With the largest number of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in England, Brighton has gained a reputation over the decades as being the unofficial “gay capital” of the UK.
To mark the end of Pride Month, The Argus takes a closer look at the history of the vibrant LGBTQ+ community in the city.
From fishing village to seaside escape
Brighton’s LGBTQ+ history dates back to the 19th century, when the then-fishing village gained a reputation as a seaside resort due to a fad for bathing in seawater for the supposed medicinal benefits.
A floating population of holidaymakers, alongside train links to London and the number of soldiers garrisoned in the town during the Napoleonic Wars, attracted many LGBTQ+ people.
In August 1822, George Wilson, a servant from Newcastle was jailed for two years after offering money to a soldier he was drinking with at a pub in Pool Valley to go with him to the beach to engage in a sexual act.
With homosexuality being illegal at the time, many LGBTQ+ people also faced violent attacks. In May 1826, London solicitor Stanley Stokes was mobbed, tarred and had his throat cut in East Street after making sexual advances on a groom at the New Ship Hotel in Ship Street, now Hotel du Vin. Stanley died two days later.
However, unmarried women could in some instances live together and be recognised as a pair without attracting much comment or outcry.
British philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts spent part of her time at the Royal Albion Hotel with her companion Hannah Brown. When Hannah died in 1878, Angela confided she had been “the sunshine of my life for 52 years”.
Brighton's first LGBTQ+ venues and outbreak of war
During the 1920s and 1930s, Brighton’s reputation as a seafront escape for LGBTQ+ grew, with many viewing the town as a place to have a good time.
Several pubs with a lesbian or gay clientele began to thrive during this time, including the now-closed Star of Brunswick and Pigott’s bar at the St James Tavern in Madeira Place.
In 1929, a transgender man married a woman at St Peter’s Church but was later sentenced to nine months in prison for making a false statement on a marriage certificate.
The Second World War saw Brighton closed off to visitors due to the fear of invasion, with the beach covered in barbed wire. The threat saw a number of soldiers, some from overseas, based in the town, which attracted the interest of LGBTQ+ residents.
Although police often turned a blind eye to gatherings, naval authorities were forced to intervene after the Star of Brunswick attracted much interest from cadets at the Hove training base HMS King Alfred.
Soldiers away from home met other LGBTQ+ people for the first time and heard about Brighton and its reputation, with many visiting and staying in the town after the end of the war.
Pride and protest
Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Brighton was the top destination for gay holidaymakers, with guesthouses either owned by gay men or willing to ignore instances of illegal activity.
However, police raids sometimes put some people off from visiting Brighton, especially as officers would take the name and address of those present - risking them being outed. Those who did take the risk would keep an alias to prevent the possibility of losing their job, friends and even their family.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in England in 1967 and, in the age of “flower power”, a movement grew to challenge homophobic attitudes and norms.
The launch of Gay News in 1972, Britain’s first national gay newspaper, allowed LGBTQ+ venues and organisations to let others know of their existence, including those from Brighton.
Organisations campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights began to form in the early 1970s, with the Sussex Gay Liberation Front launched in February 1971 by a group of university students and LGBTQ+ residents. The group organised their first protest in October of the same year, with the town’s first Pride march taking place in July 1973.
Photos taken by The Argus show activists carrying placards reading “glad to be gay” and “homosexuals are humans”. However, the next Pride march would not take place for many years after the event.
The following years also saw the launch of the Brighton Gay Switchboard - then known as the Lavender Line, which provided a support line for LGBTQ+ people.
Outbreak of HIV/Aids
Brighton reported its first case of HIV/Aids in 1982, sparking panic in the LGBTQ+ community in the town. As rumours spread as fast as the virus itself, support lines like the Lavender Line were inundated with queries.
With advice left to the LGBTQ+ community itself, activists sprung into action, producing literature, organising fundraising events and forming support groups, including the Sussex Aids Trust and Open Door.
One activist, Graham Wilkinson, co-founded the Sussex Aids Helpline in 1985 and helped raise money for The Sussex Beacon, a purpose-built care centre for men and women living with HIV in Sussex, which opened in 1992. Graham later died of Aids in 1990.
In the first 25 years of the epidemic, more than 482 people in Brighton died of Aids - the majority of them being gay men. A memorial to those lost was created by Romany Mark Bruce and unveiled in 2009, becoming the site of an annual remembrance service on World Aids Day.
Pride returns as calls for equality grow
A new wave of LGBTQ+ activism started after Section 28 in 1988, which prohibited councils and schools from the “promotion of homosexuality”, was introduced. Brighton Area Action Against Section 28 organised a march every May from Hove Town Hall to Brighton Town Hall to protest the legislation.
Calls for LGBTQ+ equality also saw five lesbian protesters storm the stage of the 1990 International Congress of the Family, being held at the Brighton Centre. Activists held placards that said “lesbian and gay rights now”. The protest came after Princess Diana had addressed the conference - she later went to speak to people infected with HIV at the Sussex Aids Centre in Kemp Town later that day.
Campaigners changed the focus of the protests in 1991, marking the return of Brighton Pride after 18 years. The event grew into the attraction it is today; 1992 saw the launch of Pride in the Park and the event gained major sponsorship in 1995.
LGBTQ+ nightclubs gained success, with the first sizeable gay club, Revenge, launching in 1991.
Turn of the century
With the start of the new millennium, Brighton Pride became a charity, but organisers controversially introduced an entrance fee to their annual park festival.
Since 2012, the event has raised more than £1 million for local LGBTQ+ community groups and attracts hundreds of thousands of people every year, as well as some of the biggest musical acts, including Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears and most recently Christina Aguilera.
In 2005, Debbie Gaston and Elaine Cook became the first same-sex couple to have a civil partnership in the UK, tying the knot at Brighton Registry Office. The pair would be followed by Neil Allard and Andrew Wale, who became the first same-sex couple to marry in Brighton in a special midnight ceremony at the Royal Pavilion in 2014.
As calls for equality for the transgender community grew, Brighton hosted the first and largest Trans Pride outside of the United States in 2013. The event will mark its tenth anniversary with its annual event next month.
The city elected its first gay MP in 1997, with Ivor Caplin representing Hove until 2005. Brighton and Hove now currently has two gay MPs - Peter Kyle in Hove and Lloyd Russell-Moyle in Brighton Kemptown. Mr Russell-Moyle made history in 2018, becoming the first MP to disclose his HIV status in the House of Commons.
LGBTQ+ people have also gained more representation on television, with Brighton's Ollie King and Kalium Webster featuring on the UK's first gay dating show I Kissed A Boy earlier this year.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here