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QUEER STUDIES CIRCLE: Pride

When: 8pm, Saturday 30th May (5th week)
Where: Staircase 8 (Lecture Theatre), Pembroke College

“The UK Pride website says * “You do not have to be gay to be proud, but you
SHOULD be proud to be gay!!!”* Is sexuality something we should feel proud
of? What is the point of celebrating (homo)sexuality?

Or is Pride a celebration of something different - a sense of community,
values of tolerance and individuality, or something else entirely? Or is it

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just an opportunity for advertisers to tap into that oh-so-desirable Pink Pound?

Or a stereotypical portrayal of LGBT life? And is it really inclusive of all LGBT people?

Oxford Pride has been running since 2002 and this year it is even bigger and
involving greater involvement from the university LGBT community. The events
includes an LGBT history walk, club nights, poetry readings and sex
education workshops.

So, what does pride mean to you? What do you think pride festivals should
involve?

And more generally, what about the message of visibility that Pride sends
out? Is it good for LGBT people to be out and proud, or are there risks too?
Is increasing attention for LGBT people always a positive thing?

All views welcome! And as always, there will be biscuits and drinks.

Some totally optional reading…

On the commercialisation of Gay Pride, and the Gay Shame movement that has developed in response:
http://www.spike00.com/clubky/gayshame.htm
and - http://www.socialismtoday.org/102/pride.html

Oxford Pride - http://www.oxfordpride.org.uk/

Ever useful wikipedia for background - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_pride

The UK gay pride website- http://www.gay-pride.org.uk/index.ph

On an incident of transphobia at last year’s London Pride - http://rozk.livejournal.com/209622.html

Any questions, get in touch with us at kirsten.elliott@stcatz.ox.ac.uk or
milan.terlunen@magd.ox.ac.uk.