Now in its 12th year, National Student Pride returns to London on Saturday, February 25.
Once again it will focus around a daytime festival based at the University of Westminster’s Marylebone campus, with over 1600 LGBT+ students from across the UK taking part in a weekend of festivities from Friday, February 24 to Sunday, February 26.
The evening entertainment will be hosted by the infamous G-A-Y night clubs, culminating with a party at G-A-Y Heaven where performances from the likes of Adele, Lady Gaga and Ellie Goulding continue to set national entertainment headlines.
Last years core theme of Mental Health showed that despite 2017 being the year the UK celebrates the important 50-year milestone since gay sex was decriminalised between consenting men over the age of 21 years – LGBT+ acceptance has far to go.
A host of LGBT+ personalities spoke during the panel debates, including Will Young on his addiction to porn, Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts on the radio industry suppressing sexuality on air and Union J’s Jaymi Hensley on music industry officials insisting coming out would not help their careers.
The discussion showed time and again, a large part of the struggle young people have in coming to terms with their sexual and gender identity, is wrapped up in the British taboo of not talking about sex.
That’s why this year, National Student Pride will put sexual education at the core of the event – this years theme Lets Talk About Sex will blast the cupboard doors open, putting the bedroom front and centre of the discussions.
From love and relationships to the rising levels of HIV, racism in the LGBT+ community and how apps are vastly changing the sexual landscape of a community that has long been seen as one that embraces sexual freedom – along with so much more.
The daytime event will be starting a national conversation about sex. It will be looking towards the Education Secretary Justine Greening, whose office has this month said the time is right “to look again at how schools deliver high-quality personal, social, health and economic education including sex and relationship education”.
In a year that saw the largest mass killing in America at Pulse in Orlando, with reports suggesting that the attack was driven by the toxic shame of his sexuality, National Student Pride want every LGBT+ child to grow up knowing they are truly welcome in society.
They’ll call for sex education to include all narratives, beyond the reproductive to safe same-sex, body image and in a month yet another sex scandal has rocked the national institution of football – National Student Pride look to put consent at the forefront of the conversation.
Chair of National Student Pride Emma Costello, said: “After 50 years since the legalisation of gay sex, it’s time we truly took seriously the power that sex and relationship education has. The government has an opportunity to liberate the young generation it says it champions by lifting the toxic shame barrier thrust upon LGBT+ people who grow up in a world where our rights are protected, but being LGBT+ is still not embraced as something normal which, the life affirming power of the word should not be understated.”
The event starts with an opening night party on Friday 24 featuring drag kings and queens galore, hosted by the fabulous Mary Mac.
Central to the success of the event will be the careers fair during the afternoon of Saturday, February 25, which keeps the daytime event free and is now the largest LGBT+ student Careers Fair in the UK.
Last year, EY, Google, IBM and Clifford Chance took on graduates they interviewed and met at the event.
Already confirmed for this year fair are Ford, Fujitsu, RAF, RBS, Teach First, Ditch the Label and Inter engineering.
To book tickets online, click here:
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