Arriving in Britain on the eve of the Second World War, Berto Pasuka stands as one of the most innovative and overlooked figures in twentieth-century performance. A queer artist from Jamaica, he entered a cultural landscape that left little room for Black dancers or Black creative leadership, yet he refused to be restricted by the narrow expectations and offerings of his time. Instead, he insisted that Black movement, Black stories, and Black aesthetics belonged on major stages, and pushed to create a dance language rooted in the rhythms, histories, and expressive traditions of the African diaspora. His vision not only challenged the limits of European ballet but also reshaped what dance in postwar Britain could be, ultimately laying the groundwork for a new chapter in Black performance.
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Though his name may not be widely known today, Alexis Rassine remains a vital figure in the history of British ballet, particularly during the wartime and immediate postwar years of World War II. Lithuanian by birth, South African by nationality, and European by training, Rassine became a luminous presence across continents, stages, and boundaries of identity and nation, particularly during his time with the Sadler’s Wells Ballet during the 1940s and early 1950s. While at Sadler’s, he performed in countless lead roles alongside ballet legends like Margot Fonteyn, Robert Helpmann, and Nadia Nerina, at a watershed time when the Second World War depleted the ranks of male dancers. During this era, Rassine stepped up to the stage with elegance, discipline, and lyrical charisma—and his contributions to dance helped sustain British ballet during a volatile period of global upheaval.
History is often shaped by those who dare to break away from conventional paths, consciously forging new directions. Yet, it is also made by those who, through serendipity, find themselves in the right place at the right time, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Pearl Alcock, a Jamaican-born artist, activist, and community builder, embodied a blend of both. Through her self-taught art practice, grassroots formation of queer spaces, and quiet activism, Alcock left an indelible legacy within Britain’s LGBTQ+ community, helping to forge a queer legacy that continues to resonate today.
Coining the term “Sex is an accident”, Eva Gore-Booth was faced with an uphill climb in her lifetime in the early 20th century. A poet, suffragist, and lifelong activist, her story is sometimes forgotten in the shadow of her more famous sister Countess Markievicz who had many of the same aims of gender and class equality. Eva found her path through her partnership with Esther Roper, her lover and lifelong companion.
Believe it or not, there were some happy queer news stories in 2020. There were also plenty of struggles and injustice. In addition to our yearly recap, we’ve included 20 ways to help combat issues queer folks are facing around the globe.
In the creation of art, many different elements are necessary. There are plenty of arguments and books written as to what these elements are. One that is inarguable is also the most quickly ignored. There needs to be an artist who can create. For an artist to be able to create they generally require food, water, and shelter. Such needs are usually met with money, and that is the part of the artistic process where we find Winnaretta Singer.
Lord Byron was a star in his time, the first modern celebrity as we think of them. His poems and plays drew fervent admirers, and he was an enchanting persona pursued by waves of variously-gendered lovers. For many, his malformed right foot and frequently sour temper only added to his mysterious allure. Byron was a revolutionary in Greece during their War of Independence and died of a fever there.
A complex issue within the queer community, and looking back we see it has been an issue throughout queer history, is that of adultery. Something often painted as a clear black and white issue becomes blurrier as you look at it through a queer lens. In an ideal world, everyone would communicate with their partners and be transparent about their wants and needs, but that is not the world we live in nor have we ever. The further back you go, the more confusing the decision becomes. It is difficult to pass judgment on a queer person who may have been pressured to marry or enter a relationship for seeking people outside of that arrangement. While there is a glorious history of spouses supporting their queer partners, that is not a universal or even common experience.
The memory of Florence Nightingale still ripples throughout Europe and North America. Documents about her life still exist and uphold her legacy; in many ways she has become something of a mythological figure. Even in life there was merchandise relating to her, but it’s taken on a new life in books, valentines, and even colouring pages. She’s remembered as a no-nonsense feminist icon, a tender motherly figure, the founding of modern day nursing, and even the hero of nursery rhymes. Less discussed in the possibility that she was a lesbian and/or asexual.
It is not uncommon within our research to find someone as deeply unappreciated as Bajazid Doda, but we find a first in that Doda's murderer overwhelms any story about his life. Doda was an Albanian ethnographer and photographer who watched the destruction of his culture and took action against it, recording the landscape and identity of the Upper Reka Valley within Albania. His work has served as a touchstone within academia surrounding the Upper Reka Valley. Still, he is most well-known for his relationship with the man who would ultimately take his life.
There is a demand of queer people to be respectable; to please the dominant society, to conform, to hide that which is seen as other. They draw contempt from inside and outside of the community. However, it is those queer people who abandon respectability who provoke change. Algernon Charles Swinburne was not one to hide who he was, nor was he quiet about his beliefs. Oscar Wilde called Swinburne “a braggart in matters of vice, who had done everything he could to convince his fellow citizens of his homosexuality and bestiality without being in the slightest degree a homosexual or a bestialiser.” While it’s true Swinburne often encouraged and even started rumours about himself, sometimes to draw attention and other times for humour, his sexuality was anything but.
Any time we look at the life of a transgender man throughout history, there are a number of hurdles we must first overcome. There are many reasons for a person assigned female at birth to wear clothes associated outside of that assigned gender. Historically, there is a precedent for women to dress as men to gain economic status or to more comfortably live in a relationship with another woman. It's important to untangle these threads in order to find the motivation. Victor Baker is a clear example of how these threads can weave a complete life story. If given access to our modern labels, we can see how he might have identified.
Queer people played a significant role in the winning of the second world war, from the famous story of Alan Turing to the hundreds of names behind the scenes. One of those names is Elvira de la Fuente Chaudoir. In any remembrance of this woman’s work, it must be noted that while her work was done below the radar, her life most certainly was not. The daughter of a Peruvian diplomat, she was a woman who loved parties and “favour[ed] the companionship of women who may not be careful of their virginity” according to Deputy Chief Constable Josef Goulder. She was not well-respected, but she was well-known. Considered to be a beautiful “good-time girl” who loved the spotlight and was dismissed because of this, her identity was only revealed years after the war had ended: Agent Bronx.
Early Asexual Feminists: The Asexual History of Social Purity Activists and Spinsters
"[...]spinsters were seen as queer, not because they were not mothers or wives, but because they wanted to go into the public sphere and to break the gender boundaries between the private and the public." — Hellesund Tone
There is a fine line historians must walk between being thoughtful in using contemporary language for historical figures and erasing queer people from history. While someone from ancient Sumer wouldn’t have used the word “bisexual”, for example, we can discuss how their sexuality and experiences fit this modern term. We walk that line with every article, and we try to do so respectfully. There are, however, those who act under the guise of historical accuracy only to deny queer persons our history, particularly those stories of trans women.