March 10th 6pm at the Glad to Be Gay Exhibition at LSE Library,10 Portugal St, London WC2A 2HD – Queer Tours of London – Gay Liberation Front Special – Read more about Andrew Lumsden from the GLF here ‘A pioneering 1960s gay rights activist on the time he staged a sit-in with a bunch of drag queens‘ – and @queertoursoflondon@gmail.com with any questions. Tour finishes at 8pm in Soho. Sign up to the eventbrite here
March 11th – 11am – 1pm Queer Tour of London Islington Walk @ London Metropolitan Archive – 40 Northampton Rd, London EC1R 0HB – sign up to the eventbrite here
March 14th – ‘Auntie Sharon’ Tribute – A tribute to all the queer people in our family tree who went missing and their stories have been left untold.
‘Auntie Sharon’ serves to name, recognise and acknowledge all our queer ancestors electrocuted, beaten and killed before the overturning of the ‘Sexual Offences’ Act 50 years ago.
Come to re-created ‘Caravan Club’ hosted by the National Archives ‘Soho club culture Tours’ – Come with an image of someone, personal or wider, to contribute to a collective statue of those who have made us who we are today. Come learn from some of the activists who helped make partial decriminalisation happen in 1967 and those still striving for decriminalisation across the world today. Come and contribute to our collective consciousness in a ritual of grief and celebration never seen before.
Venue: The Caravan @ Freud Bar, 198 Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2H 8JL
Date: Tuesday 14 March 2017 / Time: 7pm / Price: £8 / Book tickets
March 18th – 10am and 2pm tours – As part of the Rebel Dykes Fundraising events we are working with Queer Tours of London to bring you, Brixton Dykes on the Rampage. Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, SW2 1 London, United Kingdom – Facebook page here www.rebeldykes1980s.com – please book by emailing contact@rebeldykes1980s.com
You are invited to join our walk, tell your stories, listen to ours. We are inviting you to be part of the Fundraising vanguard for our unique DIY lesbian/queer documentary re-telling stories from the 1980s, and creating links with the lesbians/queer activists of today.
Brixton has always been a seething centre of queer and black activism. We will walk in footsteps of a bunch of Rebel Dykes who lived in squats around Brixton during the 1980s, creating dyke DIY spaces, zines and parties, whilst being active in numerous campaigns.
Meet up outside Ritzy cinema, and walk with us through the back streets back into the past, to learn about our present. Pay as you feel. Limited spaces so book a ticket ASAP
There is another walking tour in the afternoon at 2pm – Facebook page click here
On the evening of Sunday 19th March we are hosting a Rebel Dyke presentation and discussion, followed by a Drag Kings, Queens and INbetweens Festival to celebrate the legacy of Rebel Dykes and our community at large. Please sign up here! 19th March – DKQI Festival with The Rebel Dykes of 1980’s & Sexual Avengers
March 22nd 6pm – ‘Sex, Love and Freedom – Happy 50th Birthday to Us’
“How bona to vada your dolly old eek again”
“Do you believe in love at first sight? Or do I have to send you another picture?”
“Ouch! I really am a dom but please don’t hit me again!”
‘Sex, Love and Freedom – Happy 50th Birthday to Us’ – hosted by Dean Street Wellbeing Programme and ‘Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time’ – March 22nd 2017 – Soho Square – 6-8PM please RSVP to wellbeing@chelwest.nhs.uk to reserve your space.
Love, Sex and Freedom. Apologies the venue is not wheelchair accessible.
2017 is the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. Fifty years of the (im)pure, hard, soft and-everywhere-in-between love, sex, intimacy and pride. Fifty years of a fast and furious rollercoaster, from the giddy power-trips of “I really am a Dom, but please don’t hit me again!” to the toe curling “do you believe in love at first sight, or do I have to send you another picture?” lows.
So what can our history teach us about love, lust, romance, freedom and our inclination to live our lives to the full, in the way our queer ancestors fought so hard for? What has criminalisation, and its retraction, done to the bonds between us as a community? And are we truly free today?
Come and hear from speakers about ‘LGBTQI+ love and freedom through the ages – our simulations, sexual incitements, subcultures, fetishes, hurdles, desires, stigmas and fantasies – the good, the bad and the ugly – from the passing of the ‘Sexual Offences Act’ to today.
March 27th 2017 – Arcola Theatre – Polari Workshop
Nish the chat and pin back your aunt nells; it’s time to brush up your polari.
Arcola Queer Collective and ‘Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time’ host a special ‘50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality – Polari workshop’ with special guests from the Gay Liberation Front.
Ain’t that fantabulosa?
Polari, the gay slang which faded away with the decriminalisation of male homosexuality and the advent of gay liberation, is making a comeback. Polari flourished in the difficult years between the trial of Oscar Wilde and the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. Today as our community continues to evolve – in the cabaret bars, on stage, in bedrooms and in the streets Polari exists to protect ourselves against rising LGBT homophobia, as a vocabulary for talking about our sexuality, communicate on our own terms and as a way of asserting our identity.
“How bona to vada your dolly old eek again”
Booking details to follow
March 6th –The Glory, 281 Kingsland Road, E2 8AS London, United Kingdom, Pub Doors 5pm, event starts 7.30pm, 50 Years of Radical Queens with Stuart Feather – reading / panel – A conversation between Gay Liberation Front activists and current LGBTQI+ revolutionary activists on the legacy of GLF today? Facebook page click here / RSVP to queertoursoflondon@gmail.com
STUART FEATHER AFTER A SUCCESSFUL EVENING READING FROM HIS BOOK BLOWING THE LID: GAY LIBERATION: SEXUAL REVOLUTION AND RADICAL QUEENS FOR GAY HISTORY MONTH – STUART FEATHER RETURNS WITH DANIEL DE LA MOTTE-HARRISON AS QUESTION MASTER WITH A PANEL OF FOUR TO DISCUSS LGBTQI+ SOCIAL ACTIVISM IN THE 70s. WITH THE NEW GENERATION ACTIVISTS OF TODAY.
06.MAR.2017 – ‘The Glory’ – 281 Kingsland Rd, London E2 8AS.
www.theglory.co The book will be on sale at £15.00.
***RSVP to avoid disappointment on eventbrite here – queertoursoflondon@gmail.com. Suggested donations £5 or whatever you can afford. All profits go to radical creative activism for LGBTQI+ equality ***
To mark the 50th anniversary of the passing of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality – ‘The Glory’, ‘Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time’ and Dan de la Motte host – ‘An evening with Stuart Feather’ – activist and Gay Liberation Front activist – reading ‘Blowing the Lid – Gay Liberation, Sexual Revolution and Radical Queens – The queer fight for Gay Liberation; authentic identities and modern roles for lesbians that enhanced British Society. Stuart Feather is the first participant in the Front to write a history on the lesbians and gay men who joined Gay Liberation and through a process of Coming Out and radicalization generated a positive anarchy that changed the face of this country.
Neil Bartlett – ‘Invaluable as well as entertaining first hand radical testimony from the period, essential for anyone who wants to understand how this country has changed and who wants to think about how it could be changed more’.
Ken Plummer. Essex University. ‘This is a wonderfully rich and evocative account of an important moment in gay history. Stuart Feather has ‘brought it all back’ in a marvellous narrative that is a great gift to posterity’.
Harvey Fierstein Village Voice, (when Bloolips first appeared in New York in 1980). ‘Hegel is a Drag: Thesis: scores of Wests, Garlands and boas (and I don’t mean Franz). Antithesis: gay, feminist – leftist boos at anything that hobbles in heals. Synthesis? With a vengeance; in a viciously modern attack on sex roles, liberation prudery, and boredom in the orchestra’.
Jan 27th – Friday’s ‘Out for Revolution’ at the V + A! 18.30 – 21.00
How far have we come in the fight for equality and what are the issues facing the global LGBTQ community now?
Hear how activists continue to challenge contemporary laws and how you can get involved. Hosted by Dan Glass, speakers include; All Out, Open Doors, African Rainbow Family, Queer Strike, TransMedia Watch, Amnesty International, Andre Lumden and Stuart Feather. Accompanied by placards displaying past and present LGBTQ activist artwork and slogans by Uandnonu.
Jan 28th – 7.30 – 9.30pm at London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate St, Shadwell, London E1 1ES – LGBTQI+ Voices of the Revolution – Artist call-out Public Meeting – Sign up the facebook community page here – Everyone welcome – wheelchair accessible
Feb 4th – Queer Tours of London – Gay Liberation Front Special – Read more about Andrew Lumsden here ‘A pioneering 1960s gay rights activist on the time he staged a sit-in with a bunch of drag queens
‘ – sign up to eventbrite here and @queertoursoflondon@gmail.com with any questions
Feb 6th – Celebrating 50 years of Radical Queens with Stuart Feather @ The Glory on – Stuart wrote the fabulous ‘Blowing the Lid – Gay Liberation, Sexual Revolution and Radical Queens’. Sign up to the eventbrite here
11th Feb 2017 – 10.30am – 5.30pm – ‘Queer Tours of London’ Tour guide training – apply here – London Metropolitan Archives – 40 Northampton Road, EC1R 0HB London, United Kingdom
- Would you like to have a deeper understanding of London’s queer history, activism and current programmes for LGBTQI+ equality?
- Would you like to be trained as a Queer London tour guide?
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Would you like to bring visibility to your community and raise money for you and your campaigns?
Great ! Come join us and let’s queer up this year. The day will include an introduction to the London Metropolitan Archives – ‘Speak Out’ LGBTQI+ Archives and a LGBTQI+ tour of Islington and Soho.
We are looking for:
- 20 (max) people for a skillshare in LGBTQI+ tour guide training to respond to the growing demand for LGBTQI+ tours of London.
- 5 people to help with the design, fundraising, protest coordination and administrative parts of the ‘Queer tours of London collective’
Please fill in this short questionnaire to apply – click here
We are in the fundraising stages at the moment but can, for now at least, refund all travel / food expenses on the day, and will try to raise any money for any other costs that you let us know about.
Feb 8th / 9th – Queer Tours of London @ The Lush Summit!
Feb 15th Camden LGBT Forum – ‘Build Your Own Tour – Yesterqueer’ with Dan Glass’
‘Yesterqueer’ is an opportunity to develop a Camden / Islington Queer heritage walking tour – to see ourselves and our history reflected in our built environment. ‘Yesterqueer’ exists to celebrate previous generations of queer figures and cultivate the next generation of LGBT change-makers. Come and tell us about buildings that kicked off a movement, houses where key figures lived or even a grave where someone is buried. Let’s map our local history together.
‘Queer Tours of London – A Mince Through Time’ are proud to support –
Sexual Avengers is a London-based network of queer campaigns and individuals making 2017 a year of radical queer activism and community building. We are using the 50th anniversary of partial decriminalisation to avenge centuries of oppression for radical queers through collective action, fun and fabulousness. Facebook page click here
We have a permanent open-space at LimeWharf E2 from 6.30-8.30 every Wednesday throughout 2017. We use this to meet, create and collaborate. We have energy, people power, skills, space, glitter and experience. We need you.
[LimeWharf is an accessible, gender-neutral space. Sexual Avengers is queer-led and queer-majority but we actively encourage participation by all genders and sexualities. We operate on trans-inclusive, intersectional feminist principles.] If you have any questions or would just like to speak to a human before you come in person please feel free to contact any of the organisers personally.
‘Sexual Avengers’ events and actions
Feb 13th Monday, February 13 at 8 AM – 11 AM – Yesterqueer – All over London – facebook page here To get involved please email sexualavengers@gmail.com
‘Yesterqueer’ in this February’s LGBTQI+ History Month is our opportunity to display radical queer history and play with public space to open up questions about homophobia and stigma, where it came from and and how it pervades in our society today. ‘Yesterqueer’ will pay homage to the sites of where our queer ancestors were killed and exploited as well as celebrate the sites of our subversiveness. Until we have our own LGBTQI+ museum and cultural centre we will use the streets as our canvas and billboards as our playground.
We want visibility. We want to see ourselves and our history reflected in our built environment and will not wait for the authorities to act. We want to build on the LGBTQI+s rich history of street-art and activism. We are reclaiming sites of personal LGBTQI+ importance, historical significance and current political provocation to continue our journey towards full LGBTQI_+ freedom.
Without a radical shift in archiving our history, our future will continue to be sidelined. Better knowledge and understanding of our history will lead to collective pride, empowerment and action when it comes to tackling the current challenges we face. ‘‘Yesterqueer’ exists to celebrate previous generations of queer activists and cultivate the next generation of artists, activists and change makers dedicated to ending homophobia, transphobia and all forms of oppression. Join the campaign to recognise and display London’s radical queer history. Join ‘Yesterqueer’! To get involved please email sexualavengers@gmail.com
Feb 14th 6-7pm – Henry VIII statue, St Bartholemews Hospital – W Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE – facebook page click here
Come join the ‘Flash-Bugger’ to celebrate the biggest Fukk Up since 1533! ‘The Great British Bugger Off’ will be bring Henry 8th back to life to answer to his Six Wives and Sexual Libertarians Everywhere.
An attempt will be made to form the largest living queer Congo ever to perform the ‘The Great British Bugger Off’ snake dance.
The action will highlight the impact the Buggery Act has had oppressing people in the UK and it’s colonies in this the 50th Year of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. By filming a line of congo dancing giant penises simulating anal sex in a silly, fun and theatrical manner in front of a statue of Henry the 8th we aim to raise awareness of state control over our bodies. We also hope that this will encourage more people to random acts of rebellious civil frivolity.
On a more serious note we aim for this action to act as a rallying call for all those wanting to express their disgust of the legacy of sexual injustices the Buggery Act gave rise to.
‘An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie’ was the first civil sodomy law in England. Conviction meant Death.
The legacy of this law has spread all over the world due to the colonial greed of the British Empire. All over the world, regimes still use this type of legislation to silence political opponents and dominate their citizens using homophobic, anti-lesbian, transphobic, sexist beliefs and propaganda from religious and pseudo-scientific texts. Placards will be handed out on the day. Bring your favourite queer dance-anthems and all your friends.
Come celebrate the Biggest Fuck Up since 1533.
The Great British Bugger Off will be bring Henry 8th back to life to answer to his Six Wives and Sexual Libertarians everywhere for the Buggery Act 1533. Join us downstairs at The Glory and spank Henry VIII to death for his homophobic crimes. Wear your sauciest Tudor get-up, practice your best queer-freedom songs for Kamikazi Karaoke and join the largest living queer Conga ever to perform the ‘The Great British Bugger Off’ snake dance.
Plus upstairs at the Glory we have performance from Miss Craig & DJ Neil Prince (Heaven) will be spinning the Power Bottom Ballads to soothe away your Tudor Top blues.
Who said romance was dead…. we’ll make your Tudor Rose buds bloom again.
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‘An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie’ was the first civil sodomy law in England. Conviction meant Death. The legacy of this law has spread all over the world due to the colonial greed of the British Empire – affecting the lives of queer men, women and most importantly, everyone inbetween. All over the world, regimes still use this type of legislation to silence political opponents and dominate their citizens using homophobic, anti-lesbian, transphobic, sexist beliefs and propaganda from religious and pseudo-scientific texts.
Suggested donations for the ‘Glory Hole’ – £5 / Tickets available on the door. All money raised goes to Sexual Avengers to help fund further events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality and the legalisation of abortions.
Other Events
Feb 1st – 17.15 – Gay liberation and psychiatry: A history of combat and compromise run byDr Sarah Carr, Associate Professor of Mental Health Research at Middlesex University. Gay liberation and psychiatry: A history of combat and compromise taking place on Wednesday 1st February 2017, 17:15 – 18:45 run by Dr Sarah Carr, Associate Professor of Mental Health Research at Middlesex University. Tickets here
Feb 18th – 12 noon – Peckham Pride 89 Peckham High St, London SE15 5RS – facebook page here
Through immigration raids, detention and deportations, the government is trying to tear our communities apart. We must fight back together.
What: March through Peckham showing the strength of our communities
When: 12pm Saturday 18th February
Where: Assemble outside Peckham Library, SE15 5JR.
Post-march event at the Copeland Gallery, SE15 3SN
The venue is wheelchair accessible. Performers tbc.
Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants and Movement for Justice are organising Peckham Pride to resist the attacks by the Home Office on migrants and celebrate the strength of our communities. We will assemble at 12pm outside the Peckham library before marching through Peckham whilst hearing from and celebrating those resisting raids, detention, and deportations in the community. There will be a a post-march party in the Copeland Gallery with performers, exhibitions, and food and drink. We are looking for more performers, caterers and speakers so please get in touch if you’d like to get involved!
We refuse to be divided, we refuse to let prejudices turn us against each other. Our enemies are not each other, but borders and bigots. Join us for a celebration of queer and migrant culture in an act of defiance against the increasing repression from Theresa May and her government. To perform, promote, help organise or for more information email: lgsmigrants@gmail.com