Posts by Sofia:

On this day in queerstory: UK bans imported queer media

On January 14, 1957, British customs officials formally seized and banned the import of several queer-themed novels and magazines under the UK’s obscenity laws, including works circulating quietly among gay men in Europe and North America. The action wasn’t unusual—but what followed was. Writers, publishers, and early homophile organizations coordinated a response, challenging the idea […]

On this day in queerstory: Europe debates LGBTQIA+ rights

On January 13, 1981, the European Parliament held one of its first formal debates explicitly addressing discrimination against homosexual people, following a series of petitions submitted by LGBTQ+ organizations from multiple member states. While the debate did not immediately produce binding law, it marked a crucial shift: queerness entered supranational politics not as a moral […]

On this day in queerstory: queer organizations unite across borders

On January 12, 1969, the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO) opened its winter strategy meetings in Kansas City, bringing together activists from across the United States and Canada at a moment when the homophile movement was straining at its own limits. Stonewall was still months away, but the ground was already shifting. What […]

On this day in queerstory: male homosexuality decriminalized in Ireland

On January 11, 1993, the Irish government formally announced the decriminalization of male homosexual acts, bringing the country into line with a 1988 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. While the legislation itself had passed weeks earlier, January 11 marked the public implementation date: the law took effect, police guidance was updated, and […]

On this day in queerstory: Europe unites

On January 10, 1975, representatives from newly formed LGBTQ+ organisations across Europe met in Brussels to lay the groundwork for what would become one of the first sustained transnational queer rights networks. The meeting, modest in scale but ambitious in scope, brought together activists from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, West Germany, and the UK. Their […]

On this day in queerstory: new DSM published, legal changes in Germany and South Africa

January 9 appears in queer history as a date when LGBTQ+ existence was formally documented—sometimes protected, sometimes exposed, but no longer invisible. Across different countries and decades, January 9 marks moments when queer lives entered official records: court files, medical classifications, censuses, and state archives. What followed was never neutral. A key moment occurred on […]