Update: World AIDS Day event; lecture; film; show; conference

World AIDS Day event – Patent Fever: HIV/AIDS and the epidemic of intellectual property

Dr Mike Upton is a Mildred Blaxter Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London where his research focuses on HIV/AIDS, access to medicines and intellectual property. With a background in anthropology, his work draws connections between what is termed ‘the second enclosures’ of the intellectual commons, medical innovation and inequalities of access to treatment in the context of HIV/AIDS.

Dr Upton will introduce a screening of a short documentary on campaigns in South Africa for access to antiretroviral and tuberculosis treatment which will be followed by a question and answer session.

Emeritus Professor David Maughan Brown will introduce Dr Upton and chair the question and answer session. The event has been organised by the LGBT Staff Network as part of the University’s programme for Disability Week and will take place at 18:00 on Tuesday 2 December.

You can book a free ticket now.

David Kato Memorial Lecture

The LGBTQ Network at the University of York Students’ Union (YUSU) have organised the inaugural David Kato Memorial Lecture for 18:30 on Monday 10 November. David Kato was a human rights defender who campaigned for LGBT rights in his home country of Uganda. David was part of the Centre for Applied Human Rights in 2010, but was murdered after returning to his country in 2011.

The inaugural lecture will be delivered by Katsiaryna Borsuk, a current member of the Centre for Applied Human Rights and a campaigner for LGBT rights in her home country of Belarus. For more information, see the Facebook event page.

The Imitation Game at City Screen

From Friday 14 November, City Screen will be showing The Imitation Game, a film about Alan Turing, a famous World War II codebreaker who was prosecuted for homosexuality. For more information, see the synopsis below or visit the City Screen event page.

Benedict Cumberbatch masterfully portrays mathematical genius Alan Turing in his race against time to break Germany’s Enigma code during World War II.

Flashbacks following Turing’s arrest for homosexuality in 1952 chronicle his battles with the commander of the Bletchley Park codebreakers (Dance) before winning the trust of an MI6 boss (Mark Strong) and the funding to build a huge electro-mechanical computer which would help him decipher the code.

Directed by Morten Tyldum (JO NESBO’S HEADHUNTERS), Cumberbatch’s twitchy, savant-like Turing doesn’t suffer the fools he initially has to work with, but in Joan Clarke (Knightley), a woman who, like him, has an exceptional mathematical brain, he finds an intellectual equal and friend. The result is both gripping and profoundly moving.

Gay Abandon – Idols and Icons

At 19:30 on Saturday 15 November, Gay Abandon, “West Yorkshire’s premier LGB choir”, will present “a fabulous night of songs inspired by lesbian, gay and bisexual, idols and icons”.

The event will take place at Leeds College of Music and tickets are priced at £12 and £10 for concessions. For more information and to purchase tickets, see Gay Abandon’s ‘Forthcoming Events’ page.

Gender, sexuality and young people: After No Outsiders

The university of York are to host an interdisciplinary conference of the British Educational Research Association ‘Sexualities’ special interest group on Tuesday 9 December. The conference is aimed at early career researchers. The deadline for submissions of abstracts is Friday 7 November. For more information, see their event page.