In honouring LGBTQIA+ History Month I wanted to highlight one of the key figures of the 1960s and 1970s, Marsha P. Johnson, who was a black transgender-rights activist and who was also, one of the pioneers of the Stonewall Riots in 1969. Johnson was born in New Jersey on 24th January 1945 but moved to New York after graduating high school. … Continue reading “LGBTQIA+ History Month: Marsha P. Johnson”
Category: Student Blog
LGBTQIA+ History Month – Homoeroticism in ‘Queering the Renaissance’
Trigger Warning: Mentions of homophobia, descriptions of sex. David Halperin has pointed out that we have only witnessed 100 years of homosexuality as we know it. The distinct nature of homosexuality as a social, sexual and cultural category is modern, and therefore often anachronous when applied to the past. So how was same sex love … Continue reading “LGBTQIA+ History Month – Homoeroticism in ‘Queering the Renaissance’”
LGBTQIA+ History Month – Lesbians in Interwar London – Helena Potter
Inspired by LGBTQIA+ history month, final year History student Helena Potter shares the fascinating subculture of London Lesbians in the 1920s-30s. Lesbians have been periodically silenced in British law. Under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act, ‘gross indecency’, in other words any homosexual act between men, became a punishable offense. The deliberate silence surrounding sexual … Continue reading “LGBTQIA+ History Month – Lesbians in Interwar London – Helena Potter”
LGBTQIA+ History Month – Gay Birmingham Remembered
To continue shedding light on LGBTQIA+ histories and experiences, I wanted to share a fantastic project for the local area, called ‘Gay Birmingham Remembered’, led by the Birmingham LGBT community trust. In honour of LGBTQIA+ History month 2006, the project was established with the collaboration of Birmingham Libraries and funded by a Heritage Lottery fund … Continue reading “LGBTQIA+ History Month – Gay Birmingham Remembered”
Korean History and Its Impact Today
By growing up in England, in history we all learn about the Tudors, the Stuarts, the First and Second World Wars and so on. There is only diversity in what you learn as you decide to study history as a subject, only as you progress into A levels and pursue history at degree level in … Continue reading “Korean History and Its Impact Today”
LGBTQIA+ History Month – Elagabalus, The Trans Emperor of Rome? – Ollie Burns
For LGBTQIA+ history month, recent Ancient History graduate Ollie Burns explores the life of one individual who may confuse what we know about gender non-conformity in the ancient world. *Although the histories written in antiquity refer to Elagabalus unanimously as ‘he/him’, examination of these sources suggest very strongly that the emperor did not identify as … Continue reading “LGBTQIA+ History Month – Elagabalus, The Trans Emperor of Rome? – Ollie Burns”
LGBTQIA+ History Month – Trans Pioneers: Michael Dillon & Roberta Cowell
Trigger Warning: Transphobia The 1950s were the years that the concept of medical gender transitioning became possible in the UK, with 2021 marking seventy years since the first known male to female sex change carried out in Britain. The story leading up to this milestone was long and complex, and the lives of two trans … Continue reading “LGBTQIA+ History Month – Trans Pioneers: Michael Dillon & Roberta Cowell”
Victorian Vinegar Valentines
Valentines day. We have all come to love or loathe the mass capitalist phenomenon that has appropriated the hagiographical tale of a third century Catholic martyr, and forced the lucky ones among us to fork out for a nice dinner and a bunch of flowers. But one tradition of valentines which I am desperate to … Continue reading “Victorian Vinegar Valentines”
Diss Diaries – Jack Gunn – Single Honours History
When choosing a dissertation topic it is fundamentally crucial to choose one which you find not only interesting, but enjoyable to examine. For instance, I thought about what I absolutely loved at A-level which was my coursework on the beginning of the First World War. I knew that it intrigued me like nothing else and … Continue reading “Diss Diaries – Jack Gunn – Single Honours History”
LGBTQIA+ History Month – Burying the truth: gender, the media, and accessing the past
As part of LGBTQIA+ history month, I wanted to spotlight a pre-modern historical find which demonstrates the complexities of gender identity and presentation throughout history. One claim that many transgender and gender non-conforming people are faced with is the assertion that their experiences are somehow a new phenomenon. The “we never had these ideas in … Continue reading “LGBTQIA+ History Month – Burying the truth: gender, the media, and accessing the past”