Showing 5 results

Authority record
Black Lesbian and Gay Centre
Corporate body · c.1985-c.1995

Based in southeast London, the Black Lesbian and Gay Centre challenged racism within the mainstream LGBT community, homophobia and erasure within Black communities, HIV/AIDS, Thatcherite politics and the rise in hostility toward LGBT people, and sexism. They provided advice and counselling, a helpline, a library, and other resources.

The Black Gay Group applied for funding from Greater London Council to open a centre, and in 1985 they received a GLC grant which enabled them to do so. After the GLC was abolished in 1986, the Centre's funding situation became ever more precarious, primarily coming from donations and membership fees. Blackout, a black lesbian and gay magazine, printed its first issue in 1986 providing a forum for the many black gay and lesbian groups that had emerged in London.

By 1995 the BLGC was blighted by insurmountable funding and resourcing issues, thus the Centre wound down it operations around this time.

Capital Gay
Corporate body · 1981-1995

Capital Gay was a free, weekly London newspaper established by Graham McKerrow and Michael Mason. It was priced at 20p when first published but became free six months later, and went on to be Britain's longest-running free gay newspaper. It was initially distributed only in London but was later also distributed in Brighton. Its readership eventually grew to around 20,000.

Corporate body · 1985-2016

Project for Advice, Counselling and Education (PACE) was a London-based charity promoting the health and wellbeing of LGBT people, through the provision of free or low-cost counselling, therapy, groupwork, advocacy, youthwork, employment and other services. Established in 1985, PACE became a vital support network for many living in London and beyond - particularly in the context of Section 28, the homophobic law prohibiting the 'promotion of homosexuality'. PACE dissembled in 2016.

Corporate body · c.1983-2004

Lesbian and Gay Employment Rights (LAGER) was a charity organisation which advised lesbians and gay men experiencing employment discrimination connected to their sexuality. They also conducted and published research into homophobic discrimination in the workplace and recruitment practices, including a report which quantified the forms and frequency of homophobic discrimination as it was experienced by their participants.

Funded by the Association of London Government (now London Councils), LAGER ceased to exist when its funding was rescinded in 2003.

Corporate body · 1990-[?c.late 1990s]

Formed in 1990, Black Lesbians and Gays Against Media Homophobia (BLGAMH) was a coalition of queer Black activists including Ted Brown, the veteran GLF campaigner. The group led several campaigns against homophobia and racism in the media, including calling out the homophobic representation of lesbian and gay members of the Black community in The Voice magazine.