University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2016 Performing LGBT Pride in Plymouth 1950 - 2012 Butler, Alan John http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/5477 Plymouth University All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This copy of the thesis has been supplied on the condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and information derived from it may be published without the author’s prior consent. PERFORMING LGBT PRIDE IN PLYMOUTH 1950 – 2012 by ALAN JOHN BUTLER A thesis submitted to Plymouth University in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Arts and Humanities Doctoral Training Centre In collaboration with Plymouth & West Devon Record Office September 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study has been undertaken to consider and explore an aspect of Plymouth history that has previously been overlooked and has been made possible through funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council whose support I gratefully acknowledge. I would also like to acknowledge the support received from Plymouth City Council’s Arts and Heritage service and offer my sincere thanks to all who have contributed and, in particular, the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office. I would like to thank my supervisory team of Professor Roberta Mock (Plymouth University), Dr Claire Fitzpatrick (Plymouth University) and Tony Davey (Plymouth City Council Arts and Heritage Service) for their unwavering support and guidance through this process. I also owe a debt to family and friends who have supported me through this process, particularly proof reader Ann Butler, and so many members of Plymouth’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities who shared their stories, including members of the Plymouth Pride Forum (an organisation which has disbanded during the course of this study), along with so many others who came forward to participate. Finally, I would like to dedicate this study to Edward (Ted) Whitehead, who passed away during the writing of this thesis. Ted’s willingness to share his stories taught me a great deal about Plymouth’s LGBT community but also a great deal about what it means to have pride. iii AUTHOR'S DECLARATION At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award without prior agreement of the Graduate Sub-Committee. Work submitted for this research degree at the Plymouth University has not formed part of any other degree either at Plymouth University or at another establishment. This study was financed with the aid of a studentship form the Arts and Humanities Research Council and carried out in collaboration with Plymouth and West Devon Record Office. A programme of advanced study was undertaken, which included: MARE500 – The Postgraduate Research in the Arts and Humanities Module. Presentation and Conferences Attended: ‘Pride in Our Past’ paper presented at the Community Archives and Heritage Group Conference, University College London, 27 June 2012. Attended TaPRA Conference, University of Kent, 5th September 2012. ‘Archiving Ephemerality through Oral History Interviews’ paper presented at the Performance Legacies Symposium, Royal Holloway University, 25 March 2013. ‘Pride in Our Past’ paper presented at Community Archives and Heritage Group South West Seminar, Devon Heritage Centre, Exeter, 21 October 2013. ‘Archiving the Ephemeral Pride’ paper presented at the Unspeakable! LGBT History and Archives Conference, London Metropolitan Archive, 7 December 2013. ‘Gathering Unheard Voices: Queer heritage in Post-War Plymouth’ paper presented at the Community Voices: Oral History on the Ground, Oral History Society Annual Conference, Manchester Metropolitan University, 19 July 2014. ‘Archiving the Ephemeral Queer Pride in Plymouth’ paper presented to the Queer Futures Working Group, International Federation of Theatre Research World Congress, University of Warwick, 31 July 2014 iv ‘Gathering Unheard Voices and the Ephemeral Pride’ paper presented at Marginal Perceptions: International Queer Studies Conference, Penryn Campus, Falmouth, Cornwall, The University of Exeter and Falmouth University, 7 March 2015. Word count of main body of thesis: 76923 Signed ………Alan Butler ……………………… Date ……25th September 2015……….............. v ABSTRACT: Alan John Butler Performing LGBT Pride in Plymouth 1950 - 2012 This thesis considers how the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered communities of Plymouth have performed and signified their own culture and identities during the period 1950 to 2012. Its source materials were largely generated by conducting oral history interviews with members of Plymouth’s LGB and T communities. This resulted in the creation of an archive which included thirty-seven interviews conducted with twenty-four individuals. These interviews, in conjunction with other uncovered archival memorabilia, now form a specific LGBT collection with Plymouth and West Devon Record Office. This PhD thesis interrogates this newly created community archive accession, using theories of performance as a tool, to consider how differing narratives and histories have been constructed, reproduced, contested and maintained. Pride, as a political concept in LGBT culture, is linked to the belief that individuals should maintain and display a sense of dignity in relation to their sexual orientation or gender role as a response to the stigmatisation traditionally associated with being LGB or T. This study tests the relevance of the concept of pride for the lived experience of LGBT communities in Plymouth, concluding that it needs to be understood within personal narratives rather than as primarily manifested in outward-facing forms of performance (such as a parade or a public event). Particularly significant in this regard is the “coming out narrative”. The thesis identifies spaces which, for various reasons, came to be accepted as safe places to accommodate sexual and gender differences in Plymouth in the 1950s and 60s. These strongly reflect Plymouth's location as a port, in combination with the fact that it has played host to each of the armed forces. It considers the impact of international public displays of gay pride from the Stonewall riots in the US through to performances as protest employed by groups such as Outrage! and legislation as Section 28 of the Local Government Act in the UK. The thesis concludes by considering the author’s role in, and wider impact of, the “Pride in Our Past” exhibition, which took place at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (April- June 2012) as part of this research project. vi LIST OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Plymouth’s History and “Hidden Communities”: Literature Review 5 The Pride in Our Past Project 9 The Timeframe under Investigation (1950 - 2012) 12 Studying Performance 13 Sex and the City 18 Research Practices 20 Thesis Structure 21 Chapter One: Research Methodology 23 Part I: Methods of Data Collection 23 Archival Research 23 Oral History 27 Ethnographic Research 34 Sample 36 Interview Protocols 37 Practice-based Research 39 Part II: Frames of Analysis 41 Performance Studies 41 Knowledge, Power and Discourse 44 Queer Theory and Practice 46 Stigma 48 Conclusion 50 Chapter Two: Hiding in the Light: Plymouth’s Gay Spaces in the 1950s and 60s 51 Into the Lion’s Den: Cruising in the City 53 The Flexible Sexuality of Matelots 61 The Mambo: Free Territory 65 The Lockyer Tavern: A Safe Space to Come Out and Stay Inside 66 Conclusion 72 Chapter Three: The Historical Development of Collective Representations of LGBT Pride 74 Redefining Camp within Conflict 76 Gay Liberation and the Parade 82 The Call for Direct Action in the United States 88 Campaigning and Direct Action in the United Kingdom 92 vii Conclusion 103 Chapter Four: Disciplinary Power and the Policing of Pride 105 Foucault and “Illegitimate Sexualities” 106 Gay Men and the Practice of Cruising 108 The In/Visibility of Role Models 113 Plymouth’s Limited Reaction to Section 28 115 In Other Words: The “Counter Archive” 117 Free Speech in the Colleges 122 Dayspace: An Attack on Equal Opportunities 123 Conclusion 126 Chapter Five: Stigmatisation, Counterpublics and Queer Spaces in Plymouth 128 A Queer Counterpublic 129 Mr Harry’s Nightclub and the Conflicting Recollections of a Queer Space 131 Plymouth’s Response to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s 134 Localised Performativity 139 “We Didn’t Realise Until Then That They Hated Us”: Murder in Plymouth’s Central Park 142 Public Representation and the Formation of LGBT Groups in Plymouth 146 Conclusion 150 Chapter Six: Exhibiting Pride 152 Stage One: The Early Years 156 Stage Two: The Underground Scene 158 Stage Three: Changing Times 165 Stage Four: 21st Century 167 Representing Diversity within Diversity 169 Generational Interpretation 171 Exhibition Space 175 Evaluating the Exhibition 177 Conclusion 179 Conclusion 181 Part I: Contribution to Knowledge 187 Part II: Cultural Impacts and Outcomes 192 Community Archives and Heritage Group 192 The Archive as an Educational Resource 193 viii Community Archive