The Michael Dillon LGBT+ Lectures: LGBT Rights in a Time of Pandemic

The University of Oxford is proud to announce a flagship new lecture series, The Michael Dillon LGBT+ Lectures. Named after the Oxford alumnus and trans rights campaigner Michael Dillon, the lecture series will help to shape the national and international conversation about LGBT+ issues and will be at the centre of the University of Oxford’s ongoing commitment to its LGBT+ community. Held twice a year, lectures will be given by LGBT+ individuals from professions other than academia who have reached a position of outstanding achievement in their particular field.

The Michael Dillon LGBT+ Lectures will be held at St Anne’s College, which is proud to host the lectures in tribute to the courage and determination of its first alumnus. The University of Oxford hopes to inaugurate the lectures as soon as large in-person gatherings are possible again, and will announce its first Michael Dillon Lecturers in due course.

The lecture series is organised with Frontline AIDS, a charitable organisation that has been on the frontline of the international response to HIV/AIDS for over twenty years. Their Rapid Response Fund, established in collaboration with the Elton John AIDS Foundation, provides life-saving support for LGBT+ people wherever they are most marginalised around the world. More information about Frontline AIDS is available at https://frontlineaids.org

To mark the creation of this landmark lecture series, the University of Oxford will be hosting an online launch event titled ‘LGBT Rights in a Time of Pandemic’ on Wednesday 18th November at 17:30 GMT. A distinguished panel of guests including:

• Lord Smith of Finsbury, the first openly gay MP and Cabinet minister;
• Justice Edwin Cameron, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa hailed by Nelson Mandela as “one of South Africa’s new heroes”;
• Zing Tsjeng, executive editor of Vice UK, BBC Sounds host, and author of ‘The Forgotten Women’ book series;
• CN Lester, classical singer, curator, and author of ‘trans like me’;
• Jonathan Cooper OBE, human rights and international law barrister;
• Juno Roche, writer and trans rights campaigner

will discuss the formation of The Michael Dillon LGBT+ Lectures, Michael Dillon’s life and legacy, and the status of LGBT+ rights in this time of pandemic. Introduced by the University of Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor Louise Richardson and the Principal of St Anne’s College Helen King, and chaired by the BBC’s LGBT correspondent Ben Hunte, the launch event will be free and open to all. Donations to Frontline AIDS are encouraged.