“That which never can be suppressed”: LGBTQ+ history in the RCP collections

Explore how the lives of LGBTQ+ people, and attitudes to sexual and gender diversity, are reflected in the archive, heritage library and museum collections of the Royal College of Physicians.

LGBTQ+ stories can be traced back at least 350 years in our collections and cover the experiences of LGBTQ+ people, including physicians, as well as the views of a society that medicalised them. What contributions did physicians make to the ground-breaking Wolfenden Report? How was sexuality and gender identity discussed in the earliest textbooks on forensic medicine? Who was Dorothy Hare’s ‘inseparable’ companion? And when did two medical students from Cambridge embark on an ‘unbroken marriage of souls’?

Join us for a lively virtual event exploring some fascinating and potentially challenging collections highlighting the long, rich and inspiring history of LGBTQ+ lives.

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*Please note this event is online only.

Tickets can be booked by donation. All the donations, minus the Eventbrite admin fees, will go to support the Royal College of Physicians Museum in these challenging times.