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We are doing a sponsored walk to celebrate Chesterfield's most prominent gay rights pioneer Edward Carpenter and to raise money for the Chesterfield branch of the Derbyshire LGBT+ centre on Rutland Road, Chesterfield. 

Edward Carpenter was way ahead of his time, born in 1844 he lived as an openly gay man at a time when it was illegal to be gay. He lived in Chesterfield before moving to Millthorpe in rural Derbyshire with his partner George Merrill. In 1895, when Oscar Wilde was sent to Reading Jail, most of gay London fled to Paris, and Edward Carpenter was quite literally the last gay man standing in Britain.

Edward Carpenter used to regularly walk the same route that we will be taking.

The walk will be led by Cllr Ed Fordham, Luke Povey (Ed and Luke are the editors of a soon to be published book, The Chesterfield Letters of Edward Carpenter) & Ian Robson (CEO, Derbyshire LGBT+).

When: 11am Sunday 30th August 2020

Where: Starting at The Chesterfield Arms, Chesterfield finishing at The Royal Oak, Millthorpe (5.3 miles or 8.5 kilometres)
Why that date: it is the nearest Sunday to Edward Carpenter’s birthday - he was born on 28th August 1844.

Derbyshire LGBT+ is Derbyshire’s only LGBT+ specific support service, we are here to support anyone who is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender or anyone who is having issues with their sexual orientation or gender identity, this includes family and friends.

A lot of people ask why there is still a need for LGBT support in these times, they assume that things are now great for LGBT people in the UK. Our experience however is the complete opposite.  Statistics show us that over the last few years Hate Crime against LGBT people has dramatically risen, we know HIV infection rates are rising higher every year.  Bullying in schools is still a major problem, and we still face inequality in goods and services.  Every day we have people coming for support with a whole range of issues from homelessness, violence, bullying and harassment, to issues of coming out around the gender identity or sexual orientation.  Our service is needed now as much as it has ever been.

Covid-19: in the event of restrictions still being in place we will reschedule the date of the walk, but we are currently confident that this will not be necessary.

So far four people have committed to doing the walk:

• Peter Tatchell (Director, Peter Tatchell Foundation)
• Cllr Ed Fordham, 
•  Luke Povey (Ed and Luke are the editors of a soon to be published book, The Chesterfield Letters of Edward Carpenter)
• Ian Robson (CEO, Derbyshire LGBT+).
  

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