Historian CJ DeBarra on their book Queer Nottingham 1991-2020

In this new volume you’ve moved from the underground scenes of the nineties to the digital era of the noughties, then back to grassroots activism in the 2010s. Across these three decades, what was the most significant shift you observed in how Nottingham’s queer community occupied physical space in the city?

I knew a bit about the 2010s because that's when I arrived in Nottingham. People were telling me how amazing the scene was in the 1970s, 1980s, and certainly to a degree in the 1990s, that very much continues. It was dubbed as “the clubbing queen of the Midlands” and that wasn't the case by the time I got here, and I was like, what happened? I think that was the biggest shift for me; understanding what happened, how it happened, all the different factors that played a part. Most of that could be attributed to the later 2000s, which was quite interesting. That still has ramifications today when you look at how much of our scene has been lost. 

With a whooping 198 interviews under your belt, you’ve become a curator of three decades of secret stories! Was there a particular myth or rumour about Nottingham’s hidden queer past that you finally managed to verify (or debunk) through your research?

One of the things I am most proud of is being able to show that Nottingham has a far more diverse scene than people realised. It's been so lovely to uncover a lot of trans history and to uncover a lot of women's history and to talk to other communities that are part of the LGBTQ+ community, to actually uncover something of those histories as well and how different people and parts of the community interact with the spaces. Nothing is new. It all goes back decades, and it's been nice to find stories about trans life going back to the 1770s. It debunks the myth that a lot of this is like ‘very modern stuff’, when it actually isn't.  

A lot of these stories come from a time when living authentically Queer meant living in the shadows. How did you build trust with your interviewees to get them to share these deeply personal (and sometimes painful) memories?

I've approached this very carefully, and one of the ways in which people have trusted me is because I am of the community myself. I am a Queer non-binary lesbian doing these interviews with other people whom I share parts of my life. I think that matters when you're talking to other people within the LGBT community because they don't have to go through lengthy explanations of what things are.  

I have an interest and a background in HIV/AIDS as a Sexual Health Outreach Worker. So, no one's had to spend time explaining what AZT is, or the role that Switchboard plays in these things, because I understand. I've done the background and history research myself and understand where and what things are. I think people can understand as well that I'm very enthusiastic about all of this. They can see how excited I am in having the honour of people speaking to me about their stories. 

The book highlights Queer joy alongside the struggles. What has been your treasured find from researching the 1991-2020 Nottinghamshire era?

I think for me it's been all the histories around HIV and AIDS because of my particular interest in that area. I'm fascinated by health history and buildings! Finding buildings that nobody knew existed but also the histories of different health conditions and health responses as well, which, you know, is a bit odd! 

With HIV/AIDS, it was interesting to hear because we had some stories from people that were diagnosed within that era as well. And hearing their stories, what that meant for them. One person had a very supportive experience with being diagnosed but the other person had a completely opposite story to that, which was interesting to see. 1996 was the year medications changed and the combination therapies came in, and basically that saved people's lives. I think for me, being able to speak to people about their diagnosis was just the most incredible thing, but also to recognise that they were also there to speak of this huge breakthrough from that era.  

Your first volume (1960-1990) ended at the height of Section 28 and the AIDS crisis. Coming into this new volume, did you find the community’s activism shift once some of those legal battles were won, or did the austerity years of the 2010s bring back a familiar kind of 80s-style resistance?

When you get into the '90s, you have the continuation of activism in a similar style to the 1980s. Things like the ‘kiss-in’ at Hyson Green supermarket - two lesbians were kicked out for kissing in the supermarket and then OutRage!, an activist group, organised a protest where lots of LGBT people went in and you all had to kiss somebody of the same sex when they sounded a whistle. There were lots of these very visible protests, but there's also a lot of tiredness I think that starts to come in around the 90s. I was unprepared for how much of the violence, homophobia, transphobia started to creep in at that time because you have state sanctioned laws, you have your Section 28 that almost allows people to be more homophobic, because they can be.  

But there's a real feeling of optimism and hope that starts to come in towards the late ‘90s and early noughties. And that's partially because you now have governments being forced to bring laws up to speed. You have lots of changes, like Section 28 removed in 2003, same sex adoption introduced in 2002, the Gender Recognition Act in 2004, civil partnerships in 2005, 2013-14 was marriage; so, you've got this incredible momentum and real feeling of change. But fast forward to late noughties, and that's where this huge change happens. You have the recession, you have the start of austerity, which has a huge effect on lots of different things from funding for charities and support services, which starts to stall this feeling of progression. 

The queer community is also grappling with the new age of dating; the post-development of Grindr, the cost-of-living crisis and recession has meant a lot of our spaces are closing as well. A lot of our support services start to fold at the same time. The 2010s bring in this absolute wave of grassroots activism and lots of campaigns which is very similar to the 1970s in a way. You had a real sense of, ‘Well, nobody's going to do this for us, we're going to have to do it ourselves!’ In 2019, we started to see an uptake in the amount of Queer spaces that were opening. (And then something happened in 2020 and we lost them!) 

Now that you’ve covered 1960 through to 2020, do you feel the story of Queer Nottingham is told, or has this process revealed even more gaps in our local history that you’re itching to fill?

The official story of Nottingham's Queer history will never completely be told because there's always going to be a new take and a new angle and new part of the community that need to take ownership and write their own history. I have a third book coming out that will cover 1770-1965 and that kind of differs in a way where it doesn't look at each decade in great detail, but it looks at individual stories from the intersect with Nottingham in different eras. Because while I was writing the first two books, I kept finding amazing stories from like 1950, but it's before my books are based. There's more history yet to come out.

I really want to inspire the next generation of radical Queer archivists who pick up my books and go, ‘You know what, I can't see myself represented in this.’ There is a need for someone to write about trans history. There is a need for someone to do Queer sports, Queer trade unions, all of those are subjects that even just within Nottingham alone, desperately need to be done. All of which were three huge subject areas that I could not possibly have done full justice, because there's so many stories in the books already. 

As a historian, you spend so much time looking through other people's lenses. If someone were writing the history of Queer Nottingham 2020-2050 thirty years from now, what moment from your own life or work in the city would you hope makes it into the archive?

Hopefully somebody mentions the archive! I'd love to know that something I've done in this regard has made a difference. And I'd love to see some of the great activism that I see happening around the city centre, which has very much come from, again, being in a place where grassroots and support services and charities and things have been absolutely decimated by cost of living. I would love to see that reflected. 

I hope we can start looking at things like the Queer Nottingham experiences of COVID and the cost of living. I hope that whoever takes on doing that next book will look at things like that and keep it diverse. Things like how have Queer Ukrainians coming over here during the Ukraine war adapted to being based in Nottingham? I hope that it's done with an intersectional diverse inclusive lens. 

Your book launch at the Central Library feels like another full-circle moment for the Notts Queer History Archive! What can attendees expect for the event?

We've brought Fan Club from the 2010s to do a reunion gig here (for all of us who remember going to Rough Trade many moons ago!) We've got lots of stalls and archival bits around for people to come and have a look at as well. There'll be some speeches on the night too, which I'm really looking forward to because it's lovely to hear from people who have really seen their history come to life in these books and who have lived the history that's recorded in them.  

It’s lovely to see people who hadn't seen each other in years reconnect and talk about old times, to look at the photographs and archival objects that were here. All the proceeds from the event are going to Knotts LGBT Network to support the great work that they continue to do for the community and help support the archive with running costs. 

Both the Queer Nottingham books are available to purchase at Five Leaves Bookshop.

@nottsqueerhistoryarchive