Hospital hosts event for LGBT history month

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is hosting a free event for LGBT History Month from 6.30pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday 27th February in the hospital’s Gooch Lecture Theatre.

The event is called ‘An Evening with Amazing People’ featuring the ‘Sing with Pride’ choir and keynote speaker Claire Harvey – Paralympian, Seated Volleyball Captain and the Head of Corporate Responsibility for the Financial Services Authority. A local community film maker Shelly Telly will also be showing a film called 'Evolving' made with the Evolve youth group.

Claire suffered a spinal chord injury in February 2008, leaving her partially paralysed. Prior to that Claire was a keen sports woman and played rugby to elite level during the 1990s for Scotland. In July 2009 she took part in a paralympic ‘talent identification day’ and after that, started playing sitting volleyball.

Claire says: ““It’s a perfect fit for me. I wanted a fast, physical team sport which wasn’t using a wheelchair; I wanted sport to be the place I could forget about my injury”.

In November 2009 Claire was invited to join the GB women’s training squad. She has since competed in the World Championships, Euro-championships and a number of international events. A core squad member, she is one of the two setters in the team; a specialist role and the ‘playmaker’. She was selected to captain of the 2012 Paralympic team. In 2012, it was the first time the GB team has ever entered a sitting volleyball team into the Paralympics and the team achieved 8th place.

Claire is an openly gay woman. She actively takes on the ambassadorial role in the LGBT community and within youth sports forums, encouraging people to follow their dreams. She is a patron for the government Anti-Homphobia in sports charter, a patron for the 2018 Gay Games bid and a patron and role model speaker for Diversity Role Models; a charity that talks openly about being gay to school children.

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital has just completed a year’s work with Stonewall the lesbian, gay and bisexual equality charity to make improvements to services for LGBT patients.

It is the first time the hospital has hosted an event for LGBT history month and it will be followed by events for IDAHO Day in May and Norwich Pride in July.