CAMDEN LGBT
FORUM
Camden Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Forum
OutTakes
Inspired by the first ever LGBT History month which took place in February 2005, Camden LGBT Forum launched OutTakes, a project which aims to record the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the area.
The last 50 years have seen remarkable changes to Camden, and to the lives of the LGBT people who live, work and socialise in the borough. From Polari to Pride, we want to hear your stories, anecdotes, and descriptions of LGBT life in Camden - good or bad - whether they took place one week or fifty years ago. They could be poems or prose, and they could relate to a specific incident which stands out in your mind, or could be a more general description of your experience (a kind of Gay in the Life of...)
All the responses we receive will become part of an archive, which we hope will continue to be built upon in the future to create a written record of a life less ordinary: gay Camden in the 20th and 21st Centuries.
You can send us your history (or herstory) online by emailing us your contribution to forum.admin@camdenlgbtforum.org.uk.
Current Contributions...
Andreas Hinz, a 37 year old openly gay man who was training to become a rabbi, was lured to death in Camden by his killer who posed as a rent boy. The murderer Thomas McDowell, who suffered from a dangerous personality disorder described in court as 'untreatable,' was sentenced to a full life sentence in October 2002.
After
Laramie
in memory of Matthew and Andreas
let
Pride be your Yahrzeit
the flame of bodies
filling our world
on those nights - there were
different patterns in the sky
continents apart
and
what if
stars diminish in neon
orange of city nights
and
London
Camden isn't Laramie
but
you
both went to bars
just because … people do and
in the nights
there
are gaps between the then
and later
a
new narrative
of absence, loss
we
carry anger - the flame of our bodies
rising in Pride
pressing for justice
achieving change
TESS JOSEPH