Alan Lee
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alanlee99.bsky.social
Alan Lee
@alanlee99.bsky.social
440 followers 120 following 60 posts
PhD candidate at the University of Roehampton, funded by Technē-DTP. Researching Symbols of Pride and the Politics of Queer Liberation

https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/alan-lee
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alanlee99.bsky.social
There is a precedent for combining the gender markers and the wheelchair user symbol in queer symbolism, so I thought I'd found another example of this. The left from the Gay News coverage of the 1987 march, the right from an advertisement featured in the 1980 Pride programme.
A screenshot from a banner featured in Gay News' coverage of the 1987 Pride March. The banner is white, with a black circle in the centre. Around the edge, United Lesbian and Gay Unemplyed (?) Groups. Two triangles sit between this. The top triangle is black, facing down, with two Venus symbols superimposed over it. Below this is a pink triangle, facing upward, with two Mars symbols superimposed over it. Unlike the Venus symbols, however - which are both white - one of the Mars symbols is black, while the other is white and barely visible at lower resolution. A screenshot of an advertisement featured in the 1980 Pride programme. The text reads "Gemma presents: 'What's the use of her coming, she can't Dance." Disabled Lesbians Speak." Two overlapping Mars symbols are featured in this advertisement, with the left Mars symbol being transformed into a wheelchair user symbol.
October 8, 2025 at 6:25 PM
alanlee99.bsky.social
I completed this today! ⬇️

I decided to go with the cover of the 1988 souvenir programme as my inspiration, focusing on the Pink and Black Triangles (and the green R of my university to highlight the academic calendar year organisation). It maybe looks a bit rough, but I had fun doing it so!!
A photo of my second year scrapbook. The scrapbook is 12 by 12 inches with a large circle drawn in the middle. I've used a compass to map out a series of triangles in this triangle, which I then meticulously went over in a white pencil to highlight the shapes after using a shade of grey too dark to see the black outlines of the triangle. One triangle is pink, in reference to the pride symbol. The University of Roehampton's logo, a large letter R split into four shapes, sits unevenly in the middle of the circle in green. A screenshot of the Pride '88 programme. There is a large circle in the middle of the cover, which has multiple triangles with grey scale images of various prior Pride events in each triangle. One is a solid pink colour.
July 10, 2025 at 4:51 PM
alanlee99.bsky.social
Once again a "simple question" has led to me questioning whether the silences in the archives are intentional or a product of poor survivability. The lack of a Gay Pride Week in 1974 and 1975 doesn't mean there wasn't a march, but the archives I have used also lack material on these marches.
Photograph from the 1976 London Pride Programme. Text reads "Since 1973 we haven't celebrated Gay Pride Week. As gays we feel that it's time all of us got together and discussed how we've grown these past three years and what we plan to do for the future. And so Gay Pride '76. Now's the time to take to the streets in homosexual celebration. In Pride, South London Gay Liberation Front."
March 20, 2025 at 1:14 PM
alanlee99.bsky.social
So I've been thinking about what to do for the cover of this scrapbook. I was thinking about just doing the progress flag design to symbolise how my research has progressed, but I actually realised I shifted my focus onto other pride symbols, so it might be fun to take inspiration from the archives.
A photograph of two scrapbooks. The one on the left features a rainbow sprawling across the bottom left corner to the top right corner. In the top left corner is the logo for my University, and text that reads PhD Year One. A photograph of a badge from the 1989 Pride march in London. The design features a downward facing triangle, made up of several smaller pink and black triangles. Several of these triangles are peeling away and fading into the background
February 12, 2025 at 8:41 PM
alanlee99.bsky.social
Wanted to provide an example to my students how asking a simple question about an object can inspire exciting trains of thought (that also lead to further questions!) and got carried away...
screenshot of a mindmapping exercise demonstrating how asking questions about an object can lead to interesting thoughts of inquiry.
November 15, 2024 at 4:48 PM
alanlee99.bsky.social
Preparing to teach some first-year historians about how to write history, and good practices for critical thinking. Reflecting on my own journey from my BA and MA discovering, separately, object-based research methodologies and queer history, which now guide my PhD thesis.
Screenshot of a mindmap that outlines my research journey from object based research methodologies and queer history to my own pratice that utilises these two approaches
November 13, 2024 at 7:59 PM