LGBTQ+ history

An account of the story of James Allen, whose sex at birth was revealed only by an autopsy conducted after their death

‘Female husbands’: the secret lives of 18th-century transgender pioneers

RuPaul – who produces and presents the reality TV show bearing his name – performs during a Gay Rights March in Washington, DC, April 1993. Over 500,000 LGBTQ+ activists and allies participated in a gathering organised to end discrimination. (Photo by Porter Gifford/Liaison)

From Fanny and Stella to Ru Paul’s Drag Race: a short history of drag

'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' (2020): Viola Davis as Ma Rainey. (Photo by David Lee/Netflix)

Who was Ma Rainey, “mother of the blues”?

Premium

Berlin by night: Haus Vaterland on Potsdamer Platz during the 1930s. It contained the largest cafe in the world, a major cinema and numerous theme restaurants. (Photo by Getty Images)

The gay MPs who opposed appeasement . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The police attempt to quell the crowd, and succeed only in inciting more violence. (Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

The Stonewall Riots: the flashpoint that launched the gay rights movement in the US

During his time in Oxford, Wilde fully embraced ‘aesthetic flair’: growing his hair long; dressing in flamboyant fashions and assuming exaggerated affectations. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

7 facts you (probably) didn’t know about Oscar Wilde

Premium

Young people celebrate outside the boarded-up Stonewall Inn after riots over the weekend of June 27, 1969. (Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images)

Stonewall and the fight for gay rights . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

People outside the Stonewall Inn attempt to block police arrests, 28 June 1969. The crowd did not disperse until 4am the following morning (New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images)

Out of the closets and into the streets: the legacy of the Stonewall Riots

Premium

Gentleman Jack, Suranne Jones as Anne Lister (Photo by BBC/Lookout Point/Jay Brooks)

Gentleman Jack . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Record producer Joe Meek

Joe Meek: the life and legacy of the British record producer

A 15th-century detail from the Fountain of Youth, Piedmont, Italy. (Image by De Agostini/Getty Images)

Sexing up history: how to study and tell the history of sex

Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in 'The Favourite'. (Photo by Twentieth Century Fox/Entertainment Pictures)

The Favourite: the real history behind the new Queen Anne film

A Campaign for Homosexual Equality rally held in London’s Trafalgar Square in 1974. The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 helped pave the way for activism such as this in the 1970s, says Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite. (Corbis via Getty Images)

The 1967 Sexual Offences Act: a landmark moment in the history of British homosexuality

Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde in 'The Happy Prince'.

The Happy Prince: Rupert Everett on Oscar Wilde’s life in exile

Edward IV of England. (GeorgiosArt via Getty Images)

The secret intimacies of Edward IV: multiple marriages and a same-sex affair?