Social & Leisure
Cottaging and Cruising
Cottaging, from the Polari slang for Public Toilet. Cruising, slang. Meaning to look for sex. Historically for many gay men cottaging and cruising were the only way they could meet other gay men, not only for sex but also for friendship. For ma...
West Midlands Lesbian and Gay Switchboard
West Midlands Lesbian and Gay Switchboard was set up in Birmingham in 1975 (see Setting Up Switchboard) and has run continuously ever since, staffed by a committed team of volunteers. ...
Birmingham Pride
Birmingham hosted the first Birmingham Pride festival in 1997 and has held the event annually since. The first event was organised by a group of business and community volunteers called the Birmingham Triangle CommitteeThe roots of the event can be t...
The Nightingale
Opened in 1967, at 40 years old, The Nightingale, or Gale, is the oldest surviving gay venture in the city. It has a special place in the city's history as it was set up as much as a community venture as a commercial one, a place run for gay people b...
Bars and Clubs
Pubs, bars and clubs have always played an important part in the social life of gay men and women. Until 1967 gay men and women met in tolerant bars, but were often moved on by the police or eventually moved on by the landlords. After 1967 exclusiv...
Community groups and organisations
Numerous groups have grown from the lesbian and gay community since the late 60s, including ones which are political, social, support, health, interest or activity based. Some are informal, some more structured, delivering services to the community. ...
Cafes
In the 1950s and 60s coffee bars and cafes were as popular meeting places as pubs and bars, due to restrictive licensing laws. Notable cafes included the ornate Kardomah on New Street, El Torro by Colunnade Passage, the Tow Rope on Broad Street and t...
Changing Gay Scene
The gay scene in Birmingham has gone from being a secretive twilight world of subterranean bars and back street clubs, to one which proudly boasts its existence with pavement cafes, rainbow flags and adverts in the previously homophobic press....
Women's access to bars
Pre 1960s Prior to the 1960s, and well into the 1970s there appears to have been very little opportunity indeed for lesbians to get together openly in a social or public space. All the bars noted as being popular with the gay crowd in the 40s and 50...
Women's Liberation Movement
The Women's Liberation Movement, or Women's Movement, or feminism, is very closely linked with many lesbians' lives, particularly those coming to recognise or define themselves as lesbian during the 1970s and 1980s. There are so many contributions ...
Gay, Lesbian and Womens press and publications
Over the years numerous national and local publications have come and gone which are produced by, and aimed at lesbians, gay men, and women (in the context of the Women's Liberation Movement). These have often been an invaluable source of informatio...
Internet
The Internet has revolutionised the way people communicate, interact and meet. Since the mid 90s with the abundance of cheap home computers and improved speed and access to the internet a proliferation of online dating, chat and meeting places have s...
Places men meet for sex
Historically gay men have met in many places other than bars to socialise and find sex, although illegal many men met in parks and lay-bys (Cruising), in public toilets (Cottaging) and even illicitly Cinemas. At a time when homosexuality was illegal...
Lesbians and gay men and sport
Lesbians and sportThe stereotype of the 'sporty lesbian' has some grounding in reality. Contributors talk about the 'sporty' types, alongside butch and femme. Lesbians who were 'sporty' or seen as 'tomboys' found it easier to blend in to this environ...
Women's venues
Because of the somewhat mixed welcome or acceptance at gay bars, and because of an explicit preference for women only space, women started organising their own women's venues women's events and women's discos, on ad hoc or regular basis....
Lesbian and Gay Community Centres
In February 1976 a group of about a dozen people began regular meetings to discuss and plan the setting up of a gay community centre in Birmingham. They were drawn from all the gay groups operating in the city and from the commercial gay scene.A buil...
Gay Youth Groups
Birmingham has been home to several gay Youth Groups over the years, from early groups based out of the two Lesbian and Gay Community Centres to other groups which have met at diverse locations such as Nechells Green community centre in the early 90s...
Wolverhampton Scene 1960s
Wolverhampton has had an active gay and club scene for many years, at times in the 70s and 80s more inclusive than Birmingham's. The Gay Flamingo was one of the earliest clubs and the Silver Web owned by Norman and Betty Webb was a regular haunt of m...