History

The shadowy, twilight world of the homosexual was already a cliche and mainstream joke on TV by the late 1970s

In the midst of the hysteria surrounding the TV series “It’s A Sin”, many articles have been published about what gay life was like in the 1980s. Supposedly…  In those days many of us gay men were out and proud and we didn’t seem to face much homophobia personally. If we did, we tended to The shadowy, twilight world of the homosexual was already a cliche and mainstream joke on TV by the late 1970s

Archives reveal “regular, ranting bigotry about gays” in the pages of the Manchester Evening News

In 1989 the MEN called for an “awful” floral display in Piccadilly Gardens commemorating Stonewall to be “destroyed.” Scene Out, August 1989. An article in Scene Out magazine, August 1989 issue, with the headline “Evening paper degrades community”, reports on how a floral tribute in Piccadilly Gardens to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Archives reveal “regular, ranting bigotry about gays” in the pages of the Manchester Evening News

The LGBT Foundation’s misleading “researchers’ guide” to LGBT history, funded by the Heritage Lottery

Manchester’s LGBT Foundation published its document “Unlocking A Hidden History – A Researchers’ Guide To Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Historical Sources In Manchester”, back in 2013. You can see it here (PDF). It was funded by the Heritage Lottery. Over recent years the Heritage Lottery Fund has given out around a quarter of a The LGBT Foundation’s misleading “researchers’ guide” to LGBT history, funded by the Heritage Lottery

The end of the Oxford Road Show (video)

How the BBC’s studios nearly ended up opposite Platt Fields Park in Rusholme Here in Manchester, New Broadcasting House is being demolished. But back in the mid-1950’s, when the BBC decided to build new northern regional headquarters, this famous location on Oxford Road wasn’t the first choice. At the beginning of 1956 the BBC was The end of the Oxford Road Show (video)

The changing face of…?

You may struggle to identify this location at first glance because it looks so different. Certainly I got a big surprise last Sunday as I turned the corner from behind the Central Library.

Interview with Julia Grant (video)

A 70-minute interview with legendary Manchester gay village business woman Julia Grant. A decade ago, Julia Grant was one of the best-known business owners in Manchester’s gay village and an outspoken voice in both the LGBT and mainstream media. After Mardi Gras 1999 raised nothing at all for good causes, she ran the successful and Interview with Julia Grant (video)