Dublin Castle, 1830

Weaponizing Homophobia in Ireland

One of the arguments of Irish nationalism was that English rule was morally corrupting. There was no better example of this than same-sex desire.
John Addington Symonds, 1889

Putting Gay Men Back Into History

In the late nineteenth century, historian John Addington Symonds fought back against his colleagues’ refusal to acknowledge historical same-sex relationships.
Mariel Refugees

How Gay Marielitos Changed Immigration

In 1980, the policy of denying entry into the US based on homosexuality ran smack into anticommunism.
Woodcut illustration of chess c. 1480

Knights and Kings: Medieval Chess as Male Bonding

Scholar Jenny Adams examines the homosocial facets of the game through literature of the Middle Ages.
Bowl from 12th century Egypt

How Medieval Arabic Literature Viewed Lesbians

As far back as the ninth century, doctors and poets wrote about women who loved women without calling them deviants.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cover_of_Strange_Affair_by_Edwin_West_-_Illustration_by_Harry_Schaare_-_Monarch_Book_1962.jpg

Pulp Fiction Helped Define American Lesbianism

Between 1950 and 1965, steamy novels about lesbian relationships, marketed to men, inadvertently offered closeted women much-needed representation.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_African_American_women,_three-quarter_length_portrait,_seated,_facing_each_other_LCCN99472087.tif

Searching for Black Queer History in Sensational Newspapers

Sometimes finding the stories of marginalized populations demands reading between the lines.
J Edgar Hoover

The Truth About J. Edgar Hoover’s “Cross-Dressing”

The story of J. Edgar Hoover dressing in women's clothing is part of American myth. But does this story tell us more about Hoover or about the nature of gossip?
Nazis Kurt Daluege, Heinrich Himmler, Ernst Röhm in 1933

Ernst Röhm, The Highest-Ranking Gay Nazi

Ernst Röhm, the highest-ranking gay Nazi, presents an interesting study in the construction and containment of masculinity by the right.
Rainbow colored stained glass windows

What Helps Gay Christians Feel Welcome at Church?

Gay Christians have special challenges when it comes to integrating an LGBT identity within a religious identity.