Gay Centre a magnet for coming out process
1987
In the mid 1980s, Steve recalls the Lesbian and Gay Community Centre Aston, on Corporation Street. “That was closed because it lost funding from West Midlands County Council, giving credence to my hypothesis that the West Midlands is conservative with a small ‘c’. As a community centre it never particularly worked, as with many front line services for lesbians and gay men, it became a magnet for people using it for their coming out process, rather than for provision of the service. It never felt like a particularly resilient place that I wanted to go to; I think there was a youth group".
Steve contrasts the Lesbian and Gay Community Centre Aston, with the
London Lesbian and Gay Centre in Farringdon. “I used to go there all
the time in my late teens and early twenties, just to sit alone and be
gay drinking tea and eating vegetarian quiche. It felt materially
different to any of the services on offer in Birmingham."
Contributed by: Steve Bedser, 41