Introducing Speaking Out!
Cataloguing advocacy, support and empowerment in the Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard archives
In April 2022, Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA) launched a new project, ‘Speaking Out’, which involves cataloguing and promoting the archives of the Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard.
As the UK’s first gay helpline and Scotland’s first gay charity, Switchboard was a key source of support to LGBT+ people across Scotland and the UK, campaigning and advising on sexual health, mental health, and equality issues, as well as working with the NHS and Scottish Government in health education and social and economic research.
Get involved
As part of the project, we are looking for participants from both LGBT Age and LGBT Youth Scotland, to join a series of creative writing and zine making workshops, where you will discuss and create new works in response to the LGBT+ experiences reflected in the Switchboard archive. Your creations will then be included in a digital exhibition and displayed alongside archival records!
The workshops will be informal, inspirational, and intergenerational! We aim to bring together different age groups to look at the past, the present, and in to the future. Through writing exercises, we will explore questions such as, who is included in history and who is erased? What was it like to be a member of the LGBT+ community in 1974, and how have things changed?
You are not required to have any previous creative writing or zine making experience! Each workshop will help you develop new skills and will provide you with the confidence to share your voice through writing. You will learn about the history of the LGBT+ community in Edinburgh and the vital role Switchboard played during the struggle for legal and social equality. You will also learn about exhibition design by helping us identify items to include in the exhibition, and explore how to describe and display items.
Come along to our two sessions which will take place on:
- Wednesday 12th October (1pm – 3pm)
At LGBT Health and Wellbeing
4 Duncan Place (EH6 8HW) - Wednesday 19th October (1pm – 3pm)
At LGBT Health and Wellbeing
4 Duncan Place (EH6 8HW)
No booking required. Wheelchair accessible.
