Queer Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London's Fierce History

Product Information

Victoria Noe, author of 'Fag Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community' My friend Ntombi Nyathi, who is at the heart of the popular education Training for Transformation movement, really helped me frame the book and ask critical questions – How do we speak our truths? How do we build a movement? How do we meet our needs? How do we become fully visible? How do we become fully alive? How do we become fully awake? How do we honour our ancestors? How do they make us feel? What have they left us? And how do we become the people we’ve been waiting for? Q: The book takes account of discrimination and pays tribute to victims of oppression, like those who died during the AIDS crisis. At the same time, the book is full of joy and vibrancy captured in anecdotes from queer bars, club nights and events in London over the decades. How did you strike this balance?

Specifically, I hope people will draw from the modes of expression that queer people have utilised to confront, respond and transform their situations living with rising LGBTQIA+ hate crime. The book records and disseminates artistic and activist processes to confront a variety of forms of institutionalised homophobia through workshops, performances, events, exhibitions, street interventions and community organising. It helps to build confidence, knowledge and skills to work with and challenge local and national governments to ensure social policies advantage the ongoing development of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Authors

Ntombi Nyathi, Strategic Networking and Resource Mobilisations Officer, Training for Transformation Dan Glass, author of Queer Footprints, meets up with Maz Islam from the Rainbow Tree to take the viewer on a guided tour of Whitechapel.

LSE Library organised a Picadilly walking tour and panel event on Friday 9 June 2023 to mark the book’s launch which featured a display of materials from LSE’s Hall-Carpenter Archives and panellists from the UK branch of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) , formed at LSE in 1970. United Queerdom: From the Legends of the Gay Liberation Front to the Queers of Tomorrow is a toolkit of case studies, strategies, philosophies, methodologies and tactics for LGBTQIA+ liberation. But it doesn’t stop there. In the spirit of the original aims of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), who started the modern Pride movement, it exists in the spirit of `Absolute Freedom for All’ and lives by the mantra of ‘All Injustices Are Connected.’ QUEERCIRCLE IS A NEW LGBTQ+ LED CHARITY WORKING AT THE INTERSECTION OF ARTS, CULTURE AND SOCIAL ACTION. Having opened our new home in June 2022, QUEERCIRCLE seeks to develop an ecology of artists, curators, writers, thinkers, community organisers, grassroots organisations and charities who collectively work together to reimagine the role cultural spaces play in society. My main epiphany throughout writing the book is that our community is incredible. We’ve got all the tools that we need. When it comes to international movements, it’s all about continuing to share the things that help us win, and it is about perseverance and seeing this in the long term. All the tyrannical homophobic legislation is inspired by each other, because of the British Empire, because of Section 28: the “gay propaganda” law in Russia, the Polish “LGBT-free Zones.” What’s going on in Uganda at the moment is practically a carbon copy of the Henry VIII’s Buggery Act in 1533. So just as they are inspired by each other, we have to be inspired by each other to help overturn [the legislation].This is why I say ‘herstory’ because I want to centre a feminist perspective through human-centred stories, that spark the flames for mass transformation for all. This is what can happen when we tell our own stories. This groundbreaking guide will take you through the city streets to uncover the scandalous, hilarious and empowering events of London's queerstory. Follow in the footprints of veteran activists, such as those who marched in London's first Pride parade in 1972 or witnessed the 1999 bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho. Save Vinca Petersen in conversation with Emma Lewis to your collection. Share Vinca Petersen in conversation with Emma Lewis with your friends. We speak to Dan Glass about his new book, Queer Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London’s Fierce History, which explores London’s queer history through mapped walking tours, informed by archival research and interviews with activists and volunteers involved in LGBTQIA+ movements over the decades. Join us for a day of events planned to celebrate Dan Glass’s new book, Queer Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London’s Fierce History, and the 50th Anniversary of Icebreakers — a radical gay group. FULLY BOOKED — Queer history walking tour — 9 June, 2pm to 4pm