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Google Gives Bletchley Park 1/2 million

Posted on: December 21st, 2011 by History Month
Google has given £550,000 to the development of Bletchley Park. The money will go towards the match funding that the Bletchley Park Trust needs to unlock a £4.6m grant that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced in October. The trust is planning a £15m redevelopment of the site, the birthplace...

Survey links Men, Religion, Reggae, Class and Education (lack of) with Jamaica Homophobia

Posted on: May 18th, 2011 by History Month
The first national survey of attitudes and perceptions of Jamaicans towards homosexuality has found that negative views of homosexuality tended to be greatest among males, non-university educated persons, those who listened mostly to dancehall and reggae music and those in lower socio-economic groups. The study showed 59% of respondents...
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Olympic gymnast comes out

Posted on: April 29th, 2011 by History Month
Jeffrey Wammes, Olympic Gymnast from Holland had come out and asserted that he is gay. In a special edition of Linda magazine dedicated to gay sports stars, Wammes said:“There was already a lot of speculation about whether or not I fell for boys or girls. To me it has...
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Rugby Union Star Supports Gay Sports Day

Posted on: August 11th, 2010 by History Month
> England rugby union star and gay icon Ben Cohen has given his support to this year’s Gay Sports Day. The day, organised by GMFA, the gay men’s health charity, and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, will be held in London on August 30th. For the full story go to...
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Catch Up TV: Homophobia in the UK and Boy George Biopic

Posted on: May 19th, 2010 by History Month
>In case you missed them: Last week, as part of it’s Tonight series of programmes, ITV1 broadcast a show highlighting the true face of homophobia in the UK today. Presented by LGBT History Month patron and rugby star Gareth Thomas, the broadcast included filming public reaction to a gay...
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French Booksellers Discover First Adult Rimbaud Picture

Posted on: April 16th, 2010 by History Month 1 Comment
>Two French booksellers have discovered the only clear image of the 19th century French poet Arthur Rimbaud as an adult, after stumbling across it at a flea market. Read the full article and see the picture on the Telegraph’s website, here. (it has now emerged that the picture is...
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The English Patient Had a Gay Lover

Posted on: April 9th, 2010 by History Month
> The man who was the inspiration for the film The English Patient had a gay lover, letters have suggested. Count Laszlo de Almásy, a Hungarian-born adventurer, was the inspiration for the heterosexual hero played by Ralph Fiennes in the film. In the film, Fiennes’ character is a womaniser...
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Convicted for Buggery 51 Years Ago – and Still Paying a Price

Posted on: February 17th, 2010 by History Month
>The crime no longer exists but, half a century on, John Crawford’s criminal record dogs his every step. For more than half a century John Crawford’s crime has cast a shadow over his life; a permanent stigma etched into the files of the national police database. His conviction in...
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Harvey Milk to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Posted on: July 30th, 2009 by History Month
>President Barack Obama plans to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Harvey Milk, one of the country’s first openly gay elected officials. The award will be accepted at a White House ceremony August 12 by Stuart Milk, the nephew of the late San Francisco Supervisor and civil rights...
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Soldier Magazine Celebrates 10 Years of LGBT Soldiers

Posted on: July 28th, 2009 by History Month
>With a picture of openly gay service member Tpr James Wharton on its cover, the British Army’s magazine, Soldier, celebrates ten years since being gay in the UK Armed Forces stopped being illegal and takes stocks of the army’s commitment to diversity. The magazine also features an article about...
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Anthony Blunt’s Memoir Goes Public

Posted on: July 24th, 2009 by History Month
>25 years after the death of the former Cambridge professor and renowned art historian who was unmasked publicly as a spy by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979, the British Library unveiled yesterday a 30,000-word manuscript that amounts to a short account of his life, from birth through...
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Why I Blame Myself for the Murder of Joe Orton

Posted on: April 5th, 2009 by History Month
>It was a Sixties cause celebre – the bludgeoning of an outrageous playwright by his gay lover. Now, with Orton’s best-known work revived in the West End, comes this startling confession from theatre and film critic Michael Thornton… Read the full article in the Daily Mail, here.
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A Gay Childhood in Derbyshire

Posted on: April 1st, 2009 by History Month
>On 25 March 2009, Narvel Annable, a local author, spoke to an audience in Derby about growing up gay in the 50s and 60s. He has kindly donated notes from his speech. This is a fine moment for me! Here we are – gathered here this afternoon in Derby...
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13 Love Stories

Posted on: March 23rd, 2009 by History Month
>13LoveStories.com is a multimedia advocacy project that profiles the stories of thirteen couples whose lives were profoundly affected by Proposition 8 – the recent California ballot initiative that eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. This mobile photo exhibition and video project is presented by UCLA Art |...
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Top 1960′s US Presidential Aid Was Probed for Homosexuality by FBI

Posted on: February 24th, 2009 by History Month
>When Beltway insider Jack Valenti died two years ago at age 85, he was playing the role of intermediary between Washington and Hollywood as the theatrical, snowy-haired president of the Motion Picture Association of America. But back in 1964, Valenti was a Houston ad executive newly installed at the...
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Cleve Jones, Still Recruiting

Posted on: February 4th, 2009 by History Month
>Gay rights activist Cleve Jones, who is portrayed in the movie “Milk,” spoke at UC Berkeley last Thursday, urging the younger generation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to continue the fight for equality that Jones’ friend and mentor, Harvey Milk, began more than 30 years ago. “In...
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Talking About Lionel

Posted on: December 6th, 2008 by History Month
>Eddie Mair tells the story of Lionel Bart, a sensitive, talented and troubled artist through interviews with those who knew him intimately. Lionel Bart was at one time the wunderkind of British musical theatre who reached dazzling heights of fame in the early 1960s with Britain’s most successful post-war...

Edward Carpenter: A Man Before His Time

Posted on: November 4th, 2008 by History Month
>Edward Carpenter was a radical socialist activist throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In his writings, he tore into the decadent middle classes and capitalism with fervour. He supported feminism, vegetarianism and the environment, among other things. But he was an active, open, campaigning homosexual, with a...

Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love

Posted on: October 8th, 2008 by History Month
>Edward Carpenter was the Victorian Morrissey, the English Walt Whitman – and the original vegetarian, sandal-wearing socialist. So why is this gloriously eccentric figure almost forgotten today? We could hazard the hypothesis that it is because he was gay and that gay lives have a habit of getting swept...
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Sir Cliff Richard Reveals Details of ‘close Friendship’ with Former Priest

Posted on: September 5th, 2008 by History Month 1 Comment
>Cliff Richard has just released his autobiography. The most reported bit of information the book is offering is that, after decades of speculations, Richards seems to finally be coming out in it, telling how he has lived for seven years with his “companion”, a former Catholic priest. He also...

Dirk Bogarde’s Letters – Part Two

Posted on: August 10th, 2008 by History Month
>In public, Dirk Bogarde was shy, reserved, polite to a fault. But in private, he was far more entertaining. These extracts published in the Daily Telegraph from a new collection of his most intimate, wickedly funny personal letters, reveal Bogarde as he really was. Read the first selection of...

Dirk Bogarde’s Letters – Part One

Posted on: August 5th, 2008 by History Month
>In public, Dirk Bogarde was shy, reserved, polite to a fault. But in private, he was far more entertaining. In the first of two extracts published in the Daily Telegraph from a new collection of his most intimate, wickedly funny personal letters, we reveal Dirk as he really was....
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Hadrian’s Life Uncovered in New British Museum Exhibition

Posted on: July 24th, 2008 by History Month
>Think of Roman Emperor Hadrian and the first thing that springs to mind is the wall that bears his name, separating England from the revolting Picts. However, there were many sides to Hadrian, as a new exhibition about his life reveals. As well as being a great leader who...
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Deported Homosexual Comes Out

Posted on: June 25th, 2008 by History Month
>Four weeks ago, this blog reported that a monument to the gay victims of the Nazis had been unveiled in Berlin. In his speech the Culture Minister, Bernd Neumann, had deplored the fact that, because of it having been delayed for so long, there was no living survivor to...
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Body of Edward II’s Male Lover Identified

Posted on: February 20th, 2008 by History Month
>A mutilated body found at an abbey has been identified as that of Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger, one of the most reviled medieval courtiers and reputed lover of the Plantagenet king, Edward II. Remains linked to reviled gay lover of Edward II
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Civil Partnership, Another Year on – A Study

Posted on: December 10th, 2007 by History Month
>This December marks the second anniversary of Civil Partnerships in the UK. For occasion, Citizens Advice investigates the impact and unforeseen consequences of the Civil Partnership Act 2005 in a new report entitled “Another Year On”. The Citizens Advice service is a network of independent charities that helps people...
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LGBT Victims of Franco Receive Recognition

Posted on: December 3rd, 2007 by History Month
>Almost tow months ago, we published a post about Spanish people who had been imprisoned by the Franco regime for their sexual orientation and who had been seeking recognition and compensation for this for the past 30 years. On 14 November, the Spanish parliament finally granted financial compensation to...
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Gay Poets’ Home to Celebrate Their Legacy

Posted on: November 16th, 2007 by History Month
>A few months ago, its future was uncertain. Now the Camden Town home of French 19th century poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine where the two poets spend a few months of their tumultuous relationship, is to become a centre for poetry. The house, located at No8, Royal College...
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New Research on the Deportation of French Gay Men During WWII

Posted on: November 14th, 2007 by History Month 1 Comment
>On 7 November, the French association Le Mémorial de la Déportation Homosexuelle (MDH) published the results of historical researches by the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation (FMD) on deportations for homosexuality in WWII France. Although deportation for such reason was quite rare and not as systematic as...
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Stonewall Hero of the Year: Antony Grey

Posted on: November 11th, 2007 by History Month
>The Second Stonewall Awards ceremony, hosted by TV presenter Anthony Crank, took place at London’s V&A Museum on 1st November before an audience of 400 people. The event celebrated the positive contributions made by individuals and organisations – both gay and straight – to the lives of gay people...
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Memorial Toilet for Cruising Playwright?

Posted on: October 21st, 2007 by History Month
>Demand for new public toilets in the London Borough of Islington has been highlighted by a local trader who is suggesting they be dedicated in memory of famous resident Joe Orton. The gay playwright, who was murdered by his lover at the height of his fame in 1967, famously...
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Kissing Policemen Banned by Russia

Posted on: October 17th, 2007 by History Month
>Kissing Policemen (An Epoch of Clemency) by Blue Noses The above photography has been banned together with 16 other works from appearing in a Paris exhibition on contemporary Russian art. “If this exhibition appears it will bring shame on Russia. In this case, all of us will...
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LGBT Victims of Franco Demand Recognition

Posted on: October 10th, 2007 by History Month
>On Thursday 4 September, a group of Spanish LGBT associations, the Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales, (FELGTB: National LGBT Federation), requested compensations from the government for the members of the LGBT community who were arrested under the Franco dictatorship because of their sexual orientation. They also...
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George Takei, Heavenly Body

Posted on: October 5th, 2007 by History Month
>151,000 known asteroids are currently without a proper name. Asteroid 1994 GT9, located between Mars and Jupiter, joins about 14,000 lucky others to have so far been given a name by the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature, within the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The asteroid has just been given...
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Ned Sherrin Dies

Posted on: October 1st, 2007 by History Month
> Ned Sherrin1931 – 2007 The broadcaster, humorist, anecdotalist, raconteur, impresario, producer, presenter, playwright, actor, author and stage director Ned Sherrin CBE died today of complications of throat cancer. The creator of the seminal TV programme That Was The Week That Was was 76. BBC obituaryNed Sherrin, wit, impresario,...

LGBT Books on Google

Posted on: September 26th, 2007 by History Month
>Google, the much used search engine also offer a book search facility. Publishers can make available online sections of books or even complete books for Google users to search. There is also a Library Project which makes available and searchable the catalogues of major libraries. There are of course...

Bugger the High Seas!

Posted on: September 19th, 2007 by History Month
>Avast, me hearties! Arrr! Today of all days be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. If we hear any complain’ from ye scallywags, ye’ll be walkin’ the plank! Here’s a coupla nice pieces of booty for ye, lubbers: We, Gentlemen o’ fortune be among the most romanticised and fabled...
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Gay Referee at Rugby World Cup 07

Posted on: September 14th, 2007 by History Month
>The world of sports is notoriously unwelcoming to LGBT people. However if a sport had to be singled out as being perhaps more friendly than other, Rugby Football would probably become a strong contender. Of course there are no openly gay professional players but clubs like the London King’s...
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Footballer Comes Out on Homophobic Bullying

Posted on: September 13th, 2007 by History Month
>Extracts from Graeme Le Saux’s autobiography published by The Times reveals that taunts over the player’s sexuality, which began as a dressing-room joke, nearly drove Le Saux out of the game. Read the full extract here. See also:Footballer names Premier League homophobes – Pink News.
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A New Life for Gay People in Britain Began on That Day

Posted on: September 12th, 2007 by History Month
>When I grew up, to be homosexual seemed a life sentence to shame. A brave report 50 years ago paved the way for change. Julian Mitchell, author of the screenplays for Wilde and several episodes of Inspector Morse as well as the play Another Country, which was later made...
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Two Gay Heroes of 9/11

Posted on: September 11th, 2007 by History Month 1 Comment
>Even six years after the event, the terrorist attacks on the New York City and Washington are still having repercussions in many countries around the world. Even today, the American Congress is holding a hearing on the developments of one of the two wars which are consequences of those...
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Towards Further Recognition of the Deportation of Homosexuals in France

Posted on: September 8th, 2007 by History Month
>After many years of campaigning by various LGBT organisations (such as le Mémorial de la déportation homosexuelle, les Flamands roses, l’Inter-LGBT or Homosexualités et socialisme), France is about to take another step towards the recognition of the deportation of homosexuals during the Second World War. On 26 avril 2001,...
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Renaissance Literary Lovers Exhumed

Posted on: September 7th, 2007 by History Month
>The bodies of Italian Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (February 24, 1463 -November 17, 1494) and classical scholar and poet Angelo Ambrogini, best known as Poliziano (July 14, 1454 – September 24, 1494) were recently exhumed from St. Mark’s Basilica in Florence. The two men, who died a...
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Hidden LIfes on BBC Four

Posted on: August 31st, 2007 by History Month
>The mark the 40th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, BBC Four have put together a series of programmes under the title Hidden Lives. The season takes place in the first week of September. It’s Not Unusual: A Lesbian and Gay……History: 1/3. Age of Innocence. Part of the...
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Michel Serrault Dies

Posted on: August 29th, 2007 by History Month
>The French actor Michel Serrault died last month at the age of 79. Mention Michel Serrault to most filmgoers and a spangled vision of the most outrageous drag queen ever to burst on to the screen is evoked. Serrault, who has died from cancer aged 79, became internationally renowned...
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Jacob Breslow, Intern to Both Schools OUT & LGBT History Month Tells His Story to Pink News

Posted on: August 16th, 2007 by History Month
>Pink News 16th August 2007 13:35CommentArticle available here Jacob Breslow – My Journey from Scared Teen to Gay ActivistThe first time I came to the UK, I was amazed by its history, architecture and bustling cities. Now, over ten years later, I have come back to experience this amazing...
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We Gays Haven’t Won the Battle Yet

Posted on: August 8th, 2007 by History Month
>The era of the ‘post-homosexualist’ isn’t upon usWill Young – Times OnlineArticle available here Last week I found myself in a London taxi heading home after a night out. The cabbie seemed rather perturbed and amused at the same time. “It’s funny, Will,” he said. “I wasn’t gonna pick...
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UK Black Pride

Posted on: August 5th, 2007 by History Month
>In August 2005 three black lesbian women decided to organise a social outing to Southend on Sea. What originally started out as a mini bus trip to the beach, quickly turned into three coaches of women making a trip down to Southend on Sea. During the day’s outing, several...
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Ending Homophobic Reggae

Posted on: July 23rd, 2007 by History Month
>Buju Banton, popular reggae star known internationally for his homophobic lyrics, has signed a pledge to end his homophobic language. The gay rights campaign group Stop Murder Music announces publicly today that Banton has signed the “Reggae Compassion Act.” The act has already been signed by Beenie Man, Sizzla...
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Hungarian Politician Coming Out Speech

Posted on: July 19th, 2007 by History Month
>Hungarian Socialist Gábor Szetey, a state secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office since last July, became the first elected political official in Hungary to come out as being gay when he opened Gay Pride 2007 in Budapest on 12 July. Mr Szetey’s announcement came on the same day as junior...

Mad About the Boy

Posted on: July 18th, 2007 by History Month
>Songs poured out of Noel Coward, over 400 of them. From the 1920’s to the 1960’s they filled his revues and musicals – love songs like Some Day I’ll Find You or the wit of Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Now they’re overshadowed by his plays. For BBC Radio 2,...
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Flared Brightly, Died Young – The AIDS Generation

Posted on: July 17th, 2007 by History Month
>A two-part documentary recalling the gay culture of Thatcher’s Britain and the emergence of HIV and AIDS. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister and AIDS was incubating. At the same time, a whole generation was ‘coming out’ to the world and announcing they were gay. But, for so...
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James Baldwin – The Price of the Ticket

Posted on: July 16th, 2007 by History Month
>In 1953, James Baldwin, a hard-up writer in Paris, published the extraordinary novel Go Tell it on the Mountain. Four years later he sailed home to the United States to immerse himself in the civil rights movement. Caryl Phillips explores the historic consequences of his return. British writer Caryl...
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GFest- GayWise LGBT Arts Festival 2007 – Call for Submissions

Posted on: July 13th, 2007 by History Month 1 Comment
>GFest – Gaywise LGBT Arts Festival aims to provide a unique platform for Queer Arts principally created by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) artists from a variety of diverse backgrounds. The festival, which will take place in November, will present the work in a creatively safe, stimulating and...
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The Long Road to Decriminalisation

Posted on: July 10th, 2007 by History Month
>40 years ago this month, a campaiging Welsh Labour MP by the name of Leo Abse managed to guide a Bill through both Houses of Parliament. By a combination of smart tactics and appealing to politicians to pity those ‘less fortunate’ than themselves, he got them to agree to...

Meek 60′s

Posted on: July 9th, 2007 by History Month
>1967 was undeniably an important year for gay rights. The change in the law however came too late for some. On 3 February of that year, the pioneer record producer and songwriter, Joe Meek killed himself, aged 37. Arguably he was mentally ill, suffering from paranoia. His homosexuality, at...

George Melly: Singer, Writer, Fisherman, ‘Tart’

Posted on: July 6th, 2007 by History Month 1 Comment
> George Melly 1926 – 2007 George Melly, jazz musician, writer, bon viveur and bisexual, who was born on 17th August 1926, died yesterday 5th July 2007. Melly had been suffering from lung cancer but he refused all treatment and carried on delighting his fans on stage. His last...
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Beautiful Things

Posted on: July 2nd, 2007 by History Month
>From 6 July 2007, anyone visiting the revamped home of the British Film Institute on the Southbank in London will be able to view an extraordinary diversity of films and TV programmes exploring queer identities across the last century. In the dark old days of British film and television...
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Statue of Gay War Hero Unveiled

Posted on: June 22nd, 2007 by History Month
>A statue of Alan Turing, was unveiled on Tuesday 19 at Bletchley Park. Turing was the inspirational mathematician at the heart of Bletchley Park’s codebreaking successes during World War II. Historians agree that the work of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park effectively helped to shorten the war by two...
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Allan Horsfall

Posted on: June 15th, 2007 by History Month
>Allan Horsfall is a veteran campaigner and a part of our collective history. In 1964 he co-founded the North-West Homosexual Law Reform Committee with Colin Harvey which later became the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE). Allan spoke at the pre-launch of LGBT History Month 2007 at the TUC headquarters...
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Siegfried Sassoon – The Poet Who Survived

Posted on: June 7th, 2007 by History Month
> In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg (BBC Radio 4) discusses the life of First World War poet, Siegfried Sassoon. In 1916 the Military Cross was awarded to a captain in the Royal Welch Fusiliers for “conspicuous gallantry during a raid on the enemy’s trenches”. The citation noted...
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Greek and Roman Love Poetry – The Pursuit of the Beloved from Sappho to Catullus

Posted on: June 7th, 2007 by History Month 1 Comment
> In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg (BBC Radio 4) discusses the work of the poetess Sappho. Greek and Roman love poetry – the source of many of the images and metaphors of love that have survived in literature through the centuries. We begin with the words of...
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LGBT COMMUNITY EVENTS

LGBT History Month Patrons:
John Amaechi, former international basketball player, broadcaster and psychologist, Christine Burns, Equality and diversity specialist, podcaster, campaigner, Dr Harry Cocks, social historian and writer, Angela Eagle MP Work and Pensions, Professor Viv Gardner, Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama, Professor Martin Hall, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford University, Sir Ian McKellen, actor, Cyril Nri, actor, director and writer, Ian Rivers, Professor of Human Development; Subject Leader for Sports Sciences, Brunel University, Professor Sheila Rowbotham, lecturer and campaigner, Labi Siffre, poet, songwriter and singer, Professor Melanie Tebbutt, Director, Manchester Centre for Regional History, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University, Gareth Thomas, rugby international, Jeffrey Weeks, historian, sociologist, author and LGBT activist, Stephen Whittle OBE, Professor of Equalities Law in the School of Law at Manchester Metropolitan University