Description:Image from Birmingham Pride.
Extract from oral history interview:
“The outlets for women were… they weren’t there...the lifestyle was very closed and even though we’d had Stonewall and can’t remember the big London parade that happened back in the ‘70’s but there was no equality, you were very much ostracised, out on your own, there was nowhere to go, there was nowhere to meet people or find out, so it was, as I said, secret, you had to know…you had to be in the know or know someone, you couldn’t actually pick up a leaflet or advertising because if anybody did leaflet or advertise, they were liable for prosecution. Now, you’ve got the great gay quarter in Hurst Street up past the Hippodrome and it’s supported both by Birmingham City Council and it has police back up so it’s quite a safe area to be”. [MS 2255/2/67]
This extract comes from a longer interview undertaken as part of the Millennibrum Project in 2000. Transcripts and listening copies of the full interviews are available in Local Studies and History on floor six of Birmingham Central Library.