Gay men in the 1800s

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (–), a pioneer of LGBT+ rights This is a list of important events relating to the LGBT community from to The earliest published studies of lesbian activity were written in the early 19th century. In the late 19th century, psychiatrists and doctors began to label same-sex desire in medical terms—and looking for ways to reverse it. In , a German psychiatrist electrified the audience at a conference on hypnosis with a bold claim: He had turned a gay man straight. All it took was 45 hypnosis sessions and a few trips to a brothel, Albert von Schrenck-Notzing bragged.

The infamous trial of Oscar Wilde in the late s highlighted the legal and social challenges faced by gay men. Other European Countries: France decriminalized homosexuality after the French Revolution (), influencing other regions like the Netherlands. However, most of Europe retained harsh penalties for homosexual acts. The Victorian era was not an easy time to be gay. Even after the death penalty was no longer a risk, gay men could receive sentences of 10 years to life in harsh Victorian prisons, where they would endure solitary confinement and hard labour. But not every gay man faced the same risks.

Since the men in these photos are unknown, it’s impossible to know if they were gay couples or just “good friends.” Most vintage photographs of gay couples were eventually destroyed by horrified family members. For every photo that I may have mistakenly identified as gay, thousands more were burned or torn into pieces to keep a family secret. For gay and lesbian Lewis-and-Clark buffs, the recent speculation that Meriwether Lewis might have been gay has made an already fascinating story downright titillating. Nicholas Biddle, a member of the Lewis and Clark expeditions, records that among Minitarees Indians if a boy shows any symptoms of effeminacy or girlish inclinations he is put among the girls, dressed in their way, brought up with them and sometimes married to men. They are referred to as berdache or two-spirit.

The Wild West wasn't all six-shooters, saloons, and tough-as-rawhide cowboys herding cattle along dusty trails. As with today's gay rodeo scene, queer people were part of the mix, too, and some of them were indeed as tough as rawhide. Historians like Amanda Timpson bring the details. "From the Ancient Greeks to Vikings, South Asia's Hijra communities to a gay man basically winning World War 2. In terms of gender identity and masculine expression, the eighteenth century was an important time of transition. What I want to show you here is a selection of objects in our collection which represent the changing attitude towards male sexuality throughout the eighteenth century, taking a roughly chronological view of the most important shifts and themes. This will be followed by a second post which looks more closely at the relationship between homoeroticism, fine art and connoisseurship in the eighteenth century.

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (–), a pioneer of LGBT+ rights This is a list of important events relating to the LGBT community from to The earliest published studies of lesbian activity were written in the early 19th century. This June the Molly Brown House Museum has created a Thirsty Thursday event to coincide with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender LGBT Pride Month titled Queer in the Age of the Queen. These events are an opportunity for professionals to mingle while learning about the history of this time period. This event will take a look back at queer culture in Victorian England under the rule of Queen Victoria and here in the U.