American travelers have often been to London. It’s easy to fly to, they speak English—in short, it’s an easy place to go on vacation. And when they are in London, many go to Oxford or Cambridge—easy to get to by train. Maybe they take a tour to Stonehenge.Read More

Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki—three of the world’s happiest cities, also the most progressive, and the most gay-friendly.  But did you know they also have a lot of fascinating LGBTQ+ history? Here are a few of the famous LGBTQ+ people from these cities’ past. Hans Christian Andersen is a great example.  The picture we get from his...Read More

In what culture did the king of the gods, the greatest heroes, and the greatest general all have boyfriends?  Ancient Greece, of course.  Many cultures have viewed same-sex relations more positively than America traditionally did—but no-one tops the ancient Greeks.  Male-male relations occupied a key role in their culture:  they were thought of as the way that young men...Read More

People think of Paris as a romantic city, but what they don’t always realize is that it has a long history as a specifically LGBTQ+ city.  First of all, France made homosexuality *legal* in 1791:  all sodomy laws were eliminated from the law code during the Revolution, 212 years before the Supreme Court did that in the...Read More

Programming on LGBTQ+ history and art is an effective strategy for DEI team-building.Read More

LGBTQ+ people have been enormously important in New York City’s history—especially its cultural history.  And New York City has been enormously important in LGBTQ+ history.  This is probably largely due to the fact that, although New York was terribly repressive about issues of gender and sexuality through its history, it was generally less so than...Read More

Gay artists have faced a daunting dilemma since the beginning of time: keeping their sexuality hidden or being out with their art and lives and, in doing so, risking rejection and even prosecution. This is why many gay artists, who couldn’t express themselves openly, were forced to live double lives.  They created mainstream work, which...Read More

You might not think there have been many LGBTQ rulers in world history.  But you would be wrong!  From Alexander the Great’s Macedonia to Mad Ludwig’s Bavaria and beyond, there have been rulers (and members of ruling families) with many different sexualities and gender identities throughout world history.  And a number of them, unsurprisingly, have...Read More

At the end of this very real annus terribilis, I want to say a few words to you, our loyal readers and attendees.  Above all, thanks!  Thanks for keeping Oscar Wilde Tours alive by reading our blog, attending our Zoom tours, watching our YouTube videos, contributing to our fundraisers—in short, for being a fabulously loyal...Read More

In a little over 100 years, between 1861 and 1967, Britain went from punishing male homosexuality with the death penalty to decriminalisation across the vast majority of the country. That may seem like a glacial pace but when we consider the World Health Organisation didn’t officially declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder until 1992, the...Read More