 |
|
Notifications
|
|
Pauline xxx
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/lgbt-history-month-festival-celebrates-8632972
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/lgbt-history-month-2015-unmissable-8594299
Manchester is this week hosting the first national festival focused on exploring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) history.
The festival, which ties in with LGBT History Month, will celebrate the lives and achievements of the LGBT community and champion the cause against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.
Festival organisers say they chose Manchester as the birthplace of the original homosexual and human rights campaign.
Historian Jeff Evans, one of the co-ordinators of the festival, says Manchester’s ‘rich history of resistance’ formed the foundation for what became the gay rights movement.
Jeff, who is based at Manchester Metropolitan University, explained: “It’s no accident that Manchester was the birth place of what we call the gay rights or human rights agenda.
First published use of the term ‘homosexuality’ (Homosexualitat) by Karoly Maria Kertbeny, a German-Hungarian campaigner
First use of the word ‘Bisexual’ in the way we use it now
“The Altrincham Case” - 29 men in Altrincham were prosecuted for homosexual acts, one of the largest such trials in the UK
Sexual Offences Act came into force in England and Wales and decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age and ‘in private’
Committee for Homosexual Equality (CHE) formed
First black lesbian and gay group founded
First national Bisexual Conference is held
Chris Smith, MP for Islington South in London, first MP to come out as gay while in office
The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir James Anderton, claimed AIDs victims were in a ‘human cesspool of their own making’.
Section 28, preventing the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality by local authorities, came into force on 24 May
Albert Kennedy, 16, died after falling from a car park roof in Manchester city centre, while being chased by several attackers. Albert was a runaway from a children’s home in Salford.
World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from list of mental health disorders
House of Commons voted to reduce gay male age of consent to 18
BiPhoria formed followed, in 1995, by Bisexual Action
Transgender Day of Remembrance founded
First Bi Visibility Day
The Lesbian and Gay Foundation formed
Age of sexual consent reduced to 16
Repeal of Section 28
Europride Manchester – first steps to forming Out in the City happened
First International Day Against Homophobia
Civil Partnership Act passed
Gender Recognition Act
Out in the City formed
The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 becomes law making discrimination against lesbians and gay men in the provision of goods and services illegal
Gay Marriage: MPs back the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill
“Manchester has been the focus of resistance and protest to the southern-based centralised state for centuries.
“You only have to look back at the Peterloo Massacre, the modern trade union movement or even the march against Section 28 thirty years ago to see that our region has such a rich history of resistance.
“The link between human rights and gay rights in Manchester is very strong.”
For centuries homosexual people were persecuted and forced underground into a world of shame, secrecy and suppression.
This is still the case in more than 70 countries where being gay is still illegal.
Even when homosexual acts were decriminalised in 1967, men could not be openly gay in public and still faced discrimination in society.
In 1986, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir James Anderton, infamously claimed AIDs victims were in a ‘human cesspool of their own making’.
At the time, Manchester already had a feisty working-class population as well as two growing universities , which brought thousands of young people to the city – all keen to establish their own identity.
This swathe of politically engaged Mancunians threw their support behind the human and gay rights movement.
Jeff claims the 'highly moralistic' approach by police towards homosexuality in the late seventies and eighties sparked a backlash among the growing LGBT community.
He added: “Our universities had a massive impact on the gay rights movement.
“Manchester university and Manchester Poly saw thousands of young people in the sixties move to the city.
Jeff claims the 'highly moralistic' approach by police towards homosexuality in the late seventies and eighties sparked a backlash among the growing LGBT community.
He added: “Our universities had a massive impact on the gay rights movement.
“Manchester university and Manchester Poly saw thousands of young people in the sixties move to the city.
“There were ongoing campaigns against gay men and lesbians.
VIEW GALLERY
“But because of the particular nature of the Lancastrians and Mancunians, that kind of oppression provoked the white flag of resistance.
“That is just the way of the Mancunian. That backlash formed a very proud model of LGBT rights.”
Curators at the People’s History Museum, which is hosting festival events this weekend, are working to include LGBT figures in their exhibitions.
To mark the festival, the museum is displaying artist Oliver Bliss’s ‘Same Sex Marriage Quilt’ which features portraits of all the MPs who voted for the Same Sex Marriage Act.
They have also created at LGBT tour of the museum to explore the achievements of radical LGBT figures in history.
But this hasn’t been without its challenges. Engagement officer Catherine O’Donnell said: “LGBT history in the past has tended to focus on gay men because the law only focussed on their behaviour.
“Our challenge is to include the lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues in that history too.
“We’ve consulted with some great groups to improve that side and are still appealing for donations to improve out displays in the museum.
“Our LGBT history covers about 2-300 years, starting around the time of the Industrial Revolution. Even though homosexuality has always existed the idea of a homosexual identity has not.
“We’ve found a lot of historians are going back and re-evaluating history, and doing much more research into LGBT figures, attitudes and issues.”
The Lesbian and Gay Foundation are also partners in the festival.
For more information, go to: http: lgbthistoryfestival.org.
Read: LGBT History Month 2015: Unmissable events in Manchester
February 14, 2015- -
-
1 likes this
- -
-
Report
March 22, 2015- -
-
Report
March 22, 2015- -
-
Report