The first gay pub I dared set foot now has a rabow plaque. Here’s why that matters | Gary Nunn | The Guardian

Contents:

• JOG THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM CHANGED MY LIFE. SO I MA A FILM ABOUT
• THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS
• TACKLG HOMOPHOBIC ATTUS: THE STRAIGHT MEN WHO PLAY FOR GAY GBY CLUBS
• SF GAY RUGBY CLUB CREAT COMMUNY, EXPANDS HORIZONS OF SPORTS
• DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
• RUGBY ATRALIA STRIK ALLIANCE WH ATRALIA'S GAY AND CLIVE RUGBY CLUBS

JOG THE WORLD'S FIRST GAY GBY TEAM CHANGED MY LIFE. SO I MA A FILM ABOUT

Wh lots of new Gay & Inclive Rugby Clubs settg up across the globe each year, ’s more and more likely that you live close enough to one to get volved wh and enjoy all kds of gby – regardls of your genr, sexualy, ethnicy, relign, size or gby the Map Search below or scroll through the Global Club Listgs lower down this page to fd an IGR club. Here, queer people were reclaimg their place on the pch – an arena they grew up beg told they didn’t belong Israel Fol began postg “hell awas homosexuals” on social media I realised I had to tell the story of the club – and my own story.

THE FIRST GAY PUB I DARED SET FOOT NOW HAS A RABOW PLAQUE. HERE’S WHY THAT MATTERS

There was the ocsnal homophobic sledge, but over time the Steelers won the rpect of the straight burly Brish men bee not only did they beat them on ocsn, they showed them that we’re all pretty much the forward to me takg my mera to Amsterdam to film the club at the Bgham Cup, the world cup of “rabow” gby.

Frankly, I’d have served a prison jt for him to hold my hand, like he did his off-whe Vxhall Nova on the drive there, breakg only to change, he took me for strawberry cir the Gloucter, a pub at the park’s edge, takg my tremblg hand his and reassurg me: “It’s actually a gay bar. On Sunday, the first a new seri of rabow plaqu will be stalled at the Gloucter – now the Greenwich Tavern – cementg s place gay home the workg-class Medway area of Kent, where we met when he sold me a phone cred rd at the lol petrol statn, “queers” like were wily perceived as predatory, perverted, spic or simply scum. The first time I saw wh him, when I was 18, I realised he had echoed the love story of the two protagonists, who also had their first kiss the twilight of Greenwich Park’s tre, and their first experience of a gay pub at the Gloucter.

TACKLG HOMOPHOBIC ATTUS: THE STRAIGHT MEN WHO PLAY FOR GAY GBY CLUBS

The explanatn for his obssn is now clear: there was such a pcy of same-sex love stori that this was the first time many young people had seen a same-sex kiss, or peeked si an actual gay bar after dark. The project remds people “that we have always been here, good tim and bad, ” David Robson of the London LGBT+ Foms’ Network said when the plaqu were film and my own story were workg-class gay love: not dandyish and sheltered by the polse of privilege, but the btal realy of beg perceived a non-mascule boy. It was a powerful and rarely told tersectn – and one that, even more rarely, ends rather happily, wh a betiful scene of fiance and acceptance played to a Mama Cass waltz on the sk I disvered that I wasn’t the only wi-eyed baby gay my boyiend had been chasg through those ancient chtnuts that summer.

SF GAY RUGBY CLUB CREAT COMMUNY, EXPANDS HORIZONS OF SPORTS

For me, the plaque honours that private moment as well as the shared history of the LGBTQ+ ’s the msage I’d impart to anyone who thks such symbols are meangls, as the unique social history of the UK’s gay bars is endangered by gentrifitn, hook-up apps, the st of livg crisis and even assiatn.

DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

Niamh LewisMar 1, 2021, 09:52 AM ETWhen Eammon Ashton-Atkson, an Atralian televisn reporter, cid to film his gby club as they went to the biannual Bgham Cup 2018, he uld never have imaged the posive reactn a documentary about would receive.The film Steelers is about London-based Kgs Cross Steelers, the world's first gay gby club and one of over 60 such sis world-wi. Although the stori the film are related to the stggl of g out, prsn, and a history of bullyg for beg gay, they're are told a way which wir dienc n empathise wh."It's a story about a gay gby club, but 's also a story about human stggle, and people g sport and their sense of muny to help each other, which is universal," Ashton-Atkson told ESPN."I've never done this before [ma a documentary], I jt knew there was a good story there to be told, but I didn't really expect such a great reactn and I was surprised that alli the straight muny really nnect wh the film."The film, released late 2020 Atralia, also highlights the challeng women the gby world face, through the team's then-director of gby Nic Evans. The former Wal ternatnal explas the tratn of beg unrtimated and overlooked her achg bee she is a woman achg a men's team."She's got a certifite for the hight achg level, and sce she left the Steelers she's been nsistently overlooked and not even shortlisted [for jobs] than men who are ls qualified and ls experienced than her, which is heart-breakg and disgtg," Ashton-Atkson says.Though beg gay 2021 wtern society is often unremarkable today, you don't have to go back very far to fd trmatic stori.

We've gone om havg the horrible experienc which had left so many big srs to now jt beg like, 'Well everythg is ok so you should jt get on wh and be grateful,'" he explas."That whiplash is what ed me the prsn bee I grew up always beg bullied everyday relentlsly, and that meant I stggled to form iendships and didn't know how."I beme very sular and cut off om my fay and so all those thgs took a long time to repair to the pot where I jo the club and for me that was the fal healg I gus I need om all those experienc."But, if 's easier to e out now, then why do we need gay gby clubs?"People say, 'Shouldn't you jt play for a straight team?' And I gus that's the whole pot of the film," he says."If I wanted to play at a straight club, I would have to qutn is safe to e out?

RUGBY ATRALIA STRIK ALLIANCE WH ATRALIA'S GAY AND CLIVE RUGBY CLUBS

Will thgs be said behd my back?"That's a thought that do go through your md, and while 's generally a posive there are still pockets of homophobia."Steelers club chairman Matt Webb go even further, tellg ESPN: "I thk that still ti to the need for people to e together the same muny who have shared lived experienc.

Then, 2019, Atralia's Israel Fol spouted his famo anti-gay ments on Instagram, sayg "hell awas" gay people.Ashton-Atkson opened the drawer and started the ed aga om scratch, and turned to the unnventnal documentary has bee. Not jt some flippant throwaway ment, so y you might be good at throwg and kickg a ball but that don't give you the right to validate people for who they are."Wh beg gay, you don't thk that I grew up sperately wantg to change my sexualy, like, wishg the gay away?