Gay England

In the last week, meandering around England with some friends, I went to several places that will be on my England tours in April and May, so I thought I would tell you all about the trip. First, in London, I took a quick look around the National Portrait Gallery, to see if things were...Read More

If you’re looking for a journey that feels like stepping into a secret woolgather of queer history, Oscar Wilde Tours’ “LGBTQ+ England, from Edward II to Ian McKellen” is pure magic—and made just for us. Imagine nine days in England guided by people who actually get how queer culture is woven into the tapestry of...Read More

York is a beautiful, medieval city in the North of England—but is it a good place to look for LGBT+ history? Well, it might surprise you, but the answer is yes: there are major monuments to LGBT+ history in and around York. One is Holy Trinity Church in York itself, where (as you can see...Read More

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

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

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

One of the great things about England is its grand, historic houses, what the British call “stately homes.”  Today’s post is about two castles with an LGBTQ past.  And who better to write about LGBTQ England and its Queerest Stately Homes than Nick Collinson and Dan Vo?  Nick is the founder of the LGBTQ working...Read More

The world’s art museums are full of Gay Secrets. These two gorgeous objects from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston are a great example. They are the kind of things you would just glance at in a museum—and then you’d move on to something you knew more about. But hold on a minute! Both belonged...Read More

In the next week, Oscar Wilde Tours will announce its Europe season for 2017, with Gay London/Gay Paris (August 14-22), followed by our first gay history tour of Amsterdam (August 22-25), and then our new Gay Gods and Heroes package, consisting of two back to back tours of the gay history and art of the...Read More

Oscar Wilde Tours is just about to announce its new season of European gay history tours, with London, Paris, and Amsterdam in August, and tours (which can be combined) of Greece and Italy in September.  And as I plan them, the things that stick with me most are the fun new things that I discovered...Read More