Queen Elizabeth’s complicated LGBTQ legacy
In 1952, when Queen Elizabeth II took the throne after the death of her father, same-sex sexual relations were criminalized in Britain. The same laws were also brought to the Commonwealth countries that it colonized.
By the time she died, the landscape for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights looked dramatically different — at least in the United Kingdom — in part because she approved of many pro-LGBTQ measures, such as same-sex marriage.
That support has led some to argue that she was a “quiet” supporter of LGBTQ rights, but to others she was just doing her job.