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LGBTQ+ History Month
LGBTQ+ history is often rendered invisible as ideals of (cis)gender and (heteronormative)sexuality dominate. LGBT+ History Month offers the opportunity to make sense of our queer past and to reflect on the present and future of LGBTQ+ struggles.
This year’s theme of activism and social change is highly significant. Pride Month celebrations would not exist in their current form without the work of queer activists like Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who played a major role in the Stonewall uprising and the Gay Liberation Movement in 1960s-70s, paving the way for Pride marches and pro-LGBTQ+ legal reforms. In the UK, we can thank activists and LSE students Bob Mellors and Aubrey Walter for founding the Gay Liberation Front in the 1970s, a mass political movement that became the catalyst for social change in relation to LGBTQ+ issues in Britain. Such activism creates tangible effects on the lives of LGBTQ+ people, and leads to changes in public opinion.
Yet, progress is not linear. LGBTQ+ movements faced acute challenges in the 1980s as a result of the HIV/AIDS crisis and Section 28, which prohibited the so called “promotion of homosexuality”. Despite the many legal rights secured in the years since, such as the repeal of Section 28 (2003), the Equality Act (2006) and the introduction of Same-Sex marriage legislation (2013), queer folks still experience marginalisation
The calls to activism in this year’s LGBTQ+ History Month are a timely reminder that rights can be won, but they can also be lost. ‘Making space’ for queer politics is especially important at a time when powerful reactionary forces seek to roll back LGBTQ+ rights. As politics and IR scholars, we can expose the prejudices that permeate the current political climate through LGBTQIA+ research. Where this research informs our teaching, we help create safer environments for queer students and deepen everyone’s understanding of our world.
The newly formed Queer Politics Specialist Group welcomes all members who engage with LGBTQ+ issues in their scholarship or who wish to find community as an LGBTQ+ politics scholar/ally. Please visit the Queer Politics SG page to find out more and to sign up as a member. We look forward to meeting you all at PSA Birmingham in a few weeks!
In the meantime, here are some resources for those who want to learn more:
Bishopsgate LGBTQIA+ Archive https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/archives
Equaldex https://www.equaldex.com/
GLAAD https://glaad.org/research/
ILGA https://ilga.org/
LGBT History Month https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/lgbt-history-month-2025/
LGBT History in the Archives https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/discovering-lgbtq-history-in-the-archives/
Authors: Dr Carolina Silveira and Professor Claire Dunlop, Convenors of the Queer Politics Specialist Group