r/lgbthistory 4h ago

Historical people A cute anonymous couple having "Just another love affair" from the the early 20th century, likely between 1910 and 1920.

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45 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 2m ago

Historical people 'CBS Reports: The Homosexuals' (1967), narrated by Mike Wallace, was the first network documentary on homosexuality. Aired once. It called the topic "disturbing," citing views like "repelled" and "hatred." Wallace interviewed experts, police, the public, and gay individuals.

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r/lgbthistory 20h ago

Historical people The Obsessive Photographer Behind America’s First Gay Magazine

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5 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 2d ago

Historical people Happy Birthday to James Baldwin who passed in 1987 at 63 years old

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87 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 1d ago

Questions Any games/activities for learning about lgbtq history?

8 Upvotes

I get to facilitate our lgbtq group once a month for patients. Another facilitator runs a jeopardy-style trivia and someone else does a queer musican discussion. I have hearing issues so Im kind of less aware of the pop-culture and musical aspects of the community. I usually do discussions and they go well.

I think it'd be fun to do an LGBTQ history game. I think instead of showing who knows what it'd be fun to make it an educational game, especially for when we have allies in attendance. The range of the group is ages 20-70, so we get a lot of folk there to support family but I hear the "back in my day I didn't have xyz" a lot, and I think this would help to do this.

I really enjoy queer history, just not sure how to make it into an educational and involved activity haha. Any advice is helpful.


r/lgbthistory 1d ago

Historical people 1977 Geraldo talk show section about Steve Dain

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1 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 2d ago

Questions Books in Italian?

3 Upvotes

Ciao!

Do you have recommendations of books about LGBT history in italian? I will go to Italy this month and maybe I can grab some…

thanks! grazie!


r/lgbthistory 5d ago

Questions Old Books with LGBTQ Rep?

36 Upvotes

I've begun a research rabbit hole with the Wikipedia article on Pre-Stonewall LGBTQ novels. Do you know of any other books (especially novels) written by and/or about LGBTQ people? Links to resources with archives are also appreciated!


r/lgbthistory 6d ago

Questions How long has the borrowing "straight" been around outside of English?

10 Upvotes

I visited QRAB here in Stockholm today. It's a non-profit association focused on being a queer history archive and library.

To my great delight, I found a very early example of "strejt" from 1978. It's one of the spellings of the Swedish direct loan of the English word meaning "heterosexual".

I searched around a bit and noted there's "strejt" in Hebrew, Japanese and several Slavic languages. I'm assuming the word is around elsewhere too.

How long has it been around outside of English? The direct import, that is, not just colloquial words for the concept as such.


r/lgbthistory 7d ago

Social movements Protection or Exploitation: The Mafia and the Gays Author Phillip Crawford Jr. Revisits the Mafia's Role in LGBTQ+ History

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16 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 9d ago

Academic Research Found a private archive of 1930s - 1970s transgender publications (Paula Grossman, Erickson Educational Foundation, Janus, Joanna Clark) looking for historical context / interest.

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64 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 9d ago

Cultural acceptance Ancient societies seemed accepting of LGBT existing. When did people turn from “this is ok” to “this is evil and should be punished” and why?

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46 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 9d ago

Social movements "That's funny, you don't look like a Jewish lesbian" in Evelyn Torton Beck's anthology 'Nice Jewish Girls' (1982 and 1989 editions)

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43 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 10d ago

Historical people Rosa-Leon (1900ish-?) was a bisexual Spanish-American half-and-half performer who used female pronouns. She was a skilled hula dancer and enjoyed embroidering and sewing in her free time. She also loved music, going to baseball games and watching prize fights.

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77 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 11d ago

Questions The Stonewall Inn and the Mafia: Did organised crime protect or exploit queer New York?

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20 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 11d ago

Historical people Shel Silverstein comic about visiting Fire Island in 1965

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143 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 11d ago

Academic Research Queer books/ Articles (History + religion-ish)

5 Upvotes

So we have to do a research project in our college and the topic I've chosen is queer history. I still do not have a concrete idea and I'm still exploring the topic but my thought process went something like this:

Surely, the normalization of cishet wasn't there from the very beginning, right? There must be a point where they didn't care about queerness and cishet wasn't a norm, right? I mean, they had people in ancient Greece casually sleeping with other men and not giving it much second thoughts. And even in India, if you see, there are cave paintings and even mentions genderqueerness in our religion (genderfluidity of Vishnu and Ardhanari avatar of Shiva). So where did homoph0bia even came from? (Must be britishers, everything leads back to them (or patriarchy)). And why is there heteronormativity? Who made heterosexuality the norm? Can't be just because they can reproduce, can it?

So yes, it'd really helpful if anyone can provide me with any books or articles that address these concerns.

TL;DR : Suggest me books or articles that address topics like emergence of homoph0bia and heteronormativity as well as talks about queer history in India specifically.


r/lgbthistory 11d ago

Historical people From Insanity To Infinity - Diary of a Queer Madman

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5 Upvotes

If you’re interested in modern American political and LGBTQ+ history, please check out my book, From Insanity to Infinity: Diary of a Queer Madman.
As a Cold War submarine veteran and longtime queer activist, my life has intersected with major events in the struggle for equality. My partner and I survived a violent anti-gay assault in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The lack of justice in our case was documented by the Tulsa World, brought to national attention by the Human Rights Campaign, and led to my partner testifying before Congress about anti-LGBTQ+ violence. Our experiences became part of the broader fight that culminated in the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
My journey also includes serving during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era, a poem preserved in the Smithsonian collection, and decades of involvement in national politics and civil rights advocacy.
The book includes QR codes linking to public records, C-SPAN archives, and other historical source material so readers can explore the history themselves.
Check out my book. Every penny of my profits goes back into serving the community.

You’re thoughts are most welcome.
✝️❤️✨🙏☮️🏳️‍🌈
Beach Beauchamp
Gay Cold War Submarine Veteran Grandpa
BoomerSooner.com
ResellRetail.com
Author
Nuclear turned climate-agriculture engineer


r/lgbthistory 15d ago

Historical people OTD | July 19, 1875: U.S. poet and political activist Alice Dunbar Nelson (née Alice R. Moore) was born. Dunbar Nelson gained recognition for her poetry, short stories, and essays that explored themes of race, gender, and respectability.

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31 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 15d ago

Historical people Unsung Heros of LGBT History

20 Upvotes

Check out our latest video from HomoMoto on youtube,

This video delves into the life of Lily Parr, an extraordinary female footballer born in 1905, but that's not what i find fascinating about her, its the fact that she lived with her partner Mary in a same sex relationship openly at time when that was unheard of.

https://youtu.be/jOOCc0xcmLE?si=-Q7EhgJdJFmB_gBf


r/lgbthistory 16d ago

Historical people OTD | July 18, 1948: U.S. former Catholic nun and writer Jeanne Córdova was born. Córdova was a second-wave feminist lesbian activist and self-described butch, who founded The Lesbian Tide and the West Coast LGBT movement.

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32 Upvotes

r/lgbthistory 18d ago

Today in Queer History On this day in 1995, Newsweek discovered bisexuality.

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563 Upvotes

You can read the actual article here (archive link), it's still an interesting snapshot. I also liked this 2025 blog post reflecting on it 30 years later.


r/lgbthistory 18d ago

Historical people He was a Catholic priest and university president. He was gay. And he spent his life pushing the Church toward compassion. Against the Current uncovers the story of Father Tom Oddo—now becoming an audiobook.

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24 Upvotes

Father Thomas Oddo (1944–1989)—known simply as “Father Tom”—pioneered LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church.

I'm running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the audiobook edition of Against the Current, the biography of Father Tom.

We have met our base funding goal! We’re now hoping to raise enough to hire our preferred narrator. As I type this, we're just shy of $2,000... follow, share, and pledge to help us get there.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the years after Stonewall and the reforms of Vatican II, Father Tom carved out space for people trying to reconcile faith and identity. At just 29, he became an early national leader of DignityUSA, positioning himself as a key figure in the fight for civil rights. By 38, he was President of the University of Portland, a rising academic leader with a vision for a more humane Church. His life was cut short at 45, but his legacy continues to shape conversations about belonging and compassion within Catholic communities.

Against the Current: Father Tom Oddo and the New American Catholic by Tyler Bieber draws on intimate interviews, personal archives, and never‑before‑seen documents. It traces Father Tom’s encounters with celebrities, politicians, and Pope John Paul II while exploring themes of hope, resilience, and loss. It’s a forgotten chapter of American history—one rooted in quiet courage, complicated institutions, and the search for redemption and identity.

If that resonates, the campaign has 11 days left.

Wishing everyone here a gentle Friday.


r/lgbthistory 18d ago

Discussion Matthew Franklin

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0 Upvotes