Our Life - The Long and Short of It. A celebration of intergenerational LGBT+ women and non-binary people
In celebration of LGBT+ History Month, Sappho Events is hosting an intergenerational panel event to explore LGBT+ queer women and non-binary people's history in London, with a particular focus on queer Hackney residents.
The theme for 2023 LGBT+ History Month is ‘Behind the Lens’ and our panelists will uncover the incredible strength of our community, and the rights they've fought to keep and establish, as well as examine the visionary ideas that the young generation of queer women and non-binary people are championing within Hackney to offer great hope for our future.
Panelists include queer women and non-binary leaders from their 20s to 70s, chaired by Sappho Events CEO, Maryann Wright. Panelists include:
Professor Emeritus Sue Sanders, co-founder of LGBT+ History Month, co-chair of Schools OUT
Trudy Howson, LGBT Poet Laureate
Laila El-Metoui, 2020 Stonewall Lesbian Role Model and founder of Pride in Education
Andreena Leeanne, Poet and founder of LGBT Open Mic Night
Don One, Actor and Drag King
The panel will be followed by an interactive LGBT+ history quiz, led by Laila El-Metoui, where attendees can team up and get chatting with each other to make some new queer friends after the talk!
We'd like to thank Hackney Council for their generous grant that has funded this event.
Date: Tuesday 21 February, 7-9pm
Venue: Homerton Library (Homerton High St, London E9 6AS)
Cost: Free
Booking: Please book to reserve your seat
Professor Emeritus Sue Sanders (she/her) of the Harvey Milk Institute, is an “out and proud” lesbian. She is co-chair of Schools OUT, an education charity founded in 1974 whose aim is to educate out prejudice, making schools safe and inclusive for everyone. As co-chair with Paul Patrick they founded LGBT+ History Month, celebrated every February across the UK. This opened a world of queer history to schools, educational settings and the wider community. Sue has spread the concept of LGBT+ History Month internationally helping organisations form LGBT+ History Months in Europe.
Schools OUT provide free lesson plans for teachers that ‘Usualise’ the lives of LGBT+ people in their full diversity. Sue coined the term ‘Usualise’ to use instead of normalise. She came up with the idea creating a website called ‘The Classroom’ where these lesson plans and resources could be downloaded for free, and the concept of Usualising could be shared. The Schools OUT team developed the resources and launched the website in 2007.
She has worked with the Criminal Justice System extensively as a member of several independent advisory groups and she helped set up the first LGBT+ Independent advisory group to the MET. In addition, she delivered extensive training to the police and CPS after the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.
Sue appears in Who's Who, has won many awards for her work in the UK and abroad including most recently a Golden Tupalik award from the International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network.
Laïla El-Métoui (she/her) is an award winning Equity Educator with over 30 years experience in Education and Inclusion in the public and private sector.
Laïla is passionate about social justice and is the Founder of Pride in Education, Educating Out Racism.
In 2018, she founded and chairs Proud London Councils, the pan London LGBTQ+ Staff network for local authorities in the British capital.
In 2021, she also founded and co-chairs UK Queer Arabs.
Honoured as Stonewall Lesbian Role Model of the Year (2020) and named on the Guardian Pride Power List 2021, Laila’s impact on the LGBTIQA+ community and beyond has been influential.
Trudy Howson (she/her) is the UK’s current inaugural LGBT Poet Laureate. Her poetry celebrates her community and expresses their needs, whilst encouraging an open hearted discourse on issues concerning Equality, Diversity and Gender.
In 2012 she wrote a socially interactive poem “Going for Gold” for the London Olympics, which the BBC filmed & used as a trailer in the run up to the Games.
Her poetry, is employed by Amnesty International, Stonewall, The Peter Tatchell Foundation, Hate Crime UK, and local councils, to promote their Campaigns and change hearts, minds and laws, in the UK and Globally.
Commission work includes: Advert for Small Charities UK “Giving Gives Back,” Royal Shakespeare Trust, Pearsons “Pride in Education,” Imperial College Hospital Trust.
Trudy regularly performs on SKY TV, the BBC and independent TV and Radio stations. She is featured in “The Gateways Grind” a film about a secret Lesbian Club.
She has written the theme poems for London and many UK Prides, performed at Latitude, GFest, and LFest, and works regularly in clubs, pubs, conferences…on buses, boats and fields all over the UK Europe and SE Asia.
Trudy’s poetry has been archived for posterity by the British Library.
twitter: @lgbtpoetlaureat
Andreena Leeanne (she/her) 41, is a Black Lesbian Lived Experience Speaker, Writing Workshop Facilitator & Poet who helps organisations with their inclusion and wellbeing strategy by speaking about intersectionality, authenticity, allyship and facilitating writing workshops on self-care.
During the structured workshops the participants are encouraged to explore what self-care means to them and find strategies to avoid burnout and increase productivity.
Andreena writes and performs poetry to come to terms with and speak out about her personal experiences with homelessness, mental health, identity, childhood sexual abuse & the many other challenges she has faced in her life.
Her debut poetry collection CHARRED was published by Team Angelica in 2020 and was shortlisted for a Polari First Book Prize in 2021.
In January 2015 Andreena founded Poetry LGBT Open Mic Night which is a warm and welcoming space for the LGBTQ+ community to come together to share their experiences & creativity through poetry and spoken word both virtually and in-person. Follow @PoetryLGBT on all the socials.
In 2018 Andreena was one of Stonewall’s Black History Month role models and was shortlisted for a Positive LGBT Role Model National Diversity Award in 2020.
In 2021 Andreena became a trustee of a charity called Action Breaks Silence whose mission is to end violence against women and girls.
Andreena is a member of the Professional Speaking Association and the Royal Society of Arts.
Follow Andreena on Instagram @Andreena.Leeanne.Speaker and LinkedIn Andreena Leeanne
Don One (they/them), Actor and Drag King living in Hackney, London
Maryann Wright (she/her) founded Sappho Events in 2020, and passionately runs the company to create more opportunities and visibility for LGBTQ+ women and non-binary people in the UK, and hopefully one day the world.
She was nominated for Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2022 Diva Awards for her work at Sappho Events.
Her background is in PR and communications for the entertainment and charity sector, and she also enjoys careers as a singer/actor and producer in the performing arts.
Originally from Australia, Maryann co-founded Women in Theatre and Screen, Australia in 2014, campaigning for gender equality in theatre, film and television. She produced all-women theatre festivals and think tank events tackling systemic concerns about the representation of women in the entertainment industry. She was nominated for the 2017 Australian Women in Leadership Award for her work with WITS.
A proud LGBTQ+ cis-woman, she led the creative ‘This Is Me’ visibility campaign as part of Lesbian Visibility Week 2020, working alongside Diva Magazine and InterMediaUK. She is also an LGBTQ+ ambassador for Inclusive Minds, consulting on LGBTQ+ representation in children’s literature.