LGBT+ History Month logo 2022
FEBRUARY is LGBT+ History Month in the UK, an annual festival to celebrate the lives and achievements of LGBT+ people past and present.
LGBT+ History Month began in February 2005, organised by Schools Out UK, a campaigning group for LGBT+ people in education. Each year it takes a theme from the education curriculum.
2022 sees the 50th anniversary of the first Pride March in the UK in 1972. A popular slogan of the early ‘gay rights movement’ of the time (before our current understanding of the LGBT+ community developed) was ’the personal is political’, and art is probably the most individual of pastimes. So this year the focus is on how LGBT+ people are represented in art, with the theme ‘Politics In Art’.
The subtitle for the theme is ‘The arc is long’, which refers to a phrase often used by civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King Jnr:
‘The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice’.
The anniversary of the first UK Pride march is one on a continuing and often winding journey towards full equality, which has suffered many setbacks while still moving forward. This quote echoes that.
We will honour LGBT+ History Month in this online celebration, including voices from across the Open Table Network of communities, on our YouTube channel,. Click Subscribe to get a reminder when it goes live.
Join us live online, or later at your leisure. YOU are more than welcome - tell your friends!
Download our celebration booklet here to follow the readings and responses.
UPDATE 31/01/22: If you missed it, you can catch up below [35 mins] OR read the text of the reflection on ‘God’s work of art’ here.