Given the level of discrimination that still exists against the LGBT community, it’s easy to forget how far British society has come. For much of its history the community was shrouded in secrecy. When we delve back to the Victorian era we can begin to understand that this was a clandestine world of underground meetings and slang shrouded in euphemism that it is possible to interpret and decipher.
Much of the prejudice against same-sex relations originated in Christianity’s role as Britain’s main religion from the late 8th century onwards. Initially, same-sex relationships per se were not outlawed – it was the sexual acts between men that were prescribed (there have never been laws that prohibit female homosexuality).
The first time that this discrimination was enshrined in law instead of being tried by church courts was the 1533 Buggery Act, which made anal sex (together with sex
