SINCE 2019, the Out On An Island project has delved into the hidden history of the Isle of Wight’s LGBTQ+ community.

Supported by StoneCrabs Theatre and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the team of dedicated volunteers has uncovered rich history that has been largely erased or ignored.

The research has led to the publication of a book, Out On An Island – The Isle of Wight’s Hidden LGBTQ+ History, due to be released on February 14, 2022.

The book features excerpts from 18 interviews with LGBTQ+ people.

The interviewees shared honest, intimate accounts of what it is like to be ‘out’ on the Isle of Wight, an isolated island with a long and enduring conservative history.

Some settled here happily; others were born here but could not wait to escape.

Project manager, Caroline Diamond, said: “Russell T Davies chose the Isle of Wight as an old fashioned, isolated destination for his hit Channel 4 programme It’s A Sin, which looked at the impact of AIDS on the LGBTQ+ community in the late 1980s.

“This book features the Isle of Wight’s own HIV campaign with its Captain Condom mascot and the work of Karl Love, who was an NHS Sexual Health Worker at that time and is now an Isle of Wight Councillor.”

Isle of Wight County Press: 'Out On An Island – The Isle of Wight’s Hidden LGBTQ History' is due to be released on February 14.'Out On An Island – The Isle of Wight’s Hidden LGBTQ History' is due to be released on February 14.

Essays, poems and images contributed by local people and volunteers build a picture of the social and political life of LGBTQ+ people on the Island.

This includes research into the treatment of the LGBTQ+ community in the local media, as well as the reactions to the launch of the first-ever Isle of Wight Pride in 2017.

Out On An Island has endorsements from author Patrick Gale and Stonewall co-founder and politician Lord Michael Cashman.

Cashman said: “A wonderful rich history of an Island I knew as a child but never knew as an adult gay man.

“This wonderful and intriguing history is brought together by the personal testimonies and experiences of LGBTQ+ people who lived on the Isle of Wight and delves courageously into the past one hundred years.

“In doing so, it builds bridges and looks forward with optimism and joy."

Out On An Island - The Isle of Wight’s Hidden LGBTQ+ History will be launched at Carisbrooke Castle Museum on February 19, 2022, at 3.30pm.

Another event, at Freshwater Library on Saturday, February 5, will celebrate LGBT History Month.