This tour explores how gender and sexuality is constructed or omitted in Victorian encyclopaedic museums via their displays and associated collections of natural science and human culture. It will reveal the legacy of colonial heteropatriachical thinking and the implications of this for contemporary LGBTQ audiences.

Stephen Welsh has been Curator of Living Cultures at Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, since 2007. He is responsible for ensuring access, both physical and intellectual, to a collection of over 18,000 ethnographic objects from all over the world. His most recent exhibitions include China: Journey to the East, Breed: The British and their Dogs, and Warriors of the Plains. Previously he was Project Curator at the International Slavery Museum, National Museum Liverpool, from 2005 to 2007. His research interests include colonialism, multiculturalism and sexuality.

Please note: tours are limited to 15 people due to space restrictions.

This tour explores how gender and sexuality is constructed or omitted in Victorian encyclopaedic museums via their displays and associated collections of natural science and human culture. It will reveal the legacy of colonial heteropatriachical thinking and the implications of this for contemporary LGBTQ audiences.

Stephen Welsh has been Curator of Living Cultures at Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, since 2007. He is responsible for ensuring access, both physical and intellectual, to a collection of over 18,000 ethnographic objects from all over the world. His most recent exhibitions include China: Journey to the East, Breed: The British and their Dogs, and Warriors of the Plains. Previously he was Project Curator at the International Slavery Museum, National Museum Liverpool, from 2005 to 2007. His research interests include colonialism, multiculturalism and sexuality.

Please note: tours are limited to 15 people due to space restrictions.

Emily Crompton leads a heritage walking trail mapping the political, economic and social background of how Manchester built Europe’s first Gay Centre.

This 2 hour walking tour will follow the story of how Manchester became one of the first places to have an entirely publicly funded, purpose built centre for the gay community. We will follow the money, as it were, from the Town Hall to Canal Street and then to Sidney Street and one of the city’s most diverse urban blocks, home to an evangelical church and conference centre, a plethora of fast-food takeaways, Manchester’s Islamic Centre, a vegan wholefoods cooperative and the LGBT Centre!

The story is one of unlikely success in the face of public funding cuts, some hostile political foes and an infamous 140 signature petition. It is also one which perfectly shows the change in public sector funding from the 80s to the present day. Above all, it is a heartening story of community spirit and perseverance. We will also look forward to the future of the LGBT Centre.

• Start: Manchester Town Hall main entrance, Albert Square
• Finish: Sidney Street Café with tea and cake
• Time: Meet 1:45pm for a 2pm start
• Contact: Emily Crompton, Architect at URBED, 0161 200 5500

A documentary about the man who brought us all out of the ‘Celluloid Closet’.

Director Jeffrey Schwarz looks back at Russo’s life as a film fan, a film critic and latterly as an AIDS activist. In the aftermath of Stonewall (1969), Russo found his voice as an angry critic of LGBT representation in the media. Always defiant and eloquent, this moving and inspiring film tells the story of one of our movement’s most important figures.

The screening will be introduced by Dr Andrew Moor of Manchester Metropolitan University, and there will be a post-screening discussion.

Event in association with MMU’s Seeing Queerly program.

Written and directed by Frank Ripploh, who also stars in the film, this very personal – and very graphic – sex comedy follows the constantly cruising lifestyle of Frank, a gay schoolteacher, and charts his relationship with sweet-natured, domesticated Berndt.

The screening will be introduced by Dr Andrew Moor of Manchester Metropolitan University, and there will be a post-screening discussion.

Facebook event page

Event in association with MMU’s Seeing Queerly program.

An afternoon of films and A/V presentations on LGBT activism, presented by the people who were there.

1:45 Pride (2014)

Mike Jackson (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) introduces a special showing of last year’s smash hit Pride, starting Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton (120 mins).

1:00 London Rebel Dykes of the 1980s

Before there were queer activists and Riot Grrls, there were the Rebel Dykes of London. Rose Bush presents an academic cabaret of female power and political transition in the Thatcher years. Talk contains frank references to sex and BDSM culture (30 mins).

12:30 Out And About (2005)

Orla Egan (UCC, Cork LGBT Community) presents the documentary (produced by Frameworks Films) exploring 30 years of LGBT activism in Cork. The film is presented as a historical walking tour of LGBT Cork and explores key moments in the development of the community.

Sidney St. Cafe open as normal serving hot food throughout the day.

Civic festival launch, introduced by the Lord Mayor of Manchester and Sue Sanders, co-chair of Schools OUT UK.

The Campaign for Homosexual Equality present The 1st Allan Horsfall Lecture, presented by Prof. Charles Upchurch (Asst. Professor of British History, Florida State University).

In his talk “Like Sympathetic Ink: Identity and the Early Nineteenth-Century Attempt to Reform of the British Sodomy Laws”, Prof. Upchurch examines some of the earliest attempts to legalise inter-male sex.

In the first of a series of performances across Manchester, you will be invited to a reimagining of the fancy dress ball. Mingle with the fancy-dress ball attendees, learn a little about their lives, and watch them sing and dance to Music Hall songs. Manchester’s finest Victorian police officers will rudely interrupt the evening’s proceedings.

Registration and reimbursement of expenses. Complimentary tea and coffee.

Paul Martin OBE and the Lord Mayor of Manchester open the conference.

Chair: Professor Charles Upchurch (Florida State University)

• Robert Beachy, Yonsei University. “Queer subcultures in Nazi Berlin: what the Gestapo files can tell us”.
• Janet Weston, Birkbeck College, University of London. “Criminals and victims: problems with the history of sexual deviance”.

Chair: Dr Helen Smith (Lincoln University)

• Sonja Tiernan, Liverpool Hope University. “Making History Memorable: Recording the Marriage Equality Campaign in Ireland”.
• Kate Turner, University of Westminster. “Homosexual Law reform and Scottish National Identity, 1950 to the Present”.

Christine Burns MBE was a leading figure in the campaign for trans rights for 15 years, helping secure the passage of the Gender Recognition Act in 2004. She also chaired the North West Equality and Diversity Group for many years and helped organisations develop equality strategy. Her widely praised books ‘Making Equality Work’ and “Pressing Matters” are based on the various aspects of her work.

Peter Tatchell tells the inside story of how Dr Vaernet was authorised by the head of the Gestapo to experiment on gay concentration camp prisoners to discover a medical means to eradicate homosexuality - and how he escaped prosecution for war crimes with the collusion of Danish and British governments.

Peter Tatchell has campaigned for LGBT and other human rights since 1967. A pioneer of the London Gay Liberation Front in 1971, he staged the first gay rights protest in a communist country (East Germany, 1973). He was the defeated Labour candidate in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election – the dirtiest, most homophobic and violent election in Britain for 100 years.

In 1989, he helped found the AIDS activist group ACT UP London, and in 1990 he was a founding member of the LGBT direct action organisation OutRage!

He outed 10 anti-gay bishops in 1994; twice attempted a citizen’s arrest of the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe (1999 and 2001); interrupted the 1998 Easter Sermon of the then anti-equality Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey; ambushed Tony Blair’s motorcade in protest at the Iraq war (2003); and was beaten by neo-Nazis at the banned Moscow Pride parade in 2007.

His inspirations are Mahatma Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. For more info about Peter’s human rights campaigns and to make a donation: Peter Tatchell Foundation

Juno Roche will be reading from:

• “Tyrannosaurus Drip” (Julia Donaldson)
• “Who Are You Stripy Horse?” (Jim Helmore)
• “The Paper Dolls” (Julia Donaldson)

Abigail Ward is a freelance curator, writer and DJ with over fifteen years’ experience in the music industry and cultural sector. She has been running Manchester District Music Archive since 2003.

Read her Blog Article here

In her talk, Abigail will be examining three key points in the city’s LGBT music history: the birth of punk in 1976; the house music explosion of the early 90s; and the alt-gay scene which developed a decade later as a response to the homogeneity of the music on offer on Canal Street - Manchester’s gay village.

Lou Englefield is Pride Sports Director and will share some of her life story with us.

From the start of her involvement in activism to setting up Pride Sports in 2006, Lou will take us on a journey through LGBT Sports and activism.

Stephen Boyce will be delivering a diversity lesson for younger children.

Aimed specifically at children under 6 and those who support them. COLOURS, come along and listen to Mike Inkpen’s book brought to life with games and ideas from the Schools Out Classroom.

Chair: Prof. Stephen Whittle OBE (Manchester Metropolitan University).

Peter Scott-Presland presents “Addressing historical silences: CHE, the first ‘out’ and popular homosexual rights group”

Stephen Boyce will be delivering a diversity lesson aimed at children under 11 and those who support them.

Families, Frocks, and Penguins–

Using four fantastic books we will discover a wealth of diverse families and what makes them so important to each and everyone of us. The books are:

• “Boy in the Dress” (David Walliams)
• “And Tango Makes Three” (Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson)
• “Welcome to the Family” (Mary Hoffman & Ros Asquith)
• “The Great Big Book of Families” (Mary Hoffman & Ros Asquith)

An intimate performance at Manchester Central Library takes a fresh look at the motives behind the police raid. Secrets and politics combine to make some men, and ruin others. Detective Caminada courts the press, but can he keep control of the story?

Peter Scott-Presland will read from his forthcoming book, Amiable Warriors.

The Campaign for Homosexual Equality between 1967 and 1973 developed a unique approach to the emancipation of homosexuals. The reason for prejudice was ignorance, and ignorance would only be dispelled if heterosexual members of society came to know some real-life homosexuals. So it was important for people to start coming out. But they would never be able to do that until they had discovered some self-awareness and self-confidence. In order to do that, they needed, in the words of the title of Volume 1 of Amiable Warriors, A Space to Breathe. Somewhere they could explore what it meant to be gay, and to gain the acceptance and support of other homosexuals. Initially this was going to be through Esquire Clubs, but when these proved difficult to get off the ground, the focus moved to the idea that any group of gay people can carry around its own ‘gay space’, and local CHE groups were formed across the country - over 100 in total. The readings will focus on aspects of creating this ‘gay space’: firstly, a brief account of trying to get a club off the ground in Burnley; and then the antecedents of local groups - Albany Trust discussion groups 1964-67 in London, and heterosexual singles clubs around the country. Followed by questions from the audience.

For forty years Peter Scott-Presland has been involved in the LGBT rights movement, as campaigner, journalist, playwright and entertainer (‘the Vera Lynn of the homosexual community’, as he was described in 1982). The founder director of first Consenting Adults (1979-86) and then Homo Promos (1988 - present) Theatre Companies, highlights of his theatrical career include a series of Heath Plays (1981-85) designed to be performed at midnight on Midsummer Night near the Hampstead Heath cruising ground, the controversial ‘Leather’, which a brewery tried to ban from its pub theatre (Finborough Arms, 1989); and the musical ‘La Ronde’, nominated for Best Musical 2012 in the off-West End awards.As a journalist he worked for Gay News, Gay Times, Axiom and above all Capital Gay (1981-88) where he won a reputation as a savagely funny columnist and reviewer of the contemporary gay scene, as well as being a reporter. He is currently writing lyrics for the band ‘Matyas and the Hybrid Mind’.

He was commissioned in 2010 to write the ‘official’ history of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. Though lacking formal qualifications as a historian - he has an MA and BLitt from Oxford in English - he does have the advantage of knowing some of the people who were involved in the story he is describing. He has an insider’s view of what it was like to set up and run campaigns in the 1970s and 80s; and his journalistic abilities can animate a unique story which has not to this day been told.

Read exctracts of Amiable Warriors here

Jan Bridget is a 67 year old lesbian from a poor, lower class, background. Originally from Lancashire but lived in Calderdale for 25 years. As a mature student she acquired BA in classical studies at Queen Mary, London followed by the Diploma in Youth and Community Work at Manchester Polytechnic. Set up and jointly ran Lesbian Information Service (1987-1998) and Gay and Lesbian Youth in Calderdale (1999-2011).

Jan will talk about setting up LIS in Leicester in 1987, some of the challenges they faced and how attitudes have changed (or not) in the last 35 years of working for LGBT equality.

Lesbian Information Service Find out more about Jan’s collection at Lancashire Archives here

Catherine Hall will be reading from:

• “My Invented Life” (Lauren Bjorkman)
• “Beautiful Music for Ugly Children” (Kirstin Cronn-Mills)
• “The Repercussions” (Catherine Hall)

Chair: Dr Matt Cook (Birkbeck, University of London)

• Helen Smith (University of Lincoln): “It’s Queer up North? Working-class men, masculinity and same-sex desire from Oscar Wilde to Wolfenden”.
• Jeff Evans (Manchester Metropolitan University): “The police targeting of working-class inter-male sex 1850-1914. Myth or reality? A sampled statistical reading of indictable prosecutions”.

Chair: Dr Emma Vickers (Liverpool John Moores University)

• Mark Walmsley (University of Leeds): “Wholesome secracy: Understanding the absence of gay men and women from mainstream media narratives in the US before Stonewall”.
• Dan Callwood (Queen Mary, University of London): “National problems, transnational solutions?: Writing a history of gay liberation in France, 1968-82”.

Emily Crompton leads a heritage walking trail mapping the political, economic and social background of how Manchester built Europe’s first Gay Centre.

This 2 hour walking tour will follow the story of how Manchester became one of the first places to have an entirely publicly funded, purpose built centre for the gay community. We will follow the money, as it were, from the Town Hall to Canal Street and then to Sidney Street and one of the city’s most diverse urban blocks, home to an evangelical church and conference centre, a plethora of fast-food takeaways, Manchester’s Islamic Centre, a vegan wholefoods cooperative and the LGBT Centre!

The story is one of unlikely success in the face of public funding cuts, some hostile political foes and an infamous 140 signature petition. It is also one which perfectly shows the change in public sector funding from the 80s to the present day. Above all, it is a heartening story of community spirit and perseverance. We will also look forward to the future of the LGBT Centre.

• Start: Manchester Town Hall main entrance, Albert Square
• Finish: Sidney Street Café with tea and cake
• Time: Meet 1:45pm for a 2pm start
• Contact: Emily Crompton, Architect at URBED, 0161 200 5500

Sylvia Kölling will talk about how archives acquire deposits, what happens during cataloguing and why having a specific LGBT collection is important. Sylvia will also showcase Allan Horsfall’s collection of letters and clippings and demonstrate how we can use archival material to write a more complete history of gender and sexuality in this country.

Dr Sarah Parker is an Impact Research Fellow in English Studies at University of Stirling. Sarah will talk about Olive Custance, wife of Lord Alfred Douglas and poet. We will learn more about both Olive and Bosie, their unconventional relationship, their romances with both men and women and their explorations of the fluidity of gender.

After Oscar

Rose Bush will share some of her riotous past with us in a presentation of this ongoing oral history project.

This talk will be a mixture of audio interviews, photographs and films of the period.

Before there were queer activists, before there were Riot Grrls there were the Rebel Dykes of London. We were young, we were feminists, we were anarchists, we were punks. We lived together in squats in Hackney and Brixton and at Greenham Camp (Green and Blue gates only). We went to political demos every Saturday, we created squatted crèches and bookshops and Wild Women Weekends (a forerunner of Ladyfests), feminist newspapers, like Feminaxe and magazines such as Shocking Pink. We had bands like Poison Girls and Well Oiled Sisters. We ran sex positive Lesbian S/M clubs such as Chain Reactions, we were trans friendly, we worked in the sex industry. We talked politics. We fought, we made up, we created and we loved.

Rose Bush is Manchester based promoter of queer events and she works as a nurse. Over the past 5 years in Manchester she has been involved with Ladyfests, Queerchester, Queer We Are and The Riot Collective. She’s going to be aged 50 very soon, and before living in Manchester she has moved around every few years, living in amongst other places, San Francisco, London, Berlin, Glasgow and Todmorden, always finding some feminist or queer project or other to inspire her.

Read her blog article here

This presentation is suitable for over 15s only.

Catherine Hall will sign copies of Days of Grace, The Proof of Love, and The Repercussions on our News From nowhere book stall.

Dan Smith will deliver an LGBT History lesson for secondary school children and young adults.

Mike Jackson, co-founder with Mark Ashton of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), and David (Dai) Donovan, South Wales NUM will talk about the activities of the London LGSM and the Neath, Dulais and Swansea Valleys Miners’ Support Group during the strike, the lasting links that were formed and the lessons for today’s struggles.

Full information on the WCML website.

• Location: Working Class Movement Library

Peter Scott-Presland will be signing his book Amiable Warriors on the news from Nowhere book stall.

Alexander Herrmann grew up in Pasewalk, in the former GDR and will share some of his life story with us about what it was like to grow up gay in the provinces in the GDR and how things have changed (or not) since unification.

Helena Whitbread will talk about how it is possible, through the medium of Anne Lister’s journal, to trace the construction of her own lesbian identity in an era which did not, or chose not to, recognise that sexual love between women existed or even deemed possible.

Helena gained a degree, as a mature student, in Politics, Literature and the History of Ideas from Bradford University followed by a Post-graduate Certificate of Education under the auspices of Leeds University. Since 1983 she has been studying and editing the Journals of Anne Lister. Her first publication was I Know my Own Heart, published by Virago Press in 1988. In 2010 Virago published a revised and expanded version under the title The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, following the film of the same name which BBC2 made in that year. A second book of extracts, No Priest But Love, was published by New York University Press in 1992. Since her retirement from teaching Helena has been working on a biography of Anne Lister.

Sue Sanders will be reading from:

• “Spacegirl Pukes” (Katy Watson)
• “Pugdog” (Andrea U’Ren)
• “The Sissy Duckling” (Harvey Fierstein)

David Edgley: former twink involved in gay rights – now old codger spending retirement delving into LGBT history and also helping with our local LGBT helpline and community newsletter.

David will talk about the many and perhaps surprising LGBT Histories that Nottinghamshire has produced.

Read David’s blog article about Queer Notts here.

Razia Aziz – During a half century which has taken me from Lagos to London to Brighton to Lewes, from a girls’ public school to Cambridge to company director, from an Indian Muslim heritage to the mixed blessings of the distinctive UK brand of 21st century diversity, from an ambition to be a professional singer to body work practitioner to Interfaith Ministry, I have often pondered upon the meaning and significance of my gender identity and sexuality in pursuit of an answer to the question we all ask at some point in our life: “What’s it all for?”

The world continues to turn, and attitudes towards gender, sex and sexuality have undergone a sea change since my own adolescence in the race-and-class-conscious south London of the 1970s. My personal thread of a journey has woven itself both because, and in spite, of these epoch-making changes.

All the while, Spirit remains luminous and unchanging, though my unfolding relationship to It is the constant and compelling source & destination of my life quest.

Stuart Milk will be reading from “The Harvey Milk Story” by Kari Krakow, a children’s book on his uncle, the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California.

Helena Whitbread will sign copies of The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister on our News From Nowhere stall.

Prof. Charles Upchurch (Florida State University) presents “The use and misuse of digitalised newspapers”.

Prof. Keith Julian (Manchester University) presents “Data Handling and how to avoid common misreadings with historiography.”

In her talk Laila El-Metoui will share her experience of managing LGBT projects and initiatives within the Further Education sector.

Laila is a highly enthusiastic and dedicated education specialist with 20 years’ experience in Further Education. An extremely well organised manager with a teaching background in ESOL and EFL, she currently chairs NATECLA London as a volunteer, providing a range of CPD and networking opportunities for its members.

Last year she co-ordinated Educate Out Prejudice at Morley College, London, a project which offered practical solutions to support the inclusion of LGBT themes into the adult ESOL curriculum. It investigated and consulted on issues relating to the content of enrolment forms and data collection of sexual orientation and gender identities through a pilot with a range of ESOL (and other) classes; and offered practical support, including training and teaching resources for themes which can be challenging for learners and staff from diverse cultural backgrounds. Summary of the project can be found here Educate Out Prejudice

This is year she is managing The humane selfie: ‘Life gets better together’ at Working Men’s College, London, a project which aims to bring students and staff together in purposeful, mutually beneficial activities, to promote greater understanding and respect between various protected characteristics. While the project considers all protected characteristics, there will be greater emphasis on sexual orientation, gender identity, and religion and belief. Further details about the project can be found on this link The Humane Selfie: Life Gets Better Together

Laila hosts a bi-monthly radio programme on Reel Rebel Radio. OUTtakes, the tracks of my life, raises positive awareness of the LGBTiQ population in the UK. It aims to ‘usualise’ this often invisible community through an interview, music and chats. It hopes to further support the establishing of the LGBTiQ population as also being normative. She invites a different LGBTIQ person who is interviewed through the tracks of their lives. Guests select music which has a specific significance to them and chats to them about their lives. #OUTtakesradio

She is the Founder and Director of LelmEducation a consultation and training organisation supporting the Further Education sector with staff development training and consultancy on Equality and Diversity with a particular emphasis on LGBT.

Shrewsbury is the county town for Shropshire, a highly rural area. This session will look at what has been achieved, how LGBT visibility has increased over the years, particularly in Shrewsbury and across the County.

Sue Gorbing: is a film programmer for SpringOut, which works with the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival, a core member of SAND (Safe Ageing No Discrimination) and a director of FRESh (Fairness Respect Equality Shropshire).

Peter Roscoe: is a lifelong LGBT and union activist, a co-founder of the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival and a director of FRESh.

Geoff Hardy: has been an LGBT activist since 1971, a co-founder of the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival, a core member of SAND and a director of FRESh.

http://www.rainbowfilmfestival.org.uk/ https://lgbtsand.wordpress.com/ http://www.freshshropshire.org.uk/

Adam Lowe is a writer, publisher and performer, and the current LGBT History Month Poet Laureate. He founded non-profit writer development programme Young Enigma, supporting young and emerging writers who identify as LGBT.

He also runs Dog Horn Publishing, producing cutting edge books, and Vada Magazine, an alternative LGBT magazine for the discerning reader. His solo show ‘Ecstasies’ toured Manchester, Leeds and Brighton, and he has performed across the world - most recently in Chicago at the Mixed Roots showcase at the Critical Mixed Race Studies conference at DePaul University.

Adam will be reading from “Trumpet” (Jackie Kay)

Adam will also read from his own poetry.

Joyce Layland LGBT Centre, Sidney St, Manchester. Opposite All Saints Park.

Breakfast available in many venues close to the conference. Complimentary tea and coffee available at the conference venue.

Stuart Milk, president of the Harvey Milk Association, formally opens the day.

Chair: Mark Walmsley (University of Leeds)

• Alva Traebert (University of Edinburgh). “At the Intersection of Queer History, Academic Community and National Archives: Scottish Storytelling Sessions 2012-2014”.
• Emma Vickers (Liverpool John Moores University). “Breaking the silence: trans* veterans of the British Armed Forces and the power of oral testimony”.

Chair: Dr Justin Bengry (Birkbeck, University of London)

• Alejandro Melero (University Carlos III de Madrid): “Problems and difficulties in the study of the representation of homosexuality in Spanish cinema under Franco”.
• Kirsty Heyam (University of Leeds): “Medieval languages, modern assumptions: a call for interrogative translation”.
• Cheryl Morgan (Out Stories Bristol): “Their-stories: Interrogating gender identities from the past”.

Meet Matilda, a little girl who is given a magic rainbow bag. Help Matilda solve clues to get to the end of the rainbow and find what she’s looking for. Fun interactive story session with puppets, song, dance and a craft activity. Why not tweet a photo of your finished creation to us at @PHMMcr.

Family Friendly activity, suitable for under 5s and their grown ups.

Booking required via Eventbrite. In order to keep our events programme affordable to everyone, please make a donation Suggested donation £3

Peter Purton will explore how LGBT workers turned the trade unions into champions of equality and how unions made a big contribution on everything from employment rights to equal marriage. They will also have a large part to play in challenging the homo- and transphobia that continues at work and outside it.

Sheila Standard remembers where she was in 1979 when it was announced on the radio that First Strike, American Cruise Nuclear missiles were to be based at Greenham Common USAF Airbase. Like most people she was gripped with fear and a sense of inevitable disaster, and felt powerless to do anything. The worst bit was her mum lived near Greenham, and would ‘get it first!’ However, the feeling of powerlessness did not last for long. All over the country people started to organise into anti missile groups, and she joined Withington Against the Missiles, a local group in Manchester, and accidentally got involved in an NVDA (Non Violent Direct Action) protest becoming one of the “Bunker 4”.

Then something truly epic happened… Greenham.

This is a very personal reflection of one of thousands of women discovering the power of working together, singing, being silly, the wit and repartee, fear and bravery, that goes with bringing fences crashing down, to the mockery of militarism.

A women’s movement that conflicted and then embraced sexuality, and stood up to the hateful press, and “respectable society”, embracing freedom, and our right to struggle against the holocaust.

It is also a story of how women all over the country embraced Greenham and supported the Greenham Women’s Camps, and some of the triumphs and also low ebbs of this anarchic protest.

Prof Stephen Whittle (Manchester Metropolitan University) presents “How to historicise past attitudes towards gender diversity”.

In the early 1800s there was a vibrant social and sexual scene for men which revolved around the house of Isaac Hitchen in Great Sankey near Warrington. Meeting places like this were known as ‘molly’ houses in the parlance of the day. In May of 1806 a large group of the men were arrested following a raid on the house. Some escaped, but many of them were charged with ‘sodomy’ or an ‘unnatural crime,’ which in England carried the death penalty from the 1530s until 1861. In September of 1806, five of the men, including Hitchen himself, were sentenced to death by hanging. There is a Preston based LGBT community project named in his memory.

“Isaac Hitchen’s House” tells the story of these men, the investigation, and the attitudes of the authorities, in song. Written and performed by Eleanor Levin, Nina George and Scott Millington of the Grievous Angels as part of Lancaster’s ‘Documenting Dissent’ project led by Global Link with grateful acknowledgement to Harry Cocks, Richard Norton and the Lancashire Archives.

Eleanor, Nina and Scott’s first musical foray together was in 2005 as part of ‘The Mistresses of the Ten Minute Musical’ and led them to be instrumental in the foundation of the Grievous Angels, a solidarity-folk collective which was based in Lancaster. They are currently working on a project of songs based on Lancaster’s local history, and developing their own original works.

Website of the song Documenting Dissent’s homepage

Peter Tatchell looks at the relationship between racism & heterosexism in the colonial era and the on-going impact of Britain’s exported homophobia worldwide.

Peter Tatchell has campaigned for LGBT and other human rights since 1967. A pioneer of the London Gay Liberation Front in 1971, he staged the first gay rights protest in a communist country (East Germany, 1973). He was the defeated Labour candidate in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election – the dirtiest, most homophobic and violent election in Britain for 100 years.

In 1989, he helped found the AIDS activist group ACT UP London, and in 1990 he was a founding member of the LGBT direct action organisation OutRage!

He outed 10 anti-gay bishops in 1994; twice attempted a citizen’s arrest of the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe (1999 and 2001); interrupted the 1998 Easter Sermon of the then anti-equality Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey; ambushed Tony Blair’s motorcade in protest at the Iraq war (2003); and was beaten by neo-Nazis at the banned Moscow Pride parade in 2007.

His inspirations are Mahatma Gandhi, Sylvia Pankhurst, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. For more info about Peter’s human rights campaigns and to make a donation: Peter Tatchell Foundation

Some of the best LGBT stories from forty years of organising in UNISON, the public service union, and its predecessor unions. The pitched battle on the letters page of the union magazine in 1974. How ten years later, 70 lesbian and gay union members were accused of running a brothel. Why in the early 90s we negotiated a right of reply for Black lesbians and gay men in The Voice newspaper. Why we were slated on the pages of Bi Community News and what happened next. How one woman found her voice during a rules debate. All this and more. The moral of the story? We are stronger together!

In the concluding part of the series, you will discover what happened to the fancy dress ball attendees. Original newspaper accounts have been used to dramatise the infamous court trial. Will all of the prisoners maintain their vow of silence, or will the threat of prison force someone to speak out?

Join Catherine O’Donnell on a tour of the PHM’s main galleries and discover how the history of gender and sexuality has been affected by society, politics and activism over the past 200 years. Suitable for adults and young people. No booking required; however, places are limited. First come, first served.

In order to keep our events programme affordable to everyone, please make a donation

Suggested donation £3

Meeting at the information desk 13:20 to start the tour for 13:30

Chair: Craig Griffiths (St Marys, London Uni) with invited participants from National and Regional Archives and Libraries.

Kindly supported by the Britten-Pears Foundation

Dr Kate Cook will speak about her involvement in the 1990s struggles to end rape and about the involvement of lesbian feminists in the movement against violence against women and girls.

At the age of twenty-six, in 1896, Eva Gore-Booth was sent to recover from illness in the picturesque village of Bordighera in Italy. In the garden, standing under an olive tree, she first met a young English woman, Esther Roper. The encounter was to change the two women’s lives forever.

Eva Gore-Booth was the daughter of an Anglo-Irish landlord who owned one of the largest estates in the West of Ireland. In stark contrast, Esther Roper was from working class stock. Within months of her return to Ireland, Eva made an extraordinary decision in order to be with Esther. In 1897, she rejected her aristocratic lifestyle, moving from an opulent mansion in the beautiful countryside of Sligo to a mid-terrace property in the smog-bound quarters of industrial Manchester.

This talk examines the remarkable thirty-year relationship of Eva and Esther. Once labelled as a pair of oddities, it is now clear that the women were open about their relationship, mixing with an eclectic group of radical gay and lesbian activists. The couple became formidable political advocates in England often organising successful and radical campaigns for social justice. Using recently uncovered letters, diaries and manuscripts, this story is a fascinating account of two women who refused to comply with the norms of society at the turn of the twentieth century.

Dr Sonja Tiernan is a Lecturer in Modern History at Liverpool Hope University. She has published widely in the area of LGBT history including two volumes on the histories of sexuality. Her most recent publications include Eva Gore-Booth: an Image of Such Politics (2012) and The Political Writings of Eva Gore-Booth due for publication in 2015. Sonja is currently writing the official history of the Marriage Equality campaign in Ireland to be published later this year.

Feelings and Friends

Using the wonderful story of “Hello, Sailor” and “The Great Big Book of Feelings” Stephen Boyce will explore the world of emotional intelligence for and with children.

Aimed at children under 11 and those who support them.

‘All The Nice Girls’ by Behind The Lines takes an entertaining glimpse at the lives of Gwen Farrar and Norah Blaney through the eyes of male impersonator Ella Shields. Starting out in Lena Ashwell’s concert parties for the troops in WW1 the young Farrar and Blaney quickly adapted their classical ‘cello/piano act into a ‘turn’ full of repartee and physical humour.

Household names in the early 1920s, Farrar and Blaney had an on and offstage partnership, singing popular love songs of the day to each other in West End Revues and living together openly. Atthe same time Ella Shields’ Music Hall act was in decline. ‘All The Nice Girls’ imagines her fictitious reaction to the younger pair as they live the starry life of Bright Young Things. Will their relationship survive the pressures of the age and the conflicting urges to marry and conform or to party wildly into oblivion?

Ali Child is a writer, director and performer. She was a Choral Exhibitioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, appeared at the Arts Theatre with the Marlowe Society and Cambridge University Opera Society and toured for two years with the Footlights Revue. She graduated with a degree in History and a P.G.C.E. in English and Drama.

Rosie Wakley has worked in the theatre in many capacities including Master Carpenter, Stage Manager and ultimately Production Manager at the Coliseum for the English National Opera. She has an M.B.A. degree from Lancaster University and performs widely as her alter ego, lounge singer, Ronnie Rialto.

Kindly sponsored by Foale Consulting Ltd.

Mike Jackson will speak about growing up gay in the 1970s, Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, his role within the group, the archive, the impact of the movie and some practical fashion tips on what to wear whilst overthrowing the capitalist state.

Join Catherine O’Donnell on a tour of the PHM’s main galleries and discover how the history of gender and sexuality has been affected by society, politics and activism over the past 200 years. Suitable for adults and young people. No booking required, however places are limited. First come, first served.

In order to keep our events programme affordable to everyone, please make a donation

Suggested donation £3

meeting at the information desk 14:50 to start the tour for 15:00

Many LGBT people like myself (Prossy Kakooza) run from persecution to seek asylum in nations like the UK thinking they’ll immediately be safe. But most times seeking asylum makes you enter what feels like another form of persecution with having to prove your sexuality to the immigration system. When I asked for asylum, on many levels, it felt like jumping from a frying pan into a fire. In a series of such intrusive and embarrassing questions, I was asked to prove I was gay. How on earth was I or anybody else supposed to do that?!

The UK’s oldest extant bisexual organisation, BiPhoria, is based in Manchester. Its existence has been at times both thanks to, and despite, the wider LGBT scene and culture in the city - giving Manchester a reputation as both a centre of bisexual community and of biphobia. Bi Community News editor Jen Yockney explores the group’s story, in the context of Manchester’s sometimes LGbt culture, and the wider bi movement in the UK since 1981.

Jen Yockney is one of the most prominent bisexual activists in the UK, having worked on giving bi communities support and voice for the past twenty years. She works across many levels: frontline support at the UK’s oldest bisexual support group; publications and policy-making; and as a mentor reaching out to new volunteers to help bi groups and projects around the country blossom.

Different & Diverse

Stephen Boyce uses “Max Champion of the World” and “Made by Raffi” to acknowledge and celebrate how wonderful, unique and different each individual child is and how important that diversity is.

Aimed at children under 11 and those who support them.

Chair: Prof. Sally Hines (University of Leeds).

• Runar Jordåen et. al. (University of Bergen): “Establishing a queer historical archive in Norway”.
• Jennifer Ingleheart (Durham University): “Romosexuality: Ancient Rome and modern LGBT identities”.
• Marianna Muravyeva (Oxford Brookes University): “How traditional is “non” traditional: writing the early history of Russian LGBT community today”.

Chair: John Garrard (formerly of Salford University)

• Matt Cook (Birkbeck College, University of London) & Alison Oram (Leeds Beckett University): “Local queer history”.
• Colin R. Johnson (Indiana University, Bloomington): “What the Torch-Wielding Villagers Knew”.

Linda Bellos will be providing a personal account of some of her historic achievements over the years. She has been actively involved in community politics since the mid 1970’s. She came out as a lesbian and became a feminist in the late 1970’s. She joined the Spare Rib Collective in 1981 and demanded that lesbians be encouraged to be out. In the following years she helped organised the first Black Feminist and the First Black Lesbian Conferences. She argued strongly against the notion of a ‘hierarchy of oppression. In 1987, as Chair of the London Strategic Policy Unit, she was responsible for introducing Black History Month to the UK. She has become a leading authority on equality and human rights law and its practical application across the public sector. Chair of the Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners, she also runs Linda Bellos Associates. Linda was awarded an OBE for her services to diversity in the 2007 New Year’s Honours List. Linda is a regular guest contributor on national radio and television programmes, speaking mainly on current equality and diversity issues. She is a published author who has written many essays and letters on equality and diversity topics.

Cath Booth will be discussing Lesbians and Gays Support the Printworkers (LGSP): a group in London supporting printworkers sacked by Murdoch in 1986, following closely in the footsteps of LGSM during the miners’ strike.

The group took part in marches and actions throughout the year of the strike, making alliances with sacked strikers and other support groups. They produced regular bulletins, badges and posters, and monitored virulently anti-gay articles of the Sun. The presentation will discuss LGSP members’ connections and involvement with the strikers and print unions, including actions and interventions during the strike.

Prof Alex Sharpe will be talking about Trans-Cis Sexual Intimacy in circumstances where gender history has not been disclosed. In recent years, a series of young trans men have been successfully prosecuted for sexual offences in these circumstances. Several have been imprisoned and all have been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for Life.

Prof Sharpe works at Keele University. Her research interests lie within the fields of social and legal theory, legal history, and gender, sexuality and the law. She has been writing about transgender/law issues for over twenty years. She is the author of Transgender Jurisprudence: Dysphoric Bodies of Law (Cavendish, 2002) and Foucault’s Monsters and the Challenge of Law (Routledge, 2010) and over 50 other publications. Prof Sharpe also serves on the International Legal Committee of WPATH (the World Professional Association of Transgender Health), a law reform body that makes third party interventions in litigation worldwide, and sits on Amnesty International’s Expert Committee on the Criminalisation of Sexual and Reproductive Conduct.

Stuart Milk, nephew of Harvey Milk, will read from “The Harvey Milk Story”, a book about his uncle’s work and legacy, and the work of the Harvey Milk Foundation worldwide. Harvey Milk was an American politician who campaigned for gay rights in San Francisco’s famous Castro district. He was tragically assassinated in 1978 alongside his colleague George Moscone. Stuart co-founded the Harvey Milk Foundation, and is now an ambassador for LGBT rights around the world.

The Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus

A performance by the Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus to close the day of talks and performance in the Museum. Performing:

Bread and Roses. Will be the Chorus’ own take on the song which features in the film Pride - Group of gay activists in London: “Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners” who rally to support the rights of Welsh coal miners who went on strike in 1983 for better working condition. Sang for Mike Jackson.

Pokarekare Ana. In April 2013, members and spectators in the parliament of New Zealand sang “Pokarekare Ana” after the house passed the bill legalising same-sex marriage in New Zealand.

About Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus

Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus (MLGC) was founded in 2000 and is the city’s only LGBT community choir. With more than 80 members, it is one of the biggest LGBT choirs in the country.

We are a community choir and welcome LGBT people with a diverse range of skills and abilities. We meet to rehearse, socialise, to give concerts and to perform at a range of events, including civil partnerships and events promoted by other LGBT community groups and affiliated organisations.

To this end we employ a professional choral teacher as our musical director and strive to the highest quality of music-making that we can achieve.

You may have heard or read about MLGC from the Safe to Sing event in November 2014, where several other North West choirs joined with them in Piccadilly Gardens to sing along in solidarity after they had sung on the Metrolink tram system as a form of protest.

This action was prompted by homophobic attacks on two young gay men which had taken place on the city centre tram network. The men had been singing songs from the musical “Wicked”. This event was nationally and internationally supported around the world.

Announcements and feedback about:

• The 3rd What Is & How to Do LGBT History Conference 2016
• The 2nd National or International Festival of LGBT History 2016
• The 1st Joint Archive & Historians LGBT HM Manifesto Conference - Summer 2015.