Libraries Guide to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) resources

Published sources at Central Library

We hold the following printed material:

  • Ed Swinden, Manchester Gay Pride: a Day in the Life of the Pride Festival (2009), 306.766 SWI. A pictorial celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender festival, held annually in the city over the August bank holiday weekend.
  • Tales from Out in the City: an Anthology of Memories (2009), 306.766 OUT. A volume of memories and reminiscences from older members of the gay community in Manchester, published by Out in the City/Age Concern.
  • Mike Homfray, Provincial Queens: the Gay and Lesbian Community in the North-West of England (2007), 306.766 HOM (308). Based on interviews and research on the gay and lesbian communities of Manchester and Liverpool, this work describes the nature of these communities and the political movement towards social inclusion and communitarian ideals. Covers issues of gay identity and gay and lesbian 'spaces' in the two cities, including Manchester's Gay Village.
  • John Birnie and Beverley Skeggs, "Cosmopolitan Knowledge and the Production and Consumption of Sexualized Space: Manchester's Gay Village", Sociological Review, vol. 52, 2004, pages 39 to 61, Q306.766094 BIN (407). An article about the 'gay space' of Manchester's Gay Village and its marketing as a cosmopolitan spectacle as part of a new market for leisure consumption.
  • Clare Tebbutt, Beyond the Village: how Manchester's Gay Village has been treated as the sole site and model for Manchester's queer history and why that is a problem (University of Manchester MA thesis, 2006), q306.766094 TEB (599)
  • Beverley Skeggs et al, "Queer as Folk: Producing the Real of Urban Space", Urban Studies, vol. 41, No. 9, August 2004, pp. 1839-1856 Q306.766094 QUE (409). An article on the construction of a particular 'urban space', centred on Manchester's Gay Village and the image of the television programme 'Queer as Folk'.
  • Stephen Quilley, "Constructing Manchester's 'New Urban Village': Gay Space in the Entrepreneurial City" in Gordon Brent Ingram, Anne-Marie Bouthillette and Yolanda Retter eds., Queers in Space: Communities, Public Spaces, Sites of Resistance (1997), pages 275 to 294, 306.766 QUE (445) Documents the changing relationship between Manchester City Council and the Gay Village. Charts the role of the Gay Village from a part in the resistance to Thatcherism in the 1980s to incorporation into a cosmopolitan image constructed around leisure, culture and redevelopment.
  • Details of police raid on a 1880 drag ball in Chorlton upon Medlock (with illustrations) can be found in Steve Jones, Manchester: The Sinister Side (1997), pages 79 to 82, q364.1 Jo. See also Manchester Evening Mail, Manchester Examiner and Manchester Evening News, 27 September to 5 October 1880
  • Details of a Henry / Harriet Stoakes, a woman who dressed as a man for 25 years and lived in Manchester, can be found in the Manchester Guardian 11 April 1838 p.1 & 14 April p.2 and the Observer 16 April 1838 page 1.
  • Taylor, E. Evans, P. Fraser, A Tale of Two Cities: Global Change, Local Feeling, and Everyday Life in the North of England: a Study of Manchester and Sheffield, (1996), pages 180 to 197 on Manchester's Gay Village, 307.76 Ma (299)
  • H.G.Cocks, "Safeguarding Civility: Sodomy, Class and Moral Reform in Early Nineteenth-Century England", Past and Present, No. 190, February 2006, pages 121 to 146. This article has some information on gay Manchester in the early nineteenth century 306.7662 COC (293).
  • Mancunian Gay, 28-47, Jan 1984-Nov 1985, F306.766 MA3 and more editions in the LGBT Foundation archives (ref GB127.M825/MPR/6).
  • Scene Out, 1989-1992 [incomplete], 3 volumes, F306.766 MA3
  • Manchester Lesbian Community Project, The Manchester Lesbian Newsletter, 2002 to present, Q 306.7663 Ma 183
  • queerupnorth, 20 May to 4 June 2004, f700.8664 Qu (501) and lots more in the queerupnorth archives (ref GB127.M800)
  • Manchester City Council, Getting Council Services Right for Lesbians, (1996), Q362.830866 MAN
  • Marketing Manchester, Manchester Gay Guide 2006, (2005), 914.273 MAN (605)
  • Andrew Hodges, Alan Turing: the enigma, 1992, 510.92TUR(417)
  • Matt Cook Queer Beyond London (2022) 306.760942COO. Looks at the history of gay people in 4 cities outside London, one of which is Manchester.  Covers the sixties to the noughties.
  • The Committee for Homosexual Equality (later the Campaign for Homosexual Equality) was founded in Manchester in 1971. We hold 94 newsletters of its Manchester local group, 1971 to 1981, BRF 306.766 Ca (554).

The Manchester Evening News, available on microfilm, has often covered LGBT events and issues. Check the information index under "Gay" and "Lesbian" for an index to various articles.

City Life, 1984 to 2005, F072.733 C1, has also covered LGBT issues, events and history. Check the information index in the Local Studies Library under "Gay" and "Lesbian" for an index to various articles. These include:

  • "Painting the Town: the gay scene in Manchester over the last twenty years", 17 December 2003 to 8 January 2004, page 33
  • Gay scene in Manchester: various articles, 20 Aug to 12 Sep 2002, pages 15 to 24

The Local images collection contains over 80,000 images of Manchester and its suburbs. A selection of images of LGBT archive items and old photos of the Village can be viewed on our Flickr page.

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