LGBT+ History Month 2025

In the UK, February marks LGBT+ History month, an initiative started by the education charity Schools OUT. Now in its twentieth year, the month provides an opportunity for LGBTQ+ people from a variety of backgrounds to explore their histories. You can learn more about the national campaign here.

This year, our display highlights some lesser known queer stories in history, from the medieval islamicate world to Brighton in the 50s and 60s. Be sure to check out the physical books on display, as well as our e-book display below.

Oxford University members can access all e-books remotely by signing into SOLO with their ‘Single Sign On.’ Click on the book covers below to view the SOLO records for some of the featured texts.

Our physical display includes:

  1. Black on Both Sides : A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton.
  2. Re-Dressing: America’s Frontier Past by Peter Boag.
  3. Daring Hearts : Lesbian and Gay Lives of 50s and 60s Brighton by The Brighton Ourstory Project.
  4. Male Colors : The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan by Gary P. Leupp.
  5. Masculinity, Class and Same-sex Desire in Industrial England, 1895-1957 by Helen Smith.
  6. Islamicate Sexualities : Translations Across Temporal Geographies of Desire, edited by Kathryn Babayan and Afsaneh Najmabadi.
  7. Female Masculinity by Jack Halberstam.
  8. The Pink Triangle by Richard Plant.
  9. True Sex : The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Emily Skidmore.
  10. Autobiography of an Androgyne by Ralph Werther/Earl Lind, edited by Scott Herring.
  11. Intimate Friends : Women Who Loved Women, 1778-1928 by Martha Vicinus.
  12. Histories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson.
  13. Gay Life and Culture : A World History by Robert Aldrich.
  14. Good as You by Paul Flynn.
  15. It’s Not Unusual: A History of Lesbian and Gay Britain in the Twentieth Century by Alkarim Jivani.
  16. Out on Stage by Alan Sinfield.

LGBT+ History Month 2024

LGBT+ History Month is an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, including the histories of other marginalised sexualities and gender identities. Last year’s observance marked 20 years since the law that banned “promotion of homosexuality” in the UK, Section 28, was repealed. This year’s theme is ‘Under the Scope’, celebrating LGBT+ peoples’ contribution to the field of medicine and shining a light on the history of the LGBT+ community’s experience of receiving healthcare.

LGBT+ History Month display on four shelves. Left to right: 'Tomboys and bachelor girls' by Rebecca Jennings; 'Britannia's glory, a history of 20th century lesbians' by Emily Hamer; 'A lesbian history of Britain' by Rebecca Jennings; 'Let the record show, a political history of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993' by Sarah Schulman; 'How to survive a plague' by David France; 'Before AIDS' by Katie Batza; 'Stonewall' by Martin Duberman; 'Red closet : the hidden history of gay oppression in the USSR' by Rustam Alexander; 'Before we were trans' by Kit Heyam; 'Queer public history' by Marc Stein; 'The shape of sex : nonbinary gender from Genesis to the Renaissance' by Leah DeVun; 'Same-sex sexuality in later medieval English culture' by Tom Linkinen; 'Queer voices in post-war Scotland' by Jeffrey Meek; 'A little gay history : desire and diversity across the world' by R. B. Parkinson

Our book display for LGBT+ History Month features some of these stories of AIDs activism and experiences in healthcare, as well as histories of queer oppression, revolution, and lived experiences across the globe from 200 AD to the present day. Please do peruse the display the next time you’re in the Camera, or check out some of our e-books and e-journals below.

When signed into SOLO with your ‘Single Sign On’, the following e-resources will be available for Oxford University Members—click on the covers below to access their SOLO records. Many more e-resources and physical books can be found by searching on SOLO.

Outrageous! : the story of Section 28 and Britain's battle for LGBT education by Paul Baker

Sapphistries : A Global History of Love between Women by Leila J. Rupp

 

 

 

Plane queer : labor, sexuality, and AIDS in the history of male flight attendants by Phil Tiemeyer

 

Bi : the hidden culture, history and science of bisexuality by Julia Shaw

 

Journal of the history of sexuality
The Routledge history of queer America edited by Don Romesburg

Seeing sodomy in the Middle Ages by Robert Mills

GLQ : a journal of lesbian and gay studies