Transnational LGBTI Activism, 1950s-1980s: Northwest Europe and Global Networks

PART OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY CONFERENCE – 24 – 27 March 2021

Network: Sexuality Chair: Alessio Ponzio
Organizer: Andrew DJ Shield Discussant: Alessio Ponzio

Peter Edelberg : Interrogating the Scandinavian LGBT+ Movement: Trans-National and Comparative Perspectives 1948-2018
A small group of homosexual men created a national organization in 1948 in Denmark, taking its inspiration from the C.O.C. in Holland and Der Kreis in Switzerland. The organization quickly grew due to its publishing a magazine that became popular among homosexual men and women.

Jens Rydstrom : A Nordic Queer Revolution? LGBTQI Activism in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, 1948-2018
This paper overviews the preliminary findings of a group project that investigates the complex historical-social reasons why considerable inequality remains – and to some extent is reported to grow – for Scandinavian queer communities. Queer (LGBTQI) rights are a matter of pride for many Western countries, including in Scandinavia.

Andrew DJ Shield : “The Dutch and Danish Model”: Transnational Gay/Lesbian Activism, 1950s-60s
In 1967, Great Britain stuck down its law prohibiting consensual same-sex relations between (non-enlisted) adults, allowing new possibilities for homosexual self-organization, such as through social clubs.

Ann Wilson : The Challenge of Transnational Organizing: the Case of the International Lesbian Information Service, 1980-1998
Over the last decade, there has been a proliferation of new scholarship about the history of transnational organizing to advance sexual freedom.