Oxford City Council are marking LGBT History Month this February by flying the Pride flag from the Town Hall through the month.
The Museum of Oxford will also be focusing on local LGBTQ+ history, with elements of Queering Spires, the 2019 exhibition on the past and present LGBTQ+ spaces in Oxford, displayed again, and a number of related events happening at the museum in February and March.
The Pitt Rivers Museum is also marking the month with an evening event on 17 February this month as part of its Beyond the Binary exhibition, to celebrate LGBT History Month.
LGBT History Month is an important opportunity to celebrate how LGBTQ+ people in Oxford have lived diverse and inspiring lives, and the part they have played in greater legal rights for the LGBT community. In the 1980s and 1990s Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community was actively organising to resist the infamous Section 28 legislation, with the community newspaper Pink Times, the Oxford Lesbian and Gay Community Centre in Northgate Hall, OXAIDS for Aids activism and support, and the local helpline Oxford Friend. Local community continues to play a huge part, with the annual Pride celebrations, and LGBTQ+ youth groups and support.
“Oxford has been home to famous LGBT figures like Oscar Wilde and Virginia Wolf, but this is also a month to remember the ordinary lives: young men who were criminalised for their relationships right up to 2001, when the age of consent finally became the same for men and women. The fight against Section 28, which prevented schools from giving positive support to their LGBTQ+ students. The trans women and men who have struggled for recognition and rights, and continue to do so today.
“This LGBT History Month we’re proud to celebrate their lives and show our support with the Pride flag from our rooftop.”
Councillor Shaista Aziz, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities
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