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GAYWEST Timeline
1967
July 27: Sexual Offences Act passed by Parliament, partially
decriminalising male homosexual relations in England and Wales.
1969
June 28: Stonewall Rebellion, New York - A milestone in the gay civil rights movement. A police raid on The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar met resistance and became a five-day riot.
Summer: Manchester-based North-Western Homosexual Law Reform Committee renames itself Committee for Homosexual Equality (CHE) and begins to encourage formation of local groups in London and other English cities.
1970
April: First meeting of Bristol CHE group.
October 13: First meeting of London Gay Liberation Front (GLF).
1971
May: CHE renamed Campaign for Homosexual Equality.
November: Bath Gay Awareness Group (which became GayWest) founded.
1972
July 24: Report on Bath Gay Awareness Group in Bath Evening Chronicle.
1973
April 17: Bath group picketed Guildhall during trial of Johnson Distributors for handling obscene publications.
1975
February 1: Bristol Gay Switchboard started operation.
Autumn: First issue of Bridge, the magazine of Bristol CHE.
1978
November: Bath Evening Chronicle agrees to accept ad for group after previous refusals.
1979
January 5: First Gay Awareness Group disco in Century House (Labour Party HQ), Pierrepont St, Bath.
April: To update its image, ‘Awareness’ is dropped - the group’s name amended to Bath Gay Group.
1981
January 29: “The Chance Game”: a play written and acted by and for members of the group.
February 28: Regional CHE Meeting hosted at Bath Community Voluntary Services (BCVS).
July 9: Feature on Bath CHE published in Bath Herald.
August 30: First Gay Group disco at Cascades Club, Trowbridge.
September: After a lengthy campaign, Gay News is made available in main libraries in Bath, Bristol and Weston-Super-Mare.
September 24: After a ballot of members, group renamed Bath Campaign for Homosexual Equality (Bath CHE); dissenting members form a rival group which disappears after a few months.
November 7: 10th Anniversary Celebration Dinner.
1982
May: Start of monthly newsletter (previous newsletters were somewhat irregular); the monthly newsletter has continued to be published regularly and without interruption ever since, with the titles Diary of Events and GayWest Magazine (or variations of these); initially A5 size and photocopied.
September 16: As part of a split in CHE nationally, between campaigning and social activities, Bath CHE becomes a Gay Community Organisation (GCO) with the name GayWest; Bath CHE retained as a campaigning committee.
1983
January 8: First regular GayWest Coffee Shop at BCVS, Abbey Green, now a guest house; this has continued every Saturday morning without interruption as GayWest’s flagship event.
January 13: Bristol CHE dissolves itself; its assets and members transferred to GayWest; Bath CHE renamed Avon CHE.
June: First GayWest disco at True Blue Club, Eastville, Bristol
July: First mention of AIDS in Diary of Events in Chairperson’s letter written from America.
1984
April: First annual Torquay Weekend at the Cliff House.
May: First annual Festival Opening Party at 24 Royal Crescent.
July: First GayWest disco at Walcot Village Hall.
1985
March 9: Actress Fenella Fielding visits Coffee Shop.
April: First weekly aerobics group.
1986
October 7: First weekly self defence class.
back to topSeptember 18: First GayWest disco at Royal York House.
1988
Activist members of GayWest
participate in protests against Section 28. Following a debate in the
group, an active Campaign Committee is set up.
February 2: First monthly Bristol Coffee Evening.
May 27: First GayWest disco at Fernley Hotel.
September 29: AGM - Avon CHE is disbanded and references to National GCO removed from Constitution; GayWest sets up its own Campaigning Committee.
1989
May: Group compiles a major section on homosexuality for the BCVS Newsletter.
June 10: First GayWest disco at St James Vaults.
1990
January 27: First joint disco at Bath University.
February: New GayWest logo introduced.
March 4: Michael Cashman, who played Eastenders' first gay character, guest stars at GayWest’s Desert Island Discs.
June-December: Row over Bath City Council’s refusal to allow a GayWest disco at the Sports Centre creates publicity and is eventually overturned.
December 5: Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell talks to GayWest.
1991
May: First Coffee Shop of each month moved to St Michael’s Day Centre for trial six-month period because of improved disabled access; other Saturdays continues to meet at BCVS, Abbey Green.
1992
January: GayWest's membership peaked at more than 400.
April: Most Saturday Coffee Shops held at St Michael's due to building work at BCVS.
June: Coffee Shop reverts to first Saturday at St Michaels and rest at BCVS.
November 7: First Women’s Tea Shop in Bristol.
1993
July 3: Last Women’s Tea Shop in Bristol.
August: Coffee Shop moves completely to St Michael's as the downstairs room at BCVS is judged too small and unsuitable.
May 15: Michael Cashman attends Coffee Shop.
1994
March/April: Beginnings of closer cooperation and liaison between the police and local LGBT community, including GayWest.
Autumn: The group has a slot in a Community Service broadcast on HTV, the local independent TV station - the first gay group to do so.
1995
March 11: Women’s Space at Rainbow Café starts as special monthly attempt to attract women.
June 10: Coffee Shop given make-over and re-launched as The Rainbow Café.
1996
April: GayWest discos are considered so successful that they become a monthly event.
July: GayWest sends three double-decker coaches to London Pride.
September: First meeting of Yate based OUTREACH, the first social group to defy Section 28 by receiving local authority funding.
back to topDecember: The Garricks Head, much frequented by members, ceases to be a gay pub after many years.
1998
February: GayWest Magazine changes format to A4 glossy.
2000
April: New GayWest logo introduced.
October 7: Launch of Weston-Super-Mare Rainbow Café in conjunction with THT West.
2002
GayWest website launched.
May 2: GayWest representative invited to reception at Guildhall when the Queen visits Bath as part of her Golden Jubilee Celebrations.
October 12: Weston-Super-Mare Rainbow Café ends but continues to meet informally in a local gay pub.
2003
November: GayWest Magazine reverts to A5 format.
2004
October: First joint social event with Chris's Coffee Club (3C's) - a tour and tasting at Smiles Brewery, Bristol.
2005
June 3: Publicity event to stimulate interest in GayWest - website relaunched.
July: GayWest obtains first grant towards the running of the Rainbow Café.
October: A couple in GayWest are given special licence to have a civil partership two months before the Act came into force in the rest of the country.
2006
August: First GayWest picnic at Camers gardens, Gloucestershire.
back to topSeptember 15: 25th Anniversary Dinner.