They were a bit, ken, 'than wey' Brian Dempsey
GGLC Underdogs looking for whacks, Come all ye persons of goodwill, Indomitably spring-heeled dykes From Newton Mearns to Maryhill, Sweeping up on mountain bikes, Rattle the chains and launch the boat Jessies with attitude, closet cases, Part 1 And get it properly afloat. Solicitors with bright red braces, lthough Scotland possesses I bash this poem against the bow, Levis with a coloured hanky om incredibly rich sources Name it G.G.L.C., and endow To signal the right hanky-panky, or lesbian, gay, bisexual Its future cruise with benedictions, Lurex and Spandex and other ex-es and/or transsexual (lgbt) history, this Sailing past all feuds and frictions. To mix the senses and the sexes, is a sadly neglected aspect of our Come all ye lovers and affairs, But if you should prefer a suit national history. Worthy of study in Singles, discrete souls, and bears, We'll certainly no pit ye oot, their own right, such sources also Straightest of straights, bentest of For this is where we all can meet have the potential to inform Scottish bents, Down by the river in Dixon Street, social history in general. Carbolic scrub, Armani scents, And the Broomielaw rolls on to the sea Outwith Scotland, there is an Doc Martens girls, minikilt boys, With the happy cargo of G.G.L.C. enormous amount of theoretical Buyers of exotic toys, writing on the history of lgbt people, Opera queens, ballet queens, Poem by Edwin Morgan on the and this first article will only give a And all the hesitant in-betweens, opening of the Glasgow Gay and brief indication of the issues. Much Trendsetters and anoraks, Lesbian Centre, 4 November 1995. of this theoretical work is exciting and innovative, especially that close ly linked to substantive social histo ry, but some, admittedly, seems deliberately abstruse and even ster ile. The big theoretical issue in lgbt studies is 'social constructionism' versus 'essentialism'. Social con structionism is generally traced back to Mary Mcintosh's 1968 article 'The Homosexual Role' and is often associated with the French philoso pher Michel Foucault and his 1976 book The History of Sexuality (vol.i). Social constructionists, who argue that elements of our personal iden tities like race, sex, gender, and sex ual orientation and their expression
are not somehow 'natural', inherent, ) and determined by biology but are I contingent upon the societies in which we live, consider that there are serious dangers in using a fixed cat egory to describe people of different cultures. Even the term 'sexual ori entation' is problematised and while it may be used informally it is per haps better to speak of same-sex sex ual desires, behaviours and identi ties. For social constructionists, an interesting example of which is Jonathan Ned Katz's The Invention of Heterosexuality, it does not make sense, or at least it does not help us
Poster publicising the 'LBGT History Month - Scotland' indicating a grow ing interest in lgbt history.
HISTO RY SC OTLAND - SE PTEMBER/O C TOBER 2009 46 understand much, to say that, for essentialist, is the historian Rictor handle sens1t1ve information we example, Hadrian was either a gay or Norton: www.rictornorton.co.uk/ uncover about individuals and what bisexual man, or that Sappho was a Good starting points for under responsibilities do we have to avoid lesbian, when life in their cultures was standing the 'social constructionism v plundering past lives for our own so fundamentally different to ours. essentialism' argument are the essays ends? Equally, it often does not help, even in in Forms of Desire edited by Edward A major new source for social his our globalised world, to apply a single Stein and Which Homosexuality?, edit torians, whether specifically looking at category 'gay man' to someone who ed by Dennis Altman. More recently, lgbt lives or more widely, is the grow lives in an open, marriage-like rela gay studies has had the benefit of ing number of oral history projects in tionship with another man and who rather difficult 'queer critical theory' many countries. For Scotland the socialises and works in a 'gay positive' through the work of Eve Kosofsky most significant sources are Bob atmosphere, as well as to a married Sedgwick and others. 'Queer' in this Cant's Footsteps and Witnesses and the family man who may at times have sex context is affirmative and reflects a websites ,vww.ourstory.org.uk and with other men but rejects any 'gay rejection of such concepts as fixed ht;tp:/ /1ivingmem ory. org. uk/remcm identity'. identities and binaries like berwhen. Oral history certainly offers Essentialists, on the other hand, male/female and gay/straight. a way to capture the experiences of argue that sexuality and its expression Other issues in lgbt history, some of those generally marginalised or is innate, perhaps even genetic, and which are explored in David silenced but also raises issues about that although people living in different Halperin's How to Do the History of how reliable are conclusions based on cultures and subcultures will develop Homosexuality, are familiar to all his such evidence. Some of these com different ways of being and expressing torians: whose experiences were plexities are discussed in a recent arti themselves we can use categories like deemed important enough to be cle by Nan Boyd, 'Who is the Subject; 'lesbian' or 'bisexual' across cultural recorded and preserved; how typical Queer Theory Meets Oral History'. divides- Sappho was not only 'a right of the wider population were the rel on woman' but, if only there was atively few lives we can glimpse; how Where is the LBGT history of enough evidence, it would be mean can we understand lives lived in such Scotland? ingful to say that she was a lesbian. different social, religious and eco The leading critic of social construc nomic contexts to our own; should we One of the most basic and rewarding tionism, though he would reject the seek to understand these lives in their ways of exploring lgbt history is the simplistic and 'contemptuous' label of own terms or in ours; how should we production of lists and biographies of
Demonstration outside The Scotsman Offices 1974. (Scotsman licensed via www.scran.ac.uk)
} I
HISTORY SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER 2009
47 famous or infamous people like tively identified as a lesbian with Eleanor Roosevelt, Radclyffe Hall, Maud Galt (jl.1648/9) and Pirie and Sappho, Alexander the Great, St Woods (see below) "accused" of les Aelred of Rievaulx, King James VI, bianism. In the entry on the cross Oscar Wilde, and Sir Hector Mac dressing writer Mary Diana Dods donald. They, depending on your (c.1790-c.1830) a same-sex relation approach, were either lesbian or gay or ship is implied though the nature of bisexual, or else were people who the relationship is not made clear. probably had an attraction to persons But Scotland can lay claim to two of the same sex, or were 'queer', what of the most famous reputed lesbians ever their personal sexual identity. in history in Jane Pirie and Marianne Admittedly this is not perhaps the Woods, whose story was made most sophisticated of research famous as the inspiration for Lillian approaches but it can be a useful start Hellman's 1934 play 'The Children's ing point and is validating for those Hour'. The young ladies briefly ran a marginalised and denigrated by the small residential school in society in which they live. Nor is it Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh, for easy to uncover, let alone evaluate, upper-class girls but their careers were evidence of same-sex attraction even destroyed in 1810 when Lady Helen among those whose lives are known in Cumming Gordon removed her detail. There are strong presumptions teenaged grand daughter from the that everyone is heterosexual (hete school and spread the child's accusa rocentrism) and of course many peo tion among the parents of the other ple who felt other than 'normal' James VI. Can we apply modern con students that the teachers had nonetheless married, either to provide cepts of "gay" and "bisexual" to figures engaged in sexual intimacy together. a smokescreen or in an attempt to from the past? (National Galleries of Pirie and Woods sued for defamation become 'normal'. Even when people Scoland licensed via www,scran.ac,uk) and the destruction of their livelihood are widely known to be gay or lesbian and, while they won their case, Cum within their own circle any evidence of ming Gordon's wealth and tactics their same-sex attraction may be ensured that there was a long delay lacking after they die or may, indeed, while the case went all the way to the be destroyed by family. House of Lords. Their story is exam It should also be remembered ined at length in Lillian Faderman's that, despite our intrusive media, somewhat idiosyncratic 1983 book most people did not know that the Scotch ~rdict. Scots Makar, Edwin Morgan, was gay The treatment of this case by the until he 'came out' on his seventieth criminologist William Roughead in his birthday in 1990. While the decision 1931 book Bad Companions, presum to be public about a personal life is a ably the source for Hellman's play, is matter for the individual, it is benefi also interesting as it tells us something cial for lgbt people and society as a about lesbianism at the time of the whole to see the contributions people Scots Makar Edwin Morgan, who "came case and also at the time Roughead of different backgrounds and persua out" on his seventieth birthday (Gerry was writing. In the first instance his sions are making to our country, and McCann/licenced via www,scran.ac .uk) references to the child, Jane Cum for that to be recorded for future stu ming, are shockingly racist: she was, dents of Scotland's culture and soci Lesbians and bisexual women among other things, a 'dusky damsel I ety. We would have lost something in Scotland from the East' being born illegiti ' important if Morgan had not been mately and the product of a relation prepared to be open about his sexu Women-loving women are partic ship between Cumming Gordon's ality, as he himself has admitted, ularly difficult to find in the Scottish deceased son and an Indian woman. records. The artist Joan Eardley is list But the main point of interest is the It was something I wanted to write attempt by the legal establishment to about from quite early on. Even if ed on various websites as being a famous lesbian - in the sense of some silence the scandal at the time of the it wasn't being spoken about case. Roughead tells of how court openly, I was able to draw suste one who was famous and was also a lesbian - though there appears to be hearings were conducted in private nance from it [.. ,.] It took a long with no official record being preserved time for me to risk being unguard little evidence cited and no trace of this supposed orientation in the note and only a limited number of sets of ed; it depended on changes in soci trial papers being issued for the use of ety, changes in the law, changes in on Eardley in the recent Biographical Dictionary of Scottish W&men (BDSW). the court. These sets of papers were the people I knew. But I had a kind ordered to be destroyed upon the con of confidence that I would be able Disappointingly, 'lesbian' is not even a category in the thematic index of the clusion of the case - a process Roug to be open eventually - and mean head describes as a 'judicial holo while it was so much a part of my BDSW, with a mere eleven names under the more vague heading of'sex caust'. He then describes how, I 00 own life and character that it was uality'. Only one of these women, years later, he came to buy a set of the bound to be a part of the poetry. papers that had been secretly retained (The Guardian, 26 January 2008) Jackie Foster (1926-1998), is posi-
HISTORY SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009
48 great deal about a range of matters. The social and economic relations of early l 9th century Edinburgh are INTERNATIONAL glimpsed as are elements of educa tional provision at least for the better GAY RIGHTS off. The effectiveness of the mere accusation in disrupting the lives of CONGRESS the two teachers should be noted as should the strenuous efforts to erad icate the case from history, efforts 1974 which so easily could have succeeded and raise the question of how many other instances have been expunged from the record books. There is clear ly an element of knowing exactly what The first interna lesbianism (probably termed trib tional gay rights adism at the time) was, strangely conference after combined with a fear that allowing its Stonewall was existence to be mentioned in public organised in Scot would risk some damage to society. land and led to the founding of the Although the subject had to be han International dled with extreme care in the 1930s it Lesbian and Gay is interesting that it was handled at all Association/lLGA and, although Roughead considered his audience both 'ignorant' and 'pre Notes sumably innocent', he felt they would Letters recognise lesbianism even when it was referred to only vaguely. Were Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods lesbians? DECEMBER 18-22 The jury is still out. Gay or bisexual men in Scotland by one of the advocates in the trial. to stave off possible criticism of A rare example of evidence of a work As a criminologist and legal histo treating of the subject at all, ing class gay man's life relates to James rian Roughead felt a duty to disclose Brown, a Glasgow tailor who died in what he had discovered, even if it I admit that at first sight the sub Dore, near Sheffield, in March 1893. meant, ject may appear prohibitive; but I Brown was an active member of the have ripely pondered the matter, Socialist League and became part of [... ] violating the secrecy in which and having considerable experi Edward Carpenter's circle of social this ancient scandal is enshrouded, ence in the negotiation of thin ice, ists, bound together by links of com and reviving for an ignorant, and I flatter myself I can execute my radely love reminiscent of the Amer presumably innocent, generation delicate task without disaster to the ican gay poet Walt Whitman. Brown the shocking facts which their fore writer or detriment to the reader. was probably sexually involved with bears blushed to envisage and did Of the legal interest and sociolog fellow socialists Bob Muirhead and, ) I their best to stifle. ical value of the essay I am bold to perhaps, Dan McCulloch. Brown's think there can be no question. If personal and political papers, extant at Having told the story of the school Mrs Grundy does not like the per his death, have not been located. and the withdrawal of the child, formance, it is open to the dame to However, his published poetry speaks Roughead finally got round to dealing lump it. And I hereby formally give of the 'love that dare not speak its with the accusation, her notice that ladies are not name'. admitted. Should she disregard the Another poet whose life is rather [... ] and now[ ... ] I am compelled warning, it is at her proper peril. more extensively recorded is Father reluctantly to indicate the purport Shut the door. John Gray, first rector of the Sir of the black girl's black,er charge. Robert Lorimer designed St Peter's in Briefly, and with as little offence as Finally, and worryingly for would-be Falcon Avenue, Edinburgh. It was no may be, it was that these two gen historians of lgbt lives, Roughead coincidence that Gray was appointed tlewomen had conceived for one firmly stated that he related the story to this new church by the Catholic another an inordinate affection, of Pirie and Woods only because he Church as the buildings and the land which they did not scruple wan was convinced that the accusation was they were built on were paid for by tonly to display in the very pres false. Had he thought it true then he Gray's lover Marc-Andre Raffalovich. ence of their pupils. too would have silenced the record. Gray and Raffalovich had been part of So the difficult experiences of Jane the Oscar Wilde circle, converting to This is as explicit as Roughead gets Pirie and Marianne Woods and the Catholicism as several other gay men but even so he went to some lengths treatment of their story can tell us a did in the wake of the panic occa-
HISTORY SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBE R 2009
49 May 1870, 'The charge against The Case For men of dressing in women's clothes'). Homosexual Law The felony the men were suspected of committing was buggery (the English equivalent to a charge of sodomy) though ultimately they were acquitted Reform In Scotland by a jury. Frederick, when dressed, was known to her friends as Fanny, and Ernest was introduced sometimes as Lady Arthur Clinton and at other INFORMATION times as Stella, Star of the Strand. Scotland remains one of the few countries in Europe where homosexual Boulton's presumed lover, Lord acts are still illegal in all circumstances. Arthur Pelham Clinton, MP, died, possibly at his own hand but official The following resolution was proposed by the Scottish Mi~orities' Group at the Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Council for Civil ly 'from exhaustion resulting from Liberties, and adopted as S.C.C.L. policy. scarlet fever', before he could stand trial. EQUALITY FOR HOMOSEXUALS The Scottish angle arose through letters discovered by police in the This A.G.M. notes the continuing social and legal inequalities of the rooms of one John Safford Fiske, homosexual in Scotland and recommends to the Executive Committee and Parliamentary Civil Liberties Group to press for sound legal reforms American Consul at Leith. It tran for an early removal of remaining discrimination. spired that Boulton and Park had met Fiske, who lodged at 136 George At the request of the Scottish Council for Civil Liberties, the Executive Committee of the Scottish Minorities Group, prepared a memorandum Street, Edinburgh, in 1868 through a (which is printed overleaf) outlining the reasons for the above resolu mutual friend, a clerk in the surveyor's tion and the action required. department of the Post Office, Louis Charles Hurt. Fiske fell head over heels in love with Boulton and wrote him incriminating letters,
SCOTIISH MINORITIES GROUP, 214 Clyde Street, Glasgow, C.!. Edinburgh, 18th April 1870 My Darling Erriie, - I am looking Scottish Minorities Group leaflet recording support of Scottish Councilfor Civil for Louis [Hurt] tonight, and Liberties/SCCL's support for decriminalisation, mid-1970s wishing as I do a hundred times each day that you were to be here. [. ..] I have a heart full of love and sioned by Wilde's conviction for denunciations of the sins of the longing; and my photographs, my same-sex sexual activity in 1895. The 'Scarlet Woman', the Roman four little notes, and my memory young Gray was often said to be the Catholic Church. Only recently are all that I have of you. [ ... ] model for Wilde's Picture of Dorian aware of my own homosexuality, I Believe me, darling, a word of Gray, and indeed he initially encour listened fearfully as he revealed the remembrance from you can never aged the idea, though this cannot be presence of a 'Sodomistic Catholic come amiss, only the sooner it correct as the two men did not meet Clique' in Edinburgh. It was many comes the better. 'Hope deferred' J until shortly after the novel was pub years later[ ... ] I realised that Cor - you know the saying. Adventures I lished. Wilde financially underwrote mack was probably referring to do turn up, even in Edinburgh. publication of Gray's compilation of Canon John Grey [sic] of St Perhaps you would envy me for poems Silverpoints and George Peter's Church and his friend five whole minutes if I were to tell Bernard Shaw described Gray as one Andre Raffalovitch. you of one that I've had since you of Oscar's 'more abject' disciples. Per left; but I will keep it for your own haps because of this Raffalovich was In 1870, in contrast to the silence that ear when very likely you try after never on good terms with Wilde. had been imposed on the Pirie and the same happiness. Anti-Catholicism and homophobia Woods case some fifty years earlier, came together in the.speeches of John Scottish newspapers carried frequent While Fiske's letters do not amount to Cormack of Protestant Action. In the and substantial articles on the trials of proof of sexual activity between the March/April 1985 edition of the mag Ernest Boulton and Frederick two men, their effeminate and gush azine Gay Scotland, John Mcintyre William Park, who were accused of ing tone can hardly have left much wrote, the, doubt in the minds of the police and prosecutors as to their import. Cer As a schoolboy [in 1932] I stood [ ... ] extraordinary charge [ ... ] of tainly the newspaper reports of the listening to the speakers at the dressing in women's attire, and fre trial, often under the heading of Mound in Edinburgh's Princes quenting certain places of amuse 'Charge of PersonatingWomen', were Street, and it was there I heard ment in London, with intent to clearly understood by the public to John Cormack [ ... ] thundering commit a felony.' (The Scotsman, 7 relate to sodomy though same-sex
HISTORY SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 50 15 THE TIMES SATURDAY OCTOBER 30 1999
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· ~- --·· I (above) 'Outright Scotland' campaign Wendy Alexander yesterday: 'This action will help to overcome intolerance" leaflet calling for repeal of homophobic legislation.
Holyrood leads way on (left) Newspaper article reporting on the new Scottish Parliament's lead on oppos repeal of Section 28 ing Section 28. BY A SCOTIAND CoRRESPONDENl" · time Lyndsay produced his History of MOYES in Scotland to scrap · committed to ending a climate was to say to me the criticism Scotland. Lyndesay writes, in a rather legislation that bans councils in which homophobia can of this was that as a devolved peculiar style about the portentous from promoting homosexuali thrive. The present system is parliament we take our own ty were widely welcomed yes flawed. It makes a legal distinc decision and moved slightly signs seen immediately before the terday, with an expectarion tion between teaching about faster than.the rest of the UK." death of James II in 1460, including that similar moves will soon homosexuality and teaching Alec Dreary, convener of the be made south of the border. about other contentious wpics gay and lesbian rights group 'the comit that appeirit' and of 'the Wendy Alexander, Holy such as drugs and abortion. Outright, said: "The Parlia skartht yat was born ofbaith the kyn rood's Communities Minister. "The Scottish Executive be ment has said it wants a social formally announced that legis lieves that to repeal this sec· ly inclusive society. The remov dis maile and female', lation banning councils from rion of the legi slation would be al of this obstacle will help to promoting homosexuality is to of assistance to schools and make that possible. Sex educa be repealed in Scotland. teachers in their endeavour to tion can be deal1 with in terms It is said that thair was maney mar The minister told an audi provide rounded and compre of equalicy and all relation enc~ at Glasgow University hensive health and sex educa ships looked at by educators." vellis about that tyme quhilk that Section 2a of the Local tion. This action "~II help to Michael Matheson, Scottish pronosticat the kingis deid. [... ] In Government Act 1986. com overcome the prejudice and in National Par!)' Shadow Depu monly known as Section 28, tolerance we still know exists ty Justice and Equality Minis the yeir preceiding thair was ane was flawed and driven by dis in our society against lesbian ter, gave his party's hacking. bairn borne quhilk had baitht the crimination. and gay communities-" But Mr Gallic said: "We don't The announcement was wel The minister also said there believe that there is any place kyndis of mail! and famell callit in comed by gay rights groups, was no justification fora differ for the promotion of sex in ) opposition politicians and ent age of consent for gay men. schools, never mind homosex our language, karthe [scratche/ I trades unions. But it was con The First Minister. Donald De ualitv :· scarcht] in quhome mans nature demned by Phil Gallic. Scot war, said: "! suspect move Roman Catholic Church tish Tory home affairs spokes ment south of the border mav spokesman Monsignor Tom did prevail) bot because the dis man, and given only a cau be very close behind. That's e1i Connelly said: ""We do hope positioun and protratour [por tious welcome by the Roman tirely a malter for them. that the consultartive docu Catholic Church. "It would be very obscure ment will mention education traiture] of body did represent ane Ms Alexander said: "We are and strange indeed if someone and not simply instruction_" woman, in ane mans house in Lythtgow and assotiatit in beding sexual activity was not mentioned. For duct', which led to the threat of a witht the good mans dochter of example, in June 1870, James Young defamation action. the house and maid her to consaue of Arbroath accused his neighbour, ane child quhilk being devoullgat John Kidd, of sodomy, and stated that Transgender/transsexuals in throw the contrie and the matrou he had pointed Kidd out to a police Scotland nis wnderstanding this damesell officer saying h e had, 'committed a dessawith in this matter and being case of sodomy; or the same that Park Although the historian Robert L yn offendit that the monstrowous and Boulton were lying for'. Later, in desay of Pitscottie (c.1532-c. l 586) creatur sould sett him self fourtht Kidd's hearing, Young, had 'made a must be treated with caution as a as ane woman beand ane werie remark to a person passing the door source, his recording of a 1460 case of man, they gat him accusit and con [ ... ] that they "need not go far for Park a transsexual or hermaphrodite m an vickit in iudgement fo r to be and Boulton", referring to the English does, at the very least, tell us some burieit quick for his schamfull fellows charged with abominable con- thing of attitudes and beliefs at the behavieour.
HISTORY SCOTLAN D - SEPT EMBER/ O CTOI3ER 2009
51 Jumping forward several centuries, the The correctness of this legal Orcadian Isabel Gunn seems to have It is not clear if the 'nothing more' process was put to the test when, in been driven by economic need rather refers to the possible theft of the cloth 1965, Lord Sempill died without than sexual desire when she adopted ing or perhaps prostitution or same male issue. The baronetcy of Forbes of men's clothes in order to get a job sex activity. Craigievar descended only through with the Hudson's Bay Company in A relatively recent case of an inter male heirs: Ewan was closer in line 1806. The firm only employed men so sex person (or hermaphrodite) is than another nephew of the deceased, Isabel signed on to work as 'John reported in Angus Campbell's article but was Ewan really male? Until 2004 Fubister' but her secret was discov on a 1968 'gender recognition' court the law was that a person could not ered when she had to admit to feeling case. The question to be determined 'change' their sex if they were born indisposed when in the act of giving was whether one Ewan Forbes-Sem- unequivocally male or female but, bas birth. ing his deliberations on 17th We are perhaps on century legal writers, the firmer ground with 1870 judge concluded that in the case from Dundee. On Sat case of a true hermaphrodite urday 14 May 1870 the it is the predominant sex that 1,1:;eekly News reported, prevails. As that was male in under the headline 'Two this case, then it had been Young Women Larking It In legally correct to change the Men's Clothes', and again sex on Ewan's birth certifi making reference to the cate from female to male. Park and Boulton case, Although some members of that, the family were confused by the process there was little At the Police Court, comment in the newspapers Dundee, on Wednesday a of the time ( though there was most ludicrous and disquiet at the fact that the melancholy scene present entire proceedings were held ed itself. Mary Robert in camera, ie without access son, Dundee - a plump, being given to the public or ruddy girl, apparently the press) and Forbes-Sem about twenty years of age - pill appears to have been and Elizabeth Guthrie, respected in the community from Aberdeen - a tall, until his death in 1991. slender woman, apparent ly a few years her senior - Themes presented themselves in the dock to answer to a The individual lives of lgbt charge of disorderly con people explored briefly duct. They were both above are intended to indi dressed in men's clothes. cate something of the range [Robertson's] [ ... ] whole of experiences that might be get-up would have been looked for and offer a 'way worthy of the gentlemen in' to further research. who at present are causing Cover of Gay Scotland magazine 1993. As elsewhere, the initial response to the AIDS Another approach is to explore the such a furore by their dressing in crisis came from lesbians and gay men lives of lgbt people and the contribu the garb of the sex the prisoners rather than public services J tions they have made to Scottish soci I were concealing. [ ... ] They had ety. One such example is the different been apprehended that morning pill could inherit a considerable estate organisations lgbt people have creat between two and three o'clock in as the oldest male heir despite having ed over the last forty years. A good Constitution Road, where they been registered at birth and having starting point might be my own pam were making a loud noise, and dis lived the first half of his life as a girl. phlets Thon 1,1:;ey and Pink Papers turbing the lieges. Both panels Born into the influential Forbes (http://www.linsert.org/), though pleaded guilty. They were defend Sempill family of Craigievar and Fin transsexual and bisexual groups are ed by a woman, named Mary tray, Ewan had been registered as admittedly under-represented in Ward, who rose in the body of the Elizabeth and lived for the first forty those publications. As well as the main Court, and stated that they were years of his life as a female. Having national political organisation Out only guilty of being in men's gathered medical evidence to show right Scotland (previously the Scottish clothes - nothing more! [ ... ] Both that he was, in fact, predominantly Minorities Group and then the Scot prisoners were fined 1Os. They male and then being prescribed tish Homosexual Rights Group), paid the fine, and left the Court testosterone treatment, in 1952 Eliz there have been a number oflocal lgbt along with their Ward and they abeth successfully petitioned the groups and, latterly, groups like were followed along the street Sheriff Court to have the sex which Equality Network and Stonewall amidst the laughter and cheers of was registered on his birth certificate Scotland. Other fruitful areas of a large crowd, in which they them changed from female to male. research could be student 'gaysocs' selves heartily joined.
HISTORY SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 52 and youth groups generally, lgbt self ing and a hugely hostile atmosphere they were radically under-funded and organised groups within political par created by homophobic tabloid news relied totally on volunteer input. ties and trade unions, and within reli papers and the government. Despite However, they provided a safe venue gious bodies. all these problems, SAM, and other for thousands of people and the Another theme that is being organisations including Phace West space in which gay switchboards and explored by Roger Davidson is the and Body Positive, successfully put other community organisations could treatment oflgbt people by the med tens of thousands of hours of volun safely develop. ical professions. In many cases those teer community work into supporting Many clubs and pubs are men with same-sex desires faced condem individuals and changing attitudes. It tioned in Bob Cant's Footsteps and Wit nation and were pressured into deny- is to be hoped that the papers of these nesses. As well as the busy central-belt commercial venues like Glas gow's Waterloo and Vintners pubs and Edinburgh's Kenil worth pub and Fire Island disco, Dundee's Gauger gets a mention, as does Kirkcaldy's Victoria Arms. The magazine Gay Scotland carried a regular guide to social venues which, in the mid 1980s, included Bogie's Bar in Greenock, 'mainly straight but popular with local gays', and Kil marnock's Kay Park Tavern 'popular, young crowd, mainly straight'. In 1987 'Agatha' wrote a brief reminiscence of earlier Edinburgh haunts, including the Black Bull and Fairlies on Leith Walk ('Fairlies was a wonderful place for meet ing sailors of all nationalities' during WWII) as well as the Shakespeare, Paddy's, the White Cockade, the Ivanhoe, the Old Hundred, and the 'gay 60 Broughton Street - The LGBT Centre in Edinburgh, an important public cafe' Crawfords in Frederick statement since 1975. Street. ing their feelings, often through cruel organisations are being preserved. To be continued aversion 'therapy'. Trans gendered A further focus for research might people often faced (and face) chal be social activities. This could include Brian Dempsey is a lecturer in the School lenges accessing proper medical sup the 'gay' pubs and clubs that devel of L aw, University of Dundee and main port whether in relation to their gen oped in the 1980s, the community tains the website: http: I!www.linsert.org/ der dysphasia or in unrelated medical organised discos which predated the ) matters. Isolation and hostile treat development of the commercial pub I ment could lead to great stress and and club 'scene' and the lgbt com Further Reading even mental health problems and munity centres. One of the first aims since the only 'gay' people medics of the lesbian and gay groups that Bob Cant (ed.), Footsteps and Witnesses; studies were people seeking medical formed in the late 1960s or early Lesbian and gay /ifestories from Scotland help ( or sometimes those in prison) it 1970s was to break down the isolation (Edinburgh, 2008). was inevitable that same-sex desire that many people experienced. To this Edward Stein (ed.), Forms of Desire: sexual would be pathologised as an illness - end, many organised discos, often in orientation and the social constructionist con it was a central demand of the Gay university or student run venues (the troversy (London, 1990). Liberation Front that homosexuality first was The Cobweb, in George be removed from the psychiatric pro Square, Edinburgh). Space for meet Stephen M. Barber and David L. Clark fession's list of mental conditions. ings and socialising was also quickly (eds.), Regarding Sedgwick: essays on queer culture and critical theory (London, The materials making up the his secured (23 George Street, Edin 2002). tory of the impact of AIDS on people burgh; 214 Clyde Street, Glasgow). living in Scotland has yet to be col The history of the Edinburgh 'gay Steven Seidman (ed.), QueerTheory/Sociol lected. The first national organisation centre' at 60 Broughton Street and the ogy (Cambridge, 1996). to address the issue, Scottish Aids three Glasgow centres (534 Monitor (SAM), had an at times Sauchiehall Street, 11 Dixon Street, Nan Boyd, 'Who is the Subject; OueerThe ory Meets Oral History', in Journal of the tumultuous existence affected, as it and 84 Bell Street) has at times History of Sexuality, 2008, 177-89. was, by infighting, lack of proper fund- descended into farce, largely because
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