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The LGBT community in Cardiff is the largest in Wales. The 2021 census found that 5.33% of people aged 16 and over identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or other. [1]
Homosexuality was partially decriminalised in 1967, thanks in part to Cardiff born MP Leo Abse (whose MP seat was in Pontypool). [2] : 194–196
Prior to the law change there is some evidence of LGBTQ+ culture in Cardiff around criminal records for cross dressing, gross indecency, and buggery, though criminalisations were higher than rural areas they were minor compared to other UK cities. [3] : 23–25
Cardiff's The Golden Cross opened in 1863. [4] It has been recognised as a gay bar since at least the 1970s, when a wider commercial gay scene was first prominent in the city. [3] : 68–69
A Cardiff-Newport branch of Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) was formed in 1972, most of its 50+ members living in Cardiff, first meeting at the Blue Anchor pub on St Mary's Street (now Le Monde restaurant) but later moving to Chapter Arts Centre in Canton. More popular with men, a separatist women's group later formed. [3] : 98–100 A Cardiff faction of the Gay Liberation Front also formed in this era also meeting at the Blue Anchor. [4] Ken Follett wrote about the GLF in the South Wales Echo in 1971. The GLF later merged into the CHE group. [5]
Cardiff FRIEND, one of many the city based outposts of London FRIEND, also ran from 1973. They took helpline phone calls from an office in St Mary's Street, and later moved to the Rights Information Bureau on Charles Street. [3] : 60–63 [6] The group changed their name to Friend South Wales, and registered as a charity in 1993. [7] [8]
The Rights Information Bureau also held offices for the Gay Liberation Front group and the Nationwide Transvestite Group (an early Trans organisation) from 1971. [6]
In the 1980s there were a number of LGBT+ venues in Cardiff including the Tunnel Club (now Metros), Dubrovnik Restaurant and SIRS. [9] [3] : 77–78 The city's oldest gay venue Kings Cross ceased to be an LGBT+ venue in 2013 when it became a gastropub called The Corner House. [10]
The 1980s also saw Cardiff's first dedicated gay street theatre groups, LGBTQ+ community centres and youth clubs. [3] : 82 As well as cruising areas being established, most popular being Bute Park, public toilets in Cathays Park and Cardiff Central Station. [3] : 51
Inspired by London's Gay Switchboard, Zoe Balfour started Cardiff Lesbian Line in October 1981, which ran until at least the 1990s. [11] [12] [3] : 60
1988 saw Cardiff hold a Wales Against Section 28 protest, alongside other city demonstrations across the UK. [13]
By the end of the century parallel roads Charles Street and Churchill Way had become heart of LGBTQ+ Cardiff, including Minskys, a popular cabaret and drag bar which eventually closed 2020. [14] [15]
The early 2000s saw the popular LGBTQ+ club night Hell's Bent in Cardiff, [14] the short lived WOW bar on Churchill Way [16] and gay representation on Russell T. Davies' era of writing Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood series, both set in Cardiff. [17]
In 2007 the Iris Prize was formed in Cardiff which celebrates LGBTQ+ short films. It has an annual festival screening films open to the public. [5]
Cardiff's history of protests has continued, with Trans Aid Cymru being formed in 2020 after a group of activists held a protest outside of Cardiff Castle to protest the Gender Recognition Act 2004 reforms being dropped. [18] A second protest about the reforms was held outside the Senedd, after statistics were released showing that 70% of respondents supported the proposed changes to the gender recognition act. [19] [20]
In 2022 Shash Appan lead a protest with Trans Aid Cymru outside Tŷ William Morgan to protest the delays in a UK Conversion therapy ban. [21] The proposed ban was initially dropped, before the government instead announced that they would be pushing forward with it, but that it would not include protections around gender identity. [22] Shortly after the Cardiff protest Hannah Blythyn announced that the Welsh Government would be seeking legal advice to determine if Wales could implement their own ban on conversation therapy. [21]
A further protest was held at Tŷ William Morgan in 2023 after the UK government blocked the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from passing into law. Protesters from Trans Aid Cymru stuck homemade birth, death, and marriage certificates across the building, to represent how trans people regularly misgendered on these legal documents throughout their lives. [23]
The first iteration of Pride held in Cardiff was in 1985, which was a parade on Queen Street in the city centre organised by Cardiff University students (principally their GaySoc/Cardiff Lesbian and Gay Students group). [10] [24] [2] : 227–230 Organiser Francis Brown remembers attendance being less than 30 [24] but Noreena Shopland's Forbidden Lives cites over 100 attendees. [2] : 227–230
The march continued annually in the following years 1986 and 1987, finishing at the Kings Cross pub. [3] : 109–110
The first Cardiff Mardi Gras was held in September 1999, and has happened annually since. In 2014, it changed its name to Pride Cymru. [25] In 2017 they took over the running of Cardiff Big Weekend, merging the event with their annual pride celebrations. [26]
The first Big Queer Picnic was held in August 2012 after the founders felt like Cardiff needed an alternative grassroots pride event. [27] It is run as a free community based event celebrating sexual and gender diversity. It is usually held on the Saturday of Pride Cymru in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. [28]
The first BAME Pride held in Wales was hosted by Glitter Cymru in August 2019. [29] Held as a community event to highlight the joy and diversity of the BAME LGBTQ+ community in Cardiff. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the second event didn't take place until 2022, with the event rebranded as Glitter Pride. [30]
In 2019 the first Cardiff Trans Pride was held across three days. Organised by Nerida Bradley and Miles Rozel the events focused on platforming trans voices and performers. [31] [32]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the next Trans Pride wasn't held until 2023. [33] Returning on the 15th-17 September, it had three days of events and a march through the city centre. [34]
Cardiff has a vibrant gay scene, with all the main venues being within walking distance of each other. The Golden Cross, Mary's, Pulse, Eagle, and The Queer Emporium (containing Paned o Gê bookshop) are the backbone of the community. [35]
The Queer Emporium also hosts the annual Queer Fringe Festival in Cardiff, their first festival in 2022. [36] The Iris Prize is also an annual LGBTQ+ short film and prize awarding festival.
There are a few book groups such as Lez Read, [37] a LGBTQIA+ Book Club at Cardiff Central Library [38] and the Gay Men's Book Club. [39]
Cardiff has multiple LGBTQ+ choirs including the South Wales Gay Men's Chorus, Cardiff Trans Singers and Songbirds. [40] [41]
There are also a number of social and mutual support groups in the city. Glitter Cymru are a Cardiff based but Wales wide community group for ethnic minority LGBTQ+ people. [42] Trans Aid Cymru are a transgender, intersex, and nonbinary mutual aid group founded in Cardiff in 2020. [43]
St Fagans, the Museum of Cardiff and Glamorgan Archives collect artifacts relating to Cardiff LGBTQ+ life. [5] [44] [45]
The 2021 Census showed that 5.33% of Cardiff's population identifies as LGBTQ+. 0.71% identified as having a different gender identity than the one registered at their birth. Both percentages are the highest throughout Wales. [46] [47]
Those identifying as LGBTQ+ past and present:
The LGBTQ community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBTQ activists and sociologists see LGBTQ community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBTQ community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBTQ community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBTQ community.
The EuroGames are an LGBT+ multi-sport event in Europe, licensed by the EGLSF to a local city host each year and organised by one or more of the federation's member clubs. Similar to the Gay Games, EuroGames are a sports-for-all event, open for participation irrespective of sex, age, sexual identity or physical ability. Additionally it often included less prominent non-olympic sports and disciplines catering to interest of LGBT+ communities like same-sex ballroom dance, line dance, cheerleading, aerobics, bodybuilding as well synchronised/artistic swimming with male participants, which was historically forbidden.
The Queer Youth Network (QYN) was a national non-profit-making organisation that was run by and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) young people and is based in the United Kingdom. It had an aim to represent the needs and views of younger LGBT people by campaigning for greater visibility and equal rights, as well as providing general support and information to those who are just coming out or who are experiencing homophobia.
LGBTQ culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, LGBT culture, and LGBTQIA culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
The origin of the LGBTQ student movement can be linked to other activist movements from the mid-20th century in the United States. The Civil Rights Movement and Second-wave feminist movement were working towards equal rights for other minority groups in the United States. Though the student movement began a few years before the Stonewall riots, the riots helped to spur the student movement to take more action in the US. Despite this, the overall view of these gay liberation student organizations received minimal attention from contemporary LGBTQ historians. This oversight stems from the idea that the organizations were founded with haste as a result of the riots. Others historians argue that this group gives too much credit to groups that disagree with some of the basic principles of activist LGBTQ organizations.
The LGBTQ community of Brighton and Hove is one of the largest in the United Kingdom. Brighton, a seaside resort on the south coast of England, has been described in some media as a "gay capital" of the UK, with records pertaining to LGBTQ history dating back to the early 19th century.
New Zealand society is generally accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) peoples. The LGBTQ-friendly environment is epitomised by the fact that there are several members of Parliament who belong to the LGBTQ community, LGBTQ rights are protected by the Human Rights Act, and same-sex couples are able to marry as of 2013. Sex between men was decriminalised in 1986. New Zealand has an active LGBTQ community, with well-attended annual gay pride festivals in most cities.
Pride is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBTQ rights movements. Pride has lent its name to LGBTQ-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals, a cable TV channel, and the Pride Library.
Atlanta Pride, also colloquially called the Atlanta Gay Pride Festival, is a week-long annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBTQ) pride festival held in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1971, it is one of the oldest and largest pride festivals in the United States. According to the Atlanta Pride Committee, as of 2017, attendance had continually grown to around 300,000. Originally held in June, Atlanta Pride has been held in October every year since 2008, typically on a weekend closest to National Coming Out Day.
PrideFest St. Louis is an annual LGBT pride event in St. Louis, Missouri. The event is organized by Pride St. Louis, an LGBT non-profit organization in the Greater St. Louis area. Between 350,000-500,000 people attend the two day festival and grand parade.
LGBTQ history in Turkey covers the development, contributions and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the history of Turkey and their relation between Turkish politics from the abolition of the Caliphate to modern-day Turkey.
The LGBT community in Liverpool, England is one of the largest in the United Kingdom and has a recorded history since the 18th century. Many historic LGBT firsts and pioneering moments in the LGBT rights movement either took place in Liverpool or were achieved by citizens of the city.
The LGBT community in London is one of the largest within Europe. LGBT culture of London, England, is centred on Old Compton Street in Soho. There are also LGBT pubs and restaurants across London in Haggerston, Dalston and Vauxhall.
Lisa Power MBE is a British sexual health and LGBT rights campaigner. She was a volunteer for Lesbian & Gay Switchboard and Secretary General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. She co-founded the Pink Paper and Stonewall, later becoming Policy Director at the Terrence Higgins Trust. She was the first openly LGBT person to speak at the United Nations and continues to work and volunteer as an LGBT+ and sexual health activist in Wales with groups such as Fast Track Cymru and Pride Cymru.
Pride Cymru is an LGBT pride festival held annually in Cardiff, Wales.
Reclaim Pride Coalition is a coalition of LGBT groups and individuals that initially gathered in New York City in 2019 to create the Queer Liberation March in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots and to protest the commercialization of LGBT Pride events. The following year, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, the coalition organized the Queer Liberation March for Black Lives & Against Police Brutality.
Norena Shopland is a Welsh historian and writer who specialises in (LGBTQ+) research and history. She has been highlighted as a Welsh LGBTQ+ person of significance, and she gives talks, lectures and workshops on Welsh heritage and LGBT+ history. She has organised, curated and consulted on exhibitions and events within the heritage sector in Wales.
The United Kingdom has a number of gay villages. Bigger cities and metropolitan areas are most popular as they are deemed to be more tolerant and tend to have "a history of progressive local government policy towards supporting and financing LGBTQ-friendly initiatives." There is also a noted circular pattern of migration, whereby once areas have established a reputation as somewhere LGBT people live, more LGBT people are drawn there. LGBT-inclusive areas of UK towns and cities tend to be defined by "a distinct geographic focal point, a unique culture, a cluster of commercial spaces" and sometimes a concentration of residences. It is thought that LGBT-inclusive areas help towns and cities in the UK to prosper economically, but some believe the building of such areas creates an isolating effect on some LGBT people who want to blend in.
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