By Mabel Wellman.
The first of February marked the beginning of LGBT History Month 2026.
This year, the theme for LGBT History Month is “Science & Innovation” to celebrate and recognise queer people who have contributed massively to society in the past, and who still continue to make worthwhile contributions to today.
People in the LGBT community have revolutionised people’s lives for the better.
We have all heard of Alan Turing, the genius who helped to decipher the Enigma code and help defeat the Nazis in World Way Two, only to be horrifically imprisoned and castrated when people discovered he was gay. There are many other great examples of queer people in the past and present who have enriched our lives.
Another massive example is Lynn Conway (mentioned here), a transgender computer scientist who helped with numerous software and microchip innovations to help computers operate – without her work you would not have a personal computer or phone to read this article on! And yet, due to both being a woman and a transgender person, her achievements are not celebrated nearly as much as they should be.
The official organisers of LGBT History Month have produced free resources on their website, as well as naming five LGBT figures which you can read about to learn more here. The University Of Southampton have also released a bulletin about LGBT History Month, including what’s on for students, which you can read here.
LGBT History Month is a great time for the queer community and our allies to learn more about our past, to be inspired to work towards our collective future.
We are, unfortunately, right now in a huge moment of queer history. We are seeing the rollback of EDI initiatives in the UK and USA especially. Trans people are facing an existential threat in public life in the UK since the Supreme Court ruling of a legal definition of a woman in 2025 (read more here) which has lead to court cases around trans people being allowed to use bathrooms and changing facilities in the workplace and businesses.
But I do have hope we can band together, and find inspiration in the challenges we overcame in the past, to help us fight like hell in the present.
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