A talk by Dr Clifford Williams on LGBT history, covering gay life in Southampton and the Merchant Navy, presented by 'a space' arts.
Dr Clifford Williams is hosting a series of talks on LGBT history at God's House Tower, and this particular session, Partying and Politicking, runs on Sunday 30 August from 10:30am to 4pm. It's presented by 'a space' arts, and it focuses on gay life in Southampton between 1970 and 2000.
There's a specific anniversary at the heart of this one: the 50th anniversary of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality conference, which was held right here in Southampton in 1976. That's a good chunk of the city's own queer history to dig into, and the talk looks at it alongside gay life at sea, drawing on records from the Merchant Navy. It's a double-sided look at the city's past — the political side and the more everyday, lived experience.
Williams doesn't run the session alone. He's joined by speaker Michael Rudder and co-host Emily Beswick, who is the curator of photographic collections at the Liverpool Maritime Museum. Having Beswick on board makes sense given the Merchant Navy angle, and the whole thing is part of a wider series Williams is leading on LGBT history. If you're not familiar with his work, he's the author of A-Z of Queer Hampshire and Courage to Be, so he's spent a fair bit of time documenting the region's queer past.
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It's a long session — five and a half hours — so you'll want to clear your Sunday morning and afternoon for it. It's held in the Crawford Room at God's House Tower on Town Quay Road, SO14 2NY, and there's no step-free access to that room, which is worth keeping in mind before you head down. 10:30am to 4pm, Sunday 30 August.
