Five community spaces that made LGBTQ+ history
Lavender Menace, Edinburgh
Founded in 1982, Lavender Menace was the first LGBTQ+ bookshop in Scotland. The shop, and its successor Wilde & West, soon became a hub where people could meet, share experiences and discover LGBTQ+ literature that was hard to find elsewhere.
Today it’s been reimagined as a free public archive celebrating decades of queer writing and culture. With our support Lavender Menace is keeping this heritage alive through author events, reading groups and an oral history project capturing experiences of visiting the shops in the 1980s and 1990s.
Cara-Friend, Belfast
Not all community spaces are physical. Sometimes they’re the networks people rely on.
In 1974 Northern Ireland’s first LGBTQ+ charity, Cara-Friend, started offering telephone befriending and support services. At a time when homosexuality had not yet been decriminalised in Northern Ireland, the charity provided a vital way for LGBTQ+ people to safely connect with one another and access resources.
Now the Founding Cara-Friend project is exploring that early history by preserving the stories of the founders and volunteers who built this crucial lifeline.
Club Kali, London
Club Kali was the UK’s first safe space for LGBTQ+ people of South Asian heritage. The London-based network has been uniting its multi-cultural community on the dancefloor and beyond since 1995.
Our funding is empowering volunteers with the interviewing, curatorial and archival skills to preserve oral histories. An online exhibition and podcast series are sharing people’s memories of Club Kali, from friendships forged at its first venue – The Dome – to present day club nights.
The Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive. Credit: Sigrid Nielsen.
Richard Kennedy, one of Cara-Friend's founding members. Credit: Timothy O’Connell.
In-person and online activities are bringing people together to share memories of Club Kali's past. Credit: Club Kali Network.
An audio heritage tour around Brighton's St James Street. Credit: Kaleidoshoots / Marlborough Productions.
Part of Glasgow Zine Library's collection of zines.
St James Street, Brighton
Home to Brighton’s first and longest running openly gay bar, St James Street is a historic hub for LGBTQ+ nightlife. Queer Heritage South is running walking tours of the area and building a digital archive celebrating the lives of Brighton and Hove’s LGBTQ+ community.
Alongside stories of entertainment venues, the archive will preserve people’s experiences of relationships, work and activism in a city with over 200 years of recorded queer heritage.
Glasgow Zine Library
Zines have long played a major role in LGBTQ+ culture, providing a way for people to come together, share interests and exchange information before social media and online communities.
At the UK’s largest independent zine library, our funding has helped it hire and train staff, acquire more publications and encourage new people to take up zine-making.
The library is also commissioning new work to fill gaps in its collection, such as from trans publishers and those from diverse ethnic communities.
Get Involved
Learn more about Lavender Menance, Cara-Friend, Club Kali, Queer Heritage South and Glasgow Zine Library.
Inspired to explore the heritage of somewhere your community calls home? Find out how to apply for funding to run your own project.
