Gay London - LGBTQ+ Clubs & Events - Time Out London

Contents:

• 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
• GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS
• THE BT GAY BARS LONDON
• WATCH: KKD’S GAY SON LEADS LGBTQ+ PROTT LONDON
• WATCH KKD’S GAY SON LEAD LGBTQ+ PROTT LONDON
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS
• MA1: THE BUNKER (BUNKER BAR)LONDONMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGEHOTELS · BUDGETGUTHO & B&BSHOSTELSON TODAYBARSDANCE CLUBSLBIAN BARSCISE CLUBSSNASGAY SOHOMASSAGETHEATRECABARETSSHOPSGYMSCAF & RTRANTSSERVICATTRACTNSCY GUITOURSGAY MAPUK EVENTSGAY WEDDGSMA1: THE BUNKER (BUNKER BAR)
• SUNSET CEMAS & RABOW GAY CEMA
• THE 10 BEST LONDON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS LONDON

10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

As the UK’s most famed sprawlg metropolis, London’s queer scene has long been characterized by the LGBTIQ+ clubs and bars that le Soho’s streets and Vxhall’s historic prence as a gay haven.

Bt gay bars, clubs & parti. The book sectn is curated by top queer bookshop, Gay’s The Word, wh all profs funneled back to the mm and adjog chary.

If you’d prefer to see a wir array of queer lerature, pop over to the Gay’s The Word bookshop ntled between Kg’s Cross and Rsell Square.

GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS

It opened the mid-1970’s, ially showg straight porn only but later attractg many gay men, as well as transvt and some straight women. Okay, there are jt a few dited LGBTQ+ performance venu the cy, cludg gay theatre hubs Above the Stag, Royal Vxhall Tavern and the Kg's Head. Expect everythg om genre-smashg queer baret to lbian romance to gay theatre classics to exploratns of trans experience.

Weekend (2011)Few untri n rival the UK when to makg great and diverse gay films. This may e as a surprise om a untry where male homosexualy was illegal until as recently as 1967, and where gay marriage ntu to ffle right-wgers, swivel-eyed or otherwise. Yet spe their often taboo nature, films wh gay characters have been around sce the silent era.

THE BT GAY BARS LONDON

So what key Brish gay films are out there? We’ve narrowed down the list to films easily available on DVD, although honourable mentn mt go to the über-rare Two Gentlemen Sharg (1969), a swgg slice of the 60s that hted at terracial homosexualy.

Sign up to BFI Flare emailsGet the latt #BFIFlare news and ticket release list should really be a Top 11 – the omissn of Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), the first Brish film to feature a gay kiss, is borrle excable. Tom Shkolnik’s betifully observed The Comedian (2012), which a possibly gay, possibly bi thirtysomethg (Edward Hogg) tri to make as a standup the pal, also narrowly missed cln.

Borrle (1930)What’s the gayt Brish silent?

WATCH: KKD’S GAY SON LEADS LGBTQ+ PROTT LONDON

A few d homosexuals n be found  Aled Hchck’s early work (check out the swishy drsmaker 1925’s The Pleasure Garn), while Ivor Novello’s films play up the flamboyant star’s androgyny, playg very odd, allegedly heterosexual men  The Lodger (1926) and The Man whout Dire (1923). But gayt of all remas Borrle, a hotbed of sexual passns set around an terracial love triangle. The ma tr may be straight, but the mera’s love of Pl Robon’s torso – the film was directed and produced by gay men – hts at an even more taboo love story.

One of the first spottgs of the GBF (Gay Bt Friend), a creature maligned and adored equal measure. Although ma at a time when homosexualy was unmentnable on screen, Hale’s gtur and waspish livery clearly the character as not the marryg kd.

WATCH KKD’S GAY SON LEAD LGBTQ+ PROTT LONDON

Victim (1961)Dirk Bogar, an actor who never acknowledged the mours of his homosexualy durg his lifetime, took a real reer risk playg a lawyer who, followg a strg of blackmail attempts agast gay men, begs to realise his own sexualy. Ma when gay sex was illegal the UK, uld have been a reer-er, but stead saw him progrs om matee idol rol to meatier arthoe fare. Victim was released four years after the publitn of the Wolfenn report, a paper which remend that male homosexualy no longer be regard as a crimal offence.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

It took another 10 years before partial crimalisatn took effect wh the Sexual Offenc act 1967, which allowed homosexual acts, private, between two men over the age of 21 – many feel Basil Dearn’s film helped liberalise attus and pave the way towards tolerance towards gay people. The Leather Boys (1964)The Brish ‘kchen sk’ dramas, foced around workg-class liv, that prevailed the late 50s and early 60s ocsnally ntaed sympathetic gay characters, such as Murray Melv’s stunt  A Taste of Honey (1961) and Cicely Courtneidge’s ageg actor  The L-shaped Room (1962). A newlywed (Col Campbell) havg marriage problems fds pe through mararie wh a biker gang – and don’t realise that his dynamic and fatly misogynist bt iend (Dudley Sutton) is gay.

The last scene, set a gay bar, featur a nga le of unlikable stereotyp, but at least Sutton across more sympathetilly than Ra Thgham, playg Campbell’s shrewish wife. Sebastiane (1976)Few films outsi gay porn feature as much male flh as Sebastiane, the feature but of Derek Jarman (-directed by Pl Hums).

Nighthawks (1978)Bra’s first signifint gay movie ma by a gay director divid dienc. Some praised for s realistic portrayal of a gay teacher unsuccsfully seekg a lovg relatnship the newly sexually liberated clubs of London. Now Nighthawks n be re-evaluated as an valuable time psule of the late 1970s gay scene, the liberated perd between crimalisatn and the outbreak of AIDS.

GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS

Ken Robertson is very good as the antihero, pecially the film’s bt scene, when the teacher out to his homophobic class and nonts their prejudic. What uld be more crowd-pleasg than a gay love story between a Pakistani immigrant and an ex-Natnal Front member?

MA1: THE BUNKER (BUNKER BAR)LONDONMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGEHOTELS · BUDGETGUTHO & B&BSHOSTELSON TODAYBARSDANCE CLUBSLBIAN BARSCISE CLUBSSNASGAY SOHOMASSAGETHEATRECABARETSSHOPSGYMSCAF & RTRANTSSERVICATTRACTNSCY GUITOURSGAY MAPUK EVENTSGAY WEDDGSMA1: THE BUNKER (BUNKER BAR)

Homosexualy is jt one of the topics vered  Hanif Kureishi’s amb, Osr-nomated screenplay, which also tak on racism, culture clash, and the state of Thatcher’s Bra. Kureishi would explore race and homosexualy aga the TV seri The Buddha of Suburbia (1993). The murr of a gay man triggers an avalanche of trouble for two black pirate rad DJs, one of whom starts a relatnship wh a whe, gay punk.

Betiful Thg (1996)This favoure remas one of the sweett of all gay films, tellg the story of two troubled boys – one bullied at school, the other at home – who fd love each other’s arms.

SUNSET CEMAS & RABOW GAY CEMA

Every gay teen serv a good gay teen film, and the 1990s this was .

It’s a super play, but the film jt about tmps , thanks pecially to the performanc – Glen Berry retired om actg, Stt Neal played another gay role  The Bill, while the scene-stealg Lda Henry beme a fixture on Bad Girls and EastEnrs. Few gay-themed films, Brish or otherwise, have ronated wh dienc que as much as Weekend.

In a rare moment of sany, wrer Bret Easton Ellis tweeted that “ might be the greatt film about gay men ever ma”. Follow on om a swim wh a drk at the nearby Kg William IV, one of the cy’s olst gay pubs. Gay Amerin artist Dennis Severs spent 20 years turng his home to a livg mm, wh the townhoe’s 10 rooms reprentg snapshots the life of an imagary fay between 1724 to 1914.

THE 10 BEST LONDON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS LONDON

Addrs: Gay’s the Word, 66 Marchmont Street, London, WC1N 1ABWebse:!

Where to go at nightRoyal Vxhall TavernOne of London’s olst survivg gay venu, the Royal Vxhall Tavern has been an entertament statn sce the 1860s. Heaven, Charg CrossHands down the biggt and most famo gay club central London.

Highlights clu the John Waters-spired lbian theme night Female Trouble; the d-visual queer spectacular Outré Voyage, the male-centric mic nights Homodrop and Dissodoma, the by-femm/for-femm monthly Femmi-Errect, and the hedonistic Happy Endgs, which turns Superstore’s unisex loos to a pop-up rave. In Hackney Wick, near the Olympic Park, the monthly gay rave Chapter 10 is at Bloc and Pxssy Palace tak place at Mick’s you need fuel on your night out, Dalston is packed wh late-night eateri. Wh more gay bars per square e than any other area, Soho is buzzg on any night of the week.