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. Click any of the words in blue for more information about the item in question.

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.

The 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• 1553 – Queen Mary I, a Roman Catholic, comes to the throne; the Buggery Act 1533 is repealed, along with other Protestant acts of parliament.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).
• 1979 – the Order of Perpetual Indulgence is 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 – 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.
• 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.
• 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