Welcome to The Network

The Network supports libraries, museums, archives, galleries and other cultural and heritage organisations (as well as individuals) who are working to tackle social exclusion and towards social justice.

LGBTQ+ History Month 2021

"We have a huge selection of resources and information on the LGBT+ History Month website to make this year’s theme - ‘Body, Mind, Spirit’ – accessible for all. As in previous years we have chosen Five Faces to embody it. Posters and fact-sheets on each of them are available to download for FREE on our resources page (just scroll down the page under the 2021 section). For educators, there are also resources specifically written for primary schools by John Yates-Harold, a primary school Head Teacher and one of the first names to appear on the World Pride Power List in 2012. As in other years, our partners at The Proud Trust have created a History Month Education Pack for secondary schools and youth groups. We would also encourage people to post their events on our interactive Calendar. With the country back in Lockdown and any and all events being moved online, its importance is more crucial this year than ever. In the past we have seen over 500 events organised by a variety of individuals, social groups and work organisations.

OUTing the Past, an affiliated project, continues to thrive, and this year has 18 hubs across England, Ulster, Eire and even New York (for a third year). The public have over 70 presentations on LGBT+ history to choose from. Venue details, dates and programmes can be found here. As you’d expect, the festival is being held online this year."

Sue Sanders, Chair – Schools OUT UK, Professor Emeritus – The Harvey Milk Institute, Co-Founder of LGBT+ History Month UK

Blogs you might be interested in

  • Anne Harding Training - Anne blogs on reading, literacy, working with young people, and the courses she runs across the cultural sector.
  • DCN - Disability Co-operative Network for Museums - "We are working with national charities, organisations, people with disabilities, academics, groups, disability networks in other sectors, curators and managers to promote and embed inclusive practice in the heritage and cultural sector."
  • LGBT people and the UK cultural sector - this blog builds on the content of the book, LGBT people and the UK cultural sector, and aims to add new developments and missing stories of LGBTQ people in the cultural sector.
  • Museums and Autism - "A blog about how museums can improve support for autistic spectrum visitors, with practical advice and examples from museums and autistic people"
  • Race Matters, the Runnymede Trust blog
  • Speak Out London – Diversity City the LGBTQ Oral History project based at London Metropolitan Archives
  • SpeakUP - blog "run by IFLA’s Advisory Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression, for exploring how the work of libraries is shaped by, and can promote, human rights around the world"
  • ViMLoC - Visible Minority Librarians of Canada Network
  • The Wheeled Librarian - "The chronicles of a librarian with a physical disability."

Resource categories