OUTing The Past 2022 Festival Gazette
This, the 7th 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 have selected a programme for their respective OTP Virtual Festival Hub which are hosted throughout February, March and April 2022. This year's festival is hybrid offering both in person and virtual events. You can find out more about the hub events here.
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. We are delighted to continue to work with Schools OUT UK to present the festival. 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, Lynne, Maisie, Stephen & Sue
Read about a selection of the presentations below…
Andrew Dobbin - He/Him
A troll through the stories behind Schools OUT UK/LGBT+ History Month's daily and colourful Facebook and Instagram updates.
Adam Lowe - He/Him
Passing the Baton: Queer Writers of Colour Celebrate Their Historic Icons places LGBT+ writers of colour in the spotlight to share the work of those writers throughout history who have inspired them. From Sappho to Audre Lorde, a wide range of voices will be shared and highlighted in the context of the impact they have had on those communities living and writing today. In doing so, we contribute to a growing canon of LGBT+ and POC voices from throughout history through to today. The list of writers invited will be based on location and availability. Curated by Adam Lowe, with Peepal Tree Press and Young Enigma.
Seni Seneviratne - She/Her
Unknown Soldier explores a collection of photographs of the poet’s late father, then a young man, originally from colonial Sri Lanka, who was serving as a radio operator in an otherwise all-white platoon in the 1939-45 desert war in North Africa. As for so many who came back from war to start or resume a family life, there was a great gulf of silence, an unwillingness to speak of those experiences and the bonds forged in the desert. Unknown Soldier is a well researched recreation of the life suggested in those photographs, and a 'queering of the text' told through the poet's own lens.
Aleks Fagelman - They/Them
I shall discuss the Dresden Satyr and Hermaphrodite statue, as well as comparing it with other examples of hermaphroditic statues in the ancient world. I shall use this to highlight how the history of intersex and transgender identity is something that is not a modern invention but exists for several thousand years.
Claire HacketT - She/Her
Since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 there have been ongoing attempts to deal with the legacy of the conflict in Ireland and account for the harms inflicted. LGBT experience has been largely absent from this societal debate. This presentation will attempt to address this by highlighting personal experience as a volunteer on Lesbian Line during the conflict and linking this to current work advocating for a comprehensive approach to dealing with the past. The presentation will include discussion of the importance of recognising intersecting identities.
James Ranahan - He/Him
Engaging with a creative response to Location and Heritage Culture from the LGBTQ+ perspective, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s ‘Proud Shakespeare’ approach will be examined – how it re-presents existing records and how it seeks to reflect ‘today’s history’ through engaging with the LGBTQ+ community and through contemporary collecting.
Tilen Kolar - He/Him
Queer memorials bring past, present and future together -they disturb the heteronormative public space. This presentation will reveal some of the research findings from the fieldwork in Amsterdam - how activists and everyday users experience the Homomonument and how they interact with it. Moreover, I will share my personal experience and feelings associated with my fieldwork.
Freya Stancliffe - She/Her
This would be my first presentation of the findings of my internship into untold lgbtq+ stories in the history of the University of Leeds through the Special Collections archives. The findings are likely to tell personal community stories, and also give an insight into the changing views and challenges that members of the community have faced, and how despite this they have made significant contributions.
Muhammed Ali - he/Him
Intersectionally, this presentation aims provide a nuanced picture into the potential factors contributing towards ethno-religious homophobia for British Pakistani Non-heterosexual Muslims, by looking into the history. This study draws from the presenters undergraduate studies and current masters research. By looking at the potential causes, it can be seen and argued that colonialism introduced imperial legislations, which now remain post-independence. Legislations can be difficult to dislodge legally and psycho-socially, potentially explaining supposed ethno-religious 'intolerance' towards BPNMM.
Maria Canavan - She/Her
Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone, two of Ireland’s most significant modernist artists met as art students in London and moved together to Paris in 1921, becoming lifelong partners. The nature of their relationship was never explicit, but investigation of their working practices lays bare their entanglement in the wider community of queer immigrant artists living in 1920’s Paris. This presentation will examine a case study in that light; a painted folding screen by Mainie Jellett that is currently undergoing conservation at the National Gallery of Ireland.
Professor Kathryn Babayan -SHe/Her
My talk will enter the social world of Isfahan through the words of one female resident: an unnamed widow who writes her own extraordinary self-narrative. Her versified travelogue begins as she leaves Isfahan upon the death of her husband, a distance that incites the expression of an emotional and gendered sensibility. In the process of telling her story, the widow reveals another, earlier, experience of loss that, as a respectable married woman in Isfahan, she had borne secretly for many years —a forced separation from her female companion now living in Urdubad (NW Iran).
Sean Kissane- He/Him
This will be an illustrated lecture on powerpoint.
Kieran Rose
This will be a lecture that builds a narrative based on diverse court records.
Jacqui Gavin - She/Her
A life story of being trans
Jerry Buttimer - He/Him
Andrew Dobbin - He/Him
The Queer Year: 12 People, Places and Events from LGBT+ History that should be commemorated but have been forgotten
Hayley Fox-Roberts - She/Her
Poet and activist Hayley FR presents a personal and community testimony of the transition from urban to rural life in Ireland and illustrates actions that created queer community in isolation. 'Make Space for Us' incorporates ephemera, community records and the poet's own work to illustrate how community has been identified in some of the most underserved areas of the country.
Dougie Robertson - He/Him
A history of ITV Pride, the internal network for LGBT+ employees at ITV across the world.
John Yates-Harold - They/Them
Starting with the introduction of Section 28 and its effects on schools and me personally, I will explore media portrayal of LGBT communities and then move on to share learning from the original "No Outsiders" project which kick-started my diversity work in primary and secondary schools. This leads up to the present day and my diversity work in schools, colleges, universities and ITT.
CHRIS SANDFORD - He/Him
The forgotten history of HIV explores the reasons for the homophobia, stigma and discrimination of the past and its impact on those diagnosed today or who survived the 80s. The speaker has been living with HIV for over 40 years, been an activist and educator throughout. He will be using personal experience, archive footage and filmed interviews. it takes you on a journey from the early days when HIV was a death sentence to the opening of the first ward by Princess Diana; from the advent of effective medication to the present day - when HIV is considered a chronic manageable condition.
Jane Hoy and Helen Sandler - She/Her?they
A Fairy Palace of the Vale: The Ladies of Llangollen in the lesbian imagination A lively presentation (in person or online) about the Ladies of Llangollen – Sarah Ponsonby and Eleanor Butler – told through the writings of their women-loving friends and admirers over two centuries. With beaver hats and stick puppets, we show how these women from lesbian history became icons. We begin with the journal entries of a young Anne Lister, who was enchanted by the life the two Ladies had built together after eloping from Ireland to North Wales in 1788. We move on to hear from the poet Anna Seward and into the early 20th C with suffragette Doctor Mary Gordon and novelist Colette. Finally we present extracts from recent interviews we’ve conducted with members of the ‘Two Ladies’ Facebook page, to discover what Eleanor and Sarah mean to fans today – and what we are all looking for in queer history.
Alex Holmes - She/Her
Alex (she/her) is #BiInSci, meaning she identifies as bisexual and is a part of the scientific community. Can you think of any other scientists in history that were Queer? Maybe Alan Turing the computer scientist comes to mind, but how about Isaac Newton who developed the theory of gravity? How about Alan Hart who developed a method to diagnose TB? How about Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space? Historically the sexuality of scientists is erased or they are pushed out of science due to social stigmas, but the identity of researcher, and research is a key part of the scientific conversation, from how data is collected and presented. This can lead to scientific reports on the funny side: for example, describing penguin sex acts in Greek so the public wouldn't know in 1911. And the disturbing, like the malignment of the trans community by those misinterpreting the biological basis of sex. Let's celebrate the sexuality of these Queer scientists of the past and learn from previous mistakes.
trudy howson - She/Her
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.
Mr Barry Quirke - He/Him
My LGBT friends convinced me that my inclination to set up an LGBT society in Rathmines College of Commerce in 1989 was the right thing to do. I had just started a two-year course in Commercial Computer Programming there. My presentation will outline the challenges encountered while trying to establish the society, the vital support of the students union (at both local and national level), official and institutional resistance and eventual institutional approval. It will cover the society's meetings and its awareness raising activities, the latter of which were arguably were its most successful aspects. The presentation will cover the network of student LGBT activists and how this network interacted with wider student representative bodies and LGBT organisations and the nature (and extent) of the support provided by these allies. Some of the most important events organised by the society will be detailed. The presentation will conclude with an assessment of the impacts that this small LGBT society had both within and beyond the college in which it was founded.
Mr Barry Quirke - He/Him
Gay Community News called it the seven-year itch. This headline captured the mood perfectly, there was a quiet sense within the LGBT community that we had turned a corner and there may be better times ahead. The European Court of Human Rights had ruled that Ireland's continued criminalisation of gay sex was contrary to human rights, and in an unexpected move, sexual orientation was included in recently enacted Incitement to Hatred legislation. The authority of the Roman Catholic Church had been shaken by the Bishop Casey scandal, and whereas the AIDS crisis was still raging, more people were living with AIDS and the sense of community was strong while most LGBT activism was devoted to the fight against AIDS. In this context, it seemed that the higher visibility provided by Pride marches and celebrations was needed more than ever after such a long absence, an absence that increasingly seemed to be an aberration given the gradual progress being made towards improved LGBT rights in Ireland. This presentation will recount the story of how Pride returned to the streets of Dublin after a seven-year absence.
Cas Bradbeer - They/Them
The talk unpacks the racism and transphobia in Oriental representations of indigenous dance and demonstrates how Miss Chief—the genderfluid alter-ego of Cree artist, Kent Monkman—challenges this legacy by reflecting it and turning it on its head. This analysis first applies Saïd’s interpretation of the Oriental topos—a Euro-supremacist binary way of distorting cultural difference—to nineteenth-century European depictions of indigenous dance. Second, it illustrates how one of these examples— Dance to the Berdash (1835-1837) by Miss Chief’s nemesis, the Victorian pseudo-anthropologist George Catlin—has been confrontationally reimagined by Monkman.
Tony Galvin - He/His
The presentation will give a general outline of the way in which the club operated and will focus principally on the services available along with the range of people who were members.
Cas Bradbeer - They/Them
This talk unpacks the political importance of a group of women from southern China called the zishu nü (’self-combed women’). It feels important to share their history because they are a dying-out culture and little is published in English about these queer and asexual women. My presentation demonstrates how through ritually establishing themselves as permanently unavailable for heterosexual marriage, they impressively resisted many of the Han Chinese and Confucian norms of gender and sexuality throughout most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet, today they hold a complex status as, on the one hand, forerunners in female independence and LGBT+ living and, on the other, compromisers (in terms of daughterhood norms) with the same patriarchal culture they were reacting against.
Sara R Philips She/Her
In July 2015, Ireland passed a progressive gender recognition act based on self determination. Up to this point Ireland remained only one of two countries in Europe without any mechanism to change gender markers on a birth certificate. So this huge leap came to many as a surprise. However, it was a result of over 22 years and many legal cases taken by Dr Lydia Foy with the assistance of the Free Legal Advise Centres (FLAC) and over 6 years of public campaigns by the trans community, led by Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), the broader LGBT community, and civil society organisations such as Amnesty, FLAC and ICCL.
Richard O’Leary He/Him
The struggle towards equality for LGBT+ in Ireland includes a discrimination case taken in 2006 against the Irish state. The story of a gay carer of a same sex partner with a terminal illness who took an equality case against the Department of Social and Family Affairs. This landmark case is not well known because at the time the couple chose not to be named. Hear Richard O’Leary, historian and storyteller, recount his personal story of taking that case. In this performance talk he will draw on private and officials letters, official documents obtained under the Freedom of Information, newspaper and TV coverage and his personal recollections of what happened when he and his partner dared to take on the state.
Bill Foley He/Him
An outline of Dublin Lesbian and Gay Mens Collective formation and action focuses incluiding involvement in early Pride marches; Organising Protest Against Police Harrassment; Organising the 'Fairview March 1983'; Involvement in Anti AMendment Campaign 1983 (Abortion rights) and publication of 'Out for Ourselves'
Mark Etheridge - He/Him
Mark Etheridge is a Curator at St Fagans National Museum of History, in Cardiff, and is responsible for the LGBTQ+ collection. This presentation discusses the ongoing work with individuals and community groups to collect objects for the St Fagans collection that represent contemporary LGBTQ+ experiences and events in Wales. These include collecting from community groups such as Glitter Cymru, a support and social group for LGBTQ+ ethnic minorities in Wales; collecting contemporary events such as the changes of rules around gay and bi men donating blood, and the passing of a Church in Wales bill that now allows the blessing of same sex marriages; and also the impact of Covid-19 on pride events in Wales, and how St Fagans changed its approach, and collected digital pride events.
Emily Greenwood - She/They
this presentation focuses on how conversion therapy was used and what ultimately led to it being widely discredited not only socially but also by the field of psychiatry it was seen as inhumane.
Rainer SCHULZE - He/Him
Suleika Aldini was a cabaret artist (working as fire eater, a snake charmer and an erotic singer and dancer) in West Germany from the 1960s until the mid-1990s. For many years she performed at the Chez Nous cabaret bar, (West) Berlin’s oldest and best known “travesty theatre” (as they were called at the time), which celebrated the artistry of female impersonators and trans women. In my paper I will discuss the problems of piecing a life together which, apart from her stage performances, was lived in obscurity. It will also ask whether we have the right to probe into the life of someone who was very hesitant while she was alive to speak about her life away from the stage, stating that she felt that this was of no interest to anyone. Suleika’s life is an untold story which documents both the unending struggles of a transgender person in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but also the joys it held for her. Transgender history before the 1990s is a hidden, or rather ignored history, in the case of Suleika made all the more poignant by the fact that she was, for all we know, a Roma child survivor of the Holocaust.
Rainer SCHULZE - He/Him
The Pink Triangle was the badge that gay men had to wear in Nazi concentration camps. Following the Stonewall Uprising, the emerging gay liberation movements in the Western world reclaimed this badge of persecution and murder in the early 1970s as a sign of pride, solidarity and identity, but now often turned around and pointing upwards. Like many other Western gay liberation movements, the British Gay Liberation Front (GLF), too, used the Pink Triangle and the history of the persecution of gay men by the Nazis to provide their battle for LGBTQ+ rights in Britain with a powerful and irrefutable historical and moral foundation. However, very quickly the Pink Triangle disappeared from the discourse again. Today, many LGBTQ+ people, especially of the younger generation, do not know what the Pink Triangle stands for, or they connect it with the battle against AIDS. In my paper, I will ask how much was actually known in 1970s Britain about the Nazi persecution of gay men, how much the memory of this historical experience shaped the early demands and activism of the GLF, why the Pink Triangle was only part of the discourse for a relatively short time, shorter than in many other Western countries, and what remembering (and/or forgetting) the Pink Triangle and what it stands for means for today’s LGBTQ+ community in Britain and elsewhere.
Alex Purdie - He/Him
An untold history of the queer representation of Stockport through the story of Stockport Pride, as told by LGBT+ young people today.
Rainer SCHULZE - He/Him
In the Nazi concentration camp system, the pink triangle, with the cone end of the triangle pointing downward, was the badge to identify the homosexual male prisoners. In this talk I will give an overview of how the Nazis tried to “eradicate” homosexuality from the German Volksgemeinschaft (national community), including closing down LGBTQ+ bars and meeting places, banning LGBTQ+ publications, tightening the existing laws that criminalised male homosexuality, medical experiments, and concentration and labour camp incarceration, comparing and contrasting the Nazi battle against homosexuality with the situation in Germany before they came to power in 1933 and in other Western countries. In conclusion I will argue that the Pink Triangle and its history remain of vital importance for today’s LGBTQ+ movement and must not be forgotten. The Pink Triangle keeps the necessary link with a past which all too many of today’s younger LGBTQ+ generation in the western world are increasingly unaware of.
Cathal Kerrigan - He/Him
In 1982 Declan Flynn was beaten to death in a Dublin cruising area - Fairview Park. In spring 1983 the four culprits were found guilty of manslaughter but given suspended sentences. The Dublin Lesbian & Gay Men's Collective immediately set about organising a protest march to Fairview Park itself on 19 March 1983. Despite many fears, the march was well attended - 1,000 approx. - and covered on the main TV news. It led to the first successful Gay Pride that July. The presentation details the struggle to organise that march and outlines the organisers fears beforehand and joyous feelings afterwards.
Rainer SCHULZE - He/Him
The German-Jewish physician and sexologist Dr Magnus Hirschfeld was one of the “Faces” for LGBT History Month 2019, but he is not necessarily a household name in this country or anywhere else. Despite the fact that he was one of the early pioneering LGBTQ+ rights advocates on whose shoulders we all stand, far too many know little to nothing about him and his contribution to the understanding of human sexuality. In 1897, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, the first homosexual rights movement in the world, and campaigned – unsuccessfully – for a decriminalisation of (male) homosexuality.
Rainer SCHULZE - He/Him
50 years ago, in June 1971, Rosa von Praunheim’s film “It’s Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, but the Situation in Which He Lives” premiered at the Berlinale, Berlin’s international film festival. The film is widely credited for kick-starting the (West) German gay liberation movement after the Stonewall Uprising in New York and made Praunheim one of the best known German gay activists. In my talk, I will discuss the impact that this film has had in (West) Germany and well beyond, and the controversies it caused, both in the majority society and the LGBTQ+ community. I will also talk about why the film’s message is still relevant today even though the style and images might look a bit dated. I will show a few short excerpts from the film during my talk, and hubs have the opportunity to screen the film in full length (c.65mins) at a different time during their LGBTQ+ festival. Alternatively, I make the film accessible to those who want to see it in full length via a password-protected website.
Eoin Freeney - He/Him
Presented by its co founder this presentation will illuminate both the struggles and achievements of a small community based theatre company. Which arguably played an important role in Irelands push for LGBT equality in 1990s Ireland. Using a personal archive of relevant programmes and photos complementing a first hand account and telling of this period of staging gay lives.
Bernard Reed - He/Him
The presentation would be virtual and be based in part on the material described during the family celebration of Terry's life on 23 July 2021; See Youtube
Charles Upchurch - He/Him
This presentation tells the hitherto unknown story of how the law allowing for the death penalty for sodomy was nearly reformed in Britain in 1841. It recovers the arguments that Jeremy Bentham published against the sodomy law in the late eighteenth century, and traces how these ideas influenced later political actions, including those of Lord John Russell. It traces how same-sex desire in the context of a long-term relationship linked the families of the two men who co-sponsored the key 1840-41 legislation, while at the same time also recovering arguments against the sodomy law that were based on its intrusion into the private decisions between husband and wife. This was the first time that arguments were made in the British Parliament that emphasized the immorality of executing individuals for a private consensual act, even as other members of parliament countered that sodomy itself was the more immoral act. This reform passed in the House of Commons, and while it was defeated in the House of Lords, the recovery of these debates and related material sheds light on a perspective in the early nineteenth century that has been long neglected and obscured. This talk summarizes some of the key findings of my new book, 'Beyond the Law': The Politics of Ending the Death Penalty for Sodomy in Britain (Temple University Press, October 2021).
Laura Phillips - She/Her
This presentation will explore the new research, collecting and redisplay involved in recent work at Derby Museums on its important collection of toy, or miniature, theatres. The collection came to the museum from the avid collector, Frank Bradley, and we are working with two incredibly knowledgeable, talented and generous volunteers to care for the collection, conduct new research and get more of the collection out on public display. During the research process we came across the work of Joseph Williams, who has been collaborating with us to deepen our understanding of the connections between the world of theatre and miniature theatre, and the connected arts of print making and tinselling, where images of actors and theatre productions were made for the public to buy and treasure in their homes. Joseph, and his partner Ronald, spent much of their lives in the theatre. Joseph documented the world of theatre through his drawings, models, engravings and tinsels, a selection of which we have in our collection. Joseph's work and story is little known and will be the focus of this presentation. See more.
Cathal Kerrigan - He/Him
Simon Nkoli was a prominent anti-apartheid activist; he was also a leading gay activist. During his imprisonment in the mid-1980s gay activists wrote to him in solidarity. This is the record of the correspondence over three years between Simon and one such activist. The letters touch on the comparison between the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and the Irish Republican struggle in Ireland. It includes poignant moments such as when Simon's co-defendants advise him not to wear an IRA t-shirt for fear of the warders hostile reaction or when on bail the group bus leaves without Simon for their court appearance.
Cathal Kerrigan
In the summer of 1983 Cathal Kerrigan visits the USA on a J-1 student work visa. While there he gives talks in San Francisco, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Toronto presenting his radical gay Irish socialist republican analysis of events in Ireland. He does a radio interview with a San Francisco alternative station and is interviewed by Toronto-based Rites magazine. He builds links with fellow North American radicals e.g. Gary Kinsman editor of Rites magazine.
Cathal Kerrigan - He/Him
The talk looks at the attempts of politically progressive activists - gay and straight - attempt to analyse the affect of AIDS and how best to react to it. It does this by describing an event organised by a left-wing group in Dublin in the late 1980s with one speaker having worked with WHO in Africa and an organiser with the local gay AIDS group. The handout distributed by the local activist will be used to illustrate the talk. The handout is based on a reading of Cindy Patton's book on the politics of AIDS. The talk will highlight how even in the confusion of the times people tried to analyse rationally so as to be able to act most effectively and progressively.
Cathal Kerrigan - He/him
This talk describes how during the H-Block/Armagh protests a gay group supporting the campaign was set up by two individuals in Cork. Their participation in a major national protest march in Dublin in May 1980 after the death of Bobby Sands is illustrated by a photograph taken of them on the day. Background is given on how radical a step this was and how it was the specifics of the Cork anti-H-Block/Armagh group which enabled this development. The difficulties around getting the posed photo taken are used to illustrate the general gay community disparaging view of nationalists & republicans as homophobes and at the same time how gay men claiming their space in a larger community campaign could lead to changed attitudes there. How one small act can galvanise greater change is illustrated by this event leading to other gay socialist republicans getting involved and subsequently founding a broader lesbian and gay anti-imperialist movement.
Cathal Kerrigan
This presentation illustrates how in the provincial setting of Cork the return of a local who had spent years living in London led to the creation of a radical group whose influence on Irish gay history was significant. In 1979 the gay movement was based in Dublin and split into two competing organisations. Meanwhile in the university in Cork a small group was meeting weekly for afternoon tea and cultural chat on Fridays; an invitation to the returned emigrant to attend led to his challenging the group to give radical leadership to the local gay community. The response led to the creation of a gay collective. Within 6 months the collective was publicly lobbying the trade union congress and within 18 months had organised Ireland's first national gay conference. The talk is illustrated by a copy of the collectives manifesto cum poster.
Tarlach O Neill - He/Him
I will use the photograph to talk about what led up to the demo and what happened
Dr. Páraic Kerrigan and Prof. Maria Pramaggiore - He/Him She/Her
Opening on St. Patrick’s Day in 1979 and operating in Dublin’s then blighted Temple Bar district, the Hirschfeld Centre was a community-built institution that incubated numerous political causes, including the campaign for decriminalization of homosexuality, the effort to elect the first queer representative in the Irish parliament, and AIDS activism. The centre was also the locus for media projects that brought LGBTQ lives to centre stage—and television screens—across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. As that group has now aged, with a number lost to AIDS, the legacy and the archive associated with this ephemeral and yet materially solid site--the building still stands at 10 Fownes Street—is in jeopardy of being erased. We argue that oral history, archival research and a clearly articulated concept of intergenerational collaboration is essential to the ability of researchers to account for the discontinuities of queer Irish histories.
Sarah Cosgriff - She/Her
When we talk about the contributions of LGBTQIA+ people to science, we often refer to Alan Turing. This presentation will talk about two scientists who contributed greatly to science and stories which we should share more. However, it is also important to recognise that historical LGBTQIA+ scientists are not representative. Sarah will talk about how this can mean that she can find it difficult to find historical role models for herself (as someone with mixed heritage and is asexual), what representation of living scientists looks like and what is being done in order to drive change. Sarah Cosgriff (she/her) is an asexual science communicator with a background in biology.
Dr Clifford WILLIAMS
Over the last four years the presenter has researched the early organised gay and lesbian youth groups of Britain. In doing so recollections and testimonies have been recorded, and masses of documents (many ephemeral) have been discovered. This presentation looks at some of what was discovered and what has been done with this material.
Luna Morgana - She/Her
The Gallus of Catterick was an ancient roman trans woman whose remains were discovered in 1982. Join us for a journey through how she would have lived in 4th Century AD Britain.
Donna Rose - She/Her
The presentation considers meanings and queer connotations of the words "camp", "flamboyancy" and "opulence" through Joshua Reynold's (1723–1792) Portrait of Charles Coote, a painting which hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland.
Sinéad Keogh - They/Them or He/Him
A historic overview on queer specific curation in Ireland - it's legacy and impact.
Peter Roscoe & Daisy Haywood - He/Him She/her
Setting up a switchboard in the middle of rural Shropshire in 1977 was no mean feat. This is a story of bravery, tenacity and determination. Committed to gender parity from the outset the volunteers created a safe resource for some of England's most isolated LGBTQ+ people. Now in older age, these pioneers have left an enduring legacy to younger generations
Aoife Convery
Aiming to shed light on the life and legacies of queer artists, this talk will discuss Patrick Hennessy and Henry Craig Robertson. Hennessy and Craig were lifelong partners, living together in Dublin from 1946 until Hennesey's death in 1980. Through their art, the couple, particularly Hennessy, expressed their queerness in a way acceptable to hetronormative Catholic society while still being recognizably queer to those who looked beyond the surface. Hennessy expressed his sexuality through the use of the male nude as a classical motif as well as an allegory for inner reflection and as a way of adding queer subtext to his work. Hennessy also made use of abstract and mysterious titles to allude to queer issues, such as his work entitled De Profundis whose title references Oscar Wilde, a man who was at the time still viewed extremely negatively by society due to his homosexuality. Both Hennessy and Craig lived together for nearly four decades, traveling around the world while still being secretive, private people on the outside. Their role as artistic collaborators who expressed their queerness as subtext enabled them to live their life as successful painters also being in a queer relationship. The two also ensured they left a great legacy for future generations of artists, creating the Hennessy Craig award, a travel award for young artists. This award ensured that as two queer men unable to be married in their lifetimes, their names and identities have been permanently linked together.
Jo Somerset - She/her
Myrtle Solomon and Sybil Morrison were close friends, united by a belief in pacifism. Despite an age gap of nearly 30 years (Sybil was born in 1893, Myrtle in 1921), they were both stalwarts of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) which was established in 1936 in an attempt to stem the tide which would lead to the second world war. 100,000 British people signed the pledge initiated by Reverend Dick Sheppard: “I renounce war and will never support or sanction another.” As members of the Jewish community, Myrtle’s family actively helped refugees escaping Nazism. Post-war, the PPU was fronted by famous men, but it was women behind the scenes – particularly Sybil and Myrtle – who made the organisation succeed. Both women considered women’s rights as integral to a peaceful society. Sybil was a vociferous suffragist and Chair of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; Myrtle campaigned for equal pay and for women to become Members of Parliament. Although it escaped many people’s notice, the two women were also lesbians. Indeed, Sybil is reputed to have been ‘the most famous dyke in London’ during the 1930s. Little has been written about their role in integrating ‘sexual politics’ into the peace movement, and this study will reveal how they came out during Myrtle’s tenure as Chair of the War Resisters’ International from 1975, responding to gay liberation activists of that time. Sybil died in 1984, and Myrtle three years later. In this last period, they lived together, Myrtle caring for her fellow activist and sister lesbian in testament to a 40-year friendship that had changed the face of the peace movement.
Hannah Tiernan - She/her
From its origins as a three-week festival to becoming Dublin's leading arts centre, Project Arts Centre has continually supported and given voice to the city's LGBT+ community. This presentation explores a number of theatre works that demonstrate the centre's contribution to LGBT+ Activism over the past 55 years.
David Clark - He/Him or They/Them
The Middle Ages are often stereotyped as a time of ignorance and superstition; a time when minorities were persecuted by the Church; or a time before LGBT+ people existed. When we look at the literature and art of the period, though, a much more complex picture emerges. Medieval writers and artists represented and talked about same-sex or queer relationships and gender-variant individuals in lots of different ways: celebrating them as well as condemning them. But is it 'anachronistic' to talk about gay, lesbian, or trans people in the medieval past? Should we be discussing sexual 'acts' rather than 'identities'? This presentation explores how the diverse medieval representations of gender and sexuality might provide both a history for non-heteronormative identities and alternative ways of talking about them.
Vicky Iglikowski-Broad - He/Him
A hidden archive of letters: love letters between men at The National Archives “please be a dear boy and destroy this note” In the past, the State played a major role in repressing and controlling the lives of gay and bisexual men and women. This attempt to supress sexuality in the past has paradoxically left us with many potential sources for the experiences of LGBTQ individuals; court reports, witness statements and sometimes personal items seized in police raids. Most uniquely among these items are occasional rare love letters written between men. In this talk, Vicky Iglikowski-Broad will highlight a few example letters to give an insight into the lives of queer men before partial decriminalisation. These letters highlight the risks gay men were willing to take, their bold defiance in the face of the law, and the universality of love that can be found in these pages.
Di Stiff - She/her
Both presentations are existing short podcast videos which we created for LGBT+ History Month and Pride during lockdown to maintain a presence even though we were closed and could not hold physical events. The first video is the little known story of Harry Daley, former lover of EM Forster, who lived in Surrey and whose memoirs we hold in the archive. The second video features 5 hidden connections of Alan Turing to Guildford, once his home town, as researched by local Turing expert, Paul Backhouse, a Guildford Town Guide, who hosts the Alan Turing walk.
Jay Taverner (i.e. Jacky Bratton and Jane Traies) - she/hers/they/theirs
More than twenty years ago, Jay Taverner broke new ground with their happy-ending lesbian romance, 'Rebellion.' Two further sapphic adventure stories won them a faithful readership. Now, to celebrate their long-awaited fourth novel, 'Liberty,' the two women who write as Jay Taverner talk about how fiction can help us to read the past through a queer lens.
Christopher Gallagher - He/Him
We need a Hero! Over the course of its history the Superhero genre has tackled politcal and societal issues. As time progressed the worlds built in these narratives evolved with their audiences and new heroes were born. In this presentation we'll take a look into the representation of queer identities in comics, from heroes, to villains, to civilians in distress, through the history of comic book narratives.
Nathan Edwards - He/Him
I will be exploring the queer representation in TV, focusing on children's TV. This is an important stage in life and representation at this time is essential to accepting and understanding both yourself and the world. I will aim to look at the progression of suck representation through the years
sue sanders - She/Her
a whistle stop tour of the positive changes made by Schools OUT UK through all its projects The Classroom, LGBT+History Moth and OUTing the Past
RUTH ILLINGWORTH - She/her
My presentation will tell the story of Charles Howard-Bury (1883-1963),an explorer, mountaineer, soldier and politician. The presentation will focus particularly on his role as leader of the Royal Geographical Society Reconnaissance of Mount Everest in 1921, which made him internationally famous. I will also look at his earlier travels across Central Asia and the Tian Shan Mountains, as well as his career as an MP and his distinguished military service in World War One, during which he won the D.S.O and was Mentioned in Despatches several times.
Mary Burgess - She/Her
A history of LGBTQ+ groups in Cambridge and the county from the 1970s through to the 2000s and their impact in Cambridge using the resources of the Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridgeshire’s local studies library, including the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and the Cambridge Gay Group.
Cheryl Morgan - She/Her
We all know that in past times female roles in plays were taken by boys. Greek theatre did it centuries before Shakespeare, and the same sorts of issues also affected Kabuki theatre in Japan. But what did this gender play mean to the audiences witnessing it? And what did it mean to the young people famous for portraying the most beautiful of women? The presentation will include the latest research on the adult lives of some of Shakespeare's "boy" actors.
Deirdre Swain - She/Her
Last year marked the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Patricia Highsmith, a fascinating writer who changed my life. She is the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley and is best known as a mystery and crime novelist. However, her second novel, The Price of Salt belonged to a different literary genre. It was groundbreaking and unique at the time of its publication in 1952. It is considered to be the first lesbian novel where neither female protagonists find themselves in a tragic situation at the end of the book. It was written under a pseudonym, because Highsmith did not want to be known as a lesbian author. My presentation discusses the novel, The Price of Salt, the inspiration surrounding it, and the life of Patricia Highsmith, the details of which are compelling and, at times, disturbing.
Rose Collis
I have been an out lesbian writer, performer and activist for more than 40 years. I have witnessed, participated in and chronicled many key events in lesbian and gay history: early Pride marches; the AIDS crisis; tabloid media attacks; Section 28 and, in particular, my four years at City Limits magazine in the 1980s. I have curated an extensive archive that chronicles and reflects the social/political history and evolution of the lesbian community’s contribution to the fight for LGBT rights. I realised that this would form the ideal basis for a solo stage show Forty Years Out (And Counting): Performing The Archive, written and performed by me – an artistic intervention bridging the gap between art and heritage. It responds directly to the growing interest around lesbian history amongst many LGBT people. Acapella songs and first-hand testimony combine to deliver an entertaining show combining true tales of discrimination, demonstration, commemoration and celebration. A 20-minute ‘taster’ of what might be included in the final show, comprising stories, images and acapella songs, followed by a Q&A. I presented it for the first time at the ALMS Conference Berlin June 2019. As part of the Outing the Past 2021, I performed the ‘taster’ at Bedford Library, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and at Jubilee Library Brighton on March 1, as part of its LGBT History Month events.
Rosie Adamson-Clark - She/Her
The 20 minute film explores a mother's bisexuality as seen from the perspective of a disabled daughter and her family.