Understanding and awareness of various gender identities grew from 1992 to 2003, and more and more trans people called Switchboard for support. This episode offers a fascinating insight into how the LGBTQI+ community evolved over the period, and how trans people grew stronger in asserting their identities. Essential listening for anyone interested in the recent history of gender and queer identity. Tash and Adam also hear from Steph Fuller, the general manager of Switchboard, about the nature of calls about gender identity today.

Content warning: archaic language around transgender identities, transphobia, and stories of negative medical experiences.

Transcript here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBTQI+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline. With thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

For more information about the themes in this episode, take a look at:

Mermaids

London Friend

Gendered Intelligence 

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 30th 1999, the Admiral Duncan gay pub in Soho was bombed by a homophobic Nazi. The attack followed a series of calls to Switchboard threatening violence. In this episode, Adam, Tash and volunteers at the helpline tell the story of the bombing from the phone room, as volunteers rushed to support the LGBTQI+ community. We also hear from John Sizzle, who runs The Glory pub in east London, on creating safer queer spaces today.

Content warning: homophobic language, and stories of hate crime and violence.

Transcript here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBTQI+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline. With thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

For more information about the bombing, we recommend the Netflix documentary Nail Bomber: Manhunt

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Remember how you felt when you first saw the lesbian kiss on Brookside? Or *those* scenes in Queer As Folk? 

This episode is a tour through the landmark television moments for queer people from 1992 to 2003. Taking in Hayley in Coronation Street and even the calls to Switchboard following a gay storyline on Peak Practice, Tash, Adam and contributors discuss the importance of TV representation, with a few laughs along the way. We also feature a conversation between producers Stella Merz (Gentleman Jack) and Katie Carpenter (Flowers, The Bisexual, Landscapers) about their experience as queer women in the TV industry today, compared to the 90s.

Content warning: archaic language around transgender identities.

Transcript here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBTQI+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline. With thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Because Switchboard is set up to support people around matters of sexuality, volunteers sometimes take difficult calls from paedophiles and those who have been the victims of abuse. In this episode, Tash and Adam hear from Switchboard volunteers in the 90s about taking those calls, and how they supported people in these awful situations. This episode also features an interview with Oliver, a Switchboard volunteer today reflecting on taking difficult calls.

Content warning: paedophilia, rape, sexual assault, sexual violence, suicide, and archaic language around transgender identities.

Transcript here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBTQI+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline. With thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

For support around the themes in this episode, take a look at:

Childline

GALOP

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 90s, if two men had sex and one was under 21, both could be imprisoned, while straight people could legally have sex at age 16. This inequality could not last, and that’s thanks to campaigners such as Hugo Greenhalgh and Euan Sutherland, supported by Stonewall. This is the story of their campaign to equalise the law, and of the Switchboard volunteers who helped. Tash and Adam also hear from Phil Samba, from Prepster and the Love Tank, about his work on campaigning around queer sex today.

Content warning: homophobic language.

TV clips from Age of Dissent, directed by Will Parry.

Transcript here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBTQI+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline. With thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

For more information about the themes in this episode, take a look at:

Stonewall

Prepster

The Love Tank

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The internet began to revolutionise LGBTQI+ life in the 1990s: chat rooms, emails, and of course dating websites. In this first episode of the third season of The Log Books, Tash and Adam pull out stories from the archive at Switchboard - the LGBT+ Helpline about people who called to talk about how the internet was changing their experience of sexuality and gender. They hear memories of early online photo searches and hook-ups arranged via chat rooms. And YouTuber Jake Edwards who grew up making videos about their transition and coming out as non-binary, explains their experience on the limits of the internet at making genuine connections today.

Transcript here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline. With thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org 

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tash and Adam are back, with 11 all-new weekly episodes covering LGBTQI+ life from 1992 to 2003, using calls made to Switchboard in that period.

In this opening teaser episode, Tash and Adam visit two special locations to explain what’s coming up in the season. They also play clips from the forthcoming episodes, from the lesbians looking for sperm donors to the kinky group for people who like dressing up as babies.

Transcript here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBTQI+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline. With thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute. Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season three of The Log Books launches next week, November 1st, with eleven all-new episodes covering 1992 to 2003, released weekly.

FOR NOW — just before our third season begins — we want to share one of our inspirations. Making Gay History. This is such a special podcast to us at The Log Books, for showing us how to bring LGBTQI+ history to life sensitively, now working on its tenth season.

To give you a taste of Making Gay History, we’re dropping one of our favourite episodes right here. In this episode, host Eric Marcus interviews Edythe Eyde, who started a newsletter for lesbians in 1947 through illicit use of her typewriter in her office job as a secretary. Edythe even sings for Eric from her porch — one of her witty ditties about cute butches...

You can find Making Gay History wherever you get your podcasts or at www.makinggayhistory.com. We hope you enjoy this amazing podcast and come back for The Log Books season three.

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

News! We’re making season three of The Log Books because we’ve received a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

While you wait, here’s an episode of Call Me Mother, another podcast, featuring an interview with Sandra Caldwell, a 67-year-old actor who was forced to hide part of herself for 40 years. We loved hearing Sandra tell her story to Shon Faye, with such warmth and wisdom, and we think you will too. 

We’ll be back with the third season of The Log Books later in 2021... See you soon.

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have so many fascinating stories for our final episode of the season: a lesbian who helped a gay immigrant to stay legally in the UK, a gay refugee who fled Syria, an Indian who learnt that cruising is different in India, Canada and the UK, and a British Indian who built mixed dance nights for London’s range of cultures.

Tash and Adam hear about the people who phoned Switchboard for advice on how to live, love and work in the UK, and from a range of contributors with different perspectives on borders, cultures and LGBTQ+ identity.

Transcript here.

The Log Books — stories from Britain’s LGBT+ history and conversations about being queer today. Produced by Shivani Dave, Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, in partnership with Switchboard - the LGBT+ helpline. With thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute and the BFI National Archive.

‘Louise’ voiced by Cathy Tyson

'Sami' voiced by Aso Sherabayani

Clip from Here and Now: Gay Black Group used with permission from MACE, the Media Archive for Central England at the University of Lincoln. First broadcast on June 26th, 1983.

For more information about the themes in this episode, take a look at:

Legal advice from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants

Black Pride UK

Naz and Matt Foundation

Kaleidoscope Trust

Peter Tatchell Foundation : Speaking out for Human Rights

Lesbians & Gays Support the Migrants

UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group

Gaysians

Music by Tom Foskett-Barnes

Artwork by Natalie Doto

https://www.thelogbooks.org

Buy our book or see our events listings: The Log Books: Voices of Queer Britain and the Helpline that Listened.

Hosted and produced by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith

The voice of the log books: Serena James

Assistant producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

Engineer: David Pye

Music: Tom Fosket-Barnes

Original artwork: Natalie Doto

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute; our publisher, Faber Books; the dreamboats at Acast; the staff and volunteers at Switchboard, and all the contributors who shared their stories.

Episode transcripts available here.

Call Switchboard on 0800 0119 100, email [email protected] or instant message via www.switchboard.lgbt.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thelogbooks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.