The LGBT community in Cardiff is the largest in Wales. The 2021 census found that 5.33% of people aged 16 and over identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or other.[1] It has also been ranked as the 8th most accepting city in the world for the LGBT community.[2]
Homosexuality was partially decriminalised in 1967. In part instigated by Cardiff born MP Leo Abse (whose MP seat was in Pontypool).[3]
Prior to the law change there is some evidence of LGBTQ+ culture in Cardiff around criminal records for cross dressing, gross indecency and buggery, though criminalisations were higher than rural areas they were minor compared to other UK cities.[4]
Cardiff's The Golden Cross opened in 1863,[5] it has been recognised as a gay bar since at least the 1970s when a wider commercial gay scene was first prominent in the city.
A Cardiff-Newport branch of Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) was formed in 1972, most of its 50+ members living in Cardiff, first meeting at the Blue Anchor pub on St Mary's Street (now Le Monde restaurant) but later moving to Chapter Arts Centre in Canton. More popular with men, a separatist women's group later formed. A Cardiff faction of the Gay Liberation Front also formed in this era also meeting at the Blue Anchor. Ken Follett wrote about the GLF in the South Wales Echo in 1971. The GLF later merged into the CHE group.
Cardiff FRIEND, one of many the city based outposts of London FRIEND also ran from 1973 taking helpline phone calls from an office in St Mary's Street and later the Rights Information Bureau on Charles Street.[6]
The Rights Information Bureau also held offices for the Gay Liberation Front group and the Nationwide Transvestite Group (an early Trans organisation) from 1971.
In the 1980s there were a number of LGBT+ venues in Cardiff including the Tunnel Club (now Metros), Dubrovnik Restaurant and SIRS.[7] The city's oldest gay venue Kings Cross ceased to be an LGBT+ venue in 2013 when it became a gastropub called The Corner House.
The 1980s also saw Cardiff's first dedicated gay street theatre groups, LGBTQ+ community centres and youth clubs. As well as cruising areas being established, most popular being Bute Park, public toilets in Cathays Park and Cardiff Central Station.
Inspired by London's Gay Switchboard, Zoe Balfour started Cardiff Lesbian Line in October 1981, which ran until at least the 1990s.[8] [9]
1988 saw Cardiff hold a Wales Against Section 28 protest, alongside other city demonstrations across the UK.[10]
By the end of the century parallel roads Charles Street and Churchill Way had become heart of LGBTQ+ Cardiff, including Minskys, a popular cabaret and drag bar which eventually closed 2020.[11] [12]
The early 2000s saw the popular LGBTQ+ club night Hell's Bent in Cardiff, the short lived WOW bar on Churchill Way[13] and gay representation on Russell T. Davies' era of writing Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood series, both set in Cardiff.[14] In 2007 the Iris Prize was formed in Cardiff which celebrates LGBTQ+ short films. It has an annual festival screening films open to the public.
Cardiff's history of protests has continued, with Trans Aid Cymru being formed in 2020 after a group of activists held a protest outside of Cardiff Castle to protest the Gender Recognition Act 2004 reforms being dropped.[15] A second protest about the reforms was held outside the Senedd, after statistics were released showing that 70% of respondents supported the proposed changes to the gender recognition act.[16] [17]
In 2022 Shash Appan lead a protest with Trans Aid Cymru outside Tŷ William Morgan to protest the delays in a UK Conversion therapy ban.[18] The proposed ban was initially dropped, before the government instead announced that they would be pushing forward with it, but that it would not include protections around gender identity.[19] Shortly after the Cardiff protest Hannah Blythyn announced that the Welsh Government would be seeking legal advice to determine if Wales could implement their own ban on conversation therapy.[18]
A further protest was held at Tŷ William Morgan in 2023 after the UK government blocked the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from passing into law. Protesters from Trans Aid Cymru stuck homemade birth, death, and marriage certificates across the building, to represent how trans people regularly misgendered on these legal documents throughout their lives.[20]
The first iteration of Pride held in Cardiff was in 1985, which was a parade on Queen Street in the city centre organised by Cardiff University students (principally their GaySoc/Cardiff Lesbian and Gay Students group).[21] Organiser Francis Brown remembers attendance being less than 30 but Noreena Shopland's Forbidden Lives cites over 100 attendees.
The march continued annually in the following years 1986 and 1987, finishing at the Kings Cross pub.
See main article: Pride Cymru. The first Cardiff Mardi Gras was held in September 1999, and has happened annually since. In 2014, it changed its name to Pride Cymru.[22] In 2017 they took over the running of Cardiff Big Weekend, merging the event with their annual pride celebrations.[23]
The first Big Queer Picnic was held in August 2012 after the founders felt like Cardiff needed an alternative grassroots pride event.[24] It is run as a free community based event celebrating sexual and gender diversity. It is usually held on the Saturday of Pride Cymru in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.[25]
The first BAME Pride held in Wales was hosted by Glitter Cymru in August 2019.[26] Held as a community event to highlight the joy and diversity of the BAME LGBTQ+ community in Cardiff. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the second event didn't take place until 2022, with the event rebranded as Glitter Pride.[27]
In 2019 the first Cardiff Trans Pride was held across three days. Organised by Nerida Bradleyand Miles Rozel the events focused on platforming trans voices and performers.[28] [29]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the next Trans Pride wasn't held until 2023.[30] Returning on the 15th-17 September, it had three days of events and a march through the city centre.[31]
Cardiff has a vibrant gay scene, with all the main venues being within walking distance of each other. The Golden Cross, Mary's, Pulse, Eagle, and The Queer Emporium (containing Paned o Gê bookshop) are the backbone of the community.[32]
The Queer Emporium also hosts the annual Queer Fringe Festival in Cardiff, their first festival in 2022.[33] The Iris Prize is also an annual LGBTQ+ short film and prize awarding festival.
Cardiff has multiple LGBTQ+ choirs including the South Wales Gay Men's Chorus, Cardiff Trans Singers and Songbirds.[34] [35]
There are also a number of social and mutual support groups in the city. Glitter Cymru are a Cardiff based but Wales wide community group for ethnic minority LGBTQ+ people.[36] Trans Aid Cymru are a transgender, intersex, and nonbinary mutual aid group founded in Cardiff in 2020.[37]
St Fagans, the Museum of Cardiff and Glamorgan Archives collect artifacts relating to Cardiff LGBTQ+ life.[38] [39] [40]
The 2021 Census showed that 5.33% of Cardiff's population identifies as LGBTQ+. 0.71% identified as having a different gender identity than the one registered at their birth. Both percentages are the highest throughout Wales.[41] [42]
Those identifying as LGBTQ+ past and present: