Mis Hanes LHDT+ Hapus! Happy LGBTQ+ History Month! Here is my annual post compiling the events happening in Wales:

Throughout February until June 30th at St Fagans Museum: Wales is... Proud & Wales is... Remembering Terrence Higgins

From the 8th until 27th: Cynon Valley Museum Pride exhibition

Various dates: Queerway, 9th at Porth, 10th Merthyr, 14th Llanelli

Various dates: Iris on the Move, 13th at Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff, 17th at National Museum Cardiff, 25th at Aberystwyth Arts Centre & more

Various dates: Queer Emporium - 9th Comedy with Leila Navabi, 17th Transition, 18th Sound Check (music), March 2nd You’re Invited, March 16th Chwarae’r Chwedlau & more

9th Queerdos Wales’ Anti Valentine’s Day Ball at Porter’s Cardiff 7pm

9th Tai Pawb ‘Older LGBT+ People in Housing’ 11am online

11th Sadie’s Butterflies at National Waterfront Museum Swansea

12th Lezdiff - Cardiff Lesbian Festival at Chapter from 12pm

16th Paned o Ge Kinky Books at 7pm

17th Hwyrnos: QUEER at the National Museum Cardiff from 7pm

17th Lleswyl online from 7pm

18th Aberration at Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Proud Writing workshop at 2pm and Dreaming up the Past at 7pm

20th Dyddiau Du + Trans Aid Cymru Social

21st Llyfrau Lliwgar Online 7pm (yn Gymraeg)

21st Reclaim the Frame at Snowcat Penarth

22nd Dyddiau Du Queer Words

23rd Conwy LGBTQ+ Celebration at Conwy Culture Centre 6-8pm

25th Cardiff Trans Singers, Cathays at 7pm

28th Ladies of Llangollen British Library event online from 8pm

March 5th Carmarthen LGBTQ+ History Month, details tbc

March 7th National Library of Wales Aberystwyth - Queer Tales from Wales’ The Story of Amy Dillwyn at 5pm

Mis Hanes LHDT+ 2024 / LGBT+ History Month 2024

Mis Hanes LHDT+ Hapus 2024! Heddiw yw diwrnod olaf y mis, ond dwi'n dathlu’n hwyr gyda fy hoff lyfrau sy'n dylanwadu ar fy ngwaith.

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Happy LGBT+ History Month 2024! Today is the last day of the month, but I'm celebrating late with my favourite books that have influenced my work.

Y llyfr heddiw yw 'Understanding Trans Health' gan Ruth Pearce, a gyhoeddwyd yn 2018

Mae'r llyfr hwn yn hollbwysig i unrhyw un sy'n astudio pobl draws yn y DU yn yr 21ain Ganrif. Yn llawn hanes traws a meddygaeth draws, mae'r llyfr hwn yn disgrifio'r dirwedd feddygol y mae pobl draws a meddygon CHR yn ei hwynebu yn y presennol. Roedd y llyfr yn ddefnyddiol iawn ar gyfer fy ngwaith israddedig y llynedd.

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Today's book is 'Understanding Trans Health by Ruth Pearce', published 2018.

This book is essential for anyone studying trans people in the UK in the 21st Century. Full of trans history and trans medicine, this book describes the medical landscape that trans people and GIC doctors face presently. The book was very useful for my undergraduate work last year.

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Ydych chi wedi darllen y llyfr hwn? / Have you read this book?

Cofio hanes hoyw Cymru

Cofio hanes hoyw Cymru

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Mis Chwefror yw Mis Hanes LHDT (Lesbiaidd, Hoyw, Deurywiol a Thraws).

Daryl Leeworthy yw awdur A Little Gay History of Wales, ac mae’n rhoi crynodeb i BBC Cymru Fyw o hanes hoyw Cymru, sydd, ar y cyfan, yn anodd i ddod o hyd iddo, meddai.

Image copyright Matthew Horwood

Bob blwyddyn, jest cyn Gŵyl y Banc mis Awst, mae…

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Mis Hanes LHDT+ 2023 : Gair y Dydd #4 -Trawsryweddol

LGBT+ History Month 2023: Word of the day #4 -Transgender

Trawsryweddol

(adj. Transgender)

Like Lesbiaidd and Deurywiol, the knowledge of the emergence of Traws into the Welsh language is misty. It is known that trans terminology entered the Welsh langauge in the 20th Century, but it is not known when exactly.

As with all of my other words of the day so far, much of my data is dictionary based. You can see my blogs about LGBT+ Welsh terminology in dictionaries here.

Trans terminology does not appear in my data until 1981! Y Geiriadur Cymraeg Cyfoes is the earliest instance of trans terminology recorded with Trawsrywiol (transsexual). More than a decade passes until it appears again in 1993, in the Hippocrene Standard Dictionary Welsh-English English-Welsh as Trawsrywiol.

Geiriadur Yr Academi in 1995 expands on the terminology, including the terms Trawsrywiol (Transsexual), Trawsrywiolyn/-iolion (A transsexual/transsexuals), Trawsrywiolen (Transsexuals), Trawsrywioledd (Transsexuality).

In 2016 the introduction of -rhywedd (gender) instead of-ryw (sex) is printed in Geiriadur Cymraeg Gomer as Trawsryweddol (Transgender) alongside Trawsrywiol. Since then, the two terms are often printed together in dictionaries.

Mis Hanes LHDT+ 2023 : Gair y Dydd #6 -Anrhywiol

LGBT+ History Month 2023: Word of the day #6 -Asexual

Anrhywiol

(adj. Asexual)

The first currently known use of ‘anrhywiol’ to mean asexual as a sexuality in Welsh comes from the Welsh medical journal Cennad cylchgrawn Y Gymdeithas Feddygol in 1986, which discusses the risk of prostate cancer to various groups. It mentions risk relating to ‘y garfan ddibriod ac anrhywiol’ (the unmarried and asexual cohort) and various clinical trials undertaken during study.

There is one other source for the term asexual in Welsh. The medical journal from 1986 is the earliest known usage of ‘anrhywiol’ as a human sexuality term in Welsh, but it also appears 6 years later in the 1992 edition of the Hippocrene Standard Dictionary – Welsh-English English-Welsh by H. Meurig Evans.

Since then it has seen a steady increase in usage and is being included in more and more Welsh language LGBT+ media.

Mis Hanes LHDT+ 2023 : Gair y Dydd #7 -Cwiar/Cadi

LGBT+ History Month 2023: Word of the day #7 -Queer

Cwiar

(adj. Queer)

Much like Rhyngryw, Cwiar does not appear in any Welsh dictionaries (at least, so far). Cwiar is sometimes written as Cwiyr, or, some prefer to reclaim the term Cadi (a term used as a pejorative similar to how queer is used in English).

Oddly, a Catalan-Welsh website preserves 'cadi-ffan' (a variation on Cadi), from 2000.

The Stonewall Cymru glossary from 2016 uses the spelling Cwiar. While Cwiyr appears only sporadically online.

Sadly, linkrot and poorly archived websites have eroded what digital evidence remains for these terms online.

Do you have any print material using these terms? I'd be delighted to compare notes if so!

Mis Hanes LHDT+ 2023 : Gair y Dydd #5 -Rhyngryw

LGBT+ History Month 2023: Word of the day #5 - Intersex

Rhyngryw

(adj. Intersex)

Rhyngryw is a relatively new term in Welsh. It translates to 'between sex' and is a Welsh localisation of the English term Intersex (which only became popularised itself in English around the mid-to-late 90s).

The previous terms for Intersex in Welsh were, like in English, slurs (e.g. hermaphrodite) or archaic (e.g. bi-sexual). This post is about the history of Rhyngryw, but if you're interested in general Welsh Intersex terminology history I'd recommend reading my blog here.

The term Rhyngryw hasn't appeared in any Welsh dictionary before (that I'm aware of, my records go up to 2018). Therefore to discover the history of Rhyngryw, we must try a different approach.

The first term for intersex in Welsh which isn't a variation of deuryw or hermaffrodit is cymysgryw (literally 'mixed sex'), in Geiriadur Termau from 1973. However, it doesn't seem like this term caught on.

Using boolean commands in a Google search for "Rhyngryw" yields the Wicipedia page for Rhyngryw, created on the 13th September 2007. As of December 2007, the page looked like this:

It uses the term Rhyngrywioldeb (intersexuality). The title of the Wicipedia page wasn't changed until 2021 to Rhyngryw.

Despite the absence of a long history for Rhyngryw, we can estimate that around 2006-2008 the term may have originated. Webster's Welsh-English Thesaurus Dictionary in 2008 gave Anrywiol as a term to mean intersex. Anrywiol ordinarily means asexual, but it is possible that in 2006-2008, attempts were made to move away from older archaic or offensive terminology to a new term. It's possible anrywiol was one of those attempts, but rhyngryw, whenever it originated originally, won out in the end.

Bydd Recordiau Rhys Mwyn ar y thema Mis Hanes LHDT+ heno, yn ddechrau am 6:30yh, gyna hanes a cherddoriaeth LHDT+! Byddai’n siarad ar y rhaglen am ychydig, felly tiwniwch mewn plis!

On Radio Cymru tonight, from 6:30pm, Recordiau Rhys Mwyn will focus on LGBT+ History Month, featuring LGBT+ History and music! I’ll be on the show speaking about Welsh LGBT+ history, so please tune in if you can!

Mae ‘Pedr ac Ioan’ yn ffilm fer sydd wedi gael premier fel rhan o digwyddiadau Mis Hanes LHDT+ gan Mas ar y Maes, gan yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol. Yr yn 1840au cynnar, mae’r ffilm gan Jonny Reed, gyda sain gan Peter Harding, yn edrych ar beth oedd fod yn hoyw pryd hynny, gyda themau o’r Merched Beca.

‘Pedr ac Ioan’ is a short film, premiered as part of LGBT+ History Month events by Mas ar y Maes, which are LGBT+ events of the National Eisteddfod. Set in the 1840s, this film by Jonny Reed explores what it was to be gay then, with themes relating to the Rebecca Riots. (Sound by Peter Harding - Welsh music but no dialogue, so don’t need to know Welsh to understand this.)

Cariad yw Cariad gan yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, Mas ar y Maes (gyda Stonewall Cymru) a mwy.

Hanes LHDT+ Cymru o Edward Prosser Rhys a Morris T. Williams, gyda golygfeydd o “Atgof” (1998), i Stonewall, HIV/AIDS, Margaret Thatcher, Cymal 28, CYLCH a Mas ar y Maes. Gyda Daniel Gwyn Evans yn adrodd yr hanes.

Gyda perfformiadau gan artistiaid LHDT+ Jalisa Andrews, Meilir Rhys, Catrin Finch, Dylan Cernyw, Catrin Herbert, Jordan Price Williams, Nia Medi, Ryan Vaughan Davies a Math Roberts.

Gobeithio bod chi gyd wedi cael Mis Hanes LHDT+ gwych, a gwyliwch fwy o gerddoriaeth a chynnwys LHDT+ Cymraeg gan Mas ar y Maes a gan Hansh.

Thread of LGBT+ History Month events and happenings in Wales.

Edefyn o ddigwyddiadau Mis Hanes LHDT+ yng Nhgymru.

Ym 1998, cafodd y gwleidydd Ron Davies ei syfrdanu mewn sgandal pan cafodd ei fygio ar ol cytunodd i gwrdd a dyn yng Nghomin Clapham. Wrth weld yr ymatebion homoffobig i’r digwyddiad yma yng nghyfryngau Cymraeg, ysgrifennodd yr hanesydd John Davies am hyn yn y cylchgrawn Barn yn Tachwedd, 1998. Fe wnaeth ei brofiadau fel Warden Pantycelyn am 18 o flynyddoedd, a’r ymatebion homoffobig yma, dylanwadu ar John Davies i dod mas. Dyma dyfyniad o hyn, o’r erthygl uchod:

In 1998, the politician Ron Davies was embroiled in a scandal when he was mugged at knifepoint after agreeing to meet another man at Clapham Junction. After seeing the homophobic responses to this in the Welsh media, the historian John Davies agreed to write about it in the Welsh journal Barn in November, 1998. His experiences as Warden of Pantycelyn, and these homophobic responses, influenced him to come out. The following is a quote of this from the above article (English below):

‘Arwr Gwlad a Thref’ “Ai anoddefgarwch y cymoedd diwydiannol arweiniodd yn y pen draw at gwymp Ron Davies? Mae John Davies yn bwrw golwg bersonol ar y mater.”

“Dydw i ddim am wneud odid un sylw ynglŷn â'i rywioldeb honedig, ond does dim amheuaeth fod y digwyddiadau hynny wedi peri i gyfunrhywiaeth fod yn destun trafod yng Nghymru. Ac er mawr foddhad i mi, mae'r ymateb wedi bod yn bur adeiladol. Mae hynny'n fater o gryn syndod hefyd, ohwerwydd roeddwn yn credu bod homoffobia wedi'i wreiddio'n ddwfn yng nghymdeithas draddodiadol macho y cymoedd glofaol ac yn ddyfnach eto yn y broydd gwledig Cymraeg.

Mi fûm am ddeunaw mlynedd yn warden ar sefydliad lle'r ymgartefai tua ti chant o wŷr a gwragedd ifainc ein cenedl. Cefais droeon y profiad o geisio cynnig cymorth a chyngor i wŷr ifanc a arswydai with iddynt ystyried beth fyddai eu tynged pe bai eu gogwydd rhywiol yn dod yn fater cyhoeddus. Mi gofiaf yn arbennig grwt yr oedd y gwewyr ar ei wyneb yn boenus synwyradwy wrth iddo sôn beth fyddai'n ei ddioddef pe bai sïon amdano yn cyrraedd ei gwm genedigol - a’m cwm genedigol innau hefyd. Yr oedd hyn ar adeg pan oedd Y Cymro a'r Faner yn cyhoeddi llythyron a honnai bod cyfynrhywiaeth yn gwbl absennol yng Nghymru; afiechyd ydoedd a berthynai i ddinasoedd megis Llundain, Amsterdam, Berlin a San Ffransisco, afiechyd yr oedd y Cymry, drwy ryw ryfedd ras, yn gwbl rydd ohono.

Nonsens, wrth gwrs, a'r hyn y dylaswn fod wedi'i ddweud wrth y crwt o'r Rhondda oedd: 'Rwy'n deall yn iawn, oherwydd dyna yn union fy nghyflwr innau hefyd.’ Ond ni ddywedais hynny. (Ar y pryd roeddwn yn cadw fy nghynddaredd ar gyfer ymosod ar siofinistiaeth Gymreig a oedd, ysywaeth, yn brigo yn achlysurol ymhlith rhai o drigolion Pantycelyn.) Tristwch i mi oedd gweld rhywun yn y papur diddorol ond byrhoedlog hwnnw, Y Ddraig Binc, yn disgrifio'r neuadd fel cadarnle homoffobia. Dichon bod sylwedd i'r sylw a mater o gywilydd i mi oedd fy methiant i wneud dim i herio'r homoffobia. Teimlaf na fedraf ymatal rhagor. Yr wyf fi yn ŵr hoyw. (Yr ydwyf hefyd yn hapus briod ac y mae cynnwys y llith hwn wedi ei drafod gyda fy ngwraig a’m dwy ferch a’m dau fab.) Taflaf hyn o wybodaeth i mewn i'r drafodaeth; a derbyn bod gan rhai barch i mi - a dymunol fyddai credu hyn - hoffwn iddynt wybod bod y parch hwnna yn barch tuag at berson sydd bron yn gyfangwbl gyfunrhywiol.

Y mae'r straeon yn y Sun ac ati yn awgrymu bod dynion cyfunrhywiol yn ymdrybaeddu mewn trythyllwch a hynny i raddau cwbl unigryw. A minnau o bryd i'w gilydd yn mynychu clybiau a bariau hoyw, nid dyna fy mhrofiad i. Caf y argraff fod mwyafrif y mynychwyr yn mynd i'r fath leoedd, fel yr af i, am yr yn rhesymau ag y mae Cymry Cymraeg brwd yn mynd i'r eisteddfod genedlaethol - hynny yw, i droi am ysbaid ymhlith pobl o gyffelyb chwaeth. Wedi'r cwbl, fel y mae'r Saesneg yn gwbl dra-arglwyddiaethol yn ein cymdeithas, felly hefyd ddelweddau gwahanrywiol; y mae dianc o bryd i'w gilydd o'r naill neu'r llall yn weithred gwbl amddiffynadwy. Mi gofiaf bod mewn clwb hoyw yma yng Nghaerdydd. Yr oedd dyn a dynes ifanc yn dawnsio yno; doedd neb yn gwrthwynebu hynny, ond ar wynebau rhai o'r gwylwyr yr oedd yna wep yr oeddwn wedi'i weld o'r blaen, a hynny ar wynebau rhai o drigolion Pantycelyn pan oedd rhywun wrth law a oedd yn arbennig o lafar ei Saesneg. Ystyr y wep oedd: a chymaint o leoedd lle y medrwch chi wneud y fath beth, pam yn y byd yr ydych chi'n wneud e fan hyn?” 

‘Town and Country Hero’ “Was it the intolerance of the industrial valleys that ultimately led to the fall of Ron Davies? John Davies takes a personal look at the matter.“

“I do not want to make any comment about his alleged sexuality, but there is no doubt that those events have caused homosexuality to be a subject of debate in Wales. And, to my great satisfaction, the response has been quite constructive. That is also a surprise, because I thought that homophobia was deeply rooted in the macho traditional coal mining society of the mining valleys and deeper in the Welsh-speaking countryside. I have been eighteen years a warden at an institution that houses about three hundred of our nation’s young men and women. I had a great deal of experience of trying to offer help and advice to young men who feared to think what their fate would be if their sexual orientation became a public issue. I especially remember the anguish on a young man’s face as he told me what he would suffer if rumours about him reached his home valley - my native valley as well. This was at a time when Y Cymro and Faner were issuing letters that claimed that homosexuality was completely absent in Wales; It was a disease belonging to cities such as London, Amsterdam, Berlin and San Francisco, a disease that the Welsh people, through some strange rash, were completely free of. Nonsense, of course, and what I should have told the young man from the Rhondda was: 'I understand perfectly, because that’s exactly my situation too.’ But I did not say that. (At that time, I was keeping my bravery for an attack on Welsh chauvinism which, sadly, occasionally sparked amongst some of the residents of Pantycelyn.) It was sad to see someone in the interesting but short-lived paper, Y Ddraig Binc, describe the hall as a homophobic stronghold. Perhaps there was substance to this comment and a matter of embarrassment to me was my failure to do anything to challenge the homophobia. I feel that I can not abstain further. I am a gay man. (I am also happily married and the contents of this article have been discussed with my wife and my two daughters and sons.) I will throw this information into the discussion; and accepting that some have respect for me - and it would be desirable to believe this - I would like them to know that that respect is respect towards a person who is almost completely homosexual.

The stories in the Sun and such suggest that homosexual men wallow in promiscuity, and that to a unique degree. As I occasionally attend gay clubs and bars, that’s not my experience. I get the impression that the majority of attendees go to such places, as I do, for the reasons why Welsh speakers (Cymry Cymraeg) go to the National Eisteddfod - that is, to turn for a while to people of similar tastes. After all, as English is totally dominant in our society, so are heterosexual images; from time to time departing from either is a completely defensible act. I remember being in a gay club here in Cardiff. A young man and woman were dancing there; no one was opposed to that, but there was a scowl on the faces of some of the spectators that I had seen before, on the faces of some of the residents of Pantycelyn when someone was on hand who was particularly verbal in English. The meaning of the scowl is: with so many places where you can do such a thing, why in the world are you doing it her?”

John Davies, ‘Arwr Gwlad a Thref,’ Barn, 430 (Tachwedd, 1998), p.4-5.

I Hen Gariad gan E. Prosser Rhys

Pan fyddo lleuad Hydref yn y nen Yn gwenu’r wên nad yw yn hen o hyd, A’r môr a’r pell fynyddoedd o tan len A droed, gan dduw yr oed, yn aur i gyd; Pan fyddo cornant lawn y mawn a’r brwyn Yn frwd gan antur ym Mhant Arthur draw, A’r gwynt wrth Droed y Foel, o lwyn i lwyn, Yn cellwair â chariadon am a ddaw-- Bryd hynny, fe fydd hiraeth na bu ‘rioed Ei anniddicach ar gy nghalon i-- Na chaffwn eto’r traserch imi a roed Un Hydref arall, yma, gennyt ti, Ac na rôi’r Hydre’n ôl y nefol nwyd I un a’i collodd yn y Gaeaf llwyd.

o ‘Cerddi Prosser Rhys,’ 1950.

Y Pechadur gan E. Prosser Rhys

Eisteddem, dri ohonom, wrth y tân, A thrymder Tachwedd ar hyd maes a stryd, Eisteddem, wedi blino ar lyfrau’n lân, A sgwrsio am “ddeniadau cnawd a byd.” Soniasom am y pethau ffôl na ŵyr Ond llanciau gaffael ynddynt liw na gwres, Y pethau a gerdd ar lanw eu gwaed fin hwyr, A phorthi heb borthi’u blys; a’u tynnu’n nes. Ym mhen y sgwrs addefais innau’r modd Y pechais i tan drais cywreinrwydd poeth; Gofynnais a bechasent hwy? . . . . A throdd Y ddau, a brolio eu hymatal doeth! Ac yno, wrth y tân, yn un o dri, Gwelais nad oedd bechadur ond myfi.

O ‘Cerddi Prosser Rhys,’ 1950.

Happy LGBT+ History Month 2021! Mis Hanes LHDT 2021 Hapus!

Here’s a list of events happening this month, which are relevant to Wales (which I’ll add to later if there are more):

4th of February, 6pm: It’s a Sin by Queer Britain, with Russell T. Davies, Lisa Power and Marc Thompson. (Tickets sold out for now but with a waiting list!)

8th of February: LGBT+ History Month with Rhys Mwyn (and me! and others!) on BBC Radio Cymru, in Welsh. Mis Hanes LHDT+ ar Recordiau Rhys Mwyn, ar Radio Cymru!

9th of February, 6pm: Paned o Gê bookshop interview with afshan d'souza-lodhi, by Glitter Cymru’s Rania Vamvaka.

15th of February: Glitter Cymru has events on the 15th and 23rd of February, including a takeover of Tate’s social media on the 23rd!

16th of February, 6pm: Paned o Gê interview with Shola von Reinhold!

20th of February, 11am: ‘The Past at your Fingertips: LGBT+ History Month at Cynon Valley Museum’ with historian Norena Shopland.

26th of February, 7pm: Aberration’s ‘Between the Lines - an evening for LGBT History Month‘ with Cheryl Morgan.

27th of February, from 11am: Mid & West Wales Virtual Loud & Proud Day, by Carmarthenshire LGBTQ+

Paned o Gê’s interviews also continue to March at least, with Niven Govinden on the 9th of March and Norena Shopland on the 16th of March!

See more events on the LGBT History Month website.