CHAPTER 21.

The legacy of the revolting gays: Ian Townson conducts Queer Walking Tours of Brixton, the play 'On Railton Road' and all the other manifestations of this history

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Revolting Gays Legacy

21st Century Celebrations of the 70s’ Brixton Gays

On this page:

1. Queer Walking Tour of Brixton

2. Revolting Gays Website Launch Party

3. Zines

4. ‘On Railton Road‘

5. GLF AT 50: THE ART OF PROTEST Exhibition

Queer Walking Tour of Brixton

(There are 13 images in the gallery below)

*Explaining what can and cannot be done in public if you are a gay man*

*Explaining why it was important to come out publicly as gay*

October 2021 Walking tour group outside of 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning building in Railton Road. This mural was done to remember 1981 Brixton Uprising. Find out more on Brixton Buzz fundraising page for the project

*Pointing to the 'Nuclear Dawn' mural before moving on to the next place to visit*

*Visiting the site of the demolished gay centre*

*Next to 121 Railton road which was formally known as the 121 Centre and is now residential flats*

*Ian pointing across the road to the site of the gay squats*

*Inside of the still gay shared garden started by the squatters*

Photo credits Derek Evans (derekjevans@aol.com) and Ian Giles (www.iangiles.co.uk)

The original tour was only meant to be a one off event tracing the course of the submerged river Effra with occasional references to one or two gay places. I have now completed five tours and take in places in and around Railton Road especially the South London Gay Community Centre, the Brixton gay community squats (now Brixton Housing Co-op) and several radical and revolutionary groups that were also around in the 1970s and early 1980s. These include three Women's Centres, The Race Today Collective, Brixton Advice Centre, The People's News Service, Bangladesh Food Co-op, Icebreakers radical gay counselling group and a variety of gay landmark sites taking in all the public houses we were thrown out of for 'coming out' as gay.

The tour along with the archives at the Bishopsgate Institute have prompted a proliferating interest in the Brixton gay community of that period including podcasts, videos, theatrical productions and art exhibitions. Recent enquiries include a possible BBC documentary and more tours have been requested!

On my first tour I harangued the crowd using a megaphone. Not the best way to win friends and influence people. The subsequent tours were a lot more audience friendly.

On this more recent tour (October 2021) I was joined by actors from the very successful play On Railton Road. Performed by Brixton Pansies, directed by Ian Giles and scripted by Louis Rembges the play reveals in shouty, knockabout fashion, but not without moments of intimacy, the lives, loves and political controversies within the Brixton gay squatted community in the 1970s. The centre piece is Mr. Punch's Nuclear Family one of the plays written and performed by Brixton Faeries back in the day. The ingenious use of puppetry added to the brilliance of the performances.

"The Queers Make History tour of Brixton is a must for anyone interested in the history of gay radical politics in the 70’s. We walked the streets with tour leader Ian Townson from Herne Hill Station down Railton Road (known as ‘The Front Line’) to Atlantic Road in the heart of Brixton’s market, and saw the squatted houses and shops, or their sites (some were demolished and redeveloped by Lambeth Council and others were destroyed in the 1981 Brixton riots), that were the seed bed of gay political activism, (and many other political and social campaigns), which contributed directly to the rights we have today.
Ian proudly pointed out the four pubs that he and others were thrown out of and banned from, for daring to openly display their homosexuality – hugging and/or kissing as a greeting, holding each others nail-polished hands and wearing ‘provocative’ gay badges.
We learned about involvement in the Gay Liberation Front, the many demonstrations, and campaigns like refusal to pay rates (council tax), which landed a number of people in court.
Ian also spoke about the beginnings of The Brixton Faeries – a theatre group who put on sketches and plays anywhere they could from people’s front rooms to the fringe theatre circuit.
The most interesting part of the tour for us was the site on Railton Road (now demolished) of the first gay community centre in the UK. It was a squatted shop and became an important social and political hub. In the adjacent courtyard of St Georges Mansions, (another squat), Ian read out the names of many people who had been involved in the70’s gay community, and had died of AIDS – a poignant moment for sure. A very diverse group and it was great to meet and talk with people."
— Mary Evans Young, Derek Evans

Revolting Gays Website Launch Party

(There are 58 images in the gallery below)

In June 2022 we had a website launch party at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning Centre, which we perfectly aligned with the newly opened solo exhibition of Pearl Alcock’s work.

The launch party had many familiar faces of the original revolting gays, along with newer friends who were their to celebrate the website and the history. We exhibited a number of Joe Lawn’s watercolours of the squats, and sold prints of them as well as Colin Lieven’s re-created historic badges.

Ian speechifying at the website launch event [Thank you to Andry Kirby who filmed this]

Zines

(There are 6 images in the gallery below)

To further the reach of this history Joe Lawn created some small zines to introduce more people find out about the website. We have left these available for collection at the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre. As well as this in autumn 2022 Ian put a bunch through the doors of flats and houses on Railton road, particularly in properties that were previously squatted.

Click here to see the zine

‘On Railton Road’

(There are 18 images in the gallery below)

‘On Railton Road’ was a play performed in 2021 about the history of the gay squatters and their community centre in 1970’s Brixton. The play had scenes which alternated between this history and scenes taken from Brixton Faeries own ‘Punch and Judy’s Nuclear Family’.

Above is the cast of On Railton Road in full flood. The cut and thrust of life, love and politics among members of the Brixton gay community was creatively portrayed by the players as was the Patriarchal tyranny of the swazzle-voiced Mr. Punch who killed his nuclear family and savoured the ensuing consequences.

Play directed by Ian Giles and written by Louis Rembges

Photo credit Rob Harris

GLF AT 50: THE ART OF PROTEST Exhibition
19th October 2021

(There are 5 images in the gallery below)

L to R: Ian Townson (South - Brixton gay community), Nettie Pollard of the Women's Commune, Ted Brown (North - Bounds Green), Andrew Lumsden (East - Bethnal Rouge), Stuart Feather (West - Colville Terrace) and Dan de la Motte chairing.

The photographs show inspirational stories told by some of the founders and pioneers of four London gay communes.

Above a plaque to Mary Wollstonecraft installed in 2020. Below the plaque is James Cronin (who took the photos of the panel)

Held at the Newington Green Meeting House and curated by Dan de la Motte, the exhibition showcased the paintings, sculptures and instillations of different LGBT+ artists.

Also talks and discussions by groups and individuals were held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF).