Hello!

It’s been a little while, but Pulse, your LGBT+ Staff Network, is back in business! I’m Andrew and I’m one of the co-chairs of the network. Along with our other co-chair, Sam Berry; and our wonderful new committee, our mission is to breathe new life into the network and make it deliver for our members. So, without further ado, here is the latest news of what’s going on in the next few weeks:

Women in Academia awards ceremony
The Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WISET) network have extended invitations to Pulse members to attend their “Women in Academia” awards ceremony, which starts next week. If you are interested, please contact us at uoslgbt@soton.ac.uk and we will send you the invitation.

Highfield Picnic Lunch
To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, on Friday 28 June we’re holding a lunchtime picnic social in the Valley Gardens on Highfield Campus (assuming the weather is kind to us, otherwise we’ll convene in B38, the Staff Social Centre.) The picnic will run from 12:00 – 14:00 and is a great opportunity for us all to get together as a community and get to know each other better! Don’t worry if you can only make it for part of the time, just bring your lunch along and we’ll be delighted to see you! This event is open to all staff, students and visitors to the University. You can also join the Facebook event.

LGBTSTEM day
OpSoc, the University of Southampton Optics and Photonics Society, are running a range of events for LGBTSTEM day which we’ve been invited to. These include a diversity discussion panel at The Art House Café on Thursday 4th July at 6.30 pm and other events to be announced shortly.

Solent Gay Men’s Chorus
The Solent Gay Men’s Chorus are performing on Saturday 6th July at the Hub Theatre. The concert starts at 7.30pm and tickets are £12.50 from www.sgmc.org.uk

If you’d like to be more involved with Pulse, or have some suggestions or ideas for activities that you’d like us to be more involved with, please feel free to get in touch with us at uoslgbt@soton.ac.uk and let us know. You can also follow us on social media. We’re on Facebook and Twitter.

For the third year running, Pulse is proudly taking part in Southampton Pride on Saturday 25th August. Southampton Pride is a celebration of who we are, joining organisations across the city in demonstrating our public commitment to LGBT+ equality and inclusion.

We welcome all colleagues and friends, no matter gender identity or sexuality, to join us for the parade under the University banner. The Community Parade will meet in Commercial Road at 1.30pm (near the Southampton Library entrance), with the parade starting at 2pm. The parade heads around Guildhall Square and down Above Bar Street to the Bargate and back again.

So that we have a clear idea on numbers, please click on the link below to let us know you’ll be joining us in the parade:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uos-pulse-lgbt-staff-network-in-the-southampton-pride-parade-tickets-48792469590

Southampton Pride is a huge event growing year-on-year, with festivities beginning on West Marlands Road (outside the Stage Door) from 11am going on until late. There will be a number of activities, attractions and stalls. Live music begins from midday and the celebrations continue through to the official after party at the Edge & Box Bar.

We look forward to seeing you on the day, even if you aren’t able to join us in the parade.

Every 3 months we hold a seasonal network breakfast. The next breakfast of 2018 is taking place on 13th June, at the Staff Club on Highfield from 8am.

Come along and meet other network members – you can bring your own breakfast or purchase a cooked one on site. Hopefully see you there!

The University of Winchester Martial Rose Library is organising a Human Library event on 15^th May from 10am to 4pm, and is on the look out for more Human Book titles. Some of you will be familiar with the format as Solent University has previously hosted an event. In a nutshell, as with any other library, it aims to connect readers with books; the only difference is that ‘books’ are real people, and ‘reading’ is as conversation. A reader select from a list of available titles and then engages in an honest conversation, and previous titles include ‘Unemployed’, ‘Homeless’, ‘Transgender Woman’, ‘Refugee’, ‘Bisexual Christian’, and more.

For more information on the history of the format and previous books can be found on the University of Winchester’s blog post here: http://uniwinlibrary.wordpress.com/2017/03/17/8-human-books-26-readers-11-hours-of-life-changing-conversations/. Last year the feedback from ‘Human Books’ was amazing, they all thoroughly enjoyed it and most of them will be participating again this year. Olena who is organising the event, is constantly on the look out for new Human Book titles.

If you’re interested in coming to Winchester and being a book for the day, please get in contact with Olena via:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humanlibrarywinchesteruk/

Twitter: @humanlibwinch

Email: humanlibwinch@hotmail.com

Phone: 01962 678213

It’s been a fantastic #LGBTHM18 celebrating with @soton_LGBT: breakfast at Avenue campus, rainbow lanyards, film screenings, the Annual Stonewall lecture, Pride, rainbow handprints in the @Union_soton, and more! #loveislove

If you attended Hampshire Pride this year in Winchester, you will have spotted the Pulse Network in the parade! You might have even seen the discussion on Twitter during the day. For more information about what we saw at Hampshire Pride, check out our updated webpage with photos.

Join your network colleagues for Hampshire Pride 2018! The parade this year will start at the Winchester School of Art, with people who wish to be in the parade meeting from 1pm at WSA. The parade will kick off at 2pm and finish at the Indoor Street Festival at the market stalls on EII Court. We will be joining the SUSU LGBT+ Society, as well as the rest of the local community.

 Although the event is free we’d like to have an idea of numbers, so if you’re coming along then please click on the link and register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hampshire-pride-parade-tickets-43087917120 

Hopefully see you on the day!

This year’s Southampton Stonewall Lecture will be held on Thursday 15 February from 18:00 – 19:00 at Avenue Campus and will be delivered by Professor Alison Oram, Professor of Social and Cultural History at Leeds Becket University.

How does a sense of place shape ideas of queer identity, politics and community? Drawing on the findings of the ‘Queer Beyond London’ project, this lecture explores LGBTQ life in four provincial cities since 1965.

Post reproduced from https://www.southampton.ac.uk/blog/sussed-news/2018/01/19/annual-stonewall-lecture-15-february/