Pop down to Central Library on Saturday and People’s History Museum on Sunday
to hear about the lives of some fantastically inspirational women.
All events are free, no tickets required.
Christine Burns MBE was a
leading figure in the campaign for trans rights for 15 years, helping secure
the passage of the Gender Recognition Act in 2004. She also chaired the North
West Equality and Diversity Group for many years and helped organisations
develop equality strategy. Her widely praised books ‘Making Equality Work’ and ‘Pressing
Matters’ are based on the various aspects of her work 10:30 - 11:00, Space 2
Historian Helena Whitbread will explore the live of Anne Lister 1791-1840 who is often dubbed the first ‘modern lesbian’. She was a Yorkshire landowner, industrialist, traveller and diarist who lived in Shibden hall, near Halifax. Her diaries were half written in code, and when the code was cracked it revealed Anne’s sexual exploits with other women, beginning in adolescence and continuing throughout her adult life. Helena Whitbread will also be available to sign copies of The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. 14:40 - 15:10, Space 2
Razia Aziz highlights
her Spiritual Journeys
“During a half century
which has taken me from Lagos to London to Brighton to Lewes, from a girls’
public school to Cambridge to company director, from an Indian Muslim heritage
to the mixed blessings of the distinctive UK brand of 21st century diversity,
from an ambition to be a professional singer to body work practitioner to
Interfaith Ministry, I have often pondered upon the meaning and significance of
my gender identity and sexuality in pursuit of an answer to the question we all
ask at some point in our life: “What’s it all for?” 15:20 - 15:50, Space 3
Sunday 15 February - People’s History Museum
Sheila Standard discusses her
experiences at Greenham Common, a personal reflection of one of thousands of women
discovering the power of working together, singing, being silly, the wit and
repartee, fear and bravery, that goes with bringing fences crashing down, to
the mockery of militarism. A women’s movement that conflicted and then embraced
sexuality, and stood up to the hateful press, and “respectable society”,
embracing freedom, and our right to struggle against the holocaust. 11:30 – 12:00, Changing Exhibition Space
In the People’s History Museum foyer Warp & Weft’s Jenny White has put together a display
on the lives of Esther and Eva, including Helen Davies’ craftivist crochet mask
of Esther Roper which was used to yarnbomb a man statue in Manchester Town Hall. 14:00 – 14:30, Coal Store
Dr Kate Cook will speak about her
involvement in the 1990s struggles to end rape and about the involvement of
lesbian feminists in the movement against violence against women and girls. 14:00 – 14:30pm, Archive space
Prossy Kakooza will talk
about how she rebuilt her life in the UK after experiencing abuse and torture
in Uganda. “Many LGBT people like
myself run from persecution to seek asylum in nations like the UK thinking
they’ll immediately be safe. But most times seeking asylum makes you enter what
feels like another form of persecution with having to prove your sexuality to
the immigration system. When I asked for asylum, on many levels, it felt like
jumping from a frying pan into a fire. In a series of such intrusive and embarrassing
questions, I was asked to prove I was gay. How on earth was I or anybody else
supposed to do that?!” 14:50-15:10, Coal
Store
Linda Bellos will
explore some of her historic achievements. Actively involved in community
politics since the mid 1970’s, she came out as a lesbian in the late 1970’s and
joined the Spare Rib Collective in 1981. She helped organise the first Black
Feminist and the First Black Lesbian Conferences. She argued strongly against
the notion of a ‘hierarchy of oppression. In 1987, as Chair of the London
Strategic Policy Unit, she was responsible for introducing Black History Month
to the UK. She has become a leading authority on equality and human rights law
and its practical application across the public sector. 15:30-16:00, Coal Store
Cath
Booth will be discussing Lesbians and Gays Support the Printworkers (LGSP): a
group in London supporting workers sacked by Murdoch in 1986, following closely
in the footsteps of LGSM during the miners’ strike. The group took part in marches
and actions throughout the year of the strike, making alliances with sacked
strikers and other support groups. They produced regular bulletins, badges and
posters, and monitored virulently anti-gay articles of the Sun. 15:30 - 16:00,
Archive Space
