FREDA Learning Together Event 2019

Alan Butler: LGBT Histories in Plymouth

Dr Alan Butler

In The Beginning

• LGBT people in the archives as either being mad or bad

• The older generation however had seen a huge shift from being illegal to civil partnerships and subsequently marriage –possibly never to be repeated

• Asking individuals to talk about their deepest secret however.

As the conceptualising of LGBTQ+ lives and identities extends and grows so too does the language we develop to try and tell these stories and make them part of the archives.

LGBT +

LGBTTQQIAAP

LesbianGayBisexual TransgenderTranssexualQueerQuestioningIntersexAsexualAllyPansexual . . .

. . . . Non Binary, Gender Fluid etc

The LockyerTavern

Section 28 of the Local

Government Act, 1988

Coming Out

• Lack of representation

• Not a one time experience

• A common experience for LGBT individuals therefore a common ground from which to access the Oral History interview process

Coming Out in the Interview

• In performing “out”, the act of coming out in that space (or possibly before) becomes something of a bargaining tool. “I’ll tell you my story if you tell me yours. Nothing to fear here”.

• People have often been silenced and shamed so a common ground is useful.

• The oral history again as a space . . . particularly a safe space through shared experience for both parties to be out and perform as out throughout the encounter.

• Also though a space to challenge or perhaps encourage?

• Plymouth as a dispersal city

• Back to language and words again – how far can we describe that we’re “different” when words are not there or associated with shame?

Gathering Voices

“By listening to a

community . . . you can

create a community”