Gay Black Group (UK) (Documentary)

The formation of the Gay Black Group was a landmark in gay black history. Meeting at Gay's the Word, a bookshop in Bloomsbury, London, it provided a sounding board and support for gay and black communities of the 1980s. Sitting on the outside of both by virtue of their sexuality or ethnicity the group attempted to negotiate a path through the complexities of cultural and sexual identity. Through interviewing Black and Asian members of the Gay Black Group (GBG), the film forces viewers to reflect on the marginalisation of LGBT+ people of colour and the importance of intersectional safe spaces.

The film begins with Ahmed who is from Hydrabad in Southern India. He talks about coming out to his family and how it was a disaster and explains that there is no word in Urdu that he could use to the family members who do not speak English. Paula then talks to a woman with Nigerian roots about her realisation that she was a lesbian. The next interviewee has Kenyan Hindu heritage who had to stay in closet after his father's death otherwise his sister could have problems finding a partner. He is followed by a man with Pakistani Muslim background that Paula talks to on the South Bank. He describes his coming out which was aided by the Gay Ice Breakers group. Next we hear from Isaac Julien who is a student at St Martin’s School of Art whose family were originally from St Lucia. We then return to Ahmed who is interviewed at home with his partner Alan about their cultural experiences. Soon, the discussion turns to racial fetishism in the “gay scene”. Another interviewee describes the two types of people he has been confronted with in white gay spaces. One, he explains, “just want you for sex, and the other sort don’t want to know you at all”.

Cultural difference and how it impacts one’s ability to live openly is an overarching theme. For a lot of these people “family is more important than sexuality”. The topics discussed, such as fetishisation, intersectionality and representation, are topics that the LGBT+ community continue to grapple with. By engaging with our history and listening to people’s unique life experiences, we will be better equipped to face present-day challenges. Interestingly, the title is a bit misleading since a lot of focus is actually on Asian/India folks rather than black, but I guess the idea was to show the issues faced by non-white people. This film offers us a rare insight into the historic experiences of Black LGBT+ people in Britain. If you didn't know when this film was made, you would think it was done now, since most of these things are still quite relevant. (6/10)