Warwick Pride hosts annual Pride Week

Warwick’s Pride Society held its annual Pride Week in week 9. The event seeks to raise awareness of LGBTUA+ issues and included film screenings, workshops, talks and panel discussions.

This year, the Students’ Union (SU) hosted a ‘Love Music Hate Homophobia’ club night in Copper Room two on the evening of Monday 24 November.

Films were also screened by the society, including Tongues Untied and How to Survive a Plague.

Other events included a debate on whether the LGBTUA+ community has benefitted from the legalisation of gay marriage.

The week also saw the organisation of the Trans* 101 workshop to discuss Trans related issues.

There were also three evening events for Pride Week: a poetry slam, a feminist club night in Coventry and a special edition of Sophia’s Salon, Leamington’s queer club night.

Before the event, Lily Huggins, president of Warwick Anti-Sexism Society (WASS), said: “WASS is very excited for Pride Week at Warwick. Much like Black History Month, Pride Week is a vital event for all students at Warwick.”

Ms Huggins continued: “We are also very proud of the range of events organised by our LGBTUA+ Officer Luke Dyson.

“We are particularly excited for the ‘Queer Women of Colour interactive discussion’ run by Pride’s Women’s officer.”

Olivia Mastin, Warwick Pride Women’s officer commented on the Queer Women of Colour workshop: “We have chosen to do this workshop as a basic introduction to some of the issues faced by queer women of colour such as lack of visibility, tokenism, fetishisation and the importance of creating our own spaces.

“We recognise that the experiences of queer women of colour is by no means singular and we will be exploring this at the event.”

A student who wished to remain anonymous, after attending the workshop said: “The Queer Women of Colour workshop for pride week was a really thought-provoking opportunity to explore a struggle which is often overlooked in a largely cis-white-heteronormative culture.”

They added: “The chance to discuss the, often homogenizing, politics of identity which have shaped the queer women of colour experience, in a safe space, was both welcome and enjoyable.”