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]
The world's longest running lesbian nightclub, Gateways Club opened in 1936 (it closed in 1985).[4]
London Gay Pride March in 1974
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
LGBT Pride Parade in London in 2024
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
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]
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.
^ abcOlson, Donald. London for Dummies (Volume 136 of Dummies Travel). John Wiley & Sons, 2 February 2010. 6th Edition. ISBN0470619651, 9780470619650. p. 67.
Thomas, Ardel. "London." Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies. Routledge, 18 October 2013. ISBN1135942412, 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. ISBN1780230753, 9781780230757. Start p. 50.
Further reading
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. ISBN1905042566, 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
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