Pride, you’re back! It’s time to paint me like a rainbow and send me off deep into the streets of London to bask in all the revelry that can be found on a day that celebrates openness, tolerance and gaiety in one of the, if not the, most multicultural city in the world.
Here’s some of my top tips for where queer women (and our entourages) should go before the triumphant marching has begun – and what awaits us, as the sun begins to set, and the post-parade streets of Soho become a little too brimming with prosecco-marinated folks to retain their fun.
1. Butch. Pride!
Butch. Please! the group behind many-a-lesbian bonanza at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern are hosting a special bash. Aimed at queer women who dot themselves at all points along that elusive butch-femme-ometer, they’re hosting a big old lesbian party at the gay institution that is The Glory.
The bar will be teaming with girls who like girls, all riled up with live music, performances and DJs tun’in up the place til late. This is a night for lesbians and their mates but all LGBTQI folks are welcome. Sat 8th, 8pm-3am, The Glory, 281 Kingsland Road E2. Tickets are a fiver and available here.
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2. HER London Pride Party
Village Underground, the converted viaduct, will be bursting at the seams for what is set to be the biggest post-Pride lesbian bash. The party will be hosted by Her, the dating app come lesbian social network, who are encouraging all lady-lovers, from the more well-established scene-Queens, the curious and any other female who wants nothing but a gay-old dance.
With a host of DJs and live performances from the likes of Cocoa Butter Club, who provide a platform for performers of colour to exhibit culturally expressive work for us to revel in and GAFF-E, a high-energy psychedelic butterfly, flying her own divine style dedicated to colour and female vibrancy. Sat 8th, 8pm-4am, Village Underground, 54 Holywell Lane, London, EC2A. Final release tickets are £15 and available here.
3. BBZ meets Balamii
BBZ (Bold Brazen Zamis or Babes) is a monthly exhibition and club night centred on creative queer, trans and non-binary people of colour. The group shuffle around the city transforming venues, which have included the V&A and Tate Britain, into misogyny-free spaces showcasing and enriching the hottest queer talent streaming out of South London.
On the eve of this year’s Pride, they’re teaming up with Balamii radio to bring some of London’s finest femme identifying DJs, artists, producers and dancers in a line-up that is like no other seen at Pride. Expect positive feminine energy being generated to an impeccable soundtrack in an intentionally created space. Fri 7th, 10pm-5am, Corsica Studios, Units 4/5 Elephant Road, SE17. Final release tickets are £14.60 and available here.
4. Lesbians on film: The Same Difference
This is an encore screening from one of the highlights of last year’s Fringe! Queer Film Festival. The documentary confronts the expectations and discriminations amongst and against queer African-American women. Through a combination of spoken word performance, music, interviews, gatherings and direct confrontations, director Nneka Onuorah has weaved together a rich narrative of lesbian experiences from bisexual invisibility to restrictively specific dress codes.
This is an important insight into expectations of oppressive gender performance and lesbian-on-lesbian discrimination which provides a platform for queer women of colour to discuss hypocrisy intersecting race, gender and sexuality. Thurs 6th, 8:30pm, Gensis Cinema, 93-95 Mile End Road, E1. Tickets are £8.50 and available here.
5. Queer Theatre: Rotterdam
A couple, Alice and Fiona have been living together in Rotterdam for seven years. As Alice embarks on the arduous task of scrawling out an email to her parents letting them in on her sexuality, her partner announces that they have never identified with their gender and would like to be known as Adrian. The award-winning play offers an opportunity to gently probe societal and individual conceptions of gender and sexuality in a piece of theatre that remains as observant and engaging as it is funny. Runs until July 15th. Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport St, WC2H. Tickets from £15, available here.
Also don’t miss Torn Apart (Dissolution), a trio of lesbian love stories, from 1980s West Germany, backpacking in Paris in 1999 and ending up in London today. It provides a feminist, female-centric insight into the way intimate relationships can be moulded by the ever prying eye of societal expectations. Runs until July 22nd. The Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street, N1. Tickets from £12 available here.
