To mark the abolition of Section 28, February is acknowledged as LGBT History Month. Therefore, we have been incorporating key LGBT figures in history and how they have contributed to the world as we know it. By celebrating LGBT History Month, we are able to learn about equality and diversity for everybody, as well as key historical figures. Here are a few LGBT people that have made a historical impact in the world today:
We have particularly been learning about LGBT figures in literary history. In Upper Sixth English Literature, students are finalising their coursework drafts on gay playwright Alan Bennett's "The History Boys". One of the key themes in this play is the generation gap in the 1980's between people who were born before the 1967 decriminalisation of male homosexuality, and those born after: the difference between what was legal and what, in the words of the Pet Shop Boys track that features in the play, could still be perceived that "It's a Sin".
In Lower Sixth English Literature, we have been studying "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen, which is a play that looks at a woman whose identity is erased by her role as a wife and a mother in the 1870's. To put this in context, we looked at the lesbian composer Ethyl Smythe (born 1858) and the gay playwright Oscar Wilde (born 1854), to see how they dressed against the gender norms of their time and how relatively inflexible Victorian society was about the expected dress, behaviour and types of relationships that were acceptable for your gender.
In Year 11 English Literature we have been studying John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" and looking at the hypermasculine society in California in the 1930's, since the Gold Rush and the frontier life there had meant that the population was mostly made up of young men looking for manual work. At three points in the play, George and Lennie are questioned about the strangeness of "two guys travellin' together", and ulterior motives are assumed and judged negatively in this time and place where Steinbeck presents being a "lone wolf" as the norm.
Mr Carr will be delivering an assembly at the start of next half term all about LGBT History Month, but in the meantime, it would be great to see as many pupils as possible look at key LGBT figures making their mark in history!
