On April 28th a group from the Gender, Sexuality and Society module, led by Dr. Emma Temple-Mault (far right) took a trip to the People’’s History Museum in Manchester and to the Manchester Art Gallery.
Group picture
The highlight of the trip was very definitely the People’s History Museum. It has on an exhibition to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Sexual Offences Act. This legalised consensual sex between men over 21, in a ‘private place’ and ushered in the modern era of LGBT+ civil rights campaigns.
It starts with an exhibition about the pre 1967 community with this poster about Polari, the language of the London gay male subculture.
Polari
The exhibition explores the campaigns against entrapment, against the passage of the Section 28 amendment to the local government act, the right to keep one’s children after divorce and later to adopt children. It considers the way representation has changed both in the media and in the community, and the ways in which that community has changed; in particular issues around racism and transgender prejudice in the community are addressed.
Black Lives Matter
Ian McKellen on the front of Gay Times
The exhibition is particularly strong on artefacts, from the Clause 28 tea service, leaflets and magazines (a cover of Gay Times with a young Ian McKellan) and perhaps the highlight, the sparkling police helmet.
Police helmet
After that (and after pizza!) we went down to the Manchester Art Gallery to take a look at some historic depictions of sexuality and gender.
Coming as we did from the Potteries, the Clause 28 tea service stood out.
Alison Briggs, one of the students writes, “I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and thought that it was a wonderful opportunity for staff and students to engage with one another outside of the University. Em, as usual, had put in a huge amount of effort in organising it and to ensure that it was a success, even down to producing an itinerary for our activities. I particularly enjoyed the People’s History Museum and the Going Underground Exhibition. We had covered the history of the LGBTQ+ struggle in our GSS module and to have one of the curators talk us through it, contextualising and explaining it in greater detail was such a bonus! I also found your own personal reflections from this time interesting and insightful – thank you. It was a wonderful way to end the module and for me personally, to mark the end of my degree – days such as these are not forgotten in a hurry!”
Daniel Gill, said of the the trip; “What a way to end the module! The exhibit gets a 10/10 from me! still cant believe all the things we got to see and do for just £10! really chilled day with a lovely lunch and a cool visit to canal street!”
Clause 28 tea serviceC from Stoke, the Clause 28 tea service stood out.