TODAY marks the start of a month celebrating the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender history.

February will see events including arts installations, exhibitions on the history of Bradford’s gay culture, and film screenings.

The month long event begins this morning when a rainbow flag will be raised in Centenary Square.

Bradford based arts group The Brick Box are co-ordinating the events, which include an exhibition at The Brock Box Rooms on Ivegate that looks at the lives of LGBT people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The venue will also host a special sesson of its Talking in Tongues spoken word event on February 7 at 6.30pm and an evening of script-in-hand readings of LGBTQ-relevant shorts plays on February 15 at 7.30pm.

And there will be a Big Gay Disco at the venue on February 24.

The Big Gay Bash, a celebration of LGBTQ+ bands and artists, will be held in the 1 in 12 Club on February 16.

Cartwright Hall in Lister Park will host Art Queries, a ‘queering’ workshop that will discuss and create new interpretations of pieces of art, revealing LGBTQ+ stories and exploring gender, the body, identity and power.

The city’s Picturehouse cinema will be one of the few cinemas in the country to screen A Fantastic Woman, a Chilean drama about a transgender singer, on February 13 at 6.15pm.

Bradford College will host a series of talks, one by well-known gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell who will speak about the Nazi war on homosexuals.

Gallery II, at the University of Bradford, will host two exhibitions later this month. Gideon Mendel’s re renowned 1993 photographic series ‘The Ward’ will be displayed in the gallery from February 19 to 25. The photographs depict the moving story of patients, families, friends, lovers and staff on two of the main HIV treatment wards in the UK at the height of the AIDS crisis.

Hard Copy brings together an archive of gay activism in Bradford, and features posters, flyers, community magazines, adverts, videos and other material, reflecting the work and activities of activists in Bradford from the 1970/90s. It features works by groups including Bradford Gay Liberation Front and Bradford Gay Switchboard.

That exhibition also starts on February 19.

The month will end with the LGBT Pride Awards at Bradford City Hall on February 28 - which will honour people working in Bradford to make the district a welcoming and safe place.

Councillor Richard Dunbar, Bradford Council’s LGBT+ Champion, said: “I am proud once again that Bradford Council, in conjunction with many partners will host a varied, thought provoking and challenging programme of events for LGBT+ History Month. There is something for everyone and we would encourage as many people to come along and attend as many of our events as possible.

“This is about creating understanding, challenging the way we might think and also having fun.”

Councillor Abdul Jabar, Executive Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety, said: “Bradford Council is proud of its commitment to fight inequality and injustice wherever it is seen and it is for this reason we are fully supportive of LGBT+ History month and we want to make this year’s events the best ever.”

As part of the month of events, an LGBT group of Bradford City fans have mapped out other international groups.

LGBT+ campaign organisation Just A Ball Game?, supported by Kick It Out and members of the Bradford City LGBT+ fan group, created an online interactive map featuring a selection of similar fan groups across the world.

The map has been created to help raise awareness and visibility around LGBT+ equality, inclusion and diversity.

It includes four cut-out style maps with additional artwork featuring LGBT+ fan groups logos and names have been developed to let young people learn about LGBT+ football supporters across the globe.

Roisin Wood, Kick It Out chief executive, said: “We hope the educational resources will help encourage football supporters and beyond to find out more about LGBT+ inclusion in the game.”

People can visit justaballgame.co.uk/downloads for a copy of the interactive map.

For full details of the month’s events, visit lgbtbradford.co.uk/