Is Transphobia the New Homophobia?
Can the discrimination and stigmatisation faced by trans people in Britain today be compared to the persecution of queer men in the 1950s? Do parallels exist between the motives, tactics, rhetoric and popular appeal of those determined to criminalise male homosexuality in fifties Britain and those opposed to trans rights in the new millennium? Or is it misleading to compare past campaigns about sexuality with present controversies over gender identity?
These questions will be discussed in the first of a new series of Now and Then roundtables by the prominent LGBTQ+ writers and campaigners Zoë Playdon, Lisa Power and Nat Thorne. This discussion is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and chaired by historian Marcus Collins as part of a nationwide programme of events about Re-Viewing LGBTQ+ Lives.
Zoë Playdon
Zoë is Emeritus Professor of Medical Humanities at the University of London, co-founder of the Parliamentary Forum on Gender Identity and author of The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: The Transgender Trial that Threatened to Upend the British Establishment (2021).
Lisa Power
Lisa is co-founder of Stonewall, ex-Policy Director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, trustee of Queer Britain and author of No Bath but Plenty of Bubbles: An Oral History of the Gay Liberation Front, 1970-73 (1995).
Nat Thorne
Nat is Education, Evaluation and Research Associate at the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health and Visiting Research Fellow at Nottingham Trent University. They have written a PhD and many articles on gender diversity and mental health.
Marcus Collins
Marcus is Reader in Contemporary History at Loughborough University. He is currently completing a book entitled Arrested Development: Queer Broadcasting in Postwar Britain and leading the AHRC-funded project Re-Viewing LGBTQ+ Lives.
Organiser of Is Transphobia the New Homophobia?
This ticket grants access to Is Transphobia the New Homophobia? on Monday 23rd June 2025
Have a promo code?
Queer Britain2 Granary Square, London, N1C 4BH
Sold Out
London