This Valentine’s day, students formed a same-sex chain around the Radcliffe Camera, in celebration of friendship and gay rights.
The event was planned by OUSU and RAG as part of the Oxford-wide Queer History Month. Instead of a boy-girl line, the participants held hands in boy-boy, girl-girl formation.
The event was inspired by ‘A Day in Hand’, a national project which aims to support and encourage same sex couples to hold hands in public.
‘We thought it would be really nice to do something around the Rad Cam as it’s somewhere that’s iconic to Oxford. We’ve got loads of people here, it’s a great vibe,’ said Rachel Dedman, RAG president.
There were almost enough students to almost form a circle around the entire camera, with some non-students joining in to support the cause.
Asked what he hoped to achieve by the morning, OUSU LGBT officer Jasper Minton-Taylor said , ‘a sense of community, a sense of friendship, a sense of acceptance.’
He said it was ‘quite fun and light hearted, but also just saying it’s really fine to hold hands with a member of the same-sex, and to reaffirm that message.’
‘I think it would be amazing to make it a yearly thing,’ said Dedman.
