BLACK HISTORY MONTH SPECIAL

in the family CELEBRATING THE BUILDERS OF BLACK GAY COMMUNITIES Preface The work contained in this book reflects the experiences, pains, and joys of the contributors. As with the best parties, you seldom get to invite everyone you wanted to, or not everyone can make it, but we hope that this is a celebration that will continue for many years to come. Whether you are a member of the heterosexual Black community, the white gay community, or any other community, we welcome you: explore, experience and learn. If you’re a Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered person: we celebrate you. As Black gay people, we claim and are claimed by two communities - the Black community and the gay community. The Black community often sees us as outsiders, although we are at every family gathering and have been part of every struggle. The gay community tends to be a white male enclave in which we are the unseen, although we aim to change that too. In producing this booklet, part of our mission is to reduce external and internal homophobia and to make Black gay people feel better about themselves and their sexuality. We feel that the time has come for everyone to recognise and celebrate the achievements of Black gay men and women. It is important that we are acknowledged as positive contributors to the culture and history of both Black people in the UK, and the wider gay community. Black gay communities are, and have been, an integral part of the struggle of Black people and gay people everywhere. This publication is produced by Big Up @ GMFA (Gay Men Fighting AIDS) for Black gay men and women and their heterosexual friends and supporters. It is a celebration of diversity, and in keeping with this spirit we have used images from a variety of sources. No assumptions should therefore be made about the sexuality or politics of the individuals featured; they are all our friends.

We thank all those who contributed a short story, poem, or photograph to this publication. We are also especially grateful to our team of volunteers who worked tirelessly to make this project possible. Main front & inside back cover photographs Ꭿ Terence Facey. Small front cover photographs Ꭿ Robert Taylor. Back cover photograph Ꭿ Charles Kwesi Sagoe.

Big Up @ GMFA Contents preface 2 Rotimi Fani Kayode 34 contents & key 3 Justin Fashanu 35 foreward 4 Steven Luckie 36 workshops 6 Oscar Lumley-Watson 37 Dirg Aaab-Richards 7 Robert Maragh 38 Ajamu 8 Valerie Mason-John AKA Queenie 39 Exist 9 David McAlmont 40 Lord Waheed Alli 10 Call Me 41 Mel B 11 Kobena Mercer 42 Allister Bain 12 Cyril I. Nri 43 Rikki Beadle Blair 13 Bill Morris 44 Linda Bellos 14 Simon Nelson 45 Big Up 15 Bruce Oldfield OBE 46 Reduce The Risk 1 16 Postcards from the edge 47 Big Up @ GMFA 17 Arthur Peters 48 Blackliners 18 Cardi Revere 49 BLAGAM 19 Vernal Scott 50 Walking Through My Fire 20 Labi Siffre 51 Paul Boakye 21 Dorothea Smartt 52 Topher Campbell 22 Robert Taylor 53 Dennis L. Carney 23 Ted Walker-Brown 54 Delroy Constantine-Simms 24 Martin Patrick Wallace 55 Jaye Davidson 25 Reduce The Risk 2 56 Terence Facey 26 Afro 57 Professor Stuart Hall 27 Selected Reading 59 Dispelling The Ghost 28 Useful Contacts 62 Isaac Julien 29 How to quit smoking 30 Clubs: past and present 31 Edited by Paul Boakye Club Flyers 32 Design: Offbeat Design The

Key fashion literature music visual arts performing arts

sport politics health scene organisations Foreword The scar on my wrist is a reminder of a time in my life when, at 16, death seemed more appealing to me than life itself. My only friend at the time seemed to be disco music and the fantasies in my head. Yet, from that experience I have learnt to love myself and to live ‘Our visibility as my life. My desire to die was prompted by Black gay men is homophobia in the Black community and fears what will help about how my parents and siblings would react reduce suicides to my sexuality. I am a different person today amongst our own and killing myself is not on my agenda. and help pave the I launched the People’s Group in 1985, a way towards our multi-racial group for gay men. The Group was an greater success in attempt to get below the superficial façade of the the future’ ‘gay community’ and to shed some light on our various cultures and backgrounds. It was a resounding success with an average attendance of 45 plus each week. I knew that we were offering something valuable to the participants … and then AIDS/HIV hit. During the relatively short lifetime of the Group, I became concerned about AIDS and the impact it was beginning to have on people around me. I don’t remember making a decision about getting involved, I just did, there was nothing more important to do with my life; that’s how it felt. So the last 17 years has been spent contributing to the HIV agenda in various guises. I’ve lost countless friends and two members of my immediate family to the disease, including a brother. HIV and racism have threatened to take away our achievements and I feel a responsibility to do something about it. I’ve always felt a responsibility to be visible and to make a difference in the world. Our visibility as Black gay men is what will help reduce suicides amongst our own and help pave the way towards our greater success in the future. Visibility and our continued existence and advancement go hand in hand in my book. With love as our goal, we will survive! Today my life is what I have designed it to be. I live well and have embraced an existence that reflects the essence of my ‘HIV and racism spirit and aspirations. Love is my goal and my concept have threatened of ‘God’ has a special meaning in my life. I have to take away our good reason to be proud, not just of my personal achievements achievements, but that of my Black gay brothers and and I feel a sisters who are doing great work in the arts, business, responsibility to law, music, medicine and everything else. We should do something all be proud. I also acknowledge and respect about it’ my brothers out there who are living with HIV and AIDS - keep on fighting, keep on living. We are all survivors of sorts.

Vernal Scott

Organisational Development Manager Brent Council, London, September 2001. workshops for gay men GMFA run a series of issues and skills based workshops throughout the year. Call for a complete listing. Details below are for upcoming workshops 2001 - 2002

Assertiveness for HIV+ve men 27 & 28 Oct, 17 Nov, 8 & 9 Dec (5 days) Cruising Skills 27 Oct (1 day) Skills For Gay Life 24 Nov, 1 & 8 Dec (3 days) Assertiveness for Gay Men 12 & 13 Jan, 2, 23 & 24 Feb (5 days) Safety Skills 26 Jan, 2 & 9 Feb (3days) Assertiveness for Gay Men 9 & 10 Feb, 2, 23 & 24 March (5 days) SM Sex 16, 23 & 24 Feb (3 days)

There is a new series of Basement Sessions planned... register your interest now.

To find out more about any of the workshops to register your interest or to book a place, call James on 020 7738 3712. Dirg Aaab-Richards b. 1956, London Dirg was one of the first active volunteer members of the London Gay Black Group. He attended the first ever meeting for Blackliners, and founded the 1984-85 Lesbian and Gay Society at Goldsmiths College. He was the Black Lesbian & Gay Centre (BLGC) Project’s first Black Gay Men’s Outreach and Development Worker 1985 - 1989. As part of his work for BLGC, he organised nation-wide poetry and performance events for (and personally accommodated both) poet Essex Hemphill (decd.) and musician Blackberri, using these events as vehicles to promote the visibility of Black gay men and lesbians. Along with colleagues, he was an active participant in the international campaign (with GLAAD - Gays and Lesbians Against Defamation) objecting to Buju Banton’s offensive record Boom Bye Bye and Shabba Ranks’ homophobic outburst on television programme The Word. By bringing an increasing cross-section of individuals together, Dirg has helped to facilitate the development of a Black gay and lesbian community that had never before enjoyed such visibility or cohesiveness. He has lent his voice to many initiatives and campaigns, and as a result, his social circle is wider and stronger than even he could have ever imagined. Ajamu b. 1965, Huddersfield

“My photographic practice and politics both emanate from a culture of otherness. My work challenges the bullshit in which those of us with culturally forbidden lives/desires are represented (or hidden) within Western society.” Ajamu is a photographer, cultural activist, and producer of Black queer arts festivals. Since 1990, his practice has explored the complex terrain of Black masculinity, same gender relationships, gender fuck and sadomasochism. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries, museums and alternative spaces throughout the world including New York, Sao Paulo, Berlin, London and Amsterdam. In 1993, he was a co-founder of Wickers and Bullers; Europe’s first commercially produced Black queer magazine. In 1996, he created The Black Perverts Network, a safer sex club for Black and Asian men into underwear and fetish gear.

In 2000, along with filmmaker/theatre director Topher Campbell, he launched rukus! (a Black queer arts organisation) at The I.C.A. as part of London’s Mardi Gras festivities, and in the same year he received an award for his services to the UK Black gay community from Blackliners. He is also co-founder of The Breakfast Club, a monthly group for Black men regardless of sexual preference. EXIST EXIST In order to Enables arisefrom theshadowsandcorners Enables astandandvoice marches, parades andthehomeland Remembrance oftheplantations, The knowledgeremains Within thelinkofskinandloins Remains myqueerness In theseaofmyblackness YFL FABIKUN FOLU BY

exist Lord Waheed Alli b. 1964, London Born in south London to a South American mechanic father and a West Indian nurse mother, Waheed Alli had just the right start in life to ensure playboy success in a very short space of time. Leaving his south London comprehensive at 16 and wisely ignoring his father’s advice to become a bus conductor, he put his head to business and began work as a £40-a-week researcher for a money magazine before leaving to join the Maxwell empire. A lucrative job in the City followed but investment banking didn’t hold sufficient interest to keep Alli from new adventures and before long he founded Big Breakfast- producing independent TV company, Planet 24, with boyfriend Charlie Parsons. Appointed a Life Peer in 1998, Waheed Alli became the youngest and only openly gay member of the House of Lords where he was soon to show his flair for speechmaking during a debate on the repeal of Section 28 in early 2000. Countering Lady Young’s ‘moral’ arguments about the protection of children he called attention to the 1999 nail-bomb attacks on Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho, saying, “This is indeed a debate about morality. For me it is about the morality of hate … because we teach our children to hate.” Not satisfied with the huge success of the Big Breakfast, he has recently taken camp to the next level bringing Crossroads back to TV screens across the United Kingdom. Mel B b. 1975, Leeds Melanie Janine Brown moved to London in an attempt to break into the entertainment business. She answered an advert in entertainment publication The Stage, went to the audition and was selected because of her voice and good looks to be part of the Spice Girls who as we all know went on to dominate the charts all over the world. Her up-front attitude and in-your-face style has won her a huge gay following. She regularly plays at popular venues like G.A.Y. performing her numerous solo top ten hits including collaboration with R&B bad girl Missy Elliot. She hosted the MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) awards in 1998 and has since been pursuing a lucrative career Courtesy of Chronos Archive. in television, hosting the primetime talent contest, My Moment. She is an active Patron of HIV/AIDS charity Blackliners, where she featured semi-nude in their advertisements during her pregnancy and has opened the doors of her home for functions on behalf of the organisation. Mel B (Lovely Spice) is the proud mother of baby daughter Phoenix Chi Gulzar. Allister Bain b. a long time ago, Grenada, West Indies Allister Bain arrived in England in 1958 to broaden his experience and further his career as a performing artiste. He is an actor, storyteller, and ‘edutainer’. His first television appearance with his dance company, Bee Wee Ballet was in Chelsea at Nine starring Shirley Bassey. He appeared in the film lsland in the Sun with Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge. He studied drama under the guidance of Christine H. Sturgeon of the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts and the City Literary Institute, London. Other credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, In the Mood by Michael Abbensetts, Two Can Play by Trevor Rhone, South Sea Bubble by Noel Coward and as Doctor Mongadory in The Pied Piper at the Royal National Theatre. In 1997, he appeared in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard playing Putswa (Firs) in a joint production between the Market Theatre of Johannesburg and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Before that, he appeared in The Lights by Howard Korder at the Royal Court Theatre. Television appearances include South of the Border, Black Silk, Vanity Fair and the BBC TV series Us Girls. Allister made his one-man debut in the well-known piece OvaYa by R. L. Neunie. He has written two full length plays, Detrimental Casting and Metella, as well as the two one man pieces, La La and Dear Mister Shakespeare in which he appears. He tirelessly campaigns with children of all ages, addressing issues of difference and prejudice. He is the voice and author of Caribbean Folk Tales. Allister lives in London. Rikki Beadle-Blair b. 1962, Bermondsey, London. Brought up by his Black single mother, who is also gay, Rikki has been a dancer, a cabaret artist, a rock musician, an actor, a choreographer, and a director. He has worked worldwide and is particularly proud of his performance in the early 1990’s film Sirens in which he played Blue, a punky Scouse heroin junkie. Rikki has written plays for radio & television. In 1994, he wrote the screenplay for Nigel Finch’s film Stonewall, about the Stonewall Rebellion. This won him awards at film festivals in London and San Francisco. His profile was considerably raised in Britain in March 2001 with the Channel 4 television series Metrosexuality that he wrote, produced, and directed, and in which he played a lead role. As well as adapting Boy George’s autobiography Take It Like A Man for a BBC film, Rikki has been working on his presenting skills, travelling to Jamaica to record The Roots of Homophobia for BBC Radio, and for this year’s Mardi Gras Festival, he also hosted our Big Up Yourself And Be Proud show at The Brixtonian. Rikki has recently taken up photography. Linda Bellos b. 1950 London Raised in Brixton, Linda Bellos is currently co-chair of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Advisory Group to the Metropolitan Police Service, and chair of Southwark Anti- Homophobic Forum. She has been involved in grass roots groups for over 30 years and has been actively involved in lesbian politics since 1980. She gained public recognition as part of Greater London Council’s women’s unit and as vice chair of her local Labour Party’s Black section. She was one of the organisers of the first Black lesbian conference in 1985, and also helped to organise an early Black feminist conference called We are Here in 1983. Elected leader of Lambeth Council in 1986, her political philosophy has centred around 2 key issues, the involvement of working class people in decision making and equal opportunities. Among the many initiatives she undertook while leading Lambeth council was to increase representation of Black contractors from 2 to 100.

In the 90s she forged a new career in broadcasting for Greater London Radio. She has also been co-ordinator of the Global Trade Centre in London which exists to increase the trade between the Black communities in the UK and internationally. Linda is a mother and grandmother and looks forward to forming a new group, Radical Lesbian Grandmothers! Big Up Est. 1995 London. A sexual health organisation led by Black gay men and targeting the specific needs of Black gay men. Big Up made a successful impact and sustained a positive presence within the wider Black community, the HIV prevention and health promotion sector, and its target group. Its initiatives included community support, counselling, group work, general advice, awareness campaigns and networking programs focusing on tackling the HIV epidemic. Publications include the groundbreaking research in What Are You Like?, as well as a guide to safer sex, health promotion cards, and The Briefings. In July 2001, Big Up merged with Gay Men Fighting AIDS.

Big Up HIV negative? Enjoy shaggin’? YOU CAN REDUCE THE RISK. Most gay men who do not have HIV have anal intercourse without a condom at some point in their lives. If you are HIV negative, and have sex without a condom, there is less chance of getting HIV if:

• You do the shaggin’ rather than getting shagged • You don’t let your partner cum inside you if you do get laid • You use plenty of lube • You have regular tests for other sexually transmitted infections • You don’t use sex toys or get fisted first

The more times you have anal intercourse without using a condom, and the more men you do it with, the greater the chances you will get HIV.

Condoms and plenty of water-based lube still provide the greatest protection against HIV. Big Up @ GMFA Est. 5th February 2001, London. A new group at Gay Men Fighting AIDS (GMFA) to lead on the development and implementation of sexual health interventions for Black gay men. The main focus of the Big Up @ GMFA group includes building Black gay communities, providing targeted interventions for the sexual and mental well-being of African and Caribbean men who have sex with men, and challenging homophobia and racism wherever we may find them. As part of the London Pride weekend in June 2001, Big Up @ GMFA hosted its first community Ꭿ Charles Kwesi Sagoe intervention, 'Big Up yourself and be Proud!' a night in celebration of Black gay men attended by over 200 people. Other health and community interventions are also being developed for which volunteers are always welcome. The work we do is designed, planned, and implemented by our volunteers. Meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of every month. Call 020 7738 6872 for details. www.bigup.co.uk

Big Up’s Yahoo Club Est. 19th July 2001, London. http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/bigupblackgaymen/ Blackliners Est. 26th March 1989, London Arnold Gordon and a group of friends concerned that the health needs of Black and minority ethnic communities were not being met in an ethno-centric and culturally appropriate manner founded Blackliners. Over the years, the charity has grown to be the premier Black-led voluntary organisation working to enhance the quality of life for people of African, Asian, and Caribbean communities living with HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases in Britain, with a view to empowering them to make informed decisions about their sexual health and lifestyle. Arnold Gordon, Robert Maragh, Trisha Plummer, and Mark Blake have each headed Blackliners during its twelve- year history. Patricia Blackwood is the current Executive Director. Their range of projects/services include:

• Sexuality Counselling • Emotional Support • HIV Peer Education • Advice on housing welfare benefits and immigration issues • A Drop-in Service based at Hammersmith • Helpline: 020 7738 5274 www.blackliners.org Black Lesbians and Gays Against Media Homophobia Est. October 1990, London Founded by Ted Brown and Dirg Aaab-Richards in reaction to media homophobia following Black footballer Justin Fashanu’s coming out as gay. Successful campaigns include: Voice Campaign: Organising protests and boycotts in co-operation with the Black lesbian/gay community and a major union. Within a year The Voice was made to publicly apologise for past transgressions and adopted a new non-discriminatory employment and editorial policy. Boom Bye Bye: In 1992 musician Buju Banton wrote and released Boom Bye Bye, calling for the killing of lesbians and gays. After Ted’s appearance on The Word TV show in protest, Banton was withdrawn from appearing at the international music festival at Womad and from America’s nation-wide Tonight pop TV show. He later withdrew his hit single, did not include it on his album, and produced a video apologising for inciting violence against our community. Shot by Both Sides: BLAGAM contributed to the major conference Shot by Both Sides organised by LAGER (Lesbian & Gay Employment Rights) discussing the issues of homosexuals facing both racism and homophobia from Black and white communities. Why Civil Liberties?: In the wake of Section 28, together with the National Civil Liberties Trust, BLAGAM produced a schools’ education/video pack on civil rights, distributed to schools nation-wide, and considered a success by major educational boards. Anti-Gay Prison Massacre: BLAGAM brought attention to virulent anti-gay riots which occurred in two Jamaican prisons during which 14 ‘suspected’ gay inmates were tortured to death, over 50 seriously mutilated and injured (as reported in Gay Times, November 1997). walking through afraid ofalovesopure of beingafraid... being afraid being... penetrating thedepthsofmybeing My dreams offlyinghighintotheethers from my dreams away from mydreams as Iallowtheheattokeepmeaway a passionsointense of adesire Idesperately wanted burning inmysoul across thecoals as Irock climb walking through myfire I wannaknowifyou’llbewithme I wannaknow... my fire YAI ADAMS AYIN BY Walking Through MyFire as Iwalkthrough myfire... as Iwalkthrough myfire... of mylovesoopenly Will youaccepttheharsh realities when I’mpennilessandhomeless on acoldlonelynight to bewithmewalkingthrough myfire I wannaknowifyou’re prepared walking through myfire I wannaknowifyou’llbewithme I wannaknow... I wannaknow... eyes bleedingtears running downmycheeks hot saltytastingsweat naked andbronze sun scorching myback standing undermyfeet walking through myfire I wannaknowifyou’llbewithme I wannaknow... Paul Boakye b. 1963, Bethnal Green, London Playwright, essayist, editor, and co- director of The Write-On-Line Publishing Company; Paul Boakye has written for theatre, radio, film, academia and magazines. He is the recipient of a national Livewire Business Award, and a member of The Writer’s Guild of Great Britain and, The Institute of

Project Management. Gunton. Chris Ꭿ Boakye’s debut play Jacob’s Ladder took the UK Student Playscript Award in 1986. In 1991, Hair, portraying the cultural gap between a Jamaican single mother and her British-born son, received the BBC Radio Drama Young Playwrights’ Award. In his self-produced Boy with Beer (1992), Boakye chooses to deal with hitherto taboo subjects including the making of a Black gay couple, bisexuality, and AIDS. His provocative and existential writing comes of age in Wicked Games, a dramatisation of contemporary postcolonial British identity as experienced by a group of London friends enacting the ‘social structures we live’ on a holiday in Ghana. This conflict between “the British, American, and African Dreams” is also explored in Darker Than Blue: Black British Experience of Home and Abroad. Paul currently works at GMFA, as the Big Up Project Worker, developing targeted HIV prevention/sexual health promotion campaigns aimed at Black gay and bisexual men. Other health promotion projects include the commissioned dramas No Mean Street and Safe, the Big Love Radio Ads, and the text for The Briefings. Topher Campbell b. 1967, Coventry Filmmaker and theatre director, Topher Campbell, has been directing and producing plays for more than ten years, including world premieres by Black and Asian British writers (Paul Boakye’s Wicked Games and No Mean Street, Tariq Ali’s Necklaces and Cheryl West’s Jar the Floor). In 1996, he set up Gorgeous Films, for which he wrote and directed The Homecoming, a short film about photographer Ajamu and his quest for a place called home. This documentary features commentary by Stuart Hall and Kobena Mercer on representation of the black male body. A Mulatto Song, another of his poetic short films, tells of the 18th century Polish Barbadian slave George Polgreen Bridgetower, who played first violin in the Prince of Wales’ private orchestra. Campbell is also a founder member of rukus! (a Black queer arts organisation created to profile the best work by Black gay men, lesbians, and transgender people). He was Artistic Director of Urban Mass, an eight day festival that featured HIP- HOP Theatre, contemporary dance, film, fashion, politics and club based events. His most recent production Pantheon of The Gods saw over thirty of Britain’s most well known, respected, and new Black actors appearing together on stage for the first time to perform a reading of Homer’s The Odyssey at The Young Vic. Dennis L. Carney b. 1962, Manchester Dennis moved from Manchester to London to pursue a career within the Civil Service in the early eighties. Soon afterwards, he attended a public meeting organised by the Black Lesbian & Gay Centre (BLGC), entitled Homosexuality in the Black Community. One month later, he was voted onto the Management Committee of BLGC. This was the beginning of Dennis’ activism around Black gay & lesbian concerns. He was elected Chair of BLGC and became one of the early members of the board of Blackliners. He has also worked on the Management Committees of Black, HIV & AIDS Network (BHAN), and Big Up Limited. He co-founded the group Black Gay Men United Against AIDS (BGMUAA) and continues to develop sexual health interventions aimed at Black gay men. Dennis was a founding member of Let’s Rap, a discussion group for Black gay men, and one of the first of its kind in the UK. He has also attended several national Black Gay & Lesbian Leadership Forum (BLGLF) conferences in America, and was invited to speak at last year’s annual conference held in New York by Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD). After five years, Dennis recently resigned as Chair of Stonewall Housing Association and is now an active volunteer with Big Up @ GMFA. He recently facilitated a number of successful Basement Sessions (workshops) which aimed to empower Black gay men from diverse communities. He currently works at PACE where he develops groupwork initiatives aimed at Black gay men. He is also a freelance trainer with a number of organisations concerned with challenging discrimination and working with diversity. Delroy Constantine-Simms b. 1964, Wolverhampton As a freelance journalist and equal opportunities consultant, Delroy Constantine-Simms works extensively in North America, Southern Africa, and Western Europe. He is currently based in London where he conducts academic research on diversity and equality issues in Britain and the United States at the University of Essex. He is the editor of The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities (Alyson Books, 2001) and Teachers For The Future (Trentham Books, 1995). For the second volume of The Greatest Taboo, co- editors, Kheven Lee LaGrone and Delroy Constantine- Simms, are currently soliciting theory, criticism, biographical essays, etc., on any and all topics with a Black gay theme.

Contact: [email protected] Jaye Davidson b. 1968, California With just two acting credits to his name, Jaye Davidson made more of a mark on Hollywood in his 1992 film debut than any actor in recent history. After his 1993 Academy Award nomination for The Crying Game, the actor did only one other film, 1994’s Stargate, before vanishing for the rest of the decade. Born in Riverside, California in 1968 (the son of a Ghanaian father and English mother), Jaye Davidson left for England at 21/2 years old. He grew up in Hertfordshire and began his Photograph courtesy The Crying Game (1992). short-lived acting career when, at the age of 25, he was plucked from London’s gay club scene for The Crying Game. He was working as a fashion designer at the time and took the role for the money. Jaye never took an agent and shunned the entertainment world, claiming he never wanted to be an actor in the first place. After considering numerous film roles, he finally decided his follow-up movie would be Roland Emmerich’s 1994 sci-fi blockbuster Stargate. Co- starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, the alien movie was set thousands of years ago, inside the Great Pyramids of Egypt. While the film certainly broadened Jaye’s audience, it obviously was enough to send him away from the film business for good. Publicly gay from the start, Jaye claims he simply doesn’t like to work. Later in his career, however, he did say the work was beginning to grow on him. If he could take the work without the fame, he told The Face magazine, that would be brilliant. Terence Facey b. 1962, London Terence Facey is a London based photographer of West Indian and English descent. Informed by extensive travels in Jamaica and Cuba, his photographs investigate the historical issues affecting West Indians living in Britain, in particular cultural representation, and the politics of inter-racial sex and relationships. He frequently returns to the Caribbean to visit friends and in recent years has documented the political and social changes that have been taking place in Cuba. Terence studied for a BA Degree in photography at the London College of Printing and graduated in 1996. Using the male body as a vehicle of expression, his art photography explores the social issues affecting people of Afro-Caribbean heritage, in particular the attitudes and assumption around Black male sexuality and sexual identity. Terence is a volunteer photographer at GMFA and his photography is used widely throughout this publication. Terence Facey photographed by Robert Taylor. Facey photographed Terence Professor Stuart Hall

"The images are always composed of tensions. He sets up a number of different tensions which kind of cross the frame. A lot of the work is about the exploration of sexuality, but sexuality is always framed or staged between hardness and softness - the expectations that you have of Black masculinity is cross-cut by a kind of feminine gentleness." - Stuart Hall from The Homecoming (a short film about Ajamu). For the past thirty years Stuart Hall has been a leading figure of the British Left and a visionary race theorist. He has made profound contributions to the field of cultural studies at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham University. His work has made possible multiple conversations around questions of culture, race, sexuality, and ethnicity. A collection of essays by and about Hall can be found in Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues In Cultural Studies, edited by Kuan-Hsing Chan and David Morley. Hall is currently Professor of Sociology at The Open University. Dispelling the Ghost BY MARTIN PATRICK WALLACE After twenty years of being unhappily married I don’t need anyone to tell me about love. Love is what I’m feeling right now as I dare to

dispelling the ghost embrace this man of mine. Oh darling yes. I nuzzle my face in the crook of his neck and breath in. The memory of my father’s fist no longer hurts. He wanted me to be just like him but he was the demon of my childhood. His brutality throughout the 1960s was more monstrous to me than the Vietnam War that I saw on television. My crime against the family was that I wasn’t like my father. But I had no interest in his life as an assembly line car mechanic. To everyone at our church I was a snob with ambitions beyond my Jamaican background. I was into painting, and I wanted to go to Art school and become what I felt I was, an artist. My mother slapped my face: “Don’t talk such shit, with your father killing himself to keep a roof over our heads!” I caress Lucien’s face and look into his eyes. How powerful and profound it is to feel energy and love just in his gaze. As his lips touch my face I remembered my wedding night with Judith. We were in the moment and I felt nothing, nothing romantic, nothing spiritual, and right there I knew that this was the rest of my life, and it made me cry. She kissed me and said how beautiful it was that a man would cry in the act of love. And when we were still, she said my tears replaced hers because she’d lost her virginity but found me. Throughout our marriage I led a life of hard work and diligence because I did not have the courage to defy my family. They were all I had. The racist hostility of Birmingham and Britain offered me nothing to fulfil my ambitions. And during the 1970s, Black Britain condemned gays as much as society persecuted people with AIDS throughout the 1980s, therefore I lived a life of private unfulfilled fantasies. When I told my family that sexuality is not singular and desire has two faces they were baffled until I declared myself as a man’s man. I’d met Lucien in 1991 and this gave me the power and the glorious pride in being alive and honest. My wife divorced me and cited Lucien as the legal reason to keep me away from my kids. My brother beat him up and we were expelled as Black men from the race. It was too much pain for Lucien and so he left me. But in the last ten years I have become a prize winning gallery artist and political Black man. For over a year I’d searched for Lucien knowing other men’s passions were wrong for me, and now, finally naked, in this kiss I can say darling I love you. Isaac Julien b. 1960, Bow, East London Isaac Julien studied at St. Martin’s School of Art. His films and videos have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; the ICA and the Museum of Fine Art, Boston; The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; the Brooklyn Museum of Art; Amsterdam International Documentary, Sundance, Berlin, Fespaco African, and Melbourne International Film Festivals; and Rencontres Internationales de Cinéma, Paris. A retrospective was presented at the Out in Africa Film Festival, in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban, S. Africa. His performance and installation, Looking for Langston, was shown in Minneapolis, London, and Newcastle. Awards include Chicago Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, 1993: Best Short Film; Certificate of Merit, Golden Gate Awards, San Francisco Film Festival; Pratt and Whitney Canada Grand Prize, 15th International Festival of Films on Art. Isaac Julien lectures and writes extensively on issues of Black cultural politics, film, art, and sexuality. He is on the shortlist for the Turner Prize 2001, and we wish him every success. 70% of smokers want to quit (source: Govt Office for Statistics)

100% of smokers are tired of being lectured at (source: ask one)

If you want to stop smoking, GMFA are running an NHS approved course that has been shown to be 10 times more effective than going it alone.

We’ve added experienced gay men as trainers because it might be easier to talk in a group of gay men about some of the situations where you are tempted to smoke.

Groups run for seven weeks, two hours a week in the evenings.

Call James for details on 020 7738 3712

GMFA’s Stop Smoking Groups for gay men.

Skills and support. No lectures. Clubs past and present

• 333 = fabulous, a real East End experience • Atelier (the End) = very shishi, the place to be seen • Bad = nothing special • Black Experience = great thing at its time, a great contribution very clubbing. • Catacombs = the unlicensed Earls Court coffee/juice house with the best cruisin’, music and atmosphere in town - very friendly • FISH = a lively place, a great laugh, loads of pretty boys & girls, cool place • Heaven = tourist trap, very metropolitan, but fab • Low-down = all right I suppose for what it is, not a friendly atmosphere, the only place to go at the time • Market Tavern = the good old days, sentimental memories of the dark and dingy place where the die-hards used to meet • Off The Hook = Velvet Room., at least somewhere to go, young and funky, the hip crew • One Nation Under A Groove = an alternative, I suppose • Pressure Zone = ground breaking music from cute Clayton G • Queer Nation = great, very hot, dark, serious dance club • Shugs = a women only night with fierce characters, like those from a Toni Morrison book! • Sombreros = back in the days when we didn’t use the word tacky, this was tacky but we loved it, rent boys, actors, models, dancers, etc. • Stallions = hot sweaty pulsing, and by the time you get to 3 o’clock, your thoughts turn to one thing... • Substation = serious dance club • The Lift = the original Black music club that moved from the place with the lift to the place with the fish tank, dark and very sexual • The Vox (now Substation) = the best ever Black gay club especially in the beginning, big and open, great fun to be at with all the brothers and sisters mingling together • Vauxhall Tavern = early Lily Savage and that ilk

Big Up yourself and be proud A nite in celebration of Black gay men Rotimi Fani-Kayode b. 1955, Nigeria. d. 1989, London From the age of 11 Rotimi lived abroad, both in the USA and in Britain, but maintained close links with Nigeria and with Yoruba culture. Black Male / White Male (Gay Men’s Press, April 1988) was his first collection of work to be published in book form. It represents an exploration of some of his particular obsessions, the location of desire and of forbidden dreams within the matrix of differing cultures. His photographs express the belief that magic, masquerade and erotic delirium are essential elements in challenging the impoverishment of the soul. His work also appears in the book Rotimi Fani-Kayode & Alex Hirst (Editions Revue Noire, February 1997). Justin Fashanu b. 1961, London d. 1998, London One of the most striking tabloid headlines of 1990 was above the picture of Justin Fashanu, Britain’s first million pound Black footballer, which stated “I‘m Gay.” His very public “self outing” displayed a courage that drew many admirers (listed in the top 100 lesbian and gay heroes in The Pink Paper, 1997), but it also brought to the fore a deep-seated prejudice in English football. Courtesy Chronos Archive. Chronos Courtesy At 14, Justin signed as a schoolboy with Norwich City FC, and was later noticed by England’s Youth and Under 21 team. He made his professional football debut, aged 18, at Norwich City in 1979. His 1980 volley against Liverpool was the goal of the season and still claims its place in football’s all time great moments. The following year he joined Nottingham Forest for one million pounds. It was here that he began socialising on the gay scene. However, when word of his private life filtered through to Clough, he was promptly suspended, and eventually moved on because “he did not fit in with Brian Clough’s regime”. At his next club, he received one of the worst knee injuries that anyone has ever come back from, and was out of soccer for over four years. He never really recovered his magic after this and spent several years in the United States and Canada. In 1998, he returned to England under a cloud after being accused of second-degree sexual assault by a 17-year-old. He was found a few days later hanged in a lock-up garage in Shoreditch. An inquest in London held on 9th September 1998 heard that there was in fact no warrant out for Justin Fashanu’s arrest. A verdict of suicide was recorded. “It was homophobia that ultimately destroyed the life and career of Justin Fashanu” according to his friend and gay political activist Peter Tatchell. Steven Luckie

Steven Luckie is a freelance director. He studied at Goldsmiths College; University of London for a Certificate in Performance Skills; Middlesex University for a Diploma in Dramatic Art and the Royal Academy of Music for a LRAM in Speech and Drama. He began his directing career by setting up This Is Now Theatre Co., which he ran as Artistic Director between 1991-95. Directing fringe productions for the company at the Oval House Theatre, Man in the Moon, the Greenwich theatre in London and Tristra Bates Theatre in the West End. Talking About Men successfully gained a Diverse Opportunities grant from London Arts and became the most successful play in the history of the Oval House Theatre. The show broke all previous box office records and became widely critically acclaimed, attracting a new and diverse audience. Junior’s Story his next play then went on to break the record set by Talking About Men. This production also received a Diverse Opportunities grant from LA and will tour the UK in late 2001. Steven Luckie has also worked for the Royal National Theatre Education and the Y Touring Theatre Company and as project manager for the Theatre of Debate.

A scene from Junior’s Story Oscar Lumley-Watson b. 1961, Kingston, Jamaica ‘I had a good education at a West London Grammar School, then a BA in Drama & English Literature at Norwich, before teaching drama for a year and finally training as a director at the Bristol ‘Old Vic’ Theatre School. My first job was in Deptford, SE London, running the youth project at the Albany Empire.’ Oscar maintains a commitment to community arts and activities as a freelance development consultant. His career has involved writing and directing plays including Battieman Blues:, successfully managing the (now defunct) London Lesbian and Gay Centre, running local gay clubs, a pub theatre, publishing a directory of live music venues in London, being Director of the Actors Centre. He was also coordinator of the Black Theatre Forum and was administrator at Talawa Theatre Company. ‘A lot of my work has been about promoting and providing opportunities for Black communities, particularly young people. I do the work I do because I can and because I think it is important. I am as proud and as happy about my Black heritage as my gay existence BOTH are sources of strength for me.’ ‘I look to the day when Black communities can make a comfortable and accepting space for their lesbian and gay brothers and sisters to make their contributions openly and with mutual respect.’ Robert Maragh b. 1961, London Change agent, advocate and committed to lifelong learning, Robert has held many senior positions in local government and community-based initiatives in London. He sits on various Boards and is a pioneer of tenant/resident initiatives including founding many co-operatives for poor, socially excluded and homeless people. He has always chosen jobs that enable him to practise what he believes. He was instrumental in attracting funding and support for Blackliners the first Black HIV/AIDS charity for people affected by HIV/AIDS. His work with children and families affected by HIV/AIDS earned him a national award for groundbreaking work in East London. In the early 80s, he played a role in establishing the Gay Black Group; Black Lesbian and Gay Centre and Black Gay Men United Against AIDS. He was one of the core group of Black gay men who developed the self empowerment session Let’s Rap for Black gay men in London. Robert is now the national Social Care spokesperson on HIV/AIDS for the ADSS and spends most of his time developing responses that will make a difference to the lives of children in care in the public system. He is passionate about the causes of poverty and social exclusion and in his own way tries to make changes. Valerie Mason-John AKA Queenie Named Queenie in San Francisco this diva was born in England, raised in orphanages, foster homes, and lived on the streets since she was 14. Since then The Voice newspaper has named her one of Britain's Black gay Icons. She won the Windrush Achievement Awards 2000, (Arts and Community Pioneer), and earlier this year won first prize for the first chapter of the novel which she is currently working on: The Banana Kid, (fictionalised autobiography). To her credit, she co-wrote and edited the only two books on African and Asian lesbians in Britain. Her third book, Brown Girl In The Ring, includes her box office sell out Sin Dykes. She was a director of Pride Arts Festival for three years, and the Artistic Director of Mardi Gras Arts Festival. She also made the Lesbian Beauty Contest a national event, and brought it to mainstream television, both on the Big Breakfast, and elsewhere on Channel 4. She also ran the largest women's nightclub in Europe at the Fridge. She has worked as an international correspondent, covering Aboriginal Land Rights and as a presenter and actor on TV and radio. She has written several successful plays, and her most recent; The Adventures of Snow Black and Rose Red, opens this Christmas. She is currently working on a new show based around the Barbie Doll, while working as a Performance Poet. She also works with young people who are at risk of committing street crime, drug abuse, violence and anti social behaviour, training them in Anger Management and Conflict Resolution. One day she may just settle for the mundane life of a girlfriend, a cat, and a 9 to 5 job! Anything is possible when this diva is in town. David McAlmont b. 1966, Guyana David grew up in Guyana and began singing at his Pentecostal church in the West Indies at the age of thirteen. He has a three-and-a-half-octave vocal range, and began his career in the music industry in the duo Thieves with Saul Freeman. The name was taken from a work by Jean Cocteau. The group’s most successful single was Unworthy. However, they separated before their planned debut album in 1994, and the album was released under the name McAlmont. He began a solo career which included supporting Morrissey, and a brief period of collaboration with ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler,

Courtesy Chronos Archive starting in 1994 until they split acrimoniously in 1995.

The producer David Arnold then worked with him on the version of Diamonds Are Forever which David sang on television dressed as Shirley Bassey. They went on to work together on David McAlmont’s first solo album A Little Communication which came out in 1998. Call Me floats on a carvedcoffin:floats on-callme… some deeperknowledge foundonlyatdeath exercised &embrace youinparts; still I citesthelosses, cites thepower & stops,onlytoadmire whatyouwere. I turnonthesoftafternoons,deep hurts I washthewounds;dress theangrycuts. of grief;nomemoryistrampled here. Death doesnotorphanmeunderthe feet Green talesandtriumphshavenointercourse: of love&pray foraswiftreunion. in bodyandsoul,aware oftheloom learned from normalpractice, Iamsaintly of thejealousredness ofeye,tastes thought wrong todo&winoverus.Stripped must do,onwhatGodorStPaul & liftsloftywords &turnsonwhatman The simpleweightofallIammatters in lovebecomeotherandnothimself. all others, meltawayinamarriage, I’d waketowatchthemanIloved,above will nothaveusinitsglass”,yousaid,fearing “The truemirror oflife,procreation, fugitive thisguiltoutcast?” & sanctifiedthings,felttomake broken up,orfedmanysilences “Bread ofmyflesh,doyouwanttobe things stalkedinvain,&asked pull onanabsenceinyoureyes,&find fraternity offeeling-pullalone, without anysenseoftheinfinite I waketowatchastranger’s face,&hands- whales erotic sonnetsunwilled,resigned. in voices-orphicandmarine&wont in distress, inthesilentposturing, The simpleweightofallIwassurvives YA CELESTINE AL BY

call me Kobena Mercer

As a writer and lecturer on the visual arts of the Black diaspora, Kobena Mercer’s first book, Welcome to the Jungle: New Position in Black Cultural Studies (1994) covered topics including Michael Jackson’s video Thriller, Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs and Black hairstyles. He has contributed catalogue essays to many international exhibitions including Self Evident (Ikon Gallery, UK, 1995), featuring the African photographer Seydou Keital; Mirage: Enigmas of Race, Difference and Desire (Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 1995) on the influence of Frantz Fanon; Transforming the Crown: African, Caribbean and Asian Artists in Britain, 1965- 1996 (Caribbean Cultural Centre and Bronx Museum, NY, 1997) and Pictura Britannica: Art from Britain (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia). Mr. Mercer has taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz, California Institute of the Arts and most recently in the African Studies Program at New York University. He is currently a Fellow at the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University and is working on a book on contemporary art in the African diaspora. Cyril I. Nri b. 1961, Nigeria Cyril is an actor, writer, director, filmmaker, and father. Arriving in England as a young child as a result of the Nigerian-Biafran civil war and coming from Barbadian and Nigerian parentage, he dislikes labels and prefers to just be Cyril. He has worked as an actor for 21 years starting at the RSC and working at all the country’s leading theatres. He has performed in hundreds of radio plays and has played in many TV productions and films. He played Ariel at the Old Vic, Oedipus in Manchester and Lymon in August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. His TV work includes This Life (both series), Calling the Shots, EastEnders, Family Affairs, Arabian Nights, and the American Mini series Only Love. Cyril’s film appearances include Bernado Bertolluci’s Besieged, David Hare’s Strapless, and Long Time Dead. Cyril moved into filmmaking a few years back and scored first time out with his short film Constance, which he wrote directed and produced. The film has won various awards at many international festivals. He also won the Best Screenplay award at the 1st Black Filmmaker International Festival of 1998. Constance was later bought and screened by Channel 4. Cyril worked as chairperson for the now defunct Black Ensemble (a rainbow coalition of Black artists and arts practitioners) for two years. He co-produced the memorable Main Event, a celebration of Black performing talent that launched the first performance by the Posse and brought together over eighty years of Black British talent from Norman Beaton and Carmen Munroe to Nicky Boyce and The Bibi Crew. Cyril continues to act, write, direct, and produce and is currently in development on two projects for cinema release. He is a volunteer for Blackliners and Big Up @ GMFA and sits on the board of Maya Theatre Company. Bill Morris b. 1938, Jamaica. "The tragedies associated with AIDS touch everyone of us, whether as partners, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. This very welcome book helps to reassure us of the integrity, the dignity of the human family in facing this adversity" - Positive Lives (1993). Bill Morris, General Secretary of the T&G is a patron of The Terrence Higgins Trust. He was the first Black general secretary of a trade union and arguably one of the most influential Black people in Britain. He is currently a member of the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the TUC General Council, the advisory committee of The Prince’s Youth Business Trust, the Trustee Board of the Open University Foundation, the Governing Council of Atlantic College, the Courts of Nene College and Luton University, and the Board of Governors of South Bank University. His most recent appointment is as a non- executive Director of the Bank of England. He is a Fellow of the RSA and the City and Guilds of London Institute and he holds honorary degrees from a number of British universities. Outside work, Bill enjoys spending time at home with family and friends, sharing good food and attending concerts (mostly jazz). He keeps fit by jogging, taking local walks and tending to his small garden. Simon Nelson b. 1967, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire “Being invited to participate in this innovative piece of work is indeed a pleasure and an honour. Why? Because so little that has been written about us actually gets published for the world to see.” Simon has been proactively working with Black men (whether gay identified or not) and those wishing to increase service provision to them for the past 8 years. Having started working as a volunteer at the HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust in 1993 things have come full circle and he is now in a full time development role with the organisation as the Black Gay Men’s Development Officer. Last year he wrote Chatblack a booklet that explores much more than merely avoidance or treatment of sexually transmitted infections and HIV. As with Chatblack another resource Switch the Groove music CD addresses issues like self-esteem and acceptance. In 2000, he helped organise Mr. Black Gay UK as part of Black History Month combining music that the mainstream gay scene rarely caters for, proving that health needn’t be boring! “My work will now focus on campaigning to address many of the issues Black gay men themselves have identified. Homophobia from within the Black community and racism in general need to be challenged if we are to truly tackle the root cause of bad health, namely inequality.” Bruce Oldfield OBE b. 1950 Bruce Oldfield has been one of Britain’s leading lights in the fashion world since he graduated from St Martin’s School of Art in 1973. He has designed outfits for such well-known names as Jerry Hall, Barbara Streisand, Catharine Zeta-Jones and Diana Ross as well as many leading members of the British and European aristocracy. Fostered by tailor and dressmaker Violet Masters, Bruce trained at Ravensbourne College of Art 1971-72 and then worked as a freelance designer. He launched his own ready-to-wear label in 1975, and couture in 1978. Famous for pretty and glamorous eveningwear, he is the author with Georgina Howell, of Bruce Oldfield’s Seasons (London Pan 1987). Bruce is a committed supporter of children’s charity Barnados as well as patron and fundraiser for AIDS charity Crusaid and the MacMillan appeal for breast cancer. In 1980, he was awarded the OBE for services to fashion and industry. Postcards from the edge. BY OSCAR LUMLEY WATSON the edge I was never happy at home and would find excuses to stay away – choir practice, rowing training – I was involved in everything. The school from postcards thought it was keenness, I was actually bunking off home! By the time I got to university, I stayed away as much as possible. Well: I was gay; they didn’t understand at home. By chance I spent 3 days at home one break and a postcard arrived from a friend on holiday. Despite the unusual angle, the picture was clearly a woman in a high-cut bikini. My mother, however, was fishing: “Why are people sending you pictures of unclothed men through the post?” I was shocked and for the next couple of days she niggled and nudged till finally I said: “If you have a question to ask, then ask it.” She paused and fear passed across her eyes as she said: “Are you a homosexual?” “No.” I said firmly… Well: I’d recently decided I was “bisexual” so it wasn’t a lie… exactly. Ten years later, having survived the “I’m bisexual” phase, my mother was about the only person to whom I still hadn’t come out. I began thinking how best to do it. I didn’t have a boyfriend at the time, in fact every guy I’d introduced to my mother split with me soon afterwards as if by some Jamaican magic in the tea or something. Then I remembered the postcard incident and looked at the four albums of homoerotic postcards I’d been collecting since the end of my degree, hmmm… If one picture of a woman generated that response, what would a couple of hundred obvious men do? I arrived at my mother’s house with most of the collection crammed into two albums. Eventually we got round to looking at them. She sat in near silence as I leafed through the whole lot, some of which bordered on outright pornography. At the end, I was ready for an onslaught this time and asked her what she thought. “Well,” she said, “I’ve always thought it was a good idea for a man to have a hobby. Would you like some tea?” I was still giggling to myself on the way home, thinking: “There’s none so blind as those who won’t see. In the end, coming out to her was blurted out during an argument by telephone… but that’s another story. Arthur Peters b. 1957, Dominica Arthur Peters arrived in England on Sunday 14th January 1972 to join his mother who had emigrated when he was three. He attended St. Johns Southworth Comprehensive School in Preston where his family lived. After leaving school at sixteen, he worked as a tailor’s apprentice for 3 years. He then went on to Lytham St. Anne’s College of Higher Education where he did a two year course of ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels. In 1977, Derby College of Art and Technology (now the University of Derby) offered him a place on their 3 year Diploma in Fashion course which he completed in 1980. Soon after that, he set up a studio at home and then later at 44a Friar Gate in Derby, which he kept going until he made the move to London in 1986. Paul Boakye. Paul Ꭿ He has lived and worked at his present address in SW London since 1987. “I discovered my skills or talent at the tender age of seven and I am still doing it – and may I add – very happy doing it too.” Arthur has dabbled in modelling, acting, and performing, but nothing ever seems to come close to sculpting cloth. “I thank the universe for giving me such a wonderful gift.” After many years designing made- to-measure clothes, he now plans to go into the retail business. Life has also given him a daughter (24), a son (23), and a grandson who at the time of writing is 8 months old. Cardi Revere

Fashion designer, great oral story-teller, Black gay cultural icon of the old school variety and a founding member of the fearsome ‘Brixton Queens,’ Cardi Revere’s clothes designs have appeared in Vogue and many other fashion journals. During the late seventies to early eighties, he reigned supreme on the Black gay social scene as the Godfather of high camp and the host of numerous private parties. He currently lives in SE London and is the father of a teenage son.

Ꭿ Chris Gunton. Vernal Scott b. 1961, London Vernal has spent the last 17 years as a high profile pioneer promoting HIV/AIDS awareness, particularly in the Black community. He organised the Reach Out and Touch procession with flowers in 1991, with Whitney Houston appearing as his special guest. The event, funded by George Michael, was conceived by Vernal as a personal statement about the need to remove the stigma that surrounds HIV and AIDS and to acknowledge those infected, their loved Vernal with Gloria Gaynor ones and those who care for them. The following year, with his guest Dionne Warwick cutting the ribbon, Vernal launched the Brent HIV Centre. The Centre, now integrated into local social services, provides community support to Brent residents with HIV and AIDS. He regularly appears in the Black press and on TV programmes such as Ebony, putting a face to the fact that Black gay men were out there and wanted the general public to know it. He received scores of letters from isolated Black gays as a result of his profile in the media. Vernal has never left his ‘equalities’ roots, and feels that his new job, as Organisational Development Manager at Brent Council, will enable him to be as creative on equalities as he has been on HIV. Labi Siffre b. 1945, London Labi Siffre is most famous for The Ivor Novello Award winning chart topping song (Something inside) So strong written for the Black community of apartheid South Africa (and all victims of injustice) a vocalization of his uncompromising stance on civil and human rights. It has been taken up as the anthem by the marginalized and dispossessed in many countries and has been particularly inspiring for gay men and women worldwide. Although Labi closed the 1999 London Gay Mardi Gras he is not usually part of the Gay Glitterati. He considers himself ‘the ordinary, everyday, unsensational face of homosexuality’ and lives quietly in Wales with his partner of 37 years. After 30 years of ‘gigging’ and nine albums behind him Labi Siffre has hung up his guitar to concentrate on his writing. He is already the author of three poetry books Nigger, Blood On The Page and Monument from which he has read both live and on radio and other works have appeared in numerous compilations including Channel 4’s Writers from Wales and the Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain. His first play DeathWrite was staged at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff in 1998 and later televised by HTV. It seems that although The Last Songs album and tour were billed as just that, as Labi Siffre continues to change and develop and grow as an artist, we are sure to hear more from him although he expects his future performances will be centered around poetry, essays, the internet and his website www.so-strong.com. Dorothea Smartt b. 1960, London With her work receiving critical attention in both Britain and the USA, Dorothea is acknowledged as tackling multi- layered cultural myths and the real life experiences of Black women with searing honesty. She was Brixton Market’s first Poet-in-Residence, and a former Attached Live Artist at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. Her evocative and spirited voice “coils up your feelings, around granite chips of truth...unwinds solace, in the most soothing volleys” according to the Caribbean Times. Her medusa play project, an on-going live art work-in- progress, premiered at the British Festival of Visual Theatre. Awarded several commissions and bursaries, she’s a member of the Black Arts Alliance and an Afro-Style School ‘graduate’. Her solo work medusa is considered an ‘Outstanding Black Example’. Other collaborative performances include: from you to me to you (An Institute of Contemporary Arts, Live Arts Commission); “fo(u)r women”; and “home is where the heart kicks” (A Black Arts Alliance Commission). Her poetry appears in several ground- breaking anthologies, including Bittersweet (Women’s Press, 1998), The Fire People (Payback Press, 1998) , Voice Memory Ashes (Mango Publishing, 1999), Mythic Women/Real Women (Faber, 2000), and IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain (2000). Connecting Medium, her premier collection is published by Peepal Tree Press, Summer 2001. Robert Taylor b. late 1950s, Birmingham “My main photographic preoccupations are portraiture and the pleasures of the body. I have always been interested in how various people are, and the possibility that the differences between people are as exciting as they are threatening. Photography has provided a highly privileged vantage point for the satisfaction of my endless curiosity about folk and their ways”. Robert came to photography via the Royal Air Force, then qualifying as a barrister, and several years in educational publishing. He had merely been a keen hobby photographer for a few years when in 1987 he met the late Rotimi Fani- Kayode. “Rotimi was a Have and Takell by Robert Taylor gifted artist, photographer and a beautiful man - in so many ways.” Robert has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, illustrated several books, and has work in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Whilst photography remains his central interest, he enjoys collaborative distractions such as the co-production of a Channel 4 comic documentary (Black Divas, broadcast in 1996), and he is currently co-writing a play with Oscar Watson. Ted Walker-Brown b. 1950, New York Even as a child Ted was actively involved in campaigning for Black equality. At around age 14 he actually told his family “I think I’m becoming homosexual”. Instinctively, he kept this news from the rest of the community - but that did not prevent his feeling isolated by the hostility he knew was felt towards those who felt like him. “My family, especially my mother, were very understanding. I only regret that she died the following year, and so did not see my transition from an inhibited, semi-closeted routine to my current open life-style with my partner of 30 years.” This began when he was one of the few Black men participating in the earliest Gay Pride March back in 1971. He still has the photographs. He lived in a Gay Liberation Front commune during the following two years, which he described in Lisa Power’s gay rights book No Bath But Plenty of Bubbles, and helped set up the early gay communes in Railton Road and Mayall Road in Brixton. He devoted his skills as a campaigner for Black equality into actions for gay rights. By 1990, he had co-founded, with Dirg Aaab- Richards, the group Black Lesbians and Gays Against Media Homophobia. Within a year they had successfully campaigned against the homophobia often displayed by The Voice (Britain’s most prominent Black newspaper). As well as campaigning for gay/lesbian equality in law, he is also fighting for the repeal of Section 28, and working with American group GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Action Against Defamation). Martin Patrick Wallace b. 1956, London Martin Patrick Wallace has studied film, drama, and Black Cultural theory from BA, through MA, to Ph.D. He teaches film and drama studies to BA and MA students in the UK. His first play, Where To Now (1987) is a Black gay love story set in London. All of his five plays are psychological dramas about Black life lessons in the UK. He has written and performed many of his short stories in Britain, Europe, and America. He has also written two crime novels. In Isolation, a Black gay American contract killer falls for the wrong man only to discover that his womanising partner really does love him, while Delusions of Madness has a traumatised abused teenager suspecting himself of involvement in the murder of his parents. Both novels are currently unpublished, but some of his vignettes appear in More Like Minds (GMP, 1991) and Rough Magazine. “I have learned to love myself in spite of the tyranny of heterosexuality and all of my work is influenced by Black identity and sexual politics. As a cautious romantic, Black and gay history are my life’s inspiration.” HIV positive? Enjoy shaggin’? YOU CAN REDUCE YOUR RISK. Most gay men with HIV will have anal intercourse without a condom at some point. If you are HIV positive, and have sex without a condom, there is less chance of passing on HIV if: • You get laid by him • You don't cum inside him if you shag him • You use plenty of lube • You have a low viral load • You have regular tests for other sexually transmitted infections • You don’t use sex toys, fist, or get fisted first

If you have anal intercourse with another positive man without a condom there is a risk that you may pick up a different strain of HIV that reduces your treatment options.

Condoms and plenty of water-based lube still provide the greatest protection against HIV. AFRO BY ANONYMOUS afro We had done this every summer, no matter who was on, we’d see them. Up the West Brompton end of the big exhibition centre near to the cemetery where I’d never seen, but heard that men fondled men on the cold marble stones and lust conquered death in the still of moonlight. At least for now in the innocent seventies, lust was winning this war. It was quiet down here if you got your timing right. Up the goods ramp to the left of the large panorama of never-used glass doors and there it was, a small fire utilities outlet. It had been made just big enough that we could crawl through and use our outstretched arms to break our fall onto the steps of the concrete fire exit. From here, it was just a short walk down the stairs and into the hall that contained for three nights only, the one and only Jackson Five. My younger sister, Ian the short member of the gang, the twins; Paul and Steve, and I, had all been looking forward to it. The Jackson’s were the real thing. Fuck the Osmonds. I could hardly contain the singing of my secret song for Marlon. Yeah, everyone else could scream for Michael, I was there for Marlon. I’d been growing my ‘fro for months and here it was, the big day, but it wouldn’t stay straight like the Five’s seemed to stay. Mum had had enough of my constantly wanting her to help me get it just right and eventually it was uncle Sylvanus that helped me cut it into that perfect globe. Sylvanus worked on the underground and had been here in England for a year less than Mum, but unlike her or his brother or any of my aunts, he had never gone home. He didn’t even go back for the funeral of my grandparents, so I could never work out why he always went on about the place having changed now that they had passed. His only passion it seemed was playing the organ, which he did every Sunday in a church in Brixton. Strangely I wasn’t shocked when this six foot one and a half inch man handled the scissors like a Harlem globe trotter handling a tricky basket and within minutes of sitting my afro looked like I was the missing one in The Jackson Six. We didn’t get into the concert. As we got to the bottom of the stairs and opened the exit door to the exhibition hall, a security guard came running up with a large Alsatian dog in tow. My sister froze at the sight of the dog. So as Steve, Paul, and Ian, disappeared into the crowd I found myself coming back to her side. “I don’t suppose either of you would have tickets, would you? Come on out.” And with that we were taken to the front entrance on Earls Court and told not to let our “faces be seen here again.” We started to walk home. Gutted. A drunk pointed at my tank top, bell-bottoms and ‘fro and in a thick Australian twang said, “It’s bloody Michael Jackson!” as he passed. I shouted at his back “it’s fucking Marlon, not Michael”. As I turned back, I caught sight of a couple kissing on the stairs leading up to the front door of a big regency house. They were both male. I was transfixed, like a rabbit caught in headlights. There was a part of me that felt good to see this, like I’d been waiting for today more than I’d ever waited for buses, or birthdays, or Christmas or Marlon. Two men kissing, in public, right before me. Sis’ hadn’t seen them and was now a little way ahead. I somehow knew it was right for my life. All I had been searching for. All I had been secretly singing for. I knew more than all the world in that moment, and then like scales from eyes, my mist cleared. The Black one of the couple was tall, about six foot one and a half, with a perfectly formed half-fro and the hands of a hairdressing train driver. “Uncle Sylv?,” the question trailed off in my mouth as he and the white stranger disappeared through the door. At the end of the summer uncle Sylvanus was cutting off my ‘fro. School was starting and mum wasn’t going through anymore “just hol’ you head still” cries, as knots were combed from my hair. They were talking about my aunt returning home, and why Sylvanus didn’t go with her for a holiday. He looked at me in the mirror his eyes fixed on mine with a big grin across his lips and said “Small island living, means too many fool-fool people all up in your biz’ness. You can’t keep no secret in such a place. Is not so junior? It’s like growing you hair in a particular style. In a small island you have to cut you’ hair like everyone else just to fit in, but you know, I know many a Rastaman who wears no locks and many a Jackson who is not a Five. Is not so junior?” And he winked as my Afro headed for the floor. Selected Reading resources James Baldwin: Another Country (Black Swan 1963), Giovanni’s Room (Mass Market 1985), Just Above My Head (Delta 2001) Joseph Beam: In The Life (Alyson Publications 1986) Belasco: The Brothers of New Essex (Clies Press 2000) Stanley Bennet-Clay: In Search of Pretty Young Black Men (SBC 2001) Paul Boakye: Boy with Beer (in Black Plays 3, London: Methuen Drama 1995) No Mean Street (in The Best Stage Scenes of 1996, New York: Smith and Kraus 1997) Darker Than Blue (in Britishness and Cultural Studies: Continuity and Change in Narrating the Nation: (Knauer & Murray 2000)) Keith Boykin: Respecting the Soul-Daily Reflections for Black Lesbians and Gays (Avon Books 1998) Lady Chablis et al: Hiding My Candy (August 1997) Wayne Cooper & Claude Mckay: Rebel Sojouner in the Harlem Renaisance (North Eastern University Press 1987) Delroy Constantine-Simms: The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities (Alyson Publications 2001) Steven Corbin: Fragments That Remain, A Hundred Days From Now (Alyson Publications 1993,1994) Samuel R Delaney: The Motion Of Light In Water (Plume Books 1988), The Mad Dog (Masquerade Books 1994) Melvin Dixon: Trouble the Water (Washington Square Press 1989), Vanishing Rooms (Penguin Books 1991) Alison Donald (editor): Companion to Black British Culture (Routledge 2001) Peter Drucker: Different Rainbows (GMP 2001) Larry Duplechan: Blackbird (St. Martins Press 1986), Captain Swing (Alyson Publications 1996) Gary Fisher: Gary: In Your Pocket (Duke University Press 1996) Mickey C Fleming: About Courage (Holloway House 1989) John R Gordon: Black Butterflies, Skindeep, Warriors and Outlaws (Gay Men’s Press 1993,1997, 2001) James Earl Hardy: B Boy Blues, 2nd Time Around, If Only For One Night, The Night Easy E Died (Alyson Publications 1994,1996,1997,2001) William G Harkswoode: One of the Children - Gay Black Men In Harlem (Near Fine 1996) E Lynn Harris: Invisible Life, Just as I Am, And This Too Shall Pass, Abide with Me (Anchor Books 1991-1999), If This World Were Mine, Not A Day Goes By, Any Way the Wind Blows (Doubleday Books 1999, 2000, 2001) Gordon Heath: Deep are the Roots – Memoirs of a Black Expatriate (University of Massachusetts Press 1996) Essex Hemphill: Brother To Brother (Alyson Publications 1991), Ceremonies (Plume Books 1992) Langston Hughes: Selected Poems (Pluto Press 1986), Not Without Laughter (Collier Books 1969) Martin Humphries: Tongues Untied (The Gay Men’s Press 1987) B Michael Hunter: Sojourner - Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS (Other Countries 1993) G Winston James: Lyric (Grapevine Press 1998) Randall Keenan: Visitation of the Spirits (Anchor Books 1989) Jamaica Kincaid: My Brother (Vintage 1998) Audre Lorde: Zami - A New Spelling Of My Name, A Burst Of Light (Sheba Feminist Publishers 1982,1988) Yulisa Amadu Mabby: No Past, No Present, No Future (Heinemann 1996) Johnny T Malice: Voodoo Man (Idol 2001) Bruce Morrow & Charles H Rowell: Shade (Avon Books 1996) Stephen O‘Murray & Will Rosco: Boy Wives & Female Husbands (St. Martin Press 1998) Pat Parker: Movement in Black (Firebrand Books 1978) Leon E Pettigrew: Honey Honey Miss Thang - Being Black Gay & On the Street (Temple University Press 1996) Robert Reid-Parr: Black Gay Man (New York University Press 2001) Patricia Powell: Small Gathering of Bones (Heinemann 1994) resources Rick Rollins: Like Breathing (The Ishai Creative Group 1998) Rupaul: Letting it All Hang Out - An Autobiography (Hyperion 1995) Jay Russell: Rude Boys (Headline Press 1998), Booty Boys (Idol 1999) Assotto Saint: The Road Before US - 100 Gay Black Poets, Here To Dare - 10 Gay Black Poets, (Galiens Press 1991,1992) Milking Black Bull - 11 Gay Black Poets, (Vega Press 1995), Spells Of A Voodoo Doll (Masquerade Books 1996) Eric Saunders: Gym Rats (UEG Books 1997) April Sinclair: Ain’t Gonna Be The Same Fool Twice (Avon Books 1996) Dorothea Smartt: Connecting Medium (Peepal Tree Press 2001) Shawn Stewart-Ruff: Go the Way Your Blood Beats (Henry Holt & Co 1996) Vega Studios: A Warm December (Vega Press 1992) Bil Wright: Sunday You Will Learn How to Box (Scribrier Paperback Fiction 2000) Websites Asante www.asanteuk.net The UK's first Black gay and lesbian Internet Service Provider (ISP) Black & Asian History Map www.channel4.com/blackhistorymap/index.html/ Channel 4's doorway to Black and Asian History in Britain. Breakfast Club [email protected] A light and breezy, friendly day out for like minded Black men regardless of sexual preference. Ginger Beer www.gingerbeer.co.uk London's leading lesbian web guide. ukBLACKout www.ukblackout.net Est. 1st April 2001 (and that ain't no joke!) An information sharing website supporting the UK's Black gay community. Write-On-Line www.write-on-line.co.uk Est. August 2000 A unique market-place for literature, arts and on-line movies. Useful Contacts Ignatius Hango - African Outreach Worker Africare Manor Gardens Health Centre 6-9 Manor Gardens, Holloway Road Alan Mitchal – Health Promotion London N7 6LA Tel: 0207 263 7477 useful contacts Camden & Islington HPS Sexual health advice, advocacy, access to social West Wing, St Pancras Hospital welfare services, counselling, liaise wth other 4 St Pancras Way, London NW1 0PE service providers Tel: 020 7530 3955 Helen Cox - Project worker Che Chiremba - Health Promotion Officer The River House (Supporting people affected by Uganda Community Relief Ass HIV & AIDS) Selby Centre, Selby Road, London N17 8JN PO Box 22443, London W6 9FE Tel: 020 8808 6221 Tel: 020 8576 5875 [email protected] [email protected] Welfare rights, housing, African Men’s Club, Access to social services, housing, citizen‘s advice, training, sexual health information. complementary therapy, counselling, support Alistair Gault - Head of HIV & Sexual Health group for African, Caribbean and Asian Lesbian & Gay Foundation communities (Thurs eve’s). 15 Pritchard Street, off Charles St Samuel Ayul - Administrator Manchester M1 7DA Diaspora (Sudanese Refugee Community Tel: 0161 235 8023 organisation) [email protected] 3 Bradbury Street, Unit C2, London N15 8JN LGF Helpline - 0161 235 8000 7 days, 6-10. TVTS Tel: 020 7923 3401 helpline 0161 235 8005 Wed & Thurs 7-10, Counselling, advice, referral. counselling, groups, training. Walter Gillgower - Senior Health Promotion Officer Matthew Keogh - Health Promotion Specialist for African Caribbean Men. THT (Terrence Higgins Trust) Birmingham Healthy Gay Life Unit 304, The Custard Factory Centre for Community Health Gibb Street, Birmingham B9 4AA Frank Street, Highgate, B’ham B12 0YA Tel: 0121 694 6440 Tel: 0121 446 1086 [email protected] [email protected] Training, counselling, legal and housing issues, Counselling, support work, social and debt advice, sexual health advice, HIV treatment. support groups. Andy Mullen - Community Development Worker for Anup Kirit - Counsellor Bradford Blackliners Bradford Mesmac Unit 46 Eurolink Centre, 49 Effra Road PO Box 267, Bradford BD1 5XT London SW2 1BZ Tel: 01274 395 815 Tel 020 7738 7468 Community, advocacy, training. Counselling, housing advice, training, advocacy Nick Broderick - Project Manager [email protected] TRADE Brent Mosaic Young Gay and Bisexual Men’s Project 15 Wellington Street, Leicester LE1 6HH Group for men aged 25 and under, meets on Tel: 0116 254 1747 Mondays between 6:30 and 9:30pm. Legal, group work, 1-2-1, support Phone & Mini-com 020 8838 0527 or police liaison, counselling. call 07931 336668 between group times [email protected] Paul Boakye, Project worker Black Bisexual Group Big Up @ GMFA @ London Friend, PO Box 3325, London, N1 9EQ Unit 43, Eurolink Centre Tel: 020 8569 7500 49 Effra Road, London SW1 1BZ Opening Times: Friday 20:00 Tel: 020 7738 6872 Kirit Patel - Services Manager www.bigup.co.uk • [email protected] Black Health Agency Barnet Support Group Zion Community Health and Resource Centre, 339 If you are between the ages of 16 and 25 and need Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester, M15 4ZY. support and advice regarding your sexuality, coming Tel: 0161 226 9145, www.blackhealthagency.org.uk. out and any other ‘gay issues’, there is a support [email protected]. group in the Barnet area. African AIDS Helpline (0800 0967 500) Meeting once every week. Training and consultancy, support services, Black For more information telephone or e-mail in and Asian Gay and Lesbian Group. strictest confidence. REGARD Tel : 07903 921 672 • [email protected] National organisation of disabled lesbians, gay men Sukhjinder Sandhu - Male sexual health worker and bisexuals. Unit 2J, Leroy House, 436 Essex Rd, Naz Project London N1 3QP. Tel: 020 7688 4111 Minicom: 020 Palingswick House 7688 0709 Website: www.regard.dircon.co.uk 241 Kings Street London W6 9LP [email protected] Advice, information, 1-2-1 support, support Health Clinics groups, advocacy. South Asian & Latin American LONDON specific gay & bisexual men’s resources. Mortimer Market Centre, off Capper Street, London, PACE WC1E. off Capper Street, WC1E 6AU. Tel: 020 7387 34 Hartham Rd , London N7 9JL 9300 x8146 Tel: 020 7700 1323 RAINBOW CLINIC (men’s clinic) Workshops for Black gay men 020 7281 3121 CALDECOT CENTRE, Kings Health Care [email protected] • www.pacehealth.org.uk 15-22 Caldecot Road, London SE5 9RS Training, counselling, employment, Tel: 020 7346 3453 (walk in or appointments) youthwork, advocacy. Victoria Clinic for Sexual Health Outzone South Westminster Centre Jackson’s Lane Community Centre 82 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PF Jackson’s Lane, Highgate Appointments: 020 8746 8700 Tel: 020 8348 1785 Health Advisers: 020 8746 8980 [email protected] • www.outzone.org [email protected] Advice, information and support for all young www.hivgum.demon.co.uk people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or maybe MANCHESTER exploring their sexuality. Manchester Centre for Sexual Health Fri weekly meeting for men under 25. Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Rd, Manchester, BLGC (Black Lesbian and Gay Centre) M13 9WL 5/5a Westminister Bridge Rd, London SE1 7XW. Tel: 0161 276 5200 men Tel: 020 7620 3885 BIRMINGHAM Drop-ins, telephone helpline, counselling, Whittall Street Clinic GUM Department newsletter, video and book library. Whitehall Street, Birmingham, B4 6DH Open Tues & Thurs 11:00-17:30 for advice and Tel: 0121 237 5700 until 19:45 for drop-in. Big Up yourself and be proud We welcome patrons and volunteers from all sections of the community. If you want to know more about the Big Up @ GMFA group and its work, or would like to get involved, make new friends, learn a skill or just have fun. Contact us on 020 7738 6872. or email: [email protected]

WANTED: Artists, editors, writers, photographers, web designers, graphic designers, general fetchers and carriers, and others with a willingness to help out, no experience required. Full support and training provided.

GMFA, Unit 43, The Eurolink Centre, 49 Effra Road, London SW2 1BZ. Tel: 020 7738 6872 Fax: 020 7738 7140 www.demon.co.uk/gmfa. Registered Charity No. 1076854. Copyright Ꭿ GMFA 2001. All rights reserved.