For the final blog in his LGBT History Month series, Miles sat down and chatted with Tessa Havers-Strong, Director of Forum+. Forum+ is is an independent charity working to promote equality and improve the lives of LGBT+ people in Camden and Islington

How would you describe forum+ and the role it plays in supporting Islington’s and Camden’s LGBTQ+ community?

forum+ is a small independent charity working to improve the lives of LGBT people in Camden and Islington. Our charity’s mission is to support LGBT people to feel visible, confident and to have a stake in their local community. forum+ was founded in Camden in 2002. It was mainly set up to support victims of hate crime in Camden and founders believed they “could change minds and really keep people safe” 

forum+ runs a wide range of activities throughout the year — what are some of the events or programmes you’re most proud of?

At forum+ we love connecting with nature and engaging in the outdoors. We garden together near King’s Cross, kayak on the Regents Canal and gently exercise on our wellbeing walks and exploration of the great green spaces across our local area. It’s always exciting creating new activities and events, and we enjoy regular groups like Cooking With Pride at St Luke’s and Rainbow Paddlers at the Pirate Castle in Camden.

Our biggest project and busiest time of the year is each February when we curate and deliver the programme for Camden & Islington LGBT History Month. It’s always an amazing time of community engagement and we’re very proud to produce and present the official local festivities. Highlights from this year have included a brilliant Polari Workshop at St. Luke’s Community Centre led by Dan de la Motte, and a queer Zine workshop with Sassify Zine!  

How do you decide which activities to develop or introduce? Are these shaped by community feedback, emerging needs, or creative experimentation?

We continue to provide support services to LGBT victims of hate crime and discrimination, with our community engagement programme of social support groups now our busiest area of work. We invite and collect feedback after every group and carefully consider responses when developing future opportunities for the community to connect.  

In planning our current programme forum+ has been mindful of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, which increases risk of social isolation. Not being able to afford to interact in the community entrenches loneliness and perpetuates already existing inequality. All of forum+ social support groups are free to join and may be accessed on a one off or regular basis. 

Who is your personal hero from LGBTQ+ history, and why does their story resonate so strongly with you?

When I think of personal LGBT heroes I’m most inspired by the people I’ve met in Islington and Camden since 2007, through my role at forum+. There have been so many inspiring engagements over the years with so called ‘ordinary’ people living extraordinary lives. We have so many heroes right here on our doorstep in Islington and Camden! 

What does LGBTQ+ History Month mean to you personally, and to forum+ as an organisation?

I’ve been with the charity since 2007, and we curated our first official programme for LGBT History Month that year. The first programme to fully incorporate Islington was in 2011. Each year it’s truly inspiring to observe the social connections being built and people coming together to engage with our culture and heritage. As a small charity we’re extremely proud to curate the programme and to support a true community effort. At forum+ we pride ourselves in having a deep knowledge of our local area and we’re delighted to be able to spotlight the amazing contributions of Islington and Camden to LGBT History in the UK and worldwide. 

If you could shape future LGBTQ+ History Months in any way, what themes or approaches would you love to see explored?

If I could shape the themes of LGBT History Month I would emphasise the importance of continuing to see it as an opportunity to educate as well as celebrate. It’s wonderful that we now have two months spotlighting our community in LGBT History Month and Pride Month. I think the former should continue to focus on education, and deepening people’s understanding of LGBT history and the challenges that remain today. 

For people who want to learn more about queer history but don’t know where to start, what would your advice be?

A great place to start would be an exploration of the Islington’s Pride Heritage Trail and online archive. There are over 150 points of LGBT interest that have been spotlighted throughout the borough of Islington. The website is a great opportunity to learn about local history through entries, images and oral histories. 

Queer Britain Museum based in King’s Cross is an amazing place to visit and learn about queer lives and history. It’s the UK’s first and only permanent LGBT museum and there are fantastic events to join alongside the wonderful permanent and changing exhibitions. forum+ has delighted in our visits there and it’s so wonderful to have such a significant national LGBT space in our local area.