February is LGBT History Month

February is LGBT History Month

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans History Month takes place every year in February. It celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community. A programme of events has been compiled by OutStories Bristol, Bristol Lesbian & Gay Switchboard, CycleOut Bristol, M-Shed, Gay West and Hydra Books.

The events at Hydra Books are :

Changing images of trans people in speculative literature – Cheryl Morgan

Thursday 2 February – 7:00 pm

The availability of magic and advanced science have allowed writers of fantasy and science fiction literature to explore issues of gender in their work. Hugo Award winning critic, Cheryl Morgan, explores how the way in which trans characters have been portrayed in speculative literature has changed as real trans people have become better known to the general public. Cheryl Morgan is, to her knowledge, the only out trans person ever to have won science fiction’s highest honour, the Hugo Award. Born in Somerset, she has lived in Australia and California and now resides near Bath where she runs a small ebook publishing company and bookstore. She blogs regularly at www.cheryl-morgan.com

Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Literature – OutStories Bristol

Tuesday 7 February – 7:00 pm

From love poems to sci-fi and satire – come and join us in an evening of readings from literature with LGBT themes. Bring your favourite poem or excerpt and share it with the audience. Tell us what it means to you and where we can find more like it. Help us raise the profile of this new bookshop in the heart of Bristol’s Gay Village.

Cross-dressers and the establishment in Victorian England – Juliet Jacques

Thursday 9 February 7:00 pm

The emergence of public cross-dressing in the 19th century industrial city caused great anxiety to the Victorian legal establishment and England’s new police forces alike. In this talk, Guardian and New Statesman writer Juliet Jacques (longlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2011) explores how those who cross-dressed were criminalised, most famously in the scandalous trial of Ernest “Stella” Boulton and Frederick “Fanny” Park in 1871, and how contemporary transgender identities began to evolve in response.

Juliet Jacques is a journalist and author, best known for writing A Transgender Journey for The Guardian – the first time that the gender reassignment process has been serialised for a mainstream British publication. She has also written for the New Statesman and TimeOut, and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2011.

Exhibition – Lesbian and Gay Switchboard

Sunday 26 February – 4:00 pm

Bristol’s Lesbian and Gay Switchboard has been running for 37 years. Come and see an exhibition to celebrate its history at the bookshop. This will be followed by a party at 7pm at the Old Market Tavern for volunteers, friends and supporters of the Bristol Lesbian and Gay Switchboard.