Queer Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London's Fierce History

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Tash Walker, host of The Log Books podcast and Co-Chair of Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline (2018 - 2022) Dan's enthusiasm and passion for LGBTQIA+ culture is relentless. It is impossible to read this book without being swept up into the legend of London's Queer history of resistance, solidarity and downright fabulosity. By the end of this book you will be marching on the streets in a thong'

A buoyant and enlivening jaunt through London's radical queer history. Dan Glass uses wit and passion to both archive and animate the communities who've made London such a vibrant and vitalising city. Queer Footprints is a testament to our belonging and offers evidence and witness to queer liveliness. Let Dan Glass and Queer Footprints be your guides to reclaiming the streets of London – and to uncovering the queer footprints in cities around the world' An incredibly powerful exploration of a London that has been deliberately hidden, by one of the most courageous and insightful activists we have' United Queerdom: From the Legends of the Gay Liberation Front to the Queers of Tomorrow is a toolkit of case studies, strategies, philosophies, methodologies and tactics for LGBTQIA+ liberation. But it doesn’t stop there. In the spirit of the original aims of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), who started the modern Pride movement, it exists in the spirit of `Absolute Freedom for All’ and lives by the mantra of ‘All Injustices Are Connected.’This groundbreaking guide will take you through the city streets to uncover the scandalous, hilarious and empowering events of London's queerstory. Follow in the footprints of veteran activists, such as those who marched in London's first Pride parade in 1972 or witnessed the 1999 bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho. Because for fifty years the Gay Liberation Front have taught humankind this lesson in the most dazzling and spectacular fashion. Emerging from the Stonewall Uprisings in New York in 1969 it wasn’t long before they catalysed a movement here in Britain that lead to Pride today, but not as we know it. At the pumping heart of the GLF mission is the aim of ‘Absolute freedom for all’, a principled opposition against all oppression and to stand in solidarity with everyone everywhere facing discrimination and abuse. QUEERCIRCLE IS A NEW LGBTQ+ LED CHARITY WORKING AT THE INTERSECTION OF ARTS, CULTURE AND SOCIAL ACTION. Having opened our new home in June 2022, QUEERCIRCLE seeks to develop an ecology of artists, curators, writers, thinkers, community organisers, grassroots organisations and charities who collectively work together to reimagine the role cultural spaces play in society. So engagingly written. A fabulous work of love and defiance. It documents and honours extraordinary and everyday struggles for personal and collective freedom, in a city of dreams and nightmares but so many delights!' Dan Glass, London’s unofficial queer mayor, takes you bar and history hopping through former gay ghettos and new queer spaces. The oral histories Glass obtained from those who were there, much like hidden gems on less travelled side streets, bring his guide to vibrant life'

Q: The book contains testimonies from LGBTQIA+ activists, business owners, volunteers and artists who speak to the histories (and herstories) you trace across London. Why did you feel it was important to include their voices in Queer Footprints?

Authors

Join us for a day of events planned to celebrate Dan Glass’s new book, Queer Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London’s Fierce History, and the 50th Anniversary of Icebreakers — a radical gay group. FULLY BOOKED — Queer history walking tour — 9 June, 2pm to 4pm

Join us for an evening of exploring the Hall-Carpenter Archives, a book reading with Dan Glass, and a panel discussion with key groups featured in the book including Gay Liberation Front (GLF), Switchboard, and more! The celebratory evening will include: It is helpful, however, to question everything if you think that an injustice to one is an injustice to all. As the late great popular educator Paulo Freire said, we must ‘read our own reality and write our own history’ to transform the world around us. And if you are in London or you plan to visit, take it into the streets, on your own or with friends, with strangers, whatever works for you. Glass: It was a balance between 65 interviews with some of the legendary founders of Pride and the early members of the Gay Liberation Front along with multiple pioneers in social justice movements, who continue their journey for justice for all, and my own experience. The autobiographical elements came through speaking with my twin sister and finally allowing myself to remember what I went through as a child living under Section 28, the ruthless and barbaric legislation that wiped our identities as queers out of existence. I wanted to include all the unfurling and unleashing that happened since then on the streets and raves and bedrooms across London, and also uncover icons throughout history and across the world who paved the way for the Gay Liberation Front.Glass has used his vast experience as a campaigner to create something dizzyingly energetic. His writing isn't just informative; it compels you to act.’ Offers a fascinating, lively and revealing look into the capital's queer past. Like the winding streets themselves, there is something surprising at every turn. This is a queer look at London with a Capital Q and is by turns intimate, gossipy, personal and political. Glass represents a vital link between the important activists who helped shape the world we live in and those who would shape the future and is a charming, knowledgeable and amenable tour guide.’ Dan Glass is an award-winning activist, mentor, performer and writer. He uses music, performance and protest to catalyse love, soul, revolution and justice in communities confronting injustice. Dan is an educator from Training for Transformation (TfT). Dan has been named one of Attitude Magazine’s campaigning role models for LGBT youth, GaydarRadio Heroes Awards for Gay Rights activism and a Guardian ‘UK youth climate leader’ for famously supergluing the Prime Minister. Dan was recently awarded the ‘activist of the year’ at the ‘Sexual Freedom Awards 2017’ for contributions to sex-positive, queer, healthcare and human rights movements for social justice.