LGBTQ culture in London
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The LGBT community in London is one of the largest within Europe. LGBT culture of London, England, is centred on Old Compton Street in Soho. There are also LGBT pubs and restaurants across London in Haggerston, Dalston and Vauxhall.[1][2]
London in LGBT history
[edit]18th and 19th century
[edit]In the 18th century, some businesspersons and aristocrats had, for the time, relatively open LGBT lifestyles. Rictor Norton, author of Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England, 1700–1830 stated that in the 1720s London had more gay pubs and clubs than it did in 1950. LGBT studies pre-1920s were entirely of males caught in scandals.[3]
20th century
[edit]Homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967, but London was an LGBT tourism destination even before then.[1]
The world's longest running lesbian nightclub, Gateways Club opened in 1936 (it closed in 1985).[4]
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The UK branch of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) held its first meeting in a basement room in the London School of Economics in 1970.[5] The group later organised the first official UK pride protest in 1972,[6] which has since become an annual event and one of the world's largest of its kind. Although the GLF disbanded a mere 4 years later, it nevertheless spawned off several notable LGBTQ organisations such as Gay News (founded 1972), Gay's the Word (1979, via the Icebreakers group) and London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard (1974, now Switchboard).
Switchboard, one of the oldest UK-wide LGBTQ+ telephone helplines in the UK, was founded in 1974 in Housmans bookshop's basement near King's Cross.[7]
Mark W. Turner, the author of "Gay London," stated that when Derek Jarman moved to Charing Cross in 1979, it began the process of Soho becoming the centre of the London LGBT community and that by the early 1990s this was "firmly established".[8]
On May 24, 1989, exactly one year after the Thatcherite anti-homosexuality Section 28 legislation became law, the London-founded charity Stonewall formally announced its formation.[9] The charity had started its life in Ian McKellen's home in Limehouse.[9] Today, it is Europe's largest LGBTQ rights organisation.
The Admiral Duncan pub in Soho was bombed on 30 April 1999.[10] Newspaper articles stated the belief that the bombing was intended to attack the LGBT community; no persons who died in the incident were members of the local LGBT community.[11]
21st century
[edit]In 2015, London's LGBT Pride Parade attracted over one million people for the first time.[12]
Since 2019, London also hosts an annual trans+ pride march. Having attracted 1,500 protesters in the first year,[13] its attendance grew to more than 20,000 protesters by 2023.[14] The city is also the home of the annual UK Black Pride celebrations.
Institutions
[edit]The UK's first gay and lesbian bookshop, Gay's the Word, is located in Bloomsbury. Due to its lasting legacy of activism and community-building, Historic England has deemed it a site of LGBTQ pilgrimage.[15] Another LGBTQ bookshop, The Common Press, opened its doors in 2021 in Shoreditch.[16] London is therefore home to a third of England's LGBTQ bookshops.
The Bishopsgate Institute boasts one of the largest[17] LGBTQ archives in the UK, including archives from Stonewall, Switchboard, as well as the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA), which includes over 300,000 press cuttings from the straight press from the 1980s onwards.[17][18] In addition to this, the Bishopsgate Institute also hosts the Museum of Transology, a community archive focusing on transgender, nonbinary and intersex people. It is the world's largest collection of material culture of its kind.[19]
The WayOut Club is London's longest running club night for transgender women.[20]
Since the closure of Above the Stag Theatre,[21] the King's Head Theatre is the UK's only[citation needed] LGBTQ-centric theatre.
Events
[edit]The mainstream Pride in London event occurs every summer. The annual UK Black Pride – the largest of its kind in Europe – also takes place in London. The London Trans Pride protest march takes place annually in June or July.
Europe's biggest LGBTQ+film festival, the BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival happens every spring in London.
The Greater London Authority government promotes LGBT tourism.[1]
Night life
[edit]Heaven is the largest gay disco club in Europe. It opened in 1979.[8]
Notable residents
[edit]Those identifying as LGBT:[citation needed]
- Alan Carr[22]
- Alan Turing (1912-1954)[23]
- Boy George[24]
- Derek Jarman[25]
- Dustin Lance Black[26]
- Freddie Mercury (1946-1991)[27]
- George Michael (1963-2016)[28]
- Graham Norton[29]
- Ian McKellen[30]
- Kae Tempest
- Marc Almond
- Margaret Clap (operated a Molly house)
- Munroe Bergdorf
- Ncuti Gatwa[31]
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)[32]
- Paul O'Grady[33]
- Pete Burns[34]
- Peter Tatchell[35]
- Phyll Opoku-Gyimah[36]
- Sakima[37]
- Samantha Fox[38]
- Stephen Fry[39]
- Tom Daley[40]
- Travis Alabanza
- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
- Will Young[41]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c Olson, Donald. London for Dummies (Volume 136 of Dummies Travel). John Wiley & Sons, 2 February 2010. 6th Edition. ISBN 0470619651, 9780470619650. p. 67.
- ^ Levin, Nick (6 June 2022). "The best gay bars in London". www.timeout.com. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
- ^ Thomas, p. 363.
- ^ Gardiner, Jill (2003). From the closet to the screen: women at the Gateways Club 1945–85. Pandora. ISBN 0-86358-427-6.
- ^ "Gay Liberation Front Manifesto". Bishopsgate Institute. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Walton, Tony (2010). Out of the Shadows: How London Gay Life Changed for the Better After the Act. Bona Street Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0956609106.
- ^ "The story behind the UK's biggest LGBTQ+ helpline". Huck. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ a b Turner, p. 50.
- ^ a b Parsons, Vic (15 October 2021). "Stonewall leaders on beating the bullies and the LGBT+ movement's reckoning". PinkNews. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Eade, John. Placing London: From Imperial Capital to Global City (Berghahn Series). Berghahn Books, 2000. p. 78. ISBN 1571818030, 9781571818034.
- ^ Eade, John. Placing London: From Imperial Capital to Global City (Berghahn Series). Berghahn Books, 2000. p. 79. ISBN 1571818030, 9781571818034.
- ^ Pride in London: Pride in London welcomed a record number of over one million guests,https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/06/29/pride-in-london-what-it-means-to-the-local-and-global-lgbt-community/ PinkNews
- ^ "London's first Trans Pride support 'overwhelming'". BBC News. 14 September 2019. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Williamson, Harriet (8 July 2023). "Thousands march for trans freedom and equality at London's Trans+ Pride". PinkNews. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ "Commercial Locations | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Baska, Maggie (18 September 2021). "Radical new LGBT+ venue includes alcohol-free space to bring communities together". PinkNews. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ a b Heavey, Nicholas. "LibGuides: LGBTQ+ Resources: Archives & Heritage". guides.lib.sussex.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ "LGBTQIA+ Archives". Bishopsgate Institute. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Tunali, Tijen (2 October 2019). "The Museum of Transology". Journal of Visual Art Practice. 18 (4): 359–360. doi:10.1080/14702029.2019.1690325. ISSN 1470-2029.
- ^ Lewis, John Lucas, Photos: Jake (28 April 2015). "Partying at WayOut, One of the UK's Oldest Trans Clubs". Vice. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Above The Stag theatre to close down immediately". 7 August 2022. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Hudson, David (13 July 2017). "Alan Carr: 'I'm not totally comfortable being gay'". Gay Star News. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "What Alan Turing £50 notes mean to the LGBT community". BBC News. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ "Boy George to release song in support of LGBT community in Ghana". Music In Africa. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "Why Derek Jarman's radical queer films still matter today". Sleek Mag. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "Dustin Lance Black: A childhood of love and fear". BBC News. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ Levine, Nick. "Who was the real Freddie Mercury?". BBC Culture. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ agencies, Staff and (26 December 2016). "'I never had a problem with being gay': George Michael, LGBT rights champion, remembered". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ "Graham Norton says he 'took the easy way out' moving to London as a young gay man". The Independent. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "British Icon of the Week: Sir Ian McKellen, Beloved Actor and Tireless LGBTQ Activist | Anglophenia". BBC America. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ McLoughlin, Lisa (2 February 2023). "Doctor Who's Ncuti Gatwa shows off new London pad, having battled homelessness". Evening Standard. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ Power, Ed. "Oscar Wilde's 'crucial' role in the gay rights struggle". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ Simpson, Neil (2007). Paul O'Grady : the biography. London: John Blake. ISBN 978-1-84454-417-2. OCLC 123114508.
- ^ "Remembering Dead or Alive's Pete Burns, An Overlooked LGBT Pioneer". Billboard. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ "Peter Tatchell profile on The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ "Saluting Our Sisters: The Inspiring Story of Phyll Opoku-Gyimah". Black History Month. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ "Sakima's Dirty Pop: Meet Music's New Queer Voice". Billboard. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "Samantha Fox opens up about same-sex relationship on Celebrity Big Brother". PinkNews. 31 July 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "LGBT awards: Stephen Fry given lifetime honour". BBC News. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "Tom Daley 'incredibly proud to say I am gay and an Olympic champion'". The Guardian. 26 July 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "To Be a Gay Man by Will Young – out and proud". The Guardian. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
References
[edit]- Thomas, Ardel. "London." Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies. Routledge, 18 October 2013. ISBN 1135942412, 9781135942410, or 113594234X, 9781135942342. p. 363-364. – A listing of academic works discussing the London LGBT community
- Turner, Mark W. "Gay London." In: Kerr, Joe and Andrew Gibson (editors). London From Punk to Blair: Revised Second Edition. Reaktion Books, 1 June 2013. ISBN 1780230753, 9781780230757. Start p. 50.
Further reading
[edit]- Cooper, Davina. Sexing the City: Lesbian and Gay Politics within the Activist State. Rivers Oram (London) and Paul (Concord, Massachusetts), 1994. – Most of the book discusses the LGBT community of London
- Graham, Hugh, John Shandy Watson, and Paul Burston (editors). Time Out Gay and Lesbian London. Time Out Guides, 2010. ISBN 1905042566, 9781905042562.
- Green, Sarah F. Urban Amazons: Lesbian Feminism and beyond in the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Battles of London. St. Martins (New York), and Macmillan (Basingstoke), 1997.
- Lucas, Ian. Impertinent Decorum: Gay Theatrical Manoeuvers. Cassel (London and New York), 1994. – Discusses the LGBT culture in London theatre
- Norton, Rictor. Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England, 1700–1830. Gay Men's Press (London) and Inbook (East Haven, Connecticut), 1992: Discusses "Molly houses" in and near London.
- Weeks, Jeffrey. Coming Out: Homosexual Politics in Britain from the Nineteenth Century to the Present. Quartet (London and New York): 1977. Revised edition: Quartet (London), 1990. – This book is not focused on London in particular; Arden Thomas stated that even so, the book makes it clear that LGBT-related laws were created in London
- Wilson, Olivette Cole and Clarence Allen, "The Black Perspective." In: Healey, Emma and Angela Mason (editors). Stonewall 25: The Making of the Lesbian and Gay Community of Britain. Virago (London), 1994 – Discusses the London black LGBT community