Finding queer stories in Scottish History

'And now – look – Old Scotland is no more.

Gay men kiss at the Parliament’s door.'

Scots Makar Jackie Kay’s poem 'The Long View'(this link will open in a new window) sweeps through Scottish history with an eye to how far we’ve come. Looking back lets us see how much progress(this link will open in a new window) Scotland has made for LGBTQ+ rights and representation, and how far we still have to go.

The coronavirus restrictions have ruled out looking for the queer past in a physical library or archive this February. Don’t let this stop you investigating some of the mysteries of queer Scottish history from your own home.

Explore queer Scotland

• how did the model for Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray end up working as a priest in Edinburgh?
• did a small Leith policeman really disguise himself as a baby to stop public indecency?
• who tried to use a sheep to intimidate a Victorian lesbian medical pioneer?
• just how homoerotic were a Scottish king’s letters to his favourite courtiers?
• how did a transgender nobleman charm the Scottish country dancing scene in 1960’s Aberdeenshire?
• which bisexual magician claimed to have summoned dinosaurs to guard his Highland estate?

Fantastic online resources from Our Story Scotland(this link will open in a new window) and Queer Scotland(this link will open in a new window) are a great place to begin your journey. Here are some more ways to find and enjoy queer stories this LGBT History Month...

Through poetry

• Find out more about poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon(this link will open in a new window), and the time they spent in Edinburgh being treated for shellshock during WWI.
• Read the work of artist Maud Sulter(this link will open in a new window) whose iconic images and poems were rooted in the black, feminist, and lesbian movements of the 1980s.
• Leaf through Edwin Morgan’s scrapbooks(this link will open in a new window) and read the poem he wrote for the opening of the Glasgow Gay and Lesbian Centre(this link will open in a new window) in 1995.

In the library

• Register for a free account(this link will open in a new window) with the National Library of Scotland for access to a host of eResources you can use from home.
• Browse newspapers(this link will open in a new window) from the 1700s to the present day and read stories as they were reported at the time.
• Browse historic images and films in the Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network (this link will open in a new window)through the same account.

In the archives

• Find out about early lesbian publications and the fight against Section 28 in Glasgow Women’s Library’s online collection(this link will open in a new window). Many documents from the National Archives are available to view online, along with a guide to researching LGBT history(this link will open in a new window) in their collections.
• The National Records of Scotland have details of some of their LGBT material online(this link will open in a new window), including a cautionary tale about not carrying a musical instrument when escaping arrest.
• You can even glimpse footage of the Scottish Minorities Group in Edinburgh, including a very 1970’s disco, in the BBC Open Door archive(this link will open in a new window).

In your local area

Walking down your street could bring you closer to queer history than you realise. Perhaps you lived near the Scottish communist journalist who defended homosexuality to Stalin, or close to the site where farmers rallied their tractors to protect their transgender neighbour from nosy reporters. Explore the Queer Scotland LGBT Historical Maps (this link will open in a new window)and The Digital Transgender Archive map(this link will open in a new window), or take an audio tour of Glasgow’s queer heritage(this link will open in a new window) with Glasgow Women’s Library.

Get involved

There are plenty of exciting ways to get involved with queer history in Scotland. Visit the oral history project OurStory Scotland(this link will open in a new window) to contribute your voice to their archive and help preserve the experiences of others. Lavender Menace, which started in 1982 as Scotland’s first queer bookshop, has returned as a queer book archive. Join them and add your collection to their archive(this link will open in a new window).

Read

Reading is a fantastic way to observe, learn, celebrate and reflect on LGBTQ+ history and progress. Scottish Book Trust has several LGBTQ+ inclusive book lists to get you started, many of which include Scottish perspectives. Immerse yourself and discover queer Scotland in these incredible stories.

(this link will open in a new window)Books about LGBTQ+ history