Join The Higgins Bedford for LGBT+ History Month February 2025
LGBT+ History Month February 2025LGBT+ History Month shines a light on LGBT+ history and encourages the community to Claim our Past, Celebrate our Present and Create our Future. Every year Schools OUT encourages us to get involved in LGBT+ History Month to celebrate and ‘Usualise’ LGBT+ lives in their full diversity. Rainbow Bedfordshire meets regularly and run Queer Craftivism. Come and create your own artwork and join the display in The Higgins Foyer on this year's theme of activism and social change. Celebrate with us on our Festival Day with talks and workshops from local speakers, artists, poets and creatives, see the website for more information, or email lydia.saul@bedford.gov.uk #SocialActivism
LGBT+ History Month Festival Day
Saturday 22 February 2025, Barbican Studio
11 – 4.30pm Free entry
Registration will take place on the day, first come first served.
Join us for our LGBT+ History Month Festival Day on the 2025 theme Social Activism. Come and enjoy a range of talks, activities and a book launch. The discussion and book launch will be live streamed by clicking on this link https://www.youtube.com/live/g3W-BFEdEp8
See below for an overview of our speakers and programme:
11am Registration and Welcome
11.15am Opening Key Note by Max Fisher, RSci (They/Them)
multi-award winning disability advocate, speaker,
scientist, druid, drag king.
12 noon Break
12.15pm Power in Poetry with Katie O’Pray
1.15pm Lunch
2.15pm Social Activism Panel discussion chaired by Alex
Baird, University of Bedfordshire. Introducing our
guest activists Drew Dalton, Lisa Vine and Harun
Tulunay
3pm Break
3.15pm Panel discussion social activism questions and
audience q and a, chaired by Alex Baird.
4pm ‘The Prosecutor’ Book launch, featuring the story of
Fritz Bauer, a Jewish gay man who sought justice,
with author Jack Fairweather. (This talk will be a
available to view in person on our large screen, or
join us via the online link)
4.30pm Close
Introducing our chair and guest activists:
Chair: Dr. Alex Baird (they/them) is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Physical Education at the University of Bedfordshire. They serve as the vice chair of the LGBTQ+ alliance staff network and have played a significant role in leading Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives across the university. Their EdD thesis research focused on a unique LGBTQ+ Leadership Development programme at a UK university.
Social Activism Panel Discussion Guest Activists:
Drew Dalton (He/Him)
An award-winning teacher, trainer, and activist, Drew is currently the Founder and CEO of ReportOUT, an international human rights organisation, documenting human rights abuses against LGBTQ+ populations across the globe. Alongside this he is currently writing a book called ‘Broken Rainbow?’ with Bloomsbury Publishers, discussing the nature of global queerphobia and what this looks like in different regions of the world. Drew was previously voted by the Pride Power List as one of the top 100 most influential LGBTQ+ people in the United Kingdom.
Max Fisher (They/them)
Max is a multi-award winning disability and LGBT activist, who was recognised in 2024 as the UK’s most influential disabled scientist. They talk extensively about intersectionality in the workplace, and their experiences as a queer and disabled person in STEM. They have been queer for over half their life, and have spent most of that time advocating for dignity and respect for all people under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. In their working life, they are a registered scientist (RSci) with The Science Council and the Royal Society of Biology, and currently work as a senior research associate, growing cells in flasks and talking to robots.
Lisa Vine (She/Her)
Lisa (she/her) is an LGBTQ+ Advocate, Consultant and Trainer based in Loughborough, Leicestershire. Supporting public, private and third sector organisations as they strive for LGBTQ+ inclusion, Lisa has nine years of direct experience supporting trans and non-binary people and the wider LGBTQ+ communities, through 1-1 support and advocacy services. To date, Lisa has supported over 450 LGBTQ+ teenagers and adults. Lisa has also developed and delivered LGBTQ+ inclusion training sessions and workshops to over 2500 professionals from a variety of backgrounds. Lisa supports organisations with the development of inclusive policies and procedures, in particular relating to working inclusively with and for trans and non-binary colleagues and clients.
Harun Tulunay
Harun, originally from Turkey, spent over a decade as an events manager before relocating to the UK in 2015 to escape anti-LGBT+ hostility. Following his HIV diagnosis in 2016, he became an advocate for sexual and mental health, and in 2020 was serving as Training and Volunteering Programme Manager at Positively UK. As a Patient and Public Voice Partner for NHS England's HIV Clinical Reference Group and a member of the UK-CAB Steering Committee, Harun actively shapes HIV policy. He shares his journey openly, including a battle with Mpox in 2022, one of the UK's severe cases, to combat stigma and raise awareness globally. His story, embraced by WHO and UN, features in campaigns, podcasts, and articles worldwide, amplifying vital conversations on sex positivity and health awareness.
