LGBT seafaring history talk

Maritime historian and Nautilus Telegraph contributor Jo Stanley will give a talk on gay history at sea in Liverpool during Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans (LGBT) history month in February.

Her Hello Sailor hour-long talk will be held on Saturday 11 February from 14.30, along with a special LGBT seafarer exhibition at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

The event follows a recent UK Parliamentary debate on a Bill — which the Union supports — seeking to scrap a little known and outdated law that allows shipping companies to sack people for engaging in ‘homosexual activity’. Tory MP John Glen — who tabled the proposed Bill in the House of Commons — said he wanted to see the law deleted because it sends the wrong ‘signals’ to the LGBT community.

Ms Stanley’s talk will, topically, shed light on life aboard passenger and other Merchant Navy ships in the 20^th century, particularly from the 1950s to 1980s, drawing on the stories of former seafarers from the LGBT community who were interviewed for a book — Hello Sailor! The Hidden History of Gay Life at Sea — co-written by Ms Stanley and Paul Baker.

Ms Stanley said their stories also helped inform the museum’s light-hearted and innovative display — including imaginative maps showing the way the LGBT seafarers used various ports to find their nearest gay-friendly nightlife.

Ms Stanley added she hoped LGBT seafarers would contribute to the new gay seafarers archive which the Merseyside Museum has also decided to set up.

‘So far maritime history has told a very conventional story that has excluded women, gender and sexual orientation. This exhibition has opened this subject up very interestingly, attractively and in a light-hearted way.’