OUTing the Past (London) @ Imperial War Museum
Saturday 18th February
Researching LGBT history in the British Armed Forces symposium
This event will provide an intriguing insight into the work of historians who are uncovering the previously hidden histories of LGBT service personnel. Part of the OUTing the Past Festival of LGBT History, it will bring together leading academics and those with first hand, lived experience of serving as LGBT in the British Armed forces over the last few decades. The symposium is open to the general public but it will also be of interest to academics, activists, policy makers and those with an interest in researching LGBT lives in the Armed Forces.
The event will include contributions from;
Dr Emma Vickers (Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores University) whose exhaustive research on this topic has provided the first detailed pioneering reading of inter-male sex and gender diversity in the British Armed Forces during the twentieth century.
Dr Laura Rowe (University of Exeter) who will present her work on homosexuality in the Navy during the First World War. Her forthcoming book, Discipline and Morale in the Royal Navy in the era of the Great War, will be the first detailed study of the social history of the Royal Navy during and after the First World War.
The presentations will also include testimony from former servicemen and women who served their country while at the same time facing prosecution if their sexual and gender diversity were made known.
Caroline Paige (the first transgender officer to serve openly in the UK Armed Forces) and Patrick Lyster Todd will provide first hand testimony of their experiences of serving in the British Armed Forces.
For more information please see:
http://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-london/lgbt-lives-in-the-british-armed-forces-and-merchant-navy
This event is free of charge. Tickets can be booked via Eventbrite.