Double Trouble – The Guardian, 18th February 1986

Published in the paper's 'Open Space' section, this was my reintroduction to the UK's bi community.

At the end of August 1981, I had just arrived as a new student at Reading University for the start of 'freshers week'. Browsing – rather than buying! – a copy of London listings magazine Time Out something[1]Looking for the relevant copy in a library, it turns out that no issues of Time Out were published in the four months before mid-September that year, thanks to a strike over the magazine abandoing … Continue reading in the Student Union's shop, I noticed that the first meeting of the London Bisexual Group would be at gay nightclub 'Heaven' on Tuesday, 1st September. Read more

Notes

Notes
1Looking for the relevant copy in a library, it turns out that no issues of Time Out were published in the four months before mid-September that year, thanks to a strike over the magazine abandoing its 'equal pay for everyone' ethos. Some staff quit to start City Limits and keep those principles, but their first issue was in October. It also turns out that Time Out didn't have a 'lesbian and gay' section then either.

The 'Chronos being Chronos' bi-erasing 1998 Pride questionnaire

Chronos was one of the many names of the company that published lesbian and gay newspapers and magazines such as Boyz and, between buying it from its original founders in the early 90s and later selling it to the 'publishers of Gay Times and owners of an adult shop' Millivres in 2005, the Pink Paper.

After the failure of Pride Events UK, the bunch of chancers that tried to run a commercial Pride event in London in July 1998, Chronos's Kelvin Sollis and possibly its co-owner, David Brindle, did the same maths that PEUK had done and discovered that running a commercial Pride event could be very profitable. Read more

The design for the bi 'tent' at London's Lesbian and Gay Pride 1994 and 1995 festivals

As mentioned in my post on what lead up to London's Pride event changing its name to 'Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride' in 1996, until that happened, the London Bisexual Group used to pay around £100 for a stall in the festival's "marketplace".

In 1993, the minutes of the LBG executive suggest that the group paid for two 2m x 2m stall spaces at the festival in Brockwell Park. At the moment, I cannot if a supplied table was supplied or if we took a pair of folding table ourselves.

In 1994, the cost of what we wanted – again in Brockwell Park – was going to be £150, but this was found from another source..[1]The minutes call it a 'grant', but don't say who it was from. Read more

Notes

Notes
1The minutes call it a 'grant', but don't say who it was from.

Bisexuals at Pride in the 1990s

For LGBT History Month in 2011, there was some actual bi-bi-bi content! At the Conway Hall in Central London, three of us gave talks: I can remember Sue George being another participant, but I can't currently remember the third person.

Front of the postcard advertising "20th Century Bi" talk - the title in bi flag colours over a b/w version of a BiCon group photoFront of the postcard advertising "20th Century Bi" talk - the title in bi flag colours over a b/w version of a BiCon group photo

The photo on the front of the flyer / postcard advertising the event is a BiCon group photo..[1]I can't currently remember which year it's from, but it must be 1996 or later – I'm just under the '0' of '20th' with a beard.

Rear of the postcard advertising "20th Century Bi" talk - the detail of where and when etc

.. and on the back, it turns out that the third speaker and I aren't named on the flyer.

Mine was on the bi community's involvement in London's Pride event and this and the following post is recreating and expanding that talk from the photos I scanned for it… Read more

Notes

Notes
1I can't currently remember which year it's from, but it must be 1996 or later – I'm just under the '0' of '20th' with a beard.