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

Saint Ælred of Rievaulx

• 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.
• 1189 – William Longchamp becomes Bishop of Ely, Lord Chancellor, and effectively ruler of England in King Richard I's absence on the Crusades.
• 1223 – Gerald of Wales published a book denouncing same-sex marriage in Ireland.

The Reformation and later

John Atherton and John Childe

• 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• 1553 – Queen Mary I, a Roman Catholic, comes to the throne; the Buggery Act 1533 is repealed, along with other Protestant acts of parliament.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.
• 1678 – Rev Titus Oates invents the "Popish plot".

The 19th Century

Jeremy Bentham

• 1813 – Rev John Church accused of being chaplain at a Molly House and conducting same-sex weddings.
• 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

Ludwig Wittgenstein

LGCM logo

GALHA logo

Colin Coward (left) with American gay Bishop Gene Robinson

Imaan logo

• 1904 – Robert Hugh Benson, son of an Archbishop of Canterbury, becomes a Roman Catholic priest.
• 1909 – Rev E E Bradford, Uranian poet, becomes Vicar of Nordelph, Norfolk.
• 1921 – Ludwig Wittgenstein publishes Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, the only major philosophical work published in his lifetime.
• 1939 – death of philosopher Edward Westermarck. He rejected the influence of Christianity on morals and argued that homosexuality was natural.
• 1958 – Michael Dillon, first person in the UK to have female to male surgery, becomes a Buddhist monk.
• 1964 – Ted Wickham, 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.
• 1972 – Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group founded.
• 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.
• 1979 – founding of the Evangelical Fellowship for Lesbian and Gay Christians.
• 1979 – MCC Bournemouth founded.
• 1980 – founding of the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups.
• 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.
• 1991 – MCC Newcastle founded.
• 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 – the Anglican Communion's Lambeth Conference declares that "homosexual practice" is incompatible with Scripture.
• 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.
• 1999 – publication of the Cambridge Accord, an attempt to reach agreement throughout the Anglican Communion on the human rights of gay people.

The 21st Century

Bodhicharya symbol

Sarbat logo

Rainbow Jews logo

The Apple Tree Hindu Temple, Ifield

• 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.
• 2006 – Affirmation Scotland founded, to press for inclusion of LGBT people in the Church of Scotland
• 2006 – John Reaney is turned down for a job as a Church of England youth worker, following an interview with Anthony Priddis, Bishop of Hereford. An employment tribunal subsequently rules this is a case of unlawful discrimination.
• 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.
• 2008 – Fr John Owen is named Stonewall Bigot of the Year following homophobic remarks on television.
• 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 – Faith and Sexuality Project set up.
• 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 – a Hindu temple in Crawley announces it will welcome marriages by same-sex couples.
• 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.
• 2013 – Pat Robertson, American televangelist, is named Stonewall Bigot of the Year
• 2014 – gay pagan group the Brotherhood of Cernunnos founded.
• 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) briefly becomes a member of the LGBT Consortium.
• 2015 – MCC South London closes.
• 2015 – the Church of England's General Synod is to debate services to welcome trans people under their new names.
• 2015 – Rev Andrew Foreshew-Cain, married to his same-sex partner, is elected to the Church of England's General Synod. Meanwhile Canon Jeremy Pemberton, also in a same-sex marriage, is refused a licence to be a hospital chaplain in Nottinghamshire.