June is Pride Month- both a celebration of the Queer Community and a reminder that the fight for LGBTQ+ rights is still ongoing, in the UK and around the world. Cardiff Met will be taking part in the official Pride Celebrations, which you can find out about here.
Back in February we recommended some books for LGBT+ History Month. In honour of June’s celebrations, here’s a few more suggestions that feature queer characters, are by queer authors, or both!
Queer Square Mile: Queer Short Stories from Wales ed. Kirsti Bohata et al.
A collection of short stories across multiple genres, by Welsh Authors- great for dipping in and out of, if you don’t feel like committing to one long narrative.
Fun Home, A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
A memoir in graphic novel form by lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel, discussing her childhood and coming of age, her relationship with her closeted gay father, and her own exploration of sexuality and gender.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The story of a beautiful but cruel-hearted young man drawn into the orbit of the Victorian upper-class, The Picture of Dorian Gray was famously used to help convict Wilde for his sexuality. It is also available from the Library as a graphic novel.
Marlowe: The Plays.
A contemporary of Shakespeare’s, Christopher Marlowe was quite possibly queer himself- although of course we can’t know for certain. What we do know is that in spite of its tragic ending, Marlowe’s play Edward II depicts the titular King and his homosexual relationships with more sympathy than the viewer might expect from Elizabethan drama. A version starring Derek Jacobi and Tilda Swinton is available to watch through Box of Broadcasts
The House on the Cerulean Sea by T.J Klune
Perfect for a lighter summer read, The House on the Cerulean Sea blends a queer romance with explorations of found family and forming a community as “outsiders”.
What’s on in June?
LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Pride Month is a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, and an annual reminder that LGBTQ+ rights must still be fought for. Cardiff Met will be represented in the Cardiff Pride Parade on Saturday 21st June.
June 5: World Environment Day
This year’s World Environment Day is focused on reducing plastic waste and pollution. Both Cardiff Met campuses have recycling bins for plastic and paper waste- remember to use them! Keep an eye out for the monthly Repair Cafés as well…a free fix is always better than a replacement, for the world and your wallet!
June 9-15 Men's Health Week
Men’s Health Forum is a charity focused on advocating for the improvement of health in men and boys. This year’s Men’s Health Week is focusing on how the NHS’ strategy for masculine health can be improved. Find out more here
New Students: Welcome to Cardiff Met!
A warm welcome to Cardiff and to the University from your staff at the library. Here’s a quick guide to using Cardiff Met’s library services and getting your studies started. Our opening hours can be found here, on our website.
Library Accounts.
- When you enrol, you are automatically given a library account.
- Your Student I.D card is also your library card. You will need this card with you to borrow books from the library collection.
Borrowing.
- You can borrow up to 30 books at a time.
- To borrow a book, you just need to take it to one of the self-service checkout machines. A member of library staff can show you how to use these if you need help!
- You also have access to a wide range of e-books and journal articles via metsearch. Metsearch can also be used to search for physical books held in the collection, and reserve books so that you can pick them up from the library at a later time.
Help with Study Skills.
- Help with study skills is available through Workshops and our Academic Librarians- find out more about that here
The library has recently launched a new Collection Discovery feature in MetSearch.
Collection Discovery allows you to view curated lists of library materials based on topic, subject matter, or date added to the collection.
The first two collections are now live:
- New Resources – Books added to the collection in the last 30 days.
- Artists' Books – A collection of works of art in the form of a book or inspired by the idea of a book, which we currently hold in the library’s Special Collections. Further work is planned to add photos of the artists' books themselves.
To access our new Collection Discovery page, go to MetSearch, click on the top menu ellipsis (…) and select Collection Discovery from the menu:
What's on in May?
5th-11th: Deaf Awareness Week
Deaf Awareness Week celebrates and supports the deaf community- you can learn more about how here
. 5th-11th: Trans History Week
Trans+ History week celebrates the history of transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex individuals. For articles, podcasts, and events, check out the official website
. 25th: World Football Day.
World Football Day celebrates the importance of football to world commerce, peace, and diplomacy. You can’t play football in the library, but you can check out our books on the subject!
The Easter Break is nearly here...what else is going on!?
April 2nd: World Autism Awareness Day
World Autism Awareness Day promotes acceptance and appreciation of autistic people. Find out how Cardiff Met offers support here
April 7th: World Health Day
Each year the World Health Organisation draws attention to a particular health issue. This year the focus is on pregnancy and post-natal health. Students who are pregnant, or whose partners are pregnant, during the course of their studies can access support from the university by contacting their personal tutor. The university's Student Parental Support Policy can be found here. The Library collection holds a number of children's books, as well as books about child development.
What’s on in March?
March 1st: St David’s Day
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! St. David is the Patron Saint of Wales . His feast day on March 1st is traditionally celebrated with poetry, song, and a welshcake or two….
March 6th World Book Day
We’re a Library, of course we love World Book Day!
Why not come in and chat to our staff about how best to find the books that’ll help with your studies….
March 8: International Women’s Day (IWD)
International Women’s Day is a global campaign for gender equality. Find out more about IWD and this year’s theme, accelerate action, here
March 21st: World Poetry Day
World Poetry Day promotes the reading, writing, and recitation of poetry. Check out some of the poetry books in our libraries!
Academic Workshops.are being held on the 5th & 6th of March. Tours of library spaces are also available on the 5th.
What is LGBT+ History Month?
In 1988 the Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher passed a piece of legislation that has become known as “Section 28”(In full, it is ‘Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988’). Section 28 forbade schools and councils from “promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. Homosexuality might have been legal, but Section 28 signalled to everyone that, in the government’s eyes, it was still something shameful- something to be suffered only so long as it was kept from public view and something that was not to be spoken of. Thatcher herself touted the legislation as a means of protecting the nation’s children from the “moral wrongness” of homosexuality. In practice, it isolated many young LGBTQ+ people from both a sense of understanding themselves and a sense of community and it allowed, even encouraged, bigoted and anti-queer sentiments to flourish. Section 28 was repealed in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 2003 by the Labour Government under Tony Blair (Scotland’s Parliament, established in 1999, had already repealed the act in November 2000).
In 2005, LGBT History Month was established. a declaration to all that, however many closets we may have hidden or been shoved in throughout the ages, our existence – then and now- is uncontrivable fact.
LGBTQ+ People in the Past
It is important to remember that we cannot always know how figures from the past might identify, if they were alive today.
The further back we go, the more unclear such things can become- and not only because evidence is naturally lost to the passage of time. Afterall, “LBGT” (and related versions of the acronym) weren’t popularised until the 1990s.“Gay” only came to mean “homosexual” in the 1970s. The word homosexual wasn’t used until around the late 1800. And of course, the stark reality is that acting on (male) homosexual desire was illegal in parts of the U.K as recently as 1982.
The Sexual Offences Act 1967, passed by Harold Wilson’s government, legalised homosexuality. But it did so in England and Wales only. Homosexuality remained a criminal offence in Scotland until 1980, and in Northern Ireland until 1982. Even taking the earliest possible date, that’s a mere 58 years in which being openly gay or otherwise queer has been legal. Not necessarily safe, not necessarily socially permissible- merely not criminal It’s been less than two centuries since homosexuality ceased to punishable by death in the United Kingdom. In short many people who might, in today’s society, identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community would in their own time
- different understandings of sexuality and, to a lesser extent, gender than we do and,
- risked both social disgrace and criminal charges should evidence of their queerness become public
Still, even where secrecy was paramount for safety there can be traces. There have always been those willing to risk death rather than hide themselves away- and those who possessed enough rank or wealth or both to avoid the worst consequence of openness, at least for a time. There are those in whom, from traces of what is there, or from the shape of what isn’t, we can a see a shadow of kinship: a shade of probably, of arguably, of possibly one of us.
Each year, LGBT+ History Month tries to pull some of the shadows into the spotlight. A theme is selected and figures connected with it from across the UK’s history are chosen to underscore the queer presence intertwined with the subject.
This year’s theme is Activism and Social Change. The people chosen to represent this, from least to most recent, can be found below- as well as some starting points for learning more about their lives, times, or causes.
Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797)
Olaudah Equiano was a significant figure in late Georgian England. Based on some passages in his writings- he talks of particular intimacies with other men, and of struggling consistently with some kind of unspecified sin- Equiano may have been bisexual. As a child, he was abducted into slavery from Esseka (a village in what is now southern Nigeria) and transported to the Colony of Virginia . Equiano was able to gain his freedom in 1766, around the age of twenty-one. He settled in London around 1777 and rapidly became involved in the abolitionist movement. The abolitionists were pushing for the abolition of the Slave Trade; Equiano’s personal experiences were extremely valuable in advancing the cause. He became a prominent figure in London. In 1783, Britain lost the Revolutionary War. Many African Americans, former slaves, had been evacuated from America along with the British troops and many of these were settled in London- but making a new life was difficult. Equiano became heavily involved in aiding London’s growing Black community, becoming something of a leader and a spokesperson.
His memoir, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, was published in 1789. It was a best seller, caused a huge swell of public support for abolition, and was amongst the first examples of a genre now known as Slave Narratives. Equiano also campaigned for democratic reform and was involved with United Irishmen (an association formed to secure representative government in Ireland). In 1792, Equiano married a woman named Susannah Cullen; they had two daughters. Equiano died in 1797.
Resources
“The Classic Slave Narratives”, ed. Henry Louis Gates (Cyncoed Main Shelves 326.924 GAT)
Black Abolitionists in Ireland
Octavia Hill (1838-1912)
In all probability, Octavia Hill was a lesbian. She never married, and for nearly half her life lived with a woman named Harriet Yorke who, on dying herself in 1930, was buried with Hill as a spouse might be. Born into a wealthy Victorian family in Cambridgeshire, Hill was one of the most prominent social reformers of her day, and Co-founder of the National Trust.
With the backing of, and some funding from, John Ruskin (Humanitarian, Aesthete, and Art Critic), Hill- feeling that government efforts were failing the tenants of London’s slums- took on the challenge of finding ways to provide cheap, clean housing for the poorest of society. Insisting on the importance of access to nature, and on the necessity of schooling and activity for children, what started in 1865 with the management of three cottages grew into a network of fifteen separate housing schemes, with Hill responsible for around 3,000 tenants by 1874. In 1877, following a serious bout of illness on Hill’s part, Harriet Yorke moved in with her as her companion. The two women established a cottage outside of London where they could go to get away from Hill’s work.
Resources
“Octavia Hill and the Social Housing Debate: Essays and Letters by Octavia Hill” ed. Robert Whelan (Llandaff Main Shelves 327.172082 DEW)
Octavia Hill, Social Activism, and the Remaking of British Society
Annie Kenney (1979-1953)
Annie Kenney was a leading figure of the Suffragette Movement and may have had affairs with fellow suffragettes Mary Blathwayt, and Christabel Pankhurst.
Kenney was born in Yorkshire and from the age of thirteen was working full time in a cotton mill. As a child, she lost a finger in an accident involve the mill machinery. In spite the need to work curtailing her formal education, Kenney pursued a course of self-study to build upon the basic education she had received. She was also involved in the activities of local trade unions. At the age of twenty-six, she joined the Woman’s Social and Political Union. This led her to meet Christabel Pankhurst, and Christabel’s mother Emmeline- the founder of the Suffragette Movement. Kenney was frequently arrested for militant actions carried out as part of the Suffragette cause and in prison, went on hunger strikes. Women aged thirty or over were granted the right to vote in 1918. In the same year, Kenney married a man named James Taylor. They had one child together.
Resources
“The Suffragette Movement: An Intimate Account of Persons and Ideals”, by Sylvia Pankhurst (Cyncoed Main Shelves 324.623 PAN)
Annie Kenney and the Politics of Class in the Woman’s Social and Political Union
Ivor Cummings (1913-1992)
Ivor Cummings was a gay man, and openly so- even before the decriminalisation of homosexuality. He was worked as a British Civil Servant and was the first black official in the British Colonial Office (the government department responsible for the oversight of many, but not all, overseas territories held by Britain at that time). By 1948, Cummings was the second most senior officer in the Colonial Office’s welfare department. This led to his becoming responsible for organising the welcome, resources, and accommodation that would be needed for African-Caribbean migrants coming over to Britain on the Windrush. In spite of a very limited timeframe and a Parliament with attitudes ranging from apathetic to hostile, Cumming’s tenacity and coordination with multiple other branches of government allowed him to pull off a logistical coup and secure immediate, albeit temporary, accommodation and provisions for the Windrush arrivals. He continued to work closely with that community, helping its’ members to find jobs and more permanent addresses. His work earned him the epithet “Father of the Windrush Generation.”
Resources
“Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation” by Colin Grant (Llandaff Main Shelves 941.004969729 GRA)
Black London: The Imperial Metropolis and Decolonization in the Twentieth Century
Charlie Kiss (1965-2022)
Charlie Kiss was the first trans man to stand for the UK’s Parliament. An activist, trade unionist, and trans pioneer, Kiss was involved with and arrested at anti-nuclear protests at RAF Greenham Common. These were protests against the government’s decision to allow cruise missiles to be stored at the airbase.
Following university, Kiss campaigned against poor working conditions and the culture of racism and sexism present in the Printing Industry- the sector he was working in at the time. In 2015, Charlie stood for election as the Green Party Candidate for Islington South and Finsbury. This marked the first time that a trans man had stood for election to the House of Commons , and though he was not successful, he did net the Green Party their record number of votes in that seat. In the same year, Kiss organised a panel on gender diversity, and discrimination faced by trans, intersex, and non-binary people at the Green Party annual conference. The panel has been credited with encouraging the Green Party to formally adopt trans-inclusive policies.
Resources
“Women for Peace: Banners from Greenham Common” by Charlotte Dew (Llandaff Main Shelves 327.172082 DEW)
Representation and Rights: The Impact of LGBT Legislators in Comparative Perspective
Yes, yes- Valentine's Day on the 14th. Poetry's in the 800's section, if you find you're feeling a bit Romantic. But what else is going on in February....?
1. LGBTQ+ History Month
February is LGBTQ+ History Month. This is a campaign that aims to highlight historical figures and events connected to the LGBTQ+ community. We’ll be doing a separate post exploring the themes and historical figures chosen to be in this year’s spotlight, so if you’re interested make sure to check back in later in the month. In the meantime, visit either campus to browse the LGBTQ+ book displays that library staff have put together.
2.February 6th : Time To Talk Day
Time to Talk Day is a campaign run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. It encourages frank conversations around the topic of mental health- reducing stigma and encouraging people to feel comfortable reaching out for help. To find out more, you can visit timetotalkday.co.uk. To discover what Mental Health support is available for Cardiff Met Students, go to cardiffmet.ac.uk
3.February 11th: International Day of Women and Girls in Science
This is a United Nations observance aimed at tackling the gender gap in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) disciplines worldwide, encouraging women and girls to participate in these fields. Metsearch and the Library Database A-Z are both excellent places to start if you wanted to engage with a bit of STEM related research- whether it’s for your official studies, or simply to satisfy your own curiosity about a STEM-related topic.
4.16th-22nd February: Aromantic Awareness Week
Aromantic Awareness Week is a campaign is intended to raise awareness and acceptance of Aromantic spectrum identities- and if you don’t know what that means well, the chance to learn is what this week is for! You can find out more about aromanticism here.
5.February 24th-March 2nd: Eating Disorder Awareness Week
Eating disorders affect at least 1 in 50 people in the UK. Beat Eating Disorders is a charity that aims to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of eating disorders, as well as signposting (and improving) the support available for recovery. Eating disorders are a serious mental health condition and can affect anybody- information on accessing help via the university can be found here.