Homophobic response to County Council grant
1987
“However there was again absolute outrage, this was depriving other worthy organisations such as the Boy Scouts, of funds. At that time we were just starting to get the hysteria about AIDS and it fed on the prejudices of people, so again the letters pages were overwhelmingly hostile and the editorials weren’t sympathetic at all, there were so many other worthy causes, ‘Why should this group of degenerates get it?’. There were local elections in 1984 including condemnation of gay issues and the Tories were running a homophobic line. By the time the Centre was reaching it’s end, local Conservatives, including Jill Knight, were getting hysterical about gay issues, Section 28 was looming, there was a lot of opposition to anything seen as promoting homosexuality. You had the example of other cities like Manchester, Stoke on Trent and London which had financed lesbian and gay community centres and the belief that Birmingham should not go down that route. Birmingham City Council was not very sympathetic, although the County Council was.”
Contributed by: Lyn David Thomas, 47