Archive for the LGBTQ+ Category

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Como si fuera esta noche la última vez

Posted in Barcelona, LGBTQ+ with tags , , on June 29, 2024 by telescoper

This afternoon, it being my last full day here, I decided to make a farewell tour of Barcelona. I shall miss this place, as the streets have become quite familiar. Two things I won’t miss are the crowds of tourists in some quarters and the heat – it was 28° C at 6pm.

La Rambla (S)
La Rambla (N)

Anyway, my walk included a last ramble up La Rambla from the old harbour towards my flat. I thought it looked unusually quiet when I started, but then realized there was a big crowd at the top end (where it joins Plaça de Catalunya). Pride month in Barcelona started yesterday (28th June, LGBT Pride Day, the anniversary of the start of the Stonewall Riots) and goes on for about a month. This demonstration was a kind of counter to the “official” Barcelona Pride events, a protest against excessive commercialization, pinkwashing, homophobic and transphobic violence, among other things. Pride is, and should be, a protest.

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A Time Out in Cosmology

Posted in Biographical, LGBTQ+, Talks and Reviews, The Universe and Stuff with tags , on June 26, 2024 by telescoper

Regular readers of this blog – both of them – may recall that earlier this month I gave the inaugural Pride Lecture in the Physics Department at Oxford University. That lecture was given in person but also  streamed via Zoom. This is just an update to let you know that a recording of that stream is now available here should you wish to view it:

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Bloomsday Barcelona

Posted in Barcelona, LGBTQ+, Literature with tags , , , , , , on June 16, 2024 by telescoper

So it’s June 16th which means it is Bloomsday. I looked around for ways to celebrate this day in Barcelona and found that there is a Irish bar on La Rambla called Bloomsday. When I went there, though, I was disappointed to find it not only closed, but apparently abandoned:

Barcelona gets a mention – just one – in James Joyce’s Ulysses:

Noon slumbers. Kevin Egan rolls gunpowder cigarettes through fingers smeared with printer’s ink, sipping his green fairy as Patrice his white. About us gobblers fork spiced beans down their gullets. Un demi sétier! A jet of coffee steam from the burnished caldron. She serves me at his beck. Il est irlandais. Hollandais? Non fromage. Deux irlandais, nous, Irlande, vous savez ah, oui! She thought you wanted a cheese hollandais. Your postprandial, do you know that word? Postprandial. There was a fellow I knew once in Barcelona, queer fellow, used to call it his postprandial. Well: slainte! 

I can confirm that there is no shortage of queer fellows here, but I’ll have to have my lunch before I can have a postprandial but slainte! to you too.

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That was the Pride Lecture that was…

Posted in Biographical, LGBTQ+ with tags , , , , on June 5, 2024 by telescoper

I gave my talk yesterday as planned. I think it went quite well, although it did involve a few things I’ve never spoken about in public before, so it wasn’t exactly an easy talk to give. I guess about 60 or 70 people attended, mostly from Astrophysics. There was then a drinks reception and then I adjourned with organizer Jake Taylor and a couple of others to the King’s Arms for a few beers and a bite to eat.

I was a little bit worried ahead of the talk because I came down with some sort of bug over the weekend which gave me a sore throat and a bad cough. Fortunately, though, that passed quickly and I got through the lecture OK although I probably sounded a little hoarse.

Anyway, a big thank you to everyone in the Department who helped organize this event, and who looked after me so nicely before and after!

Some pictures were taken. Here is a selection:

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A Day Out in Oxford

Posted in Biographical, LGBTQ+ with tags , , , on June 4, 2024 by telescoper
Radcliffe Camera and Protest
Not Sure
Bodleian Library
All Souls

So here I am, among the dreaming spires of Oxford, although I’m not sure whether they are actually dreaming or just asleep. I had a short walk around before heading to the Physics Department this morning to put the finishing touches to my talk for this afternoon. It was nice to see the Pride Progress flags flying over Lincoln College on the way.

Site icon
A Day Out in Oxford

I haven’t had the opportunity to spend much time in Oxford so I’m looking forward to having a look around over the next day or two.

P.S. It’s my birthday today…

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Pride Lecture in Oxford

Posted in Biographical, LGBTQ+ with tags , , , on June 3, 2024 by telescoper

While en route to Oxford I thought I’d do a quick post about the purpose of my visit there, namely to give the inaugural Pride Lecture at the Department of Physics. I’m looking forward to it, and spending a couple of days as a guest of All Souls College. Here’s the promo for the lecture:

This is a public event. I’ve no idea how many people will be there, but I’ll find out tomorrow I suppose!

Let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy Pride Month (which started on Saturday). With its origins as a commemoration of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, Pride remains both a celebration and protest. It’s more necessary than ever now, especially because of the sustained abuse being aimed at trans people from all quarters, from those in political power to those sad losers who have nothing better to do that spend all day tweeting their bigotry on social media.

Anyway, as well as a celebration and a protest, Pride is an opportunity for us all to show solidarity against those who seek to divide us.

Though many LGBTQIA+ people in many countries – even those that claim to be more liberal – still face discrimination, hostility and violence, Pride Month always reminds me of how far we’ve come in the past 50 years ago. As I get older, I find I have become more and more protective towards younger LGBTQIA+ people. I don’t want them to have to put up with the crap that I did when I was their age.

Here’s a picture of the Pride Progress flag I took outside the John Hume Building at Maynooth a couple of years ago. I hope it’s there again this year, although I won’t be in Maynooth to see it!

Update: arrived in All Souls College…

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Bullying and Harassment in Astronomy – The Report

Posted in Harassment Bullying etc, LGBTQ+ with tags , , , , , on May 19, 2024 by telescoper

As I advertised a few days ago, The Royal Astronomical Society has now released its report on Bullying and Harassment in Astronomy. You can download the full report (40 pages, PDF) here. I recommend you to read it as the statistics are stark. Here are a couple of graphical summaries from the RAS Website:

Note the greater prevalence of bullying and harassment directed towards LGBT astronomers.

The recommendations include the introduction of more effective bullying and harassment policies, procedures and safeguards to protect all colleagues, to support students, and to ensure that everyone can achieve their potential and work in a safe and satisfying environment, regardless of their background.

Noble sentiments, but the Royal Astronomical Society can do little itself to change policies, as it is not in the position of employer (except for its own staff in Burlington House) and there is no incentive for the universities and research institutions who employ most astronomers to comply. That will only happen if serious sanctions are imposed for mishandling bullying and harassment cases.

My view – born out by experience – is that it can’t be left to individual institutions to deal with this problem. In case after case, instead of dealing properly with bullying and harassment, senior managers have protected the perpetrators and silenced the victims. Reputation management, they call it. What is needed to start with is a system of independent adjudication, as recommended, for example, by the 21 Group.

This problem is neither confined to astronomy nor to the United Kingdom, and at least part of it is due to the ever-increasing cult of managerialism that places institutional branding ahead of positive workplace culture, paying at most lip-service to the latter.

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International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

Posted in LGBTQ+ with tags on May 17, 2024 by telescoper

I just remembered that today is May 17th which means that it is International Day Against Homophobia Transphobia and Biphobia, This is a worldwide celebration of sexual and gender diversities and a chance to show solidarity against bigotry and intolerance (and there’s a lot of both of those about these days).

The theme for this year is No one left behind: equality, freedom and justice for all:

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Weather Conditions

Posted in Biographical, LGBTQ+, Maynooth with tags , , , , on March 2, 2024 by telescoper

This is my last full day in Sydney and – by sheer coincidence – it happens to be Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras! I will probably go out later to watch some of the fun, although it seems it’s very likely to rain on the Parade; it’s very overcast this morning, although the temperature is still 24°C.

Talking of the weather, I noticed on social media that yesterday it snowed in Maynooth (and elsewhere in Ireland). The contrast with what I’ve been experiencing in Sydney will be rather extreme:

St Patrick’s House, Maynooth
St Sydney’s Opera House

I was a bit concerned that the snow might cause problems with my return flight and/or onward transport, but I’m told that it was soon washed away by rain.

I’ll only be making a brief stop in Maynooth before travelling to (different) warmer climes, of which more in due course.

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Asbestos in the Park

Posted in Biographical, LGBTQ+ with tags , , , on February 15, 2024 by telescoper

Time, I think, a bit of local news. There’s an ongoing asbestos crisis not only in Sydney but across all New South Wales. It seems that the mulch that has been used in many public parks, school grounds and even a hospital garden is contaminated with asbestos. One affected site is Victoria Park, which I walk through from my flat to the University. At least the park is still open, so you can walk on the paths and sit on the lawns, but all areas with mulch are fenced off:

As it happens, Victoria Park was to be used for one of the events planned for Sydney Mardi Gras, which starts today*, but that particular event has been cancelled though many others are unaffected.

The contaminated mulch at all the sites affected was supplied by the same company, Greenlife Resource Recovery. I hope they have to foot the bill for clearing it all up!

*It is, of course, a complete coincidence that this LGBT festival coincides with my stay in Sydney…

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