Image: DrRandomFactor

Jeff Meek is a Lecturer in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow. By combining oral histories and scouring historical trial records related to homosexual offences in Scotland, Meek began populating maps of Scottish cities to show just where men and women socialised, relaxed, cruised and loved in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee.

This talk will focus on Jeff’s work in creating his LGBT maps of Scotland’s ‘queer’ spaces 1885 to 1995, with particular focus upon the city of Glasgow. Why have some buildings and spaces extended their reach and meaning to incorporate a ‘queer’ dynamic, oblivious to much of the communities that used these spaces on a daily basis? The talk will explore prominent locations in Glasgow, including Nelson’s Monument on Glasgow Green, the Broomielaw, the numerous theatres within the city, and will touch upon both the public and private world of LGBT history within the city. Along the way, meet the Whitehats, Glasgow’s colourful, subversive and possibly rather dangerous band of ‘queer’ male prostitutes whose imprint upon interwar Glasgow may have been fleeting but enables us to examine a different side to the ‘Mean City’.

Tickets: glasgowheritage.org.uk