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Victorian Age
The Victorian age was a really hard time for homosexuals. The two sexes inhabited what the Victorians called 'spheres'. These two separate spheres had different expectation from society. The women were considered physically weaker and the men were considered morally weaker. The women were at home, watching the house and counterbalancing the moral taint of the public sphere in which their husbands worked all day. -
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Modernism
Modernism is an age where litterature were written about taboos. The modernism period were heavily shaped by the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities. Modernism rejected the certainty of Enlightment thinking, and many modernists rejected religious beliefs.
Modernists would make work with taboos and start discussions about the themes. -
Stop all the clocks
The poem "Funeral Blues" a.k.a. "Stop all the clocks" by W.H. Auden, is a modern poem where he write about the taboo - Homosexuality. Auden's poem is about how the lyrical i is mourning about loosing a loved one. The poem is very feminine in such an age, since there is a lot of feelings/emotions which comes from a lyrical i that we suspect is a man. -
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A report for the government
In the 1950s, a group was set up to look at the way gay men were treated by the law. It put together a report for the government that recommended that the law should be changed.
The government did not make the changes at first and more people started to campaign for the rights of gay people.
Eventually the law was changed in 1967 -
The Maximum sentence for being gay, bisexual.
Gays and homosexuals could get a maximum sentence of life in prison for being gay, homosexual up until 1967. -
The Stonewall riots
In New York, the Stonewall riots started after the police raided a bar called the Stonewall Inn, which was a popular place for gay people to hang out. It is said to be the start of the movement of people fighting for gay rights in the US. -
The first pride festival
The festival celebrates the gay community and supports equal rights, took place in London on 1 July. 2,000 people took part. Now, more than one million people celebrate it in the UK's capital, and Pride events take place all over the world. -
Section 28
The law, Section 28, was introduced which meant that teachers were not allowed to 'promote' gay relationships in schools. Many people argued that this prevented teachers from talking about gay relationships. It wasn't until 2003 that this was overturned. -
Gay armymen
A law was changed which allowed gay and bisexual people to be in the armed forces. -
Adopting children
A law was changed to allow gay people (and also unmarried couples) to adopt children. -
No more Section 28
The ban on 'promoting' homosexuality in schools (Section 28) was overturned. -
The civil partnerships for gay people
This year marked the start of civil partnerships for gay people. This meant that they had similar rights to people who were married, but civil partnerships are not exactly the same as marriage. Some people did not think it was good enough and that gay people should be allowed to get married. -
No more hatred
It became illegal to encourage homophobic hatred. Last year, more than 7,000 hate crimes were reported against gay men and women in the UK. -
Gay marriage
Gay marriage was made legal in England and Wales, and later in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, gay marriage is not legal.