Meeting women at the Gateways, London
1969
B: “I spent several years trying to decide if I was lesbian or
bisexual. I had been involved with women in short term relationships
dating somebody for a couple of months and I had lived with one woman
for 8 - 9 months. The main place I met women was The Gateways. The
first woman I slept with in America was 10 years older than me and
British and she had talked about 'The Gates', and so shortly after
arriving in London, I remember going. I knew it was members only and
therefore I wasn’t sure how you got in. I remember going and waiting
outside until a couple of women came by and asking and them taking me
downstairs. That night you could get in as a guest for 5 shillings; it
was 2/6 for members and a pint was a shilling. I came as a guest
several times until Smithy of Jean and Smithy said ‘Oh come on, you
keep showing up here, it’s about time you stopped being a guest isn’t
it? You’d better be a member.’ Kenric (Kensington and Richmond lesbian
group) was just starting, so I went along to Kenric, which was
terribly earnest at the time. There was the photography club that got
up at 5:00 am to go and take pictures of Hampstead Heath, and the Derby
and Joan club for women who had been together over 10 years. I remember
going to various social things then. There was also a club called The
Paddington and the Robin Hood which was an after hours club which
people sometimes went on to. The Robin Hood had a fairly substantial
number of women who were prostitutes with their lesbian lovers, and
also a certain number of male/female couples. So it was definitely a
rougher and seedier club than The Gates.”
“Then I got married in 1973, and had a child in 1974. The marriage
split up in 1975 I was about 25 and Sam was a year old and it was at
that point that I came up to Birmingham”.
Contributed by: Betty Hagglund, 50