A talk followed by a discussion facilitated and led by Colin Clews, writer, activist and original member of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.
Event entry £3, payable on the door. Complimentary refreshments provided.
On the face of it, the 1980s doesn’t seem like the best decade for queer people in the UK. Against a background of sustained police harassment and media homophobia, we experienced the emergence of HIV/AIDS, the trial of Gay’s the Word, Operation Spanner (the prosecution of...
A talk followed by a discussion facilitated and led by Colin Clews, writer, activist and original member of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.
Event entry £3, payable on the door. Complimentary refreshments provided.
On the face of it, the 1980s doesn’t seem like the best decade for queer people in the UK. Against a background of sustained police harassment and media homophobia, we experienced the emergence of HIV/AIDS, the trial of Gay’s the Word, Operation Spanner (the prosecution of gay men for having consensual sex in private) and, of course, Section 28, which derided queer families as ‘pretend family relationships’.
And yet, by the end of that decade, we’d also achieved significant gains. Our profile – and participation – in areas such as film, television, literature and music had increased immensely. Various elements of our own communities - our media, our social scene, our support and advocacy organisations, also grew significantly. And we were no longer alone in fighting for queer rights: they were finally on the Labour Party policy platform (even if the national leadership was incredibly reluctant to follow through on it); trades unions increasingly took up our fight and increasing numbers of local councils introduced anti-discrimination policies and programmes.
Triumph in the face of adversity? Or just sheer coincidence?
Colin Clews has been writing about 80s queer life and activism in his blog Gay in the 80s (www.gayinthe80s.com) for the past four years. He will give an overview of events that occurred during that decade then lead a discussion on their role in queer history. Input from the audience is greatly encouraged.
