In the Family 2: Celebrating the Builders of Black Gay Communities

Paul Boakye

Digitally signed by Paul Boakye DN: cn=Paul Boakye, o, ou=paulboakye.net, email=boogieboa@googlemail.com, c=GB Date: 2009.07.19 14:38:52 +01'00'

in the family

BLACK HISTORY MONTH SPECIAL

2 CELEBRATING THE BUILDERS OF BLACK GAY COMMUNITIES

Preface To many Black gay men and women, an overwhelming percentage of the Black community suffer from homophobia - an irrational fear of homosexuals. Like other phobias, it is rooted in a fear of the unknown. The influence of the Black Church, the importance of masculinity and the role of the family are said to be the underlying causes of homophobia in Black communities.

Yet, when one examines individual families a different picture emerges. On an individual level, many Black families tend to be very accepting of family members who come out as gay or lesbian. The family really does make an effort to understand the new “unknown� and the love remains. As for the wider Black community, whether it accepts or not, right or wrong, Black homosexuality is (and has always been) here to stay. As Black people continue to struggle for basic human rights, can we really afford to ignore the basic rights of other groups within our own ranks?

This second edition of In the Family is a small attempt to dispel some of the irrational fears and ignorance that may fuel homophobia, and the general prejudice against people living with HIV. Indeed, a virulent homophobia emanating from Black pulpits and a widespread embarrassment about Black homosexuality, have helped to prolong the AIDS crisis by stifling all sexual health promotion and outreach work from Kingston to Lagos. In 2001, for example, 71% of heterosexual people with new HIV infections in Britain were Black Africans. The rise in teenage pregnancies, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, among young Black Britons also shows a vigorous disregard for safer sex practices. The battle against the hypocrisies, hysteria, prejudice and homophobia that aids the spread of HIV in our communities, has to be fought

by Black preachers, politicians, celebrities, activists, gay men and women, their friends and families, and all those concerned about our general health and well being. Some have already joined the fight. We celebrate them with In the Family 2.

Cover guy: David Duncan, photographed by Paul Boakye.

2

Contents Preface Contents & Key Foreword Workshops Claire Andrews Toyin Awonuga Warts-An’-All BIG UP (defined) Biggy C Mr Sammy O Homophobe Paul Boateng Helen Cox C’leste Dior +ve David Divine Kevin Fenton Walter Gillgower Doin’ the Lambeth Walk Miss Kimberley Sanctified Church?

Jide Macaulay Dean McCollin Chris McKoy Assertiveness Training Juwon Ogungbe Resources & Flyers

The Key

2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 27 28 29 30 31 32

DeObia Oparei Vincent Osbourne Deborah Perkins Ian Poitier She Closed the Closet on Herself Andrew Prince Patrick Salami Hopeton Shaw Winnie Ssanyu-Sseruma Hepatitis Supadon Marc Thomson HIV negative Cheikh Traoré UNISON BLGC Allan Walron Gleicijane Zoppi Black Steam Simon Nkoli Good Practice Guidelines Selected Reading Useful Contacts Murderer!

34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 54 55 58 60

Edited by Paul Boakye Design: Offbeat Design

fashion

literature

music

visual arts

sport

politics

health

scene

performing arts

organisations

3

Foreword Once in a while, I’ll take out a tape of the 1979 movie “And Justice For All” starring Al Pacino. It’s not to look at Pacino, as nice as that activity is, but to see someone else. In the role of the Black drag queen whom Pacino helps, is my first friend who died from AIDS, the actor Robert Christian.

‘I nursed my friends, changed their nappies, wiped the drivel from their faces. I watched beautiful young men deteriorate into sick, elderly bags of bones’

Bobby was one of those New York actors who could play anything. He lived hard, partied hard, and did all the big roles.

One day I got a call from a friend saying that Bobby was in hospital with pneumonia. We all thought it was strange. I expected to see him very soon, being his same crazy self, only, maybe a bit weaker from the illness. Bobby died two weeks after being admitted. No one could understand it. He had gone so quickly, so without warning. It was impossible to imagine the New York theatre world or life without him. I had had a massive crush on him, until I met his gorgeous boyfriend, and to be honest, even he didn’t completely erase my feelings for the handsomest Black man I had ever seen. But it didn’t end there.

By 1982, a doctor who specialised in men’s health and was the doctor for many of my friends, started going public about a strange phenomenon he was 4

noticing. He started to lecture about a kind of plague. It was soon after that, that all hell broke lose. Everyone started getting sick. Everyone started to die.

I lost count of the cocktail of drugs that my mates began to take just to get them through the day. There were trips to the Pasteur Institute in Paris because someone there may have found a cure. There were guys telling their families for the first time that they were gay and, oh by the way, they were dying.

People turned to God. People turned away from God.

A baby is great, but she had unprotected sex!

That’s what you should be angry about!

It was assumed that this thing was contagious so that you had to visit people dressed in moon suits. I nursed my friends, changed their nappies, wiped the drivel from their faces. I watched beautiful young men deteriorate into sick, elderly bags of bones. I’ll never forget the day I went up to Harlem to visit a friend in hospital. He was an anti-apartheid activist who worked for the UN. His greatest wish was to be able to go to South Africa in freedom. He had always been an incredibly fit person. I walked past his hospital room three times until I realised that the bald, toothless old man sitting up in his bed watching TV, his robe open, too weak to hide his shrivelled penis from my eyes, was Ivan. I’ve lost at least thirty people to AIDS. I know that I’ve lost more, but I don’t want to count anymore. No one knows how to cure it, but we know how to stop it: safer sex. When my niece got pregnant and my sister railed about a baby born out of wedlock, I yelled back: “A baby is great, but she had unprotected sex! That’s what you should be angry about!” Don’t fool yourself. The AIDS epidemic is not over. AIDS can happen to anyone.

I know.

Bonnie Greer Writer/TV critic

London: September 2002.

5

Courses & Workshops For Gay & Bisexual Men There are a wide range of workshops and courses for gay and bisexual men in London.

• Relationships • Cruising Skills • Skills For Gay Life • Assertiveness For Gay & Bisexual Men • Assertiveness For Black Gay & Bisexual Men • Assertiveness For HIV-positive Gay Men • Introduction To SM Sex • Bondage For Beginners • The Series – courses for Black gay men These offer a rare opportunity to meet other gay men in a non-commercial environment. We talk about different aspects of life, from bars to cruising to relationships to family and health and sexuality with everything in between!

Workshops are a chance to talk about your own experiences and to hear about those of others. We aim for our workshops to be safe, friendly and relaxed, with a mix of activities that allow people to participate in a way that is right for them.

Workshops usually include exercises you do on your own, in pairs or small groups. There will be a chance to practise the skills or strategies you are learning, and time to think about how you apply them in your own life.

Most people who come on workshops find them valuable, and are often surprised at how many new friends they make. If you want to talk to someone before deciding to book a workshop you can ring us at GMFA, and we will be happy to help you:

Contact us: By phone on 020 7738 6872 or visit us online at www.metromate.org.uk

CLAIRE ANDREWS b. circa1950, Trinidad

Claire Andrews immigrated to England in 1961 to study nursing.

Leaving to graduate as an Electronic Audio Engineer, she worked in the industry for many years, before working for the Kent County Council where she became active in the TGWU. On returning to London, she became involved in AEU whilst working for Standard Telephone & Cables, until she joined the London Borough of Hackney in their Consumer Affairs Division. Hackney NALGO then provided the opportunity and the tools for her to excel in the trade union. She used these wisely to raise the profile of Black members.

During the merger of NALGO, NUPE and COSHE, she was one of those who insisted on self-organisation for women, Black people, lesbians and gay men, and those with disabilities was non-negotiable, and worked consistently to ensure that it was enshrined in the UNISON rulebook. She was instrumental in encouraging UNISON to understand the “layers of oppression� faced by Black lesbians and gays and to use this theme in their literature.

Claire is also well known on the international circuit, and was at the forefront of change within the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). Claire has vowed to remain part of the Black lesbian and gay struggle until Black organisations, churches, and members of our community recognise that Black lesbians and gay men live within the community, their families, and are among their friends.

Claire is currently a caseworker for Lesbian and Gay Employment Rights (LAGER), and is happy to be a proud Black lesbian.

7

TOYIN AWONUGA b. 1962, Nigeria

“I am looking forward to 40. If I reach out without stretching, I will ‘touch it.”

Most of Toyin’s working life has revolved around people. This is one of the main reasons why she became involved in ‘therapy’.

Therapy for her is about hearing people’s stories from their perspective, and helping them to see how their stories come across to others. It is an opportunity to explore different ways of dealing with the ‘garden of life’ and her belief that there is always a little weeding to be done in our own back yard. Consequently, one of the things she enjoys most about therapy is watching people flower and bloom.

“I am a systemic therapist in the making. I believe that I was born to work with people…born to bring people together…born to bring sunshine into the lives of others.”

Another of her great passions is books. Believing that we can all find strength and messages in stories, apart from the one-to-one working with people, she introduces books to her friends and clients through her bookstall, ‘The matter is L’Afrique’.

She is also passionate about Art. “Mothering is an art that is often overlooked and underrated,” she will tell you. “as is cooking.” Outside of her day-to-day work with people, when she finds time to shut down, she readily admits to turning into a domestic goddess, “a bit of cooking, housework, re – creating, and some writing, helps to soothe the soul.”

Toyin currently works for Blackliners as a Therapist.

8

Warts - An’ - All

BY ANON

Last night I met this amazing guy Dark Affectionate Masculine Fun Strong personality Strong African face About five-foot-nine Sharp mind Rebel soul Loves funk Moves well Looks good Very sexy Into all the things I like and more Truth Touching Tenderness Love We laughed and danced and talked All night In fact we had a wicked time Then the alarm bell went I woke up he was gone And there I was A young Black professional male All the above Fighting off AIDS And alone again “Warts-an’-all” was first published by Other Countries Press in “Black gay voices in the age of AIDS” edited by B. Michael Hunter (New York: 1993).

9

1. (Verb) A form of social acknowledgement and praise originating within the Jamaican dancehall music scene, and popularised by African-American street-culture. 2. The act of promoting or supporting an individual, group or cause (Big Up to the man they call Dennis Brown). 3. The activity of lifting heavy objects for exercise, especially to improve the strength of muscles and the appearance of the body (He goes to the gym to big up himself). 4. An informal greeting akin to the Black concept of "respect" and an acknowledgement of brotherhood, commonality or community. 5. (Noun) A group at GMFA that leads on the development and implementation of sexual health promotion aimed at African and Caribbean gay and www.bigup.co.uk bisexual men.

BIGGY C b. 1966, London

A tall imposing Black man, Biggy C not only stands out from the crowd but also from his DJ peers. Guaranteed to rock the party and on occasions to stop it - Biggy has been much in demand since he came out in 1983. Following his motto to “give the people what they want,” he was amongst the first to pioneer a deeper urban edge to the music that was being played in clubs back then.

His love of music developed whilst at school, and this soon led to his playing at blues and house parties. “When I wasn’t hearing the music I liked on the gay scene, I knew that the only way I was going to hear it was if I played it.” Biggy soon became a regular feature on the urban gay house party scene of the 1980s, which predates many of the clubs that Black gay men and women have now come to accept as the norm.

A warm, generous man, Biggy has on many occasions donated his time and energy to charity events. Not afraid to mix up Kylie alongside a Busta Rhymes rhythm, Biggy C is now taking his musical oeuvre to Europe and the States.

Credits include Nwangi (Market Tavern, 1993-94), Black Experience (1995 - 1996), Pressure Zone (The Vox, 1992-94), Above the Rim (Lowdown, 1994-96), Big Tings (Marlowes, 1998), and Karess (Cohiba Glow Rooms, 2000). He is a regular DJ at Fruit Machine (Heaven) with guest appearances at Bootylicious (Crash), Silk (Velvet Room), and the People of Colour tent (Gay Pride).

11

Mr. Sammy O

BY ALLISTER BAIN

A long time ago, Mister Sammy 0 lived in a wooden house just under the cocoa.

Now to get to his house from the main road, you had to cross the river, jumping over heavy driftwood and massive stones then up the hill passing the reservoir.

Then you come to a mass of wild vines and some large lazy pumpkins sleeping on the ground. Then corn trees and pigeon peas and then a big, big yard. There you’d find Mister Sammy 0 smoking his pipe.

He always sat on a big stone, which looked like a chair, watching children picking his nice juicy plums without a care and would smile, on the side of his mouth, puffing, puffing smoke in the air.

We knew most of the time when Mr. Sammy was out because on our may to school he was always up and about. Bag on shoulder, stick in one hand, and his cutlass. He always wore an old hat, which seemed to remain the same forever, with a big finger hole in the centre. Some days, he went up to his piece of land

by Dry River, and would return early evening, bundle of wood on shoulder - going home to cook his dinner.

Mr. Sammy 0 always said a shy hello to the other neighbours and would sometimes stop for a very brief chat, no more. He had no friends that we could see but once or twice a year or so, his sister from the other side of the island near Maribeau, would visit him on a Sunday and we could hear the echo of their laughter and chatter after they had their dinner. Rumour had it that Mr. Sammy used to make Loupgarou. He used to shed his skin at night and put it under the mortar and turn into a ball of fire just after the midnight hour. He would do strange things to people while they were aslumber. Perhaps that’s why he was so shy, and couldn’t look you in the eye.

One morning Miss Popo went missing you see. They found her tied up behind the W.C. Hand and foot bound up with horse’s mane, everybody said, “Eh heh! That’s the work of Loupgarou again!”

So one day on our way to school, we waited for Mr. Sammy who was no fool. As he came close we decided to spread out, two of us on his left, and three on his right.

Suddenly he stopped and swore and started to shout. “Saloperie! Mauvais enfants!”

And threatened to tell our parents. Obviously, he knew what we were up to because anybody who make Loupgarou, never, never pass in the middle of people.

One dark night this big ball of fire flashed up in the skies, and like a giant-sized firefly, it flicked and flew away. Suddenly it catapulted from behind the gru-gru tree and dived over Miss Petit house and disappeared completely. The next day the talk was that this Loupgarou entered Miss Babutt’s house in the shape of a manicou oui. It couldn’t get to Miss Petit because she was wearing a long black nightie.

12

Anyway, when Miss Babutt sight this manicou, out of sheer fright she grabbed a piece of bois from behind the door and started to beat the hell out of it.

Suddenly the manicou changed into a big fowl cock. She chased it all over the house and knocked down the clock. Finally the fowl turned into a huge ram goat and let off a pungent smell, like the devil himself burst out of hell. She grabbed a cutlass and planass the goat, missed and almost cut off its foot. The goat jumped up and tried to bite her throat. But by then she was no longer afraid and started to flash the cutlass again. This time she barely missed the goat’s head. The goat bleated out and said: “It’s meh. It’s meh! Wha’happen, you trying to kill me?

Miss Babutt was about to say, “Who meh dat?” But held her mouth just in time, as you’re not supposed to speak if you want to trap Loupgarou. Then she grabbed the calabash of salt and sprinkled the floor and she remembered one thing more.

“Rice! Rice! If you spread plenty rice in front of Loupgarou; it had to count every single grain before it could go.” As she scattered rice, the goat let off another nasty smell and started to bleat and jump up and kick. Miss B held her nose trying hard not to speak. The sun mill soon rise and then she would know if it really was Mr. Sammy 0.

But just then Mr. Babutt returning from his night watchman work, unlocked the door, picked up the clock, and spoke. “Mother B, wha’happen? You up already?”

And so the spell was broken and the goat turned into a bat, flew across the pantry, and escaped through the jalousie.

The next day pappyo, everybody was saying that it was Mr. Sammy 0. “They catch him, they catch him at last. Sammy, Sammy, SAMMY, SAMMY LAUPGAROU!” The whole village gathered in front of Babutt’s house to see the blood on the steps and the goat footmarks. They followed the marks and suddenly the goat’s foot changed to human footprints, which didn’t lead to Mr. Sammy’s house after all but to everyone’s surprise, the Great House on the hill where they found the culprit bandaging his right foot with an old shirt sleeve. They couldn’t believe it.

“That man? That rich respectable man from the Great House!” As he spotted them coming, he started running. He ran and ran and ran as fast as he could and it seemed like he was lifted off the ground by an unseen hand and flung into the woods and miraculously disappeared, leaving the Great House and all his lands in the hands of the poor villagers forever.

From that day everybody changed their attitude towards poor Mr. Sammy O, who never hurt a fly in his whole life you know. He just lived quietly by himself and would sit alone on the big stone in his yard, smoking his broken down pipe while watching his pot of breadfruit and coconut milk boiling down, down, slowly down, on a warm tropical night.

13

Homophobe

(a plea in progress)

BY CYRIL NRI

He, we was in the mirror watching me, he, we had slid in the house behind me, pushing the words further down my throat.

The words caustic, sharp and deep, burning like a virus, eating all in its wake choking me, we, as I tried for breath.

We had grown together in the same street his mother and mine introducing us with a chance comment, a glance blow of a comment swiped gently across flesh leaving no trace of its whisper upon the skin In school he, we had appeared popular, with taunts neither understood. he, we, I stood under his wing camouflaged by our swaggering ability to slice meat from bone, as fellow pre pubescence laughed, gap-toothed as he, we lacerated our like.

My father had walked him to school telling us how we should walk, straight and strong like African men.

In church we echoed taunts to those not of the Nation those abomination, an unnatural curse, secret hidden dark in the corner of love’s mistake. he, we, caught me in the mirrored glass spying that, I learnt I should not he, we, I turned inwards, twisting with revulsion Compulsion, gyres on gyres, pulling into shapes unknown ancestors of my hate, willing he, we me to hate the image that is me till you, showed me, me through you with love

PAUL BOATENG CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY b. 1957, Hackney

Paul Boateng was educated at Achimota, Accra Academy, Apsley Grammar School, Bristol University, and the College of Law. He joined Parliament as Member for Brent South in 1987. His career in Opposition included stints as spokesman for the Treasury and Economic Affairs 1989-92 and the Lord Chancellor’s Department 1992-97. He also served on the Select Committee for Environment 1987-89.

He has held the following posts in government: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health 1997-98; Minister of State for Home Affairs 1998-2001; Financial Secretary to the Treasury 2001-02. He was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2002.

Main leisure pursuits are swimming and opera. He is married and has two sons and three daughters.

Mr Boateng writes to the BIG UP Group “Black gay and bisexual men have played a critical role in the history of the Diaspora, and have made a vital contribution to the development of Black communities and activity. I well remember as a young activist the thrill of meeting James Baldwin when we invited him to the UK to take part in a GLC cultural symposium on the Black contribution to literature; and the grass roots contribution of men like Richie, who although a senior citizen by the time I came to know him, had been a dancer in the Ballet Negre and was an inspirational figure to many of us.”

15

HELEN COX Est. 1960, London.

Helen Cox has been working in the HIV/AIDS field for over 13 years. As well as all the many people she has had the privilege of learning and sharing experiences and knowledge with, her proudest moment arrived when she became one of the co-founders of the AKAIRAH project at the River House (Hammersmith). The weekly “drop-in” was a much-needed service offering direct support and information to Black African, Caribbean, and Asian people affected by HIV/AIDS. At that time, HIV services were mainly targeted at gay men. Yet, this was definitely not the case, if you were Black, and gay. These men had to get past the stigma, the secrecy, and the taboos of coming out in the Black community. So with true grit and determination, the AKAIRAH cofounders upped the outreach work, extended their working hours and eventually put the drop-in service on the map. Week by week the membership grew stronger with a real mixture of characters, and the Black communities stood tall in the face of it all.

AKAIRAH is still going strong, with a membership of people from many different traditions and cultures, and a wonderful mix of gender and sexual persuasion. “Confronting the challenges that being Black and positive can bring is never an easy road, but with positive support, the journey can be shared.” Helen Cox is still there too, having recently gone through another of her proudest moments - becoming a grandmother.

16

C’LESTE DIOR Est. 1975, Kingston, Jamaica.

C’leste always dreamt of being a star, to perform for others, or even to educate. He had been dancing since the age of five and then at eleven, he decided to go into Drama. “We had a Pantomime to do, the idea was for each child to think big, and act big as their role model and my role model at that time was Michael Jackson. So there I was imitating Michael’s ’Man in the Mirror,’ despite what people thought of him because he was different, and right there and then I was the centre of attention, and believe me, I felt like a star. I was a star!”

Some years later, he immigrated to America where he got some recognition working at Wigstock (1995), performing in clubs, from TV and film work, hosting, and DJing.

C’leste then came to England where he aimed to make a difference in the Black gay scene as he was the only Black Jamaican Drag Queen anyone had ever laid eyes on. He continued doing his thing and got work DJing, modelling, live drag acts on stage, and appearing in television adverts and hosting chat shows.

“I refuse to take notice of life’s little negativities. I feel I can make a big impact in the UK and I am aiming for top. I’ll be opening Celescuelita, my new weekly Club Night, see www.celesteonline.com for details.”

17

I’m

+ve and I’m telling you because...

I want to be honest with you from the start.

If you choose to disclose your status explaining why you’re doing it may help you.

DAVID DIVINE b. 1953, Dunfermline

“Success to me is not about how much material detritus we have accumulated over the years but about the positive impact we have made on the lives of others. It is about how well we have used our time and talents. About how much we have developed and shaped the environment in which we find ourselves.”

David grew up in poverty, was abandoned by his family as a toddler; spent some nine years in an orphanage and a further seven in foster care.

Such experiences have fundamentally shaped his approach to life. “I seem to have fought throughout my private and professional life for what I thought was important. I am independent, self made, successful, forthright, think for myself, believe fervently that individuals have the right to live their lives as they think fit but not to the detriment of others. I work very hard and assume full responsibility for whatever I do and say. At the end of the day, I am the author of my life. I make my own luck.”

David loves people. He is profoundly interested in and concerned about how we live our complicated lives and deal with what life throws our way, which is often arbitrary and unjust. It is therefore no surprise that his working life involves people, often poor, disadvantaged, in distress and powerless. He is managing director of DD Consultancy - social care, housing, and health - sponsors of the BIG UP Black Photographers’ Award 2002. www.ddconsultancy.com

19

DR KEVIN FENTON b. 1966, Glasgow

Dr Kevin Fenton is a Consultant Epidemiologist and is currently head of the national HIV / STI Division at the PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, Colindale. He also holds a joint appointment with the Department of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Royal Free and University College Medical School, as a Senior Lecturer.

Born in Glasgow and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Kevin completed his initial medical education at the University of the West Indies before returning to England in 1992. He worked in a number of clinical appointments in London before being appointed as a Lecturer at UCL in 1995. There he worked on a number of projects related to HIV / STI epidemiology including partner notification, sexual behaviour studies, behavioural interventions and the relationship between culture, ethnicity and sexual health. Appointed to his current joint post in July 1999, Kevin’s special interests include the surveillance and control of bacterial STIs, men’s sexual health and the study of sexual behaviour.

A director of Big Up between 1997 and 2000, Kevin has worked extensively on sexual health promotion and research among Black gay and bisexual men. He was the lead investigator of the What are you like? sexual health needs assessment of Black gay men in 1999, the first such study of its kind in Britain. He has recently completed work on the Good Practice Guidelines for HIV Health Promotion with Black gay and bisexual men. He is an avid traveller and enjoys oil and watercolour painting.

20

WALTER GILLGOWER b. 1965, Bulawayo, Southern Africa

Walter came to Britain in August 1990, having trained and qualified in automotive technology in Southern Africa. He found several positions around London for the five years before he came across workers from LADS, who encouraged him to join their organisation as an outreach worker. He joined Big Up as a volunteer, at the same time, and later became their Community Development Worker. This saw the introduction of “nice-n-easy” sessions (places where Black gay men could meet in an informal setting). There was a general drive for the promotion of Big Up on the gay scene, as well as their telephone helpline service, which saw Walter co-ordinate an extensive outreach programme. He was also one of the co-founders of the Mr Black Gay UK event Walter then moved to Birmingham to become the Senior Health Promotion Officer – African & Caribbean Men – for Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care NHS Trust. He started the Mayisha project, a social support group for the West Midlands’ Black gay and bisexual community.

He has contributed to many publications including, The Good Practice Guidelines for HIV Health Promotion with Black gay and bisexual men (GMFA, 2002).

He has been instrumental in getting more Black and Asian people to join in the World AIDS Day celebrations in Birmingham, and to help raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in their communities.

Walter is currently doing a Master’s degree in multicultural issues in health and social care at the University of Central England.

21

Doin’ the Lambeth Walk

BY EDWARD ABREHART

Go, Hide yourself in material ways, G’waan, Wear your disguise…everydays,

Your locks, Your keys,

When you’re doin’ the Lambeth Walk

The choked street, The bill on beat, The urban moan, The City’s groan…

Um-na-ney

Shutting out

That’s doin’, doin the Lambeth Walk.

You’d better believe I ain’t laffin’ For when I climb the trees And shout the Sun,

Forever sucking on money’s teat…

Is that all you want, Um-na-ney…

Is that all you really want?

I’m doing as I please Um-na-ney

That’s why I ain’t laffin’ No

Doing, doing-as-I-please…

I ain’t laffin’.

That’s feeling the earth And the tickle of the breeze, And that’s when I think of you,

22

MISS KIMBERLEY b. Detroit, USA

Raised in Detroit, USA, Miss Kimberley trained as an actor in New York, and worked in theatre and television before moving to London.

Gay clubbers all know Miss Kimberley who has also worked at Madame Jo-Jo’s before accepting the job of Hostess at the Powder Room (Heaven).

Her most recent work has included the release of two records with Alan X, a movie part in Killer Tongue directed by Alberto Sciamma, and a television appearance as a guest presenter for two Ibiza specials for BMP (ITV).

Miss Kimberley has natural charisma and grace, and looks forward to her transformation as a digital drag diva on the net.

23

The Sanctified Church

NAME WITHHELD

When I was fourteen a school friend accompanied me to an evening service at my church. I watched her veer from sheer fright when ‘the spirit broke out’ to complete amazement when the choir sang or the musicians jammed.

Coming from a family of atheists and agnostics, this experience made the Black church especially exciting and appealing to her. ‘You're so lucky to be a part of such an exciting church’, she chirped on the way home and incessantly everyday for three months.

My father was an assistant pastor in our church. My siblings and I had never known anything different. Church was our life. Our life was our church. My parents made sure we could never forget it. There was the fervent fire and brimstone preaching, the speaking in tongues; the rebuking of demons that occasionally had the audacity to walk in on one of my father's sermons. Then came the prophesying, the healing, and the back benching of disobedient saints, the stringent rules, and the

making up of testimonies. There all serving to publicly demonstrate to my father that our sanctification was still very much intact, which in turn showed that we were not back-benched. Never swimming in the same pool as the opposite sex; girls never wearing make-up, trousers, or jewellery; and the constant reminders that we were born of the flesh and therefore into sin and could never be worthy, were all his absurd rules and beliefs that seemed very natural to me. My attendance at prayer meetings, building programmes, Sunday services and annual conventions, primarily consisted of studying music and making up cruel pseudonyms for elder church members. Children can be cruel, and for a while, the fusion of Afro-Caribbean and African-American spirituals seemed to make all the rules, dogmas and absurd assertions worthwhile.

This was the late 1970s pushing into the eighties. I was a first generation British born Black man of Jamaican parents who were intent on never diluting the ‘word of God’. Until this point in my adolescence, I cannot recall ever hearing sermons pertaining to sexuality. It was only over time that I became bored, aggravated, and paranoid from what I was now hearing, and had no doubt heard throughout my life. ‘God made Adam and Eve. He never make Adam and Steve. It is an abomination onto the word of God; the mark of the Devil; a lie.’ This kind of rhetoric would gradually reverberate, dictate, and haunt me to this day. For all of my apparent ignorance I could neither deny nor ignore what my eyes, my hormones, and my libido were telling me: I WAS A HOMOSEXUAL. I masked my shame well. Much to my parents’ satisfaction, I threw myself into extra curricula activities in both church and school. My ‘A’ level grades gave me ample choices for higher education. I chose The University of London and majored in Computer Science. I flew the nest when my parents secured accommodation for me with a pastor in South London from the same denomination as us. University years flew by not in a blur of copious amounts of alcohol, drugs, or orgies, but with church, study, and sleep. My constant prayers, fasting, and repentance did little or nothing to eradicate my shame and so grew my depression and self-loathing.

Upon graduating, I secured a job with a well-known software developer for whom I still work. Another two years rapidly passed, as did my life, or rather lack of it. I decided to bite the bullet and nervously ventured to the West End 25

one night, got hopelessly drunk, and ended up in Heaven (hmmm). This is still very much a blur to me except my elation, surprise and disgust at seeing other Black gay men. I was not alone in my illness, deviation, possession, and disloyalty to God. Misery loves company. It would not be long before I found my way onto the Black gay circuit, which in 1987, primarily consisted of The Market Tavern (mixed - Black and white), Benjy’s on the Old Kent Road (mixed Black and white), and numerous Black late-night house parties around London almost every weekend.

I saw countless men that I knew from the Gospel fraternity of our church. I had long since left religion behind with its piety, prejudice, and hypocrisy, but many of these ‘brothers’ are still actively involved. I knew back then that my eventual ‘outing’ was inevitable. In that I had no doubt, but from my own church brethren - that was a shock. Most of them, I know, have perfected the art of leading double lives. Being pleased on Saturday night by a man, and pleasing God in church on Sunday, made everyone happy. Or were they, are they, will they ever be happy?

I have seen church folks lay hands on a young Black man in an attempt to exorcise the demon of homosexuality. This, just three days after he had been discharged from The Maudsley Hospital for mental illness, barely lucid, and on a cocktail of Lithium, Imipramine, Amitriptyline, and Nortriptyline. Do you think that the church managed to convince him that he was possessed, or do you think that these bright, highly intelligent, well-educated people could see that they were only contributing to his illness? Two further nervous breakdowns ensued, as did two more exorcisms. He's dead now.

Yet if the Black church were to remove every homosexual from its ranks there would be no more choir, half the pastors would vanish, and some of the sisters wouldn't be getting it as regularly as they currently do. I know HIV-positive men in the church who refuse to wear a condom because it might suggest - what exactly? The Black church's selective criminalisation of one sin over another is not only against its own doctrines: it is wicked. How many more of our brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, and children do we have to bury (or ostracise) before we see?

26

JIDE MACAULAY b. 1965, Islington

Jide is a poet who writes by inspiration and performs contemporary poetry mixed with music, dance, and drama.

He is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Poets (UK) and the Poetry Society (UK).

As a self-employed consultant and business trainer, he still finds time to write hundreds of poems, many published in Christian, and secular journals. He is the author of On Hallowed Ground, and Poetry Inspired (Forward Press), and released his album, “Poetry Inspired – The Spoken Word” in 2002.

Jide Macaulay has performed both in the UK and abroad, raising thousands of pounds for charity. He is a registered mentor for Southwark Council’s mentoring scheme, which helps youngsters to discover education as the essence of success. He is a seasoned award winner both for his performances and poetry, and his contribution to the voluntary sector. Jide is an active volunteer for the BIG UP Group at GMFA, and an ordained minister of the gospel. www.poetryupfront.co.uk

Photograph courtsey of Gilbert Murray

27

DEAN McCOLLIN b. 1973, Birmingham

Born in Birmingham to a British mother and West Indian father, Dean moved to London in the early nineties to work in fashion, but ended up becoming a Psychology student and volunteer at Big Up. Fast-forward to 2002, and he is currently working as a project worker at HGLC. For the last 3 years, he has brought his interpersonal skills, support, and information to the LGBT community.

Dean is primarily involved with outreach and community development, so if you’re out on the town, you are likely to bump into him at a variety of gay venues across the capital.

Other current pieces of work include the set-up of the “Safe House,” a 3rd party reporting service located at HGLC, and the operation of a satellite counselling assessment service at a Sexual Health Clinic in South London.

He is also a representative for both Southwark and Lambeth’s LGBT community safety forums.

Out of work, Deans’ biggest love is music, and he is a resident DJ at a bar in Clerkenwell.

Dean is currently in the progress of moving to the U.S. to study a Master’s degree in Public Health.

28

CHRIS McKOY b. 1971, Derby. d.2001, Amsterdam

When Chris McKoy received the Black gay community award in October 2000, nobody could have imagined just how timely this recognition would be for a man who had just over a year to live. This sweet 30-year old man whose energy was boundless, whose wit was infectious, and whose intelligence shone brightly, giving countless people a guiding light through the often bewildering labyrinth that is finding an identity as a Black man who is gay.

Chris arrived in London at the tender age of nineteen.

Born in Derby to Jamaican parents, but already out to his family, and just about to drop out of university to find his true calling as a DJ and musician, he was, without a doubt, one of the most talented and best-known Black DJs in the UK at the time of his death. He was out. Out to his family. Out to everybody who knew him. Out to anyone who caught him working his charm on radio and television; be it to rubbish ill-informed campaigns around the issue of homophobic lyrics in Ragga, or to talk about the fact that Black gay people are part of this culture, or even to dazzle his audience with his encyclopaedic knowledge of music.

Chris’s confidence made him the most successful Black, out-and-out gay DJ and promoter in Europe. He was instrumental in the setting-up and running of clubs where being Black and gay was the norm. These include The Vox, Lowdown, Off the Hook and Bootylicious. He influenced the formation of a commercial club scene that welcomed Black gay people, notably the Fruit Machine (Heaven). He achieved his aim of pulling the Black gay scene out of an incestuous and closeted underground, and will always be remembered for an uncompromising quest for individual freedom. Freedom to choose one’s lifestyle, whilst teaching people to love and to take care of themselves. To lose him so early is still more painful than words can express.

29

assertiveness for Black gay and bisexual men

Following this course we hope that you will be empowered through: • learning skills to communicate clearly and assertively • acknowledging your rights & responsibilities and those of others • an improved understanding of yourself and the choices you make • challenging your own and others behavior

the course is five days over three weekends places on the workshop are free for dates and further info or to book a place call James on 020 7738 3712 or email: workshop@gmfa.org.uk The course is supported by the BIG UP Group at GMFA and is facilitated by Black gay male volunteers.

All GMFA’s training is done by volunteers.

To volunteer for GMFA, write phone or email: Unit 43 The Eurolink Centre 49 Effra Road, London SW2 1BZ 020 7738 6872 newvol@gmfa.org.uk www.metromate.org.uk 30

JUWON OGUNGBE b. 1961, London

Composer, singer, and pianist, Juwon Ogungbe’s music theatre works have been performed throughout the UK and in Europe. As a freelance composer, he has written commissioned works for Royal Shakespeare Company, BBC Radio 3 Drama, Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre, London International Festival of Theatre, Channel 4, Thames TV and Union Dance Company, amongst others.

As a theatre music director, he has worked for the Royal National Theatre Studio, Royal Court Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, and others.

His many principal baritone singing roles in opera and oratorio include Macbeth (Verdi), Aeneas, (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), Don Alfonso, (Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte), and Raphael and Adam, (Haydn’s The Creation) Juwon is currently artist in residence at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. His first commissioned opera The Green Lady (for Arun District Council) was premiered and presented at the Littlehampton Festival.

In 2002, Juwon has performed at events highlighting sexual health issues for the BIG UP Group at GMFA in association with the Terrence Higgins Trust.

31

om all eers fr t to d volunt you wan trons an If pa e d y. lcom oup an mmunit We we GMFA gr the co @ to of p U ns Big e ke li th sectio t ou ld ore ab skill or orwou know m learn a work, friends, 6872. e new its 7738 ak 0 m 2 0 d, on lve vo us in ct t ta ge Con o.uk ve fun. emon.c just ha gmfa.d l: bigup@ or emai

DEOBIA OPAREI b. 1968, London

DeObia Oparei is an actor who has worked with the Royal Court, the National Theatre, the Sydney Theatre Company (Australia), and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has performed numerous roles for television, from Minder to Holby City, Linda La Plante’s Trial and Retribution, and Metrosexuality. DeObia also featured in the early days of Channel Four’s Black sitcom Desmond’s.

His film work includes Alien3, Dark City, Moulin Rouge, the soon to be released Four Feathers directed by Shekar Kapur and a spy thriller The Foreigner with Steven Segal. 2002 marks his debut as a playwright, and DeObia’s play CRAZYBLACKMUTHAFUCKIN’SELF will be staged at the Royal Court in 2002/2003.

DeObia is currently writing his second play, The Adventures of LittleBigFoot. He is a regular supporter of the BIG UP Group at GMFA.

34

VINCENT OSBOURNE b. 1953, Saint Kitts

Restaurateur, entrepreneur, writer, thespian and London’s foremost rhum connoisseur, Vincent Osbourne (approaching his own Golden Jubilee), would himself admit that the above words do little to describe him or his myriad activities and interests.

Born on the small Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, Vincent came to the UK and settled in Birmingham at the age of nine. He joined the Royal Air Force for 5 years before entering the theatre, as a means of expressing his burgeoning creativity. He is author of the television series, Brothers & Sisters, a supporter of many HIV / AIDS and Black oriented charities, including the BIG UP Group at GMFA, Blackliners, and most recently, the Terrence Higgins Trust. Via his establishment, the Brixtonian Havana Club, Vincent is a sponsor of the inaugural awards of the ‘Brixton Now’ art movement (September 2002).

Close to his heart, is his personal support of young Black operatic talent. Vincent considers these ‘pet projects’ with serious goals, and hopes that his example of personal patronage is one that others in the community will follow.

He has recently returned from Haiti, where he produced a cookery programme for television and took the opportunity to add to his famous Black art collection. A devout Christian, Vincent is both organist and choirmaster at his local church. He is the proud father of Darren and Natasha, and grandfather to Jaden. He is happily married to Uldine, his wife of 30 years. Vincent’s personal philosophy on life is, “Make each day count!”

35

DEBORAH PERKINS b. 1972, London

Deborah came to Gay Men Fighting AIDS (GMFA) in November 2000 as the first Black female member and Director of the charity. She was one of three former directors of Big Up Limited co-opted onto the Board of GMFA and who were jointly responsible for the merger of Big Up with GMFA. Deborah has continued to be an active member of the BIG UP group at GMFA, which was set up to meet the specific sexual health promotion needs of Black gay and bisexual men. She is committed to a broad-based approach to the provision of health promotion for men who have sex with men and uses her extensive marketing, PR, and leadership skills to help widen the profile of this and other groups at GMFA. Her voluntary contributions to project work have ensured that resources and campaigns address community building and selfesteem issues, as well as the sexual and wider health needs of gay and bisexual men.

Deborah is a pioneer who strongly believes in the need to challenge stigma and homophobia by providing accurate, unbiased, and culturally specific information on or about the need to support men who have sex with men in our communities. She has also been a governor at a local primary school.

36

IAN POITIER b. 1964, Nassau, Bahamas

Ian Poitier studied at Lester B. Pearson College, Canada, and came to Britain in 1982 to read law at Oxford. He then trained in Musical Theatre and spent seven years performing in theatre and television.

From 1992-1994, as World AIDS Day Co-ordinator at the National AIDS Trust, he was responsible for the national UK launch of the Red Ribbon. A career in advertising followed and he became an Account Handler managing campaigns for, among others, Levi’s, Coca-Cola, Sky TV, Ribbon and the United Bank of Switzerland.

From 1994 to 2001, Ian served as Chair of Rubberstuffers, the organisation responsible for the world’s largest and most successful free condom scheme.

In 1997, he returned to the Bahamas to serve as Artistic Director of the Dundas National Theatre, winning five awards for his productions. That year, he also set up Firebrand Films with his partner, Brian. They currently have several projects in development.

Ian currently divides his time freelancing in advertising, presenting for BBC World Service, and writing. His first screenplay is currently being developed as part of The Script Factory’s ‘Writers’ Passage’ Scheme.

In 2002, Ian was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

37

She Closed The Closet On Herself

BY AYIN ADAMS

Where garments used to hang in the closet she now stands smells of musty moth balls and damaging behaviours all perpetuated on herself in the name and game of foolish love closed in darkness glass covers the inner walls reflections of her life facing herself in the mirror she looks at woman her judgement has been affected by hating her enemies and loving her Goddess she cried, "Why should I be an outcast when all I do is love women?"

38

ANDREW L. PRINCE b. 1963, Jamaica

Leaving his Kingston-based job as a local government accounts clerk, Andrew Prince moved to England in 1991. Schooling in Jamaica had included The Institute Of Management and Production, and The Jamaica School of Dance, but once in London, Andrew decided to do a certificate course in Telematics at Brixton College. Thereafter, his jobs ranged from the travel industry to box office manager in the theatre. Yet Andrew wasn’t quite satisfied unless he was working for himself.

With his partner, Peter Fleming, he has set up ASANTEUK - the country’s leading web portal serving the Black gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community. The couple also run Santeria Box Office (Britain’s first gay-owned, London-based, online theatre ticket-booking agency) and have several other web sites under their belts.

On meeting Andrew, what drives him is the rights of gay men and women everywhere: our right to freedom of expression; freedom to share our love out in the open with whomever we choose, and above all, the rights of all people in the world to be free from oppression. Using his web sites, he has collaborated on several sexual health promotion projects aimed at Black gay and bisexual men for the BIG UP Group at GMFA, THT, and others.

He was recently invited by The London Partnerships Register to take part in The Couples exhibition (June 2002). For many of us, revealing aspects of our personal relationships is a purely private matter not for public consumption, but here too lies just another example of Andrew’s courage.

He lives with his partner in south London. www.asanteuk.net 39

PATRICK-SPENCER SALAMI b. 1965, Stepney, London

Patrick joined Blackliners in 1997 following a successful stint with the Twickenham Community Team for People with Learning Difficulties. He answered an advert for the post of Office Manager and soon found himself soliciting funds for the organisation’s quarterly magazine and what has become Blackliners’ most successful campaign – HIV Positive Attitudes.

Although he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in History, his desire to change people’s perceptions through teaching is behind him now.

Instead, Patrick, who holds a Master of Arts degree in Marketing, believes in the power of communication to influence change and instigate action through various media.

He is a member of the Institute of Fundraising.

Photograph courtesy of John Clarkson - Positive Nation Magazine.

His commitment to the fight against HIV, and his belief in equality for all, enabled him to attract the interest of the wider society, and especially the Black mainstream. He spearheaded the recruitment of Melanie B as a patron, and the appropriate use of her celebrity status to attract income to the charity.

Patrick remains active in the HIV sector, working with Positive Nation magazine and the UK Coalition of People living with HIV / AIDS (UKC). He is the proud father of two.

40

HOPETON SHAW b. 1969, Montego Bay

Studying at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, in the early 1990s, Hopeton became actively involved with Jamaica AIDS Support (JAS). Recruited as a buddy/counsellor to work with seropositive (HIV+) individuals, and those living with AIDS, it was also at this time that he started work as a volunteer for the Terrence Higgins Trust in London. This allowed him access to vital information and resources in the promotion of safer sex practices for the gay and bisexual community in Jamaica.

Immigrating to London several years later, he worked with the Healthy Gay Living Centre (HGLC) as an outreach worker on a sexual health summer project. Consequently, he was employed at Turning Point – ACAPS, as project worker on the Lambeth Regeneration Programme, where he facilitated the personal and social development of socially excluded young people within the borough. During this period, he was seconded as a drugs counsellor for the Stockwell Drug Project.

He currently works as a health adviser at the St. Ann’s Sexual Health Centre, and is responsible for co-ordinating the gay men’s clinic (Zone15). He is completing an MA degree and looking forward to qualifying as a Psychotherapist specialising in cross-cultural studies.

41

WINNIE SSANYU-SSERUMA b. 1961, Sheffield

Winnie arrived in Britain from Uganda in September 1996. Though she had been living with HIV since 1988, her health quickly became the focus of her life. Her immune system was shattered. She was still grappling with a lot of psychological and emotional baggage. By accessing the available healthcare, and networking with people she met from many different communities, she soon found the energy and direction she needed to get her life back on track.

She was re-elected Chair of the African HIV Policy Network (AHPN) in 2002, and has remained involved in HIV/AIDS initiatives aimed at African communities in the UK since 1996. She has written countless articles, facilitated seminars, and carried out research on the social and personal impact of the many health issues affecting Black African communities.

“It was essential for me to understand exactly what is happening among African communities in Britain. Yet, African communities cannot live or thrive in isolation. I’ve learnt a lot from gay men’s health promotion, for example, as well as from the targeted work being undertaken with Afro-Caribbean communities, and they in turn, can learn from the struggles we face. Black communities around the world are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Making links with others by emphasising our common goals will help to utilise limited human resources, and harness the potential for change that we share between us.”

42

a small prick can make a big difference why? because it can stop...

hepatitis You can get jabs for Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B at any GUM Clinic* It’s FREE and totally CONFIDENTIAL Make sure you complete the full course of injections Check out www.gmfa.org.uk for a list of GUM Clinics* or look in the phone book under ‘clinics’. *Geneto-Urinary Medicine or Sexual Health Clinics

DJ SUPADON b. 1960, Kingston, Jamaica.

Supadon grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1970s. Naturally drawn to music, he fell in with a sound-system and began to help them “string up” [wire the sound]. He was 15 at the time. After that, he got into DJing at clubs all around town for a few years, until his family decided it was time he joined them in London. He picked up the name through another DJ, Barry G, who christened him “Supadon” one night, and it stuck.

In London, another DJ, Neville Clayton, became instrumental in Supadon’s career, booking him for house parties and a regular night in Vauxhall. Neville soon teamed up with promoter Thomas Mkuti, who was doing his thing at The Vox [now Substation South]. Supadon played there for 18 months where he was introduced to Patrick Lilley who booked him for Queer Nation in 1995.

Supadon played at Queer Nation until the end at the Gardening Club, and from the start at Substation South. He played at Heaven from 1991 to 1993, and was resident at the Thursday night Black Experience parties at Spots, Oxford Street. He regularly plays in France, Germany, and the UK. He has appeared at Manchester’s Mardi Gras and the legendary Hacienda nightclub but “Queer Nation is mi heart. I love it”.

44

MARC A.THOMPSON b. end of the 60s, South London.

After attending the first Sunday sessions of the Lets Rap discussion group for Black gay men, Marc became instrumental in the running of the group, before leading the participants off to dance the night away at Queer Nation (The Gardening Club, Covent Garden).

It was inevitable that with his charm and boyish good looks, Marc would be the one asked to lead on the development of Big Up Limited.

Driven by a steely determination that Black gay men should have adequate access to a wide range of resources, information, and services, he was recruited in 1995, and spent the next two years laying the foundations of an organisation credited with taking Black gay men's health promotion to another level. As he says, "many a late night was spent pouring over a poster, a funding application or a monitoring report, at the same time as getting a life."

He is directly responsible for the team that delivered Testimony (the Positively Black men's support group), Basement Sessions, and the inclusion of the People of Colour tents at Pride (1996 and 1997). Though no longer prominent in the development of sexual health promotion aimed at Black men who have sex with men, Marc, along with his friends, throws a damn good party. He is currently developing his keen and wide interest in film, and writing his first screenplay. Still only in his youth, it is only a matter of time before we see Marc making his next foray into the public arena of Black gay life.

45

I want to stay HIV negative this is one of my reasons I hate being ill, even for a short time I can’t imagine having to take several pills a day and trying to deal with the side effects they cause

What are yours?

46

CHEIKH TRAORÉ b. 1967, Toulouse, France

Cheikh Traoré is a health promoter. He has worked with the African Communities Team at Terrence Higgins Trust since 1999. Cheikh is West African with a Mauritanian father and a Nigerian mother and moved to London in 1997.

What he loves about Britain is the fact that one can physically live here and still have many opportunities to contribute and work on development initiatives with African communities. Getting gay men’s health promotion to learn from HIV issues affecting African communities, and vice versa, has been one of his personal goals. Another is to understand exactly what makes our communities so slow to respond to increasing challenges: sexually transmitted infections; increasing HIV; teenage pregnancies, etc. On a global level, the same sluggishness applies.

“The world has waited over fifteen years for millions of Africans to be infected with HIV before putting in place institutions like UNAIDS or the Global AIDS Fund. When we look at the HIV epidemic in the USA, the Caribbean, and South America, Black people are now experiencing the fastest rises in infection. The future does not look bright unless our leaders take this on board. Let’s contribute to the solution.

Let’s start by getting our communities to get rid of the prejudices and negative attitudes that we have towards people living with HIV and people with different sexualities. We have experienced far too many prejudices ourselves; we cannot afford to harbour any more within our communities.”

47

UNISON BLGC Est. 1993

Black lesbian and gay trade unionists have been at the heart of UNISON, the public service union, since it was born in 1993. Black lesbians and gay men are active in all parts of the union, but they come together to form a caucus which plays a key part in shaping the union’s equality agenda. The caucus theme for a number of years has been ‘layers of oppression’. It is the Black lesbian and gay members’ caucus, working with the disabled lesbian and gay members’ caucus, which demands that there can be no hierarchy of discrimination. Different forms of discrimination cannot be put into neat boxes and dealt with separately.

This understanding has in turn led to the demand for comprehensive and comparable protection for all workers facing discrimination.

Too many deeply influential Black lesbians and gay men have been part of the caucus to single out any individuals. Collectively, the caucus has changed lives and ensured that when UNISON talks about equality, it means equality for all. This applies to the union’s internal organisation, to negotiations in the workplace, to the demand for high quality public services, appropriate to the full diversity of service users, and to the campaign for legislative reform.

This has also had an impact on other groups. Because of the caucus, recognition of the diversity of lesbian and gay workers has been taken into the work of the Trades Union Congress, the Europe Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, and many other groups. Of course there remain many challenges, but the caucus has made visible the place of Black lesbians and gay men at the heart of their union.

And every one of the union’s 1.3 million members benefits from that.

For more information visit www.unison.org.uk/out

48

ALLAN WALROND b. 1940, Barbados

Giving up his job as a graphic artist and copywriter after his favourite cousin died, Allan Walrond left Barbados to work on the buses in England. Quite apart from getting to know London better than most Londoners, he also encountered extreme expressions of racism for the first time, which he calls, “my baptism of fire.”

He enrolled in Fashion School, two years later, and had already started working in the Rag Trade. The remainder of the glory years of the sixties and seventies were spent in “swinging London.” He lived for two years in Germany doing graphics and fashion before returning to London at the beginning of the eighties. Six months working in Africa, then back to London again, where he continued as a freelance designer until the influence of HIV began to show itself in gay circles.

These were the early days of transmission, recognition, and response, and so like many others at the time, he involved himself in voluntary work. Running into old friend, Arnold Gordon, who had set up a telephone helpline from his flat in Brixton, Allan decided to help out and eventually Blackliners was born. When Arnold left, Allan became Blackliners’ second director, a task for which he was unprepared but threw himself into for over two years despite fear and dying all around him.

Allan has been involved with various projects in the HIV sector, including AKAIRAH, and Blackliners’ Gay Men’s Committee, which led to the formative meeting of Big Up in his living room. And, yes, he is very proud of that! Allan currently volunteers for the River House, and is looking forward to his (official) retirement.

49

GLEICIJANE NASCIMENTO DOS SANTOS ZOPPI AKA JÁNE

b. 1963, Santos, Brazil

Jáne came to England in June 1984 intending to do a six month English course in Cambridge before returning to Brazil to teach English as a foreign language. Well, at least, that is what her parents wanted her to do! Eighteen years later, she is still learning a language in which one word can have many different meanings. Above all, she has maintained a strong Brazilian accent, despite having worked in the HIV / AIDS sector in London since 1990.

Jáne has worked at the London Lighthouse, Positive Place, Strutton Housing Association, and was a member of the management committee of Positively Women for 3 years. As a Black Brazilian who has faced discrimination in the UK because of her gender and race, working in this field has enabled her to challenge the discrimination, stigma, and ignorance that can lead to inequality of health provision.

Her aspiration is to see more Black women in positions of power in the sector. She recently completed a BSc combined Honours in Social Policy / Social Research at the University of North London, and immediately started working at Blackliners. As a generalist adviser and caseworker at the charity, part of her job is to work with gay men, particularly those who face homophobia both in their countries of origin and within Black communities in Britain. She provides advocacy support; welfare advice; help with filling out applications to the Home Office; making referrals to Blackliners’ African emotional support worker and to the gay men’s counselling service.

50

Black Steam

by Alfred Celestine

Never love strangers on the cutting edge So full of passion and enhancing sounds.

Never let your friends stand on privilege Because later on you will have no grounds To recant whole and perfect faith you placed In the cold power of Black steam rising.

With the promise of plentitude be graced Because we'll love without love's measuring.

I will not know the risks that you have run.

We will not know, and not knowing is why It could be said that love has made us one, Or worse that what's done in saunas is dry, Arid, and makes us thirst for the next one.

Men sleeping with men is a waking dream For what springs from these words could be Black steam.

SON OF THE PEOPLE b. 1957, Soweto. d. 1998

Simon Nkoli was born in Soweto in November 1957.

Growing up in the townships, he experienced the brutality of an Apartheid regime where Black South Africans required special “passes” to enter white neighbourhoods or to use the main urban areas. One of his earliest memories was the indignity of seeing his mother and father hiding in a closet during a raid by police in the township where they lived. They did not possess the right pass.

In June 1976, police opened fire on students demonstrating in Soweto.

A nation-wide student uprising followed. The security forces killed more than 600 pupils. Young Simon Nkoli was a 19 year old seminary student at the time. He was soon arrested and detained for several days; his parents not knowing whether he was dead or alive. On his release, he led an underground life, rarely daring to sleep at the same address twice as he worked to mobilise fellow Black students.

By 1981, he had already become Regional Secretary of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), an organisation which played a crucial role in the growing anti-apartheid movement. In that same year, Nkoli decided to ‘come out’ to his fellow students. As he was now known to be a gay man, a fierce debate fired up among the members of COSAS, many of whom felt that he was no longer fit to lead them. At a special general meeting to discuss the issue, however, 80% of his comrades voted to keep him as their leader.

Simon Nkoli was again arrested and tried for treason, in 1994, along with other anti-apartheid leaders. That year, the British Anti-Apartheid Movement, and other organisations around the world, took up his case.

52

Nkoli argued that his oppression as a Black man and as a gay man were linked: “The closet I have come out of is similar to the wardrobe my relieved parents stepped out of when I unlocked the wardrobe after the police had left. If you are Black in South Africa, the inhuman laws of apartheid closet you. If you are gay in South Africa, the homophobic customs and laws of this society closet you. If you are Black and gay in South Africa, well, then it really is the same closet, the same wardrobe. Inside is darkness and oppression. Outside is freedom.”

As well as being a leading light of COSAS and other civil rights groups, Simon also worked to organise the Black lesbian and gay community in South Africa. In an article in the popular Black newspaper, City Press (1983), he appealed to other Black gay men and women to contact him and the “Saturday Group” to provide mutual support was formed. Later, he helped to organise the first Johannesburg Gay Pride parade and was involved in gay and lesbian groups throughout South Africa and neighbouring countries.

Testing HIV-positive in the early 1990s, Simon quickly realised that the HIV epidemic was rapidly affecting many gay and heterosexual Black South Africans. With the help of his supporters around the world, he set up the Soweto-based Township AIDS Project where he worked until his death on the eve of World AIDS Day, November 30th, 1998. “We rejoice that Nkoli lived long enough to see the apartheid regime toppled. We celebrate that he lived long enough to see constitutional protection for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals elevated to the law of the land.” - from the December 17th, 1998 issue of Workers World newspaper.

The Simon Nkoli Memorial Committee can be reached by e-mail at jonathan@ncgle.org.za or by mail at Po Box 27811, Yoeville, 2143, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Photograph courtesy of the film, Simon & I, which recounts the lives of two giants in the South African gay and lesbian liberation movement, Simon Nkoli and the film maker herself, Beverley Palesa Ditsie (52 minutes, South Africa).

53

Published by GMFA and available on 020 7738 6872 or in ebook format from www.bigup.co.uk

Selected Reading 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 Renaissance (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) 55

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) 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 ALEXANDER STREET PRESS http://www.alexanderstreet.com/product.sheets/product.sheet.bldr.htm 1,200 Black plays.

BIG UP YAHOO Get our information, resources, and event news direct to your mailbox anonymously. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bigup_uk/ BLACK BRITAIN The Colourful Network - Europe's award-winning digital destination. http://www.blackbritain.co.uk/ CHATBLACK Highlighting what's new on the Black gay scene. http://www.tht.org.uk/black_gaymen.htm GALOP London's only LGB anti-violence and police-monitoring charity. http://web.onetel.net.uk/~galop/

57

Useful Contacts Alan Mitchal – Health Promotion Camden & Islington HPS West Wing, St Pancras Hospital 4 St Pancras Way, London NW1 0PE Tel: 020 7530 3955 Flavia Namuthbi - Health Promotion Officer Uganda Community Relief Association Selby Centre, Selby Road, London N17 8JN Tel: 020 8808 6221 ucra2000@hotmail.com Welfare rights, housing, African Men’s Club, training, sexual health information.

Tim Sigsuort - Head of HIV & Sexual Health Lesbian & Gay Foundation 15 Pritchard Street, off Charles St Manchester M1 7DA Tel: 0161 235 8023 tim@lgfoundation.org.uk LGF Helpline - 0161 235 8000 7 days, 6-10. TVTS helpline 0161 235 8005 Wed & Thurs 7-10, counselling, groups, training.

Matthew Keogh - Health Promotion Specialist THT (Terrence Higgins Trust) Birmingham Unit 304, The Custard Factory Gibb Street, Birmingham B9 4AA Tel: 0121 694 6440 matthew.keogh@hotmail.com Training, counselling, legal and housing issues, debt advice, sexual health advice, HIV treatment and HIV prevention for African gay men.

Andy Mullen - Community Development Worker for Bradford Bradford Mesmac PO Box 267, Bradford BD1 5XT Tel: 01274 395 815 Community, advocacy, training.

Helen Cox - Project co-ordinator The River House (Supporting people affected by HIV & AIDS) PO Box 22443, London W6 9FE Tel: 020 8576 5875 info@riverhousetrust.org.uk Access to social services, housing, citizen‘s advice, complementary therapy, counselling, support group for African, Caribbean and Asian communities Thurs 12-4, subsidised lunch from 12.30-2.30 (Mon-Fri).

Healthy Gay Life Centre for Community Health Frank Street, Highgate Street, B’ham B12 0YA Tel: 0121 446 1086 walter.gillgower@bscht.wmids.nhs.uk Counselling, support work, social and support groups.

Blackliners Unit 46 Eurolink Centre, 49 Effra Road London SW2 1BZ Tel 020 7738 7468 Counselling, housing advice, training, advocacy info@blackliners.org Neil Young Brent Mosaic Young Gay and Bisexual Men’s Project Group for men aged 25 and under, meets on Mondays between 6:30 and 9:30pm.

Phone & Mini-com 020 8838 0527 or call 07931 336668 between group times mosaicyp@hotmail.com Tyron Wynter, Project Worker The BIG UP Group at GMFA Unit 43, Eurolink Centre 49 Effra Road, London SW1 1BZ Tel: 020 7738 6872 www.bigup.co.uk • bigup@gmfa.demon.co.uk

Nick Broderick - Project Manager TRADE 15 Wellington Street, Leicester LE1 6HH Tel: 0116 254 1747 info@gaymentrade.com Legal, group work, 1-2-1, support police liaison, counselling.

58

Barnet Support Group If you are between the ages of 16 and 25 and need support and advice regarding your sexuality, coming out and any other ‘gay issues’, there is a support group in the Barnet area.

Meeting once every week.

For more information telephone or e-mail in strictest confidence.

Tel: 07903 921 672 • yeshveer@hotmail.com Pastor Kanley Black Lesbian/Christian Fellowship Vauxhall Mission, Morgan Street London SE11 Tel: 020 7735 0314 Sundays at 2.30pm Sukhjinder Sandhu - Male sexual health worker Naz Project Palingswick House 241 Kings Street London W6 9LP Sukhjinder@naz.org.uk Advice, information, 1-2-1 support, support groups, advocacy. South Asian & Middle Eastern specific gay & bisexual men’s resources.

PACE 34 Hartham Rd , London N7 9JL Tel: 020 7700 1323 Workshops for Black gay men 020 7281 3121 pace@dircon.co.uk • www.pacehealth.org.uk Training, counselling, employment, youthwork, advocacy.

Outzone Jackson’s Lane Community Centre Jackson’s Lane, Highgate Tel: 020 8348 1785 info@outzone.org • www.outzone.org Advice, information and support for all young people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or maybe exploring their sexuality.

Fri weekly meeting for men under 25.

BLGC (Black Lesbian and Gay Centre) 5/5a Westminister Bridge Rd, London SE1 7XW. Tel: 020 7620 3885 Drop-ins, telephone helpline, counselling, newsletter, video and book library.

Open Tues & Thurs 11:00-17:30 for advice and until 19:45 for drop-in.

Black Bisexual Group @ London Friend, PO Box 3325, London, N1 9EQ Tel: 020 8569 7500 Opening Times: Friday 20:00 Kirit Patel - Services Manager Black Health Agency REGARD National organisation of disabled lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Unit 2J, Leroy House, 436 Essex Rd, London N1 3QP. Tel: 020 7688 4111 Minicom: 020 7688 0709 Website: www.regard.dircon.co.uk

Health Clinics LONDON Mortimer Market Centre, off Capper Street, WC1E 6AU. Tel: 020 7387 9300 x8146 RAINBOW CLINIC (men’s clinic) CALDECOT CENTRE, Kings Health Care 15-22 Caldecot Road, London SE5 9RS Tel: 020 7346 3453 (walk in or appointments) Victoria Clinic for Sexual Health South Westminster Centre 82 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PF Appointments: 020 8746 8700 Health Advisers: 020 8746 8980 victoriaclinic@chelwest.nhs.uk www.hivgum.demon.co.uk MANCHESTER Manchester Centre for Sexual Health Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9WL Tel: 0161 276 5200 men BIRMINGHAM Whittall Street Clinic GUM Department Whittall Street, Birmingham, B4 6DH Tel: 0121 237 5700

59

MURDERER!

GUNS ARE ON YOUR SHOULDER KILL I TODAY YOU CANNOT KILL I TOMORROW

MURDERER!

YOUR INSIDES MUST BE HOLLOW HOW DOES IT FEEL TO TAKE THE LIFE OF A BROTHER?

90 BLACK MAN ON BLACK MAN SHOOTINGS IN THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS IT’S SENSELESS AND NEEDS TO STOP.

THINK AGAIN.

SUPPORTS OPERATION TRIDENT OUR HEALTH • OUR COMMUNITY • OUR VOICE

BIG UP volunteers come in all shades, shapes and sizes Which are you?

All BIG UP Group campaigns and actions are designed, planned, and carried out by gay, bisexual, and straight volunteers of both genders.

To volunteer for the BIG UP Group at GMFA write, phone or email: Unit 43 Eurolink Centre 49 Effra Road, London SW2 1BZ Tel: 020 7738 6872 • Fax: 020 7738 7140 Email: bigup@gmfa.demon.co.uk www.bigup.co.uk

BIG UP is a group at GMFA. Registered charity no. 1076854. www.gmfa.org.uk / www.metromate.org.uk Photo © Terence Facey 2002

ISBN: 0-9529964-5-6