Gay Sweatshop had already demonstrated the capacity to challenge obstacles to self-esteem and self-identity with the Play ‘Mr. X‘. Based on the Gay Liberation counter-psychiatry pamphlet ‘With Downcast Gays‘ the guilt, shame and the low expectations of gay people were all radically challenged for a more positive image of self-esteem and pride. Liberal views on homosexuality which worked towards the tolerance and integration of gay people were also attacked. The price of being allowed to occupy a space on the fringes of society meant the ending of a distinctively gay identity and Gay Sweatshop answered this with a full-blooded gay liberation rejection of tolerance and integration in favour of autonomy, identity and liberation. Among others they also produced the major plays 'Poppies' and 'Dear Love of Comrades' exploring the relationship between men (ostensibly enemies) in the trenches during the first world war and the life of the gay Utopian socialist Edward Carpenter.

Bette Bourne and Bloolips inspired by the visiting New York based group Hot Peaches, in very different circumstances and with an entirely novel and brilliantly entertaining approach used camp, gender bending and visually stunning costumes and make-up to throw down the gauntlet in answer to rigidly defined attributes of masculinity and femininity. Both groups developed an original style that would leave audiences exhilarated and laughing inside at the sheer skill and audacity of the performances as they pointedly reinterpreted the world about them through burlesque and playful caricatures.

Bradford Gay Liberation Theatre Workshop (General Will production) in their performances of ‘All Het Up‘ and ‘Present Your Briefs’ set an entirely different directions in gay theatre. The drama of being lesbian and gay in a working class household and the harassment and persecution of gay people by the law was deftly and wittily presented in a more social realist vein but with, like the other groups mentioned, some memorable songs. The group staged 'Present Your Briefs' at Hammersmith Town Hall (1975) as a benefit for the South London Gay Community Centre which was in danger of closing down after Lambeth Council's refusal of a grant to cover basic running costs.

Hormone Imbalance, a radical lesbian theatre group, with a name that clearly challenged nonsensical theories by psycho sexual experts about the origins of lesbianism, pushed the boundaries of lesbian drama beyond simply just coming out and building self-esteem. In their own words:
"A desire to create a style of lesbian theatre that was more edgy and provocative than the predominantly earnest ‘come out’ style of lesbian feminist theatre that was – of necessity – being created in the mid 1970s. It was, in effect, an alternative to the alternative.....

Hormone Imbalance is not another chapter from the Kinsey Report, a Freudian description of the ‘female complaint’ nor … the definitive guide on lesbian erotica. What we are is an exciting theatrical venture within a surrealist form designed to make visible our invisibility, turn water into wine, make whole the sick and bring the dead to life, or words to that effect.

In producing 'Ophelia' the group created a lesbian version of one of Shakespeare's greatest characters from 'Hamlet'. Instead of marrying the Prince of Denmark she runs away with her girlfriend.

Hormone Imbalance, a radical lesbian theatre group, with a name that clearly challenged nonsensical theories by psycho sexual experts about the origins of lesbianism, pushed the boundaries of lesbian drama beyond simply just coming out and building self-esteem. In their own words:

"A desire to create a style of lesbian theatre that was more edgy and provocative than the predominantly earnest ‘come out’ style of lesbian feminist theatre that was – of necessity – being created in the mid 1970s. It was, in effect, an alternative to the alternative.....

Hormone Imbalance is not another chapter from the Kinsey Report, a Freudian description of the ‘female complaint’ nor … the definitive guide on lesbian erotica. What we are is an exciting theatrical venture within a surrealist form designed to make visible our invisibility, turn water into wine, make whole the sick and bring the dead to life, or words to that effect.

In producing 'Ophelia' the group created a lesbian version of one of Shakespeare's greatest characters from 'Hamlet'. Instead of marrying the Prince of Denmark she runs away with her girlfriend. 

Brixton Faeries' theatre work was informed by the different styles, attitudes, politics and sheer boldness of the groups already mentioned together with our own aptitude for invention. With a concern more for understanding the nature of anti-gay forces at work in society and the challenges and lessons to be drawn from the experiences of gay people, incorporating some of our own, we unashamedly projected onto the screen of community theatre an active disavowal of the narrowing, destructive confines of anti-gay prejudice and bigotry. Dissent through adopting strident political views and agit prop took precedence over considerations of ‘artistic merit‘ though the plays developed over time increasing levels of sophistication in terms of character and plot. 

The productions were performed at several locations mostly London based. Apart from the South London Gay Community Centre this included Effra Parade Primary School Brixton, the Waterloo Action Centre, Saint Jude's Church Hall on Railton Road, Oval House Community Theatre, the Hemingford Arms in Islington, the Theatre Space Covent Garden, the Southbank Polytechnic, Elephant & Castle (now a university), the Campaign for Homosexual Equality annual conference in Southampton, the Communist Party's Red Festival (1977) and Fulham Town Hall. We also performed street theatre and participated in a local community festival with our gay dragon (Chinese New Year style). 

I propose to look at two of our earliest plays in detail to give a clear view of the politics we propagated through the first bursts of enthusiasm driving our dramatic and comedic endeavours. The rest will be outlined briefly with additional comments. It's unclear when all of the plays, sketches and mini cabarets were performed which means I haven't be able to follow a strict chronology of production dates.

Mr. Punch's Nuclear Family

The first play we performed was titled ‘Mr. Punch’s Nuclear Family’. Based on the Punch and Judy puppet show for children we included a particular political slant to the traditional story. As the title suggests the subject under scrutiny was family life projected in conventional terms as the cornerstone of society and a haven of peace, security and tranquility in an arduous world of work. Brixton Faeries kept the usual murder and mayhem enacted in the famous seaside entertainment but added a number of alliances between Mr. Punch and others to give added weight the Patriarchal institution called ‘the family’. To recapitulate here is a summary of the play.

The narrator announces the musical tragedy of a nuclear family. Enter Mr. Punch. He is identifiably a working class father with ‘typical’ pursuits of watching fooball on the telly and a game of darts at the pub. With an imperious and truculent manner his patriarchal status allows him the privilege of ogling women but threatening any man that dares to ogle his wife. He demands his breakfast from Mrs. Punch and is met by the cry of “MALE CHAUVINIST PIG” from his wife who then returns to her frozen posture in front of the television.

The action shifts to a confrontation between father and son. His position as Head of Household and chief breadwinner is undermined by a willingness to cadge money from his son but Sonny Punch has already given him his last fiver. The refusal allows Mr. Punch to indulge in a frenzy of embittered, self-pitying ill-temper made worse by witnessing Sonny Punch kissing his boyfriend goodbye. Sonny sings as song of praise for the Railton Road Gay Community Centre where he met him. Mr. Punch’s anger builds up to fever pitch and in one sentence he slanders and disowns his son, blames himself for what has gone wrong, and even manages, incongruously for a white man, to accuse his son of being a ‘batty man’, the Caribbean derived insult for gay. Mr. Punch insists on his right to rule family affairs but is met with derisive sneers. Sonny Punch accuses him of deserting his duties as a father by forcing he and Mrs. Punch to pay for rent and food while he spends his money down at ‘The George’, referring to a public house from which gay people had recently been ejected and barred. Sonny Punch continues to hum a hopeful tune which infuriates Mr. Punch to heights of uncontrollable anger. He slams a chamber pot down on his son’s head. The song is cut short and repeats the assault to ensure success. Sonny Punch drops dead on the floor and the sign ‘BLOOD’ is placed on him. The dye is cast for further atrocities.

With a ‘sick and evil’ expression on his face he enters the ‘kitchen’ and Mrs. Punch comes to life. In his usual gruff, swazzle-voiced manner he makes a feeble excuse for not going to work and curses his fate as his wife refuses to perform her wifely duties of cooking, cleaning and looking after his every need. She is determined to keep what she earns from her office cleaning job and refuses to tip over money to him like a ‘slag’ to a pimp. She insists on her own name. No longer willing to be Mrs. Punch she proclaims her real name of Judy and sings a song of Womens’ freedom. An apoplectic rage consumes Mr. Punch as he realises she has become ‘perverted’ by the plague of Womens’ Lib. Judy Punch’s song is dramatically cut short as he strangles her across the kitchen table with a tea cloth.

Arriving on stage like a capering idiot in a stage farce the policeman does a Keystone cop inspection of the corpsed carnage. Mr. Punch makes a stiffly irritated comment on the rude intrusion and continues to sing: ‘Thank god I’m a straight man, so noble and refined...’ He is delivered a smack on the head from a big stick, accused of entirely destroying his nuclear family and arrested. He is led away muttering ‘Nuclear family...?’ The scene ends with the chorus singing ‘What’s a nuclear family without a pervert.’

The court room scene is one of complicity from the chief protagonists in supporting Mr. Punch in his hour of need. The stock figures of Brittania and John Bull representing the authority of the establishment and a nominal jury supplementing their views and attitudes make Mr. Punch’s acquittal a foregone conclusion but not before the opportunity for much comic relief and clowning. The sobriety of court ritual, etiquette and orderliness, designed to cow the participants through proclaiming the might and majesty of a state institution, is abandoned in favour of announcing the criminal charges like a gutter-press headline. Members of the jury lazily affect indifference by picking their noses during the plea and Brittania, in a Wildean comment, is shocked to learn that the crime happened before breakfast. A time when no Englishman should ever ‘exert’ himself. The policeman's evidence is full of embellishments, mendacity and irrelevant observations and is delivered at such a speed that no-one can keep up with it.

Mr. Punch freely admits to murdering his nuclear family. In a self-deluded speech, delivered with Messianic rhetorical flourishes and accompanied by angelic background humming, his ‘dream’ of raising an ideal son and training an ideal wife, which he likens to raising the best vegetables on his allotment, comes to nothing. Marshalling his natural resources of tenderness he even gives up his job to devote himself full-time to raising the ideal nuclear family as, he is eager to point out, advertised on TV. He admits to failure but it was not his fault. In tearful, pleading tones he tells of the disease that had perverted his young crop. The Gay Centre on Railton Road thrust perversion upon his son and his wife turned out to be a ‘viper’ feeding a his devoted heart because of Womens’ Lib.

There is a mock summing up in which Mr. Punch is held up to be is held up to be both socially responsible and unimpeachably heroic in his efforts to rear a nuclear family - the essence of a normal society. The jury is directed not to fail in their duty to the judges on reaching a verdict which of course is ‘NOT GUILTY’ though the jury feels unable to extend the judgment to mean ‘INNOCENT’. Mr. Punch and the policeman shake hands and he is urged to hold his head high and start all over again with another batch of little Punches.

ln the final scene the buffoonery continues as they all improbably retire to ‘The George’ public house for light refreshments. Here the landlady, Mrs. Mold, proclaims her presence:

“My name is Mrs. Mold fiom pub on t’comer. I’ve grone so cold I’ve forgotten how to smile. I managed to keep the GAYS out for good but could only keep the BLACKS out for a while.”

Mrs. Mold tells them a tale of poofs dancing on her bar tops without wearing any knickers and knocking everybody’s beer over. She no longer feels sorry for them and won‘t let them drink there anymore. There is a chorus of ‘Downirght disgusting. Castrate them. Electric shocks etc, etc.’ 

But their celebrations are thwarted by the sudden appearance of ‘gay ghosties’ led by Sonny and Judy Punch returned from the dead. Singing “We’re the gay ghosties, in hell we won’t roasties...’ they dance and swirl around the the drinkers who are hypnotised into frozen silence. They finally envelope the hapless creatures and thus exact revenge upon them for their evil deeds. The chorus line-up and finale allows the narrator to announce a happy ending.

Clearly the whole production was played for laughs. It was the first excursion into drama for the Brixton Faeries and it would be churlish to look for in-depth development of character, plot and dialogue with a convincing ending. This was an amateur production with the aim of taking to a wide audience a snapshot of the workings of gay oppression in a patriarchal system exposing the collusion and corruption within it. Adopting the Punch and Judy form provided the perfect vehicle to convey all of that. It was done in the euphoric manner of ‘let’s all make a play’with the emphasis on fun rather than a deadly earnest seriousness.

The play was first performed at the South London Community Gay Centre on Railton Road, Brixton. The audience consisted mostly of friends and the odd stranger who had dropped into the centre for something different. A much more important testing of the waters came later when parts of the play were performed at a local fair in the playground of Effra Parade Primary School. Here the usual set up of stalls selling everything from books to bric a brac was graced by the presence of a rather unusual group of people wishing to perform a different kind of street theatre. The objection to the play came not so much from the parents and children who were present but oddly from a person who through the squatter' group based at a local womens’ centre had come to be aware of and supportive of the Gay Community Centre. In Malcolm Greatbank's words:

"Effra school....a family, local community festival and there were all kinds of things to do mainly for children. We had either by invitation or by negotiation found ourselves there to perform street theatre which we had been preparing for some time and it went down very well even though many people......found some difficulty in comprehending (what we tried to do). That unfortunately caused some offence among surprising people who we had every reason to believe were on our side. I am of course referring to the incident about physical attack by M on C.....when she remarked that we really should not be doing this in front of young children. Not just about the street theatre but being ourselves outside that situation. Walking around and holding hands. Camping it up. Exchanging kisses. Sometimes genuine ones, sometimes political ones. I think it came to a head when we painted over the stereotyped male and female figures. C wasn't the only one to object to us doing this or to ask why we were doing this. When we explained why she lost her temper and we explained...can't you see what it is doing. Reinforcing heterosexual stereotypes about men and women. She said 'Don't you think you are going over the top by doing the opposite'. Or words to that effect. She was actually arguing against us being open, overt and proudly gay in public. I suspect it was an excuse because of their being young children around rather than saying I don't like it or I find it embarrassing. Using children and adults to project their own inadequacies. To project them on to kids. The kids were just lapping it up and enjoying it. They had no idea what was going on. It was just a big fun day out to them." 

SECOND PLAY:

OUT OF IT

Our second play 'Out of it' deals with a gay boy growing up in a conservative, working class family with parental nostalgia about imagined past certainties feeding into resentment about present realities. All within a contemporary situation of a growing moral backlash against permissiveness and the rise of racism and fascism.  

CAST LIST: 

MOTHER - Edwin Henshaw: FATHER - Terry Stewart: GAY BROTHER - Ian Townson: STRAIGHT BROTHER - Stephen Gee: BOY - Alistair Kerr: CHAIRMAN - Terry Stewart: ROSS McTWITTER - Alistair Kerr: ANOTHER FATHER - David Simpson: ANOTHER CHAIRMAN- Alistair Kerr: DR. FIELDS - Bill Thornycroft: NATIONAL FRONT MAN l - Bill Thomycroft: NATIONAL FRONT MAN 2 - David Simpson or Brinley Mitchell?

By the time we had got round to our second production we had changed our name to Gay Liberation South London Theatre Group. The word 'Front' had been dropped because, so the argument went, it sounded too authoritarian or fascistic as in National Front to be included in our name.

This production was much more sophisticated and varied in terms of structure and themes and clearly responsive to wider currents of a more public and explicit opposition to gay people. "Out of It” attempted to expose gay oppression expressed through different ideologies - political, religious, medical and familial - while at the same time attempting to show the motivating factors behind the desire for order and discipline that became so easily exploited by right-wing, fascist organisations.

The rise of the fascist National Front and the more shadowy British Movement and various clandestine "combat" groups made the seventies a time of increased racial, anti-communist and anti-gay violence. Under the umbrella of the Anti-Nazi League, which included various Left and liberal groups, confrontation with the National Front culminated in the battle of Depford High Street, Lewisham (1977). The National Front, in keeping with its usual policy, had decided to march through a ‘racially sensitive’ area in a deliberate attempt to fornent violence. It did and on that occasion the fascists were routed in spite of a protective police escort and cordons dividing and forcing the demonstrators back into ‘contained’ spaces that we nowadays know as ‘kettling’. 

The National Front's approach to homosexuality was a slippery mixture of a pretence at democratic consultation by the chairman John Tyndall and violent attacks against gay pubs, clubs and public meetings. Tyndall, no doubt prompted by the National Front's activities organiser Martin Webster, a homosexual, would throw open a fake consultation in "National Front News" as to whether homosexuality should be condemned or remain a matter of private morality. It didn't save Webster who was eventually expelled from the NF because of his homosexuality. Meanwhile the various "combat" sections would busy themselves by smashing up gay social venues and political gatherings. 

Between I975 and 1979 there was at least nine such attacks and probably others that went unreported including attacks on individual gay people.

An attempt was made to run down Sue Wakeling the electoral agent for the South London Gay Liberation Front candidate in the October 1974 general election. This incident and the attack on the gay centre by the 'mad axe man' led to a unconfirmed suspicion that this was fascist activity. A National Front member joined Gay Switchboard only served to muddy the waters and sow confusion as far as an understanding of fascist attitudes towards homosexuality were concerned. However, in other spheres of activity, especially in trades unions and tenants associations, it became clear that fascist infiltration of those organisations was designed to foster racism and a nationalist outlook and to gather information on political activists in order to oust them and take over their positions.

In 1975 a meeting in Crawley called by CHE to introduce an educational kit into local schools was attacked. National Front "heavies" took over the platform with one placard proclaiming "Keep queers out of our school". In order to justify the NF position their parliamentary candidate for Horsham and Crawley described homosexuality as a "disease" and something that would "infect children”. Later the Crawley NF chairman responding to the CHE proposal to set up a group was quoted in the Brighton "Evening Argus" as saying: "We will do everything in our power to see that his centre does not come into existence“ (12/12/75).

Again in London between 1976 and 1978 there were a number of attacks on gay places and public meetings by local youths and fascist gangs. In 1976 the North London Gay Centre in Finsbury Park and the East London Gay Centre on Redmans Road, Stepney were repeatedly attacked and had everything thrown at them from scaffolding poles to large lumps of concrete. One North London Gay Centre contact who had infiltrated the British Movement told of their modus operandi. They would simply hand out drinks to youths in local pubs as a bribe and get them to come along to attack the centre. The contentious issue of homosexuals living in the neighbourhood made the centres an easy target.

In September 1977 a public meeting at the Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, called by the Paedophile Information Exchange to debate issues around sexual and emotional relationships between adults and children was picketed by hostile forces after a hysterical press campaign against PIE. Allegedly made up of angry housewives and mothers from Leytonstone it soon became clear that the whole thing had been orchestrated by the National Front with union jack badges and banners in evidence. Taking a cue tiom gutter-press headlines one banner proclaimed: "Human Beings Against Paedo-viles". Organised like a military operation NF thugs fanned out into side streets to stop and question those leaving the building. Anyone suspected of coming from the PIE meeting was kicked and beaten. Others were chased and severely beaten with the police initially reluctant to intervene until things became so bad that they had to.

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in Lambeth, one of Lcndon‘s oldest and best known drag pubs, was attacked on the Saturday night of 27 January 1978 by between sixteen and twenty men wearing National Front union jack badges. They waited until closing time before going "berserk". Everything got smashed up including the optics and one of the last two remaining customers was struck in the face by a heavy water bottle. The men left their calling card by plastering the pub with NF Stickers.

In I977 and 1978 there were a number of assaults against gay buildings and people in Leeds. The Leeds Gay Centre had its windows smashed on several occasions and later a letter threatening further action was sent to a local community newspaper. The National Front claimed responsibility and soon after the Gay Centre had to close because of a serious fire. In June 1978 the Gay Liberation group was attacked once again in the “Fenton Arms" a student pub near the University. Over a dozen young men wearing NF badges entered the premises and assaulted the people drinking there. A young man not connected with the gay group was blinded and a woman was injured.

In 1979 following the closure by police of five gay clubs in Brighton for allegedly infringing the licensing laws and the arrest within a two week period of titty gay people a meeting set up by CHE and Sussex University Gay Society to show the film “Word Is Out” was viciously attacked by the National Front. Eight people were assaulted and two had to be taken to hospital with their injuries. A picket of the "Evening Argus " and a massive phone-in, encouraged by Brighton Gay Activist Alliance, forced a partial retraction of the papers coverage which virtually agreed with the fascist point of view and fomented the attacks. The paper also agreed to publish a reply by local gay groups.

The fascist attitude to women in society was designed to enforce conformity to ‘family values‘ embodied in the ‘cherished feminine role‘ of housewife, mother and homemaker. Viewing the family as the prop of national stability and sounding warnings of the dire consequences accompanying the breakdown of family life the attack against ‘liberal’ values of equality came on several fronts.

The National Front wished to reintroduce the stigma of illegitimacy to children of single-parent families. Sexual activity for them was a matter of procreation and nothing else (at least for women) and unmarried mothers were to carry the full brunt of society's contempt for destabilising family life and by implication disrupting national cohesion.

Contraception and abortion were anathema to fascist thinking. What they adopted was a ‘pro-natalist‘ policy. The economics of parenthood and child welfare schemes for them should be designed to promote the raising of large families rather than ‘family planning‘ race and nation out of existence. ‘Freedom of choice‘ for women was not consistent with national survival and expansion.

Fascist ideology was not beyond delving into ‘primitive mysticism‘ and metaphysical explanations for the role of woman in society as Earth Mother to Man's Sky Father:

“... Man the idealist puts woman in a state of material dependence. But woman the materialist returns the favour by placing man in a state of spiritual dependence“ (SPEARHEAD, January 1973).

It is hardly surprising under such circumstances that lesbians were simply seen as traitors to womanhood because they put their own perverted pleasures in place of producing a family. Apart from execration in the pronouncements of various fascist publications and from individuals within fascist organisations lesbians were physically assaulted and verbally abused in the attacks already mentioned. Women who did not ‘look right‘ in the sense of not conforming to social stereotypes of womanly appearance were assumed to be lesbians and were also attacked. (sources: GAYS AND FASCISM workshop, NUS gay rights conference, Sheffield, 26 October 1974. Morning Star, April 1979? Anti-Fascist Handbook, London GAA, 1979.)

The most strident religious attacks on homosexuality came from individual evangelists and the Nationwide Festival of Light, an agglomeration of different christian groups brought together for the purpose of bringing about a resurgence of christian values in what was perceived by them as a society disintegrating through the effects of permissiveness and moral decline. This ‘moral rearmament' movement, in which Mary Whitehouse who was later to prosecute Gay News played an important part, was quickly judged by various Gay commentators to be actively promoting a right-wing ideology consistent with the views of fascist groups. Viewed as a kind of moral wing of fascism, intentional or not, the movement had to be vigorously opposed. In one of their earlier leaflets designed to drum up attendance at a NFoL mass rally in Trafalgar Square on 25 September 1971 the message appeals to the desire for a cleaner environment:

"Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if seabirds didn't get oiled up, whales didn't face extinction, water was pure and the air everywhere as good as in the Swiss Alps‘?

The fight to get the seas clean, the land safe and the air pure, is international. The USA had an Earth Day when people demanded that creation should have the right to live - not die. Our country spends the same fortune on the battle against pollution. 

Supposing people respected each other as people; that truth, purity, love and family-life weren't just treated as old-hat but encouraged in films, print and television. That sex was for love and caring, not exploitation and selling, not hate and hurting, and that violence was treated as offensive. In other words that we won the battle against MORAL POLLUTION.”

Believing that moral rather than environmental pollution constituted the greater danger to society's health the N'FoL demanded from Government stricter censorship laws to regulate the mass media's output of material judged to ‘offend against public decency‘ or ‘incite to crime and disorder.‘ A parents right to determine the contents of sex education lessons was also stressed thus strengthening the assumed link between sex and violence as the chief moral pollutants to be confronted head on.

The militancy of the NFoL‘s approach belied the composition of its membership. Middle class respectability seldom expressed itself in such an organised and vociferous way. The outcry against commercial exploitation of sex and violence (perceived as human weaknesses) for profitable gain even allowed for a facade of pseudo-socialist rhetoric. But the sanctity of marriage and the family, and the dangers of divorce and promiscuity, all figured prominently in the NFoL's ideology in an attempt to create a culture of self-discipline and restraint in conformity to christian values. The point was not lost on fascist fellow travellers who made some inroads into the movement.

But the N'FoL did not just blow hot air. As a highly organised lobby group the insistence was upon deeds not just words. The ‘Action Group’ leaflet titled hysterically "EVIL TRIUMPHS WHEN GOOD MEN DO NOTHING (THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE)", quoted various public figures, even humanists, on the need for a change in moral attitudes. Apocryphal warnings were given of the greatest danger since 1940 engulfing the nation and extraordinary statements were made such as:

"We are now in the numb state the Germans were in when jews began to disappear - it was "not done" to notice or protest."

Apart from exhortations to lobby Whitehall and local MPs and to work through local political parties and trades unions there was a more sinister touch to NFoL activities. Members were given instructions on how to become police informants against local newsagents selling pornography and how to use the Local Authorities as ‘legal censors‘ to get undesirable films withdrawn from cinemas. ‘Industrial strife‘ was also included as one of the evils to be combated. Citing rises in illegitimacy, divorce, venereal disease and abortion the urgency to act now to reverse the tidal wave of permissiveness was insisted upon. But how successful were they in mobilising support‘?

According to the NFoL action leaflet at the rally in 1971, 4,000 gathered at the inaugural meeting in London, with marches and rallies in Cardiff (3,000), Glasgow (4,000), Manchester (25,000) and many other towns accompanied by ‘hundreds of thousands’ attending the lighting of 300 beacons. In the same leaflet it was stated that a petition for public decency with 1,500,000 signatures was presented to l0 Downing street on April 17, 1973. Even allowing for propagandist exaggeration the mobilisation of the respectable middle class was a feat in itself and the effect gained through reinforcing the need to tum back liberal 'permissiveness‘ helped to create a more reactionary climate of censoriousness by insisting on a return to traditional values. Later, in the 1980s, as the leading light in the National Viewers‘ and Listeners‘ Association, Mary Whitehouse no longer had to lobby hard as part of an extra-parliamentary pressure group. She was invited to share the same platform as Margaret Thatcher. The years of mass rallies and lobbying had paid off with a right-wing government attempting to enforce a return to older ‘Victorian’ moral values. Tightening up discipline and order through repressive government legislation, the promotion of traditional family life against threats from the demand for LGBT+ rights among others and the shackling of trades unions had moved to centre stage in politics.

What was the NFoL’s and NVLA’s official attitude to homosexuality? Anita Bryant’s conviction that God created Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve was no doubt heeded but the ingrained Christian view was to ‘Love the sinner but not the sin’ as though being gay was a polluted part of an individuals life that should be excised through prayer, repentance and abstinence. Engaging in homosexual acts is sinful but with careful shepherding moral turpitude and the decline of society's well-being could be avoided. Nowadays this translates into the obscenity of ‘conversion therapy.’

Psychiatry shifted the locus away from sinfulness, criminality and degeneracy to a sickness that needs to be cured. However cranky or even plausible psychological theories were about the nature of homosexuality they always provided useful justifications for repression. This medical model of sickness rather than a scriptural denunciation of sinfulness or social disapproval through legal means was reached through pseudo-scientfic evaluations of sexuality and an unquestioning acceptance by the psychiatric establishment of the status quo as far as social attitudes to homosexuality were concerned. The emphasis was on either adjusting the patient to their unfortunate condition, thus providing a more ‘integrated’ personality, or attempting a cure for homosexuality through aversion therapy using electric shock treatment, hormone treatment or nausea inducing drugs. Those approaches confirmed the fact that homosexuality was an abnormal deviation from the heterosexual norm and as such was fair game for the ‘readjustment of maladaptive responses to the environment‘ gobbledegook. This kind of justification for psychiatric intervention, used mostly to explain the disintegrated and distressed state of people afflicted by schizophrenia and other ‘psychotic’ disorders was also used to explain the reasons why homosexuality was a suitable case for treatment. In the absence of any positive expressions of support for and pride in being gay many isolated homosexuals turned to the medical profession for help.

The difficulty of growing up gay in a society being endlessly fed bigoted attitudes to anything ‘different’, including homosexuality, often led to gay children unconsciously evolving strategies of avoidance and refusal in avoiding unbearable living situations. By not adopting the aggressive competitiveness and macho attitudes required of other male children their behaviour was seen as ‘odd’ and ‘queer’. Depression and paranoia, as a result of the inability to find positive social confirmation of homosexual feelings, oflen led to familial estrangement and alienation and the consequences of this ‘defiance’ would end in a breakdown in relationships and an inevitable ostracising of the gay child(ren). All of these themes are dealt with in "Out of It" in an attempt to show the interconnectedness of different sources of oppression with a final scene depicting the small but growing influence of the gay liberation movement in challenging that oppression.

The script

This marked the end of the play but it was felt that it was was too bleak and negative with no hint of any kind of fightback against oppression. Two additional scenes were written to complete the play taking into account the small but growing influence of Gay Liberationists. It's a scrappy ending with the GLF characters acting like the Salvation Army meeting gay men in bars and saving their souls from loneliness and isolation. The onetime hostile bars had become marginally more friendly to people wearing gay badges though it is pointed out that this was more about drumming up trade through encouraging "the tourists to come and gawk at the queers" thus throwing in a quick political point for good measure. Two gay liberationists spot a lonely gay men, almost like an endangered species in need of rescue, and their chatter merges with the babble of conversation at the bar as the lights fade out.

The play was staged at several venues but the most memorable one was the Communist Party's second Red Festival held at Ladbroke house, Highbury Grove, on the 22 October 1977. Here several extracts from "Out of It" were performed in front of the Young Communist League among others. They thought that the antifascist aspects of the play were excellent but, according to Bill Thornycroft, they could not handle gay men embracing and kissing!

GENTS - A PLAY ABOUT COTTAGING, the victimless 'crime'

With a clear departure from other plays that dealt with specific political themes challenging  patriarchy, religion and psychiatry this play dealt with sexual conduct between men in a public setting. Cottaging was a risky business because of the danger of police entrapment leading to public exposure in the courts and possible ruin with the loss of friends, family, reputation and jobs. Several gay men from the community had been the victims of police entrapment, arrest and prosecution. The unjustness of being convicted of a 'criminal offence' in which there were no victims and the dangers and pleasures involved in cottaging are the main themes in the play. The play also challenged, in a comedic way, the notion that cottaging was giving respectable homosexuals a bad name with a fantasy piece about an unsuccessful attempt by local authorities to provide purpose built facilities against the tawdriness of decay and rot.  

The scenery was designed to resemble the interior of a cottage complete with stained urinals and brick walls and the play opens with men engaging silently in furtive sexual encounters. Ambulance man John Aston, in the next scene, puts up with male chauvinist 'banter' about poofs and women from his workmates who regard him as a 'wibbly wobbly' liberal. He is married with children and later interrogated by the police for cottaging. As a result of public exposure he loses his job, his wife and children. In another scene 'council' people at the entrance and inside a cottage, like canvassers for charitable causes, fail to persuade the inhabitants to improve facilities. They much prefer the atmospherics of a 'forty watt bulb' , peeling walls and the frisson of danger in a comedy of errors where the council people are at first mistaken for the police and later propositioned for sex. A cottager is castigated for bringing left wing politics into the place with the retort that "What I do in bed has nothing to do with whether I vote Conservative or Labour. I've even been to bed with a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain." The courtroom scene is a travesty of justice with the judge clearly biased against the defendant.

The play was a confused mixture of different perspectives on cottaging and the script was obviously the work of several hands. Though there were some very moving speeches in the play from the person caught cottaging and some very good songs it could be argued that the play made light of a serious subject given people's lives were ruined by public exposure and a criminal record. Even so the boat was pushed out by insisting that cottaging was a legitimate activity to engage in and that convictions for gross indecency were cruel and unjust. 

Recently after a long campaign the Good Law Project and Terry Stewart, a former member of the Brixton Gay Community, overturned the sentences of thousands of gay men convicted over the years and police records will be removed though unfortunately too late for those that have died.  

Here are the songs that were performed as part of the play

MINEHEAD REVISITED

OR THE WARTS THAT DARED TO SPEAK THEIR NAME

Jeremy Thorpe, leader of the Liberal Party and Member of Parliament for North Devon, lost both of those positions during the run up to his trial at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) on the charge of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott with whom he had a sexual relationship. Married to Marion Thorpe at that time (1979) and with children he at first denied the relationship. The media coverage of the trial, besides hitting a new low in antigay prurience, uncovered a rogues gallery of people around Thorpe who were willing to cover up his indiscretions with bribery, threats and ultimately, through David Holmes who organised the plot, the murder of Norman Scott to silence him forever. Wrongly accused of trying to blackmail Thorpe Scott's main grievances revolved around the recovery of his stamped insurance card from Thorpe without which he could not seek employment and his abandonment by his former lover who had 'infected' him with homosexuality. Scott had also married with children in tow who he was eventually denied access to. 

A secluded spot on on a rain soaked Dartmoor was the place Andrew Newton chose to kill Scott. A failed airline pilot he was characterised as a fantasist and habitual liar who sought fame and fortune through selling his story to the press. On the deserted moor he shot and killed Scott's dog Rinka before pointing the gun at him which jammed sparing his life. After this bungled attempt Newton panicked and sped off in his car. Scott was left shattered by the ordeal and pathetically gave the kiss of life in an attempt to restore his beloved Great Dane.

Based on this historical event that blazed a trail in media queer-bashing and closely incorporating revelations as they unfolded in the press and television coverage the play attempted an exploration of the complexities of political power and class privilege surrounding the trial and the part played by the media in putting homosexuality in the dock of public execration. Borrowing the three witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth they were transformed into the spirits of gay anger and in later performances into Norns, the mythical supernatural creatures in the Ring Cycle opera by Wagner. Wagner was very much worshiped at the time by some of the Brixton gay community. This created a mock 'epic' quality to the play following on from exaggerated claims that the Thorpe trial was a “tragedy of really Shakespearean proportions” by David Steel the successor to Thorpe as Liberal Party Leader.

CHRISTMAS CABARET AND PANTOMIME 

FOR PENSIONERS AND GIRL GUIDES (1979)

On a later occasion, having participated as a gay dragon in a local street festival, we staged a cabaret and pantomime for Pesnsioners and girl guides at St. Jude’s Hall, Railton Road. We knew someone in the local community and he invited us to put on a Christmas show. The performances were a mix of songs with piano and guitar accompaniments and a ‘John the Baptist’ scene we borrowed from Bloolip’s camp radical drag take on Oscar Wilde’s play Salome. But the main part of the show consisted of Brixton Faeries reinterpretation of the pantomime Sleeping Beauty.

After the promise of revealing the real Sleeping Beauty against the image of a pampered and passive princess slumbering away on a chaise longue followed by a dance sequence by Andreas Demetriou the hapless and hopeless Prince Charming enters. He attempts to waken the princess with a kiss but she continues to snore. He stomps up and down in frustration and confusion. The offer of a free ticket to a hair-do salon, a miserly pension and a bus pass are offered but are firmly rejected. Again he stomps about.

The good fairy arrives and sees Sleeping Beauty is in a lamentably dishevelled state. Her solution is to brighten up the Princess’s life with a pair of sparkling earrings, a bright new dress and a substantial pension. Prince charming finally leaves the stage in a disconsolate state.

The pantomime ends with girl guides on stage holding up signs that spell out ‘Increase Pensions Now!’

For a real hoot and a laugh click on the link below for the full script.

RADIO GAY

A joint production from Brixton Faeries theatre and Gay Sweatshop. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was all about. It did however feature a talking clock, goofy policeman, a sailor and Swans, Wrens and Peacocks (SWP)

TOWN HALL SHOWS/BENEFITS

STREET THEATRE

Brixton gays out and about at local street festivals and camping it up just for the fun of it outside the gay squats on Railton Road

TOMORROW’S TOO LATE OR OUT

Played for fun with a serious intention this comedy is based on the campaign against W H Smith banning Gay News and opens with people gathering to protest outside one of the companies outlets. In the background an audio tape plays the sounds of a cock crowing, gay chants getting closer, traffic noise and voices of dispporval from passers-by. The scene is set initially for playful banter referencing the poor dress sense fo the ‘straight’ left, the Prince Albert a well-known gay bar and Icebreakers the radical gay counselling service among others. One of the protesters offers a choice of badges to wear and names them which allows the exposition of various aspects of gay liberation politics. After a hostile encounter between the stock character of a crusty old colonel objecting to their presence the character played by Colm Clifford bursts into song with a tango rhythm after asserting he is proud to be a pervert:

SONG: QUEER-BASHED AGAIN

Standing on the platform,

Victoria line,

Lookin just right,

Feeling fine,

When these three guys came over to me,

They said, “Hey, look at that, hey, looky-see!

I think it’s a man but look at that gear,

Earrings all over, perhaps it’s a queer!”

CHORUS:

Quer-bashed again, it’s happened again,

I’ve been used and abused by aggressive straight men,

They act with impunity, blessed by community,

I’m angry,

so will you be,

When you’re queer-bashed again.

Taking not notice,

cold and aloof,

Get on the train,

“Hey, it’s a poof!”,

They’re standing so close that I smell the beer,

Cracking the comments they know I can hear,

It’s all for a laugh, they blow me a kiss,

Why not? You know, it’s called “taking the piss”.

I blow a kiss back,

Crowded tube train,

His face changes,

Disgust stands plain,

“Whose he think he is, what’s he think we are?”,

Crack on the jaw, things gone too far,

The blow is quite slight, don’t fuss, keep cool,

Turn your back, turn your cheek, don’t act like a fool.

CHORUS:

Get off at my stop,

I’m late so I run,

But to those I’ve offended,

It only adds to the fun, A tug on my cloak and I turn to see,

It’s one of them, what do they want from me?,

Smash in the head, backwards I reel,

He stands, he just smiles, a queer basher’s glee.

CHORUS:

Queer-bashed again ……

The scene shifts to gay liberationists refusing to buy goods from W H Smith for refusing to stock Gay News having checked them out at the till followed by smashing up the shop after a row with the manager. An audio tape plays the sound of the shop being trashed and the echoing sound of police sirens. A character played by Ian Townson delivers this speech as the sirens get louder and louder:

““……Ladies and gentlemen and those who are free of such piddling divisions of gender; we are gathered here today in the sight of this glass, chrome and plastic edifice called W H Smith to protest about their ignorance of the fact that there are thousands and thousands of homosexuals in Londo - nay in Notting Hill Gate alone who wish to buy Gay News. We are everywhere but nowhere are we recognised - except by the police. They create out martyrs, yet martyrdom has been given the status of a dirty word. Well, it ain’t. It’s just one person going too far and we all stand back and think “Oh, no! He’s blown it!” Maybe if we were all going too far, too far wouldn’t be very far at all! Martyrdom is no masochism - a collection of martyrs is a movement!” The police sirens drowning out the speech are countered by another song to the tune of “Lullaby of Broadway”:

SONG: COME ON ALONG AND LISTEN TO THE WAILING OF THE SIRENS

Come on along and listen to

the wailing of the sirens,

It really makes you wonder who’s

creating all the tyrants,

Move along please you can’t stand here,

you’re blocking up the pavement,

move along now you fucking queer,

It’s one of their old favourites,

Oh, the boys in blue try to get you scared, they’re really into aggro,

It’s the only way that they know how,

to show that they love you.

They wre brought up, brought up,

To be re-al men. Hugging, kissing, crying,

Affection’s not for them.

Come on along and listen to the wailing of the sirens,

It really makes you wonder who

is causing all the violence.

When a queen or dyke just screams I’m proud,

It causes consternation, And those blue lights don’t sleep tight

‘till you’re in the station.

The rumble of the black Maria,

the rattle of the cell door, Is all that we expect for sure,

If we’re not quiet.

They will beat you, beat you,

‘till you’re black and blue. They just love it and it,

shows they’re real men too,

So listen to

our answser to

the boys ib blue.

The song ends with sirens wailing, flashing blue lights and the sound of general hubbub as Jim (Jim Ennis) throws a brick through a window. The cry of “What silly queen did that” leads into another song condemning violence, male power and macho posturing.

SONG: MACHISMO IN OUR MINDS

How can we gay men tear down machismo in our minds?

How can we learn to be both gentel, strong and kind?

When we have to use the lessons we’ve been learning all out lives,

That might is right,

That I can fight,

That emotion I should hide.

For strife will cease when we refuse to play that macho game,

But in fighting might with might then we’ll just keep it all the same,

Stopping our emotions, stopping our minds,

Continuing

To play with guns,

Is that really wise?

For we’ve been killing ourselves almost all our lives,

For we’ve been kiliing others by believing all the lies

That men are strong and weakness wrong, let’s take off the disguise,

For courage doesn’t come

When you hold

A Tommy gun.

By now Jim has got a taste for direct action militancy and decides to apply for membership of GRAB (Gays Raging and Battling). Stephen Gee plays the NAFF operations officer for the organisation and is responsible for interviewing prospective members. The office is based in a cottage with poster on the wall reading ‘It’s a man’s life in the regular queenery’ and ‘Men just love men in uniform’ etc. Jim enquires “What exactly is GRAB?” leading into, yes, another song to the tune ‘Hey, look me over.’

SONG: LOOK OUT STRAIGHT WORLD, HERE WE COME!

Hey, let me tell you ‘bout my work with GRAB.

All gays together, I tell you we’re fab!

Nothing’s too big for us, nothing too far,

If a fag’s been put down,

Perhaps run out of town,

We’ll there within the hour.

We don’t write to the Guardian, nor to the Times,

No printing leaflets or standing on picket lines,

Oh, arson and thuggery,

Ransom and buggery,

Just my cup of tea,

Look out straight world, here we come!

Some think we’re crazy, that we go too far,

Getting gays a bad name, who do we think we are?

One thing I’ll tell you, at least we’re not ignored,

If we think you’re suitable,

Spot on, recruitable,

I’m sure you won’t be bored.

We’re not hte nice gays, house-trained and clean,

Interior decoration isn’t quite our scene,

Oh, we’ll bash the queer-bashers

Wearing false eye lashes,

To show them what we mean,

Look out straight world here we come!

Revolting we may be as well as queer,

But we’ll continue ‘till Gay Lib is here,

No more kow-towing to the heavy staight man,

A factory in the crypt,

Chruningout Nitro-Glit,

All a part of our plan.

We’ll bomb Mary Whithouse, then off to Smiths,

Then the Houses of Parliament, where we’ll a have a blitz,

When the king is a queen,

We’ll be close to our dream,

But don’t think that we’ll stop,

Look out straight world, here we come!

Inevitably when applying for membership of an organization there are forms to fill in which takes the shape of an interrogation by the NAFF operations officer to assess his suitability. This provides the opportunity of making a number of polticial points and observations and for Jim to tell of his difficulties with friends, neighbours, workmates and others about his sexuality after the press had exposed his boyfriend’s queer-bashing by yobs outside the Vauxhall Tavern:

“So first of all we had the milkman stop credit; they don’t talk to me in the greengrocers - we’re no longer a couple of lads in the local; the woman upstairs mysteriously found another baby-sitter and the final straw was cries of “Oh what a gay day” following David all the way down the High Street.”

The more liberal neighbours recommended ‘a very good psychiatrist’ and the local Methodists pushed ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ tracts through the letter box which prompts the observation “Scratch a liberal and find a fascist.” Jim is so steamed up about things that he just wants to ‘blow them all up’ which clinches his membership. On enquiring about the size of GRAB he assured that “We are into quality not quantity - what do you think this? Rock Against Racism?” Jim is renamed agent 69 (sexual position) with sealed orders in a cake box and on enquiring how to recognise fellow agents he is to use the code phrase ‘Discretion is the worst part of closetry’. The scene ends with an audio tape playing ‘Gays All Over’ (White Cliffs of Dover by Vera Lynn) followed by several disjointed scenes.

In the first one Jim discovers a talking pink triangle in the cake box which, to begin with, he confuses with a mushroom (magic?). This seems to have no other function than to produce a comic hallucinatory ‘Alice in Wonderland’ interlude with a feeble joke from the triangle as it leaves the stage about there not being mushroom (much room) in the cake box. The lights fade then returns as Andreas Demetriou performs a long, graceful dance. Two sombrely dressed figures appear and proceed to erect a structure of bars which restrict Andreas’ movements. He then by subtlety and slight-of-hand manages to knock down this restrictive structure and dances on unopposed symbolically destroying the forces of repression.

The lights cross fade to Jim in a gay bar on a telephone to CHE (Campaign for Homosexual Equality) with the intention of enlising all of its 250 local groups to blow up branches of W H Smith. The CHE man thinks it is a practical joke being played on the organisation by the SWP (Socialist Workers’ Party) or the GAA (Gay Activists Alliance). Jim carries on with the unhinged propostion to use neutron bombs:

“guranteed to destroy property absolutely but leave people untouched (in reality neutron bombs were designed to have the opposite effect) - except for covering them in a shower of pink-triangle confetti……I’ve got the blue prints with me……they came to me in a cake box……I can give you a demonstration……”

The telephone clicks as the CHE man abruptly hangs up.

In the second scene Jim Meets characters played by Julian Hows as a chatty queen and Ian Townson as Ingrid Slut, a drag artiste, who takes the opportunity sing his latest number:

SONG: I’M SO SICK OF IT ALL

I'm Tired of it all

I’m tired of it all, the things that they scrawl on the toilet walls,

I’m tired of it all, those straights that just think that I’m going to crawl,

I’m tired of the lies that I’m learning to hate,

This number’s a queen - I don’t want to be straight,

Despite all their schemes that I know I frustrate,

I’m just so tired of it all.

I’m tired of it all, the things that they teachin the schools today,

I’m tired of it all, the things that they teach all our kids to say,

Don’t touch him, don’t hold him,

Don’t love him, just sneer,

Put downthat ball Susie, you’ll end up a queer,

I know I bring out the all the straights greatest fears,

But I’m just so tired of it

I’m tired of it all, the things that they print in the press today,

I’m tired of it all, they’d better get used to the fact that I’m gay,

I’m feeling my anger and it’s coming on strong,

And I’m not alone dears, oh please come along,

I know just the bookshop that I’d like to bomb,

‘cause I’m just so tired of it all….believe me babies, I’m just so tired of it all,

..oh yes, so angryand so damnd tired of itall….and one more time now..

JUST SO TIRED OF IT ALL!

For some inexplicable reason they all decide to visit the Egyptian section at the Victorian and Albert Museum where the characters played by Colm and Stephen are discovered by Bill Thornycroft hiding from the police in a vase and a sarcophagus. The others arrive with the intention of blowing up W H Smith which allows Colm to condemn this lapse into ‘male violence’ as ‘The ends do not justify the means’ with ‘half-baked talk of violence and bombs - blind aggression, nothing else!’ Jim delivers a final speech in the style of Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘I had a dream’ to be free of the straight male world forever. His plea for unity in the face of divisive ‘aggro’ is met by a song from Bill:

SONG: TOMORROW’S TOO LATE

Tomorrow’s Too Late

(to the tune ‘Lili Marlene’)

Underneath the lamplight,

Outside the cottage door,

There stands an ageing drag-queen,

Who’s seen it all before;

And here’s the advice he gave to me,

All for free,

Obligingly,

CHORUS

Don’t wait until tomorrow,

Tomorrow is too late.

He glanced across his shoulder,

And then looked back at me,

“You’ve got to be much bolder

In order to be free.

If you really want to write the script my dear,

Then listen here,

Throw away your fear.”

CHORUS

Don’t wait until tomorrow,

Tomorrow is too late.

Through all our campaigning,

And revolutionary talk,

There always comes the point

At which we seem to baulk,

It may not be sound or politic’ly pure,

Of that I’m sure,

Still thre’s the lure,

CHORUS

Don’t wait until tomorrow,

Tomorrow is too late.

The play ends with the sound of a great rushing wind and a huge explosion after Bill’s suggestion that they all make their way back to his place for ‘a cup of tea’ in a comic anticlimax to their unrealistic and unrealizable bombing campaign though they will be afforded the opportunity to see the hole in the window of W H Smith made by the thrown brick.

The whole play is a complete comic fantasy which contains some sharp observations on the nature of masculinity, male power and gay oppression with some cracking songs. All contained within the framework of a gay liberation camperama drama.

VAUXHALL KUNST THEATER

Brett Gannon, better known as Dame Gwyneth Hunter Gannon, directed several all-male productions of plays and operas with Brixton gay men taking part. Ian Townson played the part of Mr. Peachum, the beggar’s friend, in The Threepenny Opera and Malcolm Watson played the part of the Nurse in Dido Queen of Carthage. We don’t have any of the scripts but they were a real hoot. Dame Gwyneth insisted on very high standards from her actors. Here are flyers for some of the productions and a Pirate TV recording of Brett in his role of Dido Queen of Carthage from 1986:

Credit: Thanks to Thomas Mutke for supplying the recording

BRIXTON FAERIES’ SONG BOOK

Songs from Gents a play about cottaging

I Saw You

I saw you standing in the doorway

I saw you passing through the light

I felt you standing at my shoulder

I want to touch you, feel you touching me.

You were standing there for minutes

Time was sliding y on ice

I saw the movement in your fingers

I want to touch you, feel you touching me.

Not for a decade or for a life time

Not for a day not for an hour

It's enough for me this moment

To hold you, to have you pressing your 

                       body in mine.

To feel you hand in motion

Subtle pressures on my thigh

Heated veins and swelling as I touched you

As I feel you touching me

Although I don't know you

I didn't have to see your face

To know of your expression

As I touch you, as I feel you touching me

Wake Up and Live

Wake up and live

Come on along and Cottage

It's really fun

No matter what the time is

Morning or evening

Come on along and give it a whirl

Don't be afraid

We've got a Council look-out

Warning of cops before

They've time to get their book out

Don't hesitate now

You'll find it great now

To live

- have a wank while you piss -

The Dream Cottage

Come out of your shell

Hey fellar

Find your place in the stalls

Come out of your shell

Enjoy it

Wanking is fun

So what the hell

Whoever you are

Wherever you're going

Traveling on BR*

Or just going trolling

Don't give the piss hole a miss

Join the queue for any loo

Grab your share of bliss

*British Rail

The Dream Cottage (alternative version)

Come out of your shell

Get wanking

Find yourself a nice loo

Don't stand there and wait

Get wanking

Ignore all those bores

Who're just in to urinate

If you have the time

Just go into a closet

Wave to the man

With whom you wish to share it

Grab him and give him a hug

You'll me just as cosy

As a bug in a rug

I didn't know his name

I didn't know his name

He never dared to say

But he came cruisin' here

Most every working day

I guess he had a wife

I guess a family

I was just glad he found 

Something to love in me

And Christ this morning's cold

I guess that it's over now

There'll be other men

Other times to find them

Another cottage door

But I'll recall the time when

We'd smile without a word

My fingers feel his skin

My tongue inside his mouth

His cock shoves gently in

And Christ this morning's cold

I guess that it's over now

The Cottage Party Song

We're having a party in the cottage tonight

We've got all the booze so turn on the light

He's got the jelly, I've got the cake

They'll be rockin' in the cottage

Shake jelly shake.

We're having a party in the cottage tonight

We've got all the booze so turn on the light

We're tire of the hiding, the fear and the shame

We're all coming out and staking our claim

It's our cottage (repeat 3 times)

And we love it

To hell with the laws

To hell with the pigs

If we stand together

We'll be so big

Songs from Tomorrow’s Too Late a play about the W H Smith campaign

Queer Bashed Again (CHORUS sung as a Tango)

Standing on the platform,

Victoria line,

Looking just right,

Feeling just fine,

When three guys came over to me,

They said, "Hey, look at that, hey, looky-see!

I think it's a man but look at that gear,

Earrings all over, perhaps it's a queer".

CHORUS

Queer-bashed again, it's happened again,

I've been used an abused by aggressive straight men,

They act with impunity, blessed by community,

I'm angry,

So will you be,

When you're queer-bashed again.

Taking no notice,

Cold and aloof,

Get on the train,

"Hey! It's a poof!"

They're standing so close that I smell the beer,

Cracking the comments they know I can hear,

It's all for a laugh, they blow me a kiss,

Why not? You know, it's called 'taking the piss'.

I blow a kiss back,

Crowded tube train,

His face changes,

Disgust stands plain,

"Who's he think he is, what's he think we are".

Crack on the jaw, things gone too far,

The blow is quite slight, don't fuss, keep cool,

Turn your back, turn your cheek, don't act like a fool.

CHORUS

Queer-bashed again......

Get off at my stop,

I'm late so I run,

But to those I've offended,

It only adds to the fun,

A tug on my cloak and I turn to see,

It's one of them, what do they want from me?

Smash in the head, backwards I reel,

He stands, he just smiles, a queer-Basher's glee.

CHORUS

Queer-bashed again......

Come on Along and Listen to the Wailing of the Sirens 

(to the tune 'Lullaby of Broadway')

Come on along and listen to

The wailing of the sirens,

It really makes you wonder who's

Creating all the tyrants.

Move along please you can't stand here

You're blocking up the pavement,

Move on now you fucking queer

It's one of their old favorites.

Oh, the boys in blue try to get you scared

They're really into aggro,

It's the only way that they know to 

Show they love you.

They were brought up, brought up 

To be re-al men,

Hugging, kissing, crying,

Affection's not for them.

Come on along and listen to

The wailing of the sirens,

It really makes you wonder who

Is causing all the violence.

When a queen or dyke just screams "I'm proud"

It causes consternation

And those blue lights don't sleep tight 

'till you're in the station.

The rumble of the Black Maria,

The rattle of a cell door,

Is all that we expect for sure

If we're not quiet.

They will beat you, beat you 

'till you're black and blue,

They just love it and it

Shows they're real men too

So listen to 

our answer to 

the boys in blue.

Machismo in our Minds

How can we gay men tear down machismo in our minds?

How can we learn to be both gentle, strong and kind?

When we have to use the lessons we've been learning all our lives,

That might is right,

That I can fight,

That emotion I should hide.

For strife will cease when we refuse to play that macho game,

But in fighting might with might the we'll just keep it all the same,

Stopping our emotions, stopping up our minds,

Continuing

To play with guns,

Is that really wise?

For we've been killing ourselves almost all our lives,

For we've been killing others by believing all thelies

That men are strong and weakness wrong, let's take off the disguise,

For courage doesn't come

When you hold 

A tommy-gun.

I'm Tired of it all

I’m tired of it all, the things that they scrawl on the toilet walls,

I’m tired of it all, those straights that just think that I’m going to crawl,

I’m tired of the lies that I’m learning to hate,

This number’s a queen - I don’t want to be straight,

Despite all their schemes that I know I frustrate,

I’m just so tired of it all.

I’m tired of it all, the things that they teachin the schools today,

I’m tired of it all, the things that they teach all our kids to say,

Don’t touch him, don’t hold him,

Don’t love him, just sneer,

Put downthat ball Susie, you’ll end up a queer,

I know I bring out the all the straights greatest fears,

But I’m just so tired of it

I’m tired of it all, the things that they print in the press today,

I’m tired of it all, they’d better get used to the fact that I’m gay,

I’m feeling my anger and it’s coming on strong,

And I’m not alone dears, oh please come along,

I know just the bookshop that I’d like to bomb,

‘cause I’m just so tired of it all….believe me babies, I’m just so tired of it all,

..oh yes, so angryand so damnd tired of itall….and one more time now..

JUST SO TIRED OF IT ALL!

Look Out Straight World Here We Come

(to the tune 'Hey, Look me over')

Hey, let em tell you ‘bout my workd with G.R.A.B.

All gays together, I tell you we’re fab!

Nothing’s too big for us, nowhere too far,

If a fag’s been put own,

Perhaps run out of town,

We’ll be there within the hour.

We don’t write to the Gurdian, nor to the Times,

No printing leaflets or standing on picket lines,

Oh, arson and thuggery,

Ransom and buggery,

Just my cup of tea,

Look out straight world, here we come!

Some think we’re crazy, that we go too far,

Getting gays a bad name, who do we think we are?

One thing I’ll tell you , at least we’re not ignored,

If we think you’re suitable,

Spot on, recruitable,

I’m sure you won’t be bored.

We’re not the nice gays, house-trained and clean,

Interior decoration isn’t quite our scene,

Oh, we’ll bash the queer-bashers

Wearing false eye lashes,

To show them what we mean,

Look out straight world here we come!

Revolting we may be as well as queer,

But we’ll continue ‘till Gay Lib is here,

No more kow-towing to the heavy straight man

A factory in the crypt,

Churning out nitro-glit,

All a part of our plan.

We’ll bomb Mary Whitehouse, the off to Smiths,

Then the Houses of Parliament, there we’ll have a blitz,

We’ll be close to our dream,

But don’t think that we’ll stop,

Look out straight world here we come!

Tomorrow’s Too Late

(to the tune ‘Lili Marlene’)

Underneath the lamplight,

Outside the cottage door,

There stands an ageing drag-queen,

Who’s seen it all before;

And here’s the advice he gave to me,

All for free,

Obligingly,

CHORUS

Don’t wait until tomorrow,

Tomorrow is too late.

He glanced across his shoulder,

And then looked back at me,

“You’ve got to be much bolder

In order to be free.

If you really want to write the script my dear,

Then listen here,

Throw away your fear.”

CHORUS

Don’t wait until tomorrow,

Tomorrow is too late.

Through all our campaigning,

And revolutionary talk,

There always comes the point

At which we seem to baulk,

It may not be sound or politic’ly pure,

Of that I’m sure,

Still thre’s the lure,

CHORUS

Don’t wait until tomorrow,

Tomorrow is too late.

The next two songs were written when we were influenced by radical lesbian politics though they were sung mostly ‘tongue in cheek’. Heterosexuals were the target of our wrath.

To the tune of ‘bye, bye Blackbird’

Pack up all thos horrid hets,

Have them doctored like your pets,

Bye, bye, heteros.

If to your man you would say ‘yes’,

Remember dear male pigs oppress,

Bye, bbye heteros.

Straight men are so very overated,

So much better when they are castrated.

Today’s the day and now’s the hour,

To terminate male chauvinist power,

Heteros, bye, bye.

To the tune ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’.

If you go down to the courts today,

You’re sure of a big surprise,

A fee or a fine or a life in the nick,

If you haven’t got family ties,

For every gay that ever there was,

Is persecuted simply because,

They won’t conform to the hetero norm of lving.

Picnic time for heteros,

The little heteros are having a lovely time today,

Watch them as they bash the queers,

Dispelling all their fears their little ones might turn out that way,

See the big wigs freaking out,

To stamp the gay world is their aim and they’re so obsessed,

At six o’clock the gays in the dock will be safely locked away,

(PAUSE)

Or will they……?