'Dan Glass is a living gift from our queer ancestry with an ability to write our present with an alternative view of our past. His experience has shaped the way we appreciate the world we live in and how we choose to question the past' Kieron Jina, artist 'Whether you are reading in the comfort of your own home, or following one of the tours live on the street, Queer Footprints brings the LGBTQIA+ history of London to life in a beautiful and visceral manner. This is no self-important history lesson that starts somewhere in the past and leads you date by date to the present. Oh no, Glass maps out important areas of the city and tells you all the queer history that happened there all in one go. It's all rather punk and well. queer. Years of experience as an LGBTQIA+ city tour guide show as Glass gleefully takes you from the sublime, to the ridiculous, from the shocking to the downright camp all in the space of a few streets (and pages).This is no white man's romp through history though, as Glass uncovers all intersections of the LGBTQIA+ experience, highlighting the glorious diversity of the queer pioneers and change makers that make up the rich tapestry of London's LGBTQIA+ history.
Reading it serves as a reminder that ordinary people do extraordinary things every day. A love letter to queer London reminds us that although we're not always in the mainstream telling of history, we have always been here. And whilst the spaces and places we've occupied throughout the recent past may no longer be ours, or no longer even exist, this powerful book reminds us that real history, and indeed out future, doesn't lie in dates, buildings, pomp and ceremony, but within the hearts, minds, loves, lives, losses and desires of all the LGBTQIA+ people who occupied our cities before us' Nathaniel Hall, playwright and HIV activist 'In his usual glorious fashion, Dan brings us truly out from the sheets and into the streets. This is more than a history book. It's a living walking guide. It's a closeted cartographer's wet dream come true. It's a brick to throw through the windows of London's most transphobic establishments. I'll be utterly shocked if there aren't queer walking guides like this across all continents in five years' Phil Wilmot, member of Beautiful Trouble 'Dan Glass has uncovered the queer history of one of the world's great cities in a way that is not only eye-opening, but just as entertaining as the writer himself.
Whether you've visited London, lived in London, or never been that lucky, you will see it with fresh eyes . his call to action, for activists to create similar histories of their communities today, is one I believe will be the legacy of this fabulous book' Victoria Noe, author of 'Fag Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community'.