Pride Tops

Now that you’ve digested yesterday’s Pride criteria points let’s get down to the nitty gritty and see which Prides are held nearer to the North Pole than any others.

I should point out that there is also an annual Polar Pride. This is held by people working in research bases in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. It’s not really a public celebration, but neither is it a commercial one. However, Polar Pride feels very much like a regional Pride, and it is an important celebration of lgbt inclusion in sciences. I have had difficulty placing it comfortably in any of my criteria points. I will cover it in more detail on the next Polar Pride on 18th November when I hope to have come to a solution.

The map above shows the locations of the following 5 Prides. Bear in mind that they are not measured in distances from the bottom of the map, but in distances between the North Pole and the Arctic Circle.

I’m sure you know what the Arctic Circle is, but it might help if I explain what it is in case you’re not sure.

Its all due to the tilt of the Earth as is spins. The tilt never changes – the Earth does not always point towards the Sun. The illustration below explains it best. The Arctic Circle is an imaginary line that is a little over 66° north of the equator. You can see that above the Arctic Circle the Sun shines 24 hours a day in the summer because all of that area of the Earth is tilted towards it. That’s why the area is called the Land of the Midnight Sun. And in the northern hemisphere winter you don’t see the Sun at all because it’s tilted away.

Let’s get on with listing the top 5 northern Prides. If you ever lower yourself and consult Google’s AI (which unfortunately I had to do to ensure I looked at all sources available), none of these locations will be mentioned. Hopefully, after I publish this, AI will finally get it right. As I’ve said since AI was invented, Artificial Intelligence is for people who have none of their own or too last to do any research. So, let’s discover the truth about the top 5 northernmost Prides in reverse order.

5) BARENTS PRIDE, KIRKENES, Norway – 69° 43' N

There can’t be many places where a city’s Pride is always held in a totally different country. Barents Pride may be the only one.

The inaugural Barents Pride, held in Finland near the Russian border, was in 2018. Even though it doesn’t comply with the criteria that Prides arranged due to a specific event after 2000 would not be considered, it’s included because of its continuity and current compliance with at least 3 other points.

Barents Pride was formed in response to the homophobic laws being introduced into Russia from 2010 onwards. The Russian lgbt community was sparked into action, but the anti-gay laws meant that protest was illegal and all participants could be arrested. This included the lgbt community in the Russian city of Murmansk (68° 58' N).

All was not lost, because across the border in the Finnish city of Kirkenes just over146 km (90 miles) away activists were organising protests that were legal. Activists from both cities joined together to create the first Barents Pride in Kirkenes, named after the Barents Sea which is the part of the Arctic Ocean that forms their joint coastline.

Of course, the Murmansk activists cannot make themselves known publicly for fear of arrest, so they tend not to advertise their presence at Barents Pride except to the Kirkenes lgbt community. Lgbt attendees from other Russian cities have also attended.

This year’s Barents Pride continues to serve as Kirkenes Pride and unofficial Murmasnk Pride and will take place in late September.

4) SÁPMI PRIDE, UTSJOKI, Finland – 69° 54' N

Europe is home to several multi-national Prides (I will cover these in more detail next year). The northernmost of these is Sápmi Pride, held in the northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland in the region called Samiland, the general area popularly known as Lapland. This area is the home to the ethnic people called the Sámi.

Sápmi Pride began in 2014 in Sweden and is held in a different location every year in one of the three above-mentioned countries. Sadly it cannot be held in the Sámi region of Russia because of the country’s anti-gay laws.

In 2020 Sápmi Pride was due to be held in Utsjoki, Finland, the furthest north that it been held. I’m sure you’ll know why it was cancelled (covid, of course). However, like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Sápmi Pride in Utsjoki was just postponed for a year and was held in 2021 between 5 and 8 August.

This year’s Sápmi Pride also takes place in Finland in Inari (68° 54' N) on 8 August.

3) ALTA PRIDE, Norway – 69° 58' N

Alta was the first location north of the Arctic Circle to have a Pride. The current Alta Pride committee is apparently unaware of that their first Pride was held in 2010.

The first Alta Pride that is currently recognised by the committee took place from 25 to 28 August 2022, though there were a variety of lgbt events taking place the year before. The reason why I know about the 2010 Pride is because I made notes of media reports of it in my archives when it happened.

It has been common throughout history for younger generations to assume they are the first to do or think of anything important or new, like organising Pride. There may not have been any research done, or no contact with older generations who experienced such events. Although their intensions may be praised, younger generations have to learn that many people who were born before them are still alive and much can be learned from these older generations. Just because youngsters have left school, college or university it doesn’t mean they know everything. Sadly, they think they do, and it happens too often and youngsters are spreading a distorted view of history (“presentism” is mainly to blame, but my rant can wait for another day!).

I have to credit Alta with what history and what contemporary media reported, copied into my archives at the time, and say that the first Alta Pride was in 2010. This year’s Alta Pride will be from 20-23 August.

2) HAMMERFEST PRIDE, Norway – 70° 96' N.

The northernmost Pride on continental Europe. This is not a stand-along event like most Prides but is part of annual cultural festival held in the town of Hammerfest called Hammerfestendagen (Hammerfest Days). The festival usually lasts for a couple weeks and Hammerfest Pride is just one event among many. This year’s Hammerfestendagen is from 13-19 July.

Even though Hammerfest Pride is not a stand-along event it does have its own independent organising committee, programme of events and march. This year, their Pride march will take place on 16 July.

And the current record for being the location of the northernmost Pride on the entire planet goes to…

1) LONGYEARBYEN PRIDE, Svalbard, Norway – 78° 13' N.

Possibly also the remotest Pride in the northern hemisphere, furthest from any other human habitation. Longyearbyen is the main town on the Norwegian island of Svalbard almost 800 km (nearly 500 miles) from the northernmost point of continental Europe. It has a population of around 2,500.

The first Longyearbyen Pride was held on 17 August 2019 and was organised by Svalbard native Lene Leanette Dyngeland (b.1967). It has been held every year since including 2020. Svalbard is such a remote island that there was little chance of covid ever reaching it. This year’s Longyearbyen Pride will be on the last weekend in August.

The nearest other Pride to Longyearbyen is the above-mentioned Hammerfest Pride 870 km (540 miles) away.

So congratulations to the inhabitants of Svalbard and Longyearbyen. It is very unlikely that their record will ever be broken unless one of the very few towns in the northern part of Svalbard has its own Pride. The only other settlements further north are in Greenland, Canada and homophobic Russia, and it doesn’t look like any of them with be hosting a Pride any time soon. Don’t forget what I said above about Polar Pride. Some of their events may take place further north, but they are not really public in the strictest sense. More about that in November.

Tomorrow we’ll go as for away from Longyearbyar as possible when it comes to celebrating Pride and look at which five are the southernmost and nearest to the South Pole, as well as some honourable mentions.

Pride Tops and Bottoms

As the USA comes to the end of its Pride Month let’s look at some of the locations around the world that have held notable Pride events.

A couple of years ago I made lists of some of the first Prides and highest Prides. Since then there have been many hundreds of new Prides. Over the next three days I’ll give specific lists of the northernmost and southernmost Prides – the top and bottom of Pride, you could say.

There’s no universal definition of a Pride. The list below is purely my own choice of defining criteria compiled to help me to decide which Prides I could consider. It’s not intended as a universally accepted list.

I wanted to keep the list as simple as possible, but the more I thought about it the more points I came up with. I have considered as many variations of Pride that I can to ensure that no Pride is left out. However, there are some Prides which I think should not be included, and these are explained in the list.

In regions where homosexuality is illegal and Prides have been known to take place in secret in the past, they do not need to comply with any of the following criteria.

I realise that a lot of these points will be unnecessarily detailed, but they helped to organise my mind even if they confuse yours. So sorry if you think this list is a mess. Ideally, I think a Pride should try to include at least three points between 1 and 10.

1) It does not need to have the word “Pride” in its name. The event should ideally include the word Pride (or its equivalent in non-English languages) in its promotional material or make it clear that it can be referred to as a Pride.

2) The Pride must promote lgbt diversity, inclusion, acceptance and respect as its main objective. Protests can occur and be used as the central themes, but other issues must be included in the official programme. The organising committee should avoid making exclusions to any event based on politics, religion, or opposing views as much as possible, except when public safety to attendees, spectators, the public, or protestors could be at risk. The Pride must be non-violent.

3) Continuity over the years is not essential, though events can be regarded retrospectively as Pride by later Pride committees. See also point 5.

4) A Pride should be held only once in any calendar year (see points 9 and 10 for possible exceptions). Promotional and fund-raising events for Pride will not be considered.

6) The Pride must be advertised publicly giving its name, dates or full range of dates, and principal venues or focal point (e.g. for the march).

6) It should have an organising committee of three members or more, preferably volunteers. Historic inaugural Prides may not have had three committee members, and these will be considered if they complied with other points.

7) There should be a central public focal point accessible to all participants, whether in the open air or an indoor venue (excluding private residences). It may need to restrict the number of attendees due to limitations of space or safety requirements. For larger Prides there can be other content such as entertainment, food and drink venues, and a market which includes charity and community stalls. A festival of a variety of artistic events can also be organised or sanctioned by the Pride committee.

8) Any march or parade must be through public areas and open to all, free of charge, and non-violent, consisting of local lgbt communities and groups, and participants of diverse identities, political beliefs and opinions. This includes any planned march that is banned or cancelled. Exclusions should be avoided, except when public safety to attendees, spectators, the public, or protestors could be at risk.

9) A Pride can celebrate a specific identity (e.g. Transgender Pride, Black Pride, Leather Pride, etc.), but must welcome those who do not identify as members of that group as well as the public. These should take place on a different date or venue to any other Pride held in the same location, unless when held as a single joint event by their separate organising committees.

10) An official national, regional, provincial, or state Pride can take place simultaneously in difference cities, towns and locations. Each Pride must be officially publicised as being part of the regional Pride. Each location will be treated separately for the purpose of determining the geographical range of the regional Pride. Other Prides held on the same date but not connected to the regional Pride will be considered separately.

Finally, if the next point applies to any event that calls itself a Pride, it will not be considered for the time being (any exceptions are given).

11) The Pride event should not be organised for profit by an independent commercial business or company (e.g. Disney Gay days). Some Winter Prides held at ski resorts will only be considered if the Pride has not been organised by the ski resort itself. Pride events held by organisations, companies, charities, and businesses for their employees will not be considered, but they can be represented at Pride events. They can take part in the march, or have a market stall, but they must not be there to sell any of their products. There presence must only be to support the lgbt community (free handouts are usually welcome). Alternative Prides, held in direct competition to established Prides, will also not be considered for the time being.

These points cover most of what I think a Pride can be. They are not official and subject to constant revision, so if you know of a Pride that doesn’t meet at least three of points 1-10 but which obviously qualifies, make a comment below and I will amend the list after I’ve collected evidence of its eligibility should anyone question its inclusion in the future.

That’s enough of the boring bits. Tomorrow I’ll tell you what you really want to know, beginning with the TOP 5 northern Prides. The day after that I’ll list the BOTTOM 5 southern Prides.

Until then, the map below shows you the latitudes marked with a red line showing where those 10 listed Prides are located.

Heraldic Alphabet 2026

Happy International Heraldry Day, and welcome to my annual batch of 24 lgbt+ coats of arms.

I won’t give an introduction to explain all the rules, terms and formats this time. Last year’s list, and previous ones, may give any information you need. Several things do need to be emphasised:-

1) Arms with a black surround are of people who have passed away in the past 18 months;

2) A diamond next to a letter indicates the arms are of an unmarried or divorced woman, used specifically in English heraldry;

3) Not everyone is aware they may be entitled to a coat of arms.

A) Max Adrian (1903-1973) – real name Guy Bor, Irish actor. Family arms. The Bors originate in the Netherlands and these arms appears on the tomb of Cornelis Bor (d.1561) of Dordrecht. His son moved to Ireland in the 1620s and gained Irish citizenship. His grandson registered these arms with the College of Arms in London on 17th February 1718. They were transferred to the Dublin Record Office on Irish independence. Max’s ancestor Humphrey Bor of Dublin adopted these arms though he had no direct link to Cornelis. The arms are still used by Humphrey’s descendants. The star indicates that Max descends from Humphrey’s third son.

B) Andreas Bruce (1808-1885) – intersex Swedish aristocrat. Family arms. The Swedish Bruce family are of Scottish origin and lairds of Lymlyn, Fifeshire. They bore the red and yellow Bruce arms to which they added a white cross. They moved to Sweden in the 1600s, and in 1668 were given Swedish nationality and created non-titled nobility. Andreas descends from them.

C) Dr. Tonya Chaffee – Professor of Paediatrics, University of California San Francisco. Family arms. The Chaffees originate in Exeter, Devon, England. These arms have been used by the family since the 1570s. One member of the family, Thomas Chaffee, migrated to New England in the 1630s. He used these arms on a seal on legal documents. Dr. Chaffee is one of Thomas’s direct descendants.

D) Maria Dulebianka (1861-1919) – Polish artist and women’s suffrage campaigner. “Clan” arms. Maria’s family coat of arms was adopted by ancient association rather than blood descent and are part of a “herb” (clan). The Dulebianka’s are believed to belong to the Alabanda herb whose arms are illustrated here. The design dates back to emblems used by an Italian bishop who was appointed to what is now Poland in 993 AD. The crescent was added before 1584 when the full design was included in a book on the arms of Polish knights.

E) Michael Ebling (b.1967) – Mayor of Mainz, Germany 2012-22. Arms of office. This is the coat of arms of the city of Mainz. There are several theories about how and when the design originated, ranging from being the emblem of St. Martin, the patron saint of the city, to that of a 10th century archbishop whose father was a wheelwright.

F) Sir John Finch (1625-1682) – English Ambassador to Constantinople 1672. Personal arms. The male line ancestors of the Finches were the FitzHerberts in the 12th century. Their arms of three lions were used by them from the 14th century. After the marriage to the Finch heiress, this branch of the FitzHerberts used both surnames for several centuries. Vincent FitzHerbert/Finch is recorded as the first to use the black and white arms. By the 16th century the family used the Finch name alone though retained the Fitzherbert arms. The crescent indicates that Sir John was the second son of his father.

G) Julian Gibbs (1932-2021) – English financial adviser. Family arms. Older brother of Christopher Gibbs (see Heraldic Alphabet 2025). Like his bother, Julian inherited a couple of cadency marks which would make the shield look cluttered, so they are omitted. Both were sons of a second son – Julian the 3rd son, and Christopher the 5th.

H) Hon. Esmond Harmsworth (1967-2025) – English literary agent. Personal arms as the 2nd son (indicated by the crescent) of the 2nd Viscount Rothermere. Esmond’s grandfather, the 1st Viscount, was a prominent newspaper mogul and pioneer of tabloid journalism. These arms were granted in 1904 when the 1st Viscount was created a baronet (hereditary knight). Although the meaning behind the design is not recorded we can make some guesses. The rolls of paper may represent newspapers, but also legal documents (as they are tied in red tape) because the 1st Viscount’s father was a barrister. The bees are often used in English heraldry to represent industry, reflecting the Harmsworth dynasty’s dominance in early 20th century British press journalist.

J) Sir Barry Jackson (1879-1961) – English entrepreneur, founder of Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Personal arms. Sir Barry’s father, George, was granted these arms on 10 February 1917 by the College of Arms. The meaning for the design is unknown, but I guess the jackdaw is a pun on the family name.

K) John Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes (1883-1946) – English economist. Personal arms. Granted by the College of Arms in May 1944. The design is a modified version of the arms used by the Keynes family of Winkleigh Keynes, Devon, since the 12th century. John had no known descent from this family so wasn’t allowed to use their arms, but because of the similarity in name he was entitled to modify them. He just added two fleurs-de-lys.

L1) James Lees-Milne (1908-1997) – English author and historian. Marital arms for the duration of this marriage to Alvilde (see L2). They both had same-sex affairs before and during their marriage. The main shield quarters the arms of Lees (the red and white arms) with the Milne arms (yellow and back). The white object in the Milne arms represents the iron brackets around the hole in a mill wheel and is a pun on their name. The Milnes also built and ran several mills. In 1890 the last of the Milnes died childless and left his fortune to his nephew, James Lees-Milne’s grandfather, on condition that he added the Milne arms and name to his own. The Royal Licence which confirmed this is dated 31 May 1890. The small shield is that of Alvilde’s family and is placed there because she was an heiress.

L2) Mrs. Alvilde Lees-Milne (1909-1994) – English landscape garden designer. Marital arms for the duration of her marriage to the 3rd Viscount Chaplin. Alvilde was the only child and heir of Sir Tom Bridges, Governor of South Australia. As the heraldic heir she could place her arms on top of her husband’s. The main shield shows the arms of Viscount Chaplin, which had been used since his ancestor became Lord Mayor of London in 1672. Alvilde was married to the Viscount when she met James Lees-Milne. They divorced and she married James.

M) May Morris (1862-1938) – English designer. Personal arms. May was one of the daughters and coheirs of Victorian artist and designer William Morris. Like Alvilde Lees-Milne (L2 above) that meant she could have placed her arms on a little shield on top of their husband’s (if he had a coat of arms), but before her childless marriage her arms were placed on a diamond lozenge. The arms were granted by the College of Arms to May’s grandfather on 15th April 1843. May spent her last years living with her romantic companion Mary Lobb.

N) Ilmari Nurminen (b.1991) – Mayor of Tampere, Finland, since 2025. Arms of office. The arms were officially approved by the city council of Tampere on 30th March 1960. They are a simplified version of the city’s previous coat of arms. The “T” represents the city’s name and also a blacksmith’s hammer symbolising industry. The caduceus (wing staff with snakes wrapped around it) symbolises commerce. The thick wavy like represents the river Tammerkoski which flows though Tampere.

O) Mark Ogilvie-Grant (1905-1969) – Scottish diplomat. Hypothetical arms (arms of the Earls of Seafield, Mark being a great-grandson of the 6th Earl). Scottish arms are not automatically inherited and must be registered with appropriate differences with the Lord Lyon King of Arms in order for them to be legal. In about 1437, an Ogilvie (whose arms are the red lion) married a Sinclair heiress (the black cross). In 1811 the Grants (three gold crowns) inherited the Seafield title and adopted the Ogilvie name and arms. The arms illustrated would have formed the basic design had Mark chosen to register any arms with Lord Lyon.

P) David Hume Pinsent (1891-1918) – RAF test pilot. Posthumous personal arms. David’s uncle was created a baronet (hereditary knight) in 1938 and was probably granted arms at the same time. As is customary, the arms could be used by descendants of the baronet’s father (i.e. David’s grandfather). Unfortunately, David was killed in an air accident a decade earlier. I show his arms as they would have been in 1938 had he lived. As the eldest son and heir of his father, David would have placed a label (the yellow device) to his arms to indicate this. The birds, by the way, are chaffinches, a much-loved bird in Europe.

R) John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647-1690) – English courtier poet, and blatant Libertine. Personal arms. Lord Rochester’s family arms (Wilmot) is the main white shield with the eagle’s heads and shells. His wife, Elizabeth Malet, was an heiress and, like Alvilde Lees-Milne (above L2) could place her family arms on a smaller shield on top of her husband’s. The Malets have used their coat of arms since the 1300s.

S1) Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) – English writer. Personal arms. The Strachey arms (red cross and little eagles) was granted to William Strachey of Saffron Walden, Essex, on 4 July 1587. His great-grandson and heir married the daughter and coheir of George Hodges of Somerset, thus enabling their descendants, including Lytton, to bear both arms in quarters. The Hodges have used their arms (yellow and black) since before 1610. Lytton was his father’s 4th son so could add a martlet (bird without feet) to his arms as a cadency mark.

S2) Tori Settle (née Hon. Victoria Leach) (b.1966) – British psychotherapist; Gay Games and EuroGames dance sport champion (with wife Yvonne Settle). Marital arms. Since 2014 female same-sex married couples in England and Wales have been entitled to place their arms on a shield. The main shield shows the arms Tori inherits from her father, Baron Leach of Fairford (a life peer, a non hereditary title). Tori’s wife Yvonne has no known family arms, so a plain lozenge is placed on her wife’s.

T) Christopher Tunnard (1910-1979) – Canadian landscape architect, garden designer and city planner. Personal arms. These arms were granted to Christopher’s great-great-grandfather, also called Christopher, by the College of Arms in 1810. The landscape gardener was the eldest son of another Christopher, who was a second son, which is indicated by the crescent.

U) Michael Unett (b.1997) – Mayor of Alsager, Cheshire, England, 2021-2, 2025-6. Arms of office. Michael is an elected mayor (by fellow council members) rather than appointed by length of service as a councillor. These are the arms of the Alsager town council which feature of the mayoral chain of office.

V) Most Rev. Cherry Vann (b.1958) – 15th Archbishop of (the Anglican Church in) Wales since 2025. Arms of office. Bishop Vann appeared in my 2020 Heraldic Alphabet when she was Bishop of Monmouth. By being promoted to archbishop this means that of the 3 Anglican archbishops in the England (Canterbury, York, and Wales) only York is male and Vann is a lesbian. These arms are of the archdiocese of Wales, granted by the College of Arms on 9 December 1954, replacing an earlier design that had been used unofficially since about 1939.

W) Thomas Cuthbert Worsley (1907-1977) – English writer, theatre critic, and schoolmaster. Family arms. The Worsleys are said to be descended from an 11th century Norman baron called Elias de Workesley. Thomas is descended from several generations of younger sons from Thomas Worsley (1686-1750), which would clutter up his arms with so many different cadency marks that it would look as much of a jumble as the Progress Pride flag.

Y) Harriot Yorke (1842-1930) – partner of Octavia Hill, co-founder of the National Trust. Family arms. Harriot was a great-great-grand-daughter of the 1st Earl of Hardwicke. I’m not sure how long the Yorke’s have had this coat of arms, but the Earl quartered it with the arms of his mother, an heiress of the Gibbon family. He could not have done this before 1727 when his mother died.

80 Gays Around the World: Part 8) Persona Non Grata

Last time: 23) Harmodius and 24) Aristogeiton were killed rebelling against 25) Hipparchus (whose father-in-law, 26 Charmus of Kollyton had been sexual partner, at different times, to his brother 27 Hippias and father 28 Peisistratus) during the ritual torch relay to the Parthenon, whose main architect also created the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, which was particularly admired by 29) Caligula (12-41 AD).

29) Caligula (12-41 AD) has become one of the most notorious and eccentric of all the Roman Emperors. Among his sexual eccentricities were dating a Senator and a male actor at the same time, and allegedly committing incest with his sisters. The Senator even complained often about being exhausted by Caligula’s bedtime activities.

A lot of Caligula’s eccentricities can be misinterpreted. For example, the famous story of him making his favourite horse a senator could easily be thought of as a sign of madness. But it could also be interpreted as a jibe against what he thought was the standard of the debate and actions of the then Senate. He thought his horse would do a better job. I’m sure you’ve even made comments yourself that a horse or something could do a better job than your local politician.

Like many Roman Emperors (and a couple of Presidents in 2026), Caligula had an over-inflated opinion of themselves. One of his egomaniac projects was to have all the statues of Greek gods and heroes transported from Greece to Rome. There they would have their heads removed and replaced with carved portraits of his own head. One of these statues was that of Zeus at Olympia.

However, the statue of Zeus, or maybe Zeus himself, who knows, made it known that it thought of Caligula’s plan. The Greek writer Suetonius writes that scaffolding was erected around the statue and workmen were preparing to disassemble it for transportation to Rome. It was at this point that the workmen heard the sound of laughter coming from the statue. The laughter was so loud and hard that the scaffolding collapsed. The workmen ran off in terror and swore never to return to finish their task. This is probably one of those apocryphal stories that were popular at the time.

After Caligula’s assassination his successor and the Roman Senate wanted to make sure that he was erased from history. In Rome there was a process called “damnatio memoriae”, which means “damnation of memory”, a kind of ancient “cancel culture”.

Modern cancel culture has led to many statues and memorials have been defaced of removed from public sight because of that person’s supposed link to an issue that goes against the personal beliefs of an activist. In the instance of Caligula’s “damnatio memoriae”, all his statues, portraits and inscriptions were to be defaced and his properties seized by the state. The Senate wanted to ensure that that no-one ever heard about him again. Luckily, there are many surviving records, like the writings of Suetonius mentioned above, and things like coins across the Roman Empire and beyond that testified to his existence.

A lot of the statues and busts of Caligula were simply thrown in to rivers. Many of them were re-cut in order to change the resemblance from Caligula to another emperor. Above is one of many examples of Caligula’s face being re-sculpted into that of his successor, Claudius (currently in the archaeological museum at the site of Carsulae, Umbrio, Italy; photos by Eric R. Varner, “The Digital Sculpture Project”, 2013). The front view is obviously more successful than the side view.

How ironic. The emperor who wanted to removed the heads of gods from statues and replace them with sculptures of his own head, ended up having his face removed from his own statues and replaced.

Other regimes throughout history have tried to erase the evidence of a person’s existence or presence purely because of a difference of opinion or politics. Not all of them went as far as complete obliteration from the records as attempted by Rome. You’ve probably seen footage of statues to dictators being knocked down following a coup.

The USSR, of the Soviet Union (1922-1991), was one of the most notorious regimes for removing people from their records. One of the most famous cases was that of 30) Nikolai Yetzov (1895-1940).

Nikolai Yezhov was the People’s Commisar (Chairman) of the Party Control Commission of the Central Committee, or NKVD (what preceded the dreaded KGB). In effect he was head of the Soviet secret police.

In 1937 he became responsible for what is known as the Great Purge, or Yezhovshchina (the Age of Yezhov). He became one of those gay men who should never become a role model.

The Great Purge was called by Soviet leader Josef Stalin to deal with any opposition or criticism of his leadership. Any member of the Communist Party could be arrested and executed at Yezhov’s command, including their wives and children. Ethnic groups and the Russian Intelligentsia were also targeted. Most of the non-political prisoners were sent to the Gulag labour camps. During the first year of the Purge over half a million people were sent to the Gulags. When the Gulags became too overcrowded Yezhov ordered prisoners to be executed.

Eventually, but only after about 1.2 million people were killed, did Stalin think that Yezhov had over-stepped his authority and was doing more harm than good for the Communist Party. Yezhov’s undoing was his attempt to arrest the leader of the Georgian branch of the NKVD. The suspect convinced Stalin to help him overthrow Yezhov. Yezhov knew that his days were numbered and he resigned in November 1938. He was arrested five months later.

Yezhov confessed (probably by force) to incompetence and that the Great Purge had led to crimes against the state. He even confessed to being gay and having a string of homosexual partners, despite being married. He was found guilty and executed on 4th February 1940.

What connects Nikolai Yezhov to Caligula is what happened after his death. Because Yezhov has no statues erected to him, the only method available at the time to remove his image was to remove him from all official photographs, particularly ones which showed him with Stalin and other senior Soviet politicians, like the “before and after” example below.

During his arrest and confession to homosexual activity he admitted to having an affair with another leading Soviet figure, 31) Filipp Goloshchyokin (1876-1941).

Like Yezhov, Goloshchyokin has been named as the man responsible for the deaths of over a million of his own countrymen. He was from Kazakhstan, at the time a constituent “republic” of the Soviet Union. By 1925 he had become the virtual dictator of Kazakhstan. Stalin introduced his policy of collectivisation of agriculture, effectively forcing all peasant families to stop producing food for themselves and making them work for state-run farms with dozens of other families. The theory behind this was that it produced more food for equal distribution around the Soviet Union, in particular for the growing industrial urban centres. The actual effect was that it deprive rural peasants of their livestock and not producing enough food for them to live on. The result was widespread famine.

Under Golshchyokin’s zealous implementation of this policy an estimated 2 million Kazakhs died of starvation, 40% of the population, because most of the food they produced went to the cities.

It was at the beginning of this policy that Goloshchyokin met and had an affair with Nikolai Yezhov. During the Great Purge Goloshchyokin was sure he was safe as long a Yezhov was running the NKVD. Not long after Yezhov was arrested and admitted to their affair Goloshchyokin was also arrested. He, too, was executed.

Yet, the general public are unaware of the Kazakh Famine, or of Goloshchyokin’s role in it. What they might know more about is a previous massacre that he was personally responsible for – the assassination of Tsar Nicholas II and the imperial Romanov family. Goloshchuokin’s role in the massacre was as the principal captor of the Tsar and his immediate family in Tsarskoye Selo. In fact, he was the man in charge of arranging the killings and disposal of the bodies.

This event is well-known, but what people often forget is that some Romanovs survived, and some were murdered even before the 1917 Russian Revolution by previous revolutionary assassins. One of the victims was 32) Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov (1857-1905).

Next time: Pride and prejudice in Moscow.

Extraordinary Life: Robert Culliford, Pirate Captain - Part 2

Yo, ho, ho my hearties! It’s back to the high seas for a bit more piracy with Robert Culliford, pirate captain extraordinary.

Last September, in the first half of my look at Robert Culliford, we ended with him leaving his life in the Americas and heading into the Indian Ocean in the 1690s.

The Indian Ocean trade routes were heavily policed by the European powers. The Dutch East India Company and the East India Company of Great Britain were in control of virtually the whole of the Asian continental coastline from the Philippines and down the east coast of Africa. These companies had their own militia and fleet and were treated as semi-independent nations in their own right. Together they provided a more diligent defence against piracy than any power controlling the Caribbean or American trade routes, where there was no unified anti-piracy strategy.

Things didn’t start well for Robert Culliford. The ship on which he was serving headed to Gujarat on the north western coast of the India. Anchoring the ship at the port of Mangrol, the crew began what can best be described as a wild rampage by drunken yobs. No doubt they were desperate to get off the ship after the long voyage from the Americas around the bottom of Africa (there was no Suez Canal until nearly 200 years later) and wanted to enjoy themselves as much as possible with lots of alcohol. The crew abused local women, attacked local men, and stole whatever they wanted.

Understandably, the locals were angry. So, one day a local boy swam out and cut the anchor free. The ship drifted ashore where the local Indians boarded easily and seized the crew. Culliford and eighteen others were on board and they were all put in shackles and taken before the local Indian authorities, who promptly locked them all up in jail.

They remained there for four years.

It was in jail that Robert Culliford met John Swann, another prisoner. Whether Swann was already a crewmember of Culliford’s, or a separate captive, I’m not sure, but the special relationship between them probably began in that Gujurati jail.

The behaviour of the prisoners must have instilled a degree of trust in the captives, because after a couple of years some of them, including Culliford, were allowed to do menial work on ships of the Indian Mughal Empire.

You don’t need to be a fortune teller to know what came next!

In 1696 Culliford and his fellow prisoners overpowered their too-trusting guards and made their escape. Rather than hijack a ship and sail off into the distance, the escapees made their way to Bombay (modern Mumbai), a distance of 600 miles (966 km). There, most of them signed on as crewmembers on board the ship “Josiah” belonging to the British East India Company.

After being cooped up in an Indian jail for four years, Robert Culliford decided it was time to get back to what he had sailed half way round the world for. So, as soon as the “Josiah” had got far enough away from Bombay and out to sea, Culliford, John Swann and their fellow ex-jailbirds hijacked the ship.

But Culliford should have thought this through. The majority of the “Joshua”s crew were the original East India Company crew. They had spent their careers fighting off pirates. They waited until the crew had put ashore on one of the Nicobar Islands just north of Sumatra to gather (or pillage for) provisions. Only two pirate crewmembers were left on board. It didn’t take long for the East India men to take ship and sail off, leaving Culliford and everyone else stranded.

A month later the marooned crew were picked up another pirate ship called the “Defence” (formerly an East India Company ship called the “Mocha”) and joined them. A few months after that, in May 1697, the “Defence” stopped off at Sumatra and a shore party went to collect fresh water. Here we encounter differing versions about the fate of the “Defence”s captain. Some documents say that he and the shore party were killed by local tribes, while others say that his own shipmates rebelled and killed him. Either way, the captain was gone and the crew elected Robert Culliford to take his place. Culliford renamed the ship “Resolution” and spent the next year sailing from one end of the Indian Ocean to the other plundering any ship that took his fancy.

In the summer of 1697 the “Resolution” encountered the East India Company ship “Dorrill” in the Straits of Malacca. This led to what was probably the biggest sea battle Culliford had ever fought. A cautious stand-off between the vessels on the first day of their encounter only built up tension and eagerness to fight among the pirates, despite Culliford’s order to wait, and it allowed the “Dorrill” to prepare to defend itself.

On day two, cannons started firing from both sides. Masts, sails and bulk heads were smashed, smoke and shouts filled the air, and there were many casualties. These included several teenage cabin boys on the “Dorrill”. One of the Master Gunner’s boys had his leg blown off and he died several days later in agony. Extensive damage to the “Resolution” forced Culliford to pull back and retreat, without capturing any prize.

By May 1698 the “Resolution” docked at the island of Sainte-Marie (now called Nosy Baraha) a couple of miles off the east coast of Madagascar. Sainte-Marie had recently become a haven for pirates and Culliford probably wanted to take stock of his vast wealth obtained from piracy. He and John Swann lived together, and this is where records of them being referred to as consorts is mentioned by contemporaries. This could mean that they were regarded as a same-sex couple, of course. But “consort” had another meaning at sea.

In sea-faring terms, a “consort” was a ship that sailed with or accompanied another. Culliford himself had used his ships as consort several times. So, you could say that John Swann was merely Culliford’s travelling companion, in naval terms. We’ll never know for sure what their relationship was, but it is generally believed that they were in some form of romantic same-sex relationship. Anyway, the couple had only just got settled on the island when a familiar face arrived – Captain Kidd.

As related in part one, there was an unpleasant rivalry between these two captains. This was heightened by the fact that that Captain Kidd was no longer a pirate. The king of England had recruited Kidd as a pirate-hunter, and Culliford knew this. Cautious courtesies were exchanged between Culliford and Kidd, but Kidd was not ready to capture Culliford, because he thought Culliford had a full crew and not just 20 men under his command. Kidd, however, had 150, but he waited until more ships had arrived from England, but this was a mistake.

The wait was to contribute to Kidd’s eventual downfall. On Sainte-Marie he set about sharing out the loot he captured from an Arabian vessel as few weeks earlier. Kidd’s crew looked at Culliford’s wealth and thought piracy was a better option, and for a second time most of Kidd’s crew, 97 men in all, abandoned him to join Culliford.

By September, “Resolution” sailed towards the Arabian Peninsula. It encountered an Arabian merchant ship heading for China called “Great Mahomet”. There was another great sea battle. Some reports say that 300 crew and passengers on “Great Mahomet” lost their lives, and Culliford’s crew was down to just 20 men. The reward for the pirates, however, was £800-worth from the defeated ship’s cargo – that’s around £150,000 in today’s money! Each!

In the meantime, Captain Kidd was having difficulty recruiting crewmembers on Sainte-Marie, and most of the remaining 40 crewmembers and some other pirates wanted to go back to the Americas. So Kidd limped off in a leaky ship and headed for New York. On arrival he was arrested – his attack on the Arabian ship was not authorised and he was declared a pirate once more.

In 1699 more visitors arrived at Sainte-Marie, four British man-of-war ships. The pirates expected the worst, but were surprised when they were offered a Royal Pardon to all British-born pirates if they returned home with them. They were probably offered death if they refused. Two dozen pirates accepted the offer, including Robert Culliford. It is unclear if John Swann was still on the island. He may have been one of the men who went with Captain Kidd to America. There’s no record of him after the references to him being Culliford’s consort.

Culliford’s return to England turned into a nightmare. There was indeed an Act of Parliament offering Royal Pardons to pirates, but there was a time limit. By the time Culliford and his comrades arrived back in England the time limit had expired, so as soon as they set foot on British soil they were all arrested for piracy and put on trial. All of them were hanged, as was Captain Kidd – except one. Culliford agreed to turn King’s Evidence against another pirate who had carried out a particularly nasty attack on a friendly ship, and in return Culliford’s Royal Pardon was reinstated. He was one of the few lucky ones, one of the traitors against the pirate community, depending on whose side you were on.

Like his partner Swann, Robert Culliford disappears from the records. Whether he settled down in England or went back to sea is unknown. It is unlikely that he was allowed to keep the massive fortune he made from piracy. We don’t even know if he was reunited with John Swann, or decided to settle down and get married and have children.

Believe it or not, all this is just the edited highlights. It amazes me that no-one has turned the life of Robert Culliford into an action film, or even a factual documentary. It would make “Pirates of the Caribbean” look as action-packed as the Teletubbies. There’s even very little on YouTube, except for the one video above (others are not particularly well made or detailed). So, until someone decides to make a full-length film or documentary, I hope you enjoyed my little look at the Extraordinary Life of Pirate Captain Robert Culliford.

Team LGBT Breaking Records Again

NOTE: History is always changing – or rather our knowledge of historical event. The information below is accurate on the date of publication. Further research may reveal information which changes or replaces some of the details. Check later postings to keep up to date by selecting “Olympics” in the search box or tag list.

At last I can get round to sport at the Olympics. Having several personal issues that have been taking up most of the last six months I was not able to assist my friends at Outsports in compiling their Team LGBT list for Milan Cortina 2026.

What a record-breaking Olympics it has been, with 50 open members of Team LGBT, and another 2 identified since then.

But before I look at their achievements there’s someone I should have included in the first of this 3-part series.

In part 1, “The Road to Milan” I mentioned the bidding process and the awarding of the games to Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. However, in the muddle of dealing with various issues I forgot to include Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (b.1987).

Astrid is a former Olympian, competing in cross-country skiing for Norway in 2010, 2014 and 2018, winning one gold medal in the latter. Astrid was a member of the IOC’s Co-ordination Commission for Milan Cortina 2026. A new Commission is set up for each Summer, Winter and Youth Olympics immediately after the selection of a host. In Milan’s case the commission was set up in 2017, and Astrid was one of its eleven members.

The purpose of the Co-ordination Commission is to monitor the progress being made by the host organising committee and make site visits to ensure everything is running to plan and on time.

So, what about the athletes? For full coverage of Team LGBT in Milan Cortina I suggest you consult Outsports excellent coverage – the best on the internet. You can find them here. Below you will find a more analytical approach.

Of the 52 identified (2 of them after the games ended), 15 were making their full Olympic debut, which is down 7 from Beijing 2022. The debutantes include only 1 athlete who had been an alternate at a previous games. This was Amber Glenn who was an alternate figure skater for the USA in 2022. Amber is also the only debutante in Milan Cortina 2026 who became an Olympic champion (figure skating team event). Winning gold in the team event and 5th in the individual singles also makes her the highest climber on the lgbt medal list, going straight in at number 37 out of 175 on the Winter list and 124 out of 915 on the combined Summer/Winter list.

To remind you of what an alternate is – if an Olympian is injured during training or practice before their event has begun and cannot compete, but the team has qualified for the event, then the team can put in a pre-nominated alternate athlete in his or her place. It’s not the same as a reserve in football/soccer who is already on the team. There are other rules, but we don’t need to go into them here.

Actually, there’s an example of another kind of replacement involving another athlete who was in Milan, Breezy (Breanna) Johnson. In January 2021 she was named as a member of Team USA for Beijing 2022. Unfortunately she injured her knee and could not compete. USA had qualified for three places in the downhill event Breezy was registered for. In her place the USA selected Alix Wilkinson, who was not actually an alternate. She was not registered for the downhill event but was already on Team USA for the Super-G event. If Alix had declined to enter this extra event, an alternate athlete could have been selected. Breezy was fully fit for Milan Cortina, and went on to win the gold medal.

For the 8th consecutive Winter Olympics, from the first year that women’s ice hockey took place at the Olympics in 1998, women’s ice hockey players make up the majority of Team LGBT. In Milan Cortina they didn’t quite outnumber all the others, as they had in 1996 and 2002. This includes players identified as belonging to Team LGBT after each games had finished, like the 2 ice hockey players not listed by Outsports who were identified after Milan Cortina was over.

Because of the number of ice hockey players on any one team, it means that they also top the medal list for the sport with the most medallists. However, don’t forget that this is a team sport and only counts as one medal in official records and lists no matter how many are on the team. My lists are slightly different because I register all team members. Even so, women’s ice hockey at Milan Cortina has earned the distinction of the being the second time that female members of Team LGBT have won gold (USA), silver (Canada) and bronze (Switzerland) at a Winter Olympics. The previous occasion was in Salt Lake City 2002, also in women’s ice hockey.

Even though no-one won more than one medal in Milan Cortina, 18 athletes did win one. There were 7 golds (in 5 events – ice hockey, team figure skating, ice dance, alpine skiing, and freestyle skiing), 7 silvers (in 2 events – ice hockey and curling) and 4 bronzes (in 4 events – ice hockey, ice dance, freestyle skiing and speed skating). There were 8 defending champions from Beijing 2022, of which only 2 successfully defended their titles. There were Mathilde Gremaud (freestyle skiing) and Guillaume Cizeron (ice dance).

Milan Cortina 2026 saw the first lgbt athlete to compete in 6 Winter Olympics, Czech speed skater Martina Sáblíková. Even the great Dutch speed skater Ireen Wust didn’t reach that landmark (even though Ireen is the Dutch all-time medal winner, and tops the combined Summer/Winter Team LGBT medal list). Since her debut in Turin 2006 Martina has won 3 gold medals, 2 silvers, and 2 bronzes. This places her 4th on the Winter Olympic medal table, and 9th on the combined Summer/Winter table. Martina is also the only LGBT Olympian to carry her national flag 3 times. Sadly, in what could be her last Olympics, she only finished in 11th place in the one event she entered.

That’s enough statistics for one day, I think.

Here is the updated Lgbt Winter Olympian list. I apologise for any unintentional errors.

Milan Opens and Closes

NOTE: History is always changing – or rather our knowledge of historical events change when new evidence is discovered. The information below is accurate on the date of publication. Further research may reveal information which changes or replaces some of the details. Check later postings to keep up to date by selecting “Olympics” in the search box or the tag list.

There was little overt acknowledgement of the lgbt community in the Milan Cortina opening and closing Olympic ceremonies. This was a refreshing change from the blatant virtue signalling of some previous ceremonies (such as Paris 2024). What acknowledgement the ceremonies did contain were championed by the diverse cast members and performers who were treated like everyone else, as an equal participant, not an exhibit to justify “inclusion”

But there were some examples on our community being involved for something other than their gender or sexuality – their talent and desire to provide a good ceremony.

FASHION AND COSTUME

We’ll begin with what has become a frequent element in an Olympic ceremony, a fashion catwalk. I wrote about the first official Olympic fashion show last week, and figure skating has always had a large element of fashion in the costumes. Today we’ll concentrate on fashion in the ceremonies.

There are three categories of fashion that I apply to Olympic ceremonies. These are: 1) a specific fashion-based segment involving some form of catwalk; 2) costumes worn by performers and participants; and 3) outfits worn by the athletes in their entry parade. All categories have had contributions from prominent lgbt fashion designers in the past.

For category 1, there have been several catwalk elements in previous opening ceremonies, including Italy’s previous Winter Olympic Games in Turin 2006. The Italian national flags on both occasions were brought into the stadium by a famous model in a dress specially designed by that same well-known designer, the late Giorgio Armani (1934-2025). Model Vittoria Ceretti entered the Milan stadium carrying the Italian flag and wearing a white Armani dress. Model Carla Bruni performed the same duty in Turin 2006. Preceding Vittoria Ceretti were rows of models in three columns in Armani trouser suits in the colours of the Italian flag – Red, white and green.

In category 2 we had another flag-bearer. This time it was a boxer from Paris 2024 and the first member of the Refugee team to become Olympic champion, Cindy Ngamba (b.1998). She was one of the 8 escorts carrying the Olympic flag into the stadium. Armani designed their costumes as well. There were no other known openly lgbt fashion or costume designers in either the 2026 opening or closing ceremonies.

Several designers contributed to some of category 3’s athletes outfits. We encounter Armani again. As he has done many times, Armani designed the outfits worn by the Italian team. Team GB’s outfits included knitted scarves and hats designed by Olympic diver Tom Daley (b.1994).

Shortly after the entry of the Italian flag a poem by Count Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837) was recited. I’d like to digress a little here. Leopardi is one of Italy’s greatest poets and philosophers, if not their greatest during the 19th century. For a long time there has been speculation and debate about his sexuality, ignited by romantic comments made in his letters to his friend Antonio Ranieri.

Although we will never know for sure, I tend to agree with the prominent Italian gay historian, Milan-born Giovanni Dall’Orto (b.1958) who believes Leopardi was gay. You can read Dall’Orto’s reasoning here.

THE ATHLETE’S PARADE

For the second time in a row, the athlete’s parade departed from the traditional. For Paris 2024 the parade was moved onto the River Seine in a flotilla of boats. For Milan the parade was spilt across four locations. Being the first official multi-location Olympics not every athlete could make it to the opening ceremony if they were expected to start competing the next morning. If you saw the opening ceremony you would have noticed how many nations did not parade in Milan but elsewhere. The format seems to have worked well, and it is possible that it will be copied at future games now that the International Olympic Committee is moving away from single host cities to a multi-city, host region format.

Bearers of the national flags are always a highly regarded honour for the athlete chosen. In Milan only one lgbt athlete was chosen. She was Nicole Silveira (b.1994), representing Brazil in skeleton racing, who carried the flag in Cortina. The only other flag-bearer at the opening ceremony was the above-mentioned Cindy Ngamba.

The final contribution at the opening ceremony was by Paolo Egonu (b.1998), who carried the Olympic torch in the stadium with two fellow Olympic handball champions for Italy from Paris 2024.

This brings us to the cauldron, or rather cauldrons, because I’m sure you were aware that there were two cauldron that were lit. Their design was inspired by knot-work featured in art by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), whose legacy in Milan was covered in the previous article.

A lot has been said in the media about Milan Cortina 2026 being the first to have two cauldrons. Those of us who are Olympic nerds know this is not entirely true. However, It is the first time two cauldrons have been lit during the same opening ceremony in different cities immediately one after the other. As far as the Winter Olympic goes, the Innsbruck 2012 Youth Olympics had three cauldron lit one after the other, but they were in the same venue to celebrate Innsbruck being the first city to host three Olympics Games (1964, 1976 and 2012). The 2024 Summer Olympics had two cauldrons lit in different cities – Paris and Tahiti. In fact, two cauldrons have been lit before (Helsinki 1952, Melbourne-Stockholm 1956). Often the stadium cauldron has been temporary and a permanent one was lit elsewhere (Vancouver 2010, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022). An honourable mention goes to London 2012 who had mini-cauldrons for each competing nation that joined together to form one single flame. This was extinguished after the ceremony and relit after it was moved from the centre of the stadium to one end. This photo below (copyright Colin Bilton) shows me at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and the Paralympic cauldron in the position it also occupied during the Olympics.

THE CLOSING CEREMONY

Only a handful of lgbt participants took part in the closing ceremony. Let’s start with more flags. Unlike the lone lgbt national flag carrier at the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony had three, all chosen by their fellow athletes for their athletic achievements. They were Tineke den Dulk (Belgium), Martina Sablikova (Czech Republic), and Hilary Knight (USA).

After the ceremonial entry of the Italian flag there was segment featuring gay ballet dancer Roberto Bolle (b.1975). He would return at the end of the closing ceremony as one of the principal performers who symbolically extinguished a group of candelabras which represented the extinguishing of the Olympic flame. As mentioned last time, Roberto had taken part in the torch relay. Roberto had also performed in the opening ceremony of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics, the only performer to have featured in both Italian host ceremonies.

A new element was introduced into the Milan ceremony, and it happened twice. At the raising of the Italian flag at the start of the ceremony, all of the Italian medallists paraded into the stadium and stood by the flag poles. There were no lgbt athletes among them, but later on during the handover section from Milan to the French Alps (host of the 2030 Winter Olympics), there was one among the French medallists who stood in a circle in the middle of the arena. He was the only gay male Olympic champion of Milan 2026, Guillaume Cizeron (b.1994) who, with his ice dance partner won the gold medal. He is also the only male lgbt athlete who successfully defended his title from Beijing 2022.

I can’t help but think that this element may have been partly inspired by a similar event in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. On that occasion there were 260 British summer and winter Olympic medallists, some from the London 1948 Olympics, who formed a tribune of honour for the six young athletes who would light the cauldron.

As usual, the closing ceremony ended with a party. Among the DJs was Thomas Pentz (b.1978), aka Diplo, who once described himself as “not not gay”. This Grammy-winning performer and music producer has worked with many international stars over the years. For the Milan ceremony he teamed up with his fellow members of his electronic dance group Major Lazer.

And that rounds up the ceremonies of the Milan Cortina Olympics 2026. All that remains for me to do is finish the analysis of the all the sporting results and that’ll be it until Los Angeles 2028. This analysis has been delayed a couple of weeks because I have had some personal issues I needed to deal with. Hopefully, I’ll have it all ready for you by Easter.