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This project successfully funded on 4th October 2025, you can still support them with a donation.
Revolting Gays
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
£1,120
raised so far
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Aim
Revolting Gays, a fascinating history of the LGBT+ squatter community in South London in the 1970s and the Queer Walking Tour of Brixton
The Mission
Over a period of roughly 30 years I collected material about the LGBT+ squatter community in Brixton from the early 1970s to the start of the 1980s. Originally I meant to produce a book but given the huge volume of photographs, flyers, leaflets, broadhseets and other ephemera it would have been prohibitively expensive to produce or I would have had to considerably reduce the contents.
As a onetime member of the community I wanted to maximise coverage of that historical period to prevent the loss of a fascinating experiment in queer living and activism from being buried forever in the past. It became clear that a website would be more fitting to accommodte all the material hence my creation of the Revolting Gays website.
Topics covered on the Website
The LGBT+ activists squatted the South London Gay Community Centre at 78 Railton Road. This was the first of its kind in Britain and acted as a magnet to bring mostly gay men into the area with the subsequent development of about 8 or 9 squatted houses, back to back, on Railton and Mayall Roads with a shared garden in between. All of this created a space for a proliferation of activism and creativity including campaigns, theatre work and experiments in alternative living.
I have delivered a considerable number of talks and slide shows about the website to various institutions including universities, Queer Social Centres and community groups. I also conduct the Queer Walking Tour of Brixton. The purpose of the website and walking tour is to remind people of past struggles for gay liberation and to raise questions about whether they have any relevance for today's fight for gay and trans liberation.
However maintaining the website does not come without a cost and that is why I am seeking donations to help with its upkeep. By donating via crowdfunder you are helping the website to remain accessible and not behind a pay wall. Any donations made will help pay for the maintenance costs including the domain and Squarespace subscription. Also to give the website global reach I plan to establish a Wikipedia page which will incur a considerble amount of extra costs.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made