2023 Events
History on the Squares
Thursday 2 February, 11am-3pm
Square 2/3 Archway
Whether you're a community member or an ally, knowing your LGBTQ+ history is important! Come visit your LGBQ+ and Trans Officers on Squares 2 and 3 to look through our research timeline, ask questions, and learn. This event marks the beginning of a whole range of events by the LGBTQ+ Network to commemorate LGBTQ+ History Month.
This event is open to University of Essex staff and students only.
Sip and Paint
Friday 3 February, 6pm-9pm
The Atrium
The LGBTQ+ Network and the Women's Network are celebrating both LGBTQ+ History Month and the SU’s SHAG Week in this special art session. Come down to The Atrium to draw and paint intimacy, and to reflect on its social and political significance.
This event is open to University of Essex students only.
LGBTQ+ History Month Seminars & Sessions: History of pathologisation of gender diverse and trans people
Monday 6 February, 1.00pm-1.50pm
5S.4.19/Zoom
Join us for this open discussion as part of the University of Essex's LGBTQ+ History Month programme. Matteo Bassetti, PHD Student from Essex Law School will be speaking at this event.
This event is open to University of Essex staff and students only.
Community Self Care Afternoon
Monday 6 February, 1pm-4pm
The Atrium
University is a difficult time for everyone - it's hard work! Come join us for an afternoon of crafts, colouring, and free food. Let your mind wander, catch up with friends, and just relax! You've earned it.
This event is open to University of Essex students only.
Queer POC Mixer
Tuesday 7 February, 4pm-6pm
Top Bar
Intersectionality is incredibly important in people's identity and experience, and breaks down that experience barrier - and it isn't highlighted enough. Join your LGBTQ+ Network, Black Network, and Asian Network in Top Bar for an evening of socialising, free food, and learning from each other.
C+NTO & Othered Poems - A Reading
Wednesday 8 February, 1pm-2pm
Zoom
C+NTO & Othered Poems is the T.S. Eliot Award winning poetry collection from Joelle Taylor, that tells the story of subversive butch counterculture that has been missing from contemporary LGBT narrative. It speaks of the female body as a political act and reveals the homophobia and misogyny exerted on that body. Joelle Taylor will be providing a reading of C+NTO & Othered Poems followed by a Q&A.
This event is open to the public
Coffee and Coming Out
Thursday 9 February, 2pm-4pm
Location via email
Honouring LGBTQ+ history is important, but so is getting excited for the future. Come along to chat about personal experiences with coming out as well as our hopes for the future, both personal and societal.
This is a ticketed event.
LGBTQ+ History Month Seminars & Sessions: Poems of a Queer Nature: Dr Elaine Ewart reads from her poetry pamphlet-in-progress
Monday 13 February, 12.00pm-12.30pm
Zoom
This event is open to University of Essex staff and students only.
Tote Bag Decorating
Wednesday 15 February, 12pm-4pm
The Atrium
Tote bags and fabric pens will be provided for this LGBTQ+ Network event, run by your LGBQ+ Officer. Allies welcome.
Drag Diversity Pub Quiz with Sirena Hart
Wednesday 15 February, 7.30pm-9.30pm
The Atrium/Zoom
The University of Essex is holding a Drag Diversity Pub Quiz hosted by, Colchester's own Sirena Hart.
This event is open to all and will be held on both Zoom and at the University in the Atrium.
Prizes include:
-
2 x tickets to Colchester Pride 2023
-
A ticket to a Life Drawing class at Firstsite
-
2 x tickets to Drag Workshop hosted by Tracey and Sugar Paper at the Mercury
Please join us for a lovely evening of laughs and a celebration of inclusion and diversity.
Book to attend via this link.
This event is open to the public. Age restrictions apply.
LGBTQ+ History Month Seminars & Sessions: Ghosts, Ghouls, and Gays: Creating Queer Empathy in the Horror
Thursday 16 February, 1.00pm-1.50pm
CTC.2.05/Zoom
Join us for this open discussion as part of the University of Essex's LGBTQ+ History Month programme. Noah Pantano, PhD student from the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies will be speaking at this event.
This event is open to University of Essex staff and students only.
Trans(itional) Pathways and LGBTQ+ Health
Thursday 16 February, Time TBC
Venue TBC
From hormone replacement therapy and face femininisation surgery to phalloplasties, gender transition isn't as black and white as many people think! There are so many different levels of transition, and diferent pathways trans people can take - and this isn't the only aspect of LGBTQ+ health that needs more attention. Come along to the LGBTQ+ Network's stall at the Thursday Market to learn a little bit more about trans people's real experience, queer health in general, and your options! Allies are encouraged to join us.
LGBTQ+ History Month Seminars & Sessions: What's in a name (or even a pronoun)?
Monday 20 February, 12.00pm-12.50pm
NTC.1.01/Zoom
Join us for this open discussion as part of the University of Essex's LGBTQ+ History Month programme. Ej-Francis Caris-Hamer, Phd Student from the Department of Sociology will be speaking at this event.
This event is open to University of Essex staff and students only.
Drag Storytime
Tuesday 21 February, 3-5 years at 1.30pm
Wivenhoe Day Nursery
Inclusive stories read by the Flick the Drag Queen. Flick will be reading a selection of children’s books including the classic Fabolous Frankie by Simon James Green and From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by Kai Cheng Thom.
The session lasts 1 hour.
This event is open to children that attend the nursery and their parents.
Blind Date with a Queer Book
Tuesday 21 February, 12.30pm-1.30pm
Albert Sloman Library, Special Collections room
Putting a queer spin on the library's much loved Blind Date with a Book, join your LGBQ+ Officer in the Special Collections room in the library for a free book and lots of discussion! You'll pick out your book based purely on the description on the wrapping paper - no blurb, no cover, no title! This event is also a great opportunity to discuss your favourite queer media, and bring along any books you wish to swap with other attendees.
This event is open to University of Essex students only.
LGBTQ+ History Month Seminars & Sessions: Church of England, Same-Sex Marriage and Inclusive Faith Groups
Thursday 23 February, 12.00pm-12.50pm
NTC.2.07/Zoom
Join us for this open discussion as part of the University of Essex's LGBTQ+ History Month programme. Revd Dr Sara Batts-Neale, Anglican Chaplain from the Multi-Faith Chaplaincy will be speaking at this event.
This event is open to University of Essex staff and students only.
Standing on a Nail
Thursday 23 February, 7.30pm
Lakeside Theatre
A Queer Horror Story is a terrifying new play written and directed by University of Essex PHD student Noah Alfred Pantano. A Gay Bar. Five Gay Men. One Creature.
On a particularly slow and uneventful night, five gay men soon find themselves surviving against a paranormal creature locked in the bar’s storage closet. They don’t know what it is. All they do know is that it will get out. As the night continues, tension rise as revelations about their messy relationships and own mortality come to a head.
Book tickets via this link.
This event is open to the public.
LGBTQ+ History Month Seminars & Sessions: An archive of disposability: (trans)gender and sexuality in South Africa
Friday 24 February, 12.00pm-12.50pm
CTC.2.01/Zoom
Join us for this open discussion as part of the University of Essex's LGBTQ+ History Month programme. Dr Phoebe Kisubi Mbasalaki, Lecturer from the Department of Sociology will be speaking at this event.
This event is open to University of Essex staff and students only.
Drag BINGO with Flick, The Drag Queen
Friday 24 February, 7.30pm-9.30pm
The Atrium/Zoom
The University of Essex is holding a Drag BINGO evening hosted by Flick, The Drag Queen. This event is open to all and will be held on both Zoom and at the University in the Atrium.
Prizes include:
- 2 x tickets to Colchester Pride 2023
- A ticket to a Life Drawing class at Firstsite
- 2 x tickets to Drag Workshop hosted by Tracey and Sugar Paper at the Mercury
Book to attend via this link.
This event is open to the public. Age restrictions apply.
Solidarity Mixer
Monday 27 February, 2pm-5pm
Fire pit
With the end of LGBTQ+ History Month finally upon us, join your LGBQ+ Officer, Trans Officer, and Women's Officer around the fire pit for a Solidarity Mixer. They'll be a range of hot drinks
and paper to burn - whether it be an everyday phrase that makes you angry, or something someone has said to you in the past, write it down and get rid of it! This is also a great opportunity to share your experiences and make new friends.
Events running for all of February
LGBTQ+ History Month displays at all three of our Campuses
LGBTQ+ books will be available to borrow using student ID cards, while information about LGBTQ+ History Month, as well as information on resources and support available to students, will be on display in the Albert Sloman Library, the Loughton Library and The Forum in Southend.
Displays will be accessible during library opening hours. For campus specific opening hours, please visit the library website.
LGBTQ+ reading lists
Access books, ebooks, movies, and TV shows which are available to watch for free through library subscriptions. View the list via this link.
A Loughton LGBTQ+ reading list tailored to East 15 students is also available.
Precarious
Until Friday 17 February
Art Exchange
‘Precarious’ is a collective act of defiance by artists, who utilise their imagination to reveal alternative ways of responding to their lived experience and the society we live in. It includes work by Tom Armstrong, Daisy Blower, Tom Bull, Iris Gunnarsdottir, Elsa James, Dion Kitson, Rudy Loewe, Rebecca Moss, Paul Westcombe and Josh C Wright.
This event is open to the public.
Lighting up of the Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall
In honour of LGBTQ+ History Month, the Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall will shine bright in an array of colours throughout the month.
Flying the flag over Albert Sloman Library
Look up and you will see the intersex-inclusive redesign of the Progress flag flying above the Albert Sloman Library
Events in Essex and the surrounding areas
Colchester Library
Kaleidoscope
Wednesday 1 February - Tuesday 28 February
Dice & a Slice
Fun and Gaymes: A Colchester Pride Board Game Social
Thursday 9 February, 6pm
Firstsite
Drag Queen Life Drawing with Sirena Hart
Saturday 4 February, 6pm
Headgate Theatre
The York Realist
Wednesday 8 February - Saturday 11 February
LGBT+ History Month website
Visit the LGBT+ History Month website for more events and activities taking place during February.
myGwork
CV Writing
Tuesday 21 February, 4pm
Tales from LGBTQ+ History
Wednesday 22 February, 4pm
National Student Pride
Friday 10 February - Saturday 12 February
The Mercury
Wreckage
Friday 17 February, 8pm
Drag Workshop
Saturday 18 February, 7pm
Three Wise Monkeys
Colchester Pride: BOIDYKKA
Friday 10 February, 8pm
The OutHouse
Book Club
Thursday 23 February, 7pm
Saturday Socials
Saturday 4 February and Saturday 18 February, 10.30am
