Category: What’s On

All the latest tours and events – with booking details within – are below – get your mincing boots on! Any questions please email queertoursoflondon@gmail.com

By Dan Glass

‘Killer Queens’ Gathering – 07.09.19 – to celebrate Freddie Mercury

For Immediate Release

THE ‘KILLER QUEENS’ GATHERING TO CELEBRATE FREDDIE MERCURY’S FLAMBOYANCE, TALENT & HIV/AIDS FUNDRAISING LEGACY!
Saturday Sept 7th, 2019
2pm – 11pm
Assemble at Jack Straws castle and follow the signs to a secret location in the woods.

In 1991, at 45 years old, we lost Freddie Mercury to AIDS. How he lived his final days became inspirational for people living with HIV/AIDS today. In his studio in Montreux on Lake Geneva, six months before his death, he knocked back a vodka and recorded the electrifying vocal for ‘The Show Must Go On’. Right until the end he didn’t let the disease define him.

Publicly announcing he had AIDS in 1991 emboldened people to take action against HIV/AIDS at a time when it was shrouded in silence and stigma. This can be seen in part by the fundraising legacy after his death which was led by people who loved him. After a hugely successful tribute concert at Wembley stadium in 1992 to raise awareness of the disease, broadcasted to a billion viewers around the world, the band used profits to launch The Mercury Phoenix Trust. In the last 21 years, this AIDS charity organisation has raised over 15 million dollars and funded 700 projects worldwide in the battle against HIV/AIDS in Freddie’s name.

Increased testing and rapid access to effective antiretroviral therapy (undetectable = untransmittable) along with PrEP has meant that new HIV diagnoses in the UK are finally on the decline. Despite this amazing progress it seems we are going backwards with 25% being slashed from our sexual health service budgets even though there has been a 5% rise in STI’s from 2017 to 2018.

Deborah Gold, Chief Executive of NAT (National AIDS Trust), says:

“We have high quality and dedicated sexual health services across the country. But year-on-year cuts to sexual health budgets are pushing these services to breaking point. Services cannot keep up with need or demand and sexual health inequalities are deepening. This shocking 26% increase in gonorrhoea diagnoses must be a wake-up call to Government. Reverse the cuts to public health and increase substantially the funds available to sexual health clinics. That is the only way to get on top of these serious infections.”

“We are finally starting to win the war against HIV after all these years! Having an STD increases your chances of contracting the virus so the closure of clinics and subsequent longer waiting times could have disastrous consequences”
Alex Jupiter – organiser

“Queen was the soundtrack of my childhood. Freddie died when I was twelve, it was the first time I heard of AIDS and HIV. “I’ve been living with HIV for the past decade thanks to medication that came too late to save Freddie and the millions of people who died because of AIDS. There’s a drug called PrEP which stops people from catching HIV but the NHS rations it so not everyone who needs it can get it. It’s disgraceful that the NHS denies people this opportunity that neither I nor Freddie had” Hywel ap Dafydd, ACT UP LONDON

‘In a time of continuing homophobia, stigma, silence, isolation and the sell-off of health and wellbeing services it’s so important to promote queer visibility and leadership of those living with HIV and AIDS – including this hugely important biography of our icon Freddie Mercury.” dan glass, ACT UP LONDON, Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time

Regarded as one of the greatest lead singers in the history of rock music, Freddie Mercury had 4 extra teeth and a 4 octave vocal range. It was well documented that this icon of rock had relationships with both men and women. At one point he claimed to be bisexual but then proudly told the New Musical Express in 1974, “I’m as gay as a daffodil, my dear”.

Whatever he was, it’s undeniable that Mercury’s role in bringing ‘queerness’ into the public eye has played a major part in helping people become more accepting of those of a different sexuality. He was delightfully camp, dramatic and a fearless on-stage cross dresser. He once even helped smuggle Princess Diana into the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in drag so she could have a proper wild night out!

He also LOVED ludicrous parties so we’re throwing a right banger in his memory that’s fit for a Killer Queen. Join us to pay tribute to this legendary performer, to make some noise about the cuts to our sexual health services, to remember those lost to HIV over the years and to furiously dance in the woods for them. Let’s break free and create a kind of magic!

If you want to strut your stuff and perform/ if you’re press / if you want to publicly announce anything on the day or get involved in any other way please email alexjameshall@yahoo.co.uk

EVERYONE WELCOME!!!!!!!!

Main contact

Alex Jupiter –alexjameshall@yahoo.co.uk // 07413 426018

In assocation with ‘Queer Tours of London’ and ‘Act Up London’

https://www.nat.org.uk/press-release/increases-sti-diagnoses-show-more-funding-sexual-health-services-urgently-needed

By Dan Glass

For immediate release 12.08.19 – ‘Stand up to LGBT+ Hate Crime’: Kiss-In and Vigil

For immediate release 12 August 2019

From QUEER POWER and LGBT Against Islamophobia

WHAT – ‘Stand up to LGBT+ Hate Crime’: Kiss-In and Vigil

Speakers include:
Ashley Joiner – director of ‘Are You Proud?’
Sophie Robbins, trans activist
Ejel Khan, co-ordinator, Muslim LGBT Network
Jaroslaw Kubiak, Polish Rainbow in the UK, Polish LGBT Network
Michael Dance, National Education Union LGBT+ National Organising Forum Officer (personal capacity)
Sean Dewey, organising committee, Waltham Forest Pride
Nicola Field, founder member, LGBT Against Islamophobia
Dan Glass, Queer Power
Speaker from Stand Up To Racism (TBC)

WHEN – Friday 16th August 2019 5.30-7PM

WHERE – Parliament Square, London

WHY –
There has been a nearly 150% increase in anti-LGBT hate crime in the UK between 2014 and 2018. Reports have been growing of LGBT-phobic attacks all over the UK, including London. Two thirds of LGBT+ people are wary of showing affection to their same-sex partners in public. Protests against diversity in education have been seen outside schools in Birmingham, and this is spreading.

These attacks are legitimised by the attitudes and actions of mainstream politicians.
We have an unelected prime minister who calls gay men bum-boys and appoints a cabinet full of homophobes and racists. Boris Johnson is not a lone bigot leading a nation. Trump’s first action as US president was to ban trans people from the military. Bolsonaro’s thugs murder LGBT people in Brazil as he declares he would rather have a dead son than a gay son. Putin’s death camps for LGBT people are an international horror. Italy, Hungary, Turkey and Poland are also seeing rising state and street attacks on LGBT people.

Here in the UK, the divisions are being stoked up as Nazi Tommy Robinson attempts to create a new far right street movement. The dangers of this cannot be underestimated. We saw where this leads on April 30 1999 when Nazi David Copeland nailbombed the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho, killing 3 people and wounding 70, some of whom lost eyes and limbs.

It is 50 years since the Stonewall Uprising and the birth of the Gay Liberation Front. Our movement was born out of rage and riots. We will not be driven back into the closet. We will meet all attacks with resistance and protest.
This Kiss-In and Vigil on Friday 16 August will be the first of our mobilisations, the next will be a larger protest on September 13, so save that date too.
Facebook Event for August 16: https://www.facebook.com/events/2382893845316069/

contact:
Dan Glass 07717811747 (Queer Power) /queertoursoflondon@gmail.com)
Nicola Field 07790330142 nicolafield68@yahoo.co.uk (LGBT+ Against Islamophobia)
Ejel Khan (Muslim LGBT Network) Mobile: 07789361168 Email: ejelkhan@hotmail.co.uk

TESTIMONIALS
I have experienced homophobic hate crime and attacks many times. The first time, 25 years ago, put me in hospital with knife wounds. But being a victim of homophobic crime spurred me on to a life in LGBT+ activism. With the current spike in homophobic attacks nationwide, this is a pressing issue that urgently requires redressing. Historically, the LGBT+ community suffered in silence. No longer. We endeavour to make our voices heard – loud and clear. Please stand in solidarity with us in condemnation of all manifestations of hate. Thank you.
Ejel Khan, co-ordinator, Muslim LGBT Network

By Dan Glass

17.06.19. For Immediate Release – Gay Liberation Front (GLF) recreate first Pride in London

17.06.19. For Immediate Release – Gay Liberation Front (GLF) recreate first Pride in London

On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprisings that led to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front that gave birth to the modern Pride movement – veterans of the first Pride in London aswell as a new generation of Gay Liberation Front activists re-recreate the first Pride in London demonstration to announce their new demands.

Ted Brown – original and still present GLF activist says

‘We are taking to Trafalgar Square to remember and reinvigorate the fires that fought back against centuries of oppression and seemingly overwhelming odds. We gather to remember and acknowledge those who had their rights stripped from them in the past and to ensure that doesn’t happen to generations now and in the future.’ Ted Brown

Andrew Lumsden – original and still present GLF activist says

‘Hello all today’s protestors and revellers. It’s fifty years since the Stonewall Uprising and next year it will be fifty years since the Gay Liberation Front reached London. How time flies! – forty-seven years since the under-21s of the Gay Liberation Front organised London’s first Pride March. We are a few activists from the Gay Liberation Front, the first wave of out activism. We who were there have written ‘Rainbow Planet’ – A Souvenir Brochure for Pride 2019 – and on June 17th we invite you to come join us to launch it on the very place we had our first demonstration. In our culture we invert the pink triangle to honour the memory of all those who died in the gas chambers of the Nazis and concentration camps of the Stalinists.’

Stuart Feather – original and still present GLF activist says

‘We were part of the first openly public demonstration by homosexuals in this country and present on the first Gay Pride March. Others are millennials, activists from Act Up who celebrated the achievements of GLF in 2015 and we all came together in 2016 to prepare and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in 2017. We are now preparing to celebrate this year’s 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and the foundation of the Gay Liberation Front in New York, the origin of the fight back that inspired and brought hope to LGBTQI+ of every country in the world. Gay Liberation will always be a socialist movement by virtue of its demand for social change.’

Nettie Pollard – original and still present GLF activist says

‘2020 brings the 50th anniversary of the start of Gay Liberation in London, the moment everything changed in Britain by giving us Coming Out, Gay Pride and the first Gay Pride March in 1972, making 2022 the 50th anniversary of that political demonstration and celebration. GLF stands for liberation: the choice is always there – liberation or slavery. Join us to recreate the spirit of the Gay Liberation Front 1970 and Pride March of 1972 and build strength in community to re-politicise what we started and fight for our demands. Feel the zeitgeist of the years that changed the world for LGBT people … and for everyone else! We did what we did to rescue ourselves, but we always thought of you as well – you who would come out after us, and will come out until the world ends.’

We are nearing the 50th anniversary of the founding of Gay Liberation Front and urge

A NEW AGREEMENT ABOUT PRIDE EVENTS FOR A NEW WORLD AGE

1. Pride is free – Pride organisers who want ticketed events must arrange free Pride marches as well. No one should be denied entry to Pride because they don’t have enough money.
2. Pride is always a protest as well as a celebration. We’ve a whole world yet to change and we’ve hardly begun.
3. LGBT+ community groups actively engaged in grassroots LGBTQIA+ empowerment programmes, or key allies such as the miners in the 1980s, always to head Pride Marches.
4. Arms dealers and other corporations who trade with nations in violation of the U.N. International Charter on Human Rights are never again to be allowed to sponsor or have floats at Pride Marches. Individual LGBT employees of such corporations are welcome as always, but not marching in groups in corporate logos.
5. The target is to be vehicle-free: no diesel-powered vehicles unless for mobility or safety reasons
6. Full accessibility and reminders to LGBT-friendly venues near the March that full accessibility is the target.
7. Gay Liberation Front (GLF) to lead Pride in London in 2020.

Further Testimonials

‘Homophobic and transphobic hate crimes doubling in the past five years; parents protesting against children being taught simply that LGBTQ+ people exist; a children’s charity sacking a trans activist as an LGBTQ campaigner: 50 years after Stonewall, these are simply some of the compelling reasons that prove why queer people re-discover the revolutionary vision of the GLF and take creative political action for a radically new society.’ Martin Moriarty

‘Today we acknowledge and appreciate those who fought for our freedoms. Those who risked abuse and humiliation, risked losing their jobs, their relationships with friends and family, their homes and their physical safety so that all varieties of people can now stand as proud as they were, thanks to them, legally protected in our jobs and our homes, largely respected and understood by our friends and family and helped rather than harassed by the police as we stand past and present, hand in hand, proudly continuing the fight for liberation for all.’ Russell Christie
“I stand in power with the original loving force of the GLF and their collective fire that ignited the protest that was the first Gay Pride march. In these dark days, where once again intolerance, hate, homophobia, racism, transphobia and violence darken our collective rainbow worldwide, we stand in solidarity to show we are here and will stand up for our rights and the rights of our LGBTQIA+ siblings across the globe.” Rebeckah Turbett

Contacts

gayliberationfrontuk@gmail.com /
Dan glass – 07717811747

Notes to Editors

Where – Trafalgar Square Lions, Charing Cross, London WC2N 5DN, UK
When – Monday, June 17, 2019 at 5 PM – 7 PM / All details at www.queertoursoflondon.com
Dresscode – whatever makes you feel liberated
Everyone who lives and acts in the spirit of the demands below are welcome – the more the merrier!

By Dan Glass

Come and (re)make history! Gay Liberation Front (GLF) recreate first Pride in London

Come and (re)make history! Gay Liberation Front (GLF) recreate first Pride in London

Where – Trafalgar Square Lions, Charing Cross, London WC2N 5DN, UK

When – Monday, June 17, 2019 at 5 PM – 7 PM / Facebook event page here

Dresscode – whatever makes you feel liberated Press / Enquiries – gayliberationfrontuk@gmail.com
Everyone who lives and acts in the spirit of the demands below are welcome – the more the merrier!

Beforehand please come and help re-create the original banners on Saturday 15th June 6-9pm at London Action Resource Centre (LARC), 62 Fieldgate Street, Shadwell, London, E1 1ES – Facebook event page here

An Invite from the Gay Liberation Front 

Hello all today’s protestors and revellers.

It’s fifty years since the Stonewall Uprising and next year it will be fifty years since the Gay Liberation Front reached London. How time flies! – forty-seven years since the under-21s of the Gay Liberation Front organised London’s first Pride March.

We are a few activists from the Gay Liberation Front, the first wave of out activism. We who were there have written ‘Rainbow Planet’ – A Souvenir Brochure for Pride 2019 – and on June 17th we invite you to come join us to launch it on the very place we had our first demonstration.

In our culture we invert the pink triangle to honour the memory of all those who died in the gas chambers of the Nazis and the Stalinists. We were part of the first openly public demonstration by homosexuals in this country and present on the first Gay Pride March. Others are millennials, activists from Act Up who celebrated the achievements of GLF in 2015 and we all came together in 2016 to prepare and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in 2017. We are now preparing to celebrate next year’s 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and the foundation of the Gay Liberation Front in New York, the origin of the fight back that inspired and brought hope to LGBTQI+ of every country in the world. Gay Liberation will always be a socialist movement by virtue of its demand for social change.

2020 brings the 50th anniversary of the start of Gay Liberation in London, the moment everything changed in Britain by giving us Coming Out, Gay Pride and the first Gay Pride March in 1972, making 2022 the 50th anniversary of that political demonstration and celebration.

GLF stands for liberation: the choice is always there – liberation or slavery.

Join us to recreate the spirit of the Gay Liberation Front 1970 and Pride March of 1972 and build strength in community to re-politicise what we started and fight for our demands. Feel the zeitgeist of the years that changed the world for LGBT people … and for everyone else!

We did what we did to rescue ourselves, but we always thought of you as well – you who would come out after us, and will come out until the world ends.

Our demands for the 2020 50th anniversary of pride that we started are loud and clear – here they are.

1. Pride should be free for all – no one should be denied entry to Pride because they don’t earn enough
2. Overturn the 2004 PiL stipulation that Pride is no longer a protest but a parade. Pride has and always should be an uprising until 3. GLF’s original aim of ‘Absolute freedom for all’ is met.
4. LGBT+ justice community groups actively engaged in grassroots LGBTQIA+ empowerment programmes at the front of the demonstration and corporations at the back.
5. No arms dealers or irresponsible sponsors which violate the U.N. International Charter on Human Rights.
6. Fully accessible for all.
7. Gay Liberation Front (GLF) should lead the production of Pride in London 2020.
8. No limits on numbers attending and no wristbands.
9. No police presence.
10. No diesel powered vehicles.

The Gay Liberation Front

We believe
That apathy and fear are the
Barriers that imprison people
From an incalculable landscape
Of self awareness
That they are the elements of
Truth
That every person has the right
To develop and extend their
Character and explore their
Sexuality through relationships
With any other human being,
Without moral, social or political
Pressure.
That no relationship formed
By such pressure, or not freely
Entered into, can be valid,
Creative or rewarding.
To you, the others, we say
We are not against you, but
The prejudice that warps your
Life, and ours
It is not love that distorts,
But hate.
On your behalf, and ours,
We demand:
The same right to public
Expressions of love and
Affection as society grants
To expressions of hate and scorn.
The right to believe, without
Harm to others, in public and
Private, in any way we choose,

In any manner or style, with
Any words and gestures, to wear
Whatever clothes we like or to
Go naked, to draw or write or
Read or publish any material or
Information we wish, at any
Time and in any place.
An end to the sexual propaganda
That disturbs the innocence of
Children, conditions their image
Of human relationships and implants
Guilt and nurturers shame for any
Sexual feelings outside an
Artificial polarity.
An end to the centuries of
Oppression and prejudice that have
Driven homosexuals from their
Homes, families and employment, have
forced them to cynicism,
Subterfuge and self-hatred and
have led them, so often, to
Imprisonment or to death.
In the name of the tens of
Thousands who wore the badge of
Homosexuality in the gas chambers
And concentration camps, who
Have no children to remember, and
Whom your histories forget.
We DEMAND honour, identity and
Liberation.

John Chesterman for GLF 1970

Read more here – ‘BLOWING THE LID: Gay Liberation, Sexual Revolution and Radical Queens’ by Stuart Feather. Stuart Feather co-founded GLF Street Theatre; was a member of the radical queens’ commune, the Bethnal Rouge commune and bookshop, and later a founding member of Bette Bourne’s gay theatre troupe Bloolips. Since hanging up his tap shoes he has been painting. His first exhibition at the Drill Hall in 1995 received critical acclaim from Emmanuel Cooper.

 

By Dan Glass

01.06.19 – OUTSIDE – This Is My Culture 3 – Back by Popular Demand!

‘Any right minded person would find this disgusting’

‘They shouldn’t be allowed out in public’

‘This Is My Culture 3!’ – Back by Popular Demand! June 1st noon at a Venue – Hampstead Heath Fuck Tree. Go to the Hampstead Heaths woods (nearest meeting point is ‘jack straws castle’) and follow the flags, music mincers. Spread the word. Bring suncream it’s gonna be CLUB TROPICANA! Spread the news. Share the Love, THIS IS MY CULTURE CREW! X

Done with the sofa, done with the hall? Done with societal limitations on our sexual freedom? On 7th April 1998 in a Beverly Hills public toilet, so was George Michael. Last year ‘THIS IS MY CULTURE’ event, which celebrated George in his favourite Hampstead Heath bushes, was such a success we are bringing it back! 2019 is the 20th anniversary of his song ‘Outside’ – so let’s do him proud!

OUTSIDE – THIS IS OUR CULTURE event is to celebrate the life, courage and dignity of a great artist and LGBTQI+ icon by marking the anniversary of the day George Michael was ensnared by a ‘pretty’ policeman in an LA toilet and subsequently arrested for indecency. Join us to pay tribute to LGBTQI+ sexual freedom, enjoy performances and George’s music wafting through the trees.

If you want to strut your stuff and perform on the day / are press or want to get involved in any way please email ecoqueeruk@gmail.com ASAP. Please spread the word to all those you think will appreciate.

See the fun from last year –

April 2017 – Huffington Post – George Michael’s Life Celebrated In One Of His Cruising Spots

Urban Pictures – Cheeky George Michael Celebration in London for gay fans

Ham and High – PICTURES: ‘cheeky’ party for George Michael on Hampstead Heath

I.D. Magazine celebrating george michael and the history of cruising

VICE – ‘A True Queer Life’: Photos from an LGBTQ Dance Party to RememberGeorge Michael–

I.D. Magazine – celebrating george michael and the history of cruising

WHAT

We are inviting you to help to recreate the spirit of that event. It will a celebration “somewhere Outside” but also a declaration of our rights to express our sexuality out in nature as George did. This will form part of a campaign to reclaim our “Sacred Groves” which you are welcome to join even if you cannot make this specific date.

This will be our 3rd year in this series. Our first was soon after George Michael’s death to celebrate what would have been his next birthday. Previously, he had responded to his arrest by saying “This is my culture” – which we have taken as our slogan here. The second, last year 2018, was to counter the fuss over “that” royal wedding with the “Real Qweens’ Wedding”.

WHERE

Somewhere over the rainbow – To be announced on the morning of June 1st

WHY

The purpose of ‘This IS My Culture’ queer free party are –

  • To be unashamed about the culture of cruising and sex in leafy spaces, such as those that George Michael and other Londoners frequent.
  • To build a sense of supportive community by celebrating openly with each other in a similar way as any of the public may, without needing to seek approval from authorities to do this.
  • To acknowledge the growth of the eco-sexual movement and to celebrate its practices.
  • To gain momentum for these cultures to be recognized as having a right to exist and be celebrated without legal, moral and petty harassment.
  • In addition, many among us also seek a more spiritual objective:- Since ancient times these lands have had “Sacred Groves” where nature-based spirituality has been practiced. We wish to see these set up as revered places again, our natural temples wherein to celebrate our culture. These deserve and have a right to legal recognition and protection.

WHO


The previous events have involved a broad coalition of different activists, many of whom initially came together via Sexual Avengers, who now continue as a very loose network these days. For #3 we are looking to work with people from Act Up London, from the Radical Faeries of Albion, the Queerseum project, the revived think-ins of London GLF, various queer pagans, Queer Love Rites and Queer Tours of London – And maybe your own organisation too!

We are organizing this one via Eco-Queer UK – ecoqueeruk@gmail.com because the theme this time is focusing more on the rights of eco-sexuals to secure places in nature that are respected for these purposes – as well as enjoining the diverse communities of those who practice cottaging and cruising to affirm their pride in their culture. We welcome allies and other individuals who support our aims and recognize the values of these causes. We also need more people with some specific skills and resources.Please ask newly interested parties to send an email to the above address so that we have contact details available.

Contact ecoqueeruk@gmail.com / queertoursoflondon@gmail.com


HOW

The main focus will be to stage playful re-creations of the shooting of George Michael’s video for the song “Let’s Go Outside”. The first week of June is an anniversary of this.We aim to have many folk filming – we invite all participants to use their phones (with consent) or whatever equipment they have. Professional film-makers and videographers are being lined up to make a document of this. Performers and directors are invited to create their very own scenarios which may or may not involve audience participation and play.

Creativity in costume, elaboration and antics is up to everyone present !Vox pop interviews will happen – open to all to join in if desired.We invite drummers and acoustic musicians, poets and dreamers, cruisers and cottagers, drama queens and dowdy types, ritual makers and raspberry blowers, tree-huggers and free-lovers – from a diverse range of genders, sexualities and cultures.We also invite conscious contributions from allies in the Extinction Rebellion, Climate Change activists and ecologists. We protect what we love!

This is going to be another good one !yours in nature,

Miqx – On behalf of “This is My Culture”

By Dan Glass

Book here for Earls Court and BrixtonQueer Tours!

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

Picture – Colherene 

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!

Picture – Rukus! – South London Gay community Centre pic 

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!

By Dan Glass

25.04.19 – Book for Vigil and Tour: Justice for Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Tonoy

WHAT –

Join us for a tour on April 25th 2019 at 3pm that marches across London’s key embassies which maintain homophobic legislation with speeches and creative civil disobedience by activists who have fled homophobic persecution.Booking details here  and Facebook event page here – all press requests to mipintu80@gmail.com

This will be followed by a vigil outside the Bangladeshi High Commission at 6pm at the Bangladesh High Commission in London, 28 Queens Gate, SW7 5JA South Kensington – – facebook event page here

WHY –

It has been three years since Xulhaz Mannan, the publisher and co-founder of Bangladesh’s first LGBTQ magazine Roopbaan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, another LGBTQ activist, were brutally murdered by religious extremists in Dhaka. However, the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), the local investigation lead, has failed to submit the investigation report and missed 34 deadlines till April, 2019. Although the police has arrested two suspects, and one of the main killers but they are yet to arrest others murderers despite clear CCTV footages and other evidences. On the contrary, it is with grave concern that we have seen increased crackdown on LGBTQ community in Bangladesh by law enforcers.

In May 2017, 28 gay and bisexual men were arrested by Rapid Action Battalion, who later exposed them in front of the media. This has put the young men’s lives in great danger. Moreover, violence against the LGBTQ community is part of an ongoing larger crisis in Bangladesh. We Bangladeshi London based LGBT community are inviting you to join us to this Vigil: Justice for Xuhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy.J


Mazharul Islam, LGBTQ activist from Bangladesh said: Three years have been passed since Xulhaz Mannan, the publisher and co-founder of Roopban and another LGBTQ activist were brutally murdered by religious activist in Bangladesh which is one of the commonwealth countries where homosexuality is a crime and the punishment is lifetime imprisonment under the section 377 penal code. As a LGBTQ activist from Bangladesh I want justice for my friends Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy and also want commonwealth leaders to take necessary steps to abolish the law against homosexuality among all the commonwealth countries including Bangladesh to give us the freedom to live in our own countries as any other normal citizen.

WHO –
Everyone interested in learning about and building an international movement of QUEER LOVE AND COMMUNITY is very welcome.


Kat Kai Kol-Kes, ARTivist from Botswana said: ‘The laws in the Commonwealth states speak in languages inscribed on LGBT+ bodies as bleeding scars. The time has come for states to see these scars and for the cause of the Commonwealth to take responsibility for enabling the recovery process.’

The tour exists to celebrate and support the next generation of artists, activists and change-makers dedicated to ending homophobia, transphobia and all forms of oppression agitating for a global movement of creative activism to decriminalise homosexuality everywhere and provide true freedom for all.


The vigil and tour guide is Mazharul Islam – Attitude Pride Award Winner 2018 – one of the pioneer LGBT activists from Bangladesh who fled from his country immediately after the killing two of LGBT activists friends.
The tour will give you a brief idea of Bangladeshi LGBT movements; How these movements started; what is the current situation of Bangladeshi LGBT movements, what is the future of Bangladeshi LGBT movements; how the Roopbaan Magazine was published; how the murder of Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy took place in Bangladesh and what we here in London can do to support the Bangaldeshi queer community here and abroad.

Amnesty International – Take action for Human Rights – ‘Hacked to death for defending LGBTIQ Rights’ – send a letter of support to Xulhaz’ family – click here –  Tell Bangladesh to bring Xulhaz’s killers to justice.


‘QUEER TOURS OF LONDON – A Mince Through Time’ exist to shine a light on London’s rich LGBTQI history through creative and life-affirming interactive tours – www.queertoursoflondon.com / @ queertoursoflondon@gmail.com

https://www.outsavvy.com/event/2175/vigil-and-tour-justice-for-xulhaz-mannan-and-mahbu-rabbi-tonoy-tickets

Tell Bangladesh to bring Xulhaz’s killers to justice.‘QUEER TOURS OF LONDON – A Mince Through Time’ exist to shine a light on London’s rich LGBTQI history through creative and life-affirming interactive tours – www.queertoursoflondon.com / @ queertoursoflondon@gmail.com

By Dan Glass

1-4th May – SARAH SCHULMAN in London Town! – Four days of coalition politics and queer liberty

Queer Tours of London in association with London Artists Projects welcomes ‘SARAH SCHULMAN – ‘A witness to her times’ – Edmund White, New York Times – Four days of coalition politics and queer liberty

Where – 1st May @ RICH MIX / 2nd May @ SOAS / 3rd and 4th May @ ICA
1
Sarah Schulman is joined by Dan Glass and Travis Alabanza in a 4-day London event reflecting on the challenges and opportunities for coalition politics and queer liberty. Over four days the event will explore how to harness the power of coalition politics and queer liberty, what makes them work, and what can be learned from their history to propel change in the present.

In this global cataclysm of white supremacy, patriarchy and occupation we need active political movements and coalitions that are effective and that allow us to energize each other in support and difference. ACT UP London, London Artists Projects and Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time has invited Sarah Schulman for a week of debate, investigation, and envisioning at Rich Mix, SOAS and ICA.

ABOUT SARAH SCHULMAN

Sarah Schulman is a novelist, nonfiction writer, playwright, screenwriter and AIDS historian.  For more than three decades, her work as a novelist, nonfiction writer, playwright, screenwriter and AIDS historian is devoted to social change and to the making of more liveable-socially, economically, politically-lives. Her most famous works include The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination and Israel/Palestine and the Queer International, both of which foreground the relevance of gender/sexual politics in understanding, and challenging, violent socio-political systems; the former through a history of AIDS and gentrification in New York; the latter through an exploration of the role of ‘pinkwashing’ and ‘homonationalism’ in the continued occupation of Palestinian Territories.

Sarah is and has always been a passionate activist and campaigner and is a member of the international direct action group ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power); founder of The ACT UP Oral History Project (www.actuporalhistory,org); co-founder of the Lesbian Avengers; and co-founder of MIX: NYC Experimental Film Festival, now in its 31st year. She is on the Advisory Board of Jewish Voice for Peace and is active in Palestine Solidarity.  

Sarah has published 20 books and her current project: Let The Record Show: A Political History of Act Up will be published in 2020.  Sarah’s novels range from literary to experimental, futuristic, historical and the recent return to lesbian detective pulp Maggie Terry.  Her current stage project is a collaboration with Marianne Faithfull, The Snow Queen, which will premiere at the Manchester Factory in 2022.


PROGRAMME OUTLINE

1st May – Rich Mix – Queer Liberty – Opening night party – United in Anger: A History of ACT-UP – facebook event page here

Screening and post-film discussion/Q&A with Sarah Schulman, Dan Glass and more, party and DJ’s.

Tickets from £7 – Event details – ticket link here

Sarah screens her seminal film United in Anger: A History of ACT-UP followed by Q&A with Sarah, Dan Glass of Queer Tours of London, and special guests.   The film combines startling archival footage that puts you on the ground with the activists and remarkably insightful interviews from the ACT UP Oral History Project to explore ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) from a grassroots perspective and how a small group of men and women of all races, sexualities and classes, came together to change the world and save each other’s lives.

“United in Anger: A History of ACT UP delivers a living tribute to a movement spawned by death and despair” New York Times

Doors 6:30pm / Film 730pm-9pm / Q&A 915-10pm / Party until 11pm


LeaSuwanna is a board member of CAFPH (Centre for All Positive Health), UKCAB Steering Group Member, PrEPster & Treating Me Right Ambassador. She is also a patient representative at Royal College of Physicians, Newham CCG, Sir Ludwig Guttmann Centre Patient Forum and GP Patient rep & HIV CRG sub group. She volunteers as Peer 100 Mentor at Positively UK, Testing & Prevention at Positive East and Maternity Mentor at Maternity Mates, and is part of ACT UP London Women, HIV Voices, Her Story, Changing Perceptions and Women for Social Change programme.

Alongside these feats, LeaSuwanna is studying to be a Midwife. She has been living openly with HIV for 16 years, and will be for many more to come! She is the mother of two wonderful children and has a HIV negative partner. She is #gatecrashing to get our voices heard and her heels through the door!

Miqx has been a queer activist since Gay Liberation Front in 70’s East London, was on London Pride committee in 1980 and that same year also became involved with Radical Faeries in the USA. More recently, Miqx co-founded the Queer Spirit Festival (queerspirit.net) and works in the EuroFaerie Communities networks (eurofaeries.eu).

‘I am most keen on building a valid living sense of community. Having helped to set up housing and worker co-operatives, it is clear to me that individual fulfilment arises strongly from collective empowerment. Learning how to create workable solutions together can best sustain us in the ongoing struggle to overcome the ill effects of austerity and the greed and selfish behaviour of the moneyed classes.’

Jonathan Blake trained as Actor Rose Bruford 1967-1970 and worked as Actor 1970 -1981. Jonathan was diagnosed HTLV3 (now HIV) in October 1982 at Middlesex Hospital. L1 was his hospital number and was the first diagnosis @ Middlexsex Hospital. Jonathan attempted Suicide December 1982 but couldn’t go through with it. He decided to attempt to rejoin society despite feeling as a modern day leper with this killer virus coursing through my veins: Went to join “Gays for a Nuclear free Future” on their Stand together round Greenham Common, Aldermarston & Burghfield with coach leaving from ‘Gay the Word’ on Marchmont St All Fools Day 1st April 1983. Jonathan met his Future Partner that day Nigel Young and has been together now 35 years. With him we Joined Lesbians & Gaymen Support the Miners June 1984
Retrained as Tailor London College of Fashion 1984-87 Worked as Tailor & Costume Maker ENO making wardrobe 1988-1996 when my health gave out & I was medically retired . Started ART (Anti Retro-Viral Therapy ) 1997 & continue to this day. After being medically retired volunteered @ various HIV drop-In centres The Landmark in Brixton/Tulse Hill, Lighthouse South London , Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), The Food Chain. Was the Face of “THT’s First Safer Sex Poster aimed at GayMen” Globally outed as HIV+ at the end of the Film“PRIDE” in September2014 Perform Barney in Patrick Cash’s “HIV Monologues” 2016-18. Latest @ Bristol Pride 10-7-2018 Turned 69 on 21-7-2018

Amelia Abraham (b. 1991) is a journalist from London. Her main interest is LGBTQ identity politics, and she has written on or around this topic for the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent, the Sunday Times, the New Statesman, ES Magazine, VICE, i-D magazine and Dazed & Confused. She also writes about feminist issues, human-rights issues, health policy, arts and culture, and sex. Queer Intentions is her first book.


“Andria began AID Activism in 1988, when she helped set up Mainliners, the UK’s first Support Group for HIV-affected drugs users. She then worked as THT’s Drugs Counselling Officer for 3 years. It was during those years, that she was most involved with ACT.UP 1: when the onslaught of dying co-workers and friends was non-stop & relentless. Harm Reduction, i.e. access to clean needles, condoms and heroin substitutes is the best way to prevent HIV in injectors/slammers and she has literally gone all over the world promoting it, with her focus being the self-organisation of x/current Injection Drugs Users, including in her MSc dissertation (2004). When her life partner died from AIDS in 1995, she founded The John Mordaunt Trust, a peer support and advocacy project for daily drugs users, to honour John’s memory. This became political rapidly leading her to Drug Policy reform internationally. Still in ACT.UP she has been most active in highlighting HCV which numerically is more of a threat to IDUs. Andria also has a 10 yr old daughter Milly, who keeps her on her toes more than even ACT.UP can!”

Mica Coca, resident DJ at ResisDance – A woman & non binary dj collective challenging gender norms in the music scene and creating safe spaces on the dance floor.
Expect old school bangers and new heaters!

Dan Glass is a sex-positive, queer, healthcare and human rights award-winning activist, performer and writer. Reforming ‘Aids Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) London chapter in 2012 has catalysed healthcare and sex-positive programmes including campaigning for PREP, HIV Blind Date, protecting the National Health Service as well as enabling ‘HIV anti-stigma classes as part of the Beyond UKIP Cabaret in Nigel Farage’s boozer. Dan has won Attitude Magazine’s campaigning role models for LGBTQI youth + a Guardian ‘UK youth climate leader’ and 2017 ‘Activist of the Year’ with the ‘Sexual Freedom Awards’. An agitator from the Training for Transformation educational programme born out of the Anti-Apartheid movement, the core of dan’s work is the development of critical consciousness and creativity to spur people ‘to read their reality and write their own history’. His recent programmes involve MC’ing ‘Shafted?!’ a speakeasy led by people with HIV and the ‘Never Again Ever! Beyond UKIP Cabaret in Nigel Farage’s boozer.  Dan recently co-founded ‘Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time’ see below. Contact dan at www.theglassishalffull.co.uk and at alright@theglassishalffull.co.uk – Twitter #danglassisfull

2nd May – SOAS – 19:00 – 21:30 ‘Let The Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP, New York. hosted by ‘Free Speech Society’ ticket link here – Facebook event page here

SOAS ‘Speech Act’s programme, Queer Tours of London in association with London Artists Projects welcomes ‘SARAH SCHULMAN – ‘A witness to her times’ – Edmund White, New York Times – Four days of coalition politics and queer liberty

Panel and Q+A with keynote speaker ‘Sarah Schulman’
Sarah Schulman reviews the roots of AIDS activism in Feminism, Civil Rights, and Black Power, presenting ideas from her current work-in-progress Let The Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP, New York (out in 2020) which is the result of 188 interviews conducted over 18 years. Rejecting the whitening of AIDS history, and examining the movements’ mistakes as well as victories, Schulman will share ideas and information with the hope of stimulating new approaches and attitudes to working together effectively for change.

Sarah says: ‘Given how many different kinds of people are under attack, the idea of one strategy, interpretation or approach is absurd. Lets aim to elevate each other in our different circumstances and resistances, while retaining basic common values of justice’.

Room – Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Torrington Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 0XG
The venue is fully accessible.


Josh Hepple – Ph.D student, writer, activist, disability equality trainer
https://www.joshhepple.com/

Josh Hepple is a Ph.D student who has severe cerebral palsy. His impairment affects his speech and mobility and he relies on personal assistants 24/7. This website is about his journalism and equality training. The prejudice that Josh has faced has given him great empathy for marginalised groups; especially disabled and LGBT people. Josh has been a theatre reviewer and an equality trainer at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for many years. His Equality Training sessions are based on the social model of disability. Find out more about his Training here.

Josh has contributed to various online news sources as a freelance commentator. His unique account in the Guardian of his experiences using Grindr has recently received substantial media attention. Whilst coming to terms with his impairment as a gay teenager in Edinburgh, Josh received excellent support from LGBT Youth Scotland and Gay Men’s Health. However, sensing the need for wider support in the area, Josh helped to establish the charity TalkTime Edinburgh, which provides free counselling for any disabled teenagers, regardless of sexual orientation.

When not campaigning he can often be found having fun riding ponies.

Ray is a single-mother, photographer, theatre-maker and activist. She is the co-founder of the NHS Anti-Swindle Team, the founder of The Fallout Club, a Beautiful Trouble trainer and an ACT UP activist. Ray is a firm believer in the power of creativity as a tool for social engagement and political change, and is always on the look-out for new ways to combine social justice with joyous, create dissent.

Tresca is a mum of four, a grandma of two and a WLWHIV who received a late AIDS diagnosis. She is Outreach, Testing and Prevention Volunteer and Receptionist at Positive East, a Peer Mentor for WLWHIV, PrEP Champion, HIV Forum Member at Sir Ludwig Guttman Health Centre, a member of the Patient Participation Group at her GP Practice and a former mentor at drug and alcohol services. Alongside all of this, Tresca is Maternity Mate at Women’s Health and Family Service – supporting vulnerable pregnant mums to be empowered to have a positive pregnancy and birth experience. Tresca is an ex-drug user, but is 16 years clean. She has been living with HIV for almost four years as is now living ‘her best life’, educating local communities about HIV, PrEP and PEP. ‘My life experiences do not define who I am but they nevertheless have contributed to the confidant and bubbly woman that I am today.’

Maz is a tour guide of Queer Tours of London and also an active member of ACT UP London. In November 2016, he moved to London with the support of his present employer ACCA; The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (an amazing LGBT supportive organisation), where he is working as a Business Development Manager. Maz is one of the winners of Attitude Pride Award 2018, having been nominated for this award after organising a protest in London in front of the Bangladesh High Commissioner. The protest asked for justice for Maz’s two LGBT activist friends who were brutally murdered in Bangladesh on April 25th, 2018. He is now an LGBT activist, dedicated to bringing positive change in the Bangladesh LGBT community and to London based Bangladeshi LGBT people.

Patrick is an aspiring barrister, activist and act up campaigner with a special interest in mental health and addiction within marginalised communities. Patrick helped organise the first queer spirit festival and subsequently became a member of the Radical Faeries. Patrick is a founding member of FaeNA, a sub group within the faeries dedicated to addiction.

Ticket link here – All profits go to ‘ACT UP LONDON’ – ACT UP London is a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the HIV pandemic, along with the broader inequalities and injustices that perpetuate it.

3rd May at 6.30pm – ICA – Which Way Forward? Sarah Schulman in Conversation with London’s Queer Communities – Panel Discussion + Q&A.

Curated by: Erkan Affan.  

Venue: Institute of Contemporary Art – Cinema 1

What is the future direction of coalition politics?  How can marginalized queer communities utilize coalition politics to challenge authoritarianism?

Building on the explorations of Sarah Schulman’s ‘Gentrification of the Mind’, this evening’s discussion will be spearheaded with a contextualization of how both individuals and organisations here in London can utilise coalition politics to :

  1. Tackle the increase of cultural gentrification in historically diverse, cosmopolitan cities such as London,
  2. Fight against the rampant commercialization of the LGBTQIA+ community and its cultures, evident through the big-money sponsorships of Pride in London and the closure of over 50% of queer venues in the city since 2007
  3. Produce international networks of solidarity and activism that are broader than a border, transcending state-centric politics and establishing a coalition of resistance with oppressed communities worldwide.

Joining Sarah Schulman for this evening, we have four extra special guests that play an integral role in provoking and maintaining London’s coalitional queer socio-political architecture.

Travis Alabanza: A London based artist, writer and thinker. In the last four years Alabanza has carved and created much public conversation around the intersections of Blackness, Gender, transness and class, and been noted by numerous publications (MOBO, Dazed, Artsy) as one of the most prominent current trans artistic voices that have emerged. Their work has crossed mediums, venues and form, appearing at Tate Galleries, V&A, performing internationally at venues such as Harvard, Royal Exchange, ICA, Hamburg International and Lyric Hammersmith, and their writing published in The Guardian, Buzzfeed, Independent and more. Their recent show Burgerz, documenting and analysing being trans in public space, sold out to rave reviews and was voted among Guardian’s 2018 readers best choice for theatre and was published by Oberon play text. Recent work includes Ridiculous of Darkness (Gate Theatre) and ‘I wanted to fuck up the system but none of my friends texted back’ (Wellcome Collection). Photo credit Eivind Hansen

Lewis G Burton: a non-binary London-based performance artist and DJ. They co-founded the performance art platform-come-queer techno rave INFERNO. As an extension of INFERNO, Burton curated a two-day seminar exploring the intersections between performance art, nightlife, music and queerness entitled SUMMIT in February 2018. Lewis plans to continue this summit annually. Additionally, they are currently a member of the collective Pxssy Palace, a queer collective/club night that centres queer womxn, trans, non-binary and intersex people of colour.

Aviah Sarah Day: a member of the East End branch of Sisters Uncut – a national, feminist direct action group fighting cuts to domestic violence services. She has recently completed her PhD titled “Partnership and Power: Domestic Violence, the Women’s Sector and the Criminal Justice System”. Aviah also has several years of experience in a range of front line domestic violence services. Currently, she is researching and campaigning against the increased criminalization of survivors of domestic violence in the UK.

Erkan Affan is a queer writer and independent activist of colour based between the UK and Germany. With a background in Middle Eastern politics, gender and migration, their research has focused notably on the experiences of advocacy and transnational solidarity for queer migrants in Berlin. An avid believer of decolonising the contemporary structures of knowledge, they are currently conducting a residency in Berlin – funded by the European Commission – to challenge the inaccessible nature of academia and encourage more opportunity for self-representation through dialogue and discussion. Photo by Leviticus Hinds

4th May ICA at 6.30pm – Venue: Institute of Contemporary Art – Cinema 1

A reading and discussion on her most recent fiction: The Cosmopolitans and Maggie Terry, and the second edition of her collected journalism: My American History: Lesbian and Gay Life During the Teagan/Bush Year’s.

Curated by: Erkan Affan.  

PRESS AND GENERAL CONTACTS

Dan glass – queertoursoflondon@gmail.com

Erkan Gursel – erkansgursel@gmail.com

Jeremy Goldstein – jeremy@londonartistsprojects.co.uk

THANK YOU TO OUR ORGANISING CREW!

Leviticus Hinds, Erkan Gursel (see above), Jo Alloway, Anna Campbell and last but not least …

Jeremy Goldstein is a producer, writer, performer and HIV+ activist with ACT UP London. In 2000, he founded London Artists Projects, which the Guardian has described as ‘an evocative theatrical wonderland’. He has commissioned and produced shows with many celebrated artists winning awards including Evening Standard, Fringe First, h.Club, London Cabaret and BBC Audio Drama. In 2012 he was named in Time Out as among the 100 most influential people in UK culture for ‘proving political theatre can be fun and outrageous’.  Jeremy is also creator of ‘Truth to Power Cafe’ which is touring the UK in 2019/20 opening at Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester on 26th and 27th April.

Olimpia is a doctoral researcher and activist based in London. With a background in anthropology and politics, her research focuses on queering LGBT diversity & inclusion and imagining alternative ways of living and organizing. She is also involved with the Friends of the Joiners Arms campaign working to open London’s first queer, late-license, community-owned and community-run, pub.