In partnership with the fantastic Bishopsgate Institute we are excited to announce the following tours (get in touch with Stefan.Dickers@bishopsgate.org.uk to deposit your queer archives!)
Tours of Earl’s Court Saturday 15 June 6pm – Book here ASAP. Very limited spaces. Meeting point –The Coleherne Arms, 271 Old Brompton Rd, Kensington, London SW5 9JA
Tour guides – Andrew Lumsden and Stuart Feather
Queer Tours of London launched in 2017 for the 50th anniversary of partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in Britain. The tours exist to shine a light on London’s rich LGBTQ+ history through interactive tours, artistic interventions, protests and informative events. On this tour you will take in some of the sites of Earls Court. You will hear stories of how queers fought against the police in the 1970’s to keep their leather bar, the Coleherne, open. We will visit Brompton cemetery, where two male lovers of long ago quietly arranged to be buried together, and nobody noticed. Finally, we will take a stroll down Wharfedale Street to the location of a now famous photo from the 1980sof a pretty policeman tempting gay men.
Tour of Brixton, South London Thursday 04 July 6-8pm £11.00 to £14.00 Book here ASAP very limited spaces!
Meeting point: Windrush Square, Brixton.
Tour guide – Kevin Wilson and Ted Brown
Explore Brixton’s radical black queer history with members of the original Gay Liberation Front, alongside a newer generation of black LGBTQIA+ activists.
Learn about the pioneering movements which sprung from The South London Gay Liberation who were actively engaged in protests and pickets across London such as the South London Squatter movement.
Also the Gay Black Group and the Claimant’s Union who picketed shops that refused to sell the newspaper Gay News, campaigned in solidarity with black, lesbian and women’s groups and catalysed the Anti-Nazi League march for the Rock Against Fascism festival in Brockwell Park.
Learn from London’s historic revolutionary activists such as Olive Morris, and delve into movements that have confronted homophobia, racism and sexism through counterculture zines such as Blackout, black queer squatting movements, club nights, healthcare struggles and how this can inform the ongoing struggle for absolute freedom today. See the phenomental ‘Rukus! Archive’ for more in the meantime!