A Gui To Gay London for LGBTQ Travelers

Contents:

• PETER ACKROYD: A SECRET HISTORY – 2,000 YEARS OF GAY LIFE LONDON
• THE BT LGBTQ+ AND GAY CLUBS LONDON
• GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS
• DOCUMENTARY TO EXAME HISTORY OF GAY POLIL AND SOCIAL LIFE NEW LONDON
• GAY BARS AND CLUBS SOHO
• AUTHENTIC GAY LIFE
• PNEERG PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY LIFE THE 1960S
• ‘WE WANTED TO HAVE SEX ALL THE TIME’: FIRST MAJOR SURVEY OF SUNIL GUPTA—PHOTOGRAPHER OF GAY INDIAN LIFE—OPENS LONDON
• NIGHTCLUBBG: GAY CLUBBG ’70S LONDON
• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• GAY PEOPLE

PETER ACKROYD: A SECRET HISTORY – 2,000 YEARS OF GAY LIFE LONDON

Perhaps is new book, a history of gay London entled Queer Cy, returns to faiar terrory, so much so that ’s surprisg Ackroyd hasn’t already wrten : fact, turns out that, after a manner of speakg, he has. More famoly, a 1983 novel is wrten as a fictnal diary by Osr Wil, a photograph of whom rat his study, sandwiched between Thomas More and the Elizabethan mag John the new work go far eper, travellg om the barely visible remas of Celtic London and the arrival of Christiany the AD300s to the great sex sndals of the 19th century – Wil clud – and on to recent fights for gay rights. If the Celts strike as somewhat mp – Ackroyd suggts the word has s origs the mid-1800s and the gay slang Polari – then so might Chcer’s Pardoner The Canterbury Tal (the prototype of “a London queer”, Ackroyd suggts).

The same go for the nizens of the “molly ho” of 18th-century London – clubs-cum-brothels where gay men uld mgle, drs up and have many chroniclers of gay culture, Ackroyd don’t neglect lbianism: we are gleefully taken on a tour of the dildo shops of the Geian cy – ’s said that one tablishment  Leicter Fields sold nothg else – and behd the closed doors of cigarillo smoke-filled Edwardian clubs such as the Cave of Harmony and the Orange 2017, 50 years after some forms of homosexualy were tentatively legalised, ’s hard to thk of anythg that has unrgone greater upheavals than gay culture. 29 July 2023 to 16 September 2023 Sleepg Bety Tak A Prick TicketsSleepg Bety Tak A Prick at Charg Cross Theatre 23 November 2023 to 13 January 2024 Strangers Between TicketsThe Goln Goose Theatre is revivg classic Atralian drama Strangers Between by Tommy Murphy, which looks at the highs and lows of growg up gay morn Atralia.

Though the number of LGBT+ venu London has seen a cle the last or so, the cy's gay scene isn't ailg yet – fact, a handful of excellent new venu have opened recent years around the cy.

THE BT LGBTQ+ AND GAY CLUBS LONDON

The hight ncentratn of LGBT+ spac n still be found around Old Compton Street Soho, a former red light district that's been heavily gentrified recent years, but remas London's gay heartland.

It’s closed on Mondays and Tudays, but hosts a r Sunday pub quiz and gets pretty packed on Friday and Saturday nights when the small dancefloor fills up wh a largely, though not exclively, gay male crowd.

GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS

Image source, Gordon Rasford At the start of the 1980s, gay men London started to be affected by a myster first UK ath om Aids was the pal 1981 - although was only later this was nfirmed to be down to an HIV-related illns. By the end of that same year, more than 100 homosexual men the US had died as a rult of the time passed and the panic grew, gay people were hered further to the shadows by a homophobic prs mpaign. Terms like the "gay plague" were wily ed, and people believed HIV uld be transmted by any kd of proximy to those wh the mark the end of LGBT History Month, four people who wnsed first hand the stggl of those wh Aids rell how what had been a vibrant gay muny was vastated by the disease.

'He thought he uld levate'Image source, Julian KalowskiImage ptn, Julian Kalowski (left) and his iend John Crancher (middle) were keen nightclub-goers the 1980sJulian Kalowski was a young gay man the 1980s and, like many, saw his social circle get smaller and smaller as the HIV and Aids crisis took hold. She is the former director of New London Landmarks, and wh the help of Don Prley, a member of the group, has been nductg dozens of terviews of gay people New London an effort to pture their rellectns and accs their perspectiv. She poted out that polil actn attracted gay people to the area, cludg 1960, when an activist, Bayard Rt, one of the forc behd the Black civil rights movement, and a wrer and soon-to-be activist, Barbara Demg, me to New London for the same reason — to prott the buildg of a nuclear submare.

The documentary also has an up-to-date acuntg of polics, relign and social jtice related to gay people, and clus terviews wh Curtis Goodw and Daryl Jt Fiz, two gay New London policians, as well as current Mayor Michael Passero. “They uld go to the gay bars back the past and would be everyone, whereas if you went to New York or Boston, was really segmented, was the women, was the men, was the leather scene, was the people of lor scene, was so broken down. Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love.

DOCUMENTARY TO EXAME HISTORY OF GAY POLIL AND SOCIAL LIFE NEW LONDON

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage".

Photograph: London Metropolan Archiv, Cy of LondonAlberte Wner, the first female puty chief medil officer at the Department of Health, wrote Homosexualy Women: “There are two tegori of female homosexuals … the woman who tends to prefer the society of women … and a much more dangero type, the promiscuo Lbian who … may e great harm and unhapps.

It poted to evince of the suici of men who had been charged wh mtg homosexual acts wh an adult, sayg: “The sense of shame at public exposure appears to be a motive … if the law is unjt, then the longer remas rponsible for human tragedy, the more excable do s retentn bee.

GAY BARS AND CLUBS SOHO

Photograph: London Metropolan Archiv, Cy of London Courty of Campaign for Homosexual EqualyThis poster was produced for the Campaign for Homosexual Equaly to highlight the equi faced by LGBT people, particularly the armed forc. Photograph: London Metropolan Archiv, Cy of LondonThis law stated: “A homosexual act private shall not be an offence provid that the parti nsent thereto and have attaed the age of twenty-one years.

AUTHENTIC GAY LIFE

Photograph: Mallm Clarke/Getty ImagMary Whehoe, founr of the Natnwi Ftival of Light and the Natnal Viewers’ and Listeners’ Associatn, took Gay News to trial for blasphemy, the first such se for 40 years. The issue lated to the hight levels of ernment and rulted Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act 1988, unr which uncils were prohibed om tentnally promotg homosexualy – rultg fundg beg whdrawn om arts projects and tnal rourc.

PNEERG PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY LIFE THE 1960S

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. Although there have been high-profile closur recent years, remas a clubbg hotspot – particularly popular wh gay the banks of the Tham the south-wt of the cy, Vxhall has a history of entertament.

‘WE WANTED TO HAVE SEX ALL THE TIME’: FIRST MAJOR SURVEY OF SUNIL GUPTA—PHOTOGRAPHER OF GAY INDIAN LIFE—OPENS LONDON

Promisg the ernment would implement the “vast majory” of Etherton’s remendatns, Wallace said he would fully update the Commons a formal bate about the issue after the about pensatn, Wallace said he hoped to fd “an elegant solutn that match the need and the requirements of those dividuals”, promisg to set this out after Kelly Holm, who served the army and me out as gay last year, was among mpaigners who weled the apology. The photographs for Dover’s book had to be livered to the prter by hand, bee the post might have been tercepted unr Sectn 11 of the Post Office Act (1953), which banned sendg “cent or obscene prts” by Homosexualy is not a prehensive acunt of same-sex relatnships the Greek world. The ia of ‘homosexual’ and ‘heterosexual’ did not yet exist - what mattered was to be sexually domant we know om documents that the Londium of Hadrian’s time was a slave-owng society, sharg the same valu as cizens throughout the Roman empire, we n be sure that same-sex relatnships were normal.

“I was 19, vulnerable, young and puttg my own inty together, ” says photographer Anthony Friedk when reflectg on his first project, The Gay Essay, which documents gay culture Los Angel and San Francis between 1969-1972. But The Gay Essay really began while he explored the Los Angel Gay Communy Servic Center where he met Morris Kight and Don Kilhefner, two men who ran the programs there and found the Gay Liberatn Front Los Angel 1969 where they mobilized the muny agast the LAPD’s harassment of homosexuals. ” Twenty-three years later, the same London venue, the seri is once aga on show for From Here to Eterny, Gupta’s first major reer survey, which 16 distct bodi of work to chart his five--long reer and tell the probg, personal narrative of a gay Indian immigrant the Wt.

Also prented the show is ephemera om Gupta’s life—published as a new book—which clus pamphlets om Aids activist meetgs at the height of the crisis and posters for queer support groups such as the Gay Swchboard. Untled #9, 2010, om the seri Sun Cy Photograph: Sunil GuptaThis plex relatnship wh his home untry forms one of the show's most pellg narrativ, as do his navigatn of a Wtern gay scene that ni visibily to HIV posive South Asians. Wh the slogan 'Lbians and Gay Men Come Out On the Streets', Pri was an opportuny for LGBT Londoners to show their strength and numbers, and show "the posive si of the beg gay: GAY IS FUN; GAY IS PROUD; GAY IS BEAUTIFUL!

NIGHTCLUBBG: GAY CLUBBG ’70S LONDON

The lours reprent: red for life, orange for healg, yellow for sun, green for nature, blue for harmony (or art) and purple for necklace was bought by a gay man at one of the first London Gay Pri march he attend, about 1985.

The Francis Goldg llectn clud a first for the mm: the sus that he and his partner, Dr Satish Padiyar, wore their civil partnership ceremony 2006 - both a tone of public acceptance for homosexualy, and a remr that marriage equaly for lbian and gay people was not achieved until the law was changed 2013.

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.

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

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). 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 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 PEOPLE

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. The Begngs of a New Gay World“In the late 19th century, there was an creasgly visible prence of genr-non-nformg men who were engaged sexual relatnships wh other men major Amerin ci, ” says Chad Heap, a profsor of Amerin Studi at Gee Washgton Universy and the thor of Slummg: Sexual and Racial Enunters Amerin Nightlife, 1885-1940. By the 1920s, gay men had tablished a prence Harlem and the bohemian mec of Greenwich Village (as well as the seedier environs of Tim Square), and the cy’s first lbian enclav had appeared Harlem and the Village.

Each gay enclave, wrote Gee Chncey his book Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, had a different class and ethnic character, cultural style and public reputatn. Gay Life the Jazz AgeAs the Uned Stat entered an era of unprecented enomic growth and prospery the years after World War I, cultural mor loosened and a new spir of sexual eedom reigned.

”At the same time, lbian and gay characters were beg featured a slew of popular “pulp” novels, songs and on Broadway stag (cludg the ntroversial 1926 play The Captive) and Hollywood—at least prr to 1934, when the motn picture dtry began enforcg censorship guil, known as the Hays Co. In the mid- to late ‘30s, Heap pots out, a wave of sensatnalized sex crim “provoked hysteria about sex crimals, who were often— the md of the public and the md of thori—equated wh gay men. ” By the post-World War II era, a larger cultural shift toward earlier marriage and suburban livg, the advent of TV and the anti-homosexualy csas champned by Joseph McCarthy would help ph the flowerg of gay culture reprented by the Pansy Craze firmly to the natn’s rear-view mirror.

This piece was origally published French at Queer Marxism has been foundg a body of theory synthizg Marxist ncepts like class, reifitn and totaly wh ncepts om other paradigms like performativy, homonatnalism and tersectnaly. In a later perd Lat Ameri the 1970s and ‘80s, as the hegemony of Stalism weakened and the left’s sexual Puranism wh , the enunter between gay movements and Marxism was pecially uful Niragua, Brazil and Mexi. Although Dan Healey’s more recent book provis a more scholarly and thorough acunt of homosexualy revolutnary Rsia, Lrsen and Thorstad’s overview of the teractns between early socialist movements and homosexual activism is still sound and eful.

Gough and MacNair’s analysis of heterosexualy and homosexualy as forms of fetishism, which some ways forhadows Kev Floyd’s later exploratn of sexual reifitn, lays the groundwork for their Marxist approach to lbian/gay polics.