Pride and joy: LGBT awareness week sweeps campus

Week seven at the University of Warwick saw the return of Pride Week. The week was run by both the Students’ Union Campaigns Forum and Warwick Pride.

Pride Week 2010 aimed to celebrate and increase awareness of everybody in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, and Asexual (LGBTUA+) communities around Warwick and the world. Five days of activities also tried to fight against the uninformed and stereotypical views which many Pride members believe still exist across campus and in the wider community.

Tom Faber, social secretary of Warwick Pride, outlined Pride Week as “basically a week to have a good time and introduce people to what Pride actually stands for. Many people remain partly unaware of the issues in the gay community, and this week will hopefully help both those people and those with concerns about their sexuality and the social issues arising from it.”

Pride held events hoping to appeal to everybody regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. “Safe Spaces” were provided which invited everybody to come along and chat about what is on their mind without fear of being judged. Numerous workshops and discussions were held exploring asexuality, the social implications of gay marriage and the relationship between religion and sexuality. Warwick Pride tried to encourage both members and non-members to go events to make the week as inclusive as possible.

Many campus societies contributed to events and workshops in the week. On Tuesday, Unite Against Fascism helped organise the ‘Love Music, Hate Homophobia’ event in the Students’ Union, where Warwick Glee and Rock Soc provided entertainment for this effort to “combat all forms of discrimination, oppression and bigotry by uniting folks through music.”

The Debating Society staged a debate on Thursday evening, over the role of the media in the promotion of LGBTUA+ values. Gay rights advocate and broadcaster Paul Gambuccini spoke about how the success of the gay rights movement depends on the increasing of public knowledge and the stance of the mass media.

Amnesty and Pride held a letter writing session on Friday campaigning in favour of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers.

Warwick Pride is part of an international political and social movement that has campaigned since the 1980s that people of all sexual preferences should be proud of their orientation and gender identity, and that diversity is a gift. The society itself was formed in 1973 as the Gay Liberation Front, six years after the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, with “awareness week” as a prominent campaign. Today Pride is one of largest societies on campus, with the renamed “Pride Week” as one of its most visible and popular campaigns.