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.
Deeper than blood, Brixton to the bone
Marc Thompson is proudly Brixton born and bred – “Lambeth and I are in each other’s bones. I’ve lived all over – Tulse Hill, Stockwell, Angell Town, Kennington. And my night life, my activism, have always been here too. As a Black gay man who has been living with HIV for almost four decades, I used Landmark Centre services and ran Big Up for Black men at risk of HIV. I co-founded Prepster to campaign for making HIV prevention medication available in the UK – it’s all part of over 30 years’ activism.”
Black and Gay, Back in the Day
Marc’s Lambeth nightlife is celebrated on the Black & Gay Back in the Day photographs and memories archive, highlighting a community whose story isn’t heard enough in London’s LGBTQ+ history.
LGBTQ+ history, Lambeth’s future
Today, Marc goes on pushing and organising – proposing pink plaques and walking tours to raise awareness of Lambeth’s Black Queer history – but also working to build Lambeth’s LGBTQ+ future.
“The redevelopment of east London has created a queer Mecca. But in Lambeth I can’t name one start-up LGBTQ+ space. We must not only protect spaces like the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, but also make it easier for new LGBTQ+ businesses and spaces to get off the ground, build places for LGBTQ+ people to go and build healthy communities.”
