Bristol Pride parade 2023
Celebrate and discover LGBTQ+ lives in Bristol from the past!
OutStories Bristol present a day of fascinating talks at Bristol’s M Shed Museum featuring stories of LGBTQ+ people in the Bristol region over the last 150 years.
Topics include a gay poet who was a military hero, a century of lesbian dress styles, a gender non-conforming Victorian, and the story of Bristol Gay Switchboard which took its first calls 50 years ago this month. We will also hear how to research LGBTQ+ history in the Bristol Archives.
Saturday 22nd February 2025, 10:45am to 4:30pm
M Shed, Princes Wharf, Wapping Road, Bristol BS1 4RN
Getting there Access
The event will be held in the Studio Room on the first floor, upstairs from the main entrance.
Entry is free and open to everyone. Booking is not required – just come and go as you wish.
There will also be information stalls for various local LGBTQ+ community groups.
Programme
10:45am – 11:00am Welcome Andrew Foyle, OutStories Bristol
11am – 11:40am Lori Wylot: Charley Wilson: Victorian Gender Rebel and the Changing Face of Media
11:40am – 11:50am Announcement about a new project: “BLAST! from the Past”
11:50am – 12:30am Jonathan Rowe: “A Crown of Friendship” – Fabian Strachan Woodley
12:30pm – 1:30pm Lunch break
1:30pm – 2:10pm Lucy Bonner and Alec Temple: Bristol Archives – sources for researching LGBTQ+ history
2:20pm – 3pm Kim Renfrew: What is she wearing? 20th-century lesbian dress in the press
3pm – 3:10pm Announcement about a new Project “BLAST! from the Past”
3:10pm – 3:50pm Andrew Foyle: Bristol Gay Switchboard – 50 Years On
3:50pm – 4pm Closing thanks
4:30pm Event closes. Visitors must exit the building before 5pm.
About the talks
Charley Wilson: Victorian Gender Rebel and the Changing Face of Media
Charley Wilson, a gender-nonconforming individual, defied societal norms in the Victorian era. This talk explores their fascinating life through the lens of 19th century media, contrasting it with mediated representations of queer identities today. By exposing the media’s shifting narratives, we’ll challenge the idea that queer identities are a modern phenomenon, uncover another unique example of allyship, and gain a deeper understanding of how the news continues to shape cultural perception.
Lori Wylot is a philosopher who loves circuses, mixed-media collage, and Judith Butler. They are currently researching 19th century ‘female-husbands’ with OutStories, and are more broadly interested in the relationship between power and identity.
“A Crown of Friendship” – Fabian Strachan Woodley
Fabian at school
Fabian Strachan Woodley (1888-1957) was a Bristol born gay poet who was awarded the Military Cross for bravery in 1916. His work appeared in Men and Boys, the first anthology of homosexual poetry in the USA published in 1924.
Jonathan Rowe is a Bristol born and bred local historian who writes for OutStories Bristol and “Bristol Times” in the Bristol Post. He is Chairman of Brislington Conservation and History Society and Secretary of his local amateur drama group for whom he regularly writes plays and pantomimes.
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Bristol Archives – sources for researching LGBTQ+ history
Bristol Archives preserve official and historic documents relating to the City of Bristol going back 1,000 years. Alec Temple (Archives Officer) and Lucy Bonner (Senior Archivist) will introduce some of the key collections, series and individual documents which may be used to explore Bristol’s LGBTQ+ history before presenting case studies that demonstrate how archive sources can be used to explore LGBTQ+ lives.
They have an excellent guide: Bristol Archives Sources for Research: LGBTQ History.
What is she wearing? 20th-century lesbian dress in the press
Join in a whirlwind journey through nearly a century of lesbian dress, seen through the eyes of straight and dyke media alike. How were lesbians depicted? What were they wearing and where did they wear it? We’ll encounter aristocrats, bar toughs and gay libbers, butches, femmes and lipstick lesbians (including kd and Cindy of course), and find out about lesbian in-fighting over what we ‘should’ be wearing.
Kim Renfrew’s talk is based on research that forms part of her PhD in lesbian dress at the University of The West of England (UWE).
Bristol Gay Switchboard – 50 Years On
Bristol Gay Switchboard opened on February 1st 1975 using a private phone line in a back bedroom in Totterdown. This is the extraordinary story of a small team of volunteers who spotted the need for information and, with no support or external funding, created an organisation which flourished for the next 37 years. We look at how it began, the immense diversity of calls received and the help it offered, and how it grew to fill a need with the LGBTQ+ communities.
Andrew is a Bristol author and architectural historian. He is a founder member of OutStories Bristol, with a background in LGBTQ+ history education and research.
Note: this is a change from the original advertised talk.
BLAST! from the Past
BLAST are a group of Bristol lesbians who want to celebrate our history. We wish to hear from lesbian women who were involved in Bristol’s self-organised lesbian groups from the 1970’s onwards. We hope that lesbians who went to any of the self-organised groups in Bristol will join us to share their stories and memorabilia.
BLAST wants to create a ‘map’ of groups, and to have quotes, stories and memories about what we did, what these groups meant to us, why they were important – and more. We also want to collect any documents – posters, newsletters, etc. about the groups, that can be contributed to a permanent archive that records this important history.
BLAST will be at M Shed on 22nd February to tell you more about this project. Alternatively contact us at BLAST.07456@gmail.com.
Our thanks to ….
