Update: Stonewall survey; Campus North; new pages

Stonewall staff survey

The University is taking part in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, a tool we use to evaluate our initiatives to promote a better working environment for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) employees.

As part of this exercise, Stonewall would like to hear from all our employees (LGB or not) on their experiences in the workplace. The information you provide is entirely anonymous and will go to Stonewall’s Workplace team, not to York St John. For more information, see the survey page on the website.

Campus North meeting at York St John University

The next meeting of Campus North, the network of LGBT staff networks in northern higher education institutions, is to take place here 12:00-16:00 on Wednesday 5 November.

If you are interested in attending, contact Andy.

Published: guidance for managers

The guidance for managers on supporting LGBT staff at work, which was included in a previous update for consultation, has now been published on the website.

Support for LGBT students

A new page has been published offering support and guidance for LGBT students.

Tonight: see Pride at City Screen with University of York staff

The University of York’s LGBTI Matters – Staff Sexual Diversity and Equality Forum are going to see Pride at City Screen at 18:00 tonight. They have extended the invitation to York St John University staff.

For more information about the film, see the synopsis below or visit the City Screen event page. If you are interested in going along, contact Adrian Lee (adrian.lee@york.ac.uk).

It’s 1984 and the Miners’ Strike is causing great hardship, especially in one remote Welsh pit village.

Despite some misgivings, a group of young gay activists led by bolshy Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer) decide to raise money for the community, but when they travel down to deliver the funds they’re unprepared for the homophobia that greets them.

However, it transpires that a taciturn village elder (Nighy) has long been in the closet, and the strikers’ wives, headed by Imelda Staunton’s no-nonsense Helfina, are both grateful and curious.

In only his second film, noted theatre director Matthew Warchus (Matilda the Musical) expertly finesses knowing humour, indignation and sexual politics, while the performances are uniformly pitch-perfect.

LGBT film at City Screen

City Screen are showing another LGBT-themed film, Lilting, on Tuesday 30 September. For more information, see the synopsis below or visit the City Screen event page.

When his lover Kai (Andrew Leung) dies unexpectedly, Richard (Whishaw, SKYFALL) and Junn, Kai’s Chinese-Cambodian mother (Cheng, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON), share their grief in this touching study of affection built on denial.

Feeling abandoned in a drab retirement home, Junn is also hampered by her lack of English. This makes communication tricky for Richard – who must also disguise the fact that her son was gay – although it prompts some comic interludes with the resident lothario (Bowles) and a translator (Morven Christie, Twenty Twelve).

Despite these obstacles, Junn’s instinctive hostility towards Richard gradually evaporates, thanks largely to his obvious concern for her. Made on a tiny budget, Cambodian expat Hong Khaou’s debut feature is suffused with subtlety, and boasts especially magnetic performances by its two leads.

Report on ‘The Impact of ‘Austerity Cuts’ on the LGBT Voluntary and Community Sector’

The Trades Union Congress has published a report called ”Staying Alive’: The Impact of ‘Austerity Cuts’ on the LGBT Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) in England and Wales’. The Equality and Diversity Forum has provided a summary of the key findings and a link to the report on their website.