Museum of St John, Clerkenwell
2015 (Pre-launch for 2016): Queens' College, Cambridge
2016 (Pre-launch for 2017): the Speaker's Chambers, House of Commons
2017 (Pre-launch for 2018): Liverpool Museum
2018 (Pre-launch for 2019): British Library
2019 (Pre-launch for 2020): Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford

Patrons

As of October 2013, the Patrons of LGBT History Month were:

John Amaechi, former international basketball player, broadcaster and psychologist
Christine Burns, Equality and diversity specialist, podcaster, campaigner
Dr Harry Cocks, social historian and writer
Angela Eagle MP, Shadow Leader of the Commons
Professor Viv Gardner, Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama
Professor Martin Hall, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford
Sir Ian McKellen, actor
Cyril Nri, actor, director and writer
Ian Rivers, Professor of Human Development; Subject Leader for Sports Sciences, Brunel University
Professor Sheila Rowbotham, lecturer and campaigner
Labi Siffre, poet, songwriter and singer
Professor Melanie Tebbutt, Director, Manchester Centre for Regional History, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University
Gareth Thomas, rugby international
Jeffrey Weeks, historian, sociologist, author and LGBT activist
Stephen Whittle OBE, Professor of Equalities Law in the School of Law at Manchester Metropolitan University

External links

LGBT History Month Website

Scotland

There is a separate website for LGBT History Month events in Scotland, organised by LGBT Youth Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Government and the European Commission. See http://www.lgbthistory.org.uk/

Each year, awards are given to Scottish artists to produce work which "engages with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history; our past, present and future". Past awards have gone to: