Notches Blog

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Internal conflict inevitably festered in the UTHA, with Moldenhauer eventually dismissed from his post for his identity and activism. Still, the UTHA managed to thrive and continues to this day as LGBTOUT. 4/4

The UTHA's 1969 constitution sought to educate the U of T community and general public about homosexuality, assist individuals having personal, psychological, and other difficulties with their sexuality, and protest against institutional discrimination for queer students. 3/4

Happy new year! For the first #ThrowbackThursday of 2025, let’s look at Elspeth Brown’s 2019 feature, “Canada’s First Gay Student Activist Group” at the University of Toronto. 1/4 Link: wp.me/p6JJ6S-3CC #QueerHistory #LGBTQ #UofT #CanadianHistory

The book sets out two distinct periods within this timeframe: the first a period of ‘subterranean worlds’, and the second a period where dedicated lesbian and gay spaces were formed. Read our interview with Korinek here: wp.me/p6JJ6S-3xC

This #ThrowbackThursday, we look back on Prairie Fairies: A History of Queer Communities and People in Western Canada, 1930-1985 by Valerie Korinek. #histsex 1/2

Brogan summarises that ‘what is needed is a richer study of London’s alternative, gay and gay-friendly nightlife at that time that illuminates both how Bowery’s club followed set patterns and how it broke with them’.

Whilst both Taboo and Bowery have been treated as exceptional rebels, Brogan highlights the broader context of Bowery’s ‘All Gay Family’, the wider London club scene, and the vast array of alternative culture.

In case you haven't seen it, we have a new post out today. In it, Stephen Brogan talks us through Taboo, a London nightclub hosted by Leigh Bowery in the 1980s, and how its historical portrayal in a new exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum can be critiqued.

Today we have a brand new article on Leigh Bowery and the nightclub Taboo, written by Stephen Brogan. Find it here: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4Lq #HistSex

‘[T]here is a vast disparity between what we know about the grim realities of living with venereal disease in this period and the often comedic treatment of the condition in art and literature’ - Gallagher

Itching for another #ThrowbackThursday Notches spotlight? Today, we’re looking back at our interview with Noelle Gallagher on her book, Itch, Clap, Pox: Venereal Disease in the Eighteenth-Century Imagination. wp.me/p6JJ6S-3Fd

Their research centres around Aleksandr Aleksandrov, a Russo-Ukrainian Napoleonic war hero and celebrated author assigned female at birth. Check out the article to learn more about Aleksandrov’s postwar life in the small town of Elabuga– a rare account of 19th trans life writing.

New on #NOTCHES, we are thrilled to feature Cheryl Morgan and Margarita Vaysman’s groundbreaking work, “Aleksandr Aleksandrov: New Sources in Nineteenth-Century Russian Trans Life-Writing.” Link: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4H0 #TransHistory #LGBTQIA #Trans

Romain used a range of sources, including letters, noting that ‘letters written by African and Asian people in Britain are often not reflected on or included as sources in constructing histories of modern Britain’. Read the full article here: wp.me/p6JJ6S-4FU 3/3

Looking into various aspects of Nelson's identity as queer black Jamaican man, Romain's work highlights the importance of shedding light on these histories. 2/3

Today’s new post brings us an edited extract from Race, Sexuality and Identity in Britain and Jamaica: The Biography of Patrick Nelson, 1916-1963 by Gemma Romain. #HistSex 1/3

Gaétan Dugas was long scapegoated as the “patient zero” who spread AIDS, and thus sparked the epidemic, within North America. McKay’s work examines this narrative and its context, marking a crucial intervention into histories of AIDS. 2/2

For #WorldAIDSDay we thought we’d look back on the key work of Richard McKay with Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic. Find our interview with McKay here: wp.me/p6JJ6S-3Cd 1/2