Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners: A Case of Solidarity and Resistance

In the 1980s the government of Margaret Thatcher had been targeting the rights of various communities. Stricter controls on immigration were put in place, black and Asian communities were being over-policed, and neoliberal policies cut the welfare keeping many poor and working class families from falling into poverty. As mining communities faced destitution during the

Myths, Legends and Faith: Tu’er Shen, the Chinese Rabbit God of Homosexual Love

As I am writing this Valentine’s Day is on the horizon and in the UK it is LGBTQ+ History Month. While homosexuality is gaining more acceptance in China, around 67% of surveyed people in China were in favour of gay rights to 61% of Americans in 2020, LGBTQ+ identity is still discriminated against by authorities.

The Making of Today: Hannah Snell, Warrior Women, and Gender Non-Conformity, April-June 1750

Welcome to the newest The Making of Today, and on June 2 1750 British soldier James Gray revealed that he was actually Hannah Snell, a woman who had adopted a male identity and fought alongside them for years. With the rise of the trans rights movement in recent years, it is important to remember that

Left-Wing and the ‘Other’ History: Magnus Hirschfeld and the Sexology Institute

We are unfortunately seeing, mainly in the UK and US, a wave of transphobia and enbyphobia driven by an unholy alliance of fascists, conservative commentators, and self-described ‘radical feminists’ including former stalwarts like Germaine Greer. As a result, many trans and non-binary people have been facing greater hardships – as I non-binary person I have

Happy Pride: Celebrating Pride with the Past, Present, and Future podcast

As I am writing it is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riot which, in 1969, sparked the Gay Rights Movement. My close friend Josh Minster has got his own fantastic podcast called Past, Present, and Future (which is where I got the title of this blog from); and together we talked about the Past, Present,

New York and the LGBTQ+ Community over a Century

This article was first published by Retrospect Journal on 09/02/2020, which you can read here. The anonymity of big cities allows persecuted sub-cultures and identities to find room to exist. London, Berlin, and Paris are just three examples of cities with flourishing LGBTQ+ communities, and in the United States New York was one of the

Left-Wing and the ‘Other’ History: I am Your Sister

Audrey Lorde’s short manifesto I am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities (1985) has been seen as one of the keynote texts of black feminist thought. Lorde, bell hooks, and Angela Davis have been seen as the trifecta of black feminist thought. Lorde regularly critiqued the intersection between class, race, gender, and sexuality, and aimed

History in Focus: The Stonewall Riots

The only photo actually taken during the Stonewall Riots Gay Pride this year has become very important – not only due to the rising bigotry against LGBTQ+ communities across the world in recent years – but also due to it being the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. On June 28 1969 police raided the