Memories by Graham Allen
GLF discos were Health Robinson affairs, 1973+
"These were really Heath Robinson affairs, like taking in our own record players in and setting them up. They were in the Shakespeare Pub (Summer Row) in Birmingham. We used to hire an upstairs room. It was very mixed and it was not like the gay scen...
Booking Digbeth Civic Hall for GLF, 1973
Graham recalls booking the Civic Hall in Digbeth for the first GLF dance in 1973. "I went to book the venue for the first dance; it was run by the City Council. There was a building called Bush House on Broad Street (now demolished), that was where E...
GLF National Conference 1972
The 1972 Gay Liberation Front National Conference was held at the chaplaincy of Birmingham University. "We invited GLF to come to Birmingham; we wanted them here. A lot of London queens did not like having to come to Birmingham for the conference. It...
GLF Marches and Gay Sunshine event early 70s
"While on one of the GLF marches, I was carrying one end of a banner that said 'Gay People Support Troops Out of Ireland'. An Irish lady in the crowd attacked me with her umbrella, while I was walking down New Street, shouting that I was an abominat...
GLF leafleting the gay scene
"We used to leaflet the gay scene about political things, we had tactics around this as we were often threatened (by other gay people) and we had been beaten up. We used to have to find a route through the pub, hand out the leaflets and get out the o...
AIDS Epidemic, The Early Years
Graham describes the period of the early AIDS epidemic as a period of maturation, "Incredible stories of friendship, companionship and support. That time made gay relationships much more serious, not just hedonistic, it was also about being responsib...
Gender Fucks - a political statement
"I remember there was one guy whom used to come, and when the GLF conference was on in Birmingham in 1974, it was the time of 'Gender Fucks' so often we would dress very strangely, it was not ambiguous, it was not drag and did not pretend to be. It w...