‘Ah, dear Brighton - piers, queers and racketeers.’
So commented the playwright Noel Coward, himself famously gay, on a visit here sometime in the 1930s. He could just as easily have been talking about Brighton today. Certainly, the city is still known for being just as occasionally shady, is just as famous for its seaside - and, of course, is just as queer.
This reputation is hardly unfounded either. Brighton has the largest percentage of same-sex households in the UK, and regularly tops the UK Rainbow Cities Index as the country’s most LGBTQ+ friendly place to live. Neither is its ‘gay capital’ status anything new; Brighton has been regarded as a haven for LGBTQ+ people for centuries, earning its reputation long before Noel Coward ever penned his affectionate epithet immortalising its queer status.
But why is Brighton the UK’s unofficial ‘gay capital’? Dear reader, you’re about to find out …
To trace Brighton’s LGBTQ+ history all the way back, we have to begin sometime in the 18th century. Following the French Revolution, the British authorities grew paranoid that the French, not content with just the one revolution, would come across the Channel and start causing chaos here too. This led to the creation of a number of ‘garrison towns’ along the south coast, with Brighton being one such town - and the military presence here only grew following the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803. As you can probably imagine, large numbers of young men being thrown together here in close quarters, away from home and from their women, resulted in Brighton gaining quite the reputation for homosexuality, a reputation which in turn only drew more men here. In 1822, an appalled guardsman recounted to the authorities how, whilst out at the pub, a strange man had offered him a sovereign and two shillings to go down to
the beach with him and ‘commit an unnatural crime’. Which, in all fairness, probably isn’t the greatest way to sell a beach date.
As Brighton’s renown as a seaside resort grew during the 19th century, so too did its queer reputation. This was largely aided by the development of decent transport links between Brighton and London, which allowed both for easier access to the city and for word of its relative LGBTQ+ friendliness to spread. In addition, there was the mass construction of Brightonian theatres during this period, which included the building of the Theatre Royal in 1807; its rising superstar status made it the perfect place to premiere plays before putting them on in London. And, as everyone knows, if there’s one thing gays love, it’s theatre.
By the time the 1930s rolled round, Brighton had well and truly established itself as a queer destination. As Daring Hearts, the definitive guide to gay Brighton, puts it ‘there were pubs, clubs, cafes, trolling grounds, parties and, hallelujah, enormous numbers of homosexuals’. Then, during WW2, the city was once more occupied by the military, this time due to fears of a Nazi invasion. Though the invasion itself never materialised, many young men were to find themselves a home amongst the city’s flourishing underground gay scene.
Of course, it wasn’t all rainbow shits and giggles. Even in Brighton, life was regularly mired by homophobic abuse and police brutality. There were frequent raids on gay pubs and bars, and the authorities often employed the horrific and life-ruining tactic of publishing the details of those arrested in the paper. Out of this prejudice, though, was often borne resistance.
In February 1971, Sussex University students formed the Sussex Gay Liberation Front (SGLF). This group would go on to organise Brighton’s first ever gay rights protest, the brilliantly named Brighton Gay Day, which took place the very next year. Then, in 1973, the SGLF launched a whole Gay Pride Week, which saw not only a Pride march but a tea dance, a gay wedding and a picnic.
Unfortunately, however, Brighton’s first Pride march was also to be its last for some time. The introduction of Section 28, along with the advent of the AIDS pandemic, were brutally effective in silencing queer communities across the country, and Brighton was no exception. Even in the midst of all this, though, the city’s LGBTQ+ community still found ways to resist and rebel. The crux of this came in 1988, when the protest group Brighton Area Action Against Section 28 was born. The organisation held a protest march each May to raise awareness for their cause - the very same march which was to eventually evolve into the Brighton Pride we know and love today. The first official one of these was held in 1991, whilst 2001 saw the UK’s first ever civil partnership take place in this city. Since 2013, Pride in Brighton has also been joined by Trans Pride, which takes place every July.
Which brings us to today. Brighton’s queer scene continues to expand and evolve around us in new, often unexpected and frequently fabulous ways. We’ve come a long way from shady propositions in fishermen’s pubs - and yet, we’ve arguably still got a long way to go yet. It’s important to acknowledge, too, that Brighton is something of a liberal bubble. Whilst the gay community here is actively thriving, across the UK incidences of LGBTQ+ hate crime are on the up, whilst Reform, a party actively hostile towards the queer community, is gaining support at an alarming rate. That ‘LGBTQ+ friendly cities’ should exist at all is both a wonderful thing and a tragedy - because shouldn’t all places be ‘friendly’ to everyone, no matter how they identify or who they love?
I believe that questions such as these are important to bear in mind, even whilst celebrating Brighton’s incredible queer legacy, and the haven it provides for so many LGBTQ+ people even today.