A Reflection on Researching Victorian Machines
February: LGBTQ+ History Month
February invites us to remember. In the UK, LGBTQ+ History Month asks not only who has been remembered, but who has been erased, and why.
While researching Victorian inventors, I found myself searching for queer lives that were rarely named as such. Not because they did not exist, but because the social and legal realities of the time made honesty dangerous. The Criminal Law Amendment Act, social ruin, imprisonment, even the whisper of queerness could destroy a life. Silence was survival. Absence, in the archive, often speaks of fear rather than non-existence.
Scripture knows something about hidden lives. Jesus says, “Nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed” (Luke 8:17), not as a threat, but as a promise: truth longs for light. The prophets repeatedly call us to remember those pushed to the margins, “Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
Too often, a handful of so-called “clobber verses” are lifted out of context and used to silence queer people. Read slowly, gently, honestly, those verses say far more about exploitation, idolatry, and power than about loving, faithful relationships. Jesus himself never speaks against queer people, but repeatedly warns against religious certainty that crushes human dignity (Matthew 23).
Today, remembering matters urgently. Queer people face renewed risk: the growing confidence of the far-right, and the rise of Christian nationalism even here in the UK, which wraps exclusion in the language of faith. This is not Christianity rooted in Christ. It is fear dressed as holiness.
As Rev. Brandan Robertson reminds us, “The Gospel is not about drawing lines of exclusion, but about expanding circles of belonging.” And Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke plainly: “If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn’t worship that God.”
A progressive Christian faith dares to say: queer lives are holy ground. Queer history is sacred history. The Church is called not to tolerate, but to repent, to welcome, and to rejoice.
“Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). This February, may we remember boldly, love radically, and widen the table until everyone knows they belong.
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