Sebastian, LSBU’s E&D representative gave us a run through on the different types of binary, getting a lot of responses from the audience on what they thought they were, as well as different speakers sharing their experiences of growing up LGBTQ+, and there were some really heartfelt stories that resonated with the crowd.

Past Lambeth student and LGBTQ+ rights campaigner Charlie recently ran for Eltham in the general election and is currently in the running for the Greater London Authority, as well as working as a coordinator for the London Ambulance Service, but the journey hasn’t been an easy one. Although Charlie was born female, Charlie now does not identify with being female or male and the motivation for recent campaigning is to make others’ journeys easier. ‘The reason I do a lot of what I do is because we need people from diverse backgrounds to have their stories heard and that’s how you get your voice heard, by speaking up. If you don’t say anything, nobody can listen to what you’ve got to say and the same goes for all of you. All of you have stories that are unique to mine.’

We were also given a brief history into LGBTQ+ history and although so much has been overcome in the past 50 years, there’s still some way to go and it was reassuring to see so many people in attendance, supporting this event.

We’d like to give a special shout out to our very own Student Union that made this all possible and it was good to see the positivity that this event generated as well as all the awareness and education around it.