Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 7h

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 11 (1988)
Coming Out Day is launched #OTD by Jean O'Leary and Robert Eichberg. They aimed to tackle homophobia. Eichberg said:

"It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes."

A bright Keith Haring work showing a person coming out

13 30

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 18h

I've been lucky to work at Freedom for the last 2.5 years. It's been magic working with wonderful queer young people and seeing them thrive and flourish even with *gestures at everything*.

It's also been fun sharing my museum and heritage skills with the group.

1 10

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 18h

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 10 (2025)
#OTD Freedom: Past, Present and Future opens, an exhibition looking back at 30 years of Freedom Youth.
Freedom has helped queer young people since 1995, making it 1 of the oldest continuing services of its kind.
Use the QR codes to find out more and support.

1 1 15

Reposted by Jack Shoulder

Museum Bums @museumbums.bsky.social · 1d

The Farnese Antinous ❤️
👍🏛️🍑 #MuseumBums

Sculpted between 130 and 137 CE, from the Naples Archaeological Museum

A photo of the statue of Antinous in the Farnese collection

1 9 65

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 1d

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 9 (2011)
Anna Grodzka is elected to Polish parliament. She is the 1st trans woman to hold a seat in Polish parliament and the 3rd trans person worldwide elected to a parliamentary seat.

In 2008 she set up Trans-Fuzja to help the wellbeing of Poland's trans community.

A woman with short hair and glasses wearing a black shirt and purple jacket

1 1 15

Reposted by Jack Shoulder

Bishop Joey (he/him) @bishopjoey.bsky.social · 3d

Social media post from @DrChrisThompson (dated 17/12/2021):
Time for your annual reminder that, according to A Christmas Carol, Bob Cratchit makes 15 shillings a week. Adjusted for inflation, that's $530.27/wk, $27,574/yr, or 13.50/hr.
Most Americans on minimum wage earn less than a Dickensian allegory for destitution.

2 40 110

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 2d

🏃‍♂️💨🇬🇷
ONE MONTH TO GO!

Im running the Athens Marathon this year to support young people who need our help.

Every pound raised will make a world of difference!
www.justgiving.com/page/jack-sh...

Jack's fundraiser for Freedom Youth at OTR Bristol

Help Jack Shoulder raise money to support OTR Bristol

www.justgiving.com

2

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 2d

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 8 (1970)
The Daughters of Bilitis, an early Lesbian Rights group in the US, were raided by police during a meeting in a private member's club in New York.

This raid and the harassment from the police spur the group to be more politically active.

3 18

Reposted by Jack Shoulder

Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 3d

COME ON

Chris Schilling @schillingc.bsky.social · 3d

A good friend has submitted this brilliant model of the library from Buffy to Lego Ideas. I’d be very grateful for your help in getting her to 5k supporters: beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Library | LEGO® Ideas

"Sunnydale High isn't really like other high schools. A lot of weird stuff happens here." Buffy the Vampire Slayer first exploded onto our TV screens in the lat…

beta.ideas.lego.com

1 16 60

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 3d

Oh wow! 💖👠

Matt Baume 🏳️‍🌈 @mattbaume.bsky.social · 3d

Did you know the voice of Disney's Prince Charming was gay? Neither did I, but according to this biography of actor Charles Laughton, Laughton and the actor Bill Phipps were having a not-apparently-secret affair during the making of Cinderella. Good for them!

Text from a book:
Brecht and Laughton also seem to have done the casting them-
selves: a few emigré actors, like Hugo Haas, as the Pope, quite a
number of serious young Hollywood actors, acquaintances of
Laughton (Frances Heflin, sister of Van, for example), but for the
most part, in James Lyon's phrase, 'both Laughton and Brecht
wanted unspoiled, teachable, younger people.' Many of these they
found in the recently defunct Actors' Lab, including one, Bill Phipps,
who, as it happens, became Laughton's lover, a troubled but none the
less sustaining relationship. He played Andrea, though Eric Bentley,
for one, reckons he was overparted. In general, the company they
assembled was young, eager and talented.

a photo of bill phipps in a suit, and a screengrab of prince charming at the ball

9

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 4d

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 7 (1975, 2014)
1975: Elton John is on the cover of Rolling Stones magazine. He comes out as bi! He later came out as gay in the 1980s.

2014: in Kenya, human rights activist Audrey Mbugua wins a landmark court case to have her name and gender changed.

A balding man in a jumper and statement glasses reclines against a red background

A woman with orange glasses and a red hoodie against a black background

3 16

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 4d

IS IT?!

2

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 4d

What a week huh?

3 15

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 4d

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 6 (1928, 1997)
📕📕
1928: The Well of Loneliness is seized by UK customs - the novel was amidst an obscenity trial. George Bernard Shaw and H.G.Wells protest The
Well's seizure.

1997: "Ah just can't quit you!" Brokeback Mountain is published in The New Yorker.

Two cowboys in front of a mountain range

1 2 12

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 4d

This email from Just giving made me happy. I'm raisinf funds to support LGBTQIA+ young people and their parents and carers.

I've raised over £1400 to help young people to grow up safe, happy and free to be themselves.

Thank you all so much for your support so far, it means so much!

5

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 5d

I'm so proud of Mark for hitting his fundraising target!

Mark's been doing an incredible job raising funds for @switchboard.bsky.social and training for the Athens Marathon.

Mark @thehistoryboy.bsky.social · 5d

Ok, gang, there's less than £20 to go for me to hit my £1000 fundraising target, and there's just over a month to go until me and @jackshoulder.bsky.social run the Athens Marathon 😁

Does anyone want to finish me off? 😁 www.justgiving.com/page/keep-ru... 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🇬🇷

9

Reposted by Jack Shoulder

Mark @thehistoryboy.bsky.social · 5d

Ok, gang, there's less than £20 to go for me to hit my £1000 fundraising target, and there's just over a month to go until me and @jackshoulder.bsky.social run the Athens Marathon 😁

Does anyone want to finish me off? 😁 www.justgiving.com/page/keep-ru... 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🇬🇷

1 1 16

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 6d

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 5 (1726, 1840)
A couple of very notable birthdays 🎂

1726: the Chevaliere d'Eon is born; soldier, diplomat, spy, d'Eon is often seen as an early trans figure in history.

1840: Scholar John Addington Symonds was born #otd. He was a pioneer in Queer History.

A man in a smart jacket and a stripey shirt

4 17

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 6d

Big run done for the week! I'm running the Athens Marathon this year to raise money to support LGBTQIA+ youth.

If you can help, every pound can make a world of difference: www.justgiving.com/page/jack-sh...

Jack's fundraiser for Freedom Youth at OTR Bristol

Help Jack Shoulder raise money to support OTR Bristol

www.justgiving.com

2 13

Reposted by Jack Shoulder

Adam Turner 🏳️‍🌈 @awjt.bsky.social · 7d

In Glasgow, there is a 224-year waiting list for gender clinic appointments.

224 YEARS.

This is institutionalised discrimination. It's unacceptable, it's ruining people's lives and it needs to change.

We have the solution. Time for politicians to act.

Gender Clinic Files: Some people in Scotland will never get a gender clinic appointment on a 224-year waitlist.

This system is failing to support people to transition not because it is broken, but by design. The frustrating thing is that this would not be a difficult problem to solve under a different political paradigm.

Trans+ people do not need to be assessed by gender clinics or diagnosed by psychiatrists to tell us what we already know: we are trans. The healthcare we need, especially when it comes to hormones, is already available to cis people through making an appointment with their GP.

Gender clinics are unnecessary and exist to segregate healthcare for Trans+ people. Abolishing this system and providing Trans+ healthcare in primary care, at the GP through an informed consent model, would solve many of the issues this data reveals. GPs already prescribe hormones to cis adults. Trans+ adults simply need the same access to this healthcare.

230 680

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 7d

A huge thank you to everyone who has explored LGBTQIA+ history with me at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

I had some great questions from your goers and I got to ask them some Big Questions too, like "What's your favourite dinosaur?"

A group of people exploring a dinosaur gallery in a museum

1 23

Reposted by Jack Shoulder

Museum Bums @museumbums.bsky.social · 7d

Help, help! I'm trapped in a *reads the museum panel* Cameo; onyx; irregular form; imperfect; mounted in enamelled gold pendant frame set with single garnet, 16th century, in an early 17th century frame! Heeeeeeeeelp! 👍🏛️🍑 #MuseumBums

From the British Museum 😊

A cameo where the figure looks as if they're reading their own interpretation panel

1 23 150

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 7d

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 4 (1974)
John Waters' Female Trouble is unleashed in cinemas. Divine wants cha-cha heels. Aunt Ida says:
“Queers are just better[...] I worry you’ll work in an office, have children, celebrate wedding anniversaries. The world of a heterosexual is a sick and boring life!”

The poster for John Waters' Female Trouble

3 25

Jack Shoulder @jackshoulder.bsky.social · 7d

#TodayInQueerHistory
October 3 (1997)
The murderer of Dr Stanley K Runcorn (who revolutionised plate tectonics) is sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The murderer tried a "gay panic" defence. The judge said “I hope you rot in hell because what you did was callous and cruel.”

1 4 25

Reposted by Jack Shoulder

ianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 8d

In memoriam...

59 1.6K 5.5K