LGBT culture in London

History

In the 18th century, some businesspersons and aristocrats had, for the time, relatively open LGBT lifestyles. Rictor Norton, author of Mother Clap's Molly house: The Gay Subculture in England, 1700-1830 stated that in the 1720s London had more gay pubs and clubs than it did in 1950. LGBT studies pre-1920s were entirely of males caught in scandals.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK in 1967, but London was an LGBT tourism destination even before then. LGBT culture became more visible during the 1970s as a result of civil rights movements. Mark W. Turner, the author of "Gay London," stated that when Derek Jarman moved to Charing Cross in 1979, it began the process of Soho becoming the centre of the London LGBT community and that by the early 1990s this was "firmly established".

The Gateways Club was the longest running lesbian nightclub in the world, opening in 1936 and closing in 1985.

The Admiral Duncan pub in Soho was bombed on 30 April 1999. Newspaper articles stated the belief that the bombing was intended to attack the LGBT community; no persons who died in the incident were members of the LGBT community.

Switchboard, formerly the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, is based in the capital, although it serves the whole country.

London's 2015 Gay Pride Parade through the streets of London attracted 1 million people making it the 7th largest gay event in the world and the largest Gay Pride Parade ever held in the UK.

Recreation

The Greater London Authority government promotes LGBT tourism.

The Above the Stag Theatre in Vauxhall is the UK's only LGBT-centric theatre.

Summer Rites is an LGBT-centric outdoor party. The London Pride Parade and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival are also held in the city.

Heaven is the largest gay disco club in Europe. It opened in 1979.

The UK's only gay and lesbian bookshop, Gay's the Word, is in Bloomsbury.

Notable residents

Those identifying as LGBT:

Other persons: