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LGBT culture in Leeds , England, involves an active community of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender/transsexual. A BBC News Online article published in 2012 stated that, while Leeds City Council has not published statistics relating to the number of LGBT residents, the figure can be estimated at 10% of the overall population, [1] which currently suggests a total of at least 77,000. The tenth year of the Leeds Pride march and celebration, held in 2016, was attended by over 40,000 people. [2]
A comprehensive social history of LGBT communities and culture in Leeds has yet to be compiled, and this was an aim of the Queer Stories project, a partnership between Yorkshire MESMAC, Leeds Museums and Galleries, and the West Yorkshire Archive Service. [3] An awareness-raising exhibition curated by the project group was hosted at Leeds City Museum between November 2015 and May 2016, [4] and included a mixture of objects and testimonies. [5]
With funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the project grew into West Yorkshire Queer Stories, which went on to collect 200 oral history interviews from LGBT people in the region between 2018 and 2020. These are available on the project's website. [6]
Pubs and bars catering to LGBT customers have traditionally centred around The Calls and Lower Briggate, an area sometimes referred to as Leeds Gay Quarter, #gayleeds, Leeds' gay village [7] or Freedom Quarter. [8] In the 1930s, the Pelican Social Club in Blayd’s Yard, off Lower Briggate, was reportedly "frequented by effeminate men who called each other by female Christian names and two of whom wore women’s clothing". [9] The Mitre pub on Commercial Street (formerly the Horse and Jockey, dating back to 1744) [10] welcomed gay male customers in the evenings throughout the 1950s, and was also regularly visited by sympathetic police officers before closing in 1961. [11] The Royal Hotel, off Lower Briggate, was another gay-friendly venue during the 1960s. [12]
The city's longest-running gay pub is The New Penny, formerly known as the Hope and Anchor, which has "provided a safe venue for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* community" since 1953, according to the blue plaque placed there by Leeds Civic Trust in 2016. [13] In March 1968, following the UK's decriminalisation of homosexual acts, the Hope and Anchor was featured in an exposé-style article in the local Union News, [14] which paid particular attention to the behaviour and habits of its gay clientele:
Around the room, men sit cuddling and kissing, or are dancing clumsily together, as they hug each other tightly. Others walk around greeting friends who have just arrived, always touching their bodies and sometimes picking one another up.
The piece also described Saturday as "the big night of the week" and reported that couples tended to move on to coffee bars after the pub's closing time, where they would remain until around 1 a.m. [14]
The pub was targeted and "completely wrecked" by football fans following the Leeds United v. Glasgow Rangers match at Elland Road on 9 April 1968. [15] A period of closure followed, after which it reopened as The New Penny. [16]
The activities of Leeds-based gay rights organisations have been reported in newspapers as far back as 1971. [17] The University of Leeds branch of the national Gay Liberation Front, known as the Gay Liberation Society, distributed leaflets at events saying "there is nothing wrong in loving people of the same sex". [18] The group was also photographed demonstrating in solidarity with the people of Northern Ireland, following the events of Bloody Sunday (1972). [19] Its headquarters, which opened on Woodhouse Lane in December 1972, were ransacked within weeks: a member reported to the Yorkshire Evening Post that a window was smashed, books were ripped, and decorations torn down. [20] While the wider Gay Liberation Front movement disbanded in 1974, the Leeds society continued for several more years. [21]
Existing gay pubs remained in business throughout the 1970s, while the White Hart in nearby Pool-in-Wharfedale offered a countryside escape for older gay men seeking meals and companionship on Sunday afternoons and evenings. [12]
In March 1974, the University of Leeds hosted what was billed as the country's first national conference for transvestite and transsexual people. [22] Titled Transvestism and Transsexualism in Modern Society , it attracted 102 attendees and included talks and a screening of the 1968 documentary The Queen , filmed on New York's underground drag scene. [22]
A young records clerk at Leeds General Infirmary, Paul Furness, first brought the World Health Organization's classification of homosexuality as a disease to the attention of Tom Robinson of the Tom Robinson Band in 1978. The singer made many references to this fact during concerts and included the classification number 302.0 on the sleeve of the Rising Free EP, which included the song "Glad to Be Gay". [23]
Gay women received support from the Leeds Lesbian Line, a telephone switchboard that opened in May 1982. By the time of its first anniversary, it was being staffed by six women and was available for two hours on Tuesday evenings, receiving on average six calls a night. [24]
The 1980s saw a proliferation of LGBT-friendly pubs and nightclubs in Leeds, [12] including The Bridge Inn (on Bridge End); Ye Old Red Lion (at the corner of Meadow Lane/Hunslet Road); Charlie's Club and Bananas Bar (in Lambert's Yard/Queens Court); and Rockshots 2 (on Lower Briggate). These were joined in the 1990s by Primo's and Primo's II (New York Street/Back New York Street); Queens Court, which replaced Charlie's Club; Bar Fibre (Lower Briggate); and Blayd's Bar (in Blayds Yard), which was popular with lesbians. [12]
Gay-friendly club nights also became popular in the 1990s. Running from 1993 to 1996, Vague was a "mixed" (i.e. gay and straight) night at Leeds nightclub The Warehouse. [25] It was followed by SpeedQueen, which began at The Warehouse, before moving to Stinky's Peephouse, [26] where its Saturday night gatherings attracted 350 clubbers each week and featured an outdoor terrace and giant bed. [26] In 2003, SpeedQueen returned to The Warehouse, [27] but moved again to Gatecrasher, [28] and to Mint Warehouse in 2016. [29] Both Vague and SpeedQueen "blended a kitsch theme with an artistic underbelly which saw clubbers return to some of the outlandish costumes which characterised the late 70s", according to Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Rod McPhee. [30]
Leeds saw one of the country's very first civil partnerships, which took place at 8 a.m. on 21 December 2005, between entrepreneur Terry George and Michael Rothwell. The couple signed the register at Bar Fibre on Lower Briggate after being granted a special licence. [31]
The first Leeds Gay Pride was held on 6 August 2006, and saw a parade and open-topped pink bus make their way through the streets of the city centre. [32] Taking place every year since, the event has grown to involve many local businesses and increasing numbers of attendees, reported at over 40,000 in 2016. [33] In the same year, its contribution to the city's economy was calculated at over £3 million. [34]
LGBT students at the city's universities continue to be politically active. In March 2017, they rallied in Victoria Gardens against gay concentration camps in Chechnya. [35]
Female students organized a "women-centric queer dance party" called Scissors at Leeds University Union in January 2017. [36] The publicity stated: "It’s no secret that too often the LGBTQ+ scene focuses on white, gay, slim, and able-bodied men; we aim to offset this balance creating a space where everyone can feel free to be themselves and dance." [36]
On 26 September 2018, The Hyde Park Book Club, a venue in Hyde Park, Leeds, held an event called LGBTQ The Music 2, presented by Come Play With Me, [37] celebrating LGBTQ+ people in music. [38]
In January 2019, Leeds-based brewery Anthology created a new beer to celebrate LGBT History Month, with 10p from every pint donated to Stonewall. [39]
Plans to repaint the railway bridge over Lower Briggate in rainbow colours, reflecting the design of the LGBT pride flag, were announced in September 2016 by LGBT activist and Leeds campaigner Thomas Wales after the project had remained in the LGBT political wilderness for years. [40] Work was completed by Network Rail in February 2017 and Councillor Jonathan Pryor said, "This bridge represents a tremendous show of support for the city’s LGBT community. Not only will the Leeds Freedom Bridge be an eye-catching addition ... it will also make a huge statement to our many visitors. We embrace and celebrate diversity and the contribution it makes to ensuring Leeds is such a warm, welcoming and successful city". [41]
The term Freedom Bridge was coined by fellow LGBT campaigner and community website editor Ross McCusker who took inspiration from San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker's Freedom Flag.
The tourist information service Visit Leeds promotes LGBT tourism, including nightlife, and produces a Leeds LGBT* Map. Among the LGBT-friendly venues it lists in the city centre are The Viaduct Showbar, The New Penny, Blayd’s Bar, Wharf Chambers, Tunnel, The Bridge, Queens Court and Bar Fibre. The latter two co-host popular Bank Holiday 'Courtyard Parties' during the summer. [42]
LGBT-inclusive sports clubs are numerous in Leeds. [43] The athletics club Leeds FrontRunners describes itself as "an all-inclusive club, welcoming anyone who identifies as LGBT*, their friends and even people who just love running and are happy to look beyond labels". [44] The Yorkshire Terriers Football Club was one of the first gay-friendly teams to be established in the UK. [45] Leeds Hunters Rugby is an inclusive rugby club which aims to provide a safe environment for any adult male to play Rugby Union irrespective of race, sexual orientation, ethnicity and level of fitness or experience, and any person over the age of 18 to access touch rugby. The club was established in 2016 and train in North Leeds. [46] Marching Out Together is the Leeds United FC supporters group for LGBTQ fans; they were officially endorsed by the club in 2017. [47] [48]
Leeds has its own Queer Film Festival, which first took place in 2005, then 2010, and annually since 2013. As well as screening films such as The Watermelon Woman and Set It Off , the event has included talks, zine-making and letter-writing workshops. [49]
The gay lifestyle magazine Bent was published in Leeds. [50]
The LGBT community website #gayyorkshire is based in Leeds and helps to promote the Leeds LGBT night-time economy, organisations and events as well as providing other LGBT information from across the wider county of Yorkshire.[ citation needed ]
The banker and MP Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe, who resided at Kirkstall Grange, Headingley, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, is believed to have been the father of Violet Trefusis, who is remembered for a same-sex affair with the poet Vita Sackville-West. Their relationship was documented in a series of passionate letters between 1912 and 1922. [63]
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communities.
Canal Street is a street in Manchester city centre in North West England and the centre of Manchester's gay village. The pedestrianised street, which runs along the west side of the Rochdale Canal, is lined with gay bars and restaurants. At night time, and in daytime in the warmer months, the street is filled with visitors, often including LGBT tourists from all over the world. The northern end of the street meets Minshull Street and the southern meets Princess Street; part of the street looks across the Rochdale Canal into Sackville Gardens.
Briggate is a pedestrianised principal shopping street in Leeds city centre, England. Historically it was the main street, leading north from Leeds Bridge, and housed markets, merchant's houses and other business premises. It contains many historic buildings, including the oldest in the city, and others from the 19th and early-20th century, including two theatres. It is noted for the yards between some older buildings with alleyways giving access and Victorian shopping arcades, which were restored in late 20th century. The street was pedestrianised in the late-20th century.
The New Penny is a gay pub in The Calls area of Leeds, West Yorkshire. It is reported to be the oldest continually running gay pub in the UK.
The LGBT 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 LGBT history dating back to the early 19th century.
The rainbow flag or pride flag is a symbol of LGBT pride and LGBT social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender. Using a rainbow flag as a symbol of LGBT pride began in San Francisco, California, but eventually became common at LGBT rights events worldwide.
Leeds Pride is an annual LGBT Pride celebration held in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Leeds Pride is one of the biggest free pride events in the UK.
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.
Queer Azaadi Mumbai Pride March, also called Queer Azaadi March and Mumbai pride march, is an annual LGBTQIA pride parade that is held in the city of Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra, India. It usually begins from Gowalia Tank ending at Girgaum Chowpatty. It, along with the Pride Week, is organized by Queer Azaadi Mumbai, a collective of organizations and individuals working for the rights of LGBTQIA community. The participants of the march include people from the LGBTQIH community as well their "straight allies", from India and outside. In addition to being a celebration of queer pride, the pride march and related events are a platform to ask for equal rights.
LGBT culture in Eugene, Oregon predates the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969, but that event coincided with organized efforts in Lane County, Oregon, to support and celebrate LGBT people. Even though Eugene has been rated on lists of cities friendly to LGBT populations, there are very few venues specifically for the LGBT community in the Eugene/Springfield metropolitan area.
LGBT culture in Portland, Oregon is an important part of Pacific Northwest culture.
New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ+ populations. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."
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.
The Leeds Freedom Bridge is a railway bridge (HUL4/53) that crosses over the area known as gayleeds on Lower Briggate in Leeds, West Yorkshire. This area is also where an annual LBGT parade Leeds Pride finishes, the bridge is now painted in the rainbow colours of the rainbow flag.
This is a timeline of notable events in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community in Manchester.
Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was a series of LGBTQ events and celebrations in June 2019, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots. It was also the first time WorldPride was held in the United States. Held primarily in the metropolitan New York City area, the theme for the celebrations and educational events was "Millions of moments of Pride." The celebration was the largest LGBTQ event in history, with an official estimate of 5 million attending Pride weekend in Manhattan alone, with an estimated 4 million in attendance at the NYC Pride March. The twelve-hour parade included 150,000 pre-registered participants among 695 groups.
In Washington, D.C., LGBT culture is heavily influenced by the U.S. federal government and the many nonprofit organizations headquartered in the city.
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. It has also been ranked as the 8th most accepting city in the world for the LGBT community.
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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