LGBTQ+ History Month

Black and Queer: A writing workshop with Chloe Filani
Thursday 1 February, 5.30pm - 7.30pm
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester

Artist, performer, poet and writer working with and in her lived experiences as a black trans woman of Nigerian Yoruba and Eshan heritage, Chloe Filani examines the themes of identity and power structures. In this practical workshop, participants will explore their writing practice through sensory interaction and conversations with objects in groups. You will be encouraged to think and slow down and be present in your body and your surroundings. In a facilitated space you will have the opportunity to create poetry through this process and to read aloud your work.

Chloe will also read poetry from Black, Queer authors to help you explore new poetry of Black origin.

This workshop is FREE for all University of Essex students.

LGBTQ+ History Month Mixer
Friday 2 February, 5pm - 7pm
The Atrium, Colchester

Kick off the month with a Mixer in The Atrium! Grab a free drink and snack, pull up a chair and meet your community!

This event is open to all students as we start to celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month! Find out more about all the events we have planned!.

LGBTQIA+ Mixer - Euphoria Theme
Friday 2 February, 7pm - 11pm
Corbett Theatre Bar, Loughton

Live music by SKINT.

LGBTQ+ History Month - Colouring and Crafts
Wednesday 7 February, 11am - 3pm
The Atrium, Colchester

Unleash your creativity and add a splash of colour to your day at our colouring and craft event! Take a break with some mindfulness colouring, relax and express yourself!

Explore your crafty side by making LGBTQ+ themed felt pins! No experience necessary and all materials will be provided.

This event is open to ALL students as we celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month!

CISC Presents: A roundtable on female masculinities
Wednesday 7 February, 4.00pm - 5.30pm
Zoom

A roundtable on female masculinities, with Prof Esther Newton, Dr Libro Levi Bridgeman, Yassine Senghor, Dr Francis Ray-White and Joelle Taylor

This roundtable will bring together a leading group of scholars and writers in the field of female masculinities, who will share their thoughts and reflections on gender identity and queer community.

Drag Scratch Night
Wednesday 7 February, 8.00pm - 10.30pm
Twenty One, Southend

Drag Scratch Night is Back! Please join us for the return of the annual Drag Scratch Night, this year hosted at Twenty One. An essential evening of fun, colour and amazing performances from Essex Students hosted by Dan Memory and Philipa Hepworth.

This is a student only event. Students will need their IDs to enter.

Queer Sip & Paint
Friday 9 February, 7pm - 9pm
Corbett Theatre Bar, Loughton

This event is open to University of Essex students and staff only.

Shar Cooterie: Well Swung
Saturday 10 February, 6pm
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester

Inspired by a failed first gig back when she performed as her out-of-drag self, Shar Cooterie teams with Adam Saiz Abo-Henriksen to tackle a list of queer classics and adapt them to the favoured genre of every shy 00’s young Essex lad who wanted to prove that they had a personality – swing! Book to enjoy an evening of great music, well swung.

We Were Here
Tuesday 13 February, 1.00pm - 2.30pm
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester

An intimate, yet epic history of the AIDS years in San Francisco, as told through the stories of five longtime San Franciscans. The film documents the coming of what was called the “Gay Plague” in the early 1980s. It illuminates the profound personal and community issues raised by the AIDS epidemic as well as the broad political and social upheavals it unleashed. WE WERE HERE offers a cathartic validation for the generation that suffered through, and responded to, the onset of AIDS. It opens a window of understanding to those who have only the vaguest notions of what transpired in those years and provides insight into what society could, and should, offer its citizens in the way of medical care, social services, and community support.

Swipe, Life and Gate Number 5
Tuesday 13 February - Wednesday 14 February, 6.30pm
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester

Inspired by true events, Swipe, Life and Gate Number 5 is a hilarious lesbian love story between a white and a black immigrant told through an innovative fusion of theatre and film. With only one performer on stage, and everyone else projected on am screen, prepare to fall in love, as the couple begin their extraordinary relatable, almost too good to be true, love story that leads them from a swipe to gate number 5.

LGBTQ+ Market
Wednesday 14 February, 11am - 4pm
Square 3, Colchester

This event is open to University of Essex students and staff only.

Pride Parade
Wednesday 14 February, 1.00pm - 1.30pm
Square 3, Colchester

If you would like to fly a pride flag, please fill out this survey!

This event is open to University of Essex students and staff only.

Valentine's night
Friday 16 February, 7pm - 11pm
At the SU, Loughton

SU Makes: Pride Crafts
Monday 19 February, 6pm - 8pm
SU Lounge, Southend

Come along to our LGBTQIA+ pride themed SU Makes event where you can jump into coaster decorating and bracelet making in a laid-back safe space where all are welcome. Make friends and maybe take something you've made away with you.

Homegrown: Sunrise
Tuesday 20 February - Wednesday 21 February, 6.30pm
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester

A woman cradles a limp coat in her arms. Opens the door. Biblical white light pours out onto her. Then blackness. Then silence.

Engaging with both eco drama and the tragic genre, Sunrise is a story set in post-climate apocalypse Britain.

A woman grieves the loss of both a world she once loved and a girlfriend long dead. Cut off from society, her only companionship is two sock puppets who only seek to further isolate her from reality.

When the far-right government scraps state benefits, she must choose: waste away in a room built on memory, or attempt to find beauty amongst the ashes.

This play subtly reflects many peoples experience of Covid lockdowns, allowing audiences a chance of catharsis.

Set entirely in one room, the set is cramped and cluttered.

With an approximate run time of 45 minutes, Sunrise offers a new take on climate theatre.

Moving away from grand and often anthropocentric plotlines, Sunrise instead highlights the individual experience that does not seek to scare an audience into action, but rather offer a much needed outlet for many peoples increasing climate anxiety.

The Watermelon Woman
Wednesday 21 February, 1.00pm - 2.30pm
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester

This screening is FREE and open to all!

Cheryl Dunye plays a version of herself in this witty, nimble landmark of New Queer Cinema.

A video store clerk and fledgling filmmaker, Cheryl becomes obsessed with the “most beautiful mammy,” a character she sees in a 1930s movie. Determined to find out who the actress she knows only as the “Watermelon Woman” was and make her the subject of a documentary, she starts researching and is bowled over to discover that not only was Fae Richards (Lisa Marie Bronson) a fellow Philadelphian but also a lesbian.

The project is not without drama as Cheryl’s singular focus causes friction between her and her friend Tamara (Valarie Walker) and as she begins to see parallels between Fae’s problematic relationship with a white director and her own budding romance with white Diana (fellow filmmaker Guinevere Turner).

Winner of Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Blind Date with a Queer Book
Wednesday 21 February, 4pm - 5pm
Albert Sloman Library, Colchester

The Library’s popular Blind Date with a Book is back with a Queer twist!

Visit our stand in the Albert Sloman Library, decide which LGBTQ+ book appeals the most (you will only have a short blurb - it is a Blind Date after all!) and it’ll be yours to keep.

 

Sip and Paint
Thursday 22 February, 5pm - 8pm
The Atrium, Colchester

Come along to The Atrium for a sip and paint party!

Unleash your inner artist, no experience necessary!

Free soft drinks and snacks, so grab a canvas and paintbrush and get involved!

Spit it Out
Friday 23 February, 7pm
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester

Emily is finally ready to come out as a transgender woman. However, she worries that she will be ostracized by relatives and face workplace discrimination. She soon experiences the strain of being openly trans in friendships and relationships, while staying closeted in her profession and to family.

Spit It Out is the new play written by Alice Stephens (Creative Writing PhD candidate, University of Essex) and directed by Noah Alfred Pantano (Standing On A Nail). The play stars trans actress Audrey Thompson as Emily. Joe Eason (Two Come Home), Robyn Faye (Les Enfants Terribles) and Isobel Sheard (The S is Silent) accompany Thompson to play a cascade of characters that complicate Emily’s coming out.

Spit It Out was written as part of Stephens’s M.A. Creative Writing dissertation at the University of Essex. Following a sold-out premiere in Colchester and with two runs upcoming in London and Brighton, Pantano & Co. are excited to bring this play back home to the Lakeside Theatre.

Two Come Home
Friday 1 March, 7pm
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester

Evan Nicolson lives a simple, solitary life post-incarceration in a small Appalachian ex-mining town. The return of both his monstrous father and teenage best friend turns Evan’s lonely life upside down. Guilt, rage, and love collide in this new play with music by Joe Eason (1,000 Suns, Luck of the Draw). Directed by Noah Alfred Pantano (Standing On A Nail).

A small live band perform a score that is both haunting and uplifting as this story of regret and second chances unfolds. We deal with a legion of themes; poverty, addiction, generational trauma, repressed love, etc. but the theme that overrides all of these is the courage it takes to reach for others and break out of the bittersweet comfort of solitude.

This play has a queer creative team and queer characters and while it deals with the harsh realities of being gay in an impoverished rural community, the true defining features of the characters are their guilt, their rage, and their love.

Events running for all of February

LGBTQ+ History Month Displays at all three of our Campuses and reading lists
Browse the library's available books through our dedicated reading list and visit our libraries at Colchester, Southend and Loughton campuses to discover our LGBTQ+ History Month book displays. A Loughton LGBTQ+ reading list tailored to East 15 students is also available.

Displays will be accessible during library opening hours. For campus specific opening hours, please visit the library website.

 

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

Cliffs Pavillion
Fanny Galore's Big Night Out
Friday 16 February, 7pm

Fanny's Bingo Brunch
Sunday 18 February, 11am

Curzon
KALEIDOSCOPE - Colchester LGBTQ+ Project
Thursday 1 February, 7.30pm - 10.00pm

 

Dice & a Slice
Fun and Gaymes: A Colchester Pride Board Game Social
Wednesday 21 February, 6.30pm - 9.30pm

 

Essex Working Well
Trans Health Awareness session
Tuesday 13 February, 10am - 11am

 

Firstsite
Kinky Boots - The Musical
Thursday 1 February, 8pm and Saturday 3 February, 7.30pm

Drag Life Drawing with Sirena Hart
Saturday 3 February, 6pm

Boozy Brushes
Friday 16 February, 7.30pm

 

Mercury Theatre
Colchester Pride Film Night - Bros
Tuesday 6 February, 8pm

Lates - Cocktail Cabaret
Saturday 24 February, 9.30pm

 

myGwork
Celebrating LGBTQ+ History
Wednesday 21 February, 4pm

 

National Student Pride
Friday 23 February - Sunday 25 February

 

Palace Theatre Southend
Josh Berry: Sexual Politics
Saturday 17 February, 7.30pm

 

Southend Winter Pride
Saturday 24 February, 12pm - 5pm

 

The Outhouse
Saturday Social
Saturday 3 February and Saturday 17 February, 10.30am - 1.00pm

Craft with Pride
Tuesday 27 February, 2pm - 4pm

LGBTQ+ Book Club
Thursday 29 February

 

Three Wise Monkeys
Now! That's What I Call...DRAG
Thursday 8 February

 

Search for nationwide 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