Becoming publicly visible as a gay or lesbian person could be tricky in the 1970s. First of all, what was this ominous public one was supposed to come out into? Claims to specific sexual identities were usually not broadcasted on the national news or printed in the local newspaper. Most people did not come out with a bold and grand gesture, but rather in small and careful steps. One specific setting that enabled such steps was the intimate public of gay and lesbian-feminist events or rallies.  A group or a band or a flock or a cohort or a squad or a bunch of activists and allies would often engender a sense of safety and solidarity vis-à-vis an inimical surrounding that allowed individuals to make what they describe as their first appearance in public. Looking at West Germany and based on oral history interviews the talk will explore the affective and emotional dynamics of these experiences. 

Benno Gammerl holds the chair for the history of gender and sexuality at the European University Institute in Florence. Before he taught Queer History as a DAAD lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. Gammerl’s fields of expertise include the history of homosexualities in modern Germany, the history of empires and the history of emotions. His current research explores the interplay between migratory dynamics and attitudes towards sexual diversity in twentieth-century Europe. His most recent book on the emotional lives of gays and lesbians in West Germany comes out with Carl Hanser in 2021.