February 2010 Issue - Unity Column

[Looking back, this is quite poorly written :/]

Did you know that it is LGBT History month throughout February? No? Neither did I until a few weeks ago. Somehow it has managed to pass most people by and considering it was established in 2005, in the age of readily available news and information, this is quite surprising.

According to the LGBT history month website there are four events happening in Wales over the whole 28 days and that’s it. Of course, there will be more which aren’t advertised by the website but they will likely draw a meagre crowd of people who were already interested in the progression of gay rights over the past fifty years. So I’m going to give you a summary of what the month is all about and what Unity is doing here in Bangor.

The idea for the month sprung from the repeal of Section 28 in 2003. It quickly became apparent that people hardly knew anything about the LGBT community and their fight for civil rights. The month was chosen as a time to raise awareness for the

general public, especially in schools where it was also used to try and combat homophobic bullying.

Backed by prominent figures such as Sir Ian McKellen, marking this month has been successful within schools but the wider population still don’t seem to know much about events like the Stonewall riots, Harvey Milk’s campaigning in America, the fight against Section 28 here in Britain and how all of this has a affected LGBT people over the years.

What really needs to happen, in my opinion, is for either the BBC or Channel 4 to run one of their seasons of programmes over the month; interesting documentaries about the social and personal implications of criminalised homosexuality, LGBT celebrity talking heads revealing how diverse

the community actually is; entertaining films that deal with said issues.

Here Unity can help you. We are running a series of film nights throughout February in Blue Sky Cafe. Each week the film will be based on one of the initials: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. They are all educational, entertaining (yes, you can have both) and range from a British film from the 1970’s to a 2009 Oscar winner.

There are still many people to inform; the story of LGBT people is centuries old. For it to work, people need to pass on what they have learned. If thirty people come to see the films Unity is showing, learn something new about gay rights and pass it on, soon everyone will

learn something new and interesting about LGBT history. Eventually the month might only be needed for re flection upon a time when LGBT citizens across the globe did not hold the rights they deserve, eventually it might be a purely historical lesson against discrimination and the fight for equality.