Stockport Libraries are delighted to welcome the OUTing the Past Festival to Stockport Libraries on Saturday 19th February 12 noon-2pm.

We welcome 4 sensational speakers who will be sharing their very different LGBTQ+ histories.

We move from the Local outwards and from medieval times to present day.

The presentations will be a mix of online and in person and will be available to participate in, live at Stockport Central Library, SK1 3RS accompanied by brews and nibbles, or online via Eventbrite and Zoom.

OTP presentation by Andy Jones, Acting Chair of PLUS, Founder member of PLUS.

Born and bred in Stockport.

Active in community and mental health groups.

How PLUS supported the creation of Stockport Pride in the late 2000's?

A fascinating behind the scenes look at the evolution of Stockport PLUS, a local LGBTQ+ social and
support group and the creation of Stockport Pride

Alex Holmes (she/her) is a PhD student at the University of Leeds, who’s found herself working somewhere between biophysics and biochemistry to find out how tiny parts of the body function. When she isn’t busy “hacking into supercomputers” or complaining about experiments not working, she is very active in scientific outreach and sharing the experience of being #BiInSci. She wants to introduce and reintroduce you to various scientists by delving into their secret lives, and asking the question – why is there a precedent to keep sexuality and science separate?

The Secret Lives of Scientists

LGBTQ+ representation and inclusion in the sciences has historically been erased or kept separate from the work and knowledge. This continues now with calls to keep science away
from politics and topical conversation, but identity- either those doing the science or those having science done unto them - is key in the scientific process, interpretation of results and how they are fed into the wider community.

Dr David Clark is a writer based in London. He worked for many years as an academic and has published widely on medieval gender and sexuality and contemporary uses of the Middle Ages. His queer medievalist crime novel Come the Dark Night debuts with Bloodhound Books in May 2022 under his pen-name, David Tregarthen

Sexual Acts and Identities in the Middle Ages

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

Jeff Evans is the founder and director of OUTing the Past and was the Coordinator of the Pink Guide Project. He is currently Visiting Research Fellow at LJMU, Designer of the Chesters Module that trains PGCE teacher trainers how to deliver LGBT+ Classroom History Lessons. He is also the Project Coordinator of Queering the North Exhibitions – the first retrospective showcase of LGBT+ Activism during the “Irish Troubles”.

Challenging Bigotry in a time of AIDS

The Local University Sector and the privileging of imagined offense, over life! In the early 1990’s a group of young LGBT students attending local colleges produced every year a free showcase magazine promoting LGBT+ advice for ALL Greater Manchester students, called The Pink Guide. This was the 80s and HIV/AIDS was then a deadly disease disproportionally effecting males who had sex with males. The Pink Guide therefore responsibly included the most direct government safe-sex information within it pages. This life saving advice was subjected to attack every year from homo/transphobic student leaders academic leaders. In 1983 it was banned from all Manchester Universities expect UMIST. This is the story of the fight back to assert that saving human life, even that of queers was far more important than upsetting a few bigots.