The LGBT Society has set up a LGBT Library inside the Sports and Societies' meeting room at the University. The Library is open to the public, and is entitled "The Robbie Ross Liberation Library". You should be able to see a catalogue of what stuff we have here.
We are putting out a call for LGBT-related books, magazines, DVDs, and other relevent things for donation to the library. Non-fiction, fiction, poetry and all other genres are welcome. Please contact ku.gro.tbgldrofdarb|nairarbil#ku.gro.tbgldrofdarb|nairarbil .
Robbie Ross
Robbie Ross was a close friend of Oscar Wilde and his literary executor. After Oscar's death, Robbie spent much of the rest of his life buying back the copyrights of Oscar's works and promoting them. It could be argued that much of Oscar's formidable reputation today, severely tarnished by his conviction for gross indecency during his lifetime, is down to Robbie's efforts to restore it.
Robbie Ross was rare in that he was entirely open about his homosexuality, which he saw as an identity and not a behaviour, in a time when sodomy was illegal, and homosexuals seen as sexual deviants and perverts. He was a minor literary figure in his own right, and can be credited with bringing together and mentoring many the gay poets of the first world war, including Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, as well as active involvement in the peace movement. He died aged just 49, after decades of vindictive harrassment by a jealous Lord Alfred Douglas, the love of Oscar Wilde's life, but who married after Oscar's death and became an anti-gay campaigner, particularly against Robbie and his friends.
Robbie is the symbol of an out and proud gay man who was loyal to his friends through thick and thin, and who suffered relentlessly for those qualities. We should all be so lucky to have friends like him.