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.

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.

Reformation and later

• 1533 – the Buggery Act is part of Henry VIII's campaign to seize power from the church.
• 1553 – Queen Mary I, a Roman Catholic, comes to the throne; the Buggery Act 1533 is repealed, along with other Protestant acts of parliament.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.
• 1628 – Jeremy Farrer is found "abusing himself in a sodomitical manner" in a church.
• 1822 – Percy Jocelyn is deposed as Bishop of Clogher for "sodomitical practices".
• 1863 – Rev Charles Vaughan turns down the chance to be a bishop. His reason is kept secret for 100 years.

The 20th Century

• 1964 – the Bishop of Middleton hosts the first meeting of what becomes the Campaign for Homosexual Equality
• 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).
• 1979 – the Gay Humanist Group is founded; it later becomes the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).
• 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.
• 1999 – Soho Masses begin, for gay Roman Catholics.

The 21st Century

• 2002 – The Gay Druid Brotherhood is founded.
• 2003 – Rev Jeffrey John is rejected as Bishop of Reading.
• 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.
• 2005 – the musician and journalist Richard Coles becomes an Anglican priest.
• 2010 – death of Rev Elder Jean White, founding pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in London.
• 2011 – Rainbow LGBTQI Unitarians founded.
• 2012 – GALHA becomes the LGBT section of the British Humanist Association.
• 2013 – Soho Masses cease, replaced by LGBT Catholics Westminster.
• 2015 – TESSAC (The Ecumenical Society of Saint Augustine of Canterbury) becomes a member of the LGBT Consortium