Five Facts: LGBTQ Georgians

February is also LGBTQ history month so here are some facts about British LGBTQ Georgians. I normally use more than one source for my posts, but I’ve been reading “Sex and Sexuality in Georgian Britain” by Mike Rendell and used that alone here. It’s provided quite a lot of information. It’s not been verified by other sources, but from the bibliography it was well researched. I’ll add a link to the Goodreads profile at the bottom of this post.

The above portrait is of Anne Lister, now made famous with the TV series Gentleman Jack. You can find out more about Anne in my post Anne Lister: A Woman who Defied Convention.

5 Facts about LGBTQ Georgians

Male homosexuals were referred to as sodomites in the Georgian era. Lesbianism was referred to as sapphism. While sapphism was never illegal, a conviction of sodomy carried the death penalty. The last men executed for sodomy were hanged at Newgate Prison, London, on 27th November 1835.
As a result, while there was a gay scene in the bigger cities of Britain, it was very low-key and largely hidden from public view. Many males suppressed their sexuality for fear of discovery, betrayal, and often blackmail.
Lesbians, or sapphites, were able to form lasting same-sex relationships without fear of execution, but that did not prevent them being subjected to gossip or scorn. While two women could set up a home together without condemnation, any overt public behaviour that suggested a physical relationship would have been described as “unnatural” and shocking. To the Georgians, the idea that a woman could derive pleasure from sex without a man being involved was unthinkable. (Scoff, scoff.)
Cross-dressing with the intent to deceive was a criminal offence, but it became a regular event with the development of the masquerade in the seventeenth century. The Georgians loved it, and it grew to be very popular from the 1770s. Males, females, high society and low, could attend balls together, dress however they wished for the evening, and explore their sexuality in the persona of their choice. Masquerades, however, shocked conservative society, and became associated with prostitution and lewd behaviour.
Bi-sexual and transgender were terms unknown to the Georgians. However, there is plenty of evidence regarding individuals who assumed a different gender than that assigned to them. It was more common for females, who did not wish to be limited by their sex from entering a profession, to dress and live as men. Some women joined the army and served in battle in order to stay with their lovers. Whether those individuals identified with that gender, or cross-dressed simply to follow the career they desired, may never be fully known. The levels of secrecy kept by individuals to maintain their identity without discovery makes this difficult. For example, Doctor James Barry attended medical school in Edinburgh, rose through the ranks of the army, and became Inspector General in charge of military hospitals. There are no diaries, no personal papers; only the wishes outlined in their last will and testament remain to provide clues as to their feelings and desires. After their death were they revealed to have female sex organs, and the stretch marks witnessed suggested they brought forth a child at some point in their life. (I have used the pronouns they/them in this case simply because I do not know without a doubt with which sex Doctor Barry identified, but they certainly deserve their own post following further research.)