London's lesbian and gay scene is so huge, diverse and
well-established that it's easy to forget just how much - and how
fast - it has grown over the last few years. Pink power has given
rise to the pink pound, gay liberation to gay lifestyle, and the
ever-expanding gay village of Soho - now firmly established as the
gay heart of the city - is vibrant, self-assured and unashamedly
commercial. As a result of all this high-profile activity, straight
Londoners tend to be a fairly homo-savvy bunch and, on the whole,
happy to embrace and even dip into the city's queer offerings.
Soho is the obvious place to start exploring, with a mix
of traditional gay pubs, trendy café/bars and a range of gay-run
services. There are clubs to cater for just about every musical,
sartorial and sexual taste, and while the bigger ones tend to
cluster in the West End, there are equally well-established venues
all over the city. Gay men still enjoy the best permanent
facilities London-wide, but today's lesbian scene is bigger
and more eclectic than it has ever been, and the cruisey girl bars
which took up prize pitches on the boys' Soho turf a few years ago
look like they're here to stay.
The two big outdoor events of the year are Mardi Gras and
Summer Rites, in early July and early August respectively. A
colourful, whistleblowing march through the city streets followed
by a huge, ticketed party in Finsbury Park, Mardi Gras is
the UK's biggest annual queer party, and attracts people from all
over the country. For up-to-date information, festival plans and
transport details, call 020/7494 2225 or visit the Web site:
www.londonmardigras.com. The ticketed Summer Rites in
Brixton's Brockwell Park offers a similar menu of dance, music,
performance and stalls, but has so far managed to remain a more
laid-back and local affair. For more information on Summer Rites,
check Time Out and the queer press.
If you can't find it here, you can probably find it in the GAY
to Z ( www.gaytoz.com), a vast and comprehensive online
directory of gay, lesbian, bisexual and TV/TS- friendly
organizations and businesses. A 96-page print version is also
available direct from Gay to Z Directories, 41 Cooks Rd, London
SE17 3NG, priced £3 in the UK, and £10 outside the country.
London also boasts several queer-oriented annual arts events. In
March, the National Film Theatre hosts the annual Lesbian and
Gay Film Festival ; in the last two weeks of June, the Mardi
Gras Arts Festival , staged at venues throughout London, leads
the run-up to Mardi Gras itself, and in mid-June, there's the
unmissably camp National Lesbian Beauty Contest , currently
held at the Scala in King's Cross; for information, call
07932 046938; for tickets, call 0870/606 0204.
Elsewhere, queer theatre and live art takes place all year
round in the city's many fringe venues, arts centres, galleries and
clubs. Details of most events appear in Time Out and in the
many weekly, free gay papers and listings guides distributed in
bars, clubs and bookshops. The most useful of these are The Pink
Paper and Axiom News, which carry news and arts coverage
as well as listings; Boyz and qx magazine are
frothier and clubbier, with plenty of up-to-date scene information
and gossip.