Timeline of UK LGBT Religion, Belief and Philosophy

"Leap of Faith" logo for LGBT History Month 2016

This is a Timeline of UK LGBT Religion, Belief and Philosophy, created in connection with the theme of LGBT History Month 2016. Each of the events listed below has an article about it on this wiki: click the words in blue for more information.

The Middle Ages

• late 6th century – Findchán and Áid the Black are cursed by Saint Columba.
• 597 – Saint Augustine becomes first Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 670 – Saint Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, prescribes fasts and penances for various homosexual acts.
• 804 – Death of Alcuin, scholar and deacon, who wrote homoerotic poetry.
• 850s – a woman from Wimborne Minster is supposedly elected Pope Joan.
• 1102 – Archbishop Anselm convenes the Council of London: the council condemns homosexuality, but Anselm refuses to allow the decree to be published.
• 1102 – Saint Ælred becomes Abbot of Rievaulx. Although celibate, he wrote of his intense love for other monks.
• 1123 – Rahere founds S Bartholomew's Hospital having had a vision of the saint.
• 1223 – Gerald of Wales published a book denouncing same-sex marriage in Ireland.

The Reformation and later

• 1533 – the Buggery Act is part of Henry VIII's campaign to seize power from the church.
• 1541 – Rev Nicholas Udall, Headmaster of Eton, convicted for buggery.
• 1553 – Queen Mary I, a Roman Catholic, comes to the throne; the Buggery Act 1533 is repealed, along with other Protestant acts of parliament.
• 1563 – the Buggery Act is re-enacted under Elizabeth I, a Protestant.
• 1604 – death of Archbishop John Whitgift.
• 1628 – Jeremy Farrer is found "abusing himself in a sodomitical manner" in a church.
• 1640 – Bishop John Atherton is executed for buggery.
• 1660 – Rev John Wilkins and others found the Royal Society

The 19th Century

• 1822 – Percy Jocelyn is deposed as Bishop of Clogher for "sodomitical practices".
• 1832 – death of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham; he had written in favour of the decriminalisation of gay sex.
• 1863 – Rev Charles Vaughan turns down the chance to be a bishop. His reason is kept secret for 100 years.
• 1883 – Edward White Benson becomes Archbiship of Canterbury.
• 1889 – Frederick Rolfe ("Baron Corvo") is expelled from his college and fails to become a Roman Catholic priest.
• 1890 – death of Cardinal Newman. He is buried as he wished beside his close friend Fr Ambrose St John.

The 20th Century

• 1904 – Robert Hugh Benson, son of an Archbishop of Canterbury, becomes a Roman Catholic priest.
• 1964 – the Bishop of Middleton hosts the first meeting of what becomes the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. Rev Bernard Dodd becomes its first chairman.
• 1968 – SK, probably the first gay social group in the country, is founded at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine in Limehouse.
• 1971 – GLF supporters disrupt a rally of the Nationwide Festival of Light.
• 1970s – Rev Dennis Nadin founds Reach for lesbian and gay Christians.
• 1972 – Fellowship of Christ Liberator is founded in London. It later affiliates to the Metropolitan Community Church and becomes MCC London.
• 1973 – the Friends Homosexual Fellowship is founded. It later becomes the Quaker Lesbian and Gay Fellowship.
• 1976 – the Gay Christian Movement is founded; it later becomes the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM).
• 1976 – Gay News is convicted of "blasphemous libel".
• 1977 – the Unitarians resolve that their ministry be open to all regardless of sex or sexual orientation.
• 1977 – Rev Michael Harding dies in a motorcyle accident.
• 1979 – the Gay Humanist Group is founded; it later becomes the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).
• 1979 – the Order of Perpetual Indulgence is founded.
• 1981 – Rabbi Lionel Blue comes out as gay in his book Godly and Gay.
• 1988 – Jeremy Marks founds Courage, for gay and lesbian evangelicals.
• 1990 – Rabbi Sheila Shulman founds Beit Klal Yisrael.
• 1993 – Foundation of the gay Humanist charity, the Pink Triangle Trust.
• 1995 – Rev Colin Coward founds Changing Attitude as a network of LGBT people in the Church of England.
• 1996 – Derek Rawcliffe is banned from acting as an assistant bishop in the Ripon diocese.
• 1998 – Archbishop George Carey's Easter sermon is disrupted by Peter Tatchell as a protest against Carey's opposition to gay rights.
• 1998 – Al Fatiha UK is founded for gay Muslims. It later becomes Imaan.
• 1998 – Fr Bernard Lynch is married to his partner by a Cistercian priest.
• 1999 – Soho Masses begin, for gay Roman Catholics.

The 21st Century

• 2001 – the Safra Project is founded, for LBT Muslim women.
• 2001 – David Cairns, former Catholic priest, is elected to Parliament.
• 2002 – the Gay Druid Brotherhood is founded.
• 2003 – Rev Jeffrey John is rejected as Bishop of Reading.
• 2003 – Rev Giles Fraser founds Inclusive Church
• 2003 – Rev Mervyn Kingston founds Changing Attitude Ireland
• 2004 – Bodhicharya Diverse, an LGBT Buddhist meditation group, is set up.
• 2004 – re-enactments are staged of the ancient church ceremonies (adelphopoiesis) for uniting two men as brothers.
• 2004 – Rev Jeffrey John is appointed Dean of St Albans.
• 2004 – publication of the Polari Bible.
• 2005 – the musician and journalist Richard Coles becomes an Anglican priest.
• 2007 – Sarbat established, as a resource for LGBT Sikhs.
• 2008 – Rev Peter Cowell and Rev David Lord have a church blessing for their civil partnership]]
• 2008 – Rev Sharon Ferguson takes over from Rev Richard Kirker as Chief Executive of LGCM.
• 2008 – Rev Scott Rennie is appointed minister of QUeen's Cross Church, Aberdeen.
• 2010 – death of Rev Elder Jean White, founding pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in London.
• 2011 – Rainbow LGBTQI Unitarians founded.
• 2011 – Symon Hill walks from Birmingham to London, as a pilgrimage of repentance for homophobia in the church.
• 2012 – GALHA becomes the LGBT section of the British Humanist Association.
• 2012 – Rainbow Jews project launched.
• 2012 – Courage closes, replaced by Two:23.
• 2012 – Justin Welby succeeds Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 2012 – Rev Kelvin Holdsworth invites Roman Catholics unhappy with their church's stance on equal marriage to join him in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
• 2013 – Soho Masses cease, replaced by LGBT Catholics Westminster.
• 2013 – the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act includes provision for religious marriages, but the Church of England and Church in Wales are specifically excluded.
• 2013 – Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigns after accusations of "inappropriate acts".
• 2013 – Paul Flowers, chair of the Co-op bank, is suspended as a Methodist minister.
• 2013 – Rev Rowland Jide Macaulay, founder of House of Rainbow is ordained as a priest in the Church of England.
• 2014 – Twilight People project set up, to explore the hidden history of trans people of faith in the UK.
• 2014 – Tracey Byrne takes over from Rev Sharon Ferguson as Chief Executive of LGCM.
• 2015 – TESSAC (The Ecumenical Society of Saint Augustine of Canterbury) becomes a member of the LGBT Consortium
• 2015 – the Church of England's General Synod is to debate services to welcome trans people under their new names.