3 minute read
GAY BRIGHTON PAST
OPENING UP THE VELVET VAULT OF MEMORIES
A new Facebook group inviting the community to share their memories of Brighton & Hove’s LGBTQ+ past is proving popular. Jaq Bayles spoke to the founders to find out more Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be – in fact, it’s enjoying something of a revival in Brighton & Hove circles thanks to a new Facebook group created by local historians Alf and Tina.
Advertisement
SHAMELESS HUSSIES FLYER
DESIGNED BY MICHELLE ALLARDYCE
Gay Brighton Past: Our Velvet Vault of Memories attracted some 400 users in its first couple of weeks, with numbers rising daily as people share their memories of the city’s colourful romps through the ages, alongside reflections of the more serious issues.
With Alf and Tina both collectors, they already had a wealth of materials at their disposal, from nightclub flyers to newspaper ads to beer mats, all foraged over the decades to ensure this slice of queer heritage didn’t get lost to the mists of time. And as they began posting online these treasures, the 1980s and 1990s emerged as a particularly busy period, being the time of Section 28, the AIDS crisis and a great deal of campaigning. It was also a fast-moving age, when club nights would open and close with alarming frequency and people would scamper from venue to venue in an effort to beat the vagaries of the licensing laws and this obviously struck a chord with group members, who have flocked to add their stories and memories from this period.
Now emerging is a trove of precious personal recollections, with people interacting in a safe place, jogging each other’s memories over shared spaces and events. “We were just grabbing everything in the ‘80s and ‘90s so it didn’t get lost - leaflets and flyers, beer mats,” says Tina. “Separately Alf and I were both touring round town with the same notion that somebody’s got to get hold of this or that history is going to be lost.”
Alf chips in: “The ‘80s and ‘90s were very paper-based and analogue, so unless one person kept a flyer and knows where it is that moment’s gone. We discovered we both had the same Brighton Pride 1995 beer coaster. I don’t know why Pride made beer coasters in 1995…
“Most people have their own personal photos they’ve stashed away or a ticket to a club night that was important. Sometimes their own memories are enough. It’s all stuff that’s very easily lost, especially if we don’t have biological family or our close friends don’t realise what’s important after we go.”
A good example of how a missing comma can change the sense of a sentence… if you like your showers exclusively gay, this was the place for you.
While it may not have felt like it at the time, looking back there seemed to be an awful lot going on. “If you go through the listings,” says Tina, “every night there were several things you could go to.” She points to “an amazing time in the ‘80s” when the likes of Bronski Beat, The Communards, Joan Armatrading and Erasure could be seen in Brighton – “it was queersville”. One point of particular importance to both the gatekeepers of the group is that it is “a very safe environment” in which people can chat about their collective past. It’s really important that you create a safe environment”. This is so anyone can share their story, or photo, and know that nobody is going to give them a hard time or make a joke about it.
Alf adds: “We found an empty niche and thought we would open the door to the velvet vaults and encourage everybody to come in, but we’ve got a couple of gargoyles at the door. We know how precious our history is.” As to the question of why it’s called Gay Brighton Past as opposed to the now more familiar LGBTQ+ Brighton Past, apart from the fact that the latter is pretty unwieldy in a title, in the time frame being covered, the term “gay community” was a catch-all, whether you identified as gay, lesbian, bi or other. And it’s definitely not just for gay men. “It’s about pitching it for everybody, that community that was fractured and came together then was fractured again.”
