OUTing The Past 2021 Festival Gazette
This, the 6th annual Gazette, further demonstrates the wealth and range of the insights afforded by the study of past attitudes and behaviours of sex and gender. It is from this Gazette that our Hub Partners will select a programme for their respective OTP Virtual Festival Hub (hosted during February and March 2021) the ‘tour’ dates of which will be posted shortly. The migration of the Festival to a virtual format, made necessary because of the appalling global epidemic, does help expand our reach to potentially a global audience. We are also most grateful to the Zoom company for all their sponsorship and practical advice offered to help ensure a technologically seamless virtual Festival (fingers crossed!)
However, it is the individuals and groups who have offered their wonderful presentations that provide us with such stunning and invaluable insights make all this possible. We are also incredibly lucky to have such productive relations with our Festival Partners together with the continuing patronage of pioneering scholars within the discipline of academic history. All combining in the making of the remarkable success of OUTing the Past International Festival of LGBT+ History.
Best wishes and please feel free to share.
Caroline, Jeff, Jenny, Ken, Laila, Maisie, Stephen & Sue
Read about a selection of the presentations below…
Deidre Swain
The day Ireland made world history: the journey to marriage equality.
The journey of marriage equality in Ireland: generational responses and the long fight for LGBT+ rights.
David Watters
Never Blend In: Voices Of Our LGBTQ+ Role Models
Our understanding of LGBT History is enhanced when we learn about and understand the lived experiences of our predecessors. When we can relate to positive LGBTQ+ role model figures, we can visualise better life outcomes for ourselves. Containing personal narratives, this talk is aimed primarily at a young LGBTQ+ audience, but it is also of great value to educators, parents, family and professionals.
David Watters
Equal Love UK: Becoming an Active Citizen
This is the story of the Equal Love Campaign, told through the lens of one of its significant players. It is also about how we can empower ourselves and others through social engagement and activism.
Megan Rossman
Lesbian Herstory ArchivesI directed a feature-length documentary about the Lesbian Herstory Archives. FoContact Davidunded in the 1970s by Deborah Edel and Joan Nestle in a New York City apartment, The Lesbian Herstory Archives is now the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians: dedicating to combatting lesbian invisibility, misogynyny and homophobia, especially within academia. Explores the fascinating origins of the organisation, as well as new challenges, THE ARCHIVETTES is a tribute to second-wave feminism and intergenerational connection, as well as an urgent rally .
Mauricio Pajon
"A Filthy Sore": Persecuting Queer Men in Early 20th-Century Mexico City
My presentation adds to our understanding of LGBT History by using a police raid on a queer party at a private house in Mexico City in 1901 to explain perceptions of queer men by the media, government, the Catholic Church, and queer men themselves.
Jo Somerset
Morley Clarke
H. Morley Clarke (1915-2007) was a tailor in Leicester 1930s-1970s. By day he made men’s suits, by night he made ball gowns for his ‘homosexual’ friends. His partner, Roland Spence, had a bookshop a few doors away from Morley’s shop. As Morley lived with his mother, they couldn’t live together until she died. This is a local history story, about hidden lives and very private resistance. It’s a love story that ended in tragedy when Roland died unexpectedly aged 65, and his family swooped, taking what they liked from Morley and Roland’s home - totally ignoring their relationship. Morley was finally outed posthumously at his funeral tea in the hotel where the ‘homosexuals’ used to gather, and the collection was in aid of Stonewall.
Dan Vo
Breaking Down Barriers
Presentation of original research conducted with 50 galleries, libraries, archives, museums across the UK engaged in LGBTQ+ programming
Zorian Clayton
Flamboyant Phantasms: The Life and Work of F. Holland Day
Since the recent transfer of the RPS collection to the V&A in 2017, we have been working hard to catalogue 22 lorry loads of unique photographic history. Amongst this extraordinary collection are approximately a dozen boxes of Fred Holland Day's Pictorial work, largely homoerotic photography of the 1890s and 1900s. He is noted for being the first American artist to advocate for photography as fine art and is cited as one of the first to portray people of colour as both noble and beautiful. Working with Herbert Copeland, they introduced Aubrey Beardsley to a US audience. I explore the enormous influence and positive impact of this queer body of work is underestimated in the public realm.
Simon Clewes
Queerness in the Godwin-Shelley Writing Circle
I uncover and document an important queer history that can be traced in the Godwin-Shelley writing circle. I show how, by giving queer characters a voice, these authors worked collaboratively to destabilise the emerging power of fixed gender ideals that took hold towards the end of the long eighteenth century.
Maurice Casey
A Reception in Sth Frederick St: How Do We Write History of Ireland’s LGBTQ Diaspora?
The presentation presents original research into the early 20th century Irish LGBTQ diaspora. More broadly, sexual identities are an under-researched aspect of Irish diaspora history.
Cheryl Morgan
Michael Dillon in Bristol
Looking at a key figure in trans history who also happens to be an officially Face of LGBT+ History Month 2021
Rebecca Hale & Jasmine Moore
Queer Nature: The Powerful Message of LGBTQ+ in the Natural World.
LGBT History predominantly focuses on people, but the natural aspect of diversity in sexuality and gender is often still hidden. By focusing on LGBTQ+ links in nature we wanted to show how natural diversity is and how unnatural prejudice against it was. How is it that whilst this diversity is so common in the animal world, there is still only one species that is homophobic? We used the natural world to develop our understanding of symbols and language used by and against the community, such as lavender and violets and to explore the history behind this. We used a variety of stories to highlight intersectionality across the LGBTQ+ acronym.
Ibitsam Ahmed
Negotiating Queerness as a Commonwealth Immigrant
It specifically talks about the legacies of colonial history, which is often overlooked in the mainstream, and highlights it from the perspective of being an immigrant.
Peter Roscoe
Companions, Good Friends & Beards
The presentation illustrates that before you can unearth local LGBTQ+ history, it is important to appreciate and understand the blocks put in the way of finding the untold story or the hidden history. People have to get that there's something to get!
Laura Phillips
Sweet Sorrow
Through a discussion of Wright's painting and the work of 1623, this presentation will reflect on the queerness of Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, in Shakespeare’s own time and ours. It will look at Shakespeare as an LGBT+ icon, gender fluidity in his sonnets, representations of queerness on stage – as well as queer readings of his works
Luke Wells
Homosexuality in Ancient China
This presentation would take a look at a topic rarely discussed and that is homosexuality (with a focus towards men) in Ancient Chinese history - this would be in a society ruled by Confucian, Daoist and Legalist ‘codes of conduct’ and guidelines. In China there has been many historical figures who were known for their homosexual relationships and those who were openly gay. Though the records mostly come from those of wealthy or powerful positions, we can explore the impact that the introduction of Christianity to China had on social and sexual relationships amongst homosexual men.
Aoife Convery
Asexuality in the Art World, Ireland and Beyond
My presentation would explore the presence of asexuality among artistic communities of the past, and their impact on the art world in Ireland and beyond. The talk will re-examine well-known artists and cultural figures and aims to shed light on previously obscured aspects of themselves. It will carefully look at the lives of historical artists and members of the artistic community and explore the possibility that these figures may have identified on the asexual spectrum if alive today. The overall goal of the talk is to demonstrate the presence of asexuality within both historic and contemporary queer and artistic communities, and how these people might have been shaped by their sexuality to do great things.
Sue Sanders
The History Of LGBT history month
Many people are unaware that the month had to be invented and that we have a group of volunteers that maintain the LGBTHM website My aim is to enable people to see how something that has become an institution developed from nothing!
Trudy Howson
An LGBT Life. How it was. How it is.
Our current LGBT Poet Laureate explores through poetry and personal recollection her experience of being Gay. A performing artist and a political activist from the 70's to the present time. Combining humour and gritty realism, she details and discusses some of the organisations and political campaigns that had an impact on the quality of the LGBT community's life, during this exciting era of groundbreaking social and political change, and the part she played within them.
Joey Hateley
Mister Stokes: ‘The Man-Woman of Manchester.’
We will explore the possible trajectories in re-framing the hetero-centric discourse, homophobic narratives and transphobic language that refers to Harry Stokes as ‘it’. We will show a new on-line trailer from the short production in 2016 and discuss how we intend translate and contextualise Harry’s identity into a Trans*positive, relatable, modern day framework for diverse audiences.
Beth Rees
Yes, Asexuality Does Exist: A look at asexuality then and now.
Asexuality is often overlooked in LGBT+ history. This presentation would look at asexual history through time, tell the story of William Pitt The Younger (through an asexual and homoromantic lens), and talk about my experiences as an asexual/aromantic person today.
Brendan Nellis
Tarlach’s Legacy
My brother, Tarlach, was a central activist promoting the LGBT agenda through the early days of the NI conflict/Troubles. This presentation will outline and highlight some significant events including the infamous protest against LGBT Trade Union activists presenting at Queen’s University Belfast. A play has now been written and presented on stage entitled "The Queer Ceili at the Marty Forsythe". It will also outline the birth and progress of ILGO (Irish Lesbian and Gay Organisation) in New York which resulted in eventual acceptance and welcome onto the New York City St Patrick's Day parade in 2016. These stories should be recorded and studied as we move into more enlightened times. Tarlach was also very active in the world of Disability in NYC as this is the area he chose to work in.
Bouchard-Niland
‘Our House’ a new LGBTQ+ heritage_English Heritage
The presentation demonstrates how LGBTQ+ history can be re-integrated into a traditional heritage setting in an authentic and exciting way. It also examines how the challenge of telling LGBTQ+ history through archival and documentary evidence can be overcome through innovative and creative approaches to storytelling and heritage interpretation. It explores LGBTQ+ history as a key ‘untold story’, and offers an exciting and new way for these stories to be explored through the case study of the award-winning ’Our House’ theatre project at Eltham Palace in 2019.
Paul Edmondson
‘Becoming Othello: A Black Girl’s Journey’
Debra Ann herself identifies as LGBT and the presentation adds to our understanding of her struggle growing up as a black girl and woman, and finding a voice to articulate her experience through her theatrical work, especially Shakespeare.
Noreena Shopland
A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA+ Historical Records
A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA+ Historical Records provides a tool-kit for anyone wishing to search for historical information on sexual orientation and gender identity. It aims to upskill people in understanding historic terminology and its use, as well as improving general researching skill.
Abtin Sadeghi
LGBT+ Health & the NHS
The presentation will include an overview of the health issues that have been particularly important to the LGBT+ community throughout the history of the NHS. This would include the role of the NHS (both positive and negative) in LGBT+ Health over the past 70 years. This will follow on to draw parallels with the current COVID pandemic and the mental and physical health issues affecting the LGBT and BAME community.
Brian Crowley
Queering Kilmainham Gaol
By focusing on the queer history of Kilmainham Gaol, this presentation explores the criminalisation of homosexuality in the 19th and early twentieth century. It focuses in particular on the prison's role in the biggest gay scandal in Ireland in the 19th century, the Dublin Castle Scandal of 1884 which saw a fascinating intersection of politics and the judicial system. Kilmainham Gaol is probably best known in Ireland because of its association with the struggle for Irish independence, and this presentation looks at political figures associated with that struggle who may have been LGBTQ+. By looking at Kilmainham Gaol's historical collection, it also considers how Irish society has struggled to come to terms with queerness of some of its revolutionary history.
Rainer Schulze
Through Science Toward Justice - Magnus Hirschfeld
The untold story and hidden history of Magnus Hirschfeld: pne of the pioneers of the LGBTIQ rights movement, and a previous Face of LGBT+ History Month.
Rainer Schulze
Reclaiming the Link with the Past: The Importance of the Pink Triangle
Hidden History: linking the generation of gay men (and LGBTIQ people more widely) from persecution under the Nazi regime (and before) through the “AIDS crisis” of the 1980s and 1990s to the present, creating an awareness of past struggles which continue to cast a long shadow on LGBTIQ lives until today.
Richard O’Leary
Heritage in Lockdown: The LGBT Heritage Project Northern Ireland
It will increase awareness about Northern Ireland’s LGBT history, especially lesser known aspects such as our lesbian history.
Jane Hoy
How My Spirit Sought Hers
Born in 1845 in South Wales, Amy Dillwyn fell into unrequited love with Olive Talbot. Her journals record her struggles with her feelings. Yet until recently her life has remained hidden, her same sex attractions ignored. With the aid of costumes, puppets and audience participation, this lively show explores how Amy fought her way back to health becoming a successful novelist and businesswoman.
Caroline Paige
Fighting With Pride. The search for our forgotten LGBT+ Veterans
Most people, including currently serving LGBT+ personnel, don’t know the history and awful consequences that LGBT+ people faced if/when they were outed whilst serving in the Armed Forces, prior to the ban being lifted in Jan 2000. This presentation reveals lived-experience history of LGBT+ service and what the new charity Fighting With Pride is doing to redress those consequences.
Laura Phillips
The giving of gifts - what survives of the queer past
The public were captivated by the unconventional, romantic way of life of the Ladies of Llangollen. They received many distinguished visitors, including William Wordsworth, and acquired a celebrity-like status which meant that there was a popular demand for prints of them. The relationships between women in the 18th century have long been a focus for researchers interested in LGBTQ+ histories. The Ladies of Llangollen were famous during their lifetimes, due in part to their rejection of traditional gender roles. This presentation will explore the juxtaposition between how much we know about some of these women, but how so few of their belongings often survive. This will feed a conversation about the role of museums as preservers of material culture and importance for museums and researchers to be thinking about tangible versus intangible heritage and what survives of the queer past. As well as considering how to preserve the past and present for the future.
Laura Phillips
Other Stories
The presentation will both explore the history of Derbyshire LGBT+ and the some of the results of its Heritage Lottery Funded Other Stories project which investigates LGBTQ+ histories from Derbyshire and the surrounding area. It aims to increase the visibility of the research conducted since 2017 and disseminate it to a wider audience.
Hilary McCollum
Accessing the lesbian past: The relationship between history and historical fiction
The considerable gaps in the historical record in relation to women’s lives in general and female same sex desire in particular have proved a significant barrier in attempting to represent the previously unknown history of lesbian lives. Historical fiction provides an alternative means of narrating the lesbian past. It offers a form of ‘history from below’, developed in dialogue with historical records and alternative accounts, to represent the lesbian past to the present and to reclaim a lesbian history that has been denied. Drawing on my own work researching a novel set at the time the The Well of Loneliness was published, I will discuss the boundaries and tensions between historical fact and historical fiction and the challenges, freedoms and ethics inherent in narrating across gaps and silences.
Lisa Power
No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles: writing London GLF's contested history
This is a filmed presentation following the 50th anniversary of London GLF's founding and the reissuing of its previously hard to find definitive oral history, No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles. It includes not only practical lessons on writing contested history from the author/editor but also funny and inspiring stories about people whose actions shaped the organisations and thinking of the LGBT+ activist community across the UK for the next half century.
Bev Ayre
Before the act podcasts , website and memorabilia
The website and 3 podcasts are not an official history of Before The Act. They include the memories of some of the women involved and excerpts from the show itself – as gathered by Bev Ayre, stage manager for the show and in 2003 the Development Director at Stonewall just before Section 28 was finally repealed.On 5th June 1988 at the Piccadilly Theatre in London’s West End a remarkable theatrical celebration took place – Before The Act. It showcased the work of lesbian and gay authors, poets, playwrights and composers and highlighted the harmful impact of Section 28 – a notorious piece of legislation which prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality‘. see www.beforethactpodcast.com
Clifford Williams
Courage to be: Organised Gay Youth in England 1970-1990.
A first detailed account of the early Gay Youth groups and campaigns in England. Gay is used in its original meaning inclusive of lesbian and gay men and women. Braving the possibility of prosecution for corrupting public morals (gay male sex was illegal for anyone under 21 at the time), as well as facing hostility from authorities and press, a few individuals courageously navigated stormy waters and established groups like the London Gay Teenage Group. The presenter will describe how he has pieced together this history and kindled reunions of people 30-40 years or more since they last met.
Rose Collis
The Boy and The Bear
‘The Boy and The Bear’ is a 10-20 minute (duration tbc) audio-visual account of the personal and political journey taken by a lesbian and her closest gay male friend (who both came out in 1978) from 1977 until 1983, drawing on personal testimony, letters, diaries and archive materials. It takes place against a backdrop of, and in the context of, early Gay Pride marches and other activism, ‘agit-prop’ gay/feminist theatre, the London gay scene of the 1970s and the early days of the AIDS epidemic.
Mandla Rae
Category Mistake
This piece explores 'queer' or homosexual practices in pre-colonial Zimbabwe, the lack of language to describe LGBTQ people in my mother tongue Ndebele and a group of activists in South Africa who are creating words for queerness due to a frustrating lack of language that isn't derogatory.
Dan Webber
Tales of Derby Women Past
Tales of Derby Women Past is a series of 6 poems originally commissioned as part of the Derwent Valley Mills Discovery Days Festival Online. The poems created by Derby and Derbyshire based female identifying poets, highlights the untold and unheard histories of the women of Derby, including topics such as The Derby Duckies and Lilian Parker, Bess of Hardwick, Betty Kenny and The Betty Kenny Tree, Landladies in the first world war and the Darley Abbey Mill Strikes. All topics have been fully researched with support from Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, including organisations such as Derby CAMRA, Derby Local Studies Library and Derby Cathedral.
Peter Scott-Presland
The Road to Morecambe PierIt chronicles vividly the struggle CHE went through to get its first national conference in 1973 on Morecambe Pier. The rejections, the press outrage, the duplicitous local council are all explored in the journey to CHE’s place as a major campaigning organisation for LGBT rights in the UK (not including Scotland).
Sadie Hochman-Ruiz
We Know You're Not Ready (Sic) A Girl
This is an untold story which will reframe the way we talk about transgender history. It accounts for the fluidity that existed between pre-op transsexuals and drag queens in the 1970s. San Diego's transphobic anti-crossdressing ordinance brought a diverse community of cross-dressers, drag queens, female impersonators, and transsexuals together as the Jorgensen Society under the leadership of Nicole Murray Ramirez.
Rodney Wilson
Taboo Teaching: Coming Out as a Teacher in 1990s America
In 1994, I became the first openly gay public (government) school teacher in the US state of Missouri and also that year founded LGBTQ History Month (celebrated in the US in October). My presentation would include a showing of the documentary short "Taboo Teaching: A Profile of Missouri Teacher Rodney Wilson," followed by Q&A / discussion about coming out in mid-1990s America and founding the USA's October LGBTQ History Month.
Dan Webber
Looking Back, Looking Forward
The project aims to document LGBTQ+ life at different stages: During the time when homosexuality was illegal through to the present day. The talk explores intergenerational differences of fighting for LGBT+ life, explored in poetry and writing.
Katie Robinson
Being Transgender
Personal story of my transition to understanding my gender identity, exploring the community, starting a family, and finally, accepting and relishing my identity in its true form.
Laila El-Metoui
Queering FE - Queering ESOL
The presentation will look at the history of the national association of ESOL teachers in the UK and their role in driving forward LGBT+ inclusion within the further education sector in the UK.
NoreEna Shopland
Women in men’s clothes: from cross-dressing to empowerment
The presentation shows that in order to locate people in the past we must not look for what people are but what they were doing. Many historic LGBT+ people can be found by looking at cross-dressing and numerous new names have been added to our history. With so many thousands of individuals cross-dressing we also have to question the thin line between gender.
Charles Upchurch
The Politics of Ending the Death Penalty for Sodomy in Britain
This talk demonstrates that there was debate over the ethics of executing men for sodomy even in the early nineteenth century.
David Ikpo
Queer Participatory Visibility In Nigerian Nations
Awareness of indigenous non-heterosexuality from an African nation is important to tackle the flawed argument that queerness is not authentically Africa, and authentically human.
Jen Yockney
Bi Community News: 25 years of the purple press
Bimonthly bisexual magazine BCN started publishing in the autumn of 1995 and through its archives we see much of the changing story of bi inclusion in both LGBT and wider society.
Darren Clarke
The Charleston Trust
Hidden History: When Grant gave the drawings to his friend in 1958 the accompanying note described them as "very private." These works were then passed down from friend to friend, from lover to lover, hidden from public view. They were made in the years immediately after the end of the Second World War, a time of rebuilding for Britain and a time of oppression for anyone who fell outside of the heteronormative ideal. Grant’s daring and private world is now made public.
Ju Gosling
30 years of campaigning for equality by LGBTQI+ Disabled People
As many as one in three LGBTQI+ people are Disabled, but our lives remain invisible in the work of mainstream organisations.
LGBT Heritage
Women's News: Belfast Lesbian Involvement in Women's Movement of the 80's and 90's
Our understanding of LGBT History in Belfast is currently quite male dominated. Our presentation will look at the involvement of lesbian women in the wider women's movement through specific examples from Women's News publications.
Kateryna Semchuck
Ukrainian lesbian history of the 90s and 2000s
In Ukraine, modern lesbian* community, which is actually very fragmented, is separated from its history. It exists as if it has originated only 10 years ago when LGBT-activism has gained the first media success in Ukraine. The main reason why this is happening is that Ukrainian modern lesbian history has not been preserved or recorded. In the 90s and 2000s lesbians* did not have the resources to do so: they had no print magazines, bars, institutions etc, nor had reasons to make public video or audio recordings because of homophobia. Thus, the entire history of the Ukrainian lesbian* movement from the period of the Soviet Union and the beginning of Ukraine's independence exists in private archives and oral retellings. As a result Ukrainian lesbians* do not cultivate their history, accordingly do not share memory with the previous generation of lesbians, and feel very often lonely and without a background. Today there is a big gap between lesbians over forty and twenty years old.
Cas TV Bradbeer
Do the drawings Michelangelo Buonarroti made for Tommaso Cavalieri evoke modern concepts of 'homosexuality'?
The presentation does not merely demonstrate that Michelangelo's ‘Ganymede’ is evocative of homoeroticism, along with the ‘Tityus’, the ‘Phaeton’, the ‘Bacchanal’, and all the poetry, but it also explores how art historians today ought to work to further correct the damage that has been done to the memory of queer artistic relationships - from archival practice of addressing pronouns altered by the artist's nephew, to poor practice in labelling queerness.
Jo Stanley
From steward to star campaigning journalist: Mick Belsten, LGBT+ activist 1970-90.
Untold History. This new research reveals the kind human being behind the newspaper by-lines, and the bisexual seafarer behind the LGBT+ activist. Mick was a key mover in campaigning queer journalism 1970-90, which is under-recorded. He was unique as the only seafarer who graduated from camp ships to shaping queer culture ashore. He is maritime history’s overlooked queer hero.
Jacky Logan
Strictly gender roles - The Pink presentation of Ballroom & Latin Dance over 25 years
It will highlight the gradual integration of same gender dancing with mainstream and the role of the Pink Dancers and Pink Jukebox over the years. We look at the impact that has been created, culminating with a same-sex couple on Strictly Come Dancing this year.
Maggie Moyo
Migration, Race & Empire: LGBT+ histories tour
The presentation explores how themes of race, empire and migration intersect with LGBT+ history. e.g how crackdowns on deviant gender and sexuality in the late 1800s can be seen in the wider context of imperialism and defending the empire. The presentation also highlights untold stories. E.g how stereotypes about Western LGBT+ people held by people working in the Home Office can influence how they judge people seeking asylum on the basis of sexuality.
Emma Jones
From Rights to a Centre: The birth and transformation of the Greenwich Lesbian and Gay Centre 1984 to 1994
The Greenwich Lesbian and Gay Centre's development and the activism that led up to it is a story about the margins of mainstream queer culture and community development, economically and geographically. Most of those who were interviewed in the oral history collection have not given interviews previously and represent diverse voices of former staff, service users and allies, many of whom identify as working class and all within the LGBTQ+ spectrum including 38% lesbian so a very strong representation of lesbian women's history from a working class London perspective. Topics of note include the first targeted HIV prevention work for men-who-have-sex-with-men in south-east London during the HIV pandemic and a community based approach to these issues that built the organisation from grassroots gradually to the large charity it is today: www.metrocharity.org.uk
Shaan Knan
Rainbow Pilgrims
Rainbow Pilgrims is a UK landmark project that gave a platform to marginalised communities: LGBTQI+ migrants, asylum seekers as well as Gypsy, Roma & Travellers. These communities have largely been left out of LGBT History. Further, Rainbow Pilgrims uniquely explores intersectional voices: sexuality, gender identity, intersex, faith/religion, ethnicity/race and migration.
Ian Nipper
BONA! A History of Polari
In the 1950s and 60s the 'gay language' Polari was used to express hidden desires. This coded way of speaking could allow LGBT people to speak freely, knowing that straight society wouldn't be able to understand what they were saying. It had its roots much further in the past, developing from words used by various marginalised groups throughout history.
Rico Chace
Trans Lives in British History
Despite the current backlash, Trans people have always existed. As a Black Trans Man, I look at the undocumented history of BAME or working class stories, whilst raising awareness of the historic achievements of our community. I aim to build confidence for Trans people and understanding from the CIS community.
Sharon Roggio
1946 The Movie - The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture
Today, the misuse of the word “homosexual” appears in most translations of the Bible, namely in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10. Sadly, this has become the foundation for much of the anti-gay culture that exists today, especially in religious spaces. Many conservative religious leaders have used these biblical texts to condemn and marginalized LGBTQ+ Christians. And society at large has been shaped — at least in part — to believe the idea that sexual and gender minorities must choose between their faith and their identity. We hope the evidence and stories in this film will not only challenge our assumptions, but change our hearts.
Caroline Diamond
Out On An Island 100 years of LGBTQ+ Heritage with an Isle of Wight connection
LGBTQ+ history is often hidden or erased and is difficult to source. Our presentation proves that LGBTQ+ communities have always existed, even in rural and conservative areas.
Youcef Hadjazi
Queer Journeys
Queer Journeys is a zine that was shaped following a series of digital workshops with a group of LGBTQ+ migrants based in the UK. The zine aims to reflect untold stories of queer migrant journeys to the UK and beyond. Besides encouraging safe and inclusive spaces for queer stories to exist and to be initiated by their narrators, the project aimed to preserve authenticity and rawness while raising awareness on queer immigration. I believe presenting the zine itself, as well as additional elements briefly described below, will help redefine the positions of migrants through a socio-political lens. In addition, it enables greater agency for queer migrants to authentically communicate their experiences with an opportunity of perceiving themselves with a certain parallelity to others. Similarly, exposing those stories also aims to create a contrast between colonial histories and the post-colonial products that, further down the line, resulted in social conflict and migration.
Jeff Evans
1990’s Banning student targeted AIDS/HIV+ Health Advice (The Pink Guide 1991-1996)
“The University Sector & encouraging Homophobia in a time of AIDS: The attempts to forestall life-saving safer sex information on British campus in the early 1990’s”.
Jeff Evans
Queer Ceili at the Martin Forsythe
It provides a rare insight into an event in the early 1980s when the first UK Student LGBT Conference (NUS LGBT) was held at Queens University Belfast. During which it was picketed by Rev. Ian Paisley’s Save Ulster from Sodomy Campaign and simultaneously hosted by the nationalist people of Whiterock, West Belfast.
Veronica McKenzie
Uncovering the histories of Black and Asian LGBTQ+ communities through the Haringey Vanguard project
The presentation will give an insight into the lives of Black and Asian LGBTQ+ people, their role in several key movements that shaped LGBTQ+ history, and through personal stories show the importance of unity, and queer spaces.