For centuries, the inquisition struck terror into the hearts of those deemed to be heretics by the church. Intertwined with charges of heresy and sorcery were often complex issues around sexuality that were reduced in the pre-modern mind to sinfulness and a disordering of divine creation. Pity the nun questioning her own identity or a…
This has to be one of the most unlikely gay relationships in history. An LGBT romance between the younger brother of the real Dracula – Vlad the Impaler – and the Ottoman sultan, Mehmed II. Dracula’s kid brother, Radu the Handsome (yes, he really was called that), overthrew Vlad with help from Mehmed. The two…
Rasputin is well known as the evil monk who allegedly exerted a hypnotic influence over the last Tsar of Russia – and his family – but was then murdered by jealous aristocrats. A familiar enough story! But was Rasputin an LGBT holy man? Did he have a gay relationship with a Russian prince? And was…
Confirmed bachelors were named and shamed in Victorian newspapers and urged to marry before they got too old, Tony McMahon discovers
From 1990, there was a mania in the LGBT community for outing high profile gay men in politics, business, and entertainment. Why?
The 1950s anti-Communist McCarthyite Red Scare was accompanied by a lesser known Lavender Scare against LGBT employees in government with terrible consequences
In 1810, a group of 27 LGBT men were arrested at a pub called The White Swan in London and two of them were subsequently hanged
More Roman emperors than you might imagine were LGBT even if sexuality was defined differently two thousand years ago
Psychology is a relatively news science and in its first decades was very hostile to homosexuality as Tony McMahon discovers
Muslim LGBT visibility has been increasing in recent years. Groups have been forming around the world to give voice to those within Islam keen to celebrate both the present day reality of their lives but also highlighting a rich history of gay, lesbian, and transgender contributions to art, culture, and politics in the Muslim world….
