LGBT+ History Month happens in February each year. The month both marks and celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history and people.
As part of the College's celebrations of LGBT+ History Month, Imperial 600 organises a range of LGBTQ+ themed events, as do others at the College and IQ, Imperial's society for LGBTQ+ students. We aim to represent them all under our events listing.
We also ran a campaign across the College's social media accounts to raise the visibility of members of Imperial's LGBTQ+ community.
Plus the Queen's Tower, on our South Kensington Campus, was dressed in its finest rainbow colours for the whole month.
For the latest on all the LGBT+ History Month happenings, join our mailing list and Teams site (Imperial members only) or follow us on Twitter.
What's on during LGBT+ History Month 2022
Spotify playlist: Dance all month to our favourite LGBT+ artists and queer tunes
All month!
Venue: Virtual
Host: Sophia Quazi (she/her)
For this year's LGBT+ History Month, we invite staff and students to contribute songs for a community playlist to showcase your favourite LGBTQ+ artists. The playlist is available on Spotify for your leisurely listening. Have it on during your commute, walk or cooking a meal. Hopefully, you'll get to discover some new artists.
You can recommend up to 5 songs by filling out this short form. We encourage you to think intersectionally when selecting artists to feature.
View and listen to the playlist.
The playlist will be regularly updated until the end of 28 February 2022. The playlist will be live indefinitely. Some of the songs listed on the playlist might contain explicit content, so please be mindful of this when listening to the playlist in front of other people and children.
Teams / Zoom background
All month!
Download this stunning photo of the Queens Tower lit in the rainbow colours and set it as your Teams or Zoom background.
Photo Credit: Thomas Angus
Download from College Asset Library
Meet the Imperial 600 team
Wednesday 2 February, 13:00-14:00
Venue: Teams
Hosts: Maeve O'Sullivan (she/her) and Simon Levey (he/him)
Imperial 600 is run by a team of staff and postgraduate volunteers from across the College. Start off the LGBT+ History Month calendar with an informal online meet-and-greet session to learn more about the network, who’s part of it, what we are planning for the rest of the month, and how we do it. Eat your lunch as we chat and answer your questions.
Click here to join the meeting
LGBT+ History Month quiz
Monday 7 February 19:00-20:00
Venue: Teams
Hosts: Katie Dallison (she/her) and Richard Carruthers (he/him)
Everyone welcome - Join us for an online quiz and test your knowledge against others in the Imperial 600 community. We like to have fun with our quizzical adventures and our hosts Katie and Rich are no Jeremy Paxmans, so don’t anticipate University Challenge difficulty! Play alone or team up with others via WhatsApp or chat channels to pool your knowledge, email Katie or Rich in advance if you're on your own and want to be matched with others to form a team. Friends, family and pets are all encouraged to attend!
Sign up (Eventbrite link, or email K.dallison@imperial.ac.uk to attend without signing up to Eventbrite)
LGBT+ film club: A Thousand Years of Kings, Queens and In-betweens
Friday 11 February, 13:00-14:00
Venue: Wherever you are / Teams
Host: Rahmeen Rahman (he/him)
Our film club choice is Historic Royal Palaces' film “A Thousand Years of Kings, Queens and In-betweens” that explores theLGBT+ histories of the palaces, unearthing tales of power, politics, gender and sexuality throughout British history. Watch the freely available film in your own time, then join our lunchtime gathering where we’ll discuss what we saw and share our thoughts in small groups - a great way to meet other members while learning something about LGBT+ history.
- Watch the 1 hour recording (free to access during LGBT+ History Month, but you can make a donation to HRP if you want).
- Sign up to take part in the discussion/chat on Friday 11 February at 13:00.
PowerPoint party: Presenting our LGBT+ heroes
Thursday 17 February 12:00-13:00
Venue: Teams
Host: Ji Young Yoon (she/her)
Do you have LGBTQ+ hero who you find inspirational? Join us at this PowerPoint party where members of the Imperial 600 community present in 5 minutes who inspires and gives them hope as LGBTQ+ people at work or in life.
Presentations are followed by discussion and networking offering a great opportunity for you to network with other across from the college.
Take part! We are looking for three volunteers to give 5 minutes presentation about their LGBTQ+ hero. Please email Ji Young Yoon by 17:00 on 7 February.
Sign up (Eventbrite link, or email J.yoon@imperial.ac.uk to attend without signing up to Eventbrite)
LGBT+ Careers Panel
Thursday 17 February 18:30-20:00
Venue: Teams
Host: Careers Service and IQ (the LGBT+ student society)
A fantastic opportunity for university students who identify as LGBT+ (or allies of the community) to hear from LGBT+ professionals in a range of inclusive employers. The event aims to facilitate career discussions and share perspectives on the workplace to demonstrate that it’s possible to be comfortable and successful at work while being yourself, regardless of your sexual orientation or gender identity.
While the event is designed for undergradaute and postgraduate students our wider College community is welcome to attend too.
Sign up via Eventbrite or contact careers@imperial.ac.uk for enquiries.
South Kensington social: Meet the network
Wednesday 23 February, 17:00-20:00
Venue: Eastside bar
Hosts: Katie Dallison (she/her) and Richard Carruthers (he/him)
Covid restrictions depending we’ll be gathering for a very informal in-person social. Come along and meet others from our friendly community over a drink. If you’d rather not arrive at the bar by yourself, get in touch with Katie or Rich or pop into the Careers Service (5th Floor Sherfield Building, South Kensington Campus) for 16:45 and we’ll all walk over together.
Sign up to attend the social (Eventbrite link, or email k.dallison@imperial.ac.uk to attend without signing up to Eventbrite)
Imperial 600 is grateful to Nikita Rathod (she/her), Sophia Quazi (she/her), Anirudh Kulkarni (he/him) and Hannah Murdock (she/her) for their work in organising this years' LGBT+ History Month events and communications.
We are begining to scope out events to take place in Mental Health Awareness Week (May) and Pride Month (June), and we invite members of our community to join us in planning and/or make suggestions. Enter your ideas in our suggestion box or contact us on imperial600@imperial.ac.uk