LGBT+ History
Physical, Sexual and Mental Health
Mental and Sexual Health
in 1955, the British Medical Association publish a Memorandum on Homosexuality and Prostitution, which affirmed many queerphobic tendencies of society at the time.
Towards 1970s, Aberdeen LGBT+ community is reaching out to Professor Malcolm Millar, a psychiatrist, who ends up involved with the Scottish Minorities Group as well as mental health advocacy. Newspaper articles mentioning him often take a compassionate stance towards LGBT+ people in Aberdeen.
National Working Party on Health Service Implications of HIV Infection – Aberdonian A. Ludbrook was invited to attend, but was only person from the Northeast – calling for establishment of three HIV Units in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee
During the HIV/AIDS crisis, possibly due to increased homophobia, LGBT+ people had to self-organise to prevent the spread of the disease. PHACE Scotland had its own branch in Aberdeen, eventually becoming the Terrence Higgins Trust.

Stethoscope, Creative Commons Zero (CC0)

Michael Hay © Aberdeen City Council, Silver City Vault www.silvercityvault.org.uk

Elizabeth Abbott (details),LSE Library, CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed , https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
Queerphobic tendencies
Letters of Matthew Hay who was the Chief Medical Officer for Aberdeen Police department. These records declare examination took place and its purposes but not much else. On December 18th 1900, two men, Alexander McCombie and John Wilson are examined on the same day regarding their sexual history. On February 17th 1902, Hector Rose McPherson and Kenneth Munro are in a similar position. In a darker twist, these two were both underage and unfit to undergo whipping by the Sheriff – but no specifications are left as to why or what offence they committed. Meanwhile 1903 records 13 cases of suicide by drowning, again with no explanation or context. One record tells of James Davidson in June 1903, who was examined based on being ‘offensive to public decency’. No details were provided.
More records are available at the collection of Mary Esslemont, Aberdeen-born physician, vice-chairman of the British Medical Association and the only Scot working on the foundation of National Health Service. Materials she possessed therefore offer insight into what mainstream health studies were concerned with. Unfortunately, in 1955, the British Medical Association publish a Memorandum on Homosexuality and Prostitution, which affirmed many queerphobic tendencies of society at the time. A peculiar record is a 1956 communication from Elizabeth Abbott sent to the Medical Women’s Federation Esslemont was president of at the time. She spends time on debunking the report’s findings on Prostitution, almost paragraph by paragraph, defending the rights of women.
On matter of homosexuality, she replies thusly:

Mental health advocacy
Towards 1970s, Aberdeen LGBT+ community is reaching out to Professor Malcolm Millar, a psychiatrist, who ends up involved with the Scottish Minorities Group as well as mental health advocacy. Newspaper articles mentioning him often take a compassionate stance towards LGBT+ people in Aberdeen.
After 1980 this approach is wider shared among professionals working with Queer patients, or at the very least, there is an acceptance that there is not much worth changing. However, it was not uncommon to use gender/sexual conformity by psychiatrists and other medical staff as a condition for treatment.
The HIV/AIDS crisis appearing Aberdeen had consequences for its community as well as the local NHS Health Board. Earliest record found so far is from April 1984 – requesting a topic being raised at next Unit Medical Officers meeting on subject of taking blood specimens from patience suspected with AIDS

Mental Health Advocacy, Creative Commons Zero (CC0)

HIV- Test, © Four Pillars
HIV/AIDS
This is at the time where some understanding of AIDS already exists – mainly the method of transmission (blood), protections for which were already in place by the blood transfusion service since 1983. The officer in charge of the service Dr Stanislaw Urbaniak, published an extensive report in Plasma Quarterly in the same year. August 1983 to June 1986 – HIV Positive in Aberdeen were 15 men and 1 woman (contrasted to Edinburgh where the numbers were 330 men and 131 women + 21 Not stated their gender) – in a collective Scottish case – the number of IV drug users was nearly three times the number of infected homosexual/bisexual men.
By 1988, the full number of cases in Grampian Area rose to 39.
National Working Party on Health Service Implications of HIV Infection – Aberdonian A. Ludbrook was invited to attend, but was only person from the Northeast – calling for establishment of three HIV Units in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.
During the HIV/AIDS crisis, possibly due to increased homophobia, LGBT+ people had to self-organise to prevent the spread of the disease. PHACE Scotland had its own branch in Aberdeen, eventually becoming the Terrence Higgins Trust.