While Pride season is a great time to learn about the history of LGBTQ+ people in culture, arts, politics and more, beyond that, we could probably all do more to brush up on our knowledge of the community and its history. So: how much do you know about the history of LGBTQ+ rights? Take our quiz to find out.
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Where was the first Pride held?
Washington DC
New York
Philadelphia
Boston
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When was homosexuality decriminalised in the UK?
1949
1952
1967
1973
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To which political party did Chris Smith, the first openly gay MP, belong to?
The Labour Party
The Conservative Party
The Liberal Democrats
Independent
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In what year did it become legal for gay personnel to serve in the UK armed forces?
1980
1990
2000
2010
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Which country, in 2001, became the first in the world to allow same-sex marriages?
Sweden
The Netherlands
France
Iceland
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On which TV show was the first same-sex kiss shown?
LA Law
Ellen
Moonlighting
Will & Grace
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In what year did the US Supreme Court rule that same-sex marriage should be legal?
2009
2011
2015
2017
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Aydian Dowling was the first transgender man to grace the cover of an international magazine. But which one was it?
Attitude
Men’s Health
GQ
Gay Times
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On which UK soap was the first transgender person cast to play a regular transgender character?
Emmerdale
Coronation Street
Eastenders
Hollyoaks
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Georgina Beyer was the first openly transgender member of parliament, four years after she became the first transgender person to be appointed mayor. But in which country was she elected in 1999?
New Zealand
United Kingdom
South Africa
Australia
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Which Greek poet’s home gave rise to the modern word ‘lesbian’?
Hesiod
Homer
Sappho
Nossis
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In 1896, the first worldwide gay periodical appeared. But in which city was it published?
London
New York
Paris
Berlin
Solutions
1:B - The first Pride march took place on 28 June 1970 – the first anniversary of 1969’s famous Stonewall riots. The riots are often considered to be a watershed moment in LGBT rights, with many arguing that they signalled the start of the modern movement. The march, which covered 51 blocks, was supposed to take two hours – but took less than half the scheduled time “due to enthusiasm”., 2:C - It took 10 years from the publication of the Wolfenden report in 1957, which recommended the decriminalisation of homosexuality, before it actually happened. But in 1967, two years after Conservative peer Lord Arran put forward his Sexual Offences Bill after a rising number of prosecutions, it did. But it still took until 1994 for the age of consent for gay men to be reduced to 18, and until 2000 until the age of consent was equalised to 16 for both gay and straight people., 3:A - “Good afternoon, I’m Chris Smith, I’m the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, and I’m gay”. These were the words that Labour MP Smith used to come out at a rally in 1984, a year after he was elected to parliament. He served as an MP for 20 years, stepping down in 2005 and becoming a life peer in the same year., 4:C - Gay people had been banned from serving in the UK armed forces because of a perception that gay relationships could “cause offence, polarise relationships, induce ill-discipline and damage morale and unit effectiveness” – at least according to one 1994 set of armed forces guidelines. In 2000, the European convention on human rights ruled that this was unlawful, and the ban was lifted., 5:B - After decades of campaigning across the globe, it was the Netherlands that first legalised same-sex marriages; the bill was signed into law on 21 December 2000 and came into effect in April 2001. In 2003, Belgium became the second country to legalise same-sex marriage; Canada, Spain and South Africa all followed suit., 6:A - You might have expected the first same-sex kiss to take place on one of the 90s or 00s shows with lead gay characters. In fact, it happened in 1991 on American legal drama LA Law. The kiss was between lead characters Abby Perkins and CJ Lamb – and advertisers were so shocked they threatened to pull their ads., 7:C - After several years of court rulings, the landmark Obergefell v Hodges decision was passed in June 2015, requiring all US states to allow same-sex marriages and to recognise same-sex marriages that had taken place elsewhere. Until the ruling, only 36 states allowed same-sex marriage., 8:D - In 2015, thousands of people voted for bodybuilder Dowling to be put on the cover of Men’s Health. He didn’t win – so Gay Times decided to put him on its cover instead., 9:D - Actress Annie Wallace was cast as headteacher Sally St Clair in October 2015 – the first transgender person to play a regular trans character on a UK soap. Casting executives from the show had held casting workshops specifically to recruit actors from the transgender community, and worked with media project All About Trans to make the character’s storylines realistic., 10:A - Beyer had a long career in local politics before she was elected mayor of the Carterton district in Wellington, New Zealand in 1995 – and it was only four years before she was elected MP in 1999, the first openly transgender person to do so in the world. She’s also one of the few former sex workers to hold a political office., 11:C - Sappho was known for her lyric poetry, much of which focused on the love between women. She came from a wealthy family on Lesbos – the Greek island whose name gave birth to the modern word “lesbian”. It now sees thousands of LGBT tourists visit every year., 12:D - Berlin was home to some of the earliest advances in LGBT culture and arts – and Der Eigene, the first gay periodical magazine in the world, was no different. Launched in 1896, the magazine ran until 1932, featuring poems, articles and art from a broad range of contributors including Thomas Mann and Friedrich Schiller.
Scores
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10 and above.
Well done: you’re clearly an LGBT history buff!
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0 and above.
Ouch – time to hit the history books!
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6 and above.
Not bad – you may need to brush up on your history a bit more, but you’re getting there!
