Skip to main content
Pride month

Pride Month 2022

Every June the Queen Mary community comes together to mark Pride Month: it is a time for us to celebrate LGBTQA+ culture, progress and achievement as well as recognise current issues facing the LGBTQA+ community locally and worldwide.


"Hello everyone and happy Pride Month 2022!

This year’s Pride Month marks a significant moment for LGBTQA+ people, as we celebrate 50 years of progress since the United Kingdom’s first parade was held in London in 1972.

At Queen Mary, we are proud to running a programme of events and activities across the University that focus on the theme, 50 Years of Pride, creating space for celebration, reflection, new knowledge and growth.

I hope everyone, staff and students, take the opportunity to engage with activities throughout Pride Month 2022."

- Sheila Gupta, Vice Principal for People, Culture and Inclusion

In the UK 2022 is an especially important year in LGBTQA+ history as it marks the 50th anniversary of the first UK Gay Pride organised by the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). This took place in London on 1st July 1972 (chosen as the nearest Saturday to the anniversary of the Stonewall riots of 1969).

This followed the GLF’s first LGBT+ march on 28th August 1971 that demanded an equal age of consent and the first LGBT+ protest in Britain on 27th November 1970 against police harassment, also organised by the newly-formed GLF.

Check out Queen Mary’s programme of content and activities throughout Pride Month. This page will be updated throughout the month, so do check back.

Take part in… 

Lunch & Learn: Exploring and Understanding Asexual Identities and Desire through Language - Monday, 27 June 2022, 14:00 – 15:00

Have you ever wondered what the A in LGBTQA+ stands for?

Are you curious about how we think and talk about attraction and desire?

This lunch and learn will introduce asexuality and draw on academic research to understand this emergent identity and draw important lessons about attraction each of us can learn from the asexual community.

Whilst drawing on academic research techniques (linguistic ethnography), the content is designed to be accessible to all, regardless of identity, qualifications, discipline, or lack of.

This session will be run via MS Teams, with an opening key note followed by informal Q&A and discussion. Feel free to bring lunch and participate.

Delivered by Alex Prestage, Head of EDI, Queen Mary University of London

*Please note this event has now taken place, however you can still find out more about asexuality and how to be an ace ally via these resources:

 

Active Bystander Training

To support LGBTQA+ Pride Month we are running an Active Bystander session on the morning of 15 June that will give you the tools to challenge incidents of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, as well as other unacceptable behaviour. To book your place, visit our course booking site and search for Course Code PD230.

Read our… 

Pride Profiles 

For this year’s LGBTQA+ Pride Month, we want to highlight your stories using your own words and voice. We would like to celebrate stories of your personal journey, individuality, your community, and being proud of who you are.

Hear from our LGBTQA+ community and allies about what Pride means to them.

Want to share your story? Tell us ‘What Pride means to you’! 

We are accepting profiles throughout Pride Month to share with our Queen Mary community.  Please send your submission (approximately 200-300 words, along with a photo) via email to Darren Hunwicks (d.hunwicks@qmul.ac.uk) with the subject line 'What Prides means to me - Submission 2022'.

Keep an eye out for...

An exciting Instagram takeover from our alumni!

A special LGBTQA+ Alumni podcast - To acknowledge and celebrate Pride 2022, the Alumni Engagement Team will be releasing a special podcast episode which will explore the richness and nuances within the LGBTQA+ community, progress made to progress the rights of LGBTQA+ individuals, and what still needs to be done to bring about full inclusion, acceptance and rights to the LGBTQA+ community.

Blogs posts throughout the month!

Pride Alumni profile - Jawying Honey Lyster

This Pride Month, we spoke to Jawying Honey Lyster (Comparative Literature BA, 2014), who champions the contributions of LGBTI communities in Asia and the Pacific in her role with the UN. In her profile, Jawying talks about her experience at Queen Mary, how she got into her role and why it’s so important that we continue to strive to promote justice for LGBTI persons who are often excluded from their wider communities and legal systems.

Pop-up stands around our campuses - have a chat with members of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team and collect a rainbow lanyard to signify you commitment to providing a safe and comfortable environment for all of our LGBTQA+ staff and students (or request one).

Whitechapel campus, Garrod and the Blizard buildings, Thursday 30th June 12.00-3.00pm 

The pop up will be at the Garrod building from approximately 12.00-1.30pm and then at the Blizard building, in the main space by the stairs going down to the labs from approximately 1.30-3.00pm.

 

 DeptW Pride Display

Dept W Pride Month display - if you are in Dept W you can pop by the Staff Hub on the 1st floor to collect a rainbow lanyard or pronoun badge.

 

Running an event or activity for Pride Month that doesn’t appear above? Send details anytime during Pride Month to Darren Hunwicks (d.hunwicks@qmul.ac.uk) for it to be added throughout the month.

Looking for external Pride Month events?

Pride in London

Find out more about LGBTQA+ events for the queer community taking place across the city, via the Pride in London webpage.

UK Black Pride

UK Black Pride is Europe’s largest celebration for African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Caribbean-heritage LGBTQI+ people. This year UK Black Pride’s 2022 in-person celebration of collective power will take place on Sunday, 14 August, 2022.

Looking for future Pride events?

Bi Pride will be holding their first ever online and in person Bi Pride on Saturday, September 3rd 2022 - 2pm to 10pm. The event will feature an array of artists and performers as well as various panels and interviews. Bi-Pride will be holding their event at Queen Mary Venues in The People's Palace on Mile End Campus.

"At Queen Mary we are delighted that each June the University comes together to celebrate Pride Month as our LGBTQA+ staff and students are a vital part of our diverse community who are the bedrock for fostering the diversity of thought that we strive for.

As well as being a time of celebration Pride Month also offers us all an opportunity to educate ourselves and raise awareness of the issues people from the LGBTQA+ community face.

I would encourage all those at Queen Mary to dedicate time through June and beyond to listen and understand the experiences and needs LGBTQA+ people and identify how we can ensure our LGBTAQ+ staff and students can flourish and reach their full potential."

- Sheila Gupta, Vice Principal for People, Culture and Inclusion

What is Pride Month?

Pride Month is about people and communities coming together in celebration, protest and solidarity, and to remember those who have fought for equal rights for the LGBTQA+ communities. Pride Month takes place during the month of June, to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, June 1969.

Pride Month is often marked with parades, protest marches, poetry readings, public speaking, educational/awareness raising sessions and many other events. The events are a huge celebration of diversity as well as an acknowledgment of some of the hard-won freedoms of LGBTQA+ communities around the world.   

Making sure that celebrating Pride Month in an intersectional way is vital as it recognises that overlapping identities impact the experiences and lives of LGBTQA+ people throughout history and today. At Queen Mary 5-7% of staff identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual and we have staff and students from over 170 countries, 75% of our undergraduates identify as being from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic ethnicities and 9% are registered as having a disability: further highlight why intersectional approaches to Pride Month are imperative for us as a community. 

Why is Pride Month important to Queen Mary?  

As well as being a month-long celebration of LGBTQA+ culture, achievements and progress, Pride Month was born from protest and continues to be an opportunity to raise political awareness of current issues facing LGBTQA+ communities nationally and worldwide. Pride Month also acts as a reminder of how much more still needs to change and be done to ensure that all people who identify as LGBTQA+ are supported and included. 

National surveys show:

  • Two in five LGBT students (42%) have hidden their identity at university for fear of discrimination: this is high for trans students (61%) and bi students (47%) compared to gay and lesbian students (29%). This number is also higher for LGBT disabled students (51%) and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic LGBT students (48%) and LGBT students of faith (46%).[1]
  • More than one in five lesbian, gay and bi students (22%) wouldn’t feel confident reporting any homophobic or biphobic bullying to their university staff. Women and non-binary students feel less confident in reporting this bullying, 28% per cent and 25% respectively, compared to 13% of men.[2]
  • 70% of people with a minority sexual orientation have avoided being open about their sexual orientation for fear of a negative reaction; this was higher for cisgender respondents who were asexual (89%), queer (86%), and bisexual (80%).[3]
  • 23% of LGBT employees have experienced a negative or mixed reaction from others in the workplace due to being LGBT or being thought to be LGBT[4].

Pride Month is a time for the LGBTQA+ community and allies to continue to raise awareness of the inequalities and discrimination faced by LGBTQA+ communities around the world and to campaign for equal rights and freedoms for all. 

 

What actions can you take all year round to celebrate and support the LGBTQA+ community at Queen Mary?

 

[1] LGBT in Britain - Universities Report, Stonewall (2018)

[2] LGBT in Britain - Universities Report, Stonewall (2018)

[3] National LGBT Survey, summary report, Government Equalities Office (2018)

[4] National LGBT Survey, summary report, Government Equalities Office (2018)

 

 

 

 

Back to top