Creative Activism: 20th Anniversary of Scotland’s Repeal of Section 28
Creative Conversations
Thursday 26 November 2020 – 5 p.m
Online, Zoom
Speakers
Sue John and Kate Charlesworth in Conversation with Professor Louise Welsh
Section 28 (known as Clause 2a in Scotland), which prohibited the promotion of LGBT+ people or same-sex relationships in schools, was repealed in Scotland on 21 June 2000. Join us as we commemorate the twenty-year anniversary of the repeal with discussion and conversation by two women, Sue John and Kate Charlesworth, who fought against Section 28 and continue to work as activists for LGBT+ rights and visibility today. The event will be chaired by Professor Louise Welsh.
Sue John
Sue John is part of the Senior Management Team at Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL). She takes a lead role in Strategic Planning, driving GWL towards achieving its vision and fulfilling its aims and objectives. This involves providing strong and inspiring feminist leadership, and ensuring that GWL works as a coherent team across the different strands of its work as a library, an archive, a museum and an innovative learning resource.
Sue has been involved with GWL since 1993, when she graduated from Glasgow School of Art where she studied Fine Art (Printmaking). She worked as a volunteer with GWL for nearly a decade before undertaking her first paid role there. She was integral to overseeing the relocation of the UK’s Lesbian Archives from London, where the resource faced closure, to Glasgow Women’s Library in 1995. A feminist and LGBT activist for nearly 40 years, Sue was involved in setting up the Glasgow Chapter of the Lesbian Avengers and was Chair of the West of Scotland Scrap the Section Campaign to repeal Section 28/2A in Scotland in 2000.
Kate Charlesworth
Kate Charlesworth, originally from Barnsley, South Yorkshire is a cartoonist and illustrator living and working in Edinburgh. Starting out as a freelancer in the 1970s, alongside her illustration ‘day job’, she worked in the ‘golden age’ of gay publishing, where she and other cartoonists accidentally documented L & G history.
Although her work has appeared across the media, for several years her focus has been on comics and graphic novels. In 2014 she collaborated with Mary and Bryan Talbot to illustrate Sally Heathcote: Suffragette (Jonathan Cape); and her 2019 graphic memoir/LGBT+ history, Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide (Myriad Editions) has been shortlisted for several awards. A French edition (Casterman) is scheduled for 2021.
More about Creative Conversations
Creative Conversations at University of Glasgow
This section: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, What's On Glasgow West End: cinema, clubs, theatre, music, events, festivals, community and more, Zoom and online events
Related Pages
- True and Bold Concert: Tribute to Dick Gaughan
- Glasgow Film Festival 2026 – Marilyn Monroe 100
- Free Tours Alasdair Gray Archive
- Hidden Histories at the Hunterian, LGBTQIA
- Celtic Connections 2026 – Final Week
- Lily Dunn, Creative Conversations University of Glasgow
- Celtic Connections: Junior Brother
- Take 2: Gabby’s Dollhouse at GFT
- WestFest 2026
- Platform Spring Big Band Tea Dances with Jon Ritchie and the Swing Sensation
- Programme Announced Glasgow Film Festival 2026
- The Bad Actors, The Clutha Bar
- Kim Richey and Carla J. Easton at Cottiers
- Dylan LeBlanc and Adam Thom, Cottiers
- CinemARC – I Swear
- Take 2: Hugo at GFT
- Hamnet at GFT
- A Pan•••ic Play, Emergence Festival
- Ceòl is Craic Film Club CCA
- The Cat has Nine Lives at GFT