A Trip to the Zoo

This month my science subject is zoology. However, it will not cover human biology as I’ve covered aspects of this in other months. Putting it simply, November is my month of animals. I cover plants a lot already in my Flower Power series so I won’t be covering them this month.

November contains two remembrance days – the Remembrance Day in honour of victims of war, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance. In the absence of a single international Transgender Pride Day I’m using November to celebrate the trans community.

To start the trans celebration it seems the perfect time to mention a new exhibition that opened recently in Liverpool. “April Ashley: Portrait of a Lady” is the first major exhibition in the UK to centre on an individual transgender person. April Ashley is well-known in the UK as was one of the country’s first transgender people to become famous. The year-long exhibition is housed at the Museum of Liverpool and runs until September 2014.

There are a number of good trans websites to visit. My personal favourite is this site created by Dr. Lynn Conway. The site covers every aspect of transgender life, from the legal aspects, social issues and advice to lists of successful transgender people.

November also sees the pre-launch of next year’s UK LGBT History Month. The theme for 2014 is music. This was chosen to commemorate this centenary year of the British composer Benjamin Britten. His centenary takes place on 22^nd November but the pre-launch event in Birmingham takes place on the 28^th. I’ll be producing an article for both days. Music will also be my major theme for 2014 as well, and I’ll say a bit more about that later in the month.

Another preview article will appear on 11^th November, Armistice Day. 2014 will see the centenary of the start of World War I and the 75^th anniversary of the start of World War II. Next year I hope to post articles on lgbt war heroes (including those who survived the wars) on the 11^th day of each month.

I’ll leave you with these teasers of what is to come in November :

We’ll meet some bears;

Dig up a trans mineral;

Look at a leopard’s spots;

And meet the real Batman.