Pink; Learning from the Triangle by Matt Rooney

pink

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Pink; Learning from the Triangle Understanding Gay Visibility in the Pink Triangle, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Matthew Rooney Newcastle University A dissertation submitted in partial fufillment of the degree of BA in architecture 2017

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

I would like to thank my tutors Edward Wainwright and Sam Austin for supporting me throughout this process, as well as the Stage 6 â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;After Darkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; symposium group for sharing their research and collaboration on the Exhibition of Newcastle nightlife. Additionally Dr. Mark Casey and all peoples of the Triangle I met along the way.

Contents 01 - 16 17 - 28 29 - 38 39 - 58 59 - 68 69 - 70

00 Introduction; Sexuality in the Urban Realm 01 Formation; the Party City & the Triangle 02 Policing Sexuality; Regualtion & Protest 03 Visual Signifiers, Identity & Sexuality 04 Concluding Points 05 Bibliography & Photo Credits

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Fig. 0.1 Saturday night in the Pink Triangle; The Yard & Switch

Sexuality in the Urban Realm Introduction to Sexual Theory and its manifestations within Urban Space

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notes from the triangle This study seeks to analyse the commercial leisure spaces of the Pink Triangle gay village of NewcastleUpon-Tyne within the context of sexuality and its link to architecture and the urban realm to understand how the area is representative of a sexual ‘other’ and constitutes ‘queer space’. The Pink Triangle highlights the means by which community and identity can form around a sense of place and be expressed through architecture and the built form. Through an exploration of street frontage, signage and branding, an analysis can be formed of the ways in which visible signifiers and faced semiotics convey an overt sense of sexual otherness. This study sits within an understanding of the concepts of sexual regulation that arise in urban and sociological theory as well as a historical background to the processes of de-industrialisation, cultural upheaval and historic Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) liberation movements that have been essential to shape this area of night time economy and to a greater extent the party city status of 21st Century Newcastle. The Pink Triangle is an often over-looked area of Newcastle’s city centre nightlife that is home to a small cluster of gay identifying businesses. This compact area comprises of 16 bars, nightclubs, cabarets, saunas, shops and restaurants dotted about a rough triangle shape. The area first coined its name with its birth in the early eighties taking as its namesake the symbol of gay pride and liberation,

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

the pink triangle1. Within the Pink Triangle the highest density of these venues sits upon the top end of the Scotswood Road forming a main drag of sorts that runs up into the Centre for Life’s Times Square. The strip is the backbone of the triangle hosting the main routes of movement, activity and vibrancy that exist when the sun goes down and vanish by daybreak. In many ways the Triangle represents an alternative to Newcastle’s otherwise buzzing city centre nightlife. Geographically separate, it offers an alternative to the mainstream sites of night-time consumption of the Bigg Market, Quayside, Greys Street and the Diamond Strip. Research for this study has been conducted over a number of days and nights within this distinct portion of the city through a mixture of photographic frontage studies, interviews and experiential analyses of the venues. The aim has been to gain an understanding as to the nature and means by which this area expresses an overt identity and to what extent the spatial consolidation and visibility bring defined safe spaces to the LGBT community of Newcastle. In an otherwise heterosexual world, these venues of the ‘other’ have allowed LGBT identifying persons to meet, socialise and find sexual partners without judgement or fear of persecution2. The gay village has become a regular sight on the urban landscape of the contemporary western city since the late 1980s and 1990s, existing in numerous urban areas across the UK and beyond as vibrant and attractive residential being London’s Old Compton Street, Manchester’s 1. Casey, M. (2004) Researching the Experiences of Lesbians and Gay Men of Heterosexual and Queer Spaces in Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle University 2. Hubbard, P. (2011) Cities and sexualities. New York: Routledge.

Canal Street and Liverpool’s Stanley Steet Quarter3. A body of geographical and sociological work exists on these sites and their relation to sexual identity; it is the intention of this study to bring an architectural and graphic background to the analysis of sexuality’s manifestations in space and place. These key writings on sexuality and the city have been crucial to gain a theoretical understanding as to how and why queer spaces such as the venues of the Triangle have formed within urban areas. A number of academics have been important to this study: the work of Phil Hubbard addresses the topic of sexuality that arises in urban geography and sociology, Chatterton and Hollands’ study of night spaces and in particular study of the Newcastle’s nightlife have given much insight into the night time economy, while the work of post-structural theorists, such as Michel Foucault and Judith Butler have grounded a knowledge of queer theory and systems of sexual power and regulation. An interest of this study lies in the creation and definition of the Pink Triangle as a site of ‘queer space’, that being space physically and socially aligned to the sexual ‘other’ and its related genders and sexual identities4. Queer is used within this context not just as a means of describing gay and lesbian identities but also to label the acts of militant transgression that encompass queer politics as a means of destabilising the dominance of heterosexuality5. The Pink Triangle is overtly coded to the ‘other’ through its strong visible 3. Bell, D. and Jayne, M. (2004) City of quarters: Urban villages in the contemporary city. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing. 4. Bell, D. and Valentine, G. (1995) Mapping desire: Geographies of sexualities. New York: Taylor & Francis. 5. Butler, J.P. (1990) Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

Sexuality in the Urban Realm

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10. Westmorland Rd.

Marlborou

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gh St.

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Centre for Life

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sw ot

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16. 1. Central (bar/ drag venue) 2. Powerhouse (club 3. Base (sauna) 4. Boulevard (cabaret) 5. Private Store (adult store) 6. The Eagle (Pub) 7. SR44 (club) 8. Secrets (Bar)

9. Eazy Street (cabaret bar) 10. Rustyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (bar/ drag venue) 11. Blonde Barrel (restaurant) 12. The Yard (bar) 13. Switch (bar) 14. Bank (bar/ drag venue) 15. Number 52 (sauna) 16. Nice & Naughty (adult store)

The Gate

Pink Triangle

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Quayside

Ouseburn Valley

Diamond Strip

Bigg Market

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presence within the city, this visibility alone can be seen as transgressive after the decades of sexual regulation that have attempted to supress the sexual other. In essence the Pink Triangle’s existence alone speaks of the spatiality of sexuality, suggesting a link between the societal notions of normal and queer sexual behaviour and their positioning within the city. It is then possible to argue that the city and human sexuality are inherently linked. The nature of the contemporary western city provides a realm of social diversity, vibrancy, anonymity and liberalism that permits an individual to pursue their sexuality freely with limitless possibility of adventure, encounter and meeting6. For this reason cities, as opposed to the rural, are often perceived to be places of liberal sexuality and radicalism that represent generally more accepting sites where it is easier to follow a sexual identity and find like-minded individuals. This is none more applicable than to LGBT identifying persons who enter the city in search of similarly aligned people and spaces of acceptance where they may freely enact their sexuality. ‘Cities have provided venues where men who have sex with men (and women who have sex with women) can meet: pubs and clubs, cafes and cabarets.’ Hubbard 7 Simultaneously as the city being a liberal zone of free sexuality, urban areas and their populations are subject to ordering, regulation and suppression. As such the city shapes the sexuality of its citizens through forms 6. Bell, D. and Jayne, M. (2004) City of quarters: Urban villages in the contemporary city. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing. 7. Hubbard, P. (2011) Cities and sexualities.

of spatial policing and the urban translation of societal morals. In essence this is how perceived notions of the sexual normal and the other feed into the coding of urban spaces and their distribution within the urban realm: ‘it [the city] is an active agent in the making of sexualities, promoting some and repressing others” Hubbard8 As Hubbard suggests here, despite the city often being an expansive site of free sexuality it is concurrently a place of power where sexual regulation and ordering is enacted amongst its populations through systems of authority9. This ties to poststructuralist theory on sexuality which contends that a society consists of subjects that must be regulated and controlled for the purpose of public health and wellbeing; Michel Foucault (1978) deemed this concept ‘Biopower’10. As Foucault argues in his works the History of Sexuality, human sexuality has been subject to systems of control that have sought to contain desire into moralistic etiquettes particularly through subjugation of the body and individual selfrepression and denial11. In this way Foucault argues that exercises of power go beyond recognisable systems of discipline such as the nation states, police, government, legal practices, and medical institutions and extend to expressions of the self. 8. Hubbard, P. (2011) Cities and sexualities. 9. Ibid. 10. Bernstein, E. and Schaffner, L. (eds.) (2004) Regulating sex: The politics of intimacy and identity. New York: Routledge [u.a.]. 11. Foucault, M., Hurley, R., Focault, M. and translated from the French by Robert Hurley (2001) The history of sexuality, volume I: An introduction. New York: Random House USA.

Fig. 0.3 The Eagle; Scotswood Road (Facing North-East)

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In this way western views towards sex have tended to make the distinction between the perceived ‘normal’ and thus moral heterosexuality and the so-called ‘other’, which put simply groups the nonconforming, the ‘perverse’ or the ‘immoral’. ‘Othering’ is representative of unequal power balances that result in the marginalising of certain groups. Foucault discusses heterosexuality in terms of a social practice that was invented and subsequently normalised12. The ‘normal’ is summed up by the notion of heteronormativity. ‘heteronormativity - the extensive and far reaching ideological system that seeks to impose a public contract of heterosexual compliance as the only way of living and being’ - Bhattacharyya13 Simply this term denotes the dominant culture of gender norms and heterosexuality that encompasses the everyday practices of western society. In essence it describes everything that is taken for granted, never questioned and subtly heterosexual in its manner. According to post-structuralist theory heterosexuality and homosexuality are social constructions that came into existence in the 18th and 19th centuries with the coining of these terms and the consequent vilification of this new character, the homosexual14. Despite the fact that the acts and relations that are deemed homosexual have existed for all of human history, it was only in 1892 that they first became so 12. Hubbard, P. (2008) Here, There, Everywhere: The Ubiquitous Geographies of Heteronormativity.

defined when the term homosexual first appeared in the English language within Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s Psycopathia Sexuallis15. Previously homosexuality had been free from such articulation and was simply considered a ‘sexual inversion’ or as Oscar Wilde put it: ‘the love that dare not speak its name’16. The categorisation of sexuality in Kafft-Ebing’s work brought with it cultural anxieties over the newly defined sexual identities that deemed one, heterosexuality the only respectful and accepted expression of sexuality and the other, homosexuality and bisexuality, a product of misdirected sexual desire that was to be treated, punished and persecuted. This study investigates how these concepts are laid out in urban spaces and particularly to observe the map of sexuality within the city at night. The nightlife of Newcastle is the platform on which sexual theory is performed and exhibited. The city streets play host to numerous diverse cultures and activities, of which there exist mainstream and alternative cultures correlating to sites of aggressive heterosexuality and the visible sexual other. The formation of the Pink Triangle is of key interest and consequently the essay is split into three sections, exploring first how historical socio-economic factors have influenced this site and the wider city’s night cultures, as well as observing how sexual regulation and homophobia have fed into these spaces and finally how this has translated into a visible urban presence and the factors of built form, street frontage and iconography that express this visibility of identity.

13. Bhattacharyya and Bhattacharyya, G. (2002) Sexuality and society: An introduction. London: Routledge.

15. Halperin, D.M. (1990) One hundred years of homosexuality: And other essays on Greek love. New York: Routledge

14. Miller, N. (2005) Out of the past: Gay and lesbian history from 1869 to the present. Boston, MA: Alyson Publications.

16. Miller, N. (2005) Out of the past: Gay and lesbian history from 1869 to the present

Fig. 0.4 Churchill Street,Rear of the Yard

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Sexuality in the Urban Realm

Fig. 0.5 Central Bar; Junction of Westmorland Road & Marlborough Street

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the party city & the triangle How have the conditions of Newcastleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industrial and post-Industrial history influenced the formation of the Pink Triangle?

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The Scotswood Road The contemporary Pink Triangle lies upon a portion of the city that has been shaped by successive peaks and troughs of activity and community inhabitation. Once the pride of an industrial city and the very heart of working class identity, the areas along the Scotswood Road stand as microcosms to the processes of socio-economic upheaval associated with de-industrialisation that have taken place across the city as a whole in the late 20th Century. The establishment of this area of alternative nightlife and gay community speaks of an evolving city and modernising Geordie identity. Half of the venues of the triangle sit upon the Scotswood Road, making this the highest density strip of the enclave. In a former life this road played host to a different kind of strip, that of the workers of the Great Elswick Works (fig. 1.1 & 1.2), one of the largest industrial features to have existed on the banks of the Tyne. Opened by Lord Armstrong in 1847, the factories grew over the course of a century thanks to its success in the manufacture and global export of hydraulics, armaments and locomotives17. With the site employing 25,000 at its peak18, workshops lined a four mile stretch of the Scotswood Road leading to the extensive development of working class 17. Posted (2010) Exploring the ‘workshop of the world’. Available at: http://blog.twmuseums.org.uk/exploring-the-workshop-of-theworld/ 18. Ibid.

neighbourhoods in the area to cater for population growths. For many the road came to demarcate the boundary between work and leisure, with heavy industry to the south of the road and homes to the north. Bridging this line were the numerous pubs of the Scotswood Road. The ale house (fig. 1.3 & 1.4) was the staple of a working man’s leisure time and as testament it is said that the end of each terraced street that met the Scotswood Road had one situated upon it, totalling 46 establishments in 195019. The few remnants of this industrial strip live on in the present day Pink Triangle which inhabits the only remaining terraced row from this area’s former life; all else fell victim to the waves of slum clearance and high-rise re-housing that was ushered in during the 1960s20 (fig. 1.5). Five public houses existed on this the most northerly stretch of the Scotswood Road in 1890 (fig. 1.6) all of which all are currently occupied by gay identifying venues some still retaining partial or full name references to these original establishments. Post Industrial Upheaval The existence of these pubs speaks of a different era, one of heavy industry, strict gender roles and structured work and leisure time balances. In essence this is the antithesis of the current manifestation of this quarter of the city, far removed from the nighttime venues of cosmopolitan vibrancy, free sexuality and flowing cheap alcohol that make up the 24 hour economy of this city. It is clear much has changed in the region as a whole, industry on the Tyne has been 19. Morton, D. (2016) How many pubs were there on Scotswood road ? Available at: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/ how-many-pubs-were-newcastles-12037686 20. Newcastle (2017) Special collections. Available at: http://www. ncl.ac.uk/library/special-collections/exhibitions/current-and-pastexhibitions/armstrong/elswick/

Fig 1.3

Fig 1.4

Fig 1.5.

Fig 1.6

The Yard

Fig 1.2

The Bank

Fig 1.1

Switch

The Party City & the Triangle

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Public Houses 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46.

The King’s Head the Rokeby The Golden Eagle Graham’s Arms Durham Ox Golden Fleece Somerset Marlborough Inn Blenheim Hotel Farmers’ Inn Elswick House The Fountain Lord Wharncliffe Maid of Derwent Royal Oak The Green Tree Falcon The Park Road Hotel/Clasper Arms The Freemasons’ Arms The Grapes Hotel Lincoln Gladstone Plimsoll The Dene Hotel The Vulcan The Blast Furnace Bridge End Foresters’ Arms The Mechanics Arms Crooked Billet Miners’ Arms Forge Hammer The Moulders Arms The Gun Hotel The Elswick Hotel Duke of Cumberland New Burnt House/Shipwrights’ Arms The Bath The British Lion Caledonia/Flax Mill The Ordnance Arms The Whitworth The Atlas The Shell The Rifle The Hydraulic Crane

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unwinding for the past half century, the shipbuilding, armament production and coal industries have been almost entirely lost and a new service based economy has been salvaged from their dying embers21. These shifts have been traumatic and in many ways the city is still trying to forge its 21st century post-industrial identity. As an indication of the difficulties faced by this transition, unemployment and deprivation remain the highest for any region of the UK whilst a culture of low wages and high part- time work pervades22.

developments attempting to bring a liberal, European

The early eighties was arguably the point at which the most radical transformation occurred in the North East. In 1981 alone, the region lost 10% of all jobs, the majority of which were from the manufacturing sector23. Simultaneously, Margaret Thatcher’s government (fig 1.7) was ushering in a new age of reinvention in cities across the country; in Newcastle the traditional masculine and working class identities and economies were rejected in favour of private corporate capital and middle class consumption24. A new world beckoned as British city centres tackled the urban decline and de-industrialising woes of previous decades by remodelling themselves as renewed places of living, working and leisure. Newcastle was no exception with regeneration projects and

A Changing Nightlife

21. Chatterton, P.A. and Hollands, R. (2001) Changing our ‘Toon’: Youth, nightlife and urban change in Newcastle. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: University of Newcastle upon Tyne. 22. Statistics, O.F.N. (2016) Regional labour market statistics in the UK: Nov 2016. Available at: http://www. ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/ employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/regionallabourmarket/ nov2016 23. Chatterton, P.A. and Hollands, R. (2001) Changing our ‘Toon’ 24. Chatterton, P., Hollands, R.G., Holl, R. and s, C.P. (2003) Making urban Nightscapes: Youth cultures, pleasure spaces and corporate power. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

café-culture and a night-time economy to the previously traditional working class make-up of the city centre and its spaces of leisure. This époque is also of significance for the Pink Triangle as it was then in 1980 that the first gay identifying venue, The Yard, (fig.1.9) opened its doors to the public in its present day location on the Scotswood Road thereby paving the way for others to follow.

Chatterton and Hollands discuss the creation of Newcastle’s ‘Party City’ status within Changing our Toon. The pair point to this changing physicality of night spaces within the city highlighting the dramatic shifts from a more masculine culture of traditional pubs and ale houses to the post-industrial venues of leisure and night-life catering for a new demographic of consumer. This period of change embodies the move from traditional spaces of leisure to the 21st century model of urban consumption that, in Newcastle comprises of a combination of both a continental ambience of restaurants, bars and cafes (fig 1.10) and the more US-influenced ‘theme park’ style spaces of malls, multiplexes, casinos and large commercial clubs (fig.1.11) embodied within developments such as Eldon Square (1977) (fig.1.12), the International Centre for Life (2002) and the Gate (2002)25. The ‘party city’ status of Newcastle embodies a certain hedonism that often appears unique to the North-East. Much of this image revolves around the mainstream sites of night-time consumption of Bigg Market and the Diamond Strip. Formerly the realms of working men, the demographic of night time 25. Chatterton, P.A. and Hollands, R. (2001) Changing our ‘Toon’:

The Party City & the Triangle

Fig 1.7:

Fig 1.8:

Fig 1.9

Fig 1.10:

Fig 1.11:

Fig 1.12:

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revellers in the city now consists of a mix of young professionals, students and locals who relish in a certain ‘living for the weekend culture’, that embodies the low-income 9 to 5 lifestyle of working from pay cheque to pay cheque. The city night venues act as a form of escapism through their loud chart music, flowing cheap alcohol, sexual promiscuity and often drink-fuelled violence. These mainstream spaces of nightlife remain distinctly heteronormative often being the bastions of masculine performativity, intoxication and aggressive homo-sociality. The term ‘Cattle Market’ is often used to describe such venues in regard to the hyper-heterosexuality and often predatory male behaviour that can exist26. The search for sexual partners is integral to the experience of these spaces relying on the basis of a male sexual pursuit and female display. ‘mainstream forms of nightlife remain highly masculinised in terms of the male domination of space and the policing of compulsory heterosexuality’ Hubbard27 As Hubbard argues the distinct macho-heterosexuality that continues to be performed in these spaces produces environments that may not only be harassing for women but also may not welcome or permit the existence of other sexualities28.The coding of these venues is distinctly heteronormative. As such they follow the unspoken rules of behaviour and performance within public space that lean towards heterosexual coupledom 29. Acts of intimacy such as holding hands, dancing together or kissing 26. Hubbard, P. (2011) Cities and sexualities. 27. Ibid. 28. Ibid 29. Butler, J.P. (1990) Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

are performances that might be normal for most heterosexual persons but could be off limits for gay or lesbian couples within these environments largely for fear of unwanted attention or even violence. For this reason it has been said that gay and lesbian persons who enter such spaces must enter as ‘invisible gays’. Violence has been key to this and it has been argued that deindustrialisation links to the prevalence of homophobic assault. Formerly, working class young men progressed into manual labour roles as a demonstration of adulthood and masculinity. When these roles were stripped from communities in the 1980s and mass-unemployment ensued it is said that young men turned to violence, crime and homophobia to re-assert a masculine identity30. This fed directly into the mainstream venues of nightlife of Newcastle in the 1980s: ‘Club wise, if you were a non white, a student, a girl, or anything other than a white Geordie male, you got hassle almost wherever you went…Violence was commonplace & serious beatings took place regularly on the doors of the city’s nightclubs.’ - World Headquarters31 In this era, when the Triangle was first forming city centre clubs were known for their racism, homophobia and sexism, for many they proved unsafe, and with regard to sexuality they represented non-permissive sites that spurned alternative cultures to create their own spaces of nightlife. 30. McCormack, M. (2012) The declining significance of homophobia: How teenage boys are redefining masculinity and heterosexuality. New York: Oxford University Press. 31. History - world HQ (Available at: https://www.welovewhq.com/ history-culture/

Fig. 1.13 Mainstream Venues of Nightlife; Sinners, Newgate Street.

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Fig. 1.14 Mainstream Venues of Nightlife; the Bigg Market, Collingwood Street

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Policing Sexuality How has Sexual Regulation and Gay Rights Movements Influenced Visible LGBT Communities?

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Queering the City The Pink Triangle stands as an example of commercial queer space, born as a reaction to mainstream environments of nightlife consumption in Newcastle. Since its conception, the triangle has provided the spaces for gay and lesbian persons to safely enact their sexualities and form a visible community around sexual identity; moreover it has provided opportunities for meeting, socialising and the search for sexual partners in an otherwise heterosexual city. Although gay venues had existed in Newcastle before its establishment including Rockshots on Waterloo Road (fig. 2.1) and Casablancas of Haymarket (fig. 2.2 & 2.3)32, the Pink Triangle was the first to consolidate gay visibility within one compact area. The Triangle like many gay villages finds itself both geographically and culturally separate from the rest of the city; in a simple manner of understanding, its location can be viewed as a form of spatial hierarchy involving the ordering of urban space to promote one sexuality whilst marginalising the other. Situated between large infrastructure routes, the physical environment of the Triangle is arguably detached from the main city, 32. Chatterton, P.A. and Hollands, R. (2001)Â Changing our â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Toonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;:

Policing Sexuality

Fig 2.1

underinvested and somewhat neglected. However it is this positioning that works to the community’s favour. In essence this alternative scene was only able to develop here as the lower land values gave young gay entrepreneurs the opportunity to start businesses more freely in the early days of growth. The Struggle for Visibility Numerous conflicts have been raised by the insertion of the ‘sexual other’ into this area by means of opposition and its birth has not been without struggle. Highlighting the social anxieties that followed the Triangle’s development. An article run by The Mirror in 1999 sheds light on oppositional public opinion at the time by mocking the council’s attempts to establish an official gay village.

Fig 2.2

‘NEWCASTLE’S Labour Council has decided to create a special gay quarter in the city because the ‘’Pink Pound’’ - the spending power of homosexuals - is all going to Manchester. This can only cause havoc with traditional Geordie culture. Can we now expect Lindisfarne’s greatest hit to become The Fag On The Tyne and will the Toon Army applaud Alan Queerer while chanting Gaydon Races?’ – The Mirror; 4th August 199933

Fig 2.3

The article specifically identifies Geordie culture as being at risk from investment into the Pink Triangle, using derogatory terms to suggest that the promotion of this area will lead to a dilution of Geordie culture. Accordingly we can observe the homophobic attitudes that prevailed amongst popular media and even state 33. Farlex (2017) Sue Carroll’s column: Howay gays. - free online library. Available at: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ Sue+Carroll%27s+Column%3a+Howay+gays.-a060433575

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institutions in recent history. Enclaves like the Pink Triangle have not always been permitted such an overt visibility in UK cities with urban and societal regulation seeking to police sexuality. In England and Wales, homosexuality was illegal until the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 that decriminalised sexual relations between two men over the age of 21 34. As progressive as this law was the lives of gay men continued to be subject to discrimination and societal disapproval as highlighted by the introduction of Section 28 in 1988 by the conservative government. This amendment marked the first discriminatory law against homosexuals to be introduced in over 100 years35 and stated: ‘local authorities shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” – Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, 24 May 198836 Section 28’s introduction reveals the sentiment amongst traditional conservative groups and family protection organisations that education about gay matters in schools and other institutions would ‘encourage’ their own children into homosexuality as a form of ‘indoctrination’ through gay propaganda. Represented within this law are the homophobic attitudes and moral panics that prevailed in the 1980s with societal fears being spurred on by the everworsening AIDs epidemic and widespread media branding of the homosexual as being a threat to the 34. Miller, N. (2005) Out of the past: Gay and lesbian history from 1869 to the present. Boston, MA: Alyson Publications. 35. Weeks, J. (2007) The world we have won: The remaking of erotic and intimate life. London: Taylor & Francis. 36. LGBT History Month (2014) Section 28. Available at: http://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2014/05/1384014531S28Background.pdf

nuclear family and public health37. The institutional homophobia of the late eighties can be seen as pivotal to the attitude that LGBT communities adopted in their fight for recognition and legitimacy. As Casey argues in his study of the Pink Triangle in 2004 a new era was being ushered in of being ‘Loud and Proud’ (fig. 2.4), marked by ‘an active involvement in the development and promotion of their [gay men] sexual identities through mainstream consumption’38. In essence a reaction to homophobic systems of power was for gay identities to become more visible than ever through activism and spatialisation. Manchester’s gay village of Canal Street embodied this attitude, in the early 1990s there was a distinct rejection of concealment that had been the previous precedent for gay visibility39. Here the birth of the village arose partially as a reaction to homophobic police campaigns of the late eighties chaired by Chief Constable James Anderton (fig. 2.5) who saw homosexuals as a threat to public wellbeing, as stated during a speech he gave to Manchester officers: “Everywhere I go I see evidence of people swirling around in the cesspool of their own making. Why do homosexuals freely engage in sodomy and other obnoxious sexual practices knowing the dangers involved?” – Chief Constable James Anderton, Policing AIDS conference 11 December198640 37. Watney, S. (1986) Policing desire: Pornography, AIDS, and the media. London: Methuen. 38. Casey, M. (2004) 39. Skeggs, B. (1999) ‘Matter out of place: Visibility and sexualities in leisure spaces’, Leisure Studies, 18(3), pp. 213–232. doi: 10.1080/026143699374934. 40. Margaret Thatcher saved career of police chief who made aids remarks (2012) Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ uknews/law-and-order/8991935/Margaret-Thatcher-saved-careerof-police-chief-who-made-Aids-remarks.html

Policing Sexuality

Fig 2.4

This quote embodies the fear and mistrust that dominated policing at the time. For Manchester it was a visibly opulent form of gentrification that became a means for the gay community to group and counter this. In Canal Street gay business owners opened venues that conveyed strength and pride through a gentrified cosmopolitism to act as a visual symbol of the sexual other. The opening of Manto (fig. 2.6) on Canal Street in 1990 signified this new era for the city. With money and style, the bar embodied all that the gay community aspired to be and desired to be seen as: young, stylish, moneyed and professional. In architectural terms the design of this now-closed venue conveyed a visual message, a statement of celebrated, overt visible presence that broke the trend of underground spaces, ‘nefarious’ activity and concealment that had existed in decades before41. Venues such as Manto and those pioneers of the Pink Triangle played a huge role in the increasing acceptance of visible gay culture. When the bar first opened it was regularly empty as people were afraid to be seen in it highlighting how Manto stood at the threshold of a new era, behind it were the decades of concealment and before lay the age of open visibility.

Fig 2.5

The conditions of the pre-visibility age made accepted sites for meeting rare; gay men were forced to chisel out transient spaces from the urban realm away from the gaze of the state and disapproving heteronormative populations42. Public environments were often the sole spaces that gay men could seek out anonymous and impersonal sex through the practice of cruising. The public toilets, parks, urban woodlands, gardens and car parks of the city landscape provided the sites for men to meet other men by following a distinct set of rules involving etiquettes of dressing, looks and glances to

Fig 2.6

41. Skeggs, B. (1999) ‘Matter out of place 42. Hubbard, P. (2011) Cities and sexualities

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signify interest 43. The existence of these practices represents how gay men were forced to hide in the shadows of society by state regulation and societal attitudes. Similarly the culture of concealment extended to gay venues before spatial consolidation and visibility of queer space. This is revealed by the following conversation with an older man in the Pink Triangle concerning Casablancas club in the early eighties:

visibility and safety is mixed, one assumption is that the creation of visible queer spaces brings with it added danger and increased incidence of violence against gay men and women and their property due to the overt presence on the urban landscape 45. Research suggests this is overwhelmingly true as visibility can largely act as an incitement to attack. The Pink Triangle stands as an anomaly to this as it has been noticed that gay men and women overwhelmingly report feeling comfortable and safe from homophobia and harassment 46.

Q: What was it like before the triangle? Anonymous: There used to be a gay bar back in the day in Haymarket…Casablancas. It was surrounded either side by biker bars so we d have to sneak in without being seen, pretend that you were walking past and then slip in while no one was looking44

‘83% of the sample identified safety from the threat of homophobia as an important characteristic of the area.’47 This points to the Triangle succeeding on the core principle behind any gay village which is safety to enact one’s sexuality. In research of Manchester’s Canal Street gay village it has been noticed that, like the Triangle, the area within its geographical boundaries showed evidence of decreased attacks yet movement in and out of these spaces presented the most danger of assault or harassment 48.In this manner homophobia and violence remain a constant threat for queer identifying persons yet increased levels of visibility have allowed the formation of overt community safe spaces that do succeed in protecting them whilst within them. It is however important to note that these spaces provide a brief escape from an otherwise heterosexual world in which invisibility may have to be resumed and identity hidden49.

What this man touches upon is the idea of having to hide the activity that existed within gay bars in Newcastle before the establishment of the Pink Triangle and being afraid to be seen entering such venues for fear of being ‘outed’ amongst friends, family and peers or even for fear of violence. Accordingly gay venues existed with minimal visibility and not the overt presence of toady. Safety from Visibility The Pink Triangle is at its core all about visibility; the formation of the LGBT community around place spatialises a visible identity into the city to create a consolidated safe space. The relationship between 43. Humphreys, L., Rainwater, L. and West, D.J. (1974) Tearoom trade: A study of homosexual encounters in public places. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. 44. Anonymous (2016) Interviewed by Matthew Rooney, Scotswood Road, 11 December.

45. Skeggs, B. (1999) 46. Chatterton, P., Hollands, R.G., Holl, R. and s, C.P. (2003) 47. Casey, M. (2004) 48. Skeggs, B. (1999) 49. Bell, D. and Valentine, G. (1995) Mapping desire: Geographies of sexualities. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Fig. 2.7 Powerhouse & the Pink Room; Westmorland Lane

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Fig. 2.8 The Scotswood Road (Facing West), Visible: the Yard, Boulevard & Switch

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

visual signifiers & identity How do facade semiotics, iconography and street frontage of the Pink Triangle convey a sense of the sexual other?

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Fr on t

St rip

tsw oo

St rip

Symbols of Sexuality Saturday night in the Triangle, a certain atmosphere takes over the area just like any part of the city on this sacred of nights for Geordies; there is a buzz of people, life, lights and colour. Hotspots emerge, groupings and paths of movement are visible. To plot a main strip onto the Pink Triangle it is necessary to understand the spatial dynamic of this area. The most evident strip exists along the top end of the Scotswood Road upon which exists the highest density of gay venues; interestingly the Centre for Lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Times Square acts as a continuation of the strip leading up to Rustyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Blonde Barrel. The square represents the blurred lines or the varying shades of Pink of the Triangle, representing a crossover zone with the heterosexual venues and activities that exist here. Complexity arises from the network of alleys to the rear of the Scotswood Road that provide a secondary strip of activity and movement. Arguably the temporal nature of the Triangle is nowhere more visible than it is here; by day the alleys lie largely dormant, acting as service roads for the daytime businesses, parking for the student accommodation that borders the lanes and unofficial taxi ranks for

Visual Signifiers & Identity

Fig 3.1: Scotswood Road & Marlborough Street; Facing North-West

Fig 3.2: Marlborough Street & Westmorland Road

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Fig 3.3: Scotswood Road Night-time Strip (Facing North)

Fig 3.4: Scotswood Road Day-time Strip (Facing North)

Fig 3.6: Scotswood Rear Strip Day-time (Facing South)

Fig 3.5: Centre for Life (Facing East)

Visual Signifiers & Identity

Rear Alleys

Street Frontage

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Fig 3.6: Frontage to Alley; the strips of the Triangle

Fig. 3.7 Rear Alley; The Eagle, SR44 & Number 52 rear entrances

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

the National Express coach station. By night a new character emerges as the Scotswood bars open rear doors and smokers spill out onto the asphalt. Clusters of people congregate in spots around Switch, The Eagle, Secrets and SR44; meanwhile the queues grow for the Boulevard Cabaret and occasionally a figure slips into the back of Sauna 52. Arguably these rear routes help to form a certain character that the Triangle possesses, one of compact vibrancy despite the often neglected nature of its physical environment; yet shielded by the Scotswood frontages there exists a feeling of intimacy and protection that may not exist on the main strip due to its exposure to the busy main road. Another factor that was revealed in conversation with Dr. Mark Casey on his study of the Pink Triangle in the early 00s is his thoughts on gay spaces tending to inhabit small older buildings that have been converted for their new function: Casey: I see gay venues as typically being older low rise buildings, like those in the Pink Triangle…you really notice the contrast between the Dury’s Inn, it dwarfs the Pink Triangle50 In this way it is possible to point to a gay vernacular that the Triangle largely attains within the former shop fronts of the Scotswood Road consisting of largely repurposed 19th century industrial and commercial units. The Dury’s Inn that Casey refers to is the St. James Gate development that comprises of a twelve-storey hotel, office and residential complex constructed on the former cattle-market site opposite the Scotswood frontages in 2004. As Casey argues, the complex towers over the Pink Triangle to suggest a form of architectural invasion (fig. 3.8). Similarly the 50. Dr Mark Casey (2016) Interviewed by Matthew Rooney, 28 November.

bus station (2001), the Grosvenor Casino (2000) and the Centre for Life (2000) encroach into the realms of the Triangle. These predominately daytime spaces are through activity aligned to the heterosexual world; the Dury’s Inn hotel in particular is popular with stag and hen party groups, which by nature are overt performances of heterosexual relationships. By night it is known for these groups to spill into the venues of the Triangle thereby acting as a dilution of the queer spaces that have been fought for so hard. Symbols as Identity To understand how the Triangle communicates its otherness visually it is necessary to study its strips of activity in order to understand how it interacts with the street. Venturi and Scott-Brown’s study of Las Vegas in the 1960s introduced the notion of the strip, that being a product of a new commercial vernacular formed in the consumerist, roadside realms of capitalist America. A key concept from this was the idea of architecture as a symbol and a means of communicating ideas; the extreme case study of this being the Las Vegas strip where the sign dominated the landscape and presided over the buildings they advertised, in a simple manner of ‘big sign little building’ to attract passing trade from the fast-moving roadways. ‘the sign is more important than the architecture’ – Learning from Las Vegas51 As such the sign plays an important role, through its graphic form, colour, shape, texture, silhouette and imagery to communicate a complexity of meaning in 51. Venturi, R., Brown, D.S., Izenour, S. and VENTURI (1977) Venturi: Learning from Las Vegas the forgotten symbolism of architectural form (cloth). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Scotswood Road Strip

Rear Strip

Invasions

St. James Gate Development

Visual Signifiers & Identity

Fig 3.8

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

seconds to viewers of the road and pavement. Although far from the nature of the vast car-dominated spaces of Las Vegas, the Pink Triangle and its main strip still rely heavily on the use of signage to express the content and aspired character of the venues. The question of sexuality comes into the symbolic and thematic mechanisms used by the venues for their frontages; after years of struggle for visibility one would assume that the venues of the Triangle would be keen to express an overt character and difference through a form of queer visual statement. As discussed, in Manchester this visibility comes in the form of ‘spectacular opulence’, an assertion of gay identity through cosmopolitism and contemporary architectural design as a show of strength and pride 52. Newcastle is far from the lavish gentrification of Canal Street. Without this degree of financial resources and catering for a lower income demographic the venues of the Pink Triangle rely on more simple mechanisms of façade semiotics to convey an identity. Visual signifiers exist around the Triangle to mark the area’s otherness. None is more powerful and more widespread than the rainbow flag. Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag in 1978 with the intention of creating a more positive symbol of gay liberation than the previously popular pink triangle symbol that still served as a reminder of the horrors of persecution due to its use by the Nazis as a means of categorising homosexuals53. The flag began to gain notoriety and spread around the globe until it became synonymous with LGBT rights movement, pride and community:

52. Skeggs, B. (1999) 53. A brief history of the rainbow flag (1998) Available at: http:// www.sftravel.com/article/brief-history-rainbow-flag (Accessed: 13 January 2017).

The flag is an action – it’s more than just the cloth and the stripes. When a person puts the Rainbow Flag on his car or his house, they’re not just flying a flag. They’re taking action.’ – Gilbert Baker, 201554 As a symbol it is clear and powerful (fig. 3.9) , in the Triangle venues that either fly the flag or contain rainbow colours within their logos, lighting, motifs and murals include: Switch, Powerhouse, the Bank, the Yard, Eazy Street, Base Sauna, Private Shop and the Eagle. In this way the visibility of the rainbow creates a strong visual statement around which a community can form as a relatable symbol is placed upon the landscape. This is not to be underestimated after the years of suppression by systems of power that once prevented the presence of such symbols and overt visibility55. Placing gay iconography on the landscape of the Pink Triangle is of importance for the LGBT community to aid the sense of belonging and safety within the area, this notion represents how important space is in the formation of an identity. Here the inscription of visible signifiers such as the flag makes a connection with the public realm thereby defining a portion of the city as one’s own. Gorman-Murray and Waitt discuss this idea within their study of gay neighbourhoods in Australia: social cohesion across sexual difference in two Australian neighbourhoods: ‘the visibility of gay iconography is seen as a measure of the acceptance of same sex attracted people and enhances their feelings of belonging’ - GormanMurray, A. and Waitt, G.56 54. A brief history of the rainbow flag (1998) 55. Skeggs, B. (1999) 56. Gorman-Murray, A. and Waitt, G. (2009) ‘Queer-friendly neighbourhoods: Interrogating social cohesion across sexual difference in two Australian neighbourhoods’, Environment and Planning A, 41(12), pp. 2855–2873. doi: 10.1068/a41356.

Visual Signifiers & Identity

Fig 3.9

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

The power of the symbol is portrayed here, in many ways this correlates to a ‘Las Vegas’ model of the sign possessing a greater power to communicate than a building ever may have. The buildings of the Pink Triangle are in many ways irrelevant, they are mere containers for the activities that take place within, letting the signs, facades and ornamentation communicate their function and identity. Other than the rainbow flag iconography there are examples of bold façade communication, logo symbolism and name associations around the Triangle. Boulevard Cabaret takes a strong theme appearing as a tongue and cheek postmodern parody of Broadway glamour to convey the light-hearted nature of its drag-queen performances. Fully wrapped in a bold purple façade and cabochon lighting, the former industrial unit strongly announces its presence to the road (St James Boulevard) and pedestrians. Arguably this fits the criteria of what Venturi and Scott-Brown described as a decorated shed. The decorated shed is defined by its visual ornamentation while the form of the building remains generic and signs expressing an identity; arguably this applies to all of the venues of the Triangle for their use of signage57. The other cabaret bars: Rustys, Eazy Street and the recently closed Sunset Boulevard follow similar motifs as Boulevard to parody a flamboyant and theatrical sense of big city glitz in a manner that perhaps embraces a degree of tackiness. As many regular goers to these venues will contest, their atmospheres are not as serious as their heterosexual counter parts of the city centre, they are by nature more friendly, accepting and have more relaxed dress codes; in many ways this humour and light-heartedness comes across in the façade ornamentation and branding (fig.3.10). 57. Venturi, R., Brown, D.S., Izenour, S. and VENTURI (1977)

Concealment or Celebration The frontages of Sauna 52 and Base are discreet, utilising soft colours and plain logos to give away few cues as to what takes place behind its doors. This can be seen as an intentional measure to conceal the explicit nature of its content and the identities of its customers; for the same reasons the two adult stores of the Scotswood Road adopt mute frontages that block visibility to their interiors. These establishments by necessity and licensing law must use these mechanisms to regulate such venues of sex; the licensing of these venues can be seen as an attempt by city planners to contain such activities to the margins of the city58 . As Casey explained, the more traditional and older establishments continue to maintain what might formerly have been seen as a gay vernacular in the past when discretionary behaviour was the norm for avoiding unwanted attention. The Eagle is one such venue, in this case transparency is minimised largely due to the traditional pub being a licensed sexual entertainment venue containing a basement ‘dark room’, where men only cruising nights take place. ‘The Eagle remains quite traditional really, harking back to the old days…you really notice with the frosted windows how little you can see of what happens inside’ - Casey59 The Eagle’s low fenestration and frosted glass speaks of a different attitude that may prevail, one of minimising visibility for safety and protection from outside populations. Moreover, The Eagle highlights a 58. Hubbard, P. (2011) 59. Dr Mark Casey (2016) Interviewed by Matthew Rooney, 28 November.

Visual Signifiers & Identity

Fig 3.10

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Fig 3.11; Celebration through frontage (top left clockwise: Eazy Street, Boulevard & Westmorland Rd. strip)

Visual Signifiers & Identity

Fig 3.12; Concealment through frontage (top left clockwise: Number 52 Sauna, Private Store & Base Sauna)

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

degree of non-commitment to being true queer space and as such female strip dancing takes place in the venue on Friday and Saturday daytimes representing a heterosexual invasion of the spaces. During these brief heterosexual phases, The Eagle alters its façade to attract a different clientele with the windows being covered by images of exotic female dancers; and perhaps more insensitively to the community of the Pink Triangle, a mural representing LGBT struggles and activism on the façade of neighbouring SR44 gets covered by a large vinyl image of a stripper’s heels whilst proclaiming ‘Stag Parties Welcome’ (fig. 3.13). Invasions like this promote a form of dilution of the queer spaces of the Pink Triangle, many venues are keen to attract straight women and particularly hen parties so as to widen their potential customer base. Striking up conversation one night in the Triangle, a young girl Abbie, touched upon this idea: Q: Where would you go for a night on the triangle? Abbie, 23: We go to Rustys and Switch a lot, I’d say that we try avoid Eazy Street and Powerhouse these days, they’ve got a bit too straight really…too many straight people, lots of students and hen dos 60 The concern about a slow dilution of the Triangle is real, by wanting to attract wider audiences the venues may wish to commit less to a visual queer statement and play down some of the gay identity that is so defining. The role of straight people in gay space has been well documented; in this way queer venues have been used by non-gay persons as an escape from the aggressive heterosexuality and rigid gender roles of traditional venues or even as an opportunity to share in the cosmopolitism and vibrancy that these sites 60. Abbie Henry (2016) Interviewed by Matthew Rooney, Pink Triangle; 5 November.

attain61. This is particularly true for straight women who may enter gay venues to be free from ‘hassle’ and the male heterosexual gaze of a typical club. These entries into queer venues may provoke friction as the sites that have been fought for by gay activists may become contested and interrupted by the presence of overt heterosexuality. It is also apparent that there are varying degrees of visible expression; in several cases venues have adopted subtle facades that reveal little about an identity or sexuality, which may suggest an argument for invisibility too. Queer identities are diverse and numerous and it would be inaccurate to declare a monolithic gay culture onto the Triangle; in this manner individual venues and groups within the village respond in different ways to declaring an otherness and spatialising a visibility62. It is perfectly arguable that some venues see a power in invisibility and assimilation, signifying little about a sexual orientation and wishing not to make identity claims. Unmarked venues include Secrets, SR44 and Blonde Barrel. In this way the gay vernacular of the Triangle encompasses multiple themes and groups some stating an overt pride, others using themes of glamour and ‘camp-ness’ to convey an identity while some offering discreetness in the interest of concealment of activity or a wish to remain unrecognised.

61. Johnston, L. and Longhurst, R. (2009) 62. Skeggs, B. (1999)

Fig. 3.13 Fig. 1. ‘Female Strippers & (Facing Dancers’ at the The Scotswood Road West), Eagle; Visible: the Yard, Boulevard & Switch

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Fig. 3.14 ‘Secrets’ bar; few visual signifiers of sexuality

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

concluding points

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

Sexual Identity & Place At its core this study has been about attempting to comprehend the diverse relationship between human sexuality and the urban realm utilising the Pink Triangle as a mechanism to test the ways in which marginalised sexualities use space to define an identity and form community. The Triangle represents a sexuality of the ‘other’ mapped onto the heteronormative landscape of Newcastle’s postindustrial ‘party city’ nightlife. Marginal and enclosed, its boundaries are often blurred and transient along the lines of temporal activities that come and go with the passing of day and night. What is clear is that this zone of vibrant alternative nightlife succeeds in providing a site of relative safety for gay identifying persons in what can be at times a challenging region to identify this way. The visibility of the Pink Triangle is a statement on the conditions that the area formed within, a history of institutional homophobia, a culture of mistrust and persecution that gave the LGBT community a need for spatial consolidation and a visible sexual identity as means to gain acceptance, legitimacy and recognition. Explored within this study are the diverse means

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

by which the venues of the Pink Triangle convey a sexual identity through built form and in particular the semiotics of visual signifiers to communicate a distinguishable otherness. As discussed the Pink Triangle cannot match its nearest neighbours for investment and resources, in these cases the visual conveyer of gay pride and identity is the opulent gentrification and cosmopolitism that appears as a symbol of community strength and fiscal power. Far from this, Newcastle’s Pink Triangle in 2017 remains underinvested and lacking the economic strength for this form of visibility. Eighteen years have passed since Newcastle City Council’s investment plans for the Triangle to become more competitive and attractive fell through and since then the area has been untouched by state intervention63. As such there exists no official mapping of the quarter, no website and no branding to signify its presence. In many ways the Triangle underperforms its role as a regional centre of gay identities, providing a limited choice of venues that remain relatively out-dated to their heterosexual city centre counterparts. However this lack of investment has meant the triangle attains a somewhat unique character that has stood immune to some of the commercial sanitisation and homogenisation of queer identities that exist in more material and state sponsored gay spaces such as Manchester and London. The state’s interest in the promotion of gay identities in these sites lies rather superficially in revenue and urban regeneration; as such they attain an upmarket and affluent form of neoliberal consumption that has become their defining identity thereby sanitising the range of cultures within the LGBT community (quarters). What is apparent is that gay identity is not a monolithic entity and these

sites can often exclude denominations of the LGBT community. Even in the Triangle the venues are dominated by a more privileged young, white and male audience whilst appearing to deter some on the basis of age, class, ethnicity and sexual predilections64.

63. Casey, M. (2004)

64. Chatterton, P.A. and Hollands, R. (2001)

In an effort to discover a gay vernacular in this quarter of the city this study has been based around the analysis of visual forms of iconography including the signs, symbols and frontages to understand how gay identities translate to space. Concluding from the research it is imperative to understand the diversity of interests and tactics of communication within the area. Different venues adopt different tactics to suit their various needs and clientele; some may choose to fly the rainbow flags, or incorporate its colours into their murals, logos and branding in a manner of displaying pride. Others, such as the cabaret bars and drag venues have adopted representations of cosmopolitan glamour and ‘big city glitz’ through theming that encompasses their naming, signage and colour. Meanwhile the licensed venues of sex: the saunas, the adult stores and the Eagle pub adopt more mute frontages of protection and concealment of the activities that take place. It must be recognised that some establishments do not require overt branding of a sexual other and follow a tactic of invisibility whether that be for the purpose of assimilation, or even to avoid limiting their potential customer base from straight markets such as hens and stags. Over its near four decade lifespan the Triangle has witnessed much change, venues have come and gone while others have remained at the core of the community. During this time society has undergone radical shifts away from the ‘homohysteric’ anxieties

Pink; Learning from the Triangle

of the 1980s and 1990s; progressive reforms have pushed British discourse on gay rights away from stigmas and punitive measures to form a more gayfriendly culture65. This can be attributed to the role of LGBT rights movements and arguably from the visibility brought to the cause by spatially consolidated enclaves such as the Triangle. As testament of progress, law-makers have attempted to bring about greater equality of rights for LGBT identifying persons marked by such policies as the repeal of Section 28 in 2003 and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act of 2013, a law passed that enabled equal marriage rights for all. These reforms are telling of the declining occurrence of homophobia and perhaps less strict notions of masculinity present in 21st century Britain. This changing equality marks in legislation, a new era of greater acceptance and liberation that raises questions as to the future of the Pink Triangle. If we are to consider a future whereby the concepts of the ‘norm’ and the ‘other’ have been dissolved then the purpose of queer space is uncertain. These are spaces that have long served as an act of urban protest, of gay ghettoization for protection and separation from the heteronormative world. However in a future of more open urban sex-scapes where all parts of the city are permissive of all sexualities and gay identified individuals enjoy the same rights and freedoms to the city than anyone else, then the function of the venues may be unclear. Moreover the importance of these spaces as sites of meeting and the pursuit of sexual partners for people of samesex orientation has also been lessened as a result of technological advancements. The advent of apps and internet social networks such as ‘Tindr’, ‘Grindr’ and ‘OkCupid’ have altered the realms of dating and the

hook-up, bringing connections to LGBT identifying persons across the city to provide infinite opportunity for sexual encounter and meeting hosted by new more transient venues that are formed on an individual basis. As a result the pub and club which once stood as the single most important features of a gay community now have their roles questioned by new forms of digital interaction. What is certain is that despite progress the world has not changed so much as to make the Pink Triangle redundant, societal homophobia still exists and most importantly the city centre venues of night time consumption in Newcastle still remain the bastions of aggressive, masculine heterosexuality. As such the Pink Triangle remains for now a site of digressive visibility, in visual terms laying its claim to this portion of the city as a territory of the other and declaring itself a site of celebration, safety and acceptance.

65. McCormack, M. (2012)

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A quiet moment before the Saturday rush

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Illustrations -

Inner Cover (Front): M.Rooney, Pink Triangle

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9 69 6

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