Leeds Beckett University Celebrating LGBT History Month

We are celebrating LGBT History month (1 February to 28 February). The Rainbow Flag will be flying from the James Graham building throughout February and buildings on our City Campus will be lit up with the colours of the rainbow.

The rainbow flag has become widely known as a symbol for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. Currently flying over the James Graham building it reflects LGBT identity and solidarity.

The multi-coloured flag symbolises the togetherness and diversity within the community. It represents all religion, race, gender, age and nationality. Each colour in the flag reflects some meaning - violet is for spirit, blue is for peace, green is for nature, yellow is for sunlight, orange means healing and red is for life.

The flag is typically flown horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow. The rainbow flag was originally devised by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker and has undergone several revisions since its debut at San Francisco's Gay Freedom Parade on June 25, 1978. Other representations of the rainbow flag symbolise the diverse, vibrant roster of people who consider themselves to be LGBT+ today.

Libraries and Learning Innovation have assembled a Spotify playlist – including recommendations from the Rainbow Rose university forum, a  and a resources page featuring Leeds Beckett Research in this area. There is also a Wakelet highlighting Library resources based around this year’s theme of Peace, Activism and Reconciliation.

The Library is encouraging students to suggest items for stock to help us diversify our curriculum. If you can recommend a book or film written/directed by someone who identifies as LGBT, please let us know via the Beckett Books Extra service.

Professor Ruth Robbins delivers her talk: 'Devilish and Debonair: The Wildean Dandy and the Long Life of a Gay Stereotype' this week. This event is part of Leeds Cultural Conversations, which showcases the leading research being undertaken by our academic colleagues and encourages debate.

There will be a Trans Awareness Training session open to all colleagues and students as part of LGBT History Month. This will be held in Meeting Room One of LBSU. Wednesday 20th February (11:00-12:30).