Just another University of Greenwich blog
Olympic champion figure skater Eric Radford tells BBC Sport that he felt as though “someone had taken invisible bricks off his shoulders” when he came out and that becoming the first openly gay male Winter Olympics champion in 2018 made him “explode with pride”. More
It’s a Sin has been an emotional watch – not least for members of the Isle of Wight’s gay and lesbian community who lived through prejudice and isolation in the 1980s and 90s.
The Channel 4 drama, which ended on Friday night, was penned by Russell T Davies and tells the story of Ritchie Tozer – an 18-year-old from the island whose family do not know that he is gay, and who leaves for university, bright lights and excitement of London in the 1980s.
He ultimately makes a sad return home across the water as the HIV epidemic casts its devastating shadow.
It’s a story that echoes with many in the island’s LGBT community who lived through those times – being shamed for the ‘disgrace’ of coming out, while also while also living in fear of Aids. More
We’re celebrating the LGBT+ community by raising awareness and promoting equality. You can join the events happening at the university and in the wider community throughout the month. See more here
We have joined WHEN as an institutional partner, making individual membership free for staff and providing access to WHEN’s events, social network and mentoring programme. Find our more here
During this inaugural week, our Vice-Chancellor Prof Jane Harrington made a pledge as part of The Big Promise – a commitment to action not just words.
I, Jane Harrington, promise to:
You can find out more about The Big Promise on the Race Equality Matters website.
February is LGBT History Month and with that in mind we have chosen the Elton John Aids Foundation as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.
After losing friends and peers to AIDS-related illnesses, Elton John was inspired to set up the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992.
They fund projects for the prevention, treatment and education of HIV/AIDS and prioritise the most marginalised groups: gay men, adolescents, people who inject drugs, sex workers and transgender women. On top of this, the Foundation battles the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS; as Elton John himself said, “The AIDS disease is caused by a virus, but the AIDS epidemic is not. The AIDS epidemic is fuelled by stigma, by hate, by misinformation.” The Foundation also runs various fundraising events, including the star-studded Academy Awards Viewing Party.
The Foundation’s mission is simple: to be a powerful force in the end to the AIDS epidemic. They are committed to no more discrimination. No more HIV infections. No more AIDS deaths. No matter who or where you are.
They believe AIDS can be beaten. But only if everyone at risk of HIV, no matter who they are or where they are has access to the non-discriminatory HIV information and compassionate care that allow them to stay healthy and safe and live with dignity.
To find out more about the Foundation see here https://www.eltonjohnaidsfoundation.org/
To find out more about LGBT History Month see here https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/
Chris Scott was falling towards the ground above Long Island, New York, when he realised that something was wrong.
An experienced skydiving instructor with around 6,000 jumps behind him, this should have just been another day at work. Strapped to Scott’s chest was a tandem jumper named Gary Messina, for whom the jump was an annual birthday tradition.
But when the men reached an altitude of 175ft, the parachute that had been slowing their descent suddenly collapsed. It had most likely been caught by a dust devil, a small unpredictable tornado that is the bane of skydivers, as it forms in the same clear conditions that are perfect for their sport. More
World Braille Day is on 4 January and with that in mind we have chosen Libby Clegg as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.
Libby is a champion Paralympian athlete who has a deteriorating eye condition known as Stargardt’s Macular Dystrophy disease giving her only slight peripheral vision in her left eye and she is registered blind.
Formerly a keen ballet dancer, Libby took up athletics aged 10, first competing in middle distance and cross country running before taking up sprinting, she burst onto the international scene aged 16 at the 2006 World Championships in Assen, the Netherlands, when she won a silver medal in the T12 200m.
Libby made her Paralympic debut in Beijing in 2008, winning a silver medal in the T12 100m. Later that year, she was awarded third place in the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. At London 2012, Libby won her T12 100m heat in a world record time of 12.17 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals and in the final, she ran a time of 12.13 to set a new personal best and take the silver medal.
Crowned Commonwealth Champion in 2014, Libby had to miss a number of major competitions through illness and injury. She was reclassified as a T11 sprinter in 2016 and went on to set a world record in the T11 200m at July’s IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final. Libby began working with guide runner Chris Clarke in February 2016 and the pair claimed T11 100m and 200m gold at Rio 2016.
In April 2019 Libby and her partner Dan Powell became parents to son Edward, however she was training by the summer, competing at the World Championships later that year.
In 2017 she was awarded an MBE for services to athletics and charity and has been awarded Scottish Athletics Athlete of the year a record seven times.
Libby is an Ambassador for Guide Dogs for the Blind and has her own guide dog Hattie and helps to support them by raising issues in the media.
To find out more about World Braille Day see here https://brailleworks.com/what-is-world-braille-day/ To find out more about Libby see here https://www.paralympic.org/libby-clegg
Matt Hampson who was our very first Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month was awarded an OBE in the New Years Honours list. More
“The main pressure that we feel is the need to chip away pieces of our identity, just to feel like we belong.”
Katiann Rocha has experienced discrimination because of her hair, often hearing comments such as “messy”, “unkempt” and “wild”.
The 16-year-old is a co-founder of the Halo Code – a guide for schools and workplaces to prevent discrimination around hairstyles or texture.
“It will allow for black people to be fully accepted in an environment that celebrates their natural hair and styles, because we’ve been discriminated against it for so long,” she tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.
The Halo Code explicitly protects students and staff at school and work with natural hair and protective hairstyles associated with their racial, ethnic and cultural identities. More
