Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. This is the trial's annual an annual LGBT History Month lecture organised by
the university's LGBT Plus Advisory Group and the Equality of Diversity Unit.
And it's the sixth lecture that I have had the great privilege to introduce.
So I'm delighted to be here for the sixth year in a row. And before I begin,
I do just want to express a word of deep appreciation to Clara and to the other members of the
Rosary Group and indeed the LGBT plus staff network for all the work they do throughout the year.
They have slowed down because of the pandemic. They have managed to keep our spirits up and keep us meeting.
They've organised micro talks for the virtual Oxford Pride last year.
And also, I think, conscious of the increased isolation caused by Christmas,
they organised a rota for those alone in the LGBT plus community so that they could chat to one another week at chapel,
another over the holiday period. And really, this has been a very difficult year for so many of us.
And it takes a real commitment to generosity, of spirit, of our LGBT leadership to make it easier for all of us.
So a warm thanks to them. Last term, the university launched a fabulous flagship new lecture series, the Michael Jordan LGBT Plus Lectures.
Michael Dunham was a fascinating person and I hadn't known anything about him until the launch of this series.
He's not an Oxford alumnus, a trans right campaigner.
And in keeping with tonight's theme, a growing blue. The lectures will be held twice a year and like our two speakers, will be given by as PBT,
plus individuals from professions other than academia who have reached a position of outstanding achievement in their particular field.
And not tonight. We're particularly privileged to have not one, but two speakers.
The first is Michael Gunning. Michael is an internationally competitive swimmer.
Having attended to feed the World Swimming Championships, he holds both Jamaican and British citizenship and is the current Jamaican national
record holder for the 200 metre butterfly and the 200 and 400 metre freestyle events.
Michael won the Pride Award at the Attitude Pride Awards twenty nineteen for his efforts and visualising LGBT sport around the globe,
and recently was named as a Pride House ambassador for the Birmingham 20 22 Commonwealth Games.
He's currently training to represent Team Jamaica in Tokyo at the summer.
So very best of luck. Michael. Our other speaker is Kevin Humphries.
Green is an international sprinter,
a coach and founder of Pathway to fit an initiative to make it easier to build fitness and well-being into a balanced lifestyle.
How we evolved needed that this past year. Green won a silver medal in the 100 metres relay at the under 21 European Championships.
Under the hundred metres is a British university gold medallist, World University Games finalist and Commonwealth Games semi-finalist.
Corinne came out as a lesbian at 25 and found it had a positive impact on her career.
She recently said, and I quote, Being my authentic self made it easier to identify and build strong relationships with the people around me.
From coaches and support staff to training partners and competitors.
It was only then that I realised what the power of inclusively and allies ship can do for everyone in sport.
Sport, as we know, can play such an important part in nourishing our well-being, which is why is it so important,
as Karim points out, that it be intrusive and that everyone feels they can take part?
We've been working on this at Oxford and we have made a number of initiatives recently.
We have inclusion officers added to the Oxford Sports Federation Executive Committee.
The officers will look to improve the diversity of sports programmes with a particular emphasis on Baim, LGBTQ and students with a disability.
And sports societies at Oxford, including the Swimming Club and Athletics Club,
have taken the LGBTQ in sports pledge to support LGBTQ plus people in sport while participating in sport.
As we know, it's been difficult over the past year.
Our sports department continue to keep US motivators with active anywhere running livestream fitness classes for staff,
students and the local community to keep us active from home.
And I hope some of you are better than I am at attending those.
So with that, let me again welcome you all. Thank you for joining us.
And turn it over to Karen. Over to Karen. Thank you very much, Louise.
Thank you very much for everyone. US coming tonight and celebrating LGBT History Month.
It really means a lot to see the continued support that just society is giving to the LGBT community in this day and age.
And thank you to Oxford University for having me to speak.
It really is a huge honour to be able to talk to you all today.
I wanted to just kind of share some of my experiences around how I've navigated my way through the track and field world.
As a gay woman and some of the challenges and triumphs that I've had along the way,
I started athletics quite late, considering when a lot of teenagers enter into sport.
I was 16. Normally in the track and field was you're about twelve thirteen.
So I entered the sport at a time in my life when I was really battling with embracing my sexuality.
I wasn't out to anyone at this time. None of my friends were openly out.
I wasn't immersed in any kind of LGBT setting.
So it was really challenging for me to go into a completely new social setting as a teenager where,
again, there was no established LGBT kind of community.
And as we all know, when you're 16 and 17, the rage about town is who fancies who and who's going out with who.
And in those settings, that just wasn't a conversation I could honestly participate in.
So I always found myself shying away from from the social element of sport and again, at that age.
A lot of sport is about the social element of it and less kind of about competing at times.
So between the ages of 17 and 20,
I saw that I really excluded myself completely from competition and where I would train and keep fit with athletic style training, if you will.
I was never one to really put myself forward to compete.
And it just brought a lot of anxiety that I didn't think having a talent at a sport would bring.
You know, you go into sports wanting to be embraced and celebrated for your talent.
But I found myself excluding myself because I just didn't find my place within that setting.
So I completely distance myself in that way.
And I actually found a liking in music.
Around this time.
So I still wasn't out to my family, but I used to play the guitar and that was sort of my way of just kind of bringing peace to myself.
And I really enjoyed it. And just along this journey, I found the power to come out to the closest people to me, my friends and family.
And and it was actually my brother that introduced me to an artist at this time.
And I started to play with an all female band. And in this band, I think half of us or the majority of us were actually gay.
And it was only at this time of 1920 that I really sort of found myself.
And it was almost like a sense of becoming that I had just found a community that I felt like I belonged in.
And because we were performing around London and we even got the opportunity to open up quite
well-known artists at the Jazz Café being celebrated for my talent being sort of like an LGBT setting.
That is what I longed for, for for for for my entire life, to be honest, because I was never outspoken.
So I was really happy to feel so embraced for having a talent and for being gay.
So because I had made some really good friends then, I was being supported by my close friends and family.
I felt a lot more power to go back into the world of sport. So what about the age of 21, I started to compete again on the circuit.
This was under twenty threes. And this is actually when I made it onto the team and competed in the four by 100 metre relay and got the silver medal.
And even just in my experience, me having the added layer of support in my personal life, even I wasn't out in support.
This made the world of difference in how I presented myself on the track.
And at this time, because I did get a silver medal in the national or international level,
I thought to myself that if I want to make in the senior ranks, I really do need to take sport more seriously and kind of put music on the backburner.
So I stopped playing in the band and I committed myself fully to track and field.
But I didn't have that sense of security anymore that I had with my band.
And I remember feeling like, oh, no. I can feel that that sense of anxiety creeping back up again, like what I faced in my earlier career.
And because I had so much personal growth in that time, I had away from the sport.
I kind of realised that I love who I am. And, you know, this is me and this is who I want to present to the world.
So I came out around the age of 23, 24 to my closest friends within the sport.
And it was then when that feeling of freedom and being able to be myself in the music world, I was able to bring that to the track.
And because I had, you know, these these close friendships that I was starting to build and because I had felt I
knew I experienced what it felt like to kind of be my true self outside of life,
I was able to bring that into sport and make more friends, make strong connexions with people and.
Again, my performance to stock, it's a climbing climb,
and I made my way onto the senior national teams and competed against the Olympic champion even in Australia.
And just looking back, I know that if I hadn't found myself and found my place within the sport,
I wouldn't have been able to embrace those experiences that I've had in sport so far.
And, you know, all of us know. And as Louise said at the beginning, just what the power of sport can do for you.
And, you know, I would never have been able to really embrace all of that if I wasn't able to be 100 percent myself.
And I just want to go back, actually, because this is something that's very important and I hope people that listening,
they they if they haven't come out yet, this is just a word of advice is when you are coming out in support.
I didn't make a big deal as such. And the way that I did it is I kind of just started to ease in the pronouns of my partner at the time and, you know,
befriends the machine her because it didn't need to be a big revelation at that point, because I had really accepted who I was.
And I just needed to be out and open for me to create the environment that I needed to thrive in.
So that's just a little titbit I just wanted to add. But yeah, so my performance really did start to climb.
And I and I was the person I am the person now that I want to be in sports. And last year I think it was right at the start of coded.
We have this thing called the athletics pregnant work that exists now.
And I was thinking about this today.
And if I would have had the something like athletics pregnant what in sport, I would have never shown away from being in this environment.
And I really do feel like I probably would have been further along in my career or I just would have had more experiences within the career.
And I probably wouldn't have felt the need to take myself away to find myself, if you will.
So the Athletics Pride Network is an a network for people that are part of the LGBT community and allies.
And it's a place where we can come together, come together to celebrate each other and support one another just in a very open and honest setting.
And I think what's important about this is that it is a community for LGBT community and allies.
And I think there's a lot of power in the support that allies bring.
And again, that's another message that I really want to get across in this talk about how I've been able to navigate myself.
It was only looking to the support of my network that allowed me to really be the person that I was.
And there's a lot of networks popping up in different sports now that I'm so happy to see,
because I know that at a time it was really something that I needed and we didn't have it.
So I don't know. Now we're just in a place where sport is so much further along.
And I think that everyone is going to be able to embrace the power of sport and just
like what STEM or advocate for and me and my filipov sports champions of this.
It's about making sport everyone's game. And I can wholeheartedly say that I feel that we are in a position now just in life to be able to do that.
So. Yeah, just another message to emphasise the point allies tonight,
I know we're celebrating the LGBT History Month, but I think it's very important to bring allies into this.
And I just want you to know that your support matters.
And don't underestimate it. You know, we really need you to be as vocal as the people in the community.
And I'm just so grateful to have the continued support of everyone.
So. That's my talk. I hope. There have been some things that have resonated with some people and it's been a pleasure sharing my experience so far.
Thank you very much. Thank you so much, everyone, for listening tonight and for coming on.
It's a pleasure to be invited on. And also a pleasure to be right on with Corinne.
No. We went to the same university. We obviously saw each other a couple of times in four.
And I remember one memory that you have with Crane was we was in Taipei at the
World University Championships and we was on a boat we want to talk about.
And, you know, on a tour bus, even though he was travelling around and it was so nice because sport brings so
many different communities together and it's so wonderful that we were just sat,
you know, sat next to each other on this on this bus that, you know, which I think talks about, you know, unite, uniting and people coming together.
And that's what LGBT History Month is all about. And I've learnt so much, you know, through last month and all the different things that was going on.
And I think one thing that really touched me was the different podcasts.
I listen to people sharing their story. So it's a pleasure for me to be able to share my story today and hopefully know my story.
People can relate, but also people can kind of be shocked and just understand something from a slightly different perspective.
Now, with my kind of growing up, I used to represent bright person I miss so much.
I used to swim many in the morning and night before, before school, after school.
And I absolutely loved the sport. But I think one thing that was different about me was my race.
No, I didn't say there wasn't really many black people, black swimmers in the water.
And I think I really loved that. I loved that I was doing something different.
I was breaking the stereotypes. And one thing that I definitely didn't talk about that I never really saw was, you know,
the sexuality, my LGBT part of me that I was suppressing deep down inside for many, many years.
And I went to competitions. I was racing against all these bigger boys, the me and I feared that by talking about my sexuality,
by actually telling one person, by even telling my family that I would be kind of downgrading myself.
And, you know, no athlete should ever have to feel like that.
And it's only until looking back now at what I went through and what I suppressed for so many years now,
it makes me realise and make me question where I would be today if I didn't have to suppress myself.
Now, you know, I did love representing Great Britain and I really did.
I travelled the world. But I think one turning point for me was Jamaica have so many different rules,
so many different, you know, criminalisation for homosexuality and many other things.
But one thing, it was in LGBT and sharing the same sex, you know,
walking along on the road and holding hands and kind of just stating that you're in a relationship.
It would kind of put you straight in prison. And I always knew that I could represent both Jamaica and great person.
I don't really have a good career representing great person, but for me, I wanted it stop changing the world one piece at a time.
And I went to our championships and I saw how just buy me surrender in a black
person and me speaking out about the challenges that face the stereotypes.
It was pushed against me, just really kind of made me step back and think that if I done this for Jamaica, I'd be representing Great Britain as well.
At heart. I know that everyone supports me here in the UK, but, you know, I'd be trying to change something for our future.
And so that's kind of the history of why I changed to swim for Jamaica. But one of the biggest things is the representation of being LGBT.
And, you know, especially lacquering said the allies are so, so important and instrumental some.
There was no one when I was younger. I could look up to that. I saw myself in No.
Firstly with my race, but also in sexuality, there was nobody who was talking out about their own experiences.
Now I'm really good friends with Mark Foster, who he's came out, was gay.
Now that he knew when he was in sport, he, you know,
the same as most athletes just didn't talk about it and didn't want the media to see him in that way.
And I think one of the main reasons why I speak out so publicly now is to hopefully
inspire the younger generation to show people that it's okay to be different.
It's okay to be a different body shape than everyone else. It's okay to lack the same gender.
Like I do. And it's okay.
And when I was trained at the London Aquatic Centre and I think a few years ago now, four or five years ago, I was swimming with Tom Daley.
He was diving on the diving boards and I was swimming up and down the pool.
And he was the first person that I could really speak to and just open up to about how I was feeling.
He came out, obviously on YouTube and out in the public eye, and he was the only one in the aquatics.
He was the only person that everyone was talking about. And I was really scared to come out.
I think, you know, I've never tried to pretend to be someone I'm not. I've always been very loud and.
Whenever I'm competing, I'm always smiling and waving. But I think for me it was such a big deal because for me to tell somebody that I am gay.
It just labels you. And I never wanted that on the world stage.
I did. I just wanted people to value me for who I was and to not call me that gay black swimmer.
Like so many people to just to call me a swimmer. And I decided to come out.
I came out just before the Commonwealth Games in 2018. And I came up to our friends and family, my very close friends and family.
But that year was all about the Commonwealth Games. I wanted to compete in the Commonwealth Games.
And unfortunately, I just fell short. And I was hot.
You know, for every athlete that knows, you know, qualifying for teams and, you know,
being at the very top of your score is just, you know, just Luchi that everyone dreams of.
Everyone wants to achieve and to fail that year and to miss that, you know, that competition was absolute heartbreak for me.
And it really brought me back to what I was suppressing deep down kind of my
thoughts and feelings of everyday life and kind of just took away from the pool.
And I decided I actually came out on a TV show.
And the main reason for that is because so many people around poolside, young, you know,
young children from coaches to my team-mates just asked me different questions about,
you know, how I can be myself in sport, how they can tell their parents how to come out.
And, you know, at the time, I had spoken to a close group of people, but I never, never really wanted to put it everywhere,
all across the world, and especially with nowhere in the Jamaica K, I knew that if I said one thing, it would be carried across in press.
And, you know, I didn't want to be excluded from future teams, but if not me, who?
And that is why I kept thinking throughout that whole year and because I knew that I wasn't completion of the Commonwealth Games,
I thought this is my chance to really explore who I who I was.
And me being very suppressed. I have never been on a date before.
I never got myself out there. And it was wonderful to actually just explore that side of me.
You know, I knew the athlete side. I knew that I some men for what it was, but I never knew about what was deep inside.
And it was so nice to have that summer where I was exploring my sexuality, where I was having those open conversations with people.
And I think that's why LGBT History Month is so important,
because they need to let other people's stories and you educate yourself on different stories.
One thing that touched me this last month was it's the same.
I'm not sure if anyone saw it on Channel four,
but I think that's one of the big things I took away because I never knew much about HIV and what people thought of that,
you know, infection in that virus back in the 1980s and really opened my eyes to a whole different perspective.
And I think, you know, that's what US athletes as LGBT athletes are doing now.
We're just trying to educate people that who are in sport, who are allies in school.
And I know there's lots of different networks. There's lots different support places.
You know, the amount of messages I get and I'm sheltering gets to just with people confiding in us speak,
speaking openly and honestly about their experiences and know next year is the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham,
to which I am going to be a pride house ambassador for.
And I think it's so important to know that the places that you go to are going to be a are going to welcome a safe place for LGBT people.
And for me, I've got so many great friends, you know, Adam Peaty,
lots of people in the swimming world and a lot of people who are straight and just by them supporting us,
just by them showing people that they are they are happy to have that conversation
just means so much because you know that you can just be open and honest with them.
And knew he was talking. And I was talking with the staff before about just Oxford.
And there's usually lots of pride, flags, Nigerian pride, and that is amazing.
That is showing people that you are safe and you have a safe place to be open, to be yourself known that you support that.
And I think that's why it's so important that even if you're watching this and thinking,
well, I'm not LGBT, but, you know, I maybe can help where I can,
you 100 percent can help because just by telling that one person that you learn something new or that
you have spoken and you've listened to know this this lecture and you had a different viewpoint,
just allows people to be able to confide in you that little bit more. And I am very proud.
I'm openly gay and I'm representing Jamaica and I'm hoping to change the world one step at a time.
I'm training really hard for Tokyo this summer. And, you know, it's always a pleasure to put on my my my kid, you know,
go into my swim staff and go into the pool, because not only am I representing the LGBT community,
but I worked in Jamaica representing Great Britain, and I'm just representing, you know, that black summer that all the people can look up to as well.
And. Kind of looking back, I wish I didn't have to suppress who I was.
I'm glad I did. I'm glad that I came out when I was ready. I think that's one of my biggest piece of advice to anyone.
Whether you're 40 years old or when your 14 years old, it doesn't matter when.
As long as you start to accept who you are deep down inside, you know,
and you can find in these people that you trust most that your friends and
hopefully the way forward and that you know the things that are coming for us,
we'll be able to speak more openly and honestly about all these amazing things.
So thank you for having me on again today. And we look forward to watching your days and with that.
Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you. Everyone in the audience for joining us.
And it's really important and powerful to hear how both Michael and Kiran, you know, felt that they had to hide who they were.
Maybe it wasn't the place where they could be. It shows the importance of groups and how powerful it is if we can come together and find those
other groups that can support us and buyers up and and your strength and your visibility,
Michael and Kiran, is going to be a huge inspiration for future athletes.
And you cannot underestimate that. And indeed, we're in a world where LGBT rights may be looked like.
In some countries they do. They are going backwards a little bit.
There was a reminder of that in the chat. But having this global stage with both of you on there and being visible and being yourselves
is just it's going to have such a reach up side of athlete athletics outside of the UK.
It's it really is a powerful message you are spending. So thank you so much for that with that.
Thank you, Michael. Thank you, Colonel, for speaking. Thank you to Professor Richardson for opening.
Thank you, Professor Trevathan, for sharing. Very aptly.
Given how many questions there were. Our Q and A thank you to everyone in the audience for listening.
And also a special thanks to both and Caroline Kennedy and Helen Warren for Helen.
Well, for all their effort put in this together and all the emails that they were sending over December,
Christmas and coordinated and do it, all the legwork. So with that.
Thank you, everyone. Have a lovely evening. And and hopefully we will actually meet again at the in 2022 LGBT History Month.
Take care of what I know. Good luck. Michael and Corinne.