This documentary explor the birth of the gay pri movement New York after the Stonewall rts of 1969 and the sexual eedom that rulted. It touch on many aspects of gay culture the 1970s, cludg mic, dgs and art, followed by the vastatg impact that the onset of AIDS had on the homosexual muny. Told through several terviews and archival material, pats a picture of solidary and posivy while explorg the sexualy of a relatively new movement.
Contents:
- NIGHTCLUBBG: GAY CLUBBG ’70S LONDON
- THIS IS WHAT BRA’S GAY LIBERATN FRONT MOVEMENT LOOKED LIKE THE 1970S
- GAY MEN LONDON, OM PERSECUTN TO PRI
- LOST GAY BARS OF EARL’S COURT, LONDON
- REVOLTG GAYS: NEW WEBSE DOCUMENTS THE SOUTH LONDON GAY COMMUNY CENTRE AND THE BRIXTON GAY SQUATTG SCENE, 1970S – EARLY1980S
- GAY SEX THE '70S
- 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
NIGHTCLUBBG: GAY CLUBBG ’70S LONDON
How London’s gay scene travelled om the unrground to Heaven a few short years" name="scriptn * london gay scene 1970s *
Imag of early Gay Pri ralli, ntroversial actor and sger Dive, and the Porchter Hall Drag Ball go on display Victoria this Febary, markg LGBT+ History Month. Many of the photos were ptured by Robert Workman, an employee of Gay News; Workman rerd the earlit Gay Pri ralli 1972 until the 1980s, as well as the openg of the Gay's the Word bookshop 1972, and the Porchter Hall Drag Ball, which ran om 1969 to the 1990s.
(Monday and Saturday) and also Propaganda (Thursday) were n at 'Bbys Nightclub' (London) by gay club promoter and DJ Col Peters (Peter Dbeney), whose brother Jamie ntued as promoter for a perd followg the passg of Col. DJ Tricky Dicky was one of the first promoters to grasp the ia of the one-nighter – hirg out a pub or bar for the night, jt to put on a gay night. His Dick’s Inn Gay Dis operated out of straight venu as far afield as Croydon, Ilford, Bishopsgate and Eton, packg a few hundred gay boys and girls at a time.
Wh his pop and soul mic reviews and dis chart Gay News, Tricky Dicky received verage om a gay prs more terted polics, cema, theatre and opera than the mercial gay 1975 Tricky Dicky held a one-nighter lled Fangs unrneath a hotel Paddgton and, much to his surprise, the place was full to pacy, wh 600 dancg queens lappg up every mute. For London’s scenters and disphil, a trip to Bang s early days, wh s vastns and hedonistic dis energy, uld be as liberatg as gog on a Gay Pri march (whose numbers those days were srcely bigger than a Bang crowd). Legendary gay dis DJ Talullah, who up until his untimely ath 2008 was still DJg London and abroad, had first-hand experience of New York dis at s height.
THIS IS WHAT BRA’S GAY LIBERATN FRONT MOVEMENT LOOKED LIKE THE 1970S
Ben Gazur’s whistle-stop tour of the history of gay men London tak om 14th-century persecutn to morn Pri events. * london gay scene 1970s *
The Rabow Dis, hoed unrneath the Rabow Rooms Manor Hoe, was advertised Gay News as playg all the bt Amerin soul and funk, but also boasted dis mic on the playlist. Meanwhile, Chris Hill DJ’ed at so-lled “New York gay dis” nights such as Wt End Affair at Crackers Soho and East End Affair at the Lacy Lady Essex. Lus then went back to Earls Court to take his rincy at the Copabana, a much-need large club for the area, then still the hub of London’s gay scene, givg the regulars of The Colherne and Bromptons pubs some late-night actn.
Jeremy Norman, chairman of historil high-society gui Burke’s Peerage, was spired to open The Embassy after numero trips to New York clubs, where the openns and signer dg-fuelled liftyle of the cy’s flourishg gay life ntrasted wh London’s parochial feel (you uld still get banned some venu for sniffg poppers).
The Embassy was immortalised the vio for Sylvter’s “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real, ” but ultimately s populary was s downfall, as the upmarket straight crowd outnumbered the gay element. At s time of openg, Heaven was the biggt gay club Europe, markg Norman’s attempt to extend his Embassy achievements while retag a re gay crowd. The key figure on the cks was Ian Leve, who as rint DJ at the Blackpool Mec had been at the heart of the Northern Soul scene, broang s rem to embrace dis after wnsg New York gay clubs on trips Stati huntg rare soul.
GAY MEN LONDON, OM PERSECUTN TO PRI
It may be hard to image, but there was a time when Soho and Vxhall weren't the centre of gay nightlife London. Way back the 1970s and * london gay scene 1970s *
Leve was among the first on the gay scene to tly embrace mixg, keepg the tempo steady and puttg paid to the Motown medleys monplace at Bang, Copas or Sndals.
Heaven’s attractns may have been s mic and lights, but s prime purpose was for cisg and Norman was termed to prevent straight punters om takg over, enforcg a rigoro gay men-only door policy. The London Eveng Standard, reviewg Heaven’s openg night, liberated: “Heaven’s biggt headache uld be terrg London’s non-gay disphil who uld end up tryg to pass for gay to get past the elegant bouncers at the dis’s equivalent of the Pearly Gat. Gay dis, Boystown or hi-energy (named after Evelyn Thomas’s h of the same name), beme the soundtrack to the clone scene that took over Heaven and gay Earls Court.
The Instute holds many archiv and llectns, rangg om London History, Labour and Socialist History, and s LGBTQ+ archiv enpass LGBTQ+ history, polics and culture, wh archiv om Stonewall, Swchboard, GMFA (The Gay Men's Health Chary) and Outrage!, and material relatg to the Terrence Higgs Tst, as well as to Achill Heel and QX magaz.
LOST GAY BARS OF EARL’S COURT, LONDON
Lookg through our llectn for signs of the long stggle for gay rights. * london gay scene 1970s *
It is also the ctodian of the Lbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive (LAGNA), which clus over 300, 000 prs cuttgs om the straight prs regardg LGBTQ+ history om the 1890s to today, pl the UK Leather and Fetish Archiv.
Spac for queer people to e together, love and have sex have always been around, but the first documented spac for queer teractn London, pecially of gay men, are the 18th-century Molly Ho.
Generally functng as taverns, public ho or even private clubs, the plac were a popular way for gay men to meet tim of legal and social persecutn. The varied om clubs such as the Unn Jack Club Waterloo for members and veterans of the Brish Armed Servic, which gaed a reputatn as a refuge where homosexual servicemen uld socialise durg and after World War II; to cisg grounds such as Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Hampstead Heath and Clapham Common; to drag balls such as those of Jean Frerick’s Porchter Hall; to private hom.
REVOLTG GAYS: NEW WEBSE DOCUMENTS THE SOUTH LONDON GAY COMMUNY CENTRE AND THE BRIXTON GAY SQUATTG SCENE, 1970S – EARLY1980S
The venue that first brought London’s gay culture to the mastream is still gog strong today after four s of glamour, glz and perspiratn * london gay scene 1970s *
After the crimalisatn of homosexualy 1967, clubs were now legal, although was often only whe gay men who enjoyed greater acceptance the gog-out scene.
Frher our memory, and some s still active today, the big gay clubs of the 1990s are for many people the prime exampl of queer nightlife our cy. It was the first club to have a 24-hour dance licence the UK, and hosted several dance nights, such as the gay club Tra, which was the first legal after-hours club Bra. The relotn of queer nightlife to Soho ow much to Wtmster Council’s ntroversial ‘cleang up’ of Soho the 1980s and 1990s, which saw sex-workers siled favour of tablishments that tered to an creasgly accepted clientele of affluent gay men.
Bee of s ample space and central lotn, soon beme the centre for queer nightlife the pal, takg up an important role makg gay clubs more mastream. A well know gay pub and meetg place the Kgs Road, Chelsea, London UK 1975.Next year, 50 yrs documentg Bra ntuoly 1968- 2018.HOMER /Keyword "GAY".
GAY SEX THE '70S
* london gay scene 1970s *
This baret and avant gar performance club, scribed as ‘a place given up to gaiety’, was for all tents and purpos the first ‘gay bar’, as we would unrstand today. It didn’t take long before this gentlemen-only tablishment beme a renowned spot for homosexual liaisons, although had a mixed crowd, terg to civil servants and queer men alike.
This was aid by the groups like the Natnal Gay Task Force, who hired profsnal lobbyists to fluence media verage and legislatn regardg gay people and their rights.
This forward approach was one of the key reasons that queer dividuals were enuraged to be seen and heard by society – image-nscns, acmodatn, and assiatn beme pillars of the Gay Liberatn movement. As dis beme more mastream, clubs terg for heterosexual people also began to pop up across the US, which further fluenced youth culture and the growg populary of gay clubs.
10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
The llaboratns wh Sylvter provid a platform of mil stat that Cowley ed when releasg his own dis hs 1981 such as ‘Menergy’, a distct celebratn of the gay club scene, and ‘Megatron Man’, which h #1 and #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Mic/Club Play chart 1981. The 1970s was an excg and challengg time for LGBTQI liberatn, and dis clubs planted the seeds for strength, visibily and solidary the face of homophobia. In the 1970s and 1980s was one of the ma gay areas of London, but most or all of the bs aimed at gay men have disappeared, as Soho and Vxhall tablished themselv as the foc of gay nightlife.
The first public nightclub aimed at a gay clientele, The Copabana, opened Earls Court Road the late 1970s, but was re-themed as a general venue the late 1990s. (Hall-Carpenter Archiv via London School of Enomics Library)Last month marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act, a landmark piece of legislatn the Uned Kgdom that ceased the prosecutn of men for homosexual acts.