Programme

Friday 26 February 

11.00 am LGBT Tour of the People's History Museum

Discover how the history of gender and sexuality has been affected by society, politics and activism over the past 200 years on a tour of the PHM’s main galleries.

The tour lasts 45 minutes and booking is required.  Please email Catherine O'Donnell at events@phm.org.uk

In order to keep our events programme affordable to everyone, please make a donation. Suggested donation £3. There is a second opportunity to take part in this tour on Saturday evening: please see below.

 

2.00pm Professor Susan Stryker presents 'Screaming Queens'

Venue: Manchester Metropolitan University: Lecture Theatre (Second Floor) 2.05, The Sandra Burslem Building (the Manchester Law School).

Professor Susan Stryker (University of Arizona) screens her Emmy Award-winning documentary Screaming Queens: The Riots at Compton's Cafeteria. A unique opportunity to learn about Trans History and question a leading scholar of the discipline.

SCREAMING QUEENS tells the little-known story of the first known act of collective, violent resistance to the social oppression of queer people in the United States - a 1966 riot in San Francisco's impoverished Tenderloin neighbourhood, three years before the famous gay riot at New York's Stonewall Inn. Screaming Queens introduces viewers to street queens, cops and activist civil rights ministers who recall the riot and paint a vivid portrait of the wild transgender scene in 1960s San Francisco. Integrating the riot's story into the broader fabric of American life, the documentary connects the event to urban renewal, anti-war activism, civil rights and sexual liberation. With enticing archival footage and period music, this unknown story is dramatically brought back to life. See more

BOOKING ESSENTIAL: please book via eventbrite here.

6.00pm Civic Festival Launch 

Venue: University of Manchester - the Martin Harris Centre, Oxford Road
Wine and non-alcoholic refreshments available courtesy of Barefoot Wines

6.15 Welcome and Introductions
Sue Sanders (Chair of Schools Out / LGBT History Month)
Councillor Paul Murphy (Lord Mayor of Manchester)
Peter Tatchell, LGBTQ activist and Human Rights campaigner

6.30pm The Second Annual Alan Horsfall Lecture – Professor Susan Stryker

NB: a performance of the brand new play Mister Stokes: The Man-Woman of Manchester (produced by Pagelight Productions) forms the second part of this reception. There is a specific performance of the play for conference delegates on Sunday lunchtime, so don't worry about missing out!

Saturday 27 February (University of Manchester - University Place, Oxford Road)

8.30am Registration

9.15 Welcome and Opening Remarks

9.45 Panel Session One

Historicising LGBTIQ Lives in the Armed Forces

Military Masculinity and Same-Sex Desire in Early Nineteenth Century Britain Charles Upchurch (Florida State University) Perceptions of Same-Sex Relationships in the British Army, 1850-1885 Jonathan Shipe (Florida State University)

The political activism of LGBTIQ Histories

The personal is political: synergies in research and activism in lesbian health agendas Julie Fish (De Montfort University) Changing Conceptions: lesbian parenting research and activism over the last 25 years Kathryn Almack (University of Nottingham) The quiet activism of everyday queer lives Andrew King (University of Surrey)

11.15 Break

11.30 Panel Session Two

Literary Genealogies

Is literature LGBT history? The case of Edward II. Kit Heyam (University of Leeds) From Sumer to Rome: On the Trail of the Great Goddess and Her Gender-Variant Worshippers Cheryl Morgan (OutStories Bristol) Iris Webber - Queer Female Criminality in Sly-Grog Sydney Fiona McGregor (University of Sydney)

Shifting the borders: Transnational Circulations of Sexuality in 20th century encounters between Europe and Japan

Is Rezubian to Lesbian as Rajio Is to Radio? Tracing an Alternative “Lesbian” Continuum in Japan James Welker (Kanagawa University) "I Want to Meet You”: Homoeroticism and Homotextuality in Japanese women’s Travel Writing to Europe on the Eve of WWII Sandra Beyer (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main) Thinking Queer Transnationally through “expat” writings in postwar Japan Mark Pendleton (University of Sheffield)

1pm Lunch

2pm How to do LGBT History Showcases

Taking and Using Oral Testimony Jo Stanley (Lancaster University / University of Hull)

Dramatizing History delivered by Pagelight Productions:   Ric Brady, co-writer of 'A Very Victorian Scandal' Stephen M Hornby, co-writer of 'A Very Victorian Scandal' Chris Hoyle, writer of 'Life's A Drag' Abi Hynes, writer of 'Mister Stokes: The Man-Woman of Manchester'

Data Handling for Historians Ian Rivers (Brunel University London)

Past Caring: Creating an archive for LGBT History Ross Burgess (Independent Researcher)

2.45 Break

3pm Panel Session Three

Exploring the contradictions of "Free" or "Subversive" Spaces

Cabin ‘boys’: Cross-dressed women seafarers and their sexualities Jo Stanley (Lancaster University / University of Hull) Sissy or Sanctuary? Cross dressing as entertainment in the British Armed Forces, 1939-1945 Emma Vickers (Liverpool John Moores) A Queer Sense of Home: Australian Sexiles in London, 1945 – 1978 Daniel Vaughan (Macquarie University)

Memory and the Politics of Commemoration

The Importance of the Pink Triangle for LGBTIQ History and Political Activism Rainer Schulze (University of Essex) Dissenting Adults - The relationship between the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and the Gay Liberation Front 1970-73 Peter Scott-Presland (Independent Researcher) "The Hairpin Drop Heard All Around the World":  Understanding the Emergence and Continuing Power of the Stonewall Narrative Mark Walmsley (Independent Researcher)

4.30 Break

4.45 Roundtable

Discussion and Q&A - LGBT Activism and Academic History

Sue Sanders (Chair, LGBT History Month) Peter Tatchell (LGBT Activist and Human Rights Campaigner) Jeffrey Weeks (London South Bank University)

6.15 LGBT Tour of the People's History Museum

Discover how the history of gender and sexuality has been affected by society, politics and activism over the past 200 years on a tour of the PHM’s main galleries.

The tour, led by Catherine O'Donnell, lasts 45 minutes and booking is required.  Please use the sign-up sheet available at the conference.
 

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

Sunday 28 February (Manchester Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University)

9.30 am Opening Remarks
Sue Sanders (Chair, Schools Out, and Professor Emeritus, Harvey Milk Institute)

10am Panel Session Four

Imperialism, Western Norms and Regional Histories

How to do trans research in Trinidad Nikoli Attai (University of Toronto) Historicising Power Architectures:  Revisiting Japanese Nanshoku in the Twentieth Century Thorben Pelzer (Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities, Essen) Coming out of History and Coming Home—Dimensions of Homosexual Identification in Pai Hisen-yung’s Crystal Boys Flair Dinglai Shi (University of Oxford)

Forming British LGBTIQ Communities

Rethinking the origins of homonormativity: the diverse economies of rural gay life in England and Wales in the 1970s and 1980s Gavin Brown (University of Leicester) Broadcast Journalism and the LGBT Community Matthew Linfoot (University of Westminster) Remembering Pride and Celebrating Place: Finding, Mapping, and Commemorating Queer Heritage in Manchester Lois Stone (University of Manchester)

11.30 Break

11.45 How to do LGBT History Showcase

Historicising trans Susan Stryker (University of Arizona)

12.30 Lunch
Special Performance of Mister Stokes: The Man-Woman of Manchester
Produced by Pagelight Productions 
A new play based on the life of a Victorian trans pioneer whose story has been largely forgotten. Harry Stokes was found drowned in the River Irewell in 1859. When his body was examined, he was found to be biologically female, though he had lived as a man and married twice.  This short drama explores the fascinating history of Mister Stokes and the women he called ‘wife’. It is written by Abi Hynes and directed by Helen Parry. Funded by the Arts Council of England and Wales. 

1.30pm Panel Session Five

A queer turn of events: LGBTIQ Psychology, past and present

From homosexual subject to queer participant: The changing position of the LGBT person in psychology Orla Parslow-Breen (University of Surrey) The queer (oral) history of the Rorschach ink blot test Katherine Hubbard (University of Surrey) Nature and Choice in the Recent Psychology of Sexuality Peter Hegarty (University of Surrey)

The continuing evolution of LGBT History and its relationship with Academia

‘We’ve just lived ordinary women’s lives’ or, Why do lesbian history? Jane Traies (University of Sussex) Trans and non-binary inclusive gender histories: do we have the readings we need, and what do we do if we don’t? Catherine Baker (University of Hull) Sex, Shame and West German Gay Liberation Craig Griffiths (University College London)

3pm Closing Remarks and Feedback