LGBTQ&A

LGBTQ&A is a hybrid event, with an in-person panel and online anonymous attendee format. Staff and students from each institution (Lancaster University and the University of Cumbria) were invited to join the panel in-person by attending the live event hosted at Lancaster University.

Attendees are invited to ask any questions or share any thoughts in advance that relate to the theme, which updates annually. Asking questions ahead of the event gives the panel an opportunity to prepare full responses and find any appropriate resources or links.

The panel will be composed of three representatives from each institution and a panel moderator with lived/professional experience specific to this theme. Our panellists pledge to provide an inclusive and safe environment in which they recognise their differences as their strengths, seeking and valuing different perspectives and ideas, in an environment that was without prejudice and bias

We ask all participants to understand and accept panellists are not there to provide “right” answers and all answers provided during this event are opinions derived from personal or professional LGBTQ+ experience and knowledge.

In 2021, representatives from Lancaster University attended the University of Cumbria's online collaborative panel discussion honouring LGBTQ+ History Month, 'A Life Worth Living'. The event discussed LGBTQ+ inclusion across North West and included a successful question and answer (Q&A) section of the event. Watch the full event.

Following positive feedback on the Q&A section of the event, Lancaster University and the University of Cumbria's Equality Diversity and Inclusion Teams worked together to create LGBTQ&A as a safe space to ask questions in an anonymous format on policy, support and LGBTQ+ community questions to a cross-institutional collaborative panel. The event was well received by both staff and students as a constructive space to ask questions without fear of judgement or discrimination on LGBTQ+ topics. Watch the full event

The format of LGBTQ&A expanded in 2023 to a hybrid in-person panel and online anonymous attendees format to invite representatives from each institution (Lancaster University and the University of Cumbria) and their respective LGBTQ networks as well as representatives from local schools, colleges and LGBT+ support groups and organisations to join the panel in-person by attending the live event hosted at Lancaster University. The event focused around the theme of LGBTQ+ Allyship, Parents and Carers in which the panel answered anonymously submitted questions about the respective University’s resources, policies and support for LGBTQ allies, parents and carers as well as sharing local, national and partner organisations and national resources and guidance. Listen to the full event.

LGBTQ&A focused on LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing, in line with the theme of 'medicine' for LGBT History Month. The hybrid event was live and accessible online to the public, while the panel and members of the Lancaster and Cumbria LGBTQ+ network’s were invited to join in person. A safe space  was provided for panel members to answer questions and share their experiences and thoughts on LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing in the North West. The full webinar can be accessed at LGBTQ&A 2024: Health and Wellbeing - Full Event (youtube.com)