Did you know it was LGBT+ History Month last month? I didn’t.

I’m bisexual. I came out in 2016 (via blog post, naturally) but before then, I was an ally – I still am for others. I’ve always prided (no pun intended) myself on being “woke”, but recently I’ve realised how little I really know about my community.

Part of that is my fault for not being involved more, learning things, but mainly, it’s because there is a lack of education and mainstream coverage of queer culture in general. I mean, it’s only by chance I saw one of my fellow queer writers tweet about LGBTHM. Otherwise, it probably would’ve passed me by and this article wouldn’t exist. I wouldn’t know any of the things I’ve learned in the past few weeks and my book would’ve been damagingly inaccurate.

You see, I’ve been writing a novel called Smalltown Boy since 2018. It’s a bisexual coming out story (more dramatic than a blog post, I promise) set in the 80s. I almost self-published it last year. And I’m so glad I didn’t because I didn’t do my research.

There’s a fine balance to research. Do too much and your romance novel risks reading like a textbook. It looks like you’re trying to show off your knowledge by copying and pasting Wikipedia and overshadows, maybe even changes your work because you want it to be accurate.

Don’t get me wrong, accuracy is important, as I found out, but don’t get bogged down in it either. Ignore the amateur historians (and the real ones) who point out, “Technically, that song wasn’t released until the year after blah blah blah”. You know, the spoilsports who can’t see the wood for the trees. If anything, embrace the anachronisms if they’re not too far off and serve your story.

But then there’s ignoring an entire epidemic because you can’t be bothered researching it.

My book is about a queer person in the 80s so tackling AIDS is unavoidable, right? I mean, it was unavoidable for many of the LGBT+ community who lived in that decade.

But I thought, “My book isn’t about AIDS, I can get away with it not going into too much detail.”

Then I watched Russell T Davies’ It’s A Sin and realised how naïve I’d been. How ignorant.

Sure, my novel might be a work of fiction, but it is rooted firmly in reality, and the reality was, the 80s was a shitty time to be a queer person, never mind just in Manchester, but across the country.

I’ve been using the 80s purely aesthetically, for the music, the cultural references, without truly considering the contextual implications for my story. Until last year, I didn’t even know the song Smalltown Boy was about homophobia and therefore, even more apt! I had no idea all the members of Bronski Beat were even gay or that the song was a gay anthem!

Anyway, I thought some offhand references to AIDS in my book would suffice and mentioned the crisis in my synopsis to draw attention. Not only was I co-opting a decade’s worth of tragedy to sell my book but disrespecting the thousands of men who had died from AIDS. I didn’t realise how prevalent it was and how much it affected the gay community that I’d been using as a backdrop to my story.

For instance, I originally wrote the Gay Village as a utopia. But the Canal Street I know today, that I took inspiration from, is very different from the one back then.

In my previous drafts of Smalltown Boy, the doors to all the clubs were open, draped in rainbow flags. In reality, this would’ve never happened. All of the clubs were bordered up, hidden from sight. To enter, you had to knock on or give a password that you rang up earlier in the day to get.

The first gay club to have windows, Manto, wasn’t opened until 1991! Gay property developer Carol Ainscow was "sick of having to knock on doors and hide" and the club lost money for 6 months due to people's fear of being seen in there.

You see, even in gay clubs, you weren’t safe. You could be arrested just for dancing!

Homosexuality had only been decriminalised in Britain in 1967. Gay men could have sex but only if they were over 21 and in private. So, a group of men dancing in a club constituted public indecency. Even men simply meeting was seen as soliciting and so many met in private, under the bridge at Canal Street for example, and were often arrested by undercover policemen.

These “pretty policeman” were plain-clothed officers who would flirt and preposition gay men outside well-known gay clubs then arrest them “importuning for immoral purposes”. Basically, tricking and trapping them.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I didn’t realise how wide and commonplace prejudice was in the 80s, especially amongst the police. It fundamentally changed my story and opened my privileged eyes. And I wouldn’t have known any of it if it wasn't for It’s A Sin or writing my book because let’s be honest, there isn’t much mainstream stuff about AIDS. Like, can you name me any movies about it, other than Philadelphia with Tom Hanks, that a straight person might’ve seen?

But it’s not just the media’s fault, the real problem is education. Just because the LGBT+ community is a minority doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be taught about it in schools. Why didn’t I know about the AIDS epidemic until I was an adult? Why, when I was taught about safe sex and shown how to put a condom on a banana, wasn’t I warned about the possibility of contracting HIV? Instead, there were jokes about STDS and I was told to have a posh wank.

I can’t believe thinking back how my sex education never once touched on gay sex. As if that wasn't an option. Yet, I went to an all-boys school and all of my friend group turned out to be queer. We went out into the world knowing next to nothing.

At least AIDS, gay sex and homosexuality can be brought up in classrooms. Not so long ago, Section 28 meant it was illegal to even punish homophobia because that would’ve meant acknowledging homosexuality existed. Thankfully, the law was repealed but it was still in effect while I was still in primary school.

It’s easy to think things like homophobia and AIDS are a thing of the past but on the grand scale of human history, they are painfully recent and are still very much relevant today.

I’m only just beginning to learn about LGBT History and I can read and watch as many things as I want (there’s a list at the end of this article!) but it’s not the same as talking to and hearing from the people who experienced these things firsthand.

So, I reached out to a few queer writers who have been affected by AIDS and Section 28 and they have been kind enough to share their stories and some recommendations on how you can learn more about LGBT History.

AIDS

What is AIDS?

The following information is taken from the Terrence Higgins Trust.

AIDS is the name for a collection of illnesses caused by HIV. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. ‘Immunodeficiency’ refers to the weakening of the immune system by the virus. So, if you are HIV Positive your body is susceptible to all sorts of illnesses. You can’t get an AIDS diagnosis unless you’re already HIV positive.

Timeline of the AIDS crisis

The following information is taken from The Independent.

HIV and AIDS have existed for a long time but was only first identified in 1981, where five people were diagnosed in the US.

Later that year, in December, a gay man in Brompton Hospital became the first reported death of AIDS in the UK. He was a frequent visitor to the US.

In 1982, Terrence Higgins became One of the first people known to die of an Aids-related illness in the UK.

AIDS in the media

Unfortunately, it took a long time for this help to be available because even though men were dying from the virus, people hadn’t heard about it, didn’t believe in it or worse, believed what they read in the papers.

There were numerous ridiculous conspiracy theories, some mentioned in this fantastic monologue by the protagonist of It’s A Sin, Ritchie, played by Olly Alexander. But the one thing all of the press coverage had in common was calling AIDS a gay disease. A virus only gay men could have but they were infectious. And this falsehood led to an increase in existing stigma and prejudice.

I talked to two men who grew up in the 80s and what they remember about the AIDS crisis and how it was perceived.

Later in the same year, the Guild issued rules requiring that actors be notified in advance of any "open-mouth" kissing scenes, and provided that they could refuse to participate in such scenes without penalty.

Evans herself appears not to have been angry at Hudson for what happened, and was even asked to introduce the segment of a benefit dedicated in his honour.

“It was incredibly confusing, because while I made a connection between me and Rock and what looked like a horrible illness and the stigma (my uncle's business partner died of an AIDS-related illness - he was straight, but there was no empathy for what happened to him. I remember the suppositions – “That's what happens when you sleep with lots of people”; “I bet he was a drug addict” etc.) - I couldn't talk to anyone about it. I just knew that something awful had happened to people who had done something despicable and that somehow I may be part of that group, but I still didn't understand what that was, what I was or what might lead to me dying. I had no idea of sex - straight or gay - at that age, I just knew I might die and if that was the case, why was nobody worried? Why was nobody trying to prevent that?”

HIV and AIDS today

Now, thanks to widespread treatment, very few people in the UK develop serious HIV-related illnesses and the term AIDS isn’t used much by UK doctors. Instead, they talk about late-stage or advanced HIV (Terrence Higgins).

Today, HIV and AIDS feel like a thing of the past. You can take a pill and live a normal life.

But is it so simple? Harry’s diagnosis was almost a death sentence.

“I want to start treatment.”

“It’s still too early. Your CD4 count is still above 500 copies. NHS guidelines only recommend treatment when your count falls below 350 copies.”

“In other words when I’m sick.”

“Well not that sick. AIDS is defined as a CD4 count under 200 copies.”

“Am I suddenly going to start getting better?” To that question he didn’t have an answer. “I’m not leaving this office without a bottle of Eviplera. It’s one pill a day, I think I can handle that.”

Just twenty-one pills later, Harry was undetectable.

“That’s all it took. The virus in my body was untransmittable. Treatment prevents transmission. Suddenly I no longer felt like a walking bag of used needles. I wasn’t toxic anymore.

While on effective treatment, HIV has no discernible impact on your overall life expectancy. Being undetectable means there is zero risk of transmission to a sexual partner. Not almost zero, not 0%. It’s an absolute zero. Undetectable = Untransmittable. You can’t pass it on.”

Harry later realised why he’d first been refused treatment – it came down to the NHS weighing up treatment costs and not thinking through the benefits. Treatment inequalities are highlighted worst of all by the shocking scandal of Martin Shkreli who hiked the price of a vital drug used by some AIDS patients back in 2011. Clearly, not everyone’s attitudes and agendas have changed over time.

“The world of HIV/Aids is very different today from when I was first diagnosed ten years ago. But some things about it haven’t changed. Our chronic condition still sustains the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people, millions of shareholders, and billions in profits for drug companies.”

“Owning life-saving treatments for deadly conditions is highly profitable. Why else is there a global race to be the first to find a COVID-19 cure? The story of HIV is a microcosm of the business of disease. First comes the plague, then comes the treatment, then comes the profits. The person – the individual with the condition, their hopes, their dreams, their fears, never enters into the equation.”

Learning how corporations have kept vital life-saving drugs hostage from HIV sufferers, Harry found himself becoming an activist.

“I never asked to be an activist. I never asked to know about virus replication, RNA, and more drug names than a pop star’s medicine cabinet. Just as I never asked to be infected with HIV. But here I am, still. Life will teach us what it wants.

But through it all, the most important lessons I’ve learned are not about public health or drug company research costs. They’re about love. Love for your own life, for your own future, for your own love story, no matter what life throws at you.

Four years ago, I married my husband, who is HIV negative. The week after our wedding, I sat down to write. Not just my story, but the stories of other people like me. I haven’t stopped since. Fifteen books (and counting) later, I’ve learned the stories we tell ourselves are how we understand our future. The story of AIDS used to be told in words of victimhood, of shame, of fear, of vastly shortened life expectancies. But that’s not how HIV positive people live, or love. We have our own stories, and it’s about time we tell them.”

Harry wrote a whole piece about his experiences and the quotes I’ve used don’t do him justice. I’m linking the full piece on his website because I didn’t have the heart to trim it down and it deserves to be read in its entirety. You can read all of Harry’s story and how his experiences inspired him to become an author here.

A shorter version of his article was originally shared on the Terrence Higgins Trust Facebook page.

Section 28 - What is section 28?

We’re very lucky we can learn about things such as HIV and AIDS because there was a time not so long ago when even the mere suggestion of homosexuality in schools was illegal, all thanks to a horrible piece of legislation called Section 28.

In 1988, the British government, under the Conservatives, passed a law that prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities. It caused many organisations such as lesbian, gay and bisexual student support groups to close or limit their activities or self-censor.

At the time, public sentiment towards the gay community was…well, you can imagine. And the Tories played on this.

The following information is taken from Wikipedia where you can read the full history of Section 28.

“In 1985, alliances between LGBT and labour unions (including the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)) – formed by activist groups such as Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners and Lesbians Against Pit Closures – led to the adoption at the Labour Party Annual Conference in 1985 of a resolution to criminalise discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

This led to events such as the election to Manchester City Council of Margaret Roff in November 1985 as the UK's first openly lesbian Mayor, all fuelling a heightened public awareness of LGBT rights.”

So, in the Tories 1987 election campaign, they issued attack posters claiming Labour were glorifying homosexuality, showing children how to have gay sex and generally polluting their minds. You know, the usual bollocks.

Anyway, this bullshit worked, enabling Section 28 to be passed.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s thinking was that if young people didn’t know about homosexuality, they wouldn’t become homosexual and therefore, be able to contract AIDS.

The irony was young people would still be queer and now wouldn’t know about AIDS when they went out into the world. Then again, I don’t remember being taught about AIDS even when Section 28 was lifted.

When you think of Section 28, you think of Thatcher and the 80s, right? But it wasn’t repealed until 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in England and Wales.

Despite how recent it was, not everyone seems to be aware it even existed.

Mark

“I think Section 28 isn't widely known about or understood across the general population and younger queer folks. I'm not sure when I first learned of it probably well into the 2000s? It does make a lot of things make more sense in hindsight. In some ways it's not surprising, it caused an absence of information and... a silence? And if you don't know something is absent deliberately you assume the whole world is complicit in queerphobia. Which in itself is pretty toxic.”

Section 28 was effective in making British children feel ashamed of their sexuality. And even when it was repealed, its effects lingered.

Most notably, Kent County Council wasn’t ready to let go of the abhorrent legislation and simply made up their own version, keeping the effect of the defunct law until it was quashed by the Equality Act 2010. Meaning school children in Kent have only been allowed to learn about homosexuality for the last decade.

I spoke to one writer who recounts how growing up in Kent under Section 28 led her to believe “gay” was a bad word and her sexuality was wrong.

LGBT education today

How crazy is it that Section 28 existed in this very century? That it affected zoomers. And even though things have changed – queer-inclusive education became mandatory in 2019, for instance – we’re not even close to what it should be. We still have a long road ahead of us.

I only left school nine years ago. My sex education consisted of putting a banana on a condom and laughing at STDS. Sexual health and the risks were treated as a joke and anything more than heterosexual intercourse between a cis man and woman wasn’t even considered. Unless I’m completely out of touch with the kids, I don’t think much has changed on that front.

I don’t believe we can say things are better until LGBT topics are fully incorporated into the curriculum. Not just in sex education but history too.

Watch a brief history of Section 28 Divina De Campo, from Drag Race UK season 1, did with Stonewall UK for LGBTHM here. And a clip from the show itself of their experience of the law and how things have changed in schools when they became a teacher.

Recommendations

Of course, you can educate yourself – for most of us queer people that’s been the only option – and until LGBT History is more mainstream, I’ve asked the queer writers I interviewed in this article for some recommendations.

The following is a list of books, films, TV shows and more about the AIDS crisis and LGBT History in general.

And The Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts

A collection of investigative reporting on the spread of AIDS throughout America in the 1980s. It was adapted into a film in 1993 starring Matthew Modine, Ian McKellen and Richard Gere.

Recommended by Pink News

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

Two full-length plays which tell the story of a handful of gay men in 1980s New York and how they are affected by AIDS. There was an HBO mini-series in 2003 directed by Mike Nichols and starring Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson. And more recently, a National Theatre production starring Andrew Garfield, Russell Tovey, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Nathan Lane which was shown in cinemas and I kick myself for not having seen it! Thankfully, you can listen to the “Gay Fantasia on National Themes” on Audible just like I did here.

Recommended by me, Mark and Pink News

Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir by Paul Monette

“A personal account of the early days of the AIDS crisis as well as a love story in the face of death.”

Recommended by Pink News

Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival by Sean Straub

A memoir about a politics-obsessed freshman who moves to New York just when the AIDS epidemic hits. Recounts his story from diagnosis to becoming an activist with ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an international, grassroots political group founded by writer Larry Kramer.

Recommended by Pink News

Christoper and His Kind by Christopher Isherwood

This memoir by the major figure in the 20th Century gay rights movement covers the most memorable ten years in the writer's life-from 1929, when he left England to spend a week in Berlin and decided to stay there indefinitely, to 1939, when he arrived in America. It describes his life in gay Berlin of the 1930s and his struggles to save his companion, a German man named Heinz, from the Nazis, and was adapted into a TV film starring Matt Smith in 2011.

Recommended by Mark

Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father by Alysia Abbott

A memoir exploring the father/daughter relationship before, during and after the AIDS epidemic.

Recommended by Pink News.

First Time by Nathaniel Hall

An autobiographic play about fellow Mancunian and writer and performer Nathaniel’s experience of contracting HIV from the first time he had sex. “A show about staying positive in a negative world” that won awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. You can read the play script, published by Nick Hern Books (where it’s on offer!), on Nathaniel’s website, or watch him as Olly Alexander’s on-screen boyfriend in It’s A Sin.

Recommended by me

The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America since World War II by Charles Kaiser

Chronicles gay life in New York City and Americana since 1945.

Recommended by James Gent

Good As You: From Prejudice to Pride - 30 Years of Gay Britain by Paul Flynn

Charts the cultural milestones that effected change between 1984 and 2014, from the panic of HIV to the passing of gay marriage. Includes interviews from major protagonists, such as Kylie, Russell T Davies, Will Young and Holly Johnson, as well as the relative unknowns crucial to the gay community. We see how an unlikely group of bedfellows fought for equality both in front of the stage and in the wings.

Recommended by James Pratley - “Strong recommend. Learnt lots! Plentiful references to Manchester too.”

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Two stories about the AIDS epidemic told from two perspectives, one in Chicago, 1985 and 30 years later in Paris.

Recommended by Pink News

ITS A SIN

You’ve probably already seen it, it’s why I wrote this article in the first place, but this Russell T Davies drama is about five friends in London, between 1981 and 1991, and how their lives are tested as they grow up in the shadow of AIDS. It stars Olly Alexander from the band Years & Years and is available on All 4 in the UK and HBO Max in the US.

Recommended by me.

Mark: The speech Jill gave to Ritchie's mum in It's A Sin really resonated with me. Growing up in silence and feeling shame is something that really did affect me. My mum is lovely I must say! But the silence was there, she didn't know I needed to hear words that would reassure me that home was safe.

It took me a long time to accept myself, and stop being ashamed, and hating a part of myself. I love being queer now, I love knowing more of my history, and I love that these stories are being told and new generations are learning too.

Me by Elton John

The music icon’s only autobiography detailing his rocket to stardom, his celebrity friends, his decade-long drug addiction, how he set up his AIDS Foundation and finally fell in love.

Recommended by me

My Own Country: A Doctor's Story by Abraham Verghese

Follows the story of a young Indian doctor in Tennessee who inadvertently becomes an expert on AIDS.

Recommended by Pink News.

The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer

“Focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. Weeks prefers public confrontations to the calmer, more private strategies favoured by his associates, friends, and closeted lover Felix Turner. Their differences of opinion lead to arguments that threaten to undermine their shared goals” - Wikipedia.

A semi-autobiographical play based on the experiences of LGBT activist and ACT UP founder Larry Kramer. Adapted many times but most recently in a film directed by Ryan Murphy and starring Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Jonathan Groff.

Recommended by me

On Queer Street: A Social History of British Homosexuality, 1895 - 1955 by Hugh David

The history of gay men in the 20th century, from Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward to gay rights and AIDS.

Recommended by James Gent

Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned by Judd Winick

An autobiographical novel about the author’s friendship with Pedro Zamora, a HIV-positive AIDS activist.

Recommended by Pink News.

PRIDE

A comedy film based on the true story of the LGSM - Lesbians and Gay Men Support the Miners, a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984. It starred Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Paddy Considine and Andrew Scott and was nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA!

Recommended by Mark

“Pride opened my eyes to a chunk of time I knew nothing about in the 80s, and it was joyful despite the homophobia, the miner's strike etc. I asked my parents if they knew anything about the events that happened in the film, and it seemed it went over their heads entirely — either because it was nothing to do with them, or it wasn't widely spread across the press.”

It’s a really heartwarming film with a cracking soundtrack and was later turned into a book, Pride: The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike, edited by Tim Tate, featuring interviews from both the real members of the LGSM and touches on the impact of the AIDS crisis in Britain.

Recommended by me

Such Times by Christopher Coe

A novel following a trio of a gay men living in AIDS ridden New York in the 70s and 80s.

Recommended by Harry

Tales of the City

“A series of nine novels by Armistead Maupin released between 1978 and 2014 about an eclectic group of friends living in San Francisco with people dying from AIDS around them. It’s been adapted into a television mini-series which is available to stream on All 4 in the UK. Two more instalments were released in 1998 and 2001 featuring the same core cast. Meanwhile, a new adaption and sequel to the original series is available on Netflix which sees Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis reprise their roles alongside new cast members including Elliot Page. It weaves a new story set mostly in the present day with elements from Maupin’s later novels in the Tales series.”

Recommended by Pink News

Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

A novel set in 1987 about 14-year-old June who forms a close bond with her uncle Finn who becomes her confidant and best friend, but he sadly dies of AIDS. After the funeral, she forms a friendship with Toby, her late uncle’s boyfriend and realises she is not the only one who misses Finn as he has left behind a whole community who loves him.”

Recommended by Pink News

The Unique Catharsis of It’s A Sin by Patrick Strudwick

A review of It’s A Sin which offers a perspective on the impact of growing up amidst the AIDS crisis.

Recommended by Mark

Queer: A Collection of LGBTQ Writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday edited by Frank Wyme

An international anthology published by Head of Zeus collecting 80 of the finest works representing queer love by LBGTQ writers including *deep breath* Alison Bechdel, Emily Dickinson, Allen Ginsberg, Patricia Highsmith, William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde.

Recommended by Lawrence Schimel

And those are just a few!