‘THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE’

Photograph by Raissa Page. Copyright: Adrianne Jones – courtesy of The Richard Burton Archives, Swansea University.
Not to be used without permission.

This project aims to collect reminiscences from lesbian, bisexual and transwomen over a period of roughly fifty years – from the time of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967, when the focus was on men and the legal fight. At this time there was silence around women’s issues and women’s voices were rarely heard. Over the intervening years women gradually came out of the shadows. Women’s voices grew louder and they have become activists on many levels. Thus the project is called ‘From a Whisper to a Roar’. I am hoping that this project will, in a small way, add to the volume.  
        The period since 1967 has been an extraordinary one for the LGBT+ community. It has been a time of successive pieces of liberal legislation and of changing attitudes. It has also been an interesting time in terms of women’s history with the growth of second wave feminism, the women’s movement and women’s activism such as Greenham Common and the Section 28 actions. This makes for fertile soil for reminiscences for women from our community.

The interviews and transcriptions are the core of the project and will be housed at Bishopsgate where they will be on access to the public. There will also be a number of talks about the project (we have a several corporate partners at ODL with LGBT networks who are keen to hear about the experience of older members of the community, for example) we will also be doing a couple of panel events and an exhibition. In addition we are hoping to develop resources for information and education on our website and to add to the SchoolsOut website for children and young people.
             Our main reasons for doing this are twofold: one is to capture experiences and reminiscences charting an extraordinary period in history for the community but, more importantly, I am passionate about younger people and future generations knowing and understanding this history through the prism of lived experience. As the saying goes: ‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilance’ and we need to help people understand what it was really like (the good things as well as the bad!) in order that they can be on their guard against erosions of the liberties they currently enjoy.

Evelyn Pittman
Project Coordinator
Evelyn had a long straight start in life. She married, had a family and a career in education. Discovering her ‘inner lesbian’ late in life she became active in the community through volunteering for Opening Doors London which supports older LGBT people. Her passion is to capture the stories of people in the community so that we can see our recent history through the prism of their lived experience.

Lori E. Allen
Sound Artist 

(b. 1975 St. Louis, USA, lives in London) is a sound artist and experimental composer working in sound, performance, video and text. Allen holds an MA in Archaeology from UCL, a BA in Anthropology and Classical Studies from NYU, and a partial completion of an Msc in Psychology Music and Neuroscience from Goldsmiths.
www.lorieallen.com/
www.tearsov.com/
@lori_e_allen

Special thanks to the supporters and volunteers:
Kate Hancock – who suggested the project Interviewers: Sandra Brown, Mandy Hetherton, Marguerite Mc Laughlin, Susan Rudy Volunteers: Lori E Allen, Bethany Charlton, Lee Dibben, Evie Tabor Special supporters: Jane Traies, Jeffrey Weeks, Adrian Beaumont, Stef Dickers – Bishopsgate Institute,
Rachel Smith – Bishopsgate Institute, Rachel James, Beverley Hunnybun

PODCASTS

The podcast is a 3 part series with content taken from the 40+ interviews conducted by Evelyn Pittman and produced by Lori E Allen. Each of the interviews can be accessed in their entirety at the Bishopsgate Institute in London.

The full transcript of all interviews are available to read and download below.

Episode One is available to listen to now on  Anchor.fm

 

Ep. 01:
Stonewall Riots and
Gay Liberation Front

Join guests Marguerite McLaughlin and Nettie Pollard who speak about their early experiences in NYC and London, respectively.  Beginning in 1969 in NYC,  Marguerite reflects on what is was like in New York for the gay community at the time of the uprising. Following, Nettie shares her experience as a member of the Gay Liberation Front in early 1970s London.

Guests: Marguerite McLaughlin, Nettie Pollard
Interviewer: Evelyn Pittman
Producer: Lori E Allen

ORAL HISTORIES

From a Whisper to a Roar is an evolving project and we are excited to be able to bring you
audio updates during 2020 as the transcripts and podcasts are edited and published.

AMANDA RUSSELL

Amanda started working at Gay’s the Word in the early 80s. Brought in more women-orientated stock – she describes the difficulty of getting hold of gay or lesbian books. Started the Lesbian Discussion Group at Gay’s the Word. Describes the 1984 raid of the shop. 

Key issues:
Working class background, psychiatric treatment, Feminism, 70s, 80s, Reclaim the Night marches, Lesbian Discussion Group at Gay’s the Word, 1984 obscene publications raid at Gay’s the Word, Lesbian Line, Fighting Fund, Lesbian Strength marches

READ TRANSCRIPT
ANGIE BATES

Angie discusses her 38 year long participation with Gay’s the Words Lesbian Discussion Group having taken over running Gay’s the Word Lesbian Discussion Group after Amanda Russell moved to Hebden Bridge. Discusses the value and importance of the group in the past and today. 

Key issues:
Catholic upbringing, Gay’s the Word, Lesbian Discussion Group, 80s, Greenham Common, Lesbian Strength March, Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, the Women’s Movement, The Glass Bar, Girls On Top (Hemel Hempstead), AIDS crisis

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ANNE HOWARD

In the mid-1990s Anne started volunteering for The London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, in an attempt to become more active in giving back to the community. What struck her the most was the loneliness, especially amongst older members, of the lesbian community.

Key issues:
Post-war childhood, London, Lesbian, Kenric, Gay’s The Word, AIDS Crisis, London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, Loneliness, Feminism, Female Oppression. 

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CAROL BELLFIELD

Carol first felt that she was different at around the age of 11/12. She would wear her sisters’ clothes and occasionally go out wearing them, after dark. She didn’t tell anybody, and she felt like she was the only person like this.

Key issues:
Transgender, Marriage, Being closeted, Coming out, Counselling, The Beaumont Society, Oscillation, Transitioning, Opening Doors London

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CHRYSSY HUNTER

Chryssy was brought up in conservative Hull and by the age of 13 she was beginning to be different, rather than just thinking differently, but lacked the language to articulate this. In her teens she grew her hair and started buying make up. She and her friend came out as gay to each other.

Key issues:
Gender, Trans issues, Online groups,
Trans scene, Sparkle, Trans Pride, Feminism

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DIANA SOUHAMI

Diana starts by talking about the changes in society that she’s seen throughout her lifetime. She was born into a Jewish family in London in 1940 during the Blitz and she describes this as not being a very relaxing start; she has very vivid memories of the war. She talks about how she could not articulate the whole concept of being a lesbian in her early life.

Key issues:
Wartime Britain, Judaism, Lesbian, The BBC, Writing, Novels,  Butch/Femme, The Gateways, Sex Work, Labels

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ELAINE McKENZIE

Elaine was brought up in a traditional West Indian home. She understood herself as being different from a very early age and, thanks to her parents’ insistence on wide reading, discovered the word lesbian when she was about nine and was able to recognise and explore her identity.

Key issues:
Lesbian, Media, Lesbian Discussion Group, Glass bar, Racism, Sisterhood, Black lesbian scene

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ELIZABETH WILSON

Elizabeth was brought up in Exeter during the Second World War. She talks of her time at The University of Oxford and the sexism she, and the rest of the women there, faced. Elizabeth met her first proper girlfriend at Oxford; they got into the lesbian scene of the 1960s, which she characterizes as the ‘Gateways’ (arguably the most iconic lesbian bar in London of the late 20th Century).

Key issues:
Sexism in academia. Gay Liberation. Women’s Liberation. Radical Drag. Feminism. Political Lesbianism. Communism

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FRANKIE GREEN

Frankie became aware of pubs that were known to be ‘gay bars’, through word of mouth. She met some lesbian and gay people and got involved in their subculture; she experienced queer bashing, stigma, and some of her friends underwent electroconvulsive therapy.

Key issues:
Working Class, London, New Zealand, Colonisation, Gay Liberation Front, Butch/Femme, Women’s Liberation, Lesbian, Feminism, Consciousness-raising, Non-monogamy, Squatting, Compulsory Heterosexuality, Women’s Liberation Rock Band, Women’s Liberation Music Archive, Section 28

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GILL BUTLER

Gill was adopted into a working class family and got to university against the expectations of her class and her sex. She had boyfriends, but discovered the delights of women through the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Key issues:
Working class background. Political influences: Vietnam War, Communism, International Socialists, Women’s Liberation Movement (1971).
Activism: National Abortion Campaign, Rights of Women & Lesbian Custody groups, Board of Stonewall (late 80’s to 2002), Trustee of Peter Tatchell Foundation.
Qualified as lawyer in 1979, advocated on behalf of lesbian mothers likely to lose their children in custody cases from 1984 to early 90’s.

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JACKY LOGAN

Jacky came out at the age of 30 in 1985. One of the early actions she became involved in was resisting the impact of Section 28 on the library service in which she worked: rejecting the ‘under the counter’ policy around Gay newspapers and trying to keep up the stocks of books from gay authors.

Key issues:
Activism: Social/cultural – same sex dancing DJ, same sex formation team and competitive dancer. Co-founded Pink Jukebox, runs the LGBTQ inclusive nights at the Rivoli ballroom. Resisting the impact of Section 28 in the library service.

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JAMIE WILDMAN

Jamie was born in LA and knew from her earliest days that she was different: attracted strongly to girls and enjoyed traditionally male games. She recounts listening to the news of the Stonewall riots and her distress at her mother’s homophobic response.

Key issues:
Butch lesbian/ gender stereotyping. Stonewall Riots.
Activism: Club scene in London: Gateways, Leather/ SM scene. Impact of Section 28. Working with the NHS to improve attitudes towards lesbian and bi women, particularly butch presenting women.

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JANET JONES

Janet recounts how she felt ‘different’ and felt attracted to other girls but she didn’t have the language to articulate what this meant. So from early attractions to girls she moved into an unhealthy relationship with a much older man in Wales.

Key issues:
Latex Theatre Group. MESMAC. Sexual health education. Section 28. Community growing/health project. Disabled access in LGBT community. Queer the Pier

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JENNIFER WILSON

Jennifer always knew she was a lesbian. Came out at school at 14/15 while living in Australia. School sent a letter home to parents which upset and angered her mother and affected the friends she made at school. At 17 moved to Perth for four years without her parents’ permission.

Key issues:
London Lesbian and Gay Centre, Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Legislation for Lesbian and Gay Rights Campaign, Organisation for Lesbian and Gay Action, Labour, 70s, 80s, Greater London Council, Ken Livingstone, Miners’ Strike, Margaret Thatcher, Section 28, Stonewall

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JENNY- ANNE BISHOP

Jenny- Anne felt from a very early age that she should have been more like her sister, although she was assigned male at birth. She was brought up in a staunch Catholic family and was taken to a psychologist when she was caught dressing in her mother’s clothes.

Key issues:
Trans woman, Catholic upbringing, Married with children, Transvestite, Drag Balls, Beaumont society, The Wednesday Group(TV/TS), Gender and Identity Clinic, John Randell, Diversity Role Models, Ageing – Trans and Dementia, Trans Advisory Board for Prisons, Unique, Parliamentary Advisory Committee, Diversity Steering Group North Wales Police, LGBT friendly church

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JILL

Jill speaks of the most significant point in her life being the sexual abuse she suffered as a child from a family member. This sexualized her early in life and she had relationships with boys until her awareness was woken by attending a National Union of Students conference on abuse.

Key issues:
Sexual abuse, Lesbian visibility, Women’s spaces, Feminism, Trans rights, Radical activism

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KAREN FISHER

Karen realised she was interested in girls in early secondary school. She had a troubled time as a teenager and left home in Cornwall at 16 and started work. Was squatting, got involved in the punk scene in London, and became aware of feminism and met other lesbians. Eventually she got social housing in Lambeth.

Key issues:
80s, punk scene, Greenham Common, Embrace the Base, S&M, Chain Reaction, Black Widows, Rebel Dykes, Rebel Dyke Project.

read transcript
LISA

Lisa was born in Australia and came to London in her twenties. She was aware of being attracted to both men and women from mid-teen years, but did not know how to articulate this. As a young adult she became more aware of her attraction to women, but also of the negative reaction to bisexuality from lesbians.

Key issues:
Bisexual, Women’s Bi network,
BiCon, BiPride, Biphobia.

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LISA POWER

Lisa was fortunate to come out at Lancaster University into what was quite a radical scene at the time in a small community with a lot of solidarity amongst groups not welcome in ‘mainstream’ society. When she moved to London she identified as a lesbian and feminist, but it was a very fractured community.

Key issues:
Early Pride. Lesbians and feminism.
Lesbianline. S&M. Section 28. AIDs. Founding Stonewall UK.
‘Thrilling Bits’. Queer Britain Museum.

read transcript
BARONESS
LIZ BARKER

Baroness Barker was born into an ordinary family without very much money. Luckily she was of the generation where you could go to university with grants; so, she and her brother both did. She talks of trying to conform – she had boyfriends. And one day she met a woman (whom she is still with now) and from that moment on she knew exactly who she was.

Key issues:
Religion, Lesbian, Age Concern, Crisis Of Silence, Opening Doors, Ageism, HIV, Politics, House of Lords, Section 28, Adoption and Children Act, Same Sex Marriage, Transphobia

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MAGGIE JONES

Maggie grew up in a working-class family in Oxford; she describes the people around her at the time as very homophobic. She first realized she was ‘different’ at age 15 when all of her female friends had crushes on male celebrities and she didn’t. At age 17 she was fully aware of her sexuality; she was so deeply ashamed, due to the society she grew up in.

Key issues:
Early Pride, Lesbians and feminism,
Lesbianline, S&M, Section 28, AIDs, Founding Stonewall UK,
‘Thrilling Bits’, Queer Britain Museum

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MAIRI

Mairi’s mother divorced her father after starting a relationship with another woman. They moved from Canada to the UK and her mother and her mother’s partner – Jackie Forster – set up home together, at first in Surrey and then later in London. Mairi describes her younger self as a tomboy, always wearing trousers and having her hair cut short.

Key issues:
Brought up in a lesbian household, Tomboy, Lesbian, Sappho magazine, Loneliness, Sexism in the Medical profession, Feminism, Socialist Feminist Cooperative living, Collective Living, The Gateways, Socialist Feminists, Lesbian Feminists, Radical Separatists, HIV, Civil Partnerships, Marriage

read transcript
MARGUERITE McLAUGHLIN

Recollections of hearing about the Stonewall Riots aged 17 and as yet unaware of her own lesbian identity. Marguerite explores the civil rights climate against which the uprising occurred and the tensions between the mafia, police and the members of the queer community.

Key issues:
Stonewall Riots, NY. Street people.
Gay Liberation Front. GAA Firehouse. Lesbian Feminist Group.
Pride 1974. Global Pride 50. Dyke march.

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NETTIE POLLARD

Nettie attended her first Gay Liberation Front meeting at Middle Earth in 1971, before she realised that she was attracted to women. She started campaigning and protesting with the Albany Trust’s Counter Psychiatry Group; a group who countered the idea that being gay was a sickness.

Key issues:
Gay Liberation Front, Women’s Liberation, The Albany Trust, The Counter Psychiatry Group, Icebreakers, Miss World Demonstration, The Festival of Light, Police. Pride, Age of Consent, Lesbophobia, The Red Lesbian Brigade, Squatting, Stansted 15

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ROS HAMNER

Ros was born into a working class family and her father was in the army. When he left the forces they moved to a part of Liverpool where they struggled to fit in. Ros began to realise she was attracted to women at about 14 and began a relationship with a girl she had been to school with when she was 16.

Key issues:
Domestic violence, Section 28, Youth work,
Lesbian punk, Squatting

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ROSALIND PEARSON

Rosalind grew up in a socialist working-class household; her father was a trade unionist. She talks of how throughout her school years’ boys didn’t really feature in her life; she went to all girls’ schools. She always had crushes on girls at school. She talks of her first experience of a gay pub in Blackburn before she was out – she was horrified at the butch/femme roleplaying and thought the place was full of men.

Key issues:
Working-class, Socialism, Butch/femme, Lesbian, Women Like Us, Squatting, Lesbian Line, Homophobia, Section 28, London

read transcript
ROSIE GARLAND

By the age of 5 Rosie knew that she was adopted by her parents. She grew up with a sense of being different; not in terms of queerness but everything else. At age 18 she tried so hard to be heterosexual because she knew she wasn’t like other people in so many other respects.

Key issues:
Adoption, Writing, The March Violets, Goth, Rape Crisis Collective, Lesbianism, Bisexuality, The Yorkshire Ripper,
Spare Rib, Poetry, Rosie Lugosi

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SALLY KNOCKER

Sally’s parents divorced when she was young and she went to boarding school where she had ‘pashes’ on other girls, but these didn’t stop as expected in her teen years. She tried dating, not unsuccessfully, but developed strong feelings for a woman at university in Exeter which was problematic.

Key issues:
Religion, Greenham, Section 28, Lesbian parenthood,
older LGBT+ in care, gay marriage

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SARAH SAVAGE

Sarah begins by talking about how so often within LGBTQ+ histories trans people – and often trans women of colour – are not mentioned or are purposefully erased. She discusses the involvement of trans people in the Stonewall Riots, and how the modernity of the events gives trans people a more modern history with recordings, photographs and so on.

Key issues:
Stonewall, Trans Rights, Trans Erasure, Gender Recognition Act, Genderqueer, Genderfluid, Non-binary, Trans Pride, My Transexual Summer, L With The T

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SUE O’SULLIVAN

Sue grew up in Bedfordshire in a loving home and had her first lesbian relationship whilst at school, though did not identify as such. Her girlfriend’s family found love notes and they were forbidden further contact, although Sue’s father was not so negative. So she followed expectations and had boyfriends, but was quite conflicted until a friend came out as gay and introduced her to the scene which she had no idea existed.

Key issues:
Visibility, Southampton, Lesbian and Gay Awareness, Greenham Common, Section28, Women’s Groups, Sustainable Development, Equalities.

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SUE POTTER

Sue had her first kiss with a girl when she was around 8 years old, and it was around this time that she realised she liked women. She was a tomboy, but she talks about how everyone was sort of unisex anyway; they were ‘sort of skinheads’. She never worried about bullying growing up, and was always sure of herself. She had her first relationship with a woman at age 18, and that lasted for 7 years.

Key issues:
London, Lesbian, Lesbian bars/clubs of London, London Lesbian and Gay Centre, Pride, Drag Queens and Kings, Gay Scene Disappearance, Club and Bar Closures

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SUE SANDERS

Grew up in Putney. She had a difficult time at school but was praised in English, started writing creatively and discovered drama. Her lifelong passion for equal rights showed it self early through her insistence on equal access to students submitting articles to the newspaper she ran at school. Went to New College to study drama and drama teaching.

Key issues:
60s, 70s, 80s, Australia, London, Gateways, women’s prisons, criminal justice system, drama/theatre, alcohol use, Greenham Common, Section 28, women’s movement, Schools Out, initiating LGBT history month

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TERESA EDMANS

An early connection to girls during her childhood and teenage years, and confusion about being uninterested in boys. She had a gay female friend in Sixth Form, but this was hard to understand because of lack of representation of gay women in the media. Also her mother is Chinese, and gayness was not recognised in Chinese culture. After thinking about her sexuality, she approached her friend for advice and was introduced to gay and lesbian spaces in London. .

Key issues:
Self-discovery. Nursing. HIV/AIDS. Lesbian bars and clubs. Lesbian Strength. Feminism. Political organising. Finding and forming community spaces. Gays the Word. Lesbian discussion group. Sure Start. Changing identities and definitions of gender. / Older gay community

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VAL HARVEY

‘Everyone should have an Aunty Ethel’- Val begins by telling us about her aunt and the woman she lived with, but how their relationship was never acknowledged. She married and speaks of the position of power in which men stood in the 60’s. She found herself attracted to a woman but did not fully embrace her lesbian identity until later.

Key issues:
Silence around lesbianism, Lesbians in nursing, Gateways, AIDs – nursing, education, treatment of the dying, The Lighthouse, Section 28, Carnation for a Song

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VITO WARD

Vito talks about feeling different, but not having the language to explore this and following her peers in dating boys. She joined the Navy as soon as she could, partly because women were depicted as taking part in adventurous activities which were not available to her. She began to recognize her feelings towards other women but suppressed them, taking solace in Christianity.

Key issues:
Lesbians in the forces, Pubs and clubs, Lesbian and Gay Centre, Women’s groups, Pride, Opening Doors London, Ageism/ Older gay community

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YVONNE TAYLOR

Yvonne talks about Rebel Dykes – a group that had a load of fetish clubs that many other lesbians and feminists did not agree with. Yvonne DJ’ed for one of their S&M parties at Ovalhouse – many lesbians were outside the venue protesting the event. Yvonne feels that nobody should be told what they can and can’t do – as long as it’s consensual.

Key issues:
Racism, Diversity, Lesbian, Army, MI6, Windrush, Systematic,
Women’s Centre, Rebel Dykes, Squatting, S&M Dykes, Club Nights,
Lesbian Erasure

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