What sort of LGBT+ community has existed in the streets, pubs and houses of Oxford within living memory? What did walking into an Oxford gay pub feel like in the 1950s? What could gay men and women get up to on a Tuesday in February 1983? What led to the founding of a ‘Lesbian and Gay Community Centre’ right in the heart of our city in 1990? How did trans folk build a network of support here twenty years ago?

Tales of Our City aims to create a conversation through time about queer life in Oxford. As we mark 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, what can we learn from the past about our community and our lives now?

Through interviewing members of our local community and collecting objects of interest we are building up an audio and visual archive of LGBT+ activity in Oxford through the past 60 years right up to the present day. Together we hope to create a picture of the rich history of the queer community that has thrived in Oxford over the years, to look afresh at where we are now, how we came to be here and what future we want to build.