Lambeth has long been the home to radicals, reformers, and innovators – people who changed history by campaigning, protesting, making things better in the lives of other people.
Following Pride Month, we ‘re sharing the stories of people from the LGBTQ+ community who have been – and still are – active in helping to make Lambeth a borough of equity and justice.
As a descendant of people enslaved in the Caribbean, the message “each one, teach one” – a key strategy in fighting slavery in 19th century America – inspires Rob Berkley in everything he’s done within Lambeth’s Black queer community.
Sexual health
“Nearly 25 years ago, I volunteered with Brixton’s Big Up @GMFA making lifesaving HIV/AIDS information culturally appropriate, then took that learning into sexual health charity, Naz Project.
Pride
“In 2005, I organised the first People of Colour float and stage at London Pride and attended the first UK Black Pride. I worked with Terrence Higgins Trust and Dennis Carney to amplify Black voices on public policy, establishing the Black Gay Men’s Advisory Group (BGMAG) – including a public stand against homophobia in dancehall music.
Making Lambeth “home turf”
“By then I was a regular at Queer Nation (SubStation South) and on the karaoke stage of my local, the Southern Pride. I joined the board of Stonewall in 2009, and in 2014 worked with Marc Thompson and Antoine Rogers to establish BLKOUT_UK.
“Brixton is our ‘home turf’, from screening Moonlight at The Ritzy and intergenerational learning at 198 Gallery, to bringing the vogue ballroom to Brixton Market in celebration of Brixton’s Black queer histories. In 2024, BLKOUT-UK will formally become a co-operative, create a new documentary and redesign our online magazine blkoutuk.com and digital app blkouthub.com – each one, teaching one, until we are all free.”
