LGBT History Month is here!
The Norfolk LGBT community is making history this month with a packed calendar of activities to celebrate LGBT History Month.
A steering group of organisations led by Norwich Pride have organised over 40 events. This means that for the first time ever, Norfolk residents can wake up on any day in February and find something to do somewhere with an LGBT focus.
The events are incredibly diverse - there's lectures, workshops and talks; football, volleyball and table tennis; tea parties, club nights and comedy.
Click on the picture to download a copy of the leaflet.
Get more info in our Events section.
LATEST NEWS:
BBC coverage: "LGBT History Month a first for Norfolk"
LGBT History Month in the North Norfolk News!
Historic facts for LGBT History Month...
New facts regularly during February on Facebook - read, comment, interact! Posts are also available to read below:
Posted 09 February 2010:
LGBT History Month: Alan Turing – another reminder that gay people are part of everyone's history.
Alan Turing was a mathematical genius, who is regarded as one of the fathers of computer science (the annual Turing award is regarded as one of the highest awards of its field). Among other things, he played a key role in breaking the German codes during the 2nd World War. He was also gay. Convicted of 'gross indecency', he was forced to undergo oestrogen treatment as an alternative to prison. The conviction led to the loss of his security clearance. It is widely believed that this, & the effects of the forced treatment, led to his suicide two years later at the age of only 41. Who knows what more he could have done, had he not been prosecuted? Last year, a petition led to an historic public apology from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, for the way he had been treated for being gay; it also acknowledged his great achievements.
A plinth on his statue in Manchester sums it up perfectly: 'Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime codebreaker, victim of prejudice'.
Posted 08 February 2010:
LGBT History Month: where did 'gay' come from? – part 3
During the 20th century 'straight' & 'gay' were often used as opposites, signifying the settled, respectable (married) life, as opposed to more rebellious, carefree, disreputable (unmarried) ones. Hence, the 'gay bachelor' or 'gay divorcee' did not necessarily imply anything about a person's sexual orientation, although it could do. In the latter half of the century it came to be associated more & more with a particular sort of 'lifestyle rebellion'. Importantly, gay people also chose to claim it openly as a neutral or positive alternative to 'homosexual', or any of the numerous other derogatory words used to describe us. Today, it is hardly ever used simply to signify carefree, & is nearly always linked in some way to sexual orientation.
Posted 08 February 2010:
LGBT History Month: where did 'gay' come from? – part 2
It originally meant happy, joyful, bright, carefree. However, even in the 17th century being carefree sometimes had the taint of immorality (enjoying oneself a little too much?); e.g. 'a gay house' was slang for a brothel, & a 'gay woman' a prostitute.
Posted 08 February 2010:
LGBT History Month: where did 'gay' come from? – part 1
Does Gay stand for 'Good As You'? Actually, there is no evidence that it derives from these words, altho' it's a good backronym (a phrase invented afterwards to fit the letters of a word). It's hard to define a point at which the primary meaning of 'gay' came to mean homosexual, but see next 2 posts for an attempt: it's not a simple story, so I can't fit it in one post!
Click here for earlier posts.
LGBT HIstory Month Dog Quiz!
A dozen dogs took their owners on a wet walk in Earlham Park on Sunday 7th February as part of the LGBT History Month celebrations.
We also had a quiz for people to chew over whilst they had their cuppas, bacon sarnies and cheesy chips in the cafe. Nicky and Zoe won the rainbow doglead for getting the most answers right.
You can download the quiz and try it yourself by clicking on the picture.
Norwich Pride is organised by a Collective of friendly and enthusiastic, happy and proud volunteers from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) community. Please get in contact if you'd like to help in any way or offer feedback.
We've now started to plan the second Norwich Pride which will be on Saturday 31st July 2010. We started meeting again at the beginning of October and we're running a Survey to find out what you liked best about the first Norwich Pride and what you'd like to see happen in 2010. Thank-you to everyone who has offered to support us and get involved. And thanks to the fabulous Julian Clary - click YouTube on the right to see his message of support
Email us at: norwichpride@hotmail.co.uk
