Gay Activists Alliance

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0097 HCA/Gay Activists Alliance
Held at	: British Library of Political and Economic Science   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.lse.ac.uk/library ›
Full title	: Gay Activists Alliance
Date(s)	: 1977-1980
Level of description	: Subfonds of the Hall-Carpenter Archives View parent record
Extent	: 1 box
Name of creator(s)	: Gay Activists Alliance

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) grew out of the Gay News Defence Committee set up to support Gay News against a blasphemy charge and organise a large support demonstration on 11 Feb 1978. On 15 Feb, a special meeting agreed to form an umbrella organisation to monitor issues concerning gay people and generate and publicise action. GAA had no social function, but simply drew together individuals and groups concerned with gay issues. Regional groups were formed in Brighton, London, Oxford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leicester, Coventry and Birmingham. A secretariat coordinating the work of these local groups rotated between them on a six-monthly basis. Local groups were autonomous and the secretariat had no decision-making powers. The GAA concerned itself with issues such as the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Scotland, the refusal of W H Smith's to stock Gay News, paedophilia, opposition to the National Festival of Light, the age of consent and police harassment.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), 1977-1980, notably GAA minutes, 1978, especially concerning Gay News; GAA newsletters, 1978-1979, and bulletins, 1979-1980; material relating to local groups, 1978-1980, namely the Edinburgh Gay Activists Alliance and the Scottish Gay Activists Alliance; GAA leaflets and pamphlets, 1979, on subjects including fascism, the National Abortion Campaign and the Moss Side Community Press; general papers, 1976-1979, including material relating to the Gay Liberation Front and the Nighthawks.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Arranged in sections as follows: minutes, newsletters, local groups, leaflets, pamphlets and general papers.

Conditions governing access:

Apply to Archivist.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Apply to Archivist for copyright details.

Finding aids:

Full handlist and on-line catalogue available.

Archival Information

Archival history:

[Deposited in the Hall-Carpenter Archives prior to their move to the British Library of Political and Economic Science in 1988].

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

The Hall-Carpenter Archives at the British Library of Political and Economic Science hold material relating to the Gay Activists Alliance in the papers of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, the Gay Christian Movement, the Joint Council on Gay Teenagers, and Antony Grey, as well as in the Hall-Carpenter ephemera and journals collections.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: British Library of Political and Economic Science Archives catalogue. Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Nov 2000