Between 1971 and 1973, Howes spent over a year in Brazil collecting material for his Ph.D. thesis. While in Brazil, where homosexuality had been legal since 1830, he found a thriving gay male subculture in the large cities, especially Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, with a few bars, clubs, hotels which rented rooms by the hour and widespread, unabashed cruising in public spaces. Despite a repressive military dictatorship and some popular prejudice, the gay scene remained mostly unthreatened. Brazil is close to his heart as he experienced love affairs, learnt to live like a normal gay person and came out.

On his return to Britain, Howes became involved in the LGBTQ+ movement, first with Sheffield CHE and then with Westminster CHE, serving as membership secretary for two years in the late 1970s. He worked with the London group of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), liaising with gay groups in Brazil and forming personal friendships with leading activists João Antônio de Mascarenhas and Luiz Mott. In particular, Howes helped with their campaign to introduce a clause into Brazil’s new democratic Constitution in 1988, intended to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Howes worked as a volunteer for London and Cambridge Friends during the 1980s and early 1990s. He also joined Gay West, a social support group emerging from Bath and Bristol CHEs in 1982-1983, attending events when visiting his parents, who lived in Bath. Since 2010, he has been an active supporter of OutStories Bristol, a voluntary group dedicated to recording the LGBTQ+ history of the Bristol area.

Howes has also published a book on the history of the LGBTQ+ movement in Bristol and Bath and a number of academic articles on the LGBTQ+ movement in Brazil, particularly the LGBTQ+ periodical press. He compiled a bibliography on homosexuality in Latin America, which is believed to be the first ever published. He also published articles on two 19^thcentury Portuguese and Brazilian novels (Abel Botelho, O Barão de Lavos, 1891, and Adolfo Caminha, Bom Crioulo, 1895), which are among the earliest works of fiction published anywhere which deal explicitly with gay male relationships.

An inveterate collector of books, periodicals, leaflets and flyers, as well as a keen amateur photographer, he has been fascinated with documenting different aspects of LGBTQ+ history. As well as donating his material to Bishopsgate Institute, he has also deposited material at Cambridge University Library, Bristol Archives, Cambridgeshire Archives, London Metropolitan Archives and the Arquivo Edgard Leuenroth in the University of Campinas, Brazil.

Scope and Content

Prints, negatives and digital photographs taken by Robert Howes at various Pride Parades and LGBTQ+ protest marches, including: Gay News Blasphemy Trial March, 1978; Gay Pride, 1978; Gay Pride, 1979; London Friend moving premises, 1986; Haringey supports Pride and Pride, 1987; First march against Section 28, 1988; Second march against Section 28, 1988; Haringey supports Pride, 1989; Pride 89 march, 1989; Pride march, 1994; Pride march, 1995; Pride march, 1996; Pride march, 1997; Pride march, 1998; Pride march, 2000; Mardi Gras, 2001; Pride march, 2005; Europride, 2006; Europride, 2007; Europride, 2008; Europride, 2009; Brighton Pride, 1998; Brighton Pride, 2000; Bristol Pride, 2010; Bristol Pride, 2011; Bristol Pride 2012; Bristol Pride 2013; Bristol Pride 2014; Bristol Pride 2015; Bristol Pride 2016; Bristol Pride 2017; Bristol Pride 2018; Bristol Pride 2019 including shops decorated and religious counter-demonstration; Trans Pride South West - Bristol, 2019; Bristol Pride 2022; Gloucester Pride 2012; Gloucester Pride 2014; Swindon Pride, 2011; Swindon Pride, 2012; Swindon Pride, 2013; Weston Super Mare Pride, 2014; Weston Super Mare Pride, 2016; Weston Super Mare Pride 2018; Bath Pride/Carnival, 2018; São Paulo Brazil, Parada do Orgulho LGBT, 2004 (1978-2022).

Quantity

2 Boxes and Approx. 2000 digital photographs