LGBT History Project:Style Guide

This page sets out practical writing and formatting conventions for articles on the LGBT History Project wiki. It is the working companion to the Editorial Policy, which covers principles and governance. Where there is any conflict between this page and the Editorial Policy, the Editorial Policy takes precedence.

Language and spelling

Write in British English throughout. Use British spellings (organisation, recognise, colour, practise as a verb), British punctuation conventions, and British date formats.

Use the past tense for historical events and deceased individuals. Use the present tense for living people and currently active organisations.

Avoid jargon, academic register, and insider shorthand where a plain alternative exists. Articles should be readable by someone with no prior knowledge of the subject.

Dates and numbers

Write dates in full: 1 July 1967, not 1/7/67 or July 1, 1967.

For centuries and decades, spell them out: the twentieth century, the 1970s (no apostrophe before the s).

For age ranges and spans, use an en-dash with no spaces: 1921–1989.

Write numbers one to nine as words. Use numerals for 10 and above, and always for years, ages, percentages, and statistics.

Names and article titles

People

Use the name by which the person is best known. Where a person changed their name during their lifetime — whether on transition, marriage, professional reasons, or for any other reason — use the name they used for the majority of their documented public life, or the name they explicitly preferred. Jan Morris, for example, is listed under Jan Morris, not James Morris.

Where a person is known primarily by a single name, nickname, or pseudonym (such as Princess Seraphina), that is the article title.

Do not use honorifics (Sir, Dame, Lord) in the article title. They may appear in the article text where relevant.

Organisations

Use the organisation's full, official name as the article title. Common abbreviations may be used in the article body after the first mention.

Disambiguation

Where two subjects share the same name, add a disambiguating term in parentheses: Alan Carr (comedian). See Disambiguation page for guidance.

Pronouns

For living people, use the pronouns they use for themselves. Where no reliable source confirms preferred pronouns, avoid using any and rewrite the sentence if necessary.

For historical figures, this requires more care (see also Editorial Policy, section 2.4 and 2.5):

Where a historical figure was known during their lifetime by a particular pronoun or form of address — and this is documented in contemporary sources — use that. Princess Seraphina was referred to as she and Her Highness by contemporaries; the wiki follows this usage.
Where pronoun usage is unknown, there is no requirement to use he/him simply because that was the legal or social default of the period. Use the name, or rewrite around the pronoun.
Speculative retroactive pronoun use (asserting that a historical figure would have used particular pronouns) is not appropriate in article text. It may appear in editorial commentary, clearly attributed.

Terminology

LGBT+ umbrella terms

Use LGBT+ as the default umbrella term in article text. Other formulations — LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA+, queer, and so on — are acceptable where that is the term the subject itself uses, or where a specific formulation is historically accurate to the period being described.

Do not use gay as an umbrella term covering lesbian and bisexual people as well, unless quoting or describing a historical usage in which this was the convention.

Historical terminology

Older terms — sodomite, invert, molly, Uranian, homophile — should be used where they are accurate to the historical record, without apology. Contextualise them on first use to ensure the modern reader understands their meaning and period. Do not substitute modern terms where they would be anachronistic (see Editorial Policy, section 2.5).

Similarly, terms that are now considered offensive — such as certain uses of queer in older sources — may appear in quotation and in descriptions of historical language, clearly framed as such.

Terms to avoid

The following are not appropriate in article text (outside of quotation or historical description):

Lifestyle — as a synonym for sexual orientation or gender identity
Openly gay — acceptable in some historical contexts, but avoid where it implies that being gay is something ordinarily hidden
Admitted / confessed — in the sense of acknowledging sexuality, as these imply wrongdoing
Biological sex — as an unqualified absolute term in contentious contexts; describe the specific biological characteristic being discussed if it is relevant

Article structure

Lead paragraph

Every article should open with a lead paragraph that identifies the subject and states their significance to LGBT history. The article title (or the person's name) should appear in bold on first use.

Example: Princess Seraphina (c. 1700–unknown) was a London figure of the early eighteenth century, known from the record of a 1732 court case in which she testified against a man who stole her clothes. The case provides one of the earliest surviving accounts of what would now be recognised as a trans or gender-nonconforming identity in British history.

Sections

For biographical articles, typical sections are: life and background, significance, sources and further reading. Add sections as the material warrants; do not create empty sections as placeholders.

For organisational articles: overview, history, activities or output, significance.

For place articles: description, LGBT history, sources.

Length

Articles can be as long as the subject warrants. A stub (a very short article with little information) is better than no article, but should be marked with {{stub}} to indicate it needs expansion.

Linking

Link to another article on the wiki on the first mention of that subject. Do not repeat the link further down the article.

Link to a subject when it is genuinely relevant to understanding the article — not simply because it exists on the wiki. An article about a campaign does not need to link to every person ever involved in it.

Do not link to pages that do not yet exist, unless they are likely to be created soon. A red link in an article about a person signals that someone should write that article; a red link that leads nowhere useful is just clutter.

Sources and references

Sources should be cited using the wiki's footnote system. Where no reliable source can be found for a claim, the claim should be removed or flagged with {{citation needed}}.

Acceptable sources include published books and academic work, reputable journalism, archive material, and court records. Personal websites and self-published sources require more caution; oral testimony should be formatted as personal testimony per Editorial Policy, section 2.9.

What this page does not cover

This guide does not cover image rights and sourcing — see Image Policy. It does not replace the Editorial Policy, which governs what may and may not be published.

Editors with questions about specific cases can raise them at the Editors Club or email jonathan@lgbthistoryuk.org.