New NW LGBT Humanist group

MANCHESTER MISSIVE

SUSAN BADHAM reports on recent activity of a Manchester based regional group, jointly set up by local members of GALHA and the Greater Manchester Humanists:

When it comes being gay in Manchester some of us are newcomers and some of us have been there, got the T shirt, and accessorised it to make it more stylish before going down to the Village in it... As a result it was probably inevitable that the walk on the 20th of November, led by Katherine Trueman and following the route
of the existing LGBT Heritage Trail, was going to be a diverse affair. This had several advantages - we got the unofficial as well as the official history in the form of anecdotes from people who had actually been involved
and there was a real feeling that the walk reflected many aspects of Manchesterʼs
LGBT history.

We started at the Alan Turing statue in Sackville Gardens (see image), progressing to the center of town via the Beacon of Hope memorial and the present day Village. Needless to say the New Union and Rembrandt hotels got a favourable mention.The old police court building, scene of many a prosecution for ʻimmoralityʼ, sparked a lively discussion about how the lawʼs attitude to what had been perceived as deviant sexuality had served to reinforce societyʼs unspoken power structures around class and gender.

Listening to tales of past meeting places and hearing about pressure groups like the offices of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and the Lesbian Switchboard, it was hard to reconcile modern attitudes with that history. Yet the buildings provided continuity, as did the accounts of those who had lived through those times.
The evidence that queer people have been here for a long time was brought home by the existence of historical accounts from the eighteenth century - like the dance at a Temperance Hall in which all of the (male) participants had worn dresses and been bound over to keep the peace when the constables intervened, and the married couple who were discovered to be two women, with one dressing as a man and
working as a bricklayer.

Physical locations where pioneers like Edward Carpenter had spent some of his working life, now Affleckʼs Palace, also emphasised our links with the past. We finished our walk with another tradition - sitting down for a meal and a pint.

For more information about this group and to sign up to the mailing list email mail@peacenik.me.uk