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Shouldn’t every month be LGBT History Month?
This is the first in History Matters’ series of blogs for LGBT History Month. All of the blogs will appear here as they are posted. February is upon us again and with it comes LGBT History Month. Like...
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Should we really compare Sochi 2014 to the ‘Hitler Olympics’?
This is the second in History Matters’ series of blogs for LGBT History Month. All of the blogs will appear here as they are posted. As a historian of early 20th-century lesbian identity in Germany, I...
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A Suppression of LGBT History? The Legacy of Section 28
This is the third in History Matters’ series of blogs for LGBT History Month. All of the blogs will appear here as they are posted. “A local authority shall not – A) Intentionally promote homosexuality...
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What’s the problem with LGBT history month?
This is the fourth in History Matters’ series of blogs for LGBT History Month. All of the blogs will appear here as they are posted. In his 1932 book The Cloven Hoof the British writer Taylor Croft set...
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LGBT or LGBTIHQQBDSMXYZ History Month?
This is the fifth in History Matters’ series of blogs on LGBT History. All of the blogs will appear here as they are posted. So LGBT History Month is over. Ironically, if we take this month seriously...
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Give us an Ordinary Bearded Lady
As a historian who has worked on gender performance and the powers and weaknesses that such performances may bring, I have been watching this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with some excitement – but...
View ArticleStephen Fry’s Letter to David Cameron: LGBT History and Uses of the Past
As my current research is into the public presentation of LGBT history, I read Stephen Fry’s heartfelt and eloquent open letter to David Cameron and members of the International Olympics Committee...
View ArticleRedefining Tommy Atkins: Encouraging Diversity in the British Armed Forces
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that new recruits would be asked to declare their sexual orientation in order to encourage greater diversity within the British Armed Forces....
View ArticleThe Past is Not a Straight Line
This is the first in a series of History Matters blogs by LGBTIQ+ scholars, and about the queer past. As Britain marks the fiftieth anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in July...
View ArticleEarinus: A Roman Civil Rights Activist?
We tend to assume that the struggle for civil rights is a modern invention and that, before the Enlightenment, the world was ruled by despotic kings and emperors. And yet, democracy as we know it was...
View ArticleTim Farron, the Bible and Queerness
Queer biblical studies involves reading the Bible closely and asking questions about what preconceptions influence the ways we approach and engage with the text. I’d like to invite Farron to ask...
View ArticleQueering Christ’s Wounds and Gender Fluidity in Medieval Manuscripts
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the (partial) decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK, it is an appropriate moment to reflect on parts of queer history that have otherwise been erased or...
View ArticleFinding my place in queer cultural history through the ‘post-Cold-War’ period
II’ve been researching the 1990s since the beginning of my academic career, when I wrote my PhD on popular music and national identity in Croatia after the break-up of Yugoslavia. As a queer writer and...
View ArticleA Genealogy of Bisexuality; Androgyny, Behaviour, and Suspicion.
People can be very quick to dismiss the idea of bisexuality as a phase, as greedy, or in some way invalid. This biphobia results from a lot of (sometimes purposeful) misunderstanding of bisexuality....
View Article“My dear Bess” – The relationship between Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire,...
Born on the 7th of June of 1757, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire is often regarded as one of the most acclaimed women of her period. Married to the Duke of Devonshire at seventeen, Georgiana was...
View ArticleFinding Jesus in Video Games
Christmas is a time when Jesus becomes prominent in our media consumption. However, you may not be aware that Jesus appears not only in films that explore his birth and death, but is also widely...
View ArticleHow Not to Erase Trans History
In recent months history has been at the forefront of social media politics. One such blow-up was the debate about whether people of colour could be found the Roman Empire. There is plenty of evidence...
View ArticleGive us an Ordinary Bearded Lady
As a historian who has worked on gender performance and the powers and weaknesses that such performances may bring, I have been watching this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with some excitement – but...
View ArticleApproaching Queerness in the Viking World
What do you see when you picture a Viking? Probably a warrior, fairly hairy, a number of tattoos, very strong, something you’d consider to be the epitome of masculinity, right? What if I told you that...
View Article‘The heart of the house’: Knole House through the lens of Woolf’s Orlando
Vita and Virginia In the summer of 1940, as the German invasion of Britain seemed imminent, Vita Sackville-West sent her most treasured possessions to safety. Vita was living at Sissinghurst, a grand...
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