OTP 2020 Hub Programmes - Bishopsgate Institute, London

The Bishopsgate Institute will be holding their OUTing The Past event on 5th February 2020.

The event will run from 19:00 - 21:30

Alf LeFlohic – The Sussex Lancers: behind the dark room curtain

The Sussex Lancers MSC were a Brighton based motor-sports club (aka leather/rubber

fetish club for gay men) which ran 1980-2000. Before such clubs were out in the main-

stream, these men met to explore pleasure and personal boundaries with each other.

This will be a peek behind the darkroom curtains into the world of the Sussex Lancers

and some of their notable members...

Cathal Kerrigan – Gays Against H-Block Armagh

Untold story of first picture of Gays Against H-Block / Armagh [GAH-B/A] on a protest. I will use

the photo as presentation source.

Lisa Power – 1980s A Decade of Change - Switchboard Logs

The Switchboard Log Books are a rich and relatively undiscovered/unused source of historical

witness, giving first hand real time reactions to key issues that have gone on to shape our community over the past four decades. Switchboard was "the finishing school for activists" throughout this period and spawned many other organisations like Terrence Higgins Trust, NAM etc. The logs are also gloriously snarky at times and very human.

Viv Woodcock-Downey – Federation of Gay Games

Our History of the Gay Games Movement presentation will cover the history of the Gay Games

movement and the philosophy behind it.  It will include original footage and materials from the 10

quadrennial games over the last 36 years, from the first games in San Francisco in 1982 to the

games in Paris in 2018 where we had 10,500 LGBT athletes competing in 36 different sports

These people came from all 5 continents, representing 96 different countries and ranged in ages

up to 80+.  Started by Dr Tom Waddell, the Gay Games movement has challenged stereotypes

of LGBT people in sport, and encouraged inclusion, participation and personal best.

Including:

• History of a group and a special campaign and will cover events of direct relevance to LGBT

History

• The court battle over the use of the word Olympic in relation to Gay Olympics

• Personal Testimony from athletes about the life changing nature of the Games

• Original film footage from the 1982 Gay Games

• Impact of Gay Games on wider sporting world.

• The Development of a World Wide LGBT Sporting Movement