A lesbian and gay timeline
from the 14th century onwards
By David Edgley
The timeline centres on Nottinghamshire-related events, but also includes things of national importance which affected those in Nottinghamshire.
Near the start we meet Sir John Clanvowe, the Nottingham poet who some think wrote the original legend of Robin Hood. Sir John "married" Sir William Neville, who became Constable of Nottingham Castle.
In more recent times we note the opening in 1973 of "La Chic" nightclub. Not the first gay club in Nottingham - but it was the first gay club in the whole of the UK to have a licence specifically for lesbians and gay men.
In 1975 Nottingham's Gay Street Theatre produced "Robina Hood and her gayfolk", performed on the steps of the Council House. Their later play "Green Noses" even travelled to Sheffield.
In the 80s we hear about the AIDS crisis (which precipitated Nottingham's "Gay Swimming Furore") and Lord Longford's phone call to Nottingham Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. The 1990s brought us the ASDA Kiss-in, the Coffin Parade and the long drawn out saga of the OutHouse Project.
The last decade includes both Nottingham Switchboard's History Project produced as part of Nottinghamshire Living History Archives Millennium Lottery award and a ceremony at the Laxton Holocaust Centre where a pink triangle plaque was dedicated to lesbian and gay victims of the Holocaust.
Has any professional football team done anything about tackling homophobia in this notoriously homophobic sport? The answer is "yes, one only .... Nottingham Forest". See their 2008 poster.
LGBT History Month started in 2005. National LGBT History Month has a website containing a calendar which lists what events are taking place each February to celebrate LGBT History Month. In 2010 and 2011 London was second to Nottingham in the number of events which had been organised. The timeline gives some examples of these events.
View the sequence at http://895be307.webeden.org/timeline-list