You are not logged in. Signup to contribute or login! Not recieved your activation email? Click here to send it again.

Gay Centre a magnet for coming out process

1987

In the mid 1980s, Steve recalls the , on Corporation Street. “That was closed because it lost funding from , 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 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 , with the 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

Click here to read the full interview with this contributor