Pride Month 2022: 1st June-30th June
Pride Month: 1st June-30th June 2022
What is Pride month?
June is Pride month, an annual celebration dedicated to our LGBTQIA+ communities around the globe. Pride month commemorates the Stonewall riots of June 1969, which helped spark the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement.
As well as being a month-long celebration, Pride month is also an opportunity to protest and raise political awareness of current issues facing the community, all the while recognising the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally. Pride Month also acts as a reminder of how much more still needs to change and be done to ensure that LGBTQIA+ are supported and included.
The University wishes to celebrate all our LGBTQIA+ staff and students and all their achievements, whilst recognising the importance of raising awareness, promoting visibility, and tackling injustices for our LGBTQIA+ community. To mark Pride month, the Rainbow Pride Flag will be flown outside St Paul’s Hall for the entirety of June.
Pride in Huddersfield
In 1981, Huddersfield became the first place outside of London where London Pride was held!
After continued raids on Huddersfield's popular gay club, the Gemini Club, London Pride decided to move the national march to Huddersfield in 1981 in support of the club's owner John Addy. The club was a consistent victim of police hostility and violence, with their aim being to shut the place down. However, amid the harassment and intimidation, the gay community put on a show of solidarity and helped keep the town's popular gay bar open. A decision was made by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) to move the annual gay pride march in London to Huddersfield in a show of defiance. The marchers faced threats of violence from National Front members, but it went ahead regardless, and John Addy was able to keep his license.
To learn more about Pride 1981, you can attend and experience the following exhibition’s and performances:
- Photographic Exhibition: Internationally renowned photographer Ajamu X will take a series of 20 portraits of people who marched in 1981 and people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community in Huddersfield today. Ajamu was born in Huddersfield and saw the original Pride 81 march. The exhibition will run at the Lawrence Batley Theatre from 1 June to 31 August 2022. After that, they will become a part of the permanent collection at Huddersfield Art Gallery.
- Immersive Performance: Inkbrew Productions will create an immersive performance recreating Pride 81. The audience will be participants in the march, co-creating the piece with actors playing activists from 1981, who tell their stories as they march. Ten monologues written by award winning playwrights Stephen M Hornby, Abi Hynes, and Peter Scott-Presland (an original Pride 81 marcher) form the heart of this piece. They will also be performed as a showcase at the Lawrence Batley Cellar Theatre, Huddersfield and the Kings Arms, Salford from 1-3rd July 2022.
- Archive of Pride 1981: the West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS) & Heritage Quay are making a call-out to capture personal photographs of the 1981 march. Digital copies will become stored as a permanent part of each archive and be made available for people to enjoy online and in person. So far nearly 100 items have been recovered.
Why does Pride month matter?
Although there has been progress towards LGBTQIA+ rights, there is still a long way to go in the fight against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia both nationally and worldwide - find out more about The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
Therefore, the LGBTQIA+ community, needs the continuous support from allies. Below are a few ways you can be a better ally and support LGBTQIA+ rights.
- Attend a Pride event/march/festival! Kirklees Pride will be held on Saturday 9th July at Lawrence Batley Theatre. Find out more about the event by visiting the Kirklees Together Website and keep your eye out for future communications around the local celebration.
- Wearing a Rainbow Lanyard is a visible signal to the LGBTQIA+ community that our campus is welcoming and inclusive. Click the link and scroll down to see staff from across the University tell us why they wear the rainbow lanyard and what it means to them.
- Read the Instructions on how to add a background to Teams meetings and use one of the Pride flag images as your backdrop for Teams calls throughout June.
- Continue to educate yourself on LGBTQI+ issues and share with others. Read, watch and actively listen.
- Speak up for the LGBTQIA+ community and challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.
LGBTQI+ Staff Network
The University of Huddersfield’s LGBTQI+ Staff Network was set up as a self-organising group in April 2018. The Network discussed and self-defined their name, with the acronym LGBTQI+, incorporating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer, and Intersex.
To find out more about this network including future meeting dates, please email lgbt@hud.ac.uk or please feel free to contact Carson McCombe (Chair).