5 THINGS TO KNOW

1990 Vancouver Gay Games come alive again in online

In 1990, Vancouver hosted an international sports event that attracted more than 7,000 athletes plus thousands of artists, writers and tourists from around the world. It was called Celebration ’90 Gay Games III & Cultural Festival. For eight days in August, it put Vancouver…

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Ancient Roman ‘homophobic graffiti’ unearthed in Pompeii

Archaeologists who have been excavating an Ancient Roman snack bar in Pompeii, Italy, have discovered “homophobic” graffiti scrawled on the walls. According to a press release from Pompeii Sites, the colourful Thermopolium of Regio V was one of the…

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How an openly gay artist fiercely resisted the Nazis

Willem Arondeus was an openly gay Dutch painter who fiercely resisted the Nazis in occupied Holland. Born in 1894, he died in 1943, at the age of 49. Arondeus’s father kicked him out of the house when he was young for being gay…

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From COVID to court battles: 10 top LGBT stories in 2020

Coronavirus dominated news around the world in 2020, creating particular challenges for the LGBT+ community in terms of mental health, access to HIV medication and scapegoating by religious groups seeking to apportion blame for the virus. The year provided the backdrop…