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Memories by Garry Jones

Coming Out : A Closeted Scene

Garry first came out in the Nightingale. It was his first gay bar/club and he saw the act of going there as his coming out. "You have to come out to yourself before you come out to other people and in those days it wasn't as free to be gay. It wasn't...

Getting Into The Nightingale

"They asked you questions to make sure you knew it was a gay bar. They were sussing you out because there weren't many places then." The Nightingale then was men only. Lesbians were not allowed in and Garry had friends who were refused entry. There w...

Memories of Thorp Street

Garry talked about the Hi-Energy music at the Nightingale which was a real enlightenment. There was a thrill in "just seeing people like yourself. They'd talk to you. It wasn't all about ... well, a lot of it was obviously... copping off... but you m...

Working at the Nightingale

Garry worked at the new Nightingale when he came to Birmingham as a mature student. He worked there not for the money but to make friends. (From 1994 onwards the Nightingale was in its current premises in Kent Street). Women were allowed in at this t...

AIDS provoked a backlash

Garry made reference to friends and acquaintances who have died and talks about the impact of AIDS and HIV on the community in terms of the backlash the virus provoked - with gay people being seen as "diseased" and "condemned by God". "There was me j...