Now, more than ever, we need to talk. So the Staff pride Network has set up Rainbow Office Hours. A chance to make a connection with another LGBTQ+ staff member, or PG student, at the University.

Each month*, the last Friday of the month at 12-1pm, a few of our members will be standing by – check our website for details of who is available. Pick out someone you’d like to talk to, and drop them a line in Teams to check they’re not with someone else (i.e. a digital knock on the door!). After that, you two are free to chat about anything and everything. You might have specific things you want to talk about, or it might just be the pleasure of spending some time with someone like you.

We’re not a counselling or support service, but we do believe in the power of community – so why not take a moment to make that connection and feel just a wee bit better.

• Sue Fletcher-Watson (she/her): My name is Sue. I’m a cis woman and I’m bisexual. I’ve been married for 15 years to a cis man and we have two kids – everyone assumes we’re a heterosexual couple. I am happy to chat about the experience of being bi (or pansexual) generally and specifically about bi-visibility and bi-phobia.
• Karen Pinto-Csaszar (she/her): I’m Karen and I’m a Student Support Officer at Edinburgh College of Art. I am a cisgender straight woman who is part of the ‘BAME’ community (Latin-American) and am interested in chatting with staff and students of any orientation about (among many things) the contribution allies might make in supporting and learning from the LGBT+ community, including and perhaps especially potential allies who may feel interested but hesitant to get involved. I’m also interested in chatting about matters of the BAME community at large, including being a BAME expat!
• Robert (Robbie) Court (he/him): I’m a PostDoc in the School of Informatics specialising in insect neurobiology. Label wise I am Gay, Autistic, Humanist, Dyslexic, Prosopagnosic and have ADHD. I’ve been with my ‘husband’ (not got round to the now available paperwork – one day) for over 25years, he came with a son who is nearly 30 now. Danielle Marlow (she/her): I’m Danielle and I’ve worked at the University for nearly 10 years. I’m a cisgender straight woman married to a cis straight man, and we have 2 children. I’m happy to chat about anything: thoughts you might have; questions you’d like me to try and answer; as well as contributions you can make to our community as an Ally.
• Katherine Malin-August (she/her): I’m Katherine and I’m the Finance Manager for the School of Biological Sciences. I joined this university during lockdown. I’m a cis queer woman, with a non-binary partner. I’m a Trustee and Treasurer for an LGBT+ Youth Charity back in Manchester where I’m from. I’m happy to talk about the experience of being cis and supporting a trans* partner, and trying to use my cis privilege to take on some of the work on behalf of the trans* people in our lives. I could also talk about the Governance aspect of running an LGBT+ youth charity, if that interests you.
• Winnie Lam (she/they): I am Winnie, a bi cisgender woman of colour (British born Chinese), in a relationship with a cisgender bi woman. Happy to talk about biphobia, bi-erasure, racism inside and outside of the LGBT+ community, and any other issues you feel my experience can help with.

If you would like to volunteer for Rainbow Office Hours, please complete this Microsoft Form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=sAafLmkWiUWHiRCgaTTcYZ1S77tmEnpInfF1a_fSWi9UOVZIUkszVTFWU0E2WTVON1EyOFcxMk84WSQlQCN0PWcu

• our first Rainbow Office Hours of 2021 will be on January 29th 2021.

It’s that time again when we commemorate and celebrate LGBT+ history. Once again the Staff Pride Network team have put together another series of fascinating events on a range of topics, further details available on our EventBrite.

• 1st Feb: ‘Legal for 40 Years: A snapshot from someone who was there’
  • Interview with lawyer Terry Munyard focused on his involvement on legalising homosexuality in Scotland (1st Feb 1981)
• 10th Feb: ‘Transgressions’
  • An evening to share stories of what has happened when we are seen to cross a line or boundary, how this is seen as a transgression, what are the repercussions and how we have coped, complied, resisted or challenged.
  • Collaboration with OurStory Scotland
• 17th Feb: The Role of Legal Activism in the Advancement of Trans Rights
  • The Role of Legal Activism in the Advancement of Trans Rights & Current Challenges in the wake of the Keira Bell High Court Judgment
  • Collaboration with GLASS network
• 22nd Feb: Creating equity in healthcare for LGBT+ people
  • We invite you to join us for an informal discussion on what healthcare professionals should know in order to ensure equity in care to LGBT+
• 24th Feb: LGBTQ+ Trivia Night
  • Collaboration with The STEM Village
• 25th Feb: Activism and the Future of HIV in Scotland

We are delighted that Schools and departments throughout the University have chosen to organise more events and have liaised with us to ensure communications are appropriate. Watch out for social media from UoE Sport & Exercise and an HCA event on 9th Feb https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lgbt-history-month-dr-molly-merryman-queer-voices-from-the-pandemic-tickets-133064687061 .

We’ll share more events from fellow HE networks on our social media so if you’re not already following us, we’re @uoestaffpride on Twitter, Facebook and Insta.

Happy LGBT+ History Month!  We hope you can join us for one of our events.

Jonathan and Katie

This is a regular weekly Wednesday lunchtime coffee meetup 1-2pm & once a month (on the first Friday of the month) our evening social event (BYOB) 6:30pm-late.

Please drop in with a coffee and meet your LGBT+ colleagues and ask a committee member those questions you’ve been dying to have answered!

This event is open to all LGBT+/ally staff (or PhD students) of the University of Edinburgh.

More generally we have a broad range of people attending of all ages, disabilities and social abilities so please feel welcome to join us.

If you are nervous at all and would like to meet up with one of us first then please get in contact via our social media outlets or via email: staffpridenetwork@ed.ac.uk

For the duration of ‘the event’ we shall be meeting online via a video chat service (finally given into Zoom):

The Staff Pride Network is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: SPN Social
Time: This is a recurring meeting every Wednesday 1-2pm and 6:30pm-late on the First Friday of each month.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/83368381329

Meeting ID: 833 6838 1329
Passcode: SPNsocial1

Join by Skype for Business
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/skype/83368381329

Representations of trans women in the Americas through the prism of neoliberal society

a seminar with Gina Gwenffrewi

My PhD thesis deals with the impact of the Americas on our conception in Scotland and the UK regarding trans identity, specifically trans female identity. This is partly the intellectual and activist legacies from mainly North America since the 1990s, but also the terrible rate of violence suffered by trans women in Latin America and African American communities in the North. I’m interested in the narratives that we encounter in the arts and the media, including which narratives get seen by us, and which do not. My work deals with the power structures that decide, within our current neoliberal culture, what is the right kind of trans narrative and which is not. Accordingly, my thesis begins with an analysis of the novel The Danish Girl, with its narrow depiction of a white, hyper-feminine, upper-middle-class trans woman with a tragic ending, the perfect narrative for a white, non-trans audience. I then look at narratives including storytelling and biography by trans women of colour which challenge our understanding of society and how it is meant to enrich any hardworking citizen irrespective of class, race/ethnicity, or nation.

In recognition of World Aid’s Day 2020 and this year’s theme of “Resilience”, the University of Edinburgh Staff Pride Network hosted a panel event to address the question: How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Scotland and around the world? and share insights as to how communities and health systems have demonstrated resilience and sought to strengthen HIV prevention services in the context of a global pandemic.

Our Panel members were:

• Robert Pollock from Waverley Care
• Socorro García – Casa de la Sal (Mexico)
• Germán Martínez Blanco – AHF Mexico
• Rocío Sánchez Granillo – preVIHene (Mexico)
• Fraser Serle – HIV Scotland volunteer

Robert Pollock is a Health Improvement Coordinator at Waverley Care, he’s based in Edinburgh, currently working from home. He has been part of Waverley Care since 1995, initially as a befriending volunteer and since 2011 as a paid employee. He works in a small team offering outreach support to people living with HIV and/or HepC. This team has worked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a blend of in-person and telephone support and advice.

Socorro García Estrada is a psychologist graduated from the National University of Mexico (UNAM), psychotherapist, and thanatologist. She delivers person-centred awareness training for medical staff on topics of care for people living with HIV. She has 25 years of experience providing psychological orientation to people living with HIV. She is part of the Citizen Council on HIV in Mexico City and is Programme Director at La Casa de La Sal, a Civil Association that provides comprehensive care for people with HIV/AIDS and their families.

Germán Martínez Blanco is an independent actor and psychologist graduated from the National University of Mexico (UNAM). Since 2003 he has worked in NGOs, coordinating community psychological care programs. Since 2010 he has specialised in the HIV field doing prevention, early detection, and accompaniment of people living with HIV. He currently coordinates the Linkage to Medical Care programme in AHF Mexico and promotes the cabaret play entitled “Lights Out” with the Doom Cabaret company.

Rocío Sánchez Granillo López is a Psychologist, Psychotherapist, and PhD candidate in Human Sexuality. In her role as a lecturer at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, she supervises psychology trainees working with people living with HIV. As a result of this work, she co-founded ‘preVIHene Por tu Vida’, an organisation dedicated to deliver comprehensive sexual education programmes on primary prevention of STIs, unplanned pregnancies, and sexual health promotion.

Fraser Serle is a member of HIV Scotland’s Community Advisory Network and Lothian HIV Patient Forum. He was also vice-chair of Positively UK in London until earlier this month.

On the 20th November 2020 the Glasgow Mission, Order of Perpetual Indulgence created a safe space of remembrance and celebration of the lives lived as well as lost. They honoured those past in spoken word, poems and music.

The hosts lit candles and asked attendees to light a candle or shine a light in this dark time. They said the names of those past and remembered the life they lived and mourned their passing as a community. We could not meet our loved ones during this pandemic but we came together online in remembrance.

Following a minute of silence for those lost, we had a minute of noise to celebrate their lives and contributions.

This talk was based on PhD research which explored how older same-sex couples in Scotland imagine their futures. The research looked at how people talk about their past and present, and how their experiences were reflected in the imagination of their future. Based on interviews with 7 older same-sex couples living in Scotland, the talk presented some of the key results, which show that the couples who participated in this research imagine their future in a very similar and specific way. The talk also explored two ways of imagining the future, the short- and long-term one, and how these differ in terms of the concerns and hopes reflected in each. Through the stories presented in this talk and in Dr Jandrić’s doctoral research, she hopes to raise awareness of the experiences these couples went through and what these experiences mean for their present and future lives.

Dr Dora Jandrić is a researcher in sociology. She obtained her PhD at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include the intersection of sexuality, time, and ageing. Her PhD thesis explored how older same-sex couples imagined their future. She worked on a project which investigated experiences of invisibility of bisexual employees in the UK, and currently works as a senior tutor on undergraduate-level sociology at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.

‘Heavier than Air’ is a stage-to-screen film based on interview data from research conducted with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer teachers working in different educational settings in Australia. Since 2015, this play, devised by Anne Harris (RMIT University) and Stacy Holman Jones (Monash University) has been staged in Australia, Singapore, USA, and Scotland. This is a film adaptation directed by Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans.

With this event, the Staff Pride Network for LGBT+ Colleagues & Allies launched its Research Seminar Series. Heavier than Air helps to educate non-LGBTQIA+ audiences, along with education administrators, students, and staff about the experiences of social inclusion and mental health needs of LGBTQIA+ people, providing LGBTQIA+ teachers with an opportunity to see their sometimes welcoming, sometimes violently exclusionary experiences at their workplace depicted on film. The film was followed by a discussion on how qualitative research and performing arts converge to rethink research methodologies and research communication in humanities and social sciences.

The Film

The Discussion

Co-hosted by the University of Edinburgh Staff Pride Network and OurStory Scotland.

We marked Bi Visibility Day on Wednesday 23 September 2020 with an online event where members of the Staff Pride Network and the Pridesoc student network, as well as LGBT+ community members and allies, learned more about the Bi+* experience through shared stories. We particularly welcomed BAME/PoC Bi+ people and Bi+ people with disabilities.

During the event, the co-chairs prompted discussions with a number of active participants, using questions from OurStory Scotland’s Queer Distance questionnaire as prompts. All attendees were encouraged to consider the participants’ personal responses alongside their own – what were the differences and similarities, and how does the Bi+ experience uniquely affect the context?

Attendees were encouraged to add to the discussions using text chat and raise-hand functions if they wished to do so.

Co-chairs: Cathy Naughton (she/her, Bi+ Rep, UoE Staff Pride Network) and Lindsay Horsham (she/her, Volunteer Researcher, OurStory Scotland).

*The term ‘Bi+’ in this context relates to an umbrella definition of bisexuality that includes people who are attracted to more than one gender, and may self-identify as bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, bi-romantic, questioning or bi-curious, to name but a few identities. We recognise that identities are unique and sometimes cannot be easily defined with labels. The Bi+ community is inclusive of trans and non-binary people. (UNISON, 2020)

I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to the LGBT Magazine Archive from ProQuest until 31st December 2021. This primary source database is a searchable archive of major periodicals devoted to LGBT+ interests, dating from the 1950s through to recent years.

You can access the LGBT Magazine Archive via the Newspapers, Magazines and Other News Sources guide. Or you can access it via the Databases A-Z list. Individual magazine titles will be added to DiscoverEd this week.

The archives of magazines serving LGBT+ communities are of central importance for research into LGBT history, often being the principal sources for the documentation of gay cultures, lives, and events. Researchers consulting these publications may trace the history and evolution of myriad aspects of LGBT history and culture, including legal contexts, health, lifestyle, politics, social attitudes, activism, gay rights, and arts/literature. Despite the value of these publications for research, however, locating the backfiles in print format has been difficult for researchers as they have not typically been collected by libraries.

The archives of leading but previously hard-to-find magazines are included in LGBT Magazine Archive, including many of the longest-running, most influential publications of this type. This includes the pre-eminent US and UK titles – The Advocate and Gay News and its successor publication Gay Times, respectively. As well as titles such as The Pink Paper, Just for Us and Transgender Tapestry.

LGBT Magazine Archive provides indispensable material for dedicated LGBT studies and broader gender/sexuality research, while also catering to interests in many related fields, such as 20th-century history, sociology, health studies, political science, and psychology.

You can access the LGBT Magazine Archive via the Newspapers, Magazines and Other News Sources guide. Or you can access it via the Databases A-Z list. Individual magazine titles will be added to DiscoverEd this week.

You can find more databases and other resources related to LGBT+ and gender studies on the Gender Studies guide.

We have access to LGBT Magazine Archive via a larger subscription deal with ProQuest that is active until 31st December 2021. More information about the huge range of resources that will become available through this deal is coming soon!

Access is only available to current students and staff at the University of Edinburgh.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for School of Social and Political Science

[Originally posted: http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/spslibrarian/2020/06/15/new-lgbt-magazine-archive/]