From the archives: LGBTQ+ history Month

At Lighthouse we livestream and record nearly all our events, one of the reasons being that we want the wisdom shared and questions asked to move beyond one moment and one room, to bring enjoyment and learning to folks where they are and where they are able to access it.

Welcome to the Lighthouse archive, a semi-regular blog series exploring past events, lists, articles and resources, using something that’s currently on our minds as a starting point - bringing beloved books and authors back into the spotlight once the frenzy of a new publication has passed.

February is LGBTQ+ history month. What does it mean to honour queer history? Over the years we’ve been incredibly lucky to be able to host conversations about local queer history as well as the broader strokes of international communities and the flux of identity-formation. Below are a few gems to return to.

On LGBTQ+ history in the UK:

Queer Footprints - Dan Glass on his book Queer Footprints, a tour through London in our queer elders' footprints, full of humour, joy, pathos and mischief.

Working Class Queers - the Edinburgh launch of Yvette Taylor’s brilliant book on how class continues to shape queer lives.

Twenty-Eight - celebrating an anthology of stories by those who grew up under the shadow of Section 28, a law that made ‘promotion’ of LGBTQI+ identities illegal across the United Kingdom.

Pleasure Beach - on the fiction front, here’s our conversation with Helen Palmer on her queer love story set in 1999 Blackpool.

On Queerstory Further Afield:

Belonging and Reclaiming - during our 2022 Book fringe we were treated to this gorgeous conversation between Paula Akpan, Jo Clifford and Jess Brough, on queerness around the world.

BI - Julia Shaw on the culture and history of bisexuality, from the hunt for a ‘bi gene’ to the pressure on asylum seekers to prove their bisexuality.

Bad Gays - Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller on the hidden histories of queer villains and baddies, from the emperor Hadrian to gangster Ronnie Kray.

There’s of course a smattering of lists and shorter videos on queer history scattered about too, such as this reading list celebrating our pasts and futures or this episode of Read Think Act with author Fatima Daas on heritage and belonging.