LGBT history month: The heroes they’d rather you ignore

Officially, ‘Pride Month’ is in June. But you’d be forgiven for thinking it lasts most of the year. Certainly, the companies and public bodies flocking to redesign their logos to incorporate multi-coloured ‘Pride’ flags seem to start ever earlier and keep them longer and longer.

But, apparently, the summer-long deluge of events and media coverage is not enough.

We, the public, are also made keenly aware by every paid-up supporter of Stonewall that February is LGBT history month – which means another 28 days of ‘rainbow’ propaganda.

Significant contributions to society have been made by homosexuals – Alan Turing’s work on codebreaking, for example, may well have swung the tide of the Second World War in the Allies’ favour. But some LGBT activists are intent on rewriting history to co-opt the giants of the past without any evidence.

Co-opting famous figures

Shakespeare was married to a woman and had three children. Yet it is claimed by some that he was gay or bisexual on the basis that his poetry at times expressed ‘love’ towards another male (this is despite experts explaining that the word ‘love’ in Tudor England could mean anything from romantic love to a cordial business relationship). In his 38 plays, only two of his characters are obviously homosexual: Patroclus and Achilles in Troilus and Cressida. To characterise Shakespeare as gay or bisexual on the basis of such flimsy evidence is disingenuous to say the least.

And what about nursing icon Florence Nightingale, who activists claim was a lesbian? She’s been accused of having intimate relationships with three women, all of whom she was related to. The clinching argument of course, is the fact she remained unmarried. Because to a section of society which builds its identity around sex, it is inconceivable that a person would choose to be celibate. The suggestion of Nightingale’s ‘queerness’ has been dismissed by David Green, Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum. He has confirmed there is no accepted evidence to support the theory, and substantial evidence to the contrary.

They aren’t the only ones. How about father-of-four Abraham Lincoln, or married aviator Amelia Earhart, or married author Kenneth Grahame whose children’s book The Wind in the Willows has been declared a ‘gay manifesto’. Even biblical figures like Ruth and Naomi or David and Jonathan have been co-opted for the cause.

While those who have no place in the LGBT history story are celebrated, others worth remembering are forgotten.

Conversion to Christ

Last month the Government announced it will press ahead with its proposals to ban so-called conversion therapy. The wording of its legislative proposal is yet to be published, but there is a serious risk it will criminalise parents who want to speak to their children about gender or sexual ethics, as well as pastors who pray or talk with people who wish to live in accordance with the Bible’s teaching.

People like Brian. He identified as a gay man. He pursued relationships with other men. But after ten years of living this way, he says he found it to be an empty, hollow life, and didn’t want it any longer. He went to a church and started to believe that God had something better for him.

He was struggling with sexual desires he knew to be wrong, but asked God to help him live in accordance with the Bible, and not to entertain sinful thoughts. All true Christians know this process of God-empowered repentance and transformation that the Bible calls ‘dying to self’. Brian says, “I didn’t pray in the name of Jesus that he would make me straight, I prayed I would die to myself and I would become a follower of Jesus Christ.” He eventually met Pam. He was open with her about his past. They fell in love, married, and now have three children.

LGBT activists will tell you that whatever church he attended is guilty of practising conversion therapy.  They would tell you that Brian is still secretly gay, that he is suppressing his true identity, and that he cannot possibly be truly happy. They would take away his right to repent and follow Christ, if they could. But his story is true. It happened. He no longer identifies as gay. But neither does he identify as heterosexual. Rather, he describes himself as a Christian. What’s more, he is more than happy – he is delighted with the way his life has changed. The depression that plagued him while he was pursuing sexual relationships with men is gone, and he has embraced the Bible’s calling to follow God, and to enjoy life to the full with his wife and children.

Then there’s Rosaria. As a lesbian professor, Rosaria despised Christians. She set out to write an article about the ‘Religious Right’ and why they seemed to hate lesbians like her. When it was published, she received a letter from a local pastor asking her how she came to her conclusions. After some back and forth, she began reading the Bible in depth to refute its claims, but soon found herself wondering if it was true.

She later felt drawn to church, where she prayed that God would help her. She did not want to give up the life she had been leading, but felt compelled to because of the depth of her newfound love for Jesus. She met and later married Kent.

Not every story is like Brian’s or Rosaria’s. For many in the church who are same-sex attracted it is a struggle that never goes away. Yet they have found joy and fulfilment in choosing to honour God by embracing biblical teaching. But these stories are seldom told. It is not the LGBT history that activists want you to know about.

The wrong kind of history

They also don’t want you to know about the increasing number of reports of vulnerable and damaged young people who have been through the NHS’s ‘gender identity’ services. A report into England’s flagship ‘trans’ clinic for children – the Tavistock – found that, rather than undergoing detailed psychological examinations, confused youngsters were simply being routinely affirmed in their self-diagnosed gender dysphoria and subsequently placed on a diet of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones. Pro-trans organisations tout this as the only compassionate way to deal with gender-confused children.

But after a lengthy review, NHS England now disagrees. It came to the decision last year to close the clinic due to its experimental, affirmation-first approach. Pressure is being put on Scotland’s equivalent – the Sandyford clinic – over similar concerns about its approach.

Why? Because of the cohorts of young people now turning around saying “Transitioning didn’t help me. I regret what I’ve done to my body. Why didn’t anyone stop me?”

But it’s doubtful that this will feature prominently in articles or programming rolled out for LGBT History Month. It’s the wrong kind of history.