I was actually involved in the beginning with Andrew Lumsden, but, for me, it was difficult because they were so clued up technologically with their phones and computers. But it’s taken – I don't know how long – to go back to the 1980s and get a central LGBTQIA+ London community space together again. Stuart: is kind of fewer and farther between now, isn't it? I’ve met so many people who are very into promoting themselves as experts on this or that. Prishita: What are your thoughts on how organising and activism is approached nowadays? W ith the rise of social media activism, the face of LGBTQIA+ advocacy has changed since the 70s. I discovered all these people I’d never seen the like of before in any gay bars. My friends weren’t interested, but it really appealed to me. When the Gay Liberation Front started, I just went along to – what I think was – the third meeting. "In 1957, I was outed and immediately financially punished for being gay" So, I was immediately financially punished. I was taken off the machine that I was operating very efficiently, which allowed me to earn extra money, and placed on a machine that had hardly any call for work. We were spotted by two older engineering apprentices I worked with who were passing by on their bikes and when I came back on the factory floor, everyone was jeering and shouting at me, threatening me. I was working at a factory at the time and my boyfriend and I had decided to meet up in the park at lunch with a lot of newspapers to see what the press was saying about the report. Stuart Feather: I came out in 1957, when I was outed on the publication day of the Wolfenden Report. What did the start of this journey look like for you? I feel like so many people want to get involved, but don’t know how. Stuart has been advocating publicly for the LGBTQIA+ community since 1970 and was an original organising member of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), playing a central role in queer activism in London over the last five decades.Ī post shared by Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin: I’d love to start by talking about your route into LGBTQIA+ community organising. To work towards answering some of these questions, as a community organiser and journalist myself, I spoke with campaigner, activist and author Stuart Feather. For those of us within the LGBTQIA+ community, this time raises some meaningful points of enquiry: mainly, how can individuals work together across generations and towards collective queer liberation. It was recently Global Intergenerational Week, which aims to connect people of all ages – in particular, bringing together younger and older folks. Now, we must grasp onto all the threads of experience and knowledge that drift by, almost out of reach, before they, too, dissolve around us. The LGBTQIA+ community lost countless members throughout the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s – individuals who could well have been mentors for following generations. Learn through connection through conversation through collaboration. New is not always better and while youthful passion can drive movements and inspire global action, we must also remember to pause, to reflect, and to learn. "The LGBTQIA+ community lost countless members during the HIV crisis"Īs queer people who have historically been erased – and continue to fight to be seen as our true selves – we should make sure that the stories of the individuals who paved the way are not forgotten.