School of Social and Political Science

LGBTQ+ History Month: Scottish Trans Pasts, Useable and Otherwise?

27 February 2026
17:15 - 18:45

Venue

Room 2.55, Edinburgh Futures Institute

Media

Image

Front cover of The Tartan Skirt: Magazine of the Scottish TV/TS Group No. 4 (Oct. 1992)

Description

In Scotland and in many other national contexts, trans people currently face an unprecedented wave of backlash against our bodily autonomy, dignity, and civil and human rights. What stories about trans history do we want to tell in 2026? For whom are we telling them, and to what ends? What, if anything, might a 15-year-old 'female impersonator' from 1870s Glasgow have to say to a middle-aged accordion teacher from 1990s Inverness—or to us? Drawing on overlapping and competing frameworks from the lively academic field of trans history, this talk explores varied ways that we might narrate the trans history of Scotland over the last 150 years. Ultimately, it advocates for critical histories that offer trans people today complex and meaningful resources for building liveable lives in community.

Dr Sam Rutherford
Dr Sam Rutherford is a historian of gender and sexuality, education, and the politics, society, and culture of 19th- and 20th-century Britain. He is Lecturer in LGBTQ+ History/History of Sexuality at the University of Glasgow.

Organised by the School of History Classics and Archaeology and co-badged by GENDER.ED.

Registration

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Location