Timeline of LGBT history in the United Kingdom

This is a timeline of notable events in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the United Kingdom.

Part of a series on
LGBT rights
in the United Kingdom
By location
Policy aspects
Legislation
Culture
Organisations
History
Topics
LGBT portal

1st century

2nd century
  • 117  – Emperor Hadrian, from AD117 to 138, who openly slept with boys, ruled England. Hadrian's particular favourite, Antinous, died under mysterious circumstances. Hadrian had him deified.[2]

4th century
  • 342  – The Roman emperors Constantius II and Constans issued an imperial decree to the Codex Theodosianus, which imposes an "exquisite punishment" for the crime which occurs "when a male gives himself in marriage to an effeminate [femina, literally 'a woman'] and what he wants is for the effeminate to play the male role in sex [literally 'project the male parts']," thus for himself to play the female role.[1][3]
  • 390  – The Roman emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I, and Arcadius issued an imperial decree to the Codex Theodosianus, that criminalises "all persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people." "[1]

8th century
  • 797  – During the Carolingian Renaissance, Alcuin of York, an abbot affectionately known as David, wrote love poems to other monks in spite of numerous church laws condemning homosexuality.[4]

12th century
  • 1102  – The Council of London (Roman Catholic church council of the church in England) took measures to encourage the English public to believe that homosexuality was sinful.[5]

14th century
  • 1327  – The deposed King Edward II of England is killed. The popular story that the king was assassinated by having a red-hot poker thrust into his anus has no basis in accounts recorded by Edward's contemporaries.[6] Edward II had a history of conflict with the nobility, who repeatedly banished his former lover Piers Gaveston, the Earl of Cornwall. The Annales Paulini claims that Edward loved Gaveston "beyond measure", while the Lanercost says the intimacy between them was "undue".[7] The Chronicle of Melsa states that Edward "particularly delighted in the vice of sodomy", without making special reference to Gaveston.[8] Chroniclers called the King's relationship with Gaveston as excessive, immoderate, beyond measure and reason and criticised his desire for wicked and forbidden sex.[9] It was hinted at by medieval chroniclers, and has been alleged by modern historians, that the relationship between Gaveston and Edward was homosexual.
  • 1395  – John Rykener, known also as Johannes Richer and Eleanor, a transvestite prostitute working mainly in London (near Cheapside), but also active in Oxford, was arrested for cross-dressing and interrogated.

16th century
  • 1533  – King Henry VIII passes the Buggery Act 1533 making all male-male sexual activity punishable by death. Buggery related only to intercourse per anum by a man with a man or woman or intercourse per anum or per vaginum by either a man or a woman with an animal. Other forms of "unnatural intercourse" amounted to indecent assault or gross indecency, but did not constitute buggery.[10] The lesser offence of "attempted buggery" was punished by two years of jail and often horrific time on the pillory.
  • 1541  – The Buggery Act 1533 only ran until the end of the parliament. The law was re-enacted three times, and then in 1541 it was enacted to continue in force "for ever".[11]
  • 1543  – Henry VIII gives royal assent to the Laws in Wales Act 1542, extending the buggery law into Wales.
  • 1547  – King Edward VI's first Parliament repealed all felonies created in the last reign of King Henry VIII.[11]
  • 1548  – The provisions of the Buggery Act 1533 were given new force, with minor amendments. The penalty for buggery remained death, but goods and lands were not forfeit, and the rights of wives and heirs were safeguarded.[11]
  • 1553  – Mary Tudor ascends the English throne and repeals all of Edward VI of England's acts.[11]
  • 1558  – Elizabeth I ascends the English throne and reinstates the sodomy laws[12] of 1533 (not 1548), which were then given permanent force.[11]
  • 1580  – King James VI of Scotland, King James I England, made his formal entry into Edinburgh and began a relationship with Franco-Scottish Lord Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox. Lennox was a relative and 24 years senior to James, married and the father of 5 children. The influence Lennox his "favourite" had on politics, and the resentment at the wealth they acquired, became major political issues during his reign.[13] Scottish nobles ousted Lennox by luring the young king to Ruthven Castle as a guest but then imprisoned him for ten months. The Presbyterian nobles forced King James to banish Lennox to France. Lennox and James remained in secret contact. Lennox remained in France. He died in Paris in 1583. William Schaw took Lennox's heart back to James in Scotland, since in life its true place had been with the King.

17th century
  • 1606  – King James I of England began a relationship with Robert Carr,[14] who had broken his leg at a tilting match at which the king was present. The king instantly fell in love with the young man, even helping nurse him back to health all the while teaching him Latin. Entirely devoid of all high intellectual qualities, Carr was endowed with good looks, excellent spirits, and considerable personal accomplishments. These advantages were sufficient for James, who knighted the young man and at once took him into favour. James made his lover Viscount of Rochester (1611), Knight of the Garter and Earl of Somerset (1613).[15]
  • 1614  – King James met the last of his three close male lovers, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, the son of a Leicestershire knight. Villiers could dance well, fence well, and speak a little French. In August, Villiers, reputedly "the handsomest-bodied man in all of England",[16] was brought before the king, in the hope that the king would take a fancy to him, diminishing Carr's power at court. Villiers gained support as the king's preferred lover from those who opposed Carr.
  • 1615  – King James knighted Villiers as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. Restoration of Apethorpe Hall, undertaken 2004–2008, revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and Villiers.[17]
  • 1617  – King James made Villiers Earl of Buckingham
  • 1618  – King James made Villiers Marquess of Buckingham.
  • 1623  – King James made Villiers Earl of Coventry and Duke of Buckingham. Villiers was now the highest-ranking subject outside the royal family.[18]
  • 1682  – A same-sex marriage is annulled. Arabella Hunt had married "James Howard" two years earlier but the marriage was annulled on the ground that Howard was in fact Amy Poulter, a 'perfect woman in all her parts', and two women could not validly marry.[19]
  • 1690  – King William III of England had several close, male associates, including two Dutch courtiers to whom he granted English titles: Hans Willem Bentinck became Earl of Portland and Arnold Joost van Keppel was created Earl of Albemarle. These relationships with male friends and his apparent lack of more than one female mistress led William's enemies to suggest that he might prefer homosexual relationships. Keppel was 20 years William's junior, described as strikingly handsome, and rose from being a royal page to an earldom with some ease.[20]
  • 1697  – The Earl of Portland wrote to King William III that "the kindness which your Majesty has for a young man, and the way in which you seem to authorise his liberties... make the world say things I am ashamed to hear".[21] This, he said, was "tarnishing a reputation which has never before been subject to such accusations". William tersely dismissed these suggestions, saying, "It seems to me very extraordinary that it should be impossible to have esteem and regard for a young man without it being criminal."[21]

18th century
18th century illustration of a "Molly" (Contemporary term for an effeminate homosexual)
  • 1722 – John Quincy, M.D., writes about lesbianism in his second edition of the Lexicon Physico Medicum. According to Quincy, confricatrices or confictrices were terms used by authors for lesbians "who have learned to titulate one another with their clitoris, in imitation of venereal intercourse with men.[22]
  • 1724  – Margaret Clap better known as Mother Clap, ran a coffee house from 1724 to 1726 in Holborn, London. The coffee house served as a Molly House for the underground gay community.[23][24] Her house was popular,[25] being well known within the gay community. She cared for her customers, and catered especially to the gay men who frequented it. She was known to have provided "beds in every room of the house" and commonly had "thirty or forty of such Kind of Chaps every Night, but more especially on Sunday Nights."[26]
  • 1726  – Three men (Gabriel Lawrence, William Griffin, and Thomas Wright) were hanged at Tyburn for sodomy following a raid of Margaret Clap's Molly House.[27]
  • 1727  – Charles Hitchen, a London Under City Marshal, was convicted of attempted sodomy at a Molly House. Hitchen had abused his position of power to extort bribes from brothels and pickpockets to prevent arrest, and he particularly leaned on the thieves to make them fence their goods through him. Hitchen had frequently picked up soldiers for sex, but had eluded prosecution by the Society for the Reformation of Manners.[28]
  • 1735  – Conyers Place wrote "Reason Insufficient Guide to Conduct Mankind in Religion."[29]
  • 1736  – Love letters from Lord John Hervey to Stephen Fox PC, a British peer and Member of Parliament, show that they had been living in a homosexual relationship for a period of ten years, from 1726 to 1736.[30]
  • 1749  – Thomas Cannon wrote "Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplified."[31]
  • 1772  – The first public debate about homosexuality began during the trial of Captain Robert Jones who was convicted of the capital offence of sodomising a thirteen-year-old boy. The debate during the case and with the background of the 1772 Macaroni prosecutions considered Christian intolerance to homosexuality and the human rights of men who were homosexual.[32][33] Jones was acquitted and received a pardon on condition that he left the country. He ended up living in grandeur with his footman at Lyon, in the South of France.
  • 1773  – Charles Crawford wrote "A Dissertation on the Phaedon of Plato."[34]
  • 1785  – Jeremy Bentham becomes one of the first people to argue for the decriminalisation of sodomy in England, which was punishable by hanging.[12] The essay written about 1785, Offences Against One's Self, argued for the liberalisation of laws prohibiting homosexual sex. He argued that homosexual acts did not weaken men, nor threaten population or marriage. The essay was never published in his lifetime.
  • 1797 – The Encyclopedia Britannica published a brief mention of homosexuality in the article about Greece.[35]

19th century
William Blake's Lot and His Daughters, Huntington Library, c. 1800
  • 1800  – William Blake paints "Lot and His Daughters." The Book of Genesis chapters 11-14 and 18-19 describes Lot and his family, living through the fire and brimstone sent against Sodom and Gomorrah apparently for either rape, transgression of the laws of hospitality, or homosexuality. "Lot and His Daughters" however portrays the part of the story that involves incest, not homosexuality: the story in Genesis describes how the daughters of Lot, along the road as they fled from Sodom and Gomorrah, got their father drunk so that after he fell asleep they could have sex with him and in this way get children from him.
  • 1810  – The nineteenth century began with a wave of prosecutions against homosexual men. On 14 January, a farmer in West Yorkshire wrote in his diary that capital punishment seemed an unacceptably cruel response to a sexual behavior that nature or God had ordained in an individual. (The diary entry was discovered in 2020.)[36] On 8 July, the Bow Street Runners raided The White Swan, a tumbledown pub of Tudor origin near Drury Lane. Twenty-seven men were arrested on suspicion of sodomy and attempted sodomy.[37]
  • 1812  – James Miranda Barry graduated from the Medical School of Edinburgh University as a doctor. Barry went on to serve as an army surgeon working overseas. Barry lived as a man but was found to be female-bodied upon his death in 1865.[38]
  • 1828  – The Buggery Act 1533 was repealed and replaced by the Offences against the Person Act 1828. Buggery remained punishable by death.[39]
  • 1835  – The last two men to be executed in Britain for buggery, James Pratt and John Smith, were arrested on 29 August in London after being spied upon while having sex in a private room; they were hanged on 27 November.
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin, 1852
  • 1852  – John Martin paints The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorah. Sodom was (supposedly) destroyed for the sin of sodomy, although a strong case has been made that violence against persons and transgression of the laws of hospitality, including a demand that he hand over his houseguests (who happened to be angels) to the ruffian citizens of the town, were more important at the time of the composition of the story in Genesis, chapter 19.
  • 1861  – The death penalty for buggery was abolished. A total of 8921 men had been prosecuted since 1806 for sodomy with 404 sentenced to death and 56 executed.[40]
  • 1866  – Marriage was defined as being between a man and a woman (preventing future same-sex marriages). In the case of Hyde v. Hyde and Woodmansee (a case of polygamy), Lord Penzance's judgment began "Marriage as understood in Christendom is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others."[41]
  • 1871  – Ernest 'Stella' Boulton and Frederick 'Fanny' Park, two Victorian transvestites and suspected homosexuals appeared as defendants in the celebrated Boulton and Park trial in London, charged "with conspiring and inciting persons to commit an unnatural offence". The indictment was against Lord Arthur Clinton, Ernest Boulton, Frederic Park, Louis Hurt, John Fiske, Martin Cumming, William Sommerville and C.H. Thompson. The prosecution was unable to prove either that they had committed any homosexual offence or that men wearing women's clothing was an offence in English law.[42] Lord Arthur Clinton killed himself before his trial.
  • 1872  - Sheridan Le Fanu publishes the novella Carmilla which depicts the tale of a lesbian vampire luring young women for her mother to sacrifice
  • 1885  – The British Parliament enacted section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, known as the Labouchere Amendment which prohibited gross indecency between males. It thus became possible to prosecute homosexuals for engaging in sexual acts where buggery or attempted buggery could not be proven.[43][44]
  • 1889  – The Cleveland Street scandal occurred, when a homosexual male brothel in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, London, was raided by police after they discovered telegraph boys had been working there as rent boys. A number of aristocratic clients were discovered including Lord Arthur Somerset, equerry to the Prince of Wales. The Prince of Wales's son Prince Albert Victor and Lord Euston were also implicated in the scandal.[45]
  • 1895  – Oscar Wilde, tried for gross indecency over a relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, was sentenced to two years in prison with hard labour.[46]
  • 1897  – George Cecil Ives organises the first homosexual rights group in England, the Order of Chaeronea. Dr Helen Boyle and her partner, Mabel Jones, set up the first women-run General Practice in Brighton, including offering free therapy for poor women. Helen Boyle also founded the National Council for Mental Hygiene (which subsequently becomes MIND) in 1922.[38] British sexologist Havelock Ellis publishes Sexual Inversion, the first volume in an intended series called Studies in the Psychology of Sex. He argues that homosexuality is not a disease but a natural anomaly occurring throughout human and animal history, and should be accepted, not treated. The book is banned in England for being obscene; the subsequent volumes in the series are published in the US and not sold in England until 1936.[38]

20th century
Christopher Isherwood (left) and W. H. Auden (right), photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939

1950s
  • 1950  – On 31 July in Rotherham, an English schoolteacher, Kenneth Crowe, aged 37, was found dead wearing his wife's clothes and a wig. He approached a man on his way home from the pub, who upon discovering Crowe was male, beat and strangled him.[54] The killer, John Cooney, was found not guilty of murder and sentenced to five years for manslaughter.[55] In response to the violence and unfair treatment of gay men, the Sexual Offences Act 1967 was passed seventeen years later.
  • 1951  – Roberta Cowell becomes the first Briton to undergo male-to-female confirmation surgery on 16 May.
  • 1952  – Sir John Nott-Bower, commissioner of Scotland Yard began to weed out homosexuals from the British Government[56] at the same time as McCarthy was conducting a federal homosexual witch hunt in the US.[57] During the early 1950s as many as 1,000 men were locked into Britain's prisons every year amid a widespread police clampdown on homosexual offences. Undercover officers acting as 'agents provocateurs' would pose as gay men soliciting in public places. The prevailing mood was one of barely concealed paranoia.
  • 1953  – John Gielgud, the actor-director, was arrested on 20 October in Chelsea for cruising in a public lavatory, and was subsequently fined. When the news broke he was in Liverpool on the pre-London tour of a new play. He was paralysed by nerves at the prospect of going onstage, but fellow players, led by Sybil Thorndike, encouraged him. The audience gave him a standing ovation, showing that they didn't care about his private life. The episode affected Gielgud's health and he suffered a nervous breakdown months later. He did not acknowledge publicly that he was gay.
  • 1953  – Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood were arrested and charged with having committed specific acts of "indecency" with RAF airmen Edward McNally and John Reynolds; they were also accused of conspiring with Edward Montagu (the 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu) to commit these offences. The Director of Public Prosecutions gave his assurance that the witnesses Reynolds and McNally would not be prosecuted in any circumstances, but Pitt-Rivers, Montagu and Wildeblood were tried and imprisoned at Winchester in 1954.[58]
  • 1954  – Alan Turing, an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist, influential in the development of computer science, committed suicide. He had been given a course of female hormones (chemical castration) by doctors as an alternative to prison after being prosecuted by the police because of his homosexuality.[59] The trial of Edward Montagu, Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood began on 15 March in the hall of Winchester Castle. All three defendants were convicted. The Sunday Times published an article entitled "Law and Hypocrisy" on 28 March that dealt with this trial and its outcome. Soon after, on 10 April, the New Statesman printed an article called "The Police and the Montagu Case". A month after the Montagu trial the Home Secretary Sir David Maxwell Fyfe agreed to appoint a committee to examine and report on the law covering homosexual offences (this would become known as The Wolfenden report).
  • 1956  – The Sexual Offences Act recognises the crime of sexual assault between women.[60]
  • 1957  – The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (better known as the Wolfenden report, after Lord Wolfenden) was published. It advised the British Government that homosexuality should be made legal.[61]
  • 1958  – The Homosexual Law Reform Society is founded in the United Kingdom following the Wolfenden report the previous year, to begin a campaign to make homosexuality legal in the UK.[62]
  • 1959  – Alan Horsfall, Labour councillor for Nelson, Lancashire, tables a motion to his local Labour party to back the decriminalisation of homosexuality. The motion is rejected, but Horsfall and fellow activist Antony Grey later form the North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee.[38] ITV, at the time the UK's only national commercial broadcaster, broadcasts the UK's first gay TV drama, South, starring Peter Wyngarde.[63]

1960s
  • 1961  – Victim was the first English-language film to use the word "homosexual". It premiered in the UK on 31 August 1961.
  • 1963  – The Minorities Research Group (MRG) became the UK's first lesbian social and political organisation. They went on to publish their own lesbian magazine called Arena Three.[60]
  • 1964  – The North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee was founded, abandoning the medical model of homosexuality as a sickness and calling for its decriminalisation. The first meeting was held in Manchester. The North West branch of the national Homosexual Law Reform Committee became the national Committee for Homosexual Equality in 1969.[38] and in 1971 after the advent of the Gay Liberation Front in 1970, changed its name to Campaign for Homosexual Equality.
  • 1965  – In the House of Lords, Lord Arran proposed the decriminalisation of male homosexual acts (lesbian acts had never been illegal). A UK opinion poll finds that 93% of respondents see homosexuality as a form of illness requiring medical treatment.[38]
  • 1966  – In the House of Commons Conservative MP Humphry Berkeley introduce a bill to legalise male homosexual relations along the lines of the Wolfenden report. Berkeley was well known to his colleagues as a homosexual, according to a 2007 article published in The Observer and was unpopular.[64] His Bill was given a second reading by 164 to 107 on 11 February, but fell when Parliament was dissolved soon after. Unexpectedly, Berkeley lost his seat in the 1966 general election, and ascribed his defeat to the unpopularity of his bill on homosexuality. The Beaumont Society, a London-based social/support group for people who cross-dress, are transvestite or who are transsexual, was founded.[38]
  • 1967  – Ten years after the Wolfenden Report, MP Leo Abse introduced the Sexual Offences Bill 1967 supported by Labour MP Roy Jenkins, then the Labour Home Secretary. When passed, The Act decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age in private in England and Wales.[65] The 1967 Act did not extend to Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, where all homosexual behaviour remained illegal. The privacy restrictions of the act meant a third person could not be present and men could not have sex in a hotel. These restrictions were overturned in the European Court of Human Rights in 2000.[66]
The book Homosexual Behavior Among Males by Wainwright Churchill breaks ground as a scientific study approaching homosexuality as a fact of life and introduces the term "homoerotophobia", a possible precursor to "homophobia".[67] The courts decided that transsexuals could not get married; Justice Ormerod found that in the case of Talbot (otherwise Poyntz) v. Talbot where one spouse was a post-operative transsexual their marriage was not permitted. Justice Ormerod stated that Marriage is a relationship which depends on sex, not on gender.[68][69]
  • 1969  – Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) formed as the first British gay activist group. In Scotland, gay right organisation the Scottish Minorities Group is founded by Ian Dunn (it was later known as Outright Scotland).[70]

1970s
  • 1970  – Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was established at London School of Economics on 13 October, in response to debates many gay men and lesbians were having in Britain about the way they were treated. The formation of GLF also influenced by the Stonewall Rebellion in the USA that started on 28 June 1969. In the case between April Ashley and Arthur Cameron Corbett, their marriage was annulled on the basis that Ashley, a transsexual woman, was a man under then-current British law. This set a legal precedent for trans people in Britain, meaning that the birth certificates of transsexual and intersex people could not be changed.[38]
  • 1971  – The Nationwide Festival of Light supported by Cliff Richard, Mary Whitehouse, Malcolm Muggeridge and Lord Longford was held by British Christians who were concerned about the development of the permissive society in the UK and in particular, homosexuality and out of wedlock sexual activity. The GLF interrupted the festival with a series of demonstrations. Lesbians invaded the platform of the Women's Liberation Conference in Skegness, demanding recognition[60] The Nullity of Marriage Act was passed, explicitly banning same-sex marriages between same-sex couples in England and Wales.[71] The parliamentary debates on the 1971 act included discussion on the issue of transsexualism but not homosexuality.[72]
  • 1972  – The First British Gay Pride Rally was held in London with 1000 people marching from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park.[73] Gay News, Britain's first gay newspaper was founded.[74]
  • 1973  – London Icebreakers forms, offering a 24-hour helpline staffed exclusively by LGB people and offered gay-affirmative support. The Campaign for Homosexual Equality holds the first British gay rights conference in Morecambe, Lancashire. The Manchester Gay Alliance formed by the University's Lesbian & Gay Society, CHE, a lesbian group and transvestite/ transsexual group.[38] In late 1973 Dr. Carol Steele and another transsexual woman (Linda B.) formed the Manchester TV/TS Group (a group for transvestites and transsexuals).[Ref: Trans Britain - Our Long Journey from the Shadows - Unbound Books 2018]
  • 1974  – Maureen Colquhoun came out as the first Lesbian MP for the Labour Party. When elected she was married in a heterosexual marriage. After coming out, her party refused to support her.[75] The First National TV/TS (Transvestite/Transsexual Conference) is held in Leeds. Jan Morris, one of Britain's top journalists who has covered wars and rebellions around the globe and climbed Mount Everest in 1952, publishes Conundrum, a personal account of her transition, widely hailed as a classic.[38]
  • 1975  – The groundbreaking film portraying homosexual gay icon Quentin Crisp's life, The Naked Civil Servant (based on the 1968 autobiography and starring John Hurt) was transmitted by Thames Television for the British Television channel ITV. British journal Gay Left begins publication.[76] British Home Stores sacked openly gay trainee Tony Whitehead; a national campaign subsequently picketed their stores.[74] The Liberal Party passed a conference resolution in support of equality for gay people including an equal age of consent.[77]
  • 1976  – Britain's political pressure group Liberty, under its original name National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), called for an equal age of consent of 14 in Britain.[78] The term Gay Bowel Syndrome was coined to describe a range of rectal diseases seen among gay male patients; in the pre-AIDS era, this is the first medical term to relate to gay men.[38]
  • 1976  – The London Gay Teenage Group was established by Phillip Cox and Paul Welch. It was chaired and run by Steven Power, a 1970s gay activist, from its inception until 1980 when he became 21. It was the first gay youth group in the world.[79]
  • 1977  – The first gay lesbian Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference took place to discuss workplace rights for Gays and Lesbians.
  • 1978  – The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) was founded as the International Gay Association (IGA) on 8 August during the conference of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in Coventry, England, at a meeting attended by 30 men representing 17 organisations from 14 countries. The Coventry conference also called upon Amnesty International to take up the issue of persecution of lesbians and gays.

1980s
The red ribbon is a symbol for solidarity with HIV-positive people and those living with AIDS
  • 1980  – The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age "in private" in Scotland.[80] British documentary A Change of Sex aired on BBC2, enabling viewers to follow the social and medical transition of Julia Grant; also provides a snapshot of the Gender Identity Clinic at Charing Cross Hospital in London.[38] The Self Help Association for Transsexuals (SHAFT) was formed as an information collecting and disseminating body for trans-people. The association later became known as 'Gender Dysphoria Trust International' (GDTI).[81] The first Black Gay and Lesbian Group was formed in the UK.[82] Lionel Blue became the first British rabbi to come out as gay.[83] The UK's first television series specifically aimed at a gay audience is broadcast on London Weekend Television. Called Gay Life, the programme airs late on Sundays and runs for two series.[84]
  • 1981  – The European Court of Human Rights in Dudgeon v. United Kingdom struck down Northern Ireland's criminalisation of homosexual acts between consenting adults. The first UK case of AIDS was recorded when a 49-year-old man was admitted to Brompton Hospital in London suffering from PCP (Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia). He died ten days later.[85]
  • 1982  – The Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 decriminalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age "in private" in Northern Ireland.[80][86] Terry Higgins dies of AIDS in St Thomas' Hospital London, his friends and partner Martyn Butler set up the Terry Higgins Trust (which became the Terrence Higgins Trust), the first UK AIDS charity.[87]
  • 1983  – Britain reports 17 cases of AIDS.[88] Gay men are asked not to donate blood.[89] UK Crown Dependency Guernsey (Including Alderney, Herm and Sark) decriminalised homosexuality.
  • 1984  – Chris Smith, newly elected to the UK parliament declares: "My name is Chris Smith. I'm the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, and I'm gay", making him the first openly out homosexual politician in the UK parliament.[90] Britain reports 108 cases of AIDS with 46 deaths (from AIDS).[91] The Politics of Bisexuality signals the growth of separate bisexual community organising. Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, a campaign of LGBT support for striking workers in the miners' strike of 1984 and 1985, is launched.
  • 1985  – AIDS hysteria grows in the UK when passengers on the Queen Elizabeth 2 curtailed their holiday as a person with AIDS was discovered on board. Cunard were criticised for trying to cover this up.[92] A London support group Body Positive was set up as a self-help group for people affected by HTLV-3 and AIDS.[93] Health Minister, Kenneth Clarke, enacted powers to detain people with AIDS in hospital against their will, potentially preventing people coming forward for treatment[94]
  • 1987  – Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the 1987 Conservative party conference, issued the statement stating "Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay". Backbench Conservative MPs and Peers had already begun a backlash against the 'promotion' of homosexuality and, in December 1987, Clause 28 is introduced into the local government bill by Dame Jill Knight, Conservative MP for Birmingham Edgbaston.[95] The first UK specialist HIV ward was opened by Diana, Princess of Wales; at the opening she made a point of not wearing protective gloves or a mask when she shook hands with the patients.[96] AZT, the first HIV drug to show promise of suppressing the disease was made available in the UK for the first time.[97] In Manchester, Operation Spanner carried out by police resulted in group of homosexuals being convicted for assault occasioning actual bodily harm for their involvement in consensual sadomasochism over a ten-year period.
  • 1988  – Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 enacted as an amendment to the United Kingdom's Local Government Act 1986, on 24 May 1988 stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". The act was introduced by Margaret Thatcher.[98] Almost identical legislation was enacted for Scotland by the Westminster Parliament. Princess Margaret opens the UK's first residential support centre for people living with HIV and AIDS in London at London Lighthouse.[99] Sir Ian McKellen came out on BBC Radio 3[100] in response to the governments proposed Section 28 in the British Parliament.[101] McKellen has stated that he was influenced in his decision by the advice and support of his friends, among them noted gay author Armistead Maupin.
  • 1989  – The campaign group Stonewall UK is set up to oppose Section 28 and other barriers to equality.[102]

1990s
London gay pub bombing in 1999 killed three and injured 70
  • 1992  – UK Crown Dependency of Isle of Man repealed sodomy laws (homosexuality was still illegal until 1994). The first Pride Festival was held in Brighton.[106] Europride was inaugurated in London and was attended by estimated crowds of over 100,000. Britain's first black gay play Boy with Beer by Paul Boakye opened in January at The Man in the Moon Theatre with nudity, simulated sex, and AIDS as a core concern.[107]
  • 1993  – The radio DJ and comedian Kenny Everett and singer with the group Frankie goes to Hollywood, Holly Johnson, announced that they were HIV positive.[108] Serial killer Colin Ireland was convicted of killing five gay men, who he picked up in the Coleherne leather bar. He was sentenced to life and died in 2012.
  • 1994  – The Conservative Member of Parliament Edwina Currie introduced an amendment to lower the age of consent for homosexual acts, from 21 to 16 in line with that for heterosexual acts.[65] The vote was defeated and the gay male age of consent was instead lowered to 18. The lesbian age of consent was not set. UK Crown Dependency of Isle of Man decriminalised homosexuality. Charity Save the Children dropped lesbian Sandi Toksvig as compere of its 75th-anniversary celebrations after she came out, but following a direct action protest by the Lesbian Avengers,[109] Save the Children apologised. British filmmaker Derek Jarman died of AIDS.
  • 1996  – A breakthrough is made in the area of AIDS treatment; Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) is found to significantly delay the onset of AIDS in people living with HIV. The NHS makes the treatment available in the UK.[110] HAART has a dramatic effect and many bed ridden AIDS patients return to work.[111] The European Court of Human Rights heard Morris v. The United Kingdom and Sutherland v. the United Kingdom, cases brought by Chris Morris and Euan Sutherland challenging the homosexual inequality in divided ages of consent. The government stated its intention to legislate to negate the court cases, which were put on hold.
  • 1997  – Angela Eagle, Labour MP for Wallasey, becomes the first MP to come out voluntarily as a lesbian. Gay partners were given equal immigration rights. Equality Network established in Scotland.
  • 1998  – The Bolton 7, a group of gay and bisexual men were convicted at Bolton Crown Court of the offences of gross indecency under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and of age of consent offences under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Although gay sex was partially decriminalised by the Sexual Offences Act 1967, they were all convicted under section 13 of the 1956 Act because more than two men had sex together, which was still illegal. The Lord Alli, a Labour Party life peer, becomes the first openly gay member of the House of Lords and one of a few openly gay Muslims.[112][113] The Labour party introduced an amendment to Crime and Disorder Bill to set the age of consent at 16 for homosexual men.[114] The amendment was then removed by the House of Lords.
  • 1999  – In May, the Admiral Duncan, a gay pub in Soho was bombed by former British National Party member David Copeland, killing three people and wounding at least 70.[115][116] Queer Youth Alliance was formed; The equal age of consent to the Crime and Disorder Bill proposed by the Labour government was blocked again in the House of Lords after a campaign headed by Conservative MP Baroness Young.[117] Stephen Twigg became the first openly gay politician to be elected to the House of Commons. Michael Cashman became the first openly gay UK member elected to the European Parliament. The British Museum acquired the Warren Cup for £1.8 million to prevent its going abroad[118] which, at that time, the most expensive single item ever acquired by The British Museum.[119] The cup depicts homosexual acts between Ancient Greek and Roman men and boys.

21st century

2000s
  • 2000  – The Labour government stops banning homosexuals from the armed forces after the European Court of Human Rights rules it unlawful.[120] The law will not actually be repealed until the Armed Forces Act 2016.[121] The Labour government introduces legislation to repeal Section 28 in England and Wales - Conservative MPs oppose the move. The bill is defeated by bishops and Conservatives in the House of Lords.[122] Scotland abolished Clause 2a (Section 28) of the Local Government Act in October though it remains in place in England and Wales. HIV charity London Lighthouse merged with Terrence Higgins Trust as the Aled Richards Trust and Body Positive London, closed. Shrinkage of the HIV charity sector occurred largely as a result of Management of HIV/AIDS HAART treatment allowing people living with HIV to be more self-sufficient.[123][124]
Tony Blair's Labour government enacted the Civil Partnership Act 2004
  • 2001  – The last two pieces of unequal law regarding gay male sex are changed.[102] In 1997 the European Commission of Human Rights found that the European Convention on Human Rights were violated by a discriminatory age of consent; the government submitted that it would propose a Bill to Parliament for a reduction of the age of consent for homosexual acts from 18 to 16. The Crime and Disorder Bill which proposed these amendments, was voted for in the House of Commons but rejected in the House of Lords. In 1998 it was reintroduced and again was voted for in the House of Commons but rejected in the House of Lords. It was reintroduced a third time in 1999 but the House of Lords amended it to maintain the age for buggery at 18 for both sexes. Provisions made in the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 made it possible to enact the bill without the Lords voting it through. The provisions of the Act came into force throughout the United Kingdom on 8 January 2001, lowering the age of consent to 16. Under the act consensual group sex for gay men is also decriminalised.[125]
  • 2002  – Same-sex couples are granted equal rights to adopt. Alan Duncan becomes the first Conservative MP to admit being gay without being pushed.[102] Brian Dowling becomes the first openly gay children's television presenter in the UK on SMTV Live.
  • 2003  – Section 28, which banned councils and schools from intentionally promoting homosexuality, is repealed in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. Employment Equality Regulations made it illegal to discriminate against lesbians, gays or bisexuals at work.[126] EuroPride was hosted in Manchester. Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson, both British university professors, legally married in British Columbia, Canada, however on their return their same-sex marriage was not recognised under British law. Under the subsequent Civil Partnership Act 2004, it was instead converted into a civil partnership. The couple sued for recognition of their same-sex marriage.[127]
  • 2004  – The Civil Partnership Act 2004 is passed by the Labour Government, giving same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities as married heterosexual couples in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.[102] The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is passed by the Labour Government. The Act gives transsexual people legal recognition as members of the sex appropriate to their gender (male or female) allowing them to acquire a new birth certificate, affording them full recognition of their acquired sex in law for all purposes, including marriage.[128]
  • 2005  –
    Francis (left) and Peter Scott-Morgan, the first civil partners in Devon, at their televised ceremony at Oldway Mansion
    The first civil partnership formed under the Civil Partnership Act 2004 took place at 11:00 GMT 5 December between Matthew Roche and Christopher Cramp at St Barnabas Hospice, Worthing, West Sussex. The statutory 15-day waiting period was waived as Roche was suffering from a terminal illness: he died the following day.[129] The first partnership registered after the normal waiting period was held in Belfast on 19 December.[130] The Adoption and Children Act 2002 comes into force, allowing unmarried and same-sex couples to adopt children for the first time.[131] Twenty-four-year-old Jody Dobrowski is murdered on Clapham Common in a homophobic attack. Chris Smith one of the first openly gay British MPs, (1984), becomes the first MP to acknowledge that he is HIV positive.[132][133]
  • 2006  – The Equality Act 2006 which establishes the Equality and Human Rights Commission (CEHR) and makes discrimination against lesbians and gay men in the provision of goods and services illegal, gains Royal Assent on 16 February. The age of consent is equalised and Section 28 "successfully repealed" in the UK Crown Dependency of the Isle of Man.[134] Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw holds a civil partnership ceremony with partner, Neal Dalgleish, a BBC Newsnight journalist. David Borrow, a Labour MP also holds a civil partnership with his boyfriend in May.[135] In May, Margot James becoming the first 'out' lesbian to be elected as a local councillor for the Brompton ward of Kensington & Chelsea. She subsequently became the first Tory Lesbian MP.[136] In total 3,648 couples formed civil partnerships in England and Wales between 21 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. Male partnerships are more popular (2,150 ceremonies) than women's (1,138).[137]
  • 2007  – The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations becomes law on 30 April making discrimination against lesbians and gay men in the provision of goods and services illegal. Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham declared his opposition to the act, saying that the legislation contradicted the Catholic Church's moral values. He supported efforts to have Catholic adoption agencies exempted from sexual orientation regulations (they were ultimately successful in a judgement given on 17 March 2010).[138] Some 8,728 Civil Partnerships were conducted in 2007.[139] Dr Lewis Turner and Professor Stephen Whittle publish Engendered Penalties Transsexual and Transgender People's Experience of Inequality and Discrimination (Equalities Review) which is instrumental in ensuring the inclusion of trans people in the remit of the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights.[38] Channel 4 released Clapham Junction, a TV drama partially based on the murder of Jody Dobrowski almost two years after his murder, to mark the 40th anniversary of decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales. Four openly gay, lesbian or bisexual MSPs are elected in the 2007-2011 Scottish Parliament, Ian Smith, Patrick Harvie, Margaret Smith and Joe FitzPatrick.[140]
  • 2008  – Treatment of lesbian parents and their children is equalised in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.[141] The legislation allows for lesbians and their partners (both civil and de facto) equal access to legal presumptions of parentage in cases of in vitro fertilisation ("IVF") or assisted/self insemination (other than at home) from the moment the child is born. Angela Eagle becomes the first female MP to enter into a civil partnership (with partner Maria Exall).[142][143] Parliament passes provisions in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act, creating a new offence of incitement to homophobic hatred. Some 7,169 Civil partnerships were conducted in 2008.[144] Michael Causer, a gay teenager living in Liverpool, is seriously assaulted on 25 July because of his sexual orientation and later dies in hospital, aged 18.[145][146]
  • 2009  – The Labour Government Prime Minister Gordon Brown makes an official public apology on behalf of the British government for the way in which Alan Turing was chemically castrated for being gay, after the war.[59] Opposition leader David Cameron apologises on behalf of the Conservative Party, for introducing Section 28 during Margaret Thatcher's third government.[147] Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas becomes the first known top-level professional male athlete in a team sport to come out while still active.[148] Nikki Sinclaire becomes first openly lesbian member of the European Parliament for the UK delegation. Some 6,281 Civil Partnerships were conducted in 2009.[149]

2010s
  • 2010  – Pope Benedict XVI condemns British equality legislation for running contrary to "natural law" as he confirmed his first visit to the UK.[150] The Equality Act 2010 makes discrimination against lesbians and gay men in the provision of goods and services illegal. The Supreme Court ruled that two gay men from Iran and Cameroon have the right to asylum in the UK and Lord Hope, who read out the judgment, said: To compel a homosexual person to pretend that his sexuality does not exist or suppress the behaviour by which to manifest itself is to deny him the fundamental right to be who he is.[151] Some 6,385 Civil Partnerships were conducted in Britain in 2010, 49% were men.[152] Claire Rayner, ally of the gay rights movement, dies.[38] Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling MP said that he thought bed and breakfast owners should be able to bar gay couples, however, under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 no-one can be refused goods or services on the grounds of their sexuality. Grayling subsequently was passed over as Home Secretary when the Coalition government came to power.[153]
  • 2011  – England, Wales and Scotland allow gay and bi men to donate blood after a 1-year deferral period.
  • 2012  – In the year in which London hosted the Olympic Games, London hosts World Pride but the committee fails to secure funding and has to drastically cut back the parade and cancel many of the events.[154] The coalition government committed to legislate for gay marriage by 2015, but by 2012 still had not been included in the Queen's Speech.[155] Thousands of people sign an e-petition to feature Alan Turing, father of Computing and of Artificial Intelligence on the ten pound note.[156] Government Ministers pledge to push through legislation granting same-sex couples equal rights to get married despite the threat of a split with the Church of England and the continuance of current arrangements for the state recognition of canon law.[157]
  • 2013  – The coalition government unveils its Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill[158] on 25 January. On 21 May it passes its third reading in the House of Commons by a vote of 366 to 161. Altogether 133 Tories opposed the bill, along with 15 Labour MPs, four Lib Dems, eight Democratic Unionists and an independent.[159] On 17 July 2013, Royal Assent is given to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. Queen Elizabeth II grants Alan Turing a posthumous pardon.[160][161][162] Nikki Sinclaire comes out as transgender, thus becoming the United Kingdom's first openly transgender Parliamentarian.[163] Civil partners Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy were successful in their case against B&B owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull. Hall and Preddy were refused a double room at the Bulls' B&B, Chymorvah Guest House, which courts found was in contravention of the 2007 Equality Act Regulations,[164]
  • 2014  – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in England and Wales on 29 March under the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland was passed by the Scottish Parliament in February 2014, received Royal Assent on 12 March 2014 and took effect on 16 December 2014.[165] Queen Elizabeth II praises the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard for their 40-year history, the first time the Crown has ever publicly supported the LGBT community. The Switchboard receives a comment from the Queen saying: "Best wishes and congratulations to all concerned on this most special anniversary."[166]
  • 2015  – Mikhail Ivan Gallatinov and Mark Goodwin became the first couple to have a same-sex wedding in a UK prison after marrying at Full Sutton Prison in East Yorkshire.[167] Northern Ireland's assembly voted narrowly in favour of gay marriage equality but the largest party in the devolved parliament, the Democratic Unionist Party, subsequently vetoed any change in the law.[168] The Royal Vauxhall Tavern became the first ever building in the UK to be given a special "listing" status based on its LGBT history; it was accorded Grade II listed status by the UK's Department of Culture, Media and Sport.[169] Inga Beale, CEO of Lloyd's of London, became the first woman and the first openly bisexual person to be named number one in the OUTstanding & FT Leading LGBT executive power list.[170]
  • 2016  – There are 40 LGBT MPs in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which in 2016 is the most in any parliament around the world.[171] Hannah Blythyn, Jeremy Miles, and Adam Price became the first openly gay members of the Welsh Assembly.[172] Carl Austin-Behan was sworn in as Manchester's first openly gay Lord Mayor.[173] Northern Ireland allow gay and bi men to donate blood after a 1-year deferral period. Prince William became the first member of Britain's royal family to appear on the cover of a gay magazine when he appeared on the cover of the July issue of Attitude; in the cover story, he also became the first British royal to openly condemn the bullying of the gay community.[174] British Government minister Justine Greening revealed that she was in a same-sex relationship, thus becoming the first out LGB female cabinet minister.[175] Elle printed special collectors' covers for their September 2016 issue, and one of them featured Hari Nef, which was the first time an openly transgender woman had been on the cover of a major commercial British magazine.[176] The British women's field hockey team won gold at the Olympics; as Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh were both on that team, this made them the first same-sex married couple to win Olympic medals.[177] Nicholas Chamberlain became the first bishop in the Church of England to come out as gay, which occurred following threats of an outing from an unnamed Sunday newspaper. He said he lived with his partner in a celibate same-sex relationship, as required by the Bishops' guidelines, under which gay clergy must practice abstinence and may not marry.[178][179][180][181] Ivar Mountbatten came out as gay and revealed that he was in a relationship with James Coyle, an airline cabin services director whom he met whilst at a ski resort in Verbier.[182] While not being a member of the British royal family, he is the first member of the extended family to come out as gay.[183] Anwen Muston, a British Labour Party politician, was elected to Wolverhampton City Council at the 2016 elections; this makes her the first openly transgender woman to be elected as a Labour representative.[184][185] The Armed Forces Act 2016 finally repeals "homosexual acts as a grounds of discharge from the armed forces".[121]
  • 2017  – Andy Street became the United Kingdom's first openly gay, directly elected metro mayor.[186] Philippa York, formerly Robert Millar, came out as transgender, thus becoming the first former professional cyclist to have publicly transitioned; she had been one of Britain's most successful cyclists of all time.[187] British voters returned a record number of LGBTQ MPs to Parliament in the general election. Forty-five gay, lesbian or bi MPs were elected on Thursday 8 June – six more than in the previous parliament. The SNP registered the largest proportion of LGBTQ elected members in its parliamentary party, with seven of its 35 MPs identifying as such.[188] Ryan Atkin became the first openly gay official in English football.[189]
  • 2018  – Lord Ivar Mountbatten married his same-sex partner, James Coyle, on 22 September 2018,[190][191] becoming the first member of the British monarch's extended family to have a same-sex wedding.[191][192][193]
  • 2019  – Laverne Cox was one of fifteen women chosen by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British Vogue; this made Cox the first openly transgender woman to appear on the cover of British Vogue.[194][195][196] Songs of Praise showed its first gay wedding, which was the wedding of Jamie Wallace and Ian McDowall at the Rutherglen United Reformed Church in Glasgow.[197] Lucia Lucas became the first transgender singer to perform with the English National Opera in London.[198]Pride in Surrey held the first Pride event on August 10th in the borough of Woking,Surrey. It was founded by Stephen A Ireland and his Partner Charlie Watts. [199]

2020s

See also

References
  1. The Historic Origins of Church Condemnation of Homosexuality
  2. Hidden gay British histories take centre stage 50 years after decriminalisation
  3. Codex Theodosianus 9.4.2
  4. David Bromell. Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, London, 2000 (Ed. Wotherspoon and Aldrich)
  5. (Boswell, 1981) p.215 states "The Council of London of 1102 ... insisted that in future sodomy be confessed as a sin."
  6. Weir, Alison (2006). Isabella: She-wolf of France, Queen of England. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0712641944.
  7. Chaplais (1994), p. 7.
  8. Hamilton (1988), p. 16.
  9. Flores Historiarum
  10. Smith & Hogan, Criminal Law (10th ed), ISBN 0-406-94801-1
  11. Bailey, 147-148, and H. Montgomery Hyde, The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name: A Candid History of Homosexuality in Britain, (Boston: Little, Brown, 1970) [British title: The Other Love]
  12. Fone, Byrne R. S. (2000). Homophobia: a history. New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN 0-8050-4559-7.
  13. Bergeron, David Moore (1999), King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire, University of Iowa Press, ISBN 978-0-87745-669-8
  14. Homosexuality & Civilization By Louis Crompton; p.386
  15. A History of England By James Franck Bright; p.597
  16. Godfrey Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester, quoted in Gregg, Pauline (1984). King Charles I. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-520-05146-1.
  17. Graham, Fiona (5 June 2008). "To the manor bought". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  18. There was no Duke of Norfolk at the time; the Duchy was "restored" in 1660.
  19. Mendelson, Sara H. (January 2008). Hunt, Arabella (1662–1705). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  20. Van der Kiste, 201
  21. Van der Kiste, 202–203
  22. Quincy, John (1722). Lexicon Physico Medicum. England: E. Bell. p. 86.
  23. Norton, Rictor (5 February 2005). "The Raid on Mother Clap's Molly House". Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  24. Bateman, Geoffrey (18 August 2005). "Margaret Clap". glbtq.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  25. Norton, Rictor (20 June 2008). "The Trial of Margaret Clap". Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  26. Norton, Rictor (20 June 2008). "The Trial of Gabriel Lawrence". Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  27. Matt Cook et al, A Gay History of Britain, 2007., Oxford: Greenwood World Publishing
  28. A Gay History of Britain, Matt Cook, p. 82
  29. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Immorality of the Ancient Philosophers, 1735", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 28 April 2007 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/philoso.htm>
  30. "The Gay Love Letters of John, Lord Hervey to Stephen Fox"; excerpts from My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries (1998), edited by Rictor Norton, accessed 26 May 2010
  31. Cannon, Thomas. "The Indictment of John Purser, Containing Thomas Cannon’s Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify’d". Edited by Hal Gladfelder and Dudley Ryder Knight. Eighteenth-Century Life (Duke University Press) 31, no. 1 (2007): 39–61.
  32. Rictor Norton (ed.), "The Trial of Robert Jones, 1772", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook, 19 December 2004 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/jones2.htm>
  33. "Rictor Norton, "The First Public Debate about Homosexuality in England: The Case of Captain Jones, 1772", The Gay Subculture in Georgian England". 3 April 2007.
  34. Rictor Norton (Ed.), "Plato the Pederast, 1773" Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 2 April 2010 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1773plat.htm>
  35. Macfarquhar, Colin (1797). Encyclopedia Britannica. Ed. III. Vol. III. George Gleig. A. Bell and Macfarquhar.
  36. "Yorkshire farmer argues homosexuality is natural in 1810 diary discovery | University of Oxford". www.ox.ac.uk. 10 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  37. "The White Swan: The Gay Brothel in Vere Street". 25 September 2010. Archived from the original on 21 May 2010.
  38. "Northwest NHS trust LGBT Timeline". February 2011. Archived from the original on 20 June 2011.
  39. Cocks, HG (2003). Nameless Offences: Homosexual Desire in the 19th Century. I.B.Tauris. p. 30. ISBN 1860648908.
  40. A Gay History of Britain, Matt Cook, p. 109
  41. Hyde v. Hyde and Woodmansee [L.R.] 1 P. & D. 130
  42. H. G. Cocks (2003) Nameless offences: homosexual desire in the nineteenth century. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-890-8
  43. "CONSIDERATION. (Hansard, 6 August 1885)".
  44. A Gay History of Britain, Matt Cook, p. 133
  45. A Gay History of Britain, Matt Cook, p. 132
  46. Stoddard, Katy (17 February 2007). "Let's talk about sex". The Guardian. London.
  47. A Gay History of Britain, Matt Cook, p. 152
  48. Matt Cook. London and the Culture of Homosexuality, 1885-1914 (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture). ISBN 0521089808.
  49. David C. Weigle, 'Psychology and homosexuality: The British Sexological Society', Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 31:2 (April 1995), p.137-148
  50. Davenport-Hines, Richard (1995). Auden. London: Heinemann. pp. ch. 3. ISBN 0-434-17507-2.
  51. Thomson (1994, 26–27), Meech (1994, 54–55).
  52. Munt, Sally R. (2001). "The Well of Shame". Doan & Prosser, 199–215.
  53. Souhami, Diana (1999). The Trials of Radclyffe Hall. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-48941-2, pp. 194–196.
  54. "'Thought Man Was Woman' Story: Charge Is Now Murder". News of the World. 5 November 1950.
  55. "He Killed Man Who Dressed As a Woman". News of the World. 26 November 1950.
  56. A Gay History of Britain, Matt Cook, p. 169
  57. D'Emilio, John (1998). Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities (2d ed.). University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-14267-1 pp41-49
  58. "Lord Montagu on the court case which ended the legal persecution of homosexuals". London Evening Standard. 14 July 2007. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  59. "PM apology after Turing petition". BBC News. 11 September 2009.
  60. "Lesbian, bisexual and trans women's services in the UK: Briefing 20" (PDF). 2010.
  61. Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, 1957, Report of the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution., London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office
  62. "Homosexual Acts, Call To Reform Law". The Times. 7 March 1958. p. 11.
  63. Mark Brown, arts correspondent (16 March 2013). "Newly unearthed ITV play could be first ever gay television drama". guardian.co.uk. London. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  64. Geraldine Bedell "Coming out of the dark ages", The Observer, 24 June 2007
  65. "From Section 28 to a Home Office float - Tories come out in force at gay march", The Guardian, London, 3 July 2010.
  66. "HUDOC - European Court of Human Rights". hudoc.echr.coe.int. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  67. Homosexual Behavior Among Males. A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Species Investigation: By Wainright Churchill, M.D. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1967. 349 pp.
  68. Brent, Gail (1972–1973). "Some Legal Problems of the Postoperative Transsexual". Journal of Family Law. 12: 405.
  69. "HC Deb 02 April 1971 vol 814 c.1829". Hansard.millbanksystems.com. 2 April 1971. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  70. Obituary: Ian Dunn | The Independent
  71. Cretney, Stephen (2003). Family law in the twentieth century: a history. Oxford University Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN 0-19-826899-8.
  72. "1 (a) Marriages between persons of the same sex". Report on Nullity of Marriage (PDF). Law Reform Commission Reports. 9. Ireland: Law Reform Commission. October 1984. pp. 4–8.
  73. Pidd, Helen (3 July 2010). "From Section 28 to a Home Office float - Tories come out in force at gay march". The Guardian. London.
  74. "History of lesbian, gay and bisexual equality".
  75. "Where are they now: Maureen Colquhoun". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013.
  76. The Knitting Circle Archived 14 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine – 'Gay Left Collective'
  77. "always been there for you and we always will". LGBT+ Lib Dems. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  78. Waites, Matthew (2005, p.135-136). The age of consent – Young people, Sexuality and Citizenship. New York/London: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-2173-4. ISBN 1-4039-2173-3
  79. "London Gay Teenage Group". LGBTarchive UK. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  80. Stoddard, Katy (17 February 2007). "Let's talk about sex". The Guardian. London.
  81. "Dixon, Stephen Michael (1993) Gender dysphoria: Transsexualism and identity. Masters thesis, Durham University" (PDF). 1993.
  82. "Lesbian, bisexual and trans women's services in the UK: Briefing 21" (PDF). 2010.
  83. "Rabbi Lionel Blue, the first openly gay British rabbi, dies at 86 | Jewish Telegraphic Agency". Jta.org. 20 December 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  84. Glyn Davis; Gary Needham (3 December 2008). Queer TV: Theories, Histories, Politics. Routledge. pp. 109–. ISBN 978-1-134-05856-3.
  85. Dubois RM (1981), 'Primary Pneumocystis Carinii and Cytomegalovirus Infections', the Lancet, ii, 1339
  86. "Where is it illegal to be gay?". BBC News. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  87. "Terrence Higgins Trust". Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  88. World Health Organization (1983), 'Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Emergencies, Report of a WHO Meeting, Geneva 22–25 November'
  89. Gunson HH (1986) 'The blood transfusion service in the UK', in Proceedings of the AIDS Conference 1986, edited by Jones P., Intercept, p.91-100
  90. "From Section 28 to a Home Office float - Tories come out in force at gay march", The Guardian, London, 3 July 2010
  91. Department of Health & Social Security (1985) 'Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, general information for doctors', May
  92. Sunday People (1985) 'Scandal of AIDS Cover-Up on QE2', 17 February
  93. The Times, 14 March 1986
  94. .[AVERT/NUS (1986), 'AIDS Is Everyone’s Problem', Campaign Briefing]
  95. "Section 28 Timeline", The Guardian, London
  96. Bureau of Hygiene & Tropical Diseases (1987), 'AIDS Newsletter', Issue 6, 10 April
  97. Fischl MA et al (1987), 'The Efficacy of azidothymidine (AZT) in the treatment of patients with AIDS and AIDS-related complex, a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial'
  98. Local Government Act 1988 (c. 9), section 28. Accessed 1 July 2006 on opsi.gov.uk
  99. Spence C (1996), 'On Watch: Views from the Lighthouse', Cassell, p.36
  100. The programme is online: "Third Ear: Section 28", BBC Radio 3, 27 January 1988
  101. "Ian McKellen." Host: James Lipton. Inside the Actors Studio. Bravo. 8 December 2002. No. 5, season 9.
  102. Pidd, Helen (3 July 2010). "From Section 28 to a Home Office float - Tories come out in force at gay march". The Guardian. London.
  103. Richardson, Colin (14 August 2002). "The worst of times". The Guardian. London.
  104. The Sun (22 October 1990). "£1m Football Star: I AM GAY". News Group Newspapers. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  105. "Queen star dies after Aids statement". The Guardian. London. 25 November 1991.
  106. "Brighton Pride homepage". Archived from the original on 18 July 2011.
  107. "The National Theatre's Black Plays Archive".
  108. "Kenny and Holly find positive ways to face up to a new kind of fame: Celebrities may own up to HIV freely or under pressure, but the result is usually the same, writes William Leith". The Independent. London. 11 April 1993.
  109. "Lesbians protest over charity ban - Life & Style". The Independent. London. 5 October 1994. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  110. [Cooper DA and Merigan TC (1996) et al, 'Clinical treatment', AIDS, 1996, 10 (suppl A): S133-S134]
  111. [Positive Nation (2004), 'Interview with the Professor' issue 100, March]
  112. Edgecliffe-Johnson, Andrew. "Lunch with the FT: Waheed Alli". FT. Retrieved 28 February 2012. one of the few gay Muslims in British public life.
  113. Alderson, Andrew (6 March 2010). "Lord Alli attacks bishops in 'gay marriage' row". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 25 April 2012. one of the few openly-gay Muslim politicians
  114. "Crime and Disorder Bill - Reduce age of consent for homosexual acts to 16". Public Whip. 22 June 1998.
  115. "Thousands remember Soho dead". BBC News. 2 May 1999.
  116. "The Admiral Duncan Bombing – 10 years on". The Lesbian and Gay Foundation (UK). 30 April 2009.
  117. Pidd, Helen (3 July 2010). "From Section 28 to a Home Office float - Tories come out in force at gay march". The Guardian. London.
  118. "The secrets of Cupboard 55". The Telegraph. London. 19 June 1999.
  119. Kennedy, Maev (12 May 2006). "British Museum exhibition reveals saucy side of the ancient world". The Observer. London.
  120. "It's official:gays do NOT harm forces", The Guardian, London, 19 November 2000.
  121. "Armed Forces Act 2016". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  122. "Section 28 timeline". The Guardian. London.
  123. [The Guardian (2000), 'Force for good: Twin attack in merger of HIV charities' Wednesday 4 October]
  124. [National AIDS Trust press release (2000), 'Body Positive closure highlights lack of London HIV strategy']
  125. "Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000". The UK Statute Law Database. Office of Public Sector Information. Commencement Information. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  126. "UK Gay Rights" The Guardian, London, 17 November 2003
  127. "Couple challenge UK stance on Gay Marriage". Liberty. 11 August 2005. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
  128. Example of a Gender Recognition Certificate Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  129. "'Gay wedding' man dies of cancer". BBC News. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 14 May 2006.
  130. 'Gay weddings' first for Belfast BBC News 19 December 2005 . Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  131. Mulholland, Hélène (30 December 2005). "Unmarried and same-sex couples free to adopt". The Guardian. London.
  132. "Former minister is HIV positive". BBC News Online. 30 January 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  133. Why this is the time to break my HIV silence, Chris Smith writing in The Sunday Times, 30 January 2005
  134. "Gay sex at 16 legal". Pink News. 14 August 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  135. Shoffman, Marc (8 May 2006). "Lancashire politician becomes first MP to have gay marriage". Pink News. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  136. "I can't be 'outed'". Evening Standard. 2 March 2004.
  137. "Three and a half thousand English gay couples tie the knot". Pink News. 22 February 2006.
  138. Leeds-based Catholic charity wins gay adoption ruling bbc.co.uk, 17 March 2010
  139. "Civil Partnerships: Over 18,000 formed by December 2006". Office for National Statistics. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 8 September 2007.
  140. Harrison, Iain (21 December 2008), "Gay MSPs stay in closet", The Times, London, retrieved 22 December 2008
  141. "Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008". opsi.gov.uk.
  142. Angela Eagle: My pride at being first lesbian MP to ‘marry’ Liverpool Daily Post, 11 September 2008
  143. MP sets civil ceremony precedent BBC News, 27 September 2008
  144. "Civil partnerships down by 18%". The Guardian. 4 August 2009.
  145. Brown, Jonathan (24 February 2009). "Young. Gay. Proud. Murdered: the hairdresser battered to death". The Independent. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  146. Bryant, Ben (10 August 2018). "A decade after gay teen Michael Causer's murder, is hate crime rising?". BBC Three. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  147. "David Cameron apologises to gay people for section 28" "The Guardian", London, 2 July 2009
  148. Smith, Gary (3 May 2010). "Gareth Thomas... The Only Openly Gay Male Athlete". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  149. Cassidy, Sarah (20 August 2010). "Civil partnerships in 12 per cent decline". The Independent. London.
  150. Butt, Riazat (1 February 2010). "Pope condemns British Equality Law". The Guardian. London.
  151. "Gay asylum seekers from Iran and Cameroon win appeal". BBC News. London. 7 July 2010.
  152. "More women than men having civil partnerships". Pink News. 7 July 2011.
  153. "Grayling suggests B&Bs should be able to bar gay guests". BBC News. 4 April 2010.
  154. "World Pride event in London cut back due to lack of funds". BBC. 29 June 2012.
  155. Bentley, Daniel (9 May 2012). "The Queen's Speech: Don't abandoned gay marriage plans, urge campaigners". The Independent. London.
  156. "Thousands petition government to put code-breaker Alan Turing on £10 note". Wired Magazine. 23 March 2012.
  157. Jowit, Juliette (12 June 2012). "Gay marriage gets ministerial approval". The Guardian. London.
  158. "Equal Marriage Bill Published Today". 25 January 2013.
  159. "Gay marriage: Commons passes Cameron's plan". BBC News. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  160. "Royal pardon for codebreaker Alan Turing". BBC News. 24 December 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  161. "Alan Turing granted Royal pardon by the Queen".
  162. Wright, Oliver (23 December 2013). "Alan Turing gets his royal pardon for 'gross indecency' – 61 years after he poisoned himself". The Independent. London.
  163. "Former UKIP MEP reveals she is the UK's first transgender Parliamentarian ·". Pinknews.co.uk. 17 November 2013. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  164. Bowcott, Owen (18 January 2011). "Gay couple wins discrimination case against Christian hoteliers". The Guardian. London.
  165. "Date set for first same-sex marriages in Scotland". BBC News. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  166. Passport Magazine (7 March 2014). "Hear Hear Queen Elizabeth Makes First Gesture of Goodwill to the LGBT Community". Passportmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  167. "Two Murderers Become First Same-Sex Couple to Marry in UK Prison". Frontiers Media. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  168. Henry McDonald. "Northern Ireland assembly votes to legalise same-sex marriage". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  169. Tim Teeman. "This London Pub Just Made Gay History—but Can It Be Saved?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  170. Julia Kollewe (2015). "Lloyd's of London boss is first woman to top LGBT power list | Business". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  171. Matt Hooper (2016). "The UK has more LGBT MPs than anywhere else in the world". Gay Times. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  172. "First three openly gay and lesbian AMs 'a milestone'". BBC News.
  173. Andy Towle (18 May 2016). "Meet Carl Austin-Behan, the Former Mr. Gay UK Just Sworn in as Manchester's Lord Mayor". Towleroad. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  174. "Prince William makes history with gay magazine cover". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  175. "Justine Greening comes out as first female UK cabinet minister in a same-sex relationship · PinkNews". Pinknews.co.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  176. Sarah Hughes. "Meet Hari Nef: actor, model – and Elle's first transgender cover girl in UK | Society". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  177. Ring, Trudy. "Olympic History Made: First Gold Medals for Same-Sex Spouses". Advocate.com. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  178. Sherwood, Harriet (2 September 2016). "Bishop of Grantham first C of E bishop to declare he is in gay relationship". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  179. The Telegraph — Bishop of Grantham becomes first Church of England bishop to come out publicly as gay (Accessed 3 September 2016)
  180. Press release — Changing Attitude England welcomes Bishop Nick Chamberlain’s openness Archived 3 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed 3 September 2016)
  181. Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement — The Bishop of Grantham (Accessed 3 September 2016)
  182. Harley, Sarah (17 September 2016). "Queen's cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten has spoken of his decision to come out as gay after finding love". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  183. Beresford, Meka (18 September 2016). "The first person in the royal family has just come out as gay". Pink News. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  184. "Labour Party's first transgender councillor elected". Pink News. 10 May 2016. Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  185. "Meet the transgender ex-soldier who is now a Wolverhampton councillor". Express & Star. Midland News Association. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  186. Butterworth, Benjamin (5 May 2017). "Conservative Andy Street becomes UK's first directly-elected gay metro mayor". Pink News. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  187. Fotheringham, William. "Philippa York: 'I've known I was different since I was a five-year-old'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  188. Tom Batchelor (9 June 2017). "Election results: record number of LGBTQ MPs elected to Parliament". The Independent. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  189. O'Callaghan, Rory. "Ryan Atkin reveals positive response to becoming the first openly gay official in English football | Football News". Sky Sports. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  190. Duffy, Nick (24 September 2018). "Queen's cousin marries in first gay royal wedding". PinkNews.
  191. "The first ever gay royal wedding has taken place". Attitude. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  192. Beresford, Meka (18 September 2016). "The first person in the royal family has just come out as gay". PinkNews. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  193. Epstein, Kayla (18 August 2018). "'The king and his husband': The gay history of British royals". The Washington Post.
  194. "Meghan Markle puts Sinéad Burke on the cover of Vogue's September issue". The Irish Times. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  195. Barr, Sabrina (29 July 2019). "Meghan Markle: Jameela Jamil, Laverne Cox and Gemma Chan react to appearing on cover of British Vogue". The Independent. Yahoo! News. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  196. Thanks to Meghan Markle, Laverne Cox Is the 1st Trans Woman to Appear on the Cover of British Vogue
  197. Hayley Dixon (18 August 2019). "Songs of Praise broadcasts show's first gay wedding". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  198. "Lucia Lucas: Making UK operatic debut at the ENO". BBC News. BBC. 5 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  199. "Surrey Live: Woking hosts Surrey's first ever Pridefestival". Surrey Live. Surrey Live. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  200. "Same-sex marriage now legal in Northern Ireland". BBC News. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  201. "First same-sex marriage takes place in Northern Ireland". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

Further reading
  • David, Hugh. On queer street: a social history of British homosexuals.
  • Houlbrook, Matt. Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918–1957.
  • Hyde, Harford Montgomery. The Love that Dared Not Speak Its Name: A Candid History of Homosexuality in Britain.
  • Jennings, Rebecca. A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500.
  • Jennings, Rebecca. Tomboys and bachelor girls: A lesbian history of post-war Britain 1945-71.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.