On the one hand, there are the tales of famous figures like Greta Garbo, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Marlene Dietrich, Tchaikovsky, Josephine Baker and Hans Christian Andersen, all of whom experienced same-sex desire or engaged in same-sex activity in societies that didn't welcome it, often channelling their frustrations into creating remarkable work that went on, in some cases, to determine the course of Western culture. And there are so many amazing stories to tell. That was wilful and deliberate distortion.'īut now society is becoming much more welcoming of queer people, there's a huge appetite to hear our stories. So, things were kept from public display, passages were omitted from books and sexual relationships were presented as passionate friendships. 'The only interest used to be in censoring or denying any queer elements of the records of the past. Stephen Hornby, national playwright-in-residence for the UK's LGBT History Month, argues that our stories have long been actively suppressed. Despite the book containing just two very mildly suggestive sexual references, 'everyone went berserk and it was banned', she says. She points to the response to the watershed lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall in the 1920s as just one famous example of the way authors have caused hysteria simply by acknowledging queer lives. 'I would venture to say that the public were disgusted and outraged,' says author Crystal Jeans.
