Lights, Camera, Activism!

By Festival Team on 12 Feb 2015

American LGBT history has a wealth of cinematic output: from the classic Paris Is Burning (1991) to Milk (2008) and Dallas Buyer's Club (2013). On our side of the Atlantic, what film representations are there of LGBT history?

Last year's release of Pride we hope ushers in a watershed of films about LGBT activism and history. We're delighted to show Pride alongside two other audio-visual presentations about LGBT activism in London and Cork.

From the Castro to Section 28: Harvey Milk, Schools OUT UK, and forty years of Educating Out Prejudice

By Festival Team on 5 Feb 2015

How can we all make the world more equal for LGBT people? “Hope will never be silent”, said iconic American politician Harvey Milk, who was assassinated alongside colleague George Moscone in 1978. When faced with tragedy, or oppression everywhere, it's easy to feel powerless and insignificant – both natural responses to seemingly insurmountable problems.

Stuart Milk will be appearing at the First National Festival of LGBT History, to talk about the Milk Foundation's legacy changing rights for people around the world.

A Very Victorian Pub Quiz

By Festival Team on 2 Feb 2015

Do you know what a 'pose plastique' is?  It's got nothing to do with rubber…

The First National Festival of LGBT History invites you to a pub quiz like no other: a historical sex quiz. LGBT Historian, Jeff Evans, will be delving into the steamy history of sex to find questions that both challenge and offend.

Russell T Davies announced as Patron of ‘A Very Victorian Scandal’

By Festival Team on 23 Jan 2015

Man of the moment, Russell T Davies, writer of Cucumber, Queer as Folk and Doctor Who has been announced as a patron of A Very Victorian Scandal.

A Very Victorian Scandal (#AVVS) is a groundbreaking, new theatre project, which will be performed at three sites over St Valentines Weekend 2015 in Manchester.

The First National Festival of LGBT History is now just around the corner!

By Festival Team on 15 Jan 2015

Our schedule is nearly completed, venues are booked, and volunteers primed to present three centuries of history for adults and children of all ages.

Trailblazing campaigners speaking at the event include Christine Burns MBE (Press For Change), Peter Tatchell (Gay Liberation Front), Mike Jackson (featured in the year's smash hit “Pride”), Stuart Milk (chair of the Harvey Milk foundation) and veteran ex-politician Linda Bellos OBE.

CHE presents The 1st Allan Horsfall Lecture: Human Rights in the 1820s

By Festival Team on 13 Nov 2014

We are delighted to announce the formal launch for the 1st National Festival of LGBT History. The opening will be hosted by Sue Sanders (National Chair of Schools OUT UK & LGBT History Month) in front of an invited audience drawn from national and regional organisations, together with leading activists, politicians, and celebrities that have enriched our increasingly diverse nation.

The highlight of the launch will be the **1st Allan Horsfall Lecture**, in honour of one of the UK's leading human rights campaigners. The lecture will be presented by Prof. Charles Upchurch, associate professor in British History at Florida State University, who is flying over exclusively for the Festival. Prof Upchurch's lecture concerns the effort by parliamentarians and others to reform the laws against erotic sexual behaviours between men in Britain starting in the 1820s.

Festival contributions are now closed

By Festival Team on 5 Nov 2014

We've been bowled over the high quality and huge diversity of presentations you've submitted over the last few months. We've had submissions from all around the country, on all kinds of exciting topics that we can't wait to tell you about.

Submissions are therefore now closed for both the festival and academic conferences as we are replete with fantastic contributions. The provisional schedules for each festival element, as well as our opening and closing events, will be unveiled over the coming weeks.

LGBT History Month announces their first National Writers In Residence

By Festival Team on 3 Nov 2014

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month (LGBT HM) is delighted to announce the appointment of Ric Brady and Stephen M Hornby as their first national writers in residence.

LGBT History Month has commissioned Ric and Stephen to write A Very Victorian Scandal, which will be a part of the First National Festival of LGBT History. In 1880, Manchester’s most famous detective, Jerome Caminada, led a police raid on all male fancy dress ball. Forty-seven men were arrested and their trial caused an international sensation. Their original play is based on new research by Jeff Evans, which challenges existing accounts of these events.

Our Stonewall Didn’t Happen in Greenwich Village 1969; It Happened in Hulme 1880!

By Festival Team on 17 Sep 2014

Want to see a re-enactment of a mass arrest and trial of party goers to a ‘queer’ Fancy Dress Ball held in Hulme, a working-class district of Manchester in September 1880?

This is precisely what’s being planned as part of next Valentine’s weekend 2015 as part of the 1st National Festival of LGBT History, part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of LGBT Month 2015.

LGBT History Month is celebrating its 10th anniversary with an exciting event in Manchester over Valentine’s Weekend 2015.

Call for film contributions in collaboration with Filmonik

By Festival Team on 15 Sep 2014

Are you interested in making a film on LGBT topics, but don't know where to start? Or have you made a film containing LGBT topics that you'd like to get to a wider audience?

In collaboration with Filmonik, we are offering help researching, filming, and producing a film of your own, that will be shown at the Festival.