My identity is my pride 

Kailash Ramlaul is a Research Assistant in the Department of Infectious Disease. He is also working on a PhD part-time. 

Having worked and studied in science for several years, as a queer man Kailash has been aware of the traditional attitudes that can be present in the sector.  

“In the sciences, to be a good scientist, you must come along and lend your mental faculties to your research. But what you do outside of that and how you identify, is not part of science,” he says. 

“I think this viewpoint is fundamentally flawed. By hiding your identity, you’re not able to use your lived and learned experience in addressing any problems you have.” 

Born in South Africa to an Indian family, Kailash grew up in what he describes as a fairly conservative household. “I only got chance to explore who I really wanted to be towards the end of high school and at university,” he says. 

A common theme among our LGBTQ+ community has been a lack of role models when growing up. “LGBT+ History Month is a great time to reflect. But I felt bad that I couldn’t pick out anyone that inspired me. In terms of the careers aspiration and the values I wanted, I took all that from my family. 

“But I’ve decided that my role models are all the ‘everyday’ queer people that I’ve met in my life – the people who I met at university, even if it was just one time, friends of friends, LGBTQ+ colleagues, they showed me that they were extremely happy and proud of being who they wanted to be, and they continue to inspire me.” 

To create an inclusive community at Imperial, Kailash believes in the idea of equity over equality. He explains, “Really achieving an inclusive community and encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion is not about bringing everyone to the same level. There will always be people who are homophobic, but institutions like Imperial need to stop these voices from being able to shout the loudest.” 

For him, a large part of feeling like he belongs is being respected, one of the College’s five values: “Respect underpins everything we need to know about the people we interact with. It is the only ingredient that you need to get along and collaborate with someone.” 

Ultimately, Kailash describes his identity as “the varnish on the oil painting”. He says, “It covers everything about me. It touches everything I do and the experiences I’ve had.” 

Alessio di Capua is the Head of Development at the Imperial College Business School where he leads their fundraising strategy. 

Born and educated in Italy, Alessio decided to move to London in 1991 after graduating from Bocconi University. Explaining his reasons for moving, Alessio says, “The work opportunities were much better in London, but it was also the oppression I felt in Italy.    

“I hadn’t come out to my parents when I left. I came out to them a year later – I needed that time, despite knowing I was gay since I was 14. I knew that London would open up my mind up and would be very welcoming, which it has been for the last 30 years.”  

Growing up, Alessio felt that he could take pride in his identity as he spent a lot of time backstage in theatres with his mother, who was an actress. “Most of the male actors were openly gay men,” he says. “It made me feel comfortable and normal throughout my life as a little child.”   

Another inspiring figure for Alessio was 80s Glaswegian pop singer, Jimmy Somerville. His 1984 hit ‘Smalltown Boy’ by Bronski Beat was a memorable anthem, playing on cassette as he left Italy for London. “There’s a line in that song, ‘Mother will never understand why you had to leave’. It was particularly symbolic to me when I left my hometown of Milan.”  

Today, Alessio is very proud of his identity and feels it’s important that we have LGBTQ+ role models. “There are still misconceptions, misunderstandings, cultural differences, and there are lots of hurdles,” he says.   

“The more we can be open, the more we allow the younger generations to be open as well, which is really important. I really feel ashamed that in sports like football, there aren’t enough role models.”  

Alessio believes Imperial’s value of ‘Respect’ is at the very core of creating an inclusive community, and that increasing the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community can create a sense of support.   

“I’ve had students approach me and ask me for advice because I proudly wear an Imperial 600 rainbow lanyard around my neck,” he says. “I make it a point now to actually be very open with my identity. And I think it's very important.” 

James Kavanagh is a second-year PhD student. Based in the Department of Infectious Disease, his PhD looks at improving how childhood infections are diagnosed using sequencing technology. James uses he/they pronouns. 

The lack of visibility of LGBTQ+ people in academia has been something that James has often noticed as a bisexual, non-binary person. “It’s really important to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and it’s something that is lacking,” they explain. “Are there less queer people in academia or do we just feel uncomfortable being visible?” 

Due to the lack of visible LGBTQ+ people in academia, James found his role models through social media: “I’ve got my inspiration from Twitter. It’s great to see people who are both out and respected scientists.” 

They explain, “I was worried when I started my PhD as people used to say, ‘You should make sure you have your science Twitter and a separate Twitter for your personal life’. Then I started following queer scientists who did not separate their identities. This is something I’d like to see more of.” 

Having joined Imperial two years ago, James admits it has not been easy to meet people and create a support network. “Starting in the pandemic, it has been hard to make introductions with people,” they say. “Anywhere you go, you don’t know how it’s going to be, so I had some hesitancy. But there’s a lot of communities in Imperial, such as the Imperial 600 network.” 

James is also part of IQ, Imperial’s LGBTQ+ student society, and is keen to create his own initiatives, like an LGBTQ+ Book Club at St. Mary’s. 

Outside of Imperial, James finds comfort where he lives in Vauxhall, London. “Living in Vauxhall is great as there’s a big queer community,” they say. “You walk around and feel free to express yourself as you want to. There are so many fantastic venues, like the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.” 

To ensure that Imperial prioritises building an inclusive community, James feels it’s important that equality, diversity and inclusion campaigns are authentic. “Initiatives should be led by people in the community, otherwise it can feel a bit disingenuous,” they explain. 

“Rather than having projects created from the top down, you’d hope there was more space for communities to be raised up and have more visibility. It would also be nice to have student representatives who are more representative of the community. But that said, there’s a lot of good work that is already being done at Imperial.”