LGBTQ culture in Brighton and Hove

Brighton, a seaside resort on the south coast of England, has been described in some media as a "gay capital" of the UK,[1][2][3] with records pertaining to LGBTQ history dating back to the early 19th century.

[4] Many LGBTQ pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants, cafés and shops are located around Brighton and in particular around St James's Street in Kemptown.

Evidence suggests that a floating population and good transport links with London helped its reputation as a place for the LGBT community.

Images of the march in Gay News' 14 November 1972 edition show marchers along Kings Road and at the Churchill Square Shopping Centre.

[15] The event included a public gay wedding, one of Britain's first, between John Roman Baker and his boyfriend Graham Charles Wilkinson, later founder of the Sussex AIDS Helpline.

[16] Saturday's Gay Pride March began at Norfolk Square before heading south to the waterfront and along Kings Road to The Ship Hotel.

[19] The 2011 census did not measure same-sex households specifically but showed that Brighton and Hove had the highest number of civil partnerships in the UK, at 2,346 individuals or 3.1% of all legal relationships within the unitary authority area.

[21] Brighton Pride is an event, and wider organization, which promotes equality and diversity, and advances education to eliminate discrimination against the LGBT community.

[26] The Brighton & Hove LGBT Switchboard is a telephone helpline that describes itself as 'providing a service to the lesbian, gay, bisexual & trans communities since April 1975' and is one of the oldest in the UK.

The Clare Project is a local support group which provides a safe and confidential meeting place for anyone exploring issues around their gender identity, besides organising other events such as monthly meals.

An early recording of the LGBT community in Brighton was in August 1822, when George Wilson, a servant from Newcastle upon Tyne, was accused by a guardsman he had met in the Duke of Wellington public house in Pool Valley of having offered him a sovereign and two shillings to go with him onto the beach to "commit an unnatural crime".

[31] Another early story of the LGBT community in the area is that of philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts (1814–1906), a friend of both Charles Dickens and the Duke of Wellington, who spent part of each year at the Royal Albion Hotel with her companion Hannah.