Unexpected London - afternoon
Jul. 9th, 2017 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lovingbothDoing that had taken longer than I expected, so it wasn't going to be possible - annoyingly - to get down to Soho Square to see (and photograph) Marcus in action.
OK, there's the Gay UK - Love, Law and Liberty exhibition at the BL, what's that like?
A mix of the very interesting (for example, one of Kenneth Williams' diaries, open at the date of Joe Orton's death and Kenneth Halliwell's suicide) and the absolutely appalling (the bi-erasure).
I'll publish the tick sheet on bifurious.co.uk later, but somewhere that uses 'gay' and 'homosexual(ity)' about a hundred times has precisely two uses of the B-word.
One's at the very start, where they have it as 'bi-sexual' FFS, and the other is in the description of who Diva magazine is (supposed to be) for: 'lesbian, bisexual and queer women'. Of course, the first issue that's on display says lesbian four times on the cover and the others not at all...
Another display actually says that the woman in question 'enjoyed affairs' with men and women but refuses to use the B-word. WTF?!?
If I still lived in London, I'd be leafleting it.
..
One of the things that's been on my 'it'd be nice to do' list for a couple of years has been doing an audio tour of bi community London. So given the nice weather and the bike hire, I thought I'd get a few sites in.
That ended up including..
London Friend (home to the London Bisexual Group for many years);
the wine bar and the pub nearby people often went to afterwards;
Central Station (home to SM-Bi and several other things);
The Scala (one of two cinemas that showed bi/queer stuff regularly);
what was The Bell (gay pub that at one point became the venue for people who wanted to meet up on a Friday but not at the LBG);
what was The Fallen Angel (middle home for the LBG);
what was the London Lesbian & Gay Centre (had a bi ban at one point, venue for the second BiCon - amusingly, given the ban it's now called The Fence);
what was the old HQ of THT (bi-erasure, mostly);
University of London Union (BiCon in 1991, BiFest) including, because it was open for Marxism Today, inside*;
Mary Ward Centre (BiCon in 1986);
British Monomarks (we used to have BM Bi and BM BiCon as postal addresses);
what was the sorting office that the bi phoneline had a PO Box at (right by the BBC's more famous one!);
Blue Posts (Bisexual Underground for most of its life);
Drill Hall (bi and queer theatre plus, I think, a home for the London Bi Women's Group);
Hamilton House (home of the old Health Education Authority - erasure plus main meeting place for Bisexuals' Action on Sexual Health).
I then planned to go to Heaven, but it proved impossible to get near on a bike. Soho was packed and the parade (spit) was still arriving in Trafalgar Square with no sign of finishing at 5:30. Even getting to a cycle station that had a space to dock was difficult and I needed two 'it's full / not open' extensions before getting to one that would allow me to dock and get another 30 mins hire.
I might also have done the Royal Festival Hall (some BCN meetings plus at least one meetup group).
As well as that, I know of the bar in one of the entrances to Euston (a late LBWG venue). I think they also used the Women's Library (now moved?), a bar in Soho, and..?
I looked for, but couldn't spot because of a market, the venue for the old Paradise club which is where the BiCon 1991 social was, on a road off Upper St, Islington. I didn't go as far as the PO Box for the LBG after giving up BM Bi.
Outside my range for the day and I wasn't sure of the exact address were Partners south of the river, (Bisexuals at Partners social group) and Ted's Place near Hammersmith (where Bisexuals at Partners moved to), plus the Doggett's Coat and Badge by Blackfriars bridge (assorted BiFests) and the bar in Earl's Court the LBG had a birthday party at (its 15th?).
Outside the hire area, there's The Factory (first BiCon), Hampstead Meeting House (BiCon 1988), Kingston Uni, the Woolwich campus of Greenwich, and UEL (more recent ones), the LARC community centre in East London (BiFests), the Eurolink Centre in Brixton (Pride Trust when it became LGBT), and the flats that housed the physical kit that made the bi phoneline work.
I'd have to look up the venues for The Fence-sitters Ball (I can remember one, roughly, but there were quite a few of them). I might have the address for the bars that were the venue for the socials for BiCon in 1986 ('Merlin's Cave') and 1988 (some pub, I think I have the flyer somewhere). There was the interview for the BASH Peer Ed Project interview (THT or the HIV Project off Tottenham Court Road) and the PEP weekend for London (north of Oxford St).
Where did Greedy happen?
Where else am I missing?
* * I'd wondered why the SWP had a couple of stalls outside - and shouted 'rape apologists!' - as I'd gone past earlier. There were far too many of their stalls to do that at all of them.
OK, there's the Gay UK - Love, Law and Liberty exhibition at the BL, what's that like?
A mix of the very interesting (for example, one of Kenneth Williams' diaries, open at the date of Joe Orton's death and Kenneth Halliwell's suicide) and the absolutely appalling (the bi-erasure).
I'll publish the tick sheet on bifurious.co.uk later, but somewhere that uses 'gay' and 'homosexual(ity)' about a hundred times has precisely two uses of the B-word.
One's at the very start, where they have it as 'bi-sexual' FFS, and the other is in the description of who Diva magazine is (supposed to be) for: 'lesbian, bisexual and queer women'. Of course, the first issue that's on display says lesbian four times on the cover and the others not at all...
Another display actually says that the woman in question 'enjoyed affairs' with men and women but refuses to use the B-word. WTF?!?
If I still lived in London, I'd be leafleting it.
..
One of the things that's been on my 'it'd be nice to do' list for a couple of years has been doing an audio tour of bi community London. So given the nice weather and the bike hire, I thought I'd get a few sites in.
That ended up including..
London Friend (home to the London Bisexual Group for many years);
the wine bar and the pub nearby people often went to afterwards;
Central Station (home to SM-Bi and several other things);
The Scala (one of two cinemas that showed bi/queer stuff regularly);
what was The Bell (gay pub that at one point became the venue for people who wanted to meet up on a Friday but not at the LBG);
what was The Fallen Angel (middle home for the LBG);
what was the London Lesbian & Gay Centre (had a bi ban at one point, venue for the second BiCon - amusingly, given the ban it's now called The Fence);
what was the old HQ of THT (bi-erasure, mostly);
University of London Union (BiCon in 1991, BiFest) including, because it was open for Marxism Today, inside*;
Mary Ward Centre (BiCon in 1986);
British Monomarks (we used to have BM Bi and BM BiCon as postal addresses);
what was the sorting office that the bi phoneline had a PO Box at (right by the BBC's more famous one!);
Blue Posts (Bisexual Underground for most of its life);
Drill Hall (bi and queer theatre plus, I think, a home for the London Bi Women's Group);
Hamilton House (home of the old Health Education Authority - erasure plus main meeting place for Bisexuals' Action on Sexual Health).
I then planned to go to Heaven, but it proved impossible to get near on a bike. Soho was packed and the parade (spit) was still arriving in Trafalgar Square with no sign of finishing at 5:30. Even getting to a cycle station that had a space to dock was difficult and I needed two 'it's full / not open' extensions before getting to one that would allow me to dock and get another 30 mins hire.
I might also have done the Royal Festival Hall (some BCN meetings plus at least one meetup group).
As well as that, I know of the bar in one of the entrances to Euston (a late LBWG venue). I think they also used the Women's Library (now moved?), a bar in Soho, and..?
I looked for, but couldn't spot because of a market, the venue for the old Paradise club which is where the BiCon 1991 social was, on a road off Upper St, Islington. I didn't go as far as the PO Box for the LBG after giving up BM Bi.
Outside my range for the day and I wasn't sure of the exact address were Partners south of the river, (Bisexuals at Partners social group) and Ted's Place near Hammersmith (where Bisexuals at Partners moved to), plus the Doggett's Coat and Badge by Blackfriars bridge (assorted BiFests) and the bar in Earl's Court the LBG had a birthday party at (its 15th?).
Outside the hire area, there's The Factory (first BiCon), Hampstead Meeting House (BiCon 1988), Kingston Uni, the Woolwich campus of Greenwich, and UEL (more recent ones), the LARC community centre in East London (BiFests), the Eurolink Centre in Brixton (Pride Trust when it became LGBT), and the flats that housed the physical kit that made the bi phoneline work.
I'd have to look up the venues for The Fence-sitters Ball (I can remember one, roughly, but there were quite a few of them). I might have the address for the bars that were the venue for the socials for BiCon in 1986 ('Merlin's Cave') and 1988 (some pub, I think I have the flyer somewhere). There was the interview for the BASH Peer Ed Project interview (THT or the HIV Project off Tottenham Court Road) and the PEP weekend for London (north of Oxford St).
Where did Greedy happen?
Where else am I missing?
* * I'd wondered why the SWP had a couple of stalls outside - and shouted 'rape apologists!' - as I'd gone past earlier. There were far too many of their stalls to do that at all of them.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 02:43 pm (UTC)Heh :-)
Greedy was at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club the time I went.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 02:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 03:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 03:23 pm (UTC)Was the First Out cafe used for anything?
There was the 'bunch of small offices' like the Eurolink Centre in Mount Pleasant that had several organisations including the Organisation for Lesbian & Gay Action that was a predecessor to Stonewall.
Speaking of which, it's a sign of how much Stonewall have done for us that I forgot they've had several offices.
OLGA came out of a London conference in 1986 that had a couple of bi people were part of organising.
I'm trying to remember the location for the ILGA Europe conference in London c1992 where UNISON delegates insisted 'women' = 'lesbian'.
Was there at least one BiONIC meeting at Central Station? Where else was?
The Metro Centre in Greenwich has had bi chief execs.
I was thinking that I'm aware that my list has the stuff I went to / organised when I went 'oh, doh, the church in Kentish Town that was the venue for the second Intl BiCon in 1992...' :)
(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 03:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 03:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 04:18 pm (UTC)I did have a bitter laugh at the page in Queer: A Graphic History with 'We're here, we're queer, we're marching at the rear!' which is what happened when we didn't do that.
Clapham Common, but I suspect the fading showing where has gone now :) I might have site maps in a box somewhere, but I certainly have photos of both.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-10 12:36 pm (UTC)FWIW, the 2005 BiFest was the only one at LARC.
At least for 1999 - 2001, the regular Friday Night Drunk Bisexuals' haunt was the Popstarz Liquid Lounge, now Big Chill House. Unofficial, obviously, but of large cultural significance to a fair chunk of us.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 03:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 04:21 pm (UTC)Bi-Monthly will have where the launch for Bisexual Lives was.
Any other known launch venues?
(no subject)
Date: 2017-07-09 04:38 pm (UTC)Pride festivals with a bi presence also included Brockwell Park (got mentioned in The Guardian when Charlotte Raven wasn't impressed with what she saw of the stall there one year) and Victoria Park in East London (photos exist).