ODL’s magazine by and for the LGBT+ community
Q9 Spring 2015
Down Memory Lane
Our voices Our histories ODL is supported by
Welcome to Q9 Welcome to Q9 ! A big thank you to all the members who have written for Q and sent in their memories, stories and photographs to make this issue a trip Down Memory Lane
Our voices telling our histories are crucial because it is our memories which make up all the varied parts of our collective stories. We are our own experts on our history. By collecting together events and relationships from our different pasts we resist any essentialising tendencies. By looking back we recall both pleasure and pain and all that lies between - including love, resistance and laughter. It is the richness of our lives. By remembering and recording and donating our papers into the libraries and archives to preserve our stories, campaigns, politics and struggles for the future we make sure we’re here to stay and to be counted. Q9 weaves together ODL stories from the past - on finding a community, lovers, and cottages. In this issue we highlight the growing number of libraries and archives which aim to insure that LBGT lives and histories are never bundled back in the closet, now or in the future. We hope you enjoy the new look ODL Quarterly designed for us with a new layout and logo by Laura Salisbury, a huge thank you to her – you can see more of her work at: www.laurasalisburygraphicdesign.com We hope you enjoy the issue, write in and let us know what you think. Q
28th October 1989: The end of British Summer Time… and the beginning of a new relationship! Josephine remembers dancing in to the long winter nights To relish the riches of south east London Lesbian and Gay nightlife, my north London, true Cockney girlfriend navigated her way south of the river via the Rotherhithe Tunnel (symbolically showing her passport). We met and headed towards the Albany in Deptford with its fantastic L&G weekly dance night Outdance. ‘Outliving, Outloving, Outdancing’ was the strap line and it truly was outrageous! We danced all night and at 1am it was announced that the club would stay open an extra hour on account of the clocks going back. We looked at each other: should we stay the extra hour or should we go - back to mine? We took off on my Honda CBX 550 moving closely together as rider and pillion up over Blackheath to take the scenic route home. The London skyline was so different with no sign of Canary Wharf then. We were to return together to the Albany on many occasions to Outdance, to An Evening with Prisoner Cell Block H, to Abba Nights etc. 25 years later, we are still together, remembering Outdance at the Albany, but we don’t celebrate our anniversary on any particular date - just whenever the clocks go back! Q
Flowers for Josephine
Cover photo: Marcia and Sandy Martin, aged 16, 4th November 1962 2
Opening Doors London (ODL) www.openingdoorslondon.org.uk
Growing Up Gay in Southampton
Tony Porter began exploring Southampton’s gay scene as a teenager in the late 1960s but found it something of a disappointment! As we were about to leave boarding school, a staff Hiding away member advised us to avoid Southampton’s gay scene as it was watched by both police and queerbashers. Naturally, I wanted to see it for myself and following much anxiety entered its most notorious pub, the one that we boys had dared each other to enter. All I saw was a clique of camp creatures as well as a few lonely hearts, men who neither spoke nor got spoken to. Were these the people we had been warned about? I later visited the nearby club but was repelled by its noisy, sweaty atmosphere plus the spectacle of some of the lesbians fighting each other.
Rogues and vagabonds
Southampton at that time sported about half a dozen gay bars. These followed the line of a filledin canal, an area known for two centuries to attract the rogues and vagabonds of society! They were all pretty grotty and I soon learnt that I did not fit in, for I neither drank nor smoked nor took drugs. I sensed that it was the brewery industry that had the upper hand. If a pub was losing money, they would ‘gayify’ it by adding a few mags, pics and maybe a drag artiste and all the lonely hearts would gratefully flock to it. This was the era of the ‘gay listings’ when clients would flit from one bar to another.
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Essentially, these back street bars allowed gays to hide themselves away and to be exploited commercially. The mags seemed to encourage this lifestyle but for me it was not true gay liberation. For a start, they never offered a way out. And secondly, it was only when visiting London that I heard any radical new ideas. In due course, local groups were established and these at least gave us some alternative meeting-places. Their supporters constantly changed. I recall three who committed suicide: a vicar, a child lover and a man whose affair had broken up. How heartbreaking! They are now just memories. Meanwhile, Southampton’s churches simply ignored us. Yet it was not all gloom and doom! Many people formed friendships and some began to live together. They either then hid themselves away, being only occasionally seen out shopping, or they opened up their homes for dinners and parties. It is of these that I have some happy memories.
Leaving town
Eventually I returned to London. I must admit that this was a relief, for London offered so much more to gay people. I had found Southampton’s gay scene claustrophobic and insular and when I revisited years later, I discovered that many of the folk I had known had since died. A sad ending to a sad period in my life! Q
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Opening Doors London (ODL) www.openingdoorslondon.org.uk
Gay Squatting in Brixton Tony spoke to Ian Townson about the
gay community in Brixton in the 1970s and how the living arrangements helped the political activities In the early to mid 70s there were very few places LGBT people could go to be housed. The choices were limited to bedsits or flats with no provision of social housing for ‘single’ people. The only alternative was squatting in abandoned property and this is what a group of adventurous gay men did. Squatting the South London Gay Community Centre in Brixton in 1974 acted as a catalyst for others to occupy buildings in Railton and Mayall Road. Eight in all, back to back, with a shared garden in between. The process was gradual but by 1978 a vibrant gay (mostly male) community had been formed. There were many reasons why gay men came to live in the community. Some were fleeing from oppressive situations at home, others were escaping their isolation and were sometimes astonished at the audacity of those who were prepared to ‘come out’ loud and proud. Those of a more staunch political persuasion fought for the right of gay people to be housed and even refused to pay the rates until social housing and amenities were provided for gay people.
A communal meal
The domestic arrangements challenged straight conventions and were communal with each household sharing responsibilities for chores such as cooking, shopping and cleaning. Some even kept hens in the communal garden for fresh eggs with regular trips to Brixton market for cheap food. There was sharing of sexual partners and lots of recreational drugs. Not that this distracted us from political campaigns and radical theatre. We joined with other LGBT groups in campaigns against fascism and Mary Whitehouse’s prosecution of Gay News. Eventually the squats were rehabilitated and we became part of the Brixton Housing Cooperative with brand new single person units which were secure and weather proof but much of the communal character of the squats was lost. Q
Obituary: Michael Mason Pioneering gay journalist Michael Mason sadly passed away aged 67 at the beginning of February. An instrumental force in the development of LGBT journalism, Mason was news editor at Gay News from 1972 until the early 1980s Gay News played a pivotal role in the struggle for equality in Britain. The paper was charged with obscenity in 1974, having published an issue with a cover photograph of two men kissing. It subsequently won the court case. In 1976 the paper published a poem by James Kirkup involving an erotic fantasy about Christ on the Cross. In response, and thanks to a private prosecution for blasphemy brought against the newspaper by Mary Whitehouse, Mason and his colleagues were locked in to a painful and draining two year legal battle. The final edition of Gay News was published in 1983. Michael Mason founded Capital Gay in 1981, which ran for a total of 14 years. Long-standing activist Lisa Power told PinkNews:“Michael quietly made a huge contribution to the forming of a gay community, as we would call it then, in London and across the UK. Gay News and subsequently Capital Gay, alongside Switchboard were the major sources of information for LGBT people in the seventies and eighties. Q
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From Leeds Altar Boy to Hampstead Heath Chris takes us on trip of sexual discovery from closeted university days in the 60s, to life long sexual encounters in London I suspected I was gay in my first year at university in Leeds. I joined the drama group as rumours of queers abounded. There was one obviously gay bloke but he was too pretty for me, nor was he interested. Then I met a girl at the Freshers’ Hop with whom I had my only hetero experience, and ended up with the clap. A seedy old clinic doctor said, ‘Show me your prick’ and added, ‘Keep it in cold storage until you get married.’ I had no further sexual encounters during my time as a student. Four years later in 1970 I moved to London. In Leeds I’d been an Anglican altar boy. The young curate from my church (who shared his house with a camp and improbably blonde young man) suggested accommodation at a clergy house in London. Within an hour of moving in I got to fuck a bloke for the first time after being seduced by a young Australian sacristan. I met several of his friends and played with all of them. I was hooked! Within one week I was in love, dumped, and in the clap clinic again.
The Joys of Hampstead Health
By 1971 I was living in a large bedsitter in Hampstead. I met lots of men at pubs like The William IV in Hampstead. I even met my former headmaster there with his head boy as well as a friend from uni who told me they’d all thought
I was straight – it turned out three of my good friends at uni were gay. In 1971 I met someone at work and we decided to share a flat. During a visit my mother noticed our shared double bed and said, ‘Robert’s your girlfriend isn’t he?’ I answered yes, and she declared, ‘I’ve been telling your father that for years but he wouldn’t have it!’ Robert lasted a few months.
From Cottaging to the Internet
From then on most of my trade came from gay pubs like the William IV, the Black Cap and the Salisbury. I soon discovered cottages which became my principle source of contacts for the next 25 years. I also took risks by having sex in parks late at night. I met my partner in a cottage 38 years ago but continued to look for fun on the side. In 1997 I stopped cottaging, age 50, mainly because I was worried about being found out. I’d had some narrow escapes but managed to avoid arrest or attack from queer bashers. In those days I could run! Nowadays I use the Internet with great success. I’m on Caffmoss, Spankthis and Recon, and these provide more than enough fun. Q
Web links on Gay History www.stradivarius-london.co.uk
An interesting website containing a personal history focusing on the (mostly male) London Gay scene from the 1970s onwards. Reproduced with thanks and permission from the author, whose email is on the site, he would love to have more contributions from ODL members.
www.kemglen.talktalk.net/stradivarius/new4.html
The 80s scene in London and you can find many more topics across the site.
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Opening Doors London (ODL) www.openingdoorslondon.org.uk
The Avengers Pat Dungey shares her memories of growing up, her first love and resisting change
I still remember those regular Friday evening bus journeys through Luton town centre with Mum so well. Got back in time to see the gorgeous Emma Peel in The Avengers - though I daren’t say that to Mum who kindly and caringly tried to make me feel better. When we arrived at the psychiatrist’s I froze, couldn’t they leave me alone? I was happy to like women as the early years teenager I was. Several ink spot folded pages experiments on: “ Mrs Dungey there appears to be nothing wrong with your daughter other than sheer stubbornness and unwillingness to change”. Cycling up that bloody hill along Old Bedford Road three or four times a week to catch a glimpse of her at home, hanging around outside her classroom, sending her a love letter… Even in my twenties these memories were raw. Another thirty years on from coming out at thirty one, I am a happy fulfilled lesbian with the most wonderful bunch of pals I love like family but it was a memorable journey to get here. Q
Goodbye from Catherine Bewley I wanted to thank all my wonderful colleagues and especially all the ODL members and volunteers I have got to know as one of the Befriending Coordinators. This poem was given to me on my last day in the office by an ODL member. She wasn’t born in the UK, English is not her first language, and her path to being accepted for who she is has not been easy. She didn’t want to use her real name but calls herself ‘Happier’ - not quite there but on the way!
Love Shell remains into the sea And pearl remains into the shell Even pearl is very scarce thing Whoever gets it, they are lucky. Heart lives into the bosom Love remains into the heart To get love go to underneath of abysmal sea, As like a sea diver. Once my sea diver mind Went to sea to expect to get pearl. It was diving into the bottomless water But did not get pearl. Love is very scarce thing Everyone want love Whoever get, they will be happy. But someone get it, everyone don’t get In spite of agitate to a sea Like a sea diver. By ODL member Happier
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A Teenager at 35 Val Dunn shares memories of how hard it was to come out, even to yourself
I was born in Clapham in1940 at the height of the London Blitz. My mother was expecting just one baby, but I was waiting in the wings Val Dunn on an anti-nuclear (I like to think of this demo at Aldermaston time as 20 minutes in a womb of my own). We were bombed out of the nursing home and sent to recuperate in Hassocks, the best bit of the war for my mother.
Coming out
After great efforts to be ‘normal’, much depression and therapy, at the age of 35, with the help of a gay male colleague at work - a good friend - I finally came out to myself. You could say that I didn’t come out, but was helped out! We were working at the BBC and he told me to go and see J, a mutual friend in another department. She told me about Kenric. I went to my first meeting full of trepidation. This was in the late 1970s and being gay was not talked about. I had had crushes on one or two of the producers in Woman’s Hour when I worked there as a secretary. I had very low self esteem and couldn’t imagine them returning my feelings. Now I can see that at least two wouldn’t have minded, but they were too scared to do anything about it without some sign from me. I had a two year relationship with
a woman I met at Kenric, but I wasn’t prepared to move in with her. I have never wanted to live with anyone - possibly because of having to share everything in my early life.
Getting involved
In 1983 my life was transformed when I joined a group of lesbian feminists at my local women’s centre. I’d been thinking that I wasn’t being much of a lesbian and this was on my doorstep, so I decided to go. The women there were all younger than me and some were Greenham women. It was really scary, but exciting too. I had so much to learn, both from the women themselves often quite stressful in those right-on days - and the theory, but I’ve always been a big reader so that wasn’t a problem. They were planning to set up a lesbian centre with funds from Camden Council. I couldn’t believe this would be possible but said I would commit myself to it if it got off the ground. We did manage to get our centre in spite of local people at the planning meeting threatening to fire bomb it and hostility from the local Roman Catholic Girls School nearby. It was called the Camden Lesbian Centre and Black Lesbian Group (CLC&BLG) and many many lesbians gave their time and effort to keeping it going. We took our banner to Pride each year. It lasted until 1993. I remember that time with great affection and gratitude. Much has happened since then, but this was a really vital life changing time for me. Q
Politics and Lovers What was it like to be the only black lesbian in lesbian spaces? Linda Bellos remembers the early days
I came out 35 years ago when I was living in Brighton. It was a lovely place but very young and very white. Not that these are indictments, but they are a bit of a barrier when you are 30 with two children and are Black. What I recall were meeting places in which I was almost always the only Black lesbian. Things changed when I moved back to London in 1981. There were many political groups, some of which I joined, like the Black Lesbian group which met at Brixton Black Women’s Centre. Mainly I met women with whom I became lovers (to use the language of the day) through political groups. This includes the woman with whom I entered a Civil Partnership on the 21 December 2005 and still love and adore. Q 8
Linda and Caroline at their Civil Partnership
Opening Doors London (ODL) www.openingdoorslondon.org.uk
Evelyn Sandy Martin evocatively recalls an unexpected and seminal encounter
I came out at the age of 15, or maybe I was 14; (memory, where has thee gone?). Anyway, it’s a long time ago – about 55 years – so there are many stories, ‘Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind’. A woman entered the foyer and approached me. She smiled and we got talking. Evelyn had come to visit my youth club in Stepney, east London where I lived from age 12. She was about 26 and had once been a member. She had decided to visit Switzerland, where she found work. Now, something had brought her ‘home’ and she was staying with her Mother. I felt very drawn towards her and I knew instinctively that we were much alike. So we talked... she, asking me questions about myself and me, eagerly answering them. Evelyn invited me to visit her one day; her Mother would be out and we could talk. And so I did visit her, many times. It was as though I had found a soul-mate. We talked endlessly. Evelyn had always felt attracted to women but she knew she could no longer stay with her Mother. She left London for Zurich, where she found a lesbian and gay community and there she met and fell in love with a woman with whom she lived for several years. Evelyn told me she recognised in me, what she knew herself to be. I was overwhelmed. Here
Sandy (r) with her very good friend Wendy at Pride c. 2003/5
was someone else like me. I was not alone in the World. And then, the revelation that there were many lesbians here too and there were clubs where they met, talked and danced. Evelyn would not take me to the clubs nor would she tell me their whereabouts. Only, that one day, I would find them and I would find other women like me – I would find myself. And so I did. You cannot imagine the joy and excitement I felt one evening, maybe two years later, when, after her return to London from Zurich, I saw her at The Leetel, a private lesbian club held in the proprietor’s comfortably furnished first floor flat off Westbourne Grove, or close by, in Bayswater. There was Evelyn with her friends! ‘I told you so’, she said. Q
Research on Older Lesbians Jane Traies’ research on the lives of older lesbians in the UK is now available online. It is an academic thesis but well written and bursting with interesting stories Older lesbians have been consistently under-represented in research. Based on data gathered from 400 lesbians over 60, this study is the first comprehensive survey of the older lesbian community. As well as providing a detailed picture of older lesbian life in the UK at the beginning of the 21st century, it addresses such questions as: • How ‘invisible’ are older lesbians? Why would they stay hidden? • Are there aspects of our history and identity which are specific to older lesbians, as opposed to (e.g.) older gay men? • Given our diversity do older lesbians really have anything in common? Read the thesis at http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/48420/1/Traies%2C_Jane.pdf You can get in touch with Jane at: jt222@sussex.ac.uk
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Organising Personal Archive Collections Jan Pimblett from London Metropolitan Archives gives us some tips to start sorting our papers and all the memories we have hidden in that box under the bed
It is amazing how much ‘stuff ’ we gather relating to our lives and experiences. Personal archives may have photographs, letters, diaries, posters from events and film footage. Here are some starting points to help you organise your material. 1 A decision to donate personal papers should ideally be made by the owner in consultation with their family and near and dearest. 2 You can seek advice from an archive to assess the historical value of the material and the best place for your collection. A repository should always provide a form/agreement for signature. 3 Take care with any selecting process. For example, don’t select just ‘interesting’ letters. What is interesting to one person may not be to another and vice-versa. Selection letter-by-letter can be dangerous and skew the record. It is better to keep a meaningful file of letters as it is in its original state. Organise letters by sender or keep the original order if already filed in an ordered way. Keep copies of outgoing letters together or with the incoming letters. Emails are replacing letters and should be considered and kept in digital format but can be weeded down if really minor, where possible, into folders. 4 Having said to take care with selecting there are some things which may not be wanted. You don’t need duplicates and generally items such as bank statements and invoices are not required.
5 Photographs need to be given a context. If you know location, date, the names of people and the event that should be recorded. If you must write on the back of photographs use a soft pencil but it is better to keep photographs with the information on a separate sheet. 6 If the personal collection includes records generated by the individual(s) through a role they had in active organisations/businesses – for example whether it’s a Club, Campaign Committee or working in a shop – then these should, where possible, be separated out into their own section within the personal collection. You might also consider the merit of returning them to the main archive of that organisation if appropriate. Details of deposited archives can be found on The National Archives Discovery website. 7 In general try and get all your material into a chronological sequence, from the earliest to the most recent. Archives will have collections policies which you might find useful. LMA’s policy can be found here www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma under About LMA. Click on ‘General guide to record types taken in by LMA’ to find out more and explore the site to find a list of LGBTQ collections. Q
Speak Out London: Diversity City At London Metropolitan Archives we are currently working on the Speak Out London LGBTQ community history project. We won’t be taking in individual items, but will be scanning contributors’ documents and photographs to create a digital archive relating to London based LGBTQ histories, 1945 to the present. If you are interested find out more through our blog: https://speakoutlondon.wordpress.com. If you want more information you can contact us by emailing: ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk or call 020 7332 3820 10
Opening Doors London (ODL) www.openingdoorslondon.org.uk
Don’t throw our histories away
More and more libraries and archiving projects around the country are guaranteeing that rich and diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans histories are not lost. Frankie Green describes a new initiative linking lesbian projects, and Ian Townson, who deposited his collection on Brixton with the HallCarpenter archive, explains its work. Both provide valuable links to other exciting archiving projects
Feminist Libraries and Archives Network
‘Taking ourselves seriously is to recognise and value a diverse heritage of our own making and to act to preserve it for future generations’, said Jalna Hanmer at Feminism in London’s 2014 conference. Oppressed groups need to know the stories of past struggles; it’s essential they’re not forgotten or erased. Archives are living tools for ongoing movements. Their usefulness is attested to by enthusiastic visitors, showing the importance of saving those old posters, tapes, badges and photos! This vital work of documenting our political movements’ histories saw exciting developments last year in a new project linking resources. FLA,
the Feminist Libraries and Archives network, begun by London’s Feminist Library and Nottingham Women’s Centre, includes the Feminist Archive, Feminist Library, Unfinished Histories, Women’s Liberation Music Archive, radical feminist journal Trouble & Strife, Sisterhood and After, and Glasgow Women’s Library (which houses the Lesbian Archive many will remember from London Women’s Centre). FLA hopes to liaise with other projects such as the Black Cultural Archive. FLA is holding regular knowledge-sharing events and creating a directory of archives, all of which contain information on feminist and lesbian campaigns and culture. If you’d like to know more about FLA and the various collections, or you have material you think should be archived visit one of the links below. Q
Hall-Carpenter Archive
The Hall-Carpenter archive, housed at the London School of Economics, is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to delve into LGBT history. Named after lesbian Radclyffe Hall whose 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness was famously pulped as obscene and Edward Carpenter, an early radical LGBT activist, it hosts records mostly dating from the early 1950s to the present. The collections include records and publications of gay organisations and individuals in the UK and worldwide, LGBT newspapers and magazines and ephemera relating to LGBT life and culture. To access the archive you will need prior free membership of the LSE library. For further help on how to access and use the archive contact the links below which also include information on the location of other LGBT resources.
Lesbian and Feminist Links feministlibrariesandarchives.wordpress.com womensliberationmusicarchive.co.uk
LGBT links
Hall-Carpenter Archive library.enquiries@lse.ac.uk Tel: 020 7955 7229
www.facebook.com/womensliberation.musicarchive
LAGNA (Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive) www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/sisterhood/about.html at the Bishopsgate Institute enquiry@lagna.org.uk Tel: 020 7392 9270 www.unfinishedhistories.com www.nottinghamwomenscentre.com www.troubleandstrife.org www.feministarchivenorth.org.uk www.feministarchivesouth.org.uk womenslibrary.org.uk feministlibrary.co.uk www.lesbianherstoryarchives.org
British Library Sound Archive listening@bl.uk Tel: 020 7412 7418 London Metropolitan Archives ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk Tel: 020 7332 3820 Museum of London for LGBT associated records and artefacts reaching back to ancient times. info@museumoflondon.org.uk Tel: 020 7001 9844 National Archives for many local LGBT records in UK towns and cities Tel: 020 8876 3444
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The Sixty-Seven Act This poem was written in 1967. It’s pertinent to remember how far, in some but not all countries, we have come in the last 50 years. It is not always appreciated how much we owe Roy Jenkins, one of the few Home Secretaries of recent years with truly liberal instincts. He pushed through the ‘67 Act in the face of disinterest and even opposition from his colleagues in the Labour Cabinet; Anthony Grey and he are the two largely unsung heroes of the time. Q Mike Harth
In olden days, to coin a phrase, we gays were cast off. Now we can blast off since the ‘67 Act. O Commons and Peers of this land, how grand your virtue! We know it hurt you to pass that Act. They all emote ‘the right to vote is democratic,’ But when they view the right to screw, they’re less emphatic. Still, let’s be just: we won’t get bust for lust in private. We must contrive it to suit the Act. If they’re not twenty-one, young men must still stay lonely. It’s Adults Only under the Act. A kiss from you in public view is too improper: We’d come a cropper even since the Act. The law did not affect one jot what we were doing. But since repeal it’s good to feel it’s legal screwing. For when we scored, the general horde did not applaud us. Now they’ve assured us they’ll keep the pact Made under the ‘67 Act.
Welcome to the new ODL staff members Following a competitive round of recruitment the ODL office staff are delighted to introduce Liam O’Driscoll as the Development Coordinator and Chryssy Hunter as the Volunteer Coordinator. We wish them both a very warm welcome from everyone at ODL. Liam: I’m Liam O’Driscoll and I joined the ODL team at the start of January. I’m delighted to be coming back to ODL having volunteered for the group a few years ago on an oral history project. Since then, I’ve been working as a coordinator in two very different organisations, an art gallery and an arts education charity. My interests outside of work include theatre and writing. I’ve been lucky enough to have a play performed and have written arts reviews and articles for a number of publications. I was born and raised in London and have lived here all my life apart from a few years in Glasgow at university. These days I live in Leyton with my partner Ben. So far at ODL I’ve been enjoying attending groups and meeting members who have been great at giving me a very warm welcome. If we haven’t met on one of these occasions then hopefully we’ll be able to say hi soon. 12
Chryssy: My name is Chryssy Hunter and I have recently been appointed Volunteer Coordinator for ODL. I have a background in LGBTQ activism and volunteering and I am also currently writing my thesis about constructions of identity in the Equality Act 2010. I have worked in many environments and some faraway places including the United Arab Emirates, Gadhafi-era Libya and Kim Jong-il era North Korea. But since 2010 I have been happily settled in London. My job at ODL will be to develop the volunteering system to give more opportunities for people who feel they have a contribution to make supporting the project in new and exciting as well as very functional ways. I’m really excited about this job. It is an opportunity for our LGBTQ communities to get involved with helping ourselves and each other. It’s a chance to overcome issues for isolated and vulnerable individuals in creative and compassionate ways and to facilitate social networks for the wider LGBTQ population. All suggestions are welcome. I look forward to meeting members and volunteers in the coming weeks and months. Q
Opening Doors London (ODL) www.openingdoorslondon.org.uk
News from the ODL office It’s that time of year again! The Annual Member Survey is about to arrive, please make the time to complete it, have your say about the services provided by ODL and let the funders know what we think. Stacey Halls and Tom Blackie bring us up to date.
evolve into a subsidiary charity – the application will be informed by feedback from consultation with members, staff, volunteers, trustees and wider stakeholders.
Annual Member Survey
However we have just received the amazing news that the Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust has awarded ODL a grant of £120,000 over two years to support us to deliver befriending and other services across south London. The grant will also help us to allocate more hours towards the management of the overall service. We extend thanks on behalf of all our members, staff and volunteers to Esmée Fairbairn and to our other highly valued main funders: the City Bridge Trust, the Big Lottery and the Trust for London. Despite this great news we still have a significant fundraising gap to fill over the next year and we welcome any fundraising ideas, useful contacts or direct donations to help us to keep ODL services going strong to support our older LGBT communities. If you’d like to share any ideas please contact tom.blackie@ageukcamden.org.uk or call 020 7239 0400. To donate please visit www. openingdoorslondon.org.uk If you can, please sign up to our Raise a Glass campaign – again, details are on the website. Q
We have sent out the Annual Member Survey for this year to all ODL members during March. It is the best way to gather feedback from the entire membership. We want to gather information on your experiences of the service as well as ideas for future groups, activities and campaigns work. This year the survey will include a consultation section on ODL becoming a subsidiary charity of Age UK Camden – we’ll explain what this means, why it is being considered and the implications this will have for the service. Please do take the time to complete the survey and participate in the future development of Opening Doors London.
Future funding
As you all know fundraising is a constant priority for ODL and remains a real challenge; our primary funding from the Big Lottery ends in September. We will be submitting a new application to secure the current service, expand into south London and potentially
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Good news
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Brighton Transformed Some times and places become special, and it is always worth recording them while they last
Brighton has for a long time been a good place to be lesbian or gay or bi – a couple of universities, a lot of good shops and restaurants, a quick train ride to London, the campest royal palace in the world. It was sort of logical and predictable that it would become one of the great UK centres for the growing trans* community – easy access to the gender clinics in London and some of the better private surgeons, a general atmosphere of tolerance which meant that people felt safe. And then three of the My Transexual Summer crowd settled there, and a couple of them were making films about trans life, and trans* people were being active on the local poetry scene, and suddenly people were talking about setting up the UK’s first Trans* Pride. Brighton Transformed is a book of personal statements and inspiring photographs which capture that moment. A diverse bunch of trans* people talk about their transitions, their pasts, their relationships with family and with past and present lovers. The book tackles, intelligently, the issues of racial diversity in the trans community as well as issues about street harassment and the need to feel safe. It’s particularly good on health care issues: it is no longer the case that trans people always feel silenced by gatekeeping doctors – the views expressed here are frank and without fear. It’s an impressive, charming cooperative effort. Q Roz Kaveney
Pets’ Corner Dora has three mummies – our dear friend Yve in one house, and us in another. After losing Dizzie, a circus dog, followed by Rocky who we rescued as a pup, Rita and I had agreed that my allergy to dog hair meant no more dogs. Then Yve came home with a tiny and perfect fluffy bundle, Yve, Jean, Dora and Rita and said we could share her. Dora is a Spanish water dog and great for someone with lung disease as she doesn’t shed hair, the most hypoallergenic dog you can get. Sharing works brilliantly; in a world filled with pressing time commitments and neglected pets, it’s a civilised and pleasurable way to engage together with a dog. Dora is quite literally adorable, a sweet but naughty teenager. We make up silly songs about her: “Snorkable Pooh Bear” to the tune of “Morning has broken” (don’t ask!) And besides cementing our friendship, we all enjoy flexibility, freedom and unending doggie-love. Q Jean Fraser
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Opening Doors London (ODL) www.openingdoorslondon.org.uk
Mind Yourself: for Irish people in London Cecily Maher tells us a bit about the group
Your ODL Quarterly The summer issue, Q10 – yes it is on the way – will be published in time for Pride in late June and will be: Looking After Mind and Body. All the things we can do to stay as healthy as possible and how we cope with what life throws at us as we get older. Write in and let us know what works (or not) for you. As you know space in Q is at a premium so keep contributions brief: anything from 50 - 250 words more or less - and yes, if you have a photo to share, send it too! Get in touch if you have queries, copy deadline: Monday 11 May, send to odl.quarterly@ageukcamden.org.uk or the address at Tavis House. This issue of ODLQ was put together by Adrian Johnson, Alison Read, Barbara, Fiona McGibbon, Jamie Reece, Mike Harth, Sue O’Sullivan and Tony Smith.
Mind Yourself was set up in 2012 because Irish people in London have poorer average health outcomes - higher suicide rates and cancer mortality, for example. To show that not all Irish people are white, Catholic and straight, in 2013 we set up a LGBT group, launched in the Irish Embassy – a first – that meets every month. We have taken part in the London Pride Parade, St Patrick’s Day Parade and LGBT History Month, and just launched an online exhibition for the 2015 LGBT History Month, at http://doortodoor.org.uk/lgbt-project. We are acutely aware of the challenges facing older community members. We believe reducing social isolation can have a positive impact on people’s physical and mental health. So we provide one to one health support in-house and in people’s homes, a carers group, wellbeing © All articles, cartoons and photographs are copyright group, music evening and film afternoon, plus of the author, artist and photographer. The views and health information sessions, taster sessions and opinions expressed in ODL Q Quarterly are those of the social meet ups such as our Share It Saturday. individual contributors and are not those of the editorial Last year 70% of people using our services felt group, Opening Doors London or AgeUK Camden. more connected in the community and less lonely. We welcome new members enthusiastically. Mind Yourself Tel: 020 7250 8100. Website: www.mind-yourself.co.uk
Opening Doors London Contact Details Opening Doors London (ODL), Age UK Camden Tavis House, 1–6 Tavistock Square London, WC1H 9NA Tel 020 7239 0400
Liam O’Driscoll Development Co-ordinator Tel 020 7239 0446 Email odl.men@ageukcamden.org.uk
Stacey Halls Project Manager LGBT Campaigns & Policy Officer Email stacey.halls@ageukcamden.org.uk
Kate Hancock Development Co-ordinator Tel 020 7239 0447 Email odl.women@ageukcamden.org.uk
Befriending Co-ordinators Tel 020 7239 0400 Email odl.befriending@ageukcamden.org.uk
ODL Quarterly Email odl.quarterly@ageukcamden.org.uk
To find out how to join ODL get in touch with Kate or Liam by email, post or phone
Q9 Spring 2015
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Memory Lane on the Big Screen Jamie visits Henderson Court for the Film Club and lunch
This monthly event is a social built around a film screening, where film fans meet, eat a lovely lunch and then watch a film. The group does not exist to reminisce about films of the past, but its context means that favourite movies are often discussed. And, of course, as the audience is mostly gay, the reflection of gayness in film is easily broached. I spoke to two members about recent release Pride, the story of a group of LGBT campaigners supporting the miners’ strike in the 80s. While general consensus was it was a fine piece of filmmaking, to them, it felt rather sexless and neutered. For a more authentic gay experience members mentioned the proudly out character Daniel Day Lewis plays in My Beautiful Laundrette and Prick Up Your Ears, the biopic about gay dramatist Joe Orton starring Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina.
Watching Lianna
Films have been instrumental in not just reflecting gay identity but forming it. One of the members mentioned that in the classic Golden Age of Hollywood musicals there was often a camp man whose asexual banter and quips were encouraged. While he was never ‘outed’ in any way, his presence alone was a tip of the (top) hat to a queer sensibility. Or, to paraphrase Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby, he just came over gay all of a sudden. We also discussed how popular culture and film in particular can have a wide-reaching effect on society as a whole. Think about how Brokeback Mountain and its zeitgeist-hitting success will have been the first portrayal of a gay love story for many cinema-goers. Films can sometimes lead to greater understanding amongst a wider audience. Talking to one of the film fans at Henderson Court, he also mentioned the Dirk Bogarde-starring Victim. The 1961 film, which humanised the social persecution of a gay man, was not only the first English language film to use the word ‘homosexual’ but was widely credited with liberalising attitudes to gayness ahead of the 1967 Act. If you’d like to attend Henderson Court, watch a film and talk about your memory lane movies, the Sunday Lunch & Film Club is on the last Sunday of every month. Check the Monthly Listings or contact Chryssy at ODL for more details. Q
Women’s Film night on a cold January evening brought back memories for ODL member Pat Dungey
Seeing Lianna for the first time since it was made in 1983, as my coming out film, I felt I had come full circle, on a long journey. I was like Lianna then, sad but hopeful… Our community has come a long way since 1983, yet some responses to the film remain unchanged. The room was full of women, like me, recalling their coming out and the impact the film had on them. Dated in places it may have been, but the coming to terms with lesbianism of Lianna, her children, her friends, the scenes in the lesbian bar, her loneliness living in her drab bedsit and the heart wrenching pain of losing her new lover, moved us all. Yet equally, so did her sheer joy at the discovery of lesbian love. Thank you ODL for the chance of seeing it all again. Q 16
Opening Doors London (ODL) www.openingdoorslondon.org.uk