Library and Learning Services are celebrating LGBTQIA+ History Month. February is the month all over the world where we look at the history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual otherwise known as LGBTQIA+
Have a look at some of the resources we have put together that looks at the challenges and triumphs, supporting LGBTQIA+ folks in UON, interesting LGBTQIA+ historical figures, media representation, rights issues, and more below! We have also made an LGBTQIA+ Reading List full of books, films and articles so have a look at some of the resources that UON have.
Activism and Social Change
The 2025 theme celebrates LGBTQIA+ activists who have shaped and driven social change.
The five highlighted historical figures this year:
Octavia Hill (1838 - 1912)
- Octavia was one of the founders of the National Trust
- Helped start the Social Housing Movement and campaigned for more open spaces in inner-city London
- Had a relationship with Sophia-Jex Blake, one of the first women doctors in Britain
- Never married, lived with and loved Harriot York
- Life of Octavia Hill : As Told in her Letters - eBook available through NELSON.
Ivor Cummings (1913 - 1992)
- Ivor is considered the 'Gay Father of the Windrush Generation'
- Greeted passengers of the Empire Windrush as a Colonial Office representative
- First Black person to hold a position in the Colonial Office
- Received an OBE in 1948.
Annie Kenney (1879 - 1953)
- Annie was an active suffragette alongside Christabel Pankhurst
- Arrested 13 times total, and was the first woman released under the 'Cat and Mouse Act' due to her hunger strikes
- Rumoured to have had several sapphic relationships, including with Mary Blathwayt and Christabel Pankhurst
- Annie Kenney and the Politics of Class in the Women's Social and Political Union - article available through NELSON.
Charlie Kiss (1965 - 2022)
- Charlie was the first trans man to run for Parliament in the UK in 2015
- One of the 44 who danced on top of missile silos at Greenham Common in 1983
- Brought more members of the Green Party onto Islington council, and helped support more NHS funding for trans people.
Olaudah Equiano (1745 - 1797)
- Olaudah was an abolitionist and former slave who purchased his freedom in 1766
- His autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (available through NELSON as an eBook), became the first internationally popular slave narrative
- Thought to be bisexual, having had numerous relationships with men before marrying his wife.
