queer story 10
~~~~~~ Q U E E R S T O R Y ~~~~~~
thirty-five pence
issue ten
aug '19
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{{{ A Brief Letter from the Editor }}}
Today was my first proper trip to Islington's Pride, the LGBTQ+ archive that me and a couple of fellow queer writers are visiting to come up with some new pieces of work (we're also spending some time at the ruckus! archive) more on that in a later issue! The archive holds material donated by LGBTQ+ organisations like the Central Station pub and London Gay Switchboard, as well as individuals and the books of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell knicked from Islington Library and returned a little altered... Photographs, meeting minutes, zines, badges and letters make up the collection which is slowly being catalogued. Today I was particularly taken with newsletters from the 80s and 90s...
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----- c e n t r a l s t a t i o n -----
(No2 or less)
I'm still in the early stages of researching but already I'm struck by how removed I feel from any sense of "community" -- the closest I probably have is Lesbian Twitter Discourse™ which can feel fleeting and alienating but which do and can trip over into IRL friendship. I don't attend any queer groups and it strikes me that I hardly know any other queers the generation above me, I couldn't name any of the other queers on my Estate. The Central Station newsletter is bursting with queer groups to join. Here I jotted down a few:
North London Bridge Club
The London Blues (all uniforms welcome except Nazis)
Gay Board Games Club
New Beginners (group for young queer people)
Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement
Roman Catholics
Stepping Out (coming out support group)
Monday Group (a lobby group who then have a quiz after)
Gay Skinheads
S&M Bisexuals
Stonewall FC
Rainbow Support (group supporting men whose partners have passed away)
Transgender London
Star Trek
Look, I'm sure this was far from a utopia, I'm sure these groups argued and fell out. But reading the newsletters there's a sense of excitement, of in-jokes and running gags. They take a jovial tone and are always calling out for new groups to be hosted at the pub. The newsletter starts as two sides of A4 and by the third year they're full-on zines with adverts and listing, with a circulation of 3,000. It's impressive how two people can create a community out of a pub and a willingness to provide a safe space for all (and a Sunday Roast for £2.50) **************************************************************************
<<< L E S B I A N P R O P O G A N D A >>>
from the London Lesbian Newsletters, 1982-3
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### L O V E T O V E ###
In other queer news, LOVE TOVE, a zine (editied by me!) celebrating the work and life of Tove Jansson is...
!! OUT NOW !! and !! AVAILABLE TO BUY ONLINE !!
Tove Jansson is best known as the creator of the Moomins but she was also a writer, painter, illustrator, satirist, radical and total queer icon. Most of you know I'm a bit obsessed with her and I found other brilliant people who are too and put those obsessions down in a beautiful 48pp, full-colour illustrated zine which you can purchase for just five english pounds ;)
It'll even be available in some brick & mortar shops by next week, so swing by, Second Shelf & Housmans in London, News From Nowhere in Liverpool and Category Is in Glasgow, to grab yourself a copy!
Thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered already <3
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and finally agony aunts offer the most sound of lesbian advice:
from London Lesbian Newsletter
have you got woes that just won't go away?
send your heart-felt queries to thetinynarrative@gmail.com
and we'll do our best to answer them
(or at least be a sympathetic ear in the void that is the internet)
<3 <3 <3
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queer story is an ongoing narrative on coming out and being part of the queer community
If you have a tiny narrative to share please get in touch at thetinynarrative@gmail.com