OUTing the past

This year, The National Archives is proud to be one of the national hubs for the OUTing the Past: National LGBT History Festival. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, the theme for this year’s festival is ‘Law, Citizenship and PSHE’.

We are delighted to invite a range of speakers to reflect on topics relevant to our collections and to add balance to the state’s perspective of queer history. This afternoon event will explore varied aspects of LGBTQ+ history, from a queer view of the suffrage movement to reflections on the current recording of trans history.

Speakers will include:• Hilary McCollum – Sapphic Suffragettes: The key role of lesbians in the fight for Votes for Women • Emma Vickers – ‘Dry Your Eyes, Princess’: documenting the lives of trans veterans of the British Armed Forces • Gillian Murphy – Protest photographs from Hall Carpenter Archives• Laura Rowe – Sex at Sea: Homosexuality and the Royal Navy in the Great War • E J Scott – The Museum of Transology: Object-ifying trans narratives • Mark Dunton – The Sexual Offences Act, 1967