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

11th December 201811th December 2018 By Dan Glass

14.12.18 2-3pm – Toilet Humour – Re-Open Soho Toilets! Photocall and Protest

14.12.18 2-3pm – Toilet Humour – Re-Open Soho Toilets! Photocall and Protest – Facebook page here

TOILET HUMOUR – A STREET PROTEST ABOUT THE MISMANAGEMENT OF WESTMINSTER’S PUBLIC CONVENIENCES

FRIDAY 14 DECEMBER FROM 2PM to 3PM

Are you a taxi driver / market trader / visitor / tourist /older person / homeless or vulnerably housed / human?

Then please come and show your support for our campaign for secure, clean and available public conveniences in Soho

Why

For seven months this summer the Broadwick Street Public Conveniences (pictured above) were closed. No credible explanation has ever been given and the loos are still dirty and only open sporadically. The current provider (Carlisle Cleaning Services to which Westminster granted a 12 year lease in 2010) removed the toilet warden that kept the loos clean and safe.

Soho’s toilets are part of our history.

Westminster CC want to promote the “Oxford Street District” as an unrivalled tourist attraction at a cost of £150 million over three years yet can’t keep the public toilets open and clean. Why not get the basics right before farting about with Oxford Street?

Toilets matter for visitors and workers in Soho. The British Toilet Association has detailed research on why people need toilets. It’s not rocket science. We agree with the BTA! We want unrivalled toilets suitable for a global city.

We are a ragtag army of residents and punters who stand for the people and not just for the elite and WE DEMAND A GLORIOUS CLEAN PUBLIC CONVENIENCE brought back to public ownership preferably with nice soap and loo paper.

Bring Sound Systems

Bring Placards (“Toilet Training for Westminster Councillors begins now” )

Bring your own ‘Porta-loo’

Dresscode “Toilet Humour”

Please get in touch at queertoursoflondon@gmail.com

14th November 201819th November 2018 By Dan Glass

18.03.19 – Queer ghost tour of Shadwell – Happy birthday Wilfred Owen – Book here

18.03.19 – Queer ghost tour of Shadwell – Happy birthday Wilfred Owen – Get your tickets here

Facebook event page here

The late great homoerotic poet Wilfred Owen 126th Birthday come at learn, explore and celebrate him on the Shadwell Stairs and learn about the queer history of the area that inspired his formidable work.

Led by Gay liberation Front (GLF) activists Stuart Feather and Andrew Lumsden – We will meet at the ‘Prospect of Whitby’* and mince on down to Shadwell Stairs to recite the poem, The Ghost of Shadwell Stair, finished by Wilfred Owen in 1918 just before he returned to the front line in France, and died.

Owen was nicknamed ‘the ghost’ by gay friends Siegfried Sassoon and Robbie Ross because there was a false report that he was dead before he really died. And apparently ‘ghost’ ( we can imagine why, imagining trolling in the London smogs) was apparently for a while an in-word for gay.

Wilfred Owen, 1893 – 1918

I am the ghost of Shadwell Stair.

Along the wharves by the water-house,

And through the cavernous slaughter-house,

I am the shadow that walks there.

A message from your tour guide Andrew –

‘Wilfred Owen was born in Shropshire in 1893 and machine-gunned in battle in France on Monday 4 November 1918, seven days before the Peace.

He was twenty-five. His fellow-poets, British secondary schools, British Unis, and the British government learnt to love him most of all among wonderful poets of the First World War, because he decided what he was fighting for – the English language – openly extended his pity to the enemy during the fight, and wrote laments for the men who died beside him.

But the British public were never allowed even by the 1980s to know that he was exuberantly gay.

Not allowed to know that on leave in England he was getting it on, or wanted to – we can all fail! – from Shadwell Dock Stairs in London’s East End to the Canongate in Edinburgh’s sleaze quarter of the 1910s, where nowadays the Queen goes respectably to church.

Has anyone thought to ask why the two most famous non-governmental British figures to emerge from the two World Wars were both of them gay men? Answers on a postcard please to Jacob Rees-Mogg and the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland.’

*57 Wapping Wall, St Katharine’s & Wapping, London E1W 3SH

Get your tickets here – https://www.outsavvy.com/event/2084/queer-ghost-tour-of-shadwell-happy-birthday-wilfred-owen-tickets – and get them quick as there are very limited spaces! – £5 unwaged, £10 waged, £15 solidarity – profits go to the Albert Kennedy Trust who serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people who are homeless, living in a hostile environment or in housing crisis – www.akt.org.uk.

It would be a treat to have this recorded – if you are a journalist and / or have a camera please join us too! Shout me here or email me on queertoursoflondon@gmail.com 🙂

13th November 2018 By Dan Glass

09.02.18 – Book here – Gay Liberation Front tour of Soho – Celebrating Stonewall at 50

Inspired by the Black Power and Womens Liberation Movements throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s the Gay Liberation Front initiated an anarchic campaign that permanently changed the face of this country. The GLF was a movement that was started in New York following the Stonewall riots and adopted in London and San Francisco. On this one-of-a-kind tour you will get first-hand information about the areas rich history of LGBTQIA+ arts, activism, sass, cabaret and more.

‘Lumsden may be a septuagenarian, but he is no less defiant or devoted to the cause.’ The Independent, 2017

This tour is in tribute to Marsha P Johnson – the Trans Woman of Colour who co founded ‘Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and started modern Pride at the Stonewall Riots on 2019 the 50th anniversary of Stonewall – and everyone everywhere fighting for absolute queer freedom for all.

Tickets click here – £5 unwaged, £10 waged, £15 solidarity – profits go to ‘Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSM)’. We have some free tickets for LGBT+ migrants and for LGBT+ people struggling with housing. If this is you and / or you have any issues being able to afford the ticket please email us ASAP on queertoursoflondon@gmail.com. All press requests please email queertoursoflondon@gmail.com. Facebook page here

‘QUEER TOURS OF LONDON – A Mince Through Time’ exist to bring forth the visibility of our incredible community at large and the journey to how we became who we are today. Against the backdrop of the mass closure of LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex) cultural spaces and support services, ‘QUEER TOURS OF LONDON’ are being developed to support London’s current queer activism, culture and performance in all its glory.

13th November 201813th November 2018 By Dan Glass

Book your tickets here – 23.02.18 -Trans History tour of London – Stonewall Riots at 50

For as long as there has been gender, there have been people playing with its boundaries, subverting its categorisations, and expressing it according to their own truth – but this has never been easy, and with the current state of the world trans people seem to be more under scrutiny than ever before. But what can you do? You want to be a good ally but don’t know where to start…. perhaps you’re starting to question your own gender and don’t know where it’ll lead… or maybe you’re an out and proud trans warrior wanting to find out that bit more about your roots? Join Queer Tours of London on this brand new trans focussed tour, helping you unpack the jargon, debunk the myths, and learn a few home truths along the way.
This tour is in tribute to Marsha P Johnson – the Trans Woman of Colour who co founded ‘Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and started modern Pride at the Stonewall Riots on 2019 the 50th anniversary of Stonewall – and everyone everywhere fighting for absolute queer freedom for all.

Facebook page here – get your tickets here – £5 unwaged, £10 waged, £15 solidarity – profits go to Transfiguration – Trans Helpline. We have some free tickets for LGBT+ migrants and for LGBT+ people struggling with housing. If this is you and / or you have any issues being able to afford the ticket please email us ASAP on queertoursoflondon@gmail.com. All press requests please email queertoursoflondon@gmail.com

With your host Dani – ‘The DaniSinger Experience’ Singer aka Dani Dinger has “a winning smile” (Exeunt Magazine 2018) and a gender which has been described as “one of the great ideological experiments of the 21st Century” (Instagram direct message 2018). They have been tour guiding for ten years in different guises, and have been part of QToL for almost two. They’re best known for being the person who gets naked at clubs. #RobbieWilliamsIsMyGender #TransOnTrend.

10th November 2018 By Dan Glass

02.02.19 – LGBTQIA+ Disability Tour – Accessibility for all!

02.02.19 – LGBTQIA+ Disability Tour – Accessibility for all!
Meet – 2pm Soho Square Cottage – Soho Square, Soho, London W1D 4NR – Facebook page here – get your tickets here – £5 unwaged, £10 waged, £15 solidarity – profits go to Attitude is Everything. We have some free tickets for LGBT+ migrants and for LGBT+ people struggling with housing. If this is you and / or you have any issues being able to afford the ticket please email us ASAP on queertoursoflondon@gmail.com.

Last year we took to the streets of Soho and went to 15 queer venues demanding change. The 2010 Equality Actstates that all public venues must be fully accessible yet in 2018 not one queer space in central London is fully accessible. Next year is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and we DEMAND CHANGE!

How can we be proud of our LGBT+ identity at ‘Pride in London’ if we can’t even get to the bar to celebrate?

How can we mince, flirt and meet others if there is not even 1 LGBT+ bar or club that is fully accessible to the LGBT+ disabled community?

How can we be proud of my impairments if i’m discriminated to come on Pride?

Are you part of the LGBT+ disability community? Are you sick and tired of being ignored and tokenised? Want more action and less talk?

Well join Josh and Kevin – a ‘Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through time’ guides and sexual revolutionaries whilst we take to the streets and in true queer provocative style do an informative and interactive tour of Soho to share the lived realities of the LGBT+ disabled community.

Are you involved in a queer venue and want to imrpove your accessibility? Then get in touch on queertoursoflondon@gmail.com. Check out the great work at www.attitudeiseverything.org.uk.

There’s only 20 spaces for the tour so get in there quick –

Here’s the plan

2pm – Meeting point – Soho Square

2-3pm Placard making with the scores for each venue and the demands

3-5pm – Queer disabled Riot-tour!

5-6pm – Presentation of our demands in central London venue tbc. Invites are being sent to London’s LGBT+ cultural spaces managers.

Our demands

Equality over profit – LGBT+ venues just stop pretending you are not under to be accessible – you know you should be – are you doing everything you can?

Access 4 All – we’ll chain ourselves to the steps by September if you don’t make an explicit statement of your intentions

MORE TALK LESS ACTION! LGBT+ FREEDOM FOR ALL!

10th November 201822nd November 2018 By Dan Glass

24.11.18 – The Very Queer West End – Queer Theatre History Tours – Book here.

The Very Queer West End – Queer Theatre History Tours

Saturday, November 24, 2018 at 2 PM – 3:30 PM – Opposite Lyceum Theatre, 21 Wellington St, London WC2E 7RQ – Facebook page here – Get your tickets here and get them quick as there are very limited spaces! – £5 unwaged, £10 waged, £15 solidarity – profits go to End Deportations Campaign.

The Caravan Club of 1934

You look neat. Talk about a treat!
You look dapper from your napper to your feet!

From queer goings on in the wings of the Lyceum, to police entrapment from the turret of the Shaftesbury, discover queer London’s subversive, scandalous and sexy theatre tales. This 90 minute walking tour with QToL’s Dan de la Motte and Dani Dinger takes in the coded messages of the music hall songs, fascist dalliances and the (not so well) hidden lives of the top celebrities of the day. Expect bawdy renditions and awkward positions in all weather conditions.

‘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

10th November 201810th November 2018 By Dan Glass

15.12.18 – Queer Tour of Whitechapel – Justice for Xulhaz and Mahbub

15.12.18 – Queer Tour of Whitechapel – Facebook event page click here .

Please get your tickets ASAP on Outsavvy here. Profits go to Amnesty International – Take action for Human Rights

Time : 12:00 to 1:00 pm
Meeting point: Altab Ali Park, Adler St, London E1 1HD

The upcoming ‘Queer Tour of Whitechapel’ focuses on Bangladesh LGBTQIA+ movements and welcomes Bangladeshi LGBTQIA+ people who are living in London and especially living in East London. The 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. This 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. If you are interested to know more details please come and join us with this Whitechapel tour and email queertoursoflondon@gmail.com

With your tour guides: Mazharul Islam – Attitude Pride Award Winner 2018 / Olimpia /Sinthea / Dan Glass

Tour details:

12:00: Participants Arrival
12:00 to 12:05 Introduction
12:05 to 12: 20 visit place 1-Bangladesh LGBT movements
12:20 to 12:35 visit place 2- History of Boys only Bangladesh( First LGBT plat form of Bangladesh )
12:35 to 12:50 visit place 3- History of Roopbaan ( First LGBT Magazine of Bangladesh)
12:50 to 13:00 Quiz and Traditional Bangladeshi snacks distribution:
13:00 End the tour and closing remark from Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time

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

Xulhaz Mannan and a colleague were in his apartment when men posing as couriers burst in wielding machetes. Both men were hacked to death in front of Xulhaz’s 75-year-old mother.

Xulhaz was a founder of Bangladesh’s only magazine dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) issues, a daring venture in a country where same-sex relations are illegal. His attackers are believed to belong to Ansar al-Islam, the same extremist group responsible for a spate of similar assaults on bloggers promoting atheism, feminism, science and other secular issues.

Over a year since the April 2016 attack, and despite evidence including eye witness testimony and CCTV footage, no one has been charged for the murders. On top of this slow police response, the government has shifted blame onto the victims. Shortly after Xulhaz’s murder, a government minister stated that movements promoting “unnatural sex” are not allowed in Bangladeshi society.

This reluctance or unwillingness to find and charge Xulhaz’s killers sends a devastating message to LGBTIQ activists and others who challenge the status quo with their work. As Xulhaz’s brother says, the police’s inaction shows that “the government is least bothered… and believes that ‘this’ issue [same-sex relations] has died with Xulhaz”.

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

Xulhaz Mannan and a colleague were in his apartment when men posing as couriers burst in wielding machetes. Both men were hacked to death in front of Xulhaz’s 75-year-old mother.

Tell Bangladesh to bring Xulhaz’s killers to justice.

10th November 201810th November 2018 By Dan Glass

05.12.18 – RSVP for Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and friends ‘Think In 3’ to Reclaim Pride!

05.12.18 – Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and friends ‘Think In 3’ to Reclaim Pride! Facebook event page here

Thank you to Mark Glasgow for the poster – www.markglasgowdesign.com

This is the space for all Gay Liberation Front (GLF) Activists and new friends to connect, celebrate and plot for the upcoming significant anniversaries –

2019 – 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots

2020 – 50th anniversary of GLF UK

2022 – 50th anniversary of Pride

We are having monthly ‘think in’s’ at LSE (where GLF UK began) to develop our demands and action plans for next year’s events. Everyone new or old to the movement and who is committed to ‘LIBERATION FOR ALL’ is very welcome.

‘Think In’s’ are a concept which the GLF activists first used to have a space, a sanctuary in which to make sense of the world away from the pressures of homophobia and how to effectively respond. 50 years on there is still so much work to do to complete the ultimate aim of ‘freedom for all’.

We are busy writing the ‘GLF demands 2’ to present to the world and organising the 2019 timeline of events and actions to pay tribute to the radical roots of Pride by those who started it. Next year will be a year of TRANSFORMATION, JUSTICE AND TRUTH for Pride and the Queer Community!

If you wanna get involved and join the ‘Think In 3’ on December 5th at LSE and /or be added to the mailing list please email queertoursoflondon@gmail.com with a few lines of who you are and your committed to radical (getting to the root) queer freedom. Thanks to everyone who is making this happen!

#Weareherewerearequeer
#Gayisgood
#Wearethepeopleyourparentswarnedyoubout
#ComeTogether!

This Saturday! 18.08.2018 – Queer History Tour of Deptford – Press release here

This Saturday! 18.08.2018 – Queer History Tour of Deptford – 10.30- noon – facebook page here

Meeting point – Carriage Way, SE8 4LY

Tickets £12 – Book your tickets on outsavvy here

With your ‘Queer Tours of London’ tour guide – Attitude Award Winner 2018 Mazharul Islam

Hosted by the fabulous Deptford Pride and in association with Queer History Tours London – A Mince Through Time, there will be a walking tour on and around Deptford High Street, featuring stories of sailors, feminists, queer housing and even the murder of Christopher Marlowe.

The tour will end at the Old Tidemill Gardens, where people are encouraged to stay for a drink and chat, possibly with some of the people who have been part of Deptford’s queer past, and present.

There will be a number of pay-what-you-can-afford tickets, but they must be requested prior to the event. Please email us at lgbtq@deptfordsociety.uk to request more info.

For all journalists – DEPTFORD PRIDE WILL TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY 18TH AUGUST 2018

The event first happened last year and was organised by two local residents who’ve since moved away from the area. New organisers, Peter and Ste, both local residents from the queer community and members of the Deptford Society, have stepped forward to carry on the great work of last year with the ambition to make Deptford Pride an annual event.

Chair of the Deptford Society, Peter Collins said “Deptford Pride is a grassroots celebration and day of visibility for LGBTQ+ people which also seeks to involve the wider local community.” LGBTQ Officer of the Society, Ste Richardsson added “As a queer person of colour who has been homeless, I recognise the importance of engaging marginalised groups within LGBTQ+ communities, including people of colour; women; trans and non-binary people; disabled people; people living with HIV; low-income households and people at risk of homelessness. Our aim is to create an inclusive, welcoming and safe environment for LGBTQ+ people and allies from across the local area, and encourage visitors from further afield. Smaller-scale local Prides can bring greater visibility and acceptance in those communities. We are already reaching out to a diverse range of organisations, workshop leaders and performers to take part”.

Peter and Ste plan to have a wide range of events, including a variety of information stalls, a mental health workshop, film screenings, trans and nonbinary led cabaret, as well as music, drag and DJs. Dependent on levels of funding and fundraising, activities will either be free or with pay-what-youcan-afford tickets available for those who would otherwise be excluded from attending.

Deptford Pride is already receiving support from local organisations and businesses and is looking to broaden this to include more venues, businesses and charity groups.

To offer support and to find out more email lgbtq@deptfordsociety.uk or follow @DeptfordPride on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Deptford Pride is organised by

The Deptford Society Supported
by the Mayor of London’s Culture Seeds (TBC) with 1:1 match funding by Lewisham Council (TBC)
Venue partner Deptford Market Yard http://deptfordmarketyard.com
Film partner Deptford Cinema (TBC) http://deptfordcinema.org Logistics support
Eat Me Drink Me https://eat-me-drink-me.co.uk
Design partner PC Studio http://wearepc.studio

More information Deptford Society

The Deptford Society is a small but passionate community co-operative which was founded in 2015 to represent the interests of the people who live and work in, and otherwise enjoy, Deptford High Street and the surrounding area. Its main aims are to protect Deptford’s heritage and conservation area status (which has been described by the local council as “at risk”), as well as to support local businesses and start dialogues with the community to make sure that their interests are being met. It is made up of local residents and business owners. To find out more, visit deptfordsociety.uk or follow on Twitter and Facebook: @deptfordsociety. To find out more about Deptford High Street, follow: @deptfordhighst

8th June 201821st June 2018 By Dan Glass

Hackney Pride 365 presents Queer Tours of London history walks – June 23rd and 30th

Drag Queen nuns on the 55 bus, the grave of a drag king, and gay cabaret during The Blitz… uncover Hackney’s fascinating and not-to-be forgotten LGBTQI+ history with an interactive walking tour.

As part of the Council’s Hackney Pride 365 celebrations, Queer Tours of London will take people on a journey, telling the stories of the borough’s queer history, shedding light on the events, spaces, identities, repression and resistance that form a backdrop for LGBTQI+ lives today.

Read about our last Hackney tour! – ‘Transgender nuns, gay cabaret and the poll tax: history tour with a difference uncovers Hackney’s LGBT heritage’ Hackney Gazzette

Sign up to the facebook page here. To find out more and to book, visit: www.queertoursoflondon.com; book on outsavvy here or e-mail: queertoursoflondon@gmail.com. All press requests please email queertoursoflondon@gmail.com

Our press release – For Immediate Release – Queer Tours of London sheds light on un-told Hackney history

Walk 1: Saturday, 23 June, 4-6pm. Meet outside Stoke Newington Town Hall, N16 0JR.
Walk 2: Saturday, 30 June, 4-6pm. Meet outside Stoke Newington Town Hall, N16 0JR.
There is a suggested donation of £10. Walks take 2 hours and are fully accessible.
To find out more and to book, visit: www.queertoursoflondon.com; or e-mail: queertoursoflondon@gmail.com