Northampton
During the Second World War (and until 1999), there was an official ban on gays and lesbians serving in the armed forces in the UK. Homosexuality was also grounds for dismissal from the forces and for harsh imprisonment. In the years following that war, a small part of Northampton's town centre became a haven for its gay — or "deviant" as we were then called — residents with its gay bar upstairs at The Black Boy Hotel (now where the Nando's restaurant is located). The open space of Midsummer Meadow was also a popular social networking location for gay and bisexual men since the 1950s, and remained that way for more than 50 years until its recent marinal regeneration. And this was way before the prominence of our civil rights in the 1960s and the setting up of gay villages across the world!
Northampton has always had at least one — sometimes two — gay venues. By the late 1970s, the Princess Royal (now Jeckyll and Hyde) on the Wellingborough Road became a popular standard with Northampton's gay and lesbian community. Even a pub in Clopton, a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere of the Northamptonshire countryside, hosted a gay disco on Saturday nights in the early 1980s. Elsewhere in Northamptonshire, Kettering's Steps Cabaret Bar was a popular gay bar whilst Bar Sun (also in Kettering) and Corby's Lodge Park Bar have hosted special gay nights. Popular venues in Northampton like Roadmender, The Old White Hart and The Edge of Town have also been considered gay-friendly. There has been — and always is — an LGBT heartbeat in and around Northampton!
Following Section 28, a law which banned the promotion of homosexuality in the late 1980s, people realised that something had to be done about the lack of support for the LGBT community in Northampton and so the Northampton Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Alliance (NLGBA) was set up in 1994, which offered information, support, advocacy and training on LGB issues, established social groups and helplines as well as being a general resource centre for the local community. By the time the law had been repealed in 2003, Northampton had a thriving LGBT scene consisting of clubs The Boston, K2 and The Jolly Anker (now Club Base and previously Route 69) in the town's centre. However, The Boston remains the reigning champion of Northampton's LGBT scene after its many years of existence and currently exists as the town's only LGBT bar.
Northampton Borough Council was one of the first councils in the country to recognise the needs of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community by setting up Northampton's LGB People's Forum; this was later renamed Northampton's LGBT and Q People's Forum in recogntion of the entire LGBT community. The Forum continue to meet several times each year to advance the awareness of Northampton's LGBT community. Northamptonshire also held its first LGBT Pride in 2004, which consisted of a programme of LGBT-related arts, cinema, entertainment, literature as well as a public event in Abington Park.
Civil partnerships were then granted for homosexual couples in the UK in late 2005 and Northamptonshire registered 37 civil partnerships around the county within the first 5 weeks of its legislation. 2005 also saw the release of the popular Golden Globe-nominated film Kinky Boots, which celebrates Northampton's famous shoe industry alongside the LGBT community by telling the true story of one man's revival of his failing family shoe firm by finding inspiration in an exotic drag queen. The film is currently undergoing a musical theatre adaptation on Broadway.
Despite the collapse of the Northampton Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Alliance in 2009, a number of Northampton-based LGBT-friendly organisations have been appearing in recent years to empower LGBT people all over Northamptonshire. Northampton is now home to several LGBT-friendly organisations and groups including LGBT social events organiser FAN Northants and the Northampton Gay Book Group — to name but a few. In 2012 alone, Northampton's LGBT community proudly participated in Northampton Carnival's procession and at the annual Umbrella Fair. The town also hosted its first gay and lesbian literary festival, booQfest, in addition to enjoying the sucess of many other FAN-endorsed events and the setting up of Out There, a new service catering for LGBT youth. The town also established its very own gay-friendly rugby team Northampton Outlaws RFC, making it the 9th gay-friendly rugby team in the UK and one of 40 internationally.
