It wasn’t just the film Rafiki - a joyful lesbian love story - but also the experience of going to watch it after it was unbanned that created a new kind of freedom.
Matthew Tomlinson’s diary is full of insights into Georgian England.
Wakefield Library
Matthew Tomlinson deplored the execution of a naval surgeon for sodomy, writing that the death penalty was cruel and unfair.
Sophonisba Breckinridge and Edith Abbott.
University of Chicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00008, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library/Bernard Hoffman, photographer
Long before Chasten Buttigieg became a ‘not-so-secret weapon’ in his husband Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, another same-sex couple profoundly reshaped American social policy.
Marchers at the 1978 Mardi Gras parade.
Sally Colechin/The Pride History Group
On the Sydney Mardi Gras march of 1978
The Conversation, CC BY31,7 MB(download)
On a cold Saturday night in Sydney on June 24, 1978, a number of gay men, lesbians and transgender people marched into the pages of Australian social history. I was one of them.
People celebrate the results of the same-sex marriage postal survey in Melbourne.
AAP Image/Luis Enrique Ascui
Given that only 20 years ago Tasmania decriminalised male homosexuality, the same-sex marriage survey result represents an extraordinary change. But there is still work to be done.
Some drag kings draw on facial hair to perform masculinity.
Photo by Sneakers
Drags kings have recently been declining in popularity, partly due to the evolving debate around gender and identity. But now a new and more inclusive drag culture is taking the stage.
Carol and Therese in the store at Christmas time.
STUDIOCANAL
Dykes on Bikes have been starting Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade since 1988 – and many for many participants, the yearly ride to Sydney is as important as the parade itself.
Why is it that women can retain their heterosexuality if they kiss, but if men do the same they’re labeled gay?
David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons
If women can kiss women and still be straight, what about men? Some scholars have argued that female sexual desires tend to be fluid and receptive, while men’s desires – regardless of whether men are gay…
Much has changed over the past 60 years – including how gay and lesbian Australia celebrates Christmas.
Hotlanta Voyeur
I used to live in Brisbane, where, year after year on the afternoon of Christmas Day, a group of older gay men I knew would meet up in a pub. Spending some of the holiday season catching up with friends…
Research shows that high-profile gay and lesbian people have made a real difference to the lives of others.
AAP Image/Paul Miller
In his unassuming way, Ian Thorpe is probably quite accustomed to making history. His swag of Olympic medals and world records makes him Australia’s most successful swimmer. Last night, when he told interviewer…
A new oral history project is collecting the life stories of several generations of gay and lesbian Australians.
Zürich Tourismus
Australia’s legal system may not yet reflect this but in 2014, according to a range of polls, a majority of Australians support same-sex marriage. Two decades ago, such support would have been beyond the…