 |  | The handsom Antinous. Courtesy the British Museum |
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Uncloset the eye candy
Art historian Keith Cavers will be giving a tour of the National Gallery with a view to unmasking a language far more subtly coded than Polari. He tells us: “my theme is visibility and what role models were available in the visual arts for those born gay & lesbian in ages when even the name of the ‘unmentionable vice’ was itself unmentionable”.
Luckily there were many Biblical, mythological, historical narratives with gay overtones. Come and search for them with Keith on Friday, 27th February at 7pm
www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/calendar/LGBT%20History%20Month%20Events.php?recordID=645
Campaign for freedom and love
Peter Tatchell's fight for gay equality has had an increasingly global scope, highlighting abuse of gay people from Iran to Zimbabwe. But his home is a Council flat in Bermondsey and he's lived in the capital since the 70s. On 25th February, he talks to Robert Elms at the Museum of London about his relationship with the capital.
Full details here: www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/EventsExhibitions/Events/eventDetails.htm?eventID=1929
On the night before Section 28 became law in 1988, lesbians famously invaded BBC News to protest. Booan Temple, one of the group, has donated her 'Stop the Clause' T-shirt to a new exhibition at Bruce Castle Museum, appropriately titled From the closet to the collection.
Until end March.
www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11095.html
Queer the culture
The V&A are planning a day of talks and trails on Saturday 28th February to explore gay histories in the museum. Details are still sketchy, but include queer choreography, lesbian sculpture and what it was like coming out in 1970s Britain. The museum says it is trying to unearth previously hidden LGBTQ objects in its collection.
www.vam.ac.uk/activ_events/courses/lectures_talks_tours/lgbtq/index.html
Other Histories 13.00, 14.00 & 15.00
Meet at the Grand Entrance Meeting Point
Join the V&A in celebrating LGBT History Month 2009. Listen to curators' and academics' suggestions for alternative queer readings of museum objects, discover the histories of the people who made them and explore how sexual identity can inform the way we interpret the past.
13.00
Eves and Angels: Sculpture and Lesbian Spectatorship
Amy Mechowski, Assistant Curator, Sculpture Department, V&A
14.00
Jack Cole?s Queer Choreography
Keith Lodwick, Assistant Curator, Theatre and Performance Department,V&A
15.00
Glad to be Gay: Coming Out to 1970s Britain
Jason Narlock, King's College London
Event is free, no booking required
Check www.vam.ac.uk for more details
Lady Hawarden's photos revealed the world of Victorian womanhood. © V&A Images / Victoria and Albert Museum | |  |
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Lose your religion
Whether it's rifts in the Church, Proposition 8, or the Rev George Hargreaves quest to plough most of his royalties from 'So Macho' into gay-unfriendly causes, there's plenty to remind us why religion and queerdom often don't mix. So catch an atheist bus to the nearest temple of free thought, and learn about the capital's homo unbelievers.
On February 19th, Treadwells bookshop celebrates 'pagan, radical, socialist, anarchist homosexual' Edward Carpenter who was living with his working class male lover at the time of Oscar Wilde's prosecution. Also catch a talk on February 11th on the 'Monstrous Lesbians' who stalked Edwardian Britain.
Full details of Treadwells events here: www.treadwells-london.com/lectures.asp
The Lesbian and Gay Humanist Association will be dramatising the now-famous debate where 'Soapy' Sam Wilberforce, the Bishop of Winchester was defeated by Thomas Henry Huxley in a debate about the theory of evolution. The challenge to Biblical literalism has been causing problems for those overly attached to Leviticus 18:22 ever since.
Full details here: www.conwayhall.org.uk/eventsfebruary2009.htm
February 13th, Conway Hall, £10
Conway Hall also celebrates superstar lesbian atheist Marlene Dietrich in a talk by Terry Sanderson on February 20th: lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/calendar/Documents/Marlene%20News%20release.doc
For those within the fold, the historian Michael Brown is talking about morality and gay history at St Botolph's www.lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/calendar/LGBT%20History%20Month%20Events.php?recordID=805> Meanwhile gay Muslim group Imaan will be showing ‘Jihad for Love’ at SOAS on Valentine’s Day –contact tawseef@imaan.org.uk for details and to register for a place.
Enjoy pornography
… but as they say in the Jack Daniels ad, do it responsibly. The House of Homosexual Culture asks why, 25 years after AIDS hit Britain, gay men are surrounded by images of bareback porn, and the incidence of HIV is spiraling. Join porn producers, porn stars, writers and experts for an event exploring the phenomenon of barebacking at the Purcell Rooms on the South Bank.
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/literature-spoken-word/productions/bareback-mountain-43961
