Kenric was established in 1965 and is made up of a network of social groups for lesbians throughout the United Kingdom. [1] Members are of all ages, although mainly due to the long-running nature of the network it is most popular with women over 30 years old. It is often the only lesbian social outlet in areas where there is not much visible gay and lesbian presence.
Throughout the country the local groups are managed by a network volunteers, who organise discos, club nights, walks, reading groups, golf tournaments, discussion groups and other such events to suit the locality. These women are from all walks of life, professions, ages and social backgrounds.
Members of the network keep in touch via a national monthly magazine, as well as regional newsletters. The basic philosophy is that no lesbian should feel isolated or alone, no matter where they are. The group now has over 1200 subscribers, located all over the country and overseas.
Each year the organisation hosts major event that include a Christmas ball in London and an event in Eastbourne to mark the end of the International Women's Open tennis tournament. These events are open to women who are both members and non-members.
The name "Kenric" was formed from joining the regional names of Kensington and Richmond, which is where the group was originally formed in 1965, by Cynthia Reid and Julie Switsur. [2] It sprung from the nucleus of the old Surrey and south-west London section of the Minorities Research Group. A former member believes that a group calling themselves The Sisters of Kranzchen may have been forerunners of Kenric. [3] [4] Many of the early members of Kenric were members of the Gateways club in Chelsea. Some of the early members were also members of the Minorities Research Group (which published the magazine Arena Three), [5] but were keen to move away from research into lesbianism and develop the more social aspects. Kenric aimed to alleviate isolation and forge a material community through the organisation of social meetings and parties. [6] It was established as a purely social group with no campaigning remit or political affiliations though charitable work for other gay organisations was to be occasionally undertaken. [7] In November 1965 a management committee was formed by the first five memberswhich set about drafting the application form, establishing the British Monomark address for receipt of correspondence and drawing up the Kenric constitution. [8] Sheila Kent typed the first newsletter, Doreen Holley was put forward as “Chair”, followed by Hilary Nathan in 1966, and Vivienne Gillings in 1967. [9]
Kenric soon started to connect members via a newsletter.
Janet is a high-speed network for the UK research and education community provided by Jisc, a not-for-profit company set up to provide computing support for education. It serves 18 million users and is the busiest National Research and Education Network in Europe by volume of data carried. Previously, Janet was a private, UK-government funded organisation, which provided the JANET computer network and related collaborative services to UK research and education.
The Daughters of Bilitis, also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was initially conceived as a secret social club, an alternative to lesbian bars, which were subject to raids and police harassment.
OutRage! was a British political group focused on lesbian and gay rights. Founded in 1990, the organisation ran for 21 years until 2011. It described itself as "a broad based group of queers committed to radical, non-violent direct action and civil disobedience" and was formed to advocate that lesbian, gay and bisexual people have the same rights as heterosexual people, to end homophobia and to affirm the right of queer people to their "sexual freedom, choice and self-determination".
The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) was a membership organisation in the United Kingdom with a stated aim from 1969 to promote legal and social equality for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in England and Wales. Active throughout the 1970s – and becoming a mass-membership organisation during this time – CHE's membership declined in the 1980s.
The Minorities Research Group (MRG) was the first organisation to openly advocate the interests of lesbians in the United Kingdom. It was founded by four women who got together in response to an article that was published in the magazine Twentieth Century. The group published the Minorities Research Group Newsletter, and went on to publish its own lesbian magazine called Arena Three that provided a lifeline to remote lesbians around the country.
The Gateways club was a noted lesbian nightclub located at 239 King's Road on the corner of Bramerton Street, Chelsea, London, England. It was the longest-surviving such club in the world, open by 1931 and legally becoming a members club in 1936. In 1967 it became for women only. It closed on Saturday 21 September 1985 after a period of only opening for a few hours each weekend.
OUTeverywhere was a website providing an online lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, chiefly in the UK, although it has members worldwide. The site provided member profiles with picture galleries, private messages, discussion boards and online chat. The community also organised offline events, such as coffee or cocktail outings, sporting events and day trips.
LGBT+ Labour is the socialist society officially representing the LGBTQ wing of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. The purpose of the organisation is to campaign within the Labour Party, and the wider Labour movement to promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) people, and to encourage members of the LGBT community to support the Labour Party.
David Talbot Rice was an English archaeologist and art historian. He has been described variously as a "gentleman academic" and an "amateur" art historian, though such remarks are not borne out by his many achievements and a lasting legacy of scholarship in his field of study.
New Zealand society is generally accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples. The LGBT-friendly environment is epitomised by the fact that there are several members of Parliament who belong to the LGBT community, LGBT rights are protected by the Human Rights Act, and same-sex couples are able to marry as of 2013. Sex between men was decriminalised in 1986. New Zealand has an active LGBT community, with well-attended annual gay pride festivals in most cities.
The Hall–Carpenter Archives (HCA), founded in 1982, are the largest source for the study of gay activism in Britain, following the publication of the Wolfenden Report in 1957. The archives are named after the authors Marguerite Radclyffe Hall (1880–1943) and Edward Carpenter (1844–1929). They are housed at the London School of Economics, at Bishopsgate Library –, and in the British Library.
Arena Three was a British monthly publication founded by Esme Langley and Diana Chapman in 1964. It was written by and for lesbians and published by the Minorities Research Group (MRG) from 1964 to 1971.
The Salsa Soul Sisters, today known as the African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change, is the oldest black lesbian organization in the United States.Operating from 1974 to 1993, the Salsa Soul Sisters identified as lesbians, womanists and women of color, based in New York City Arguments within the Salsa Soul Sisters resulted in the disbanding of the Salsa Soul Sisters into two groups, Las Buenas Amigas made for Latinas, and African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change made for African-diaspora lesbians.
GEMMA is a magazine and a social group founded in 1976 whose mandate is to provide a "friendship and support group for disabled lesbians in England".
Martha Shelley is an American activist, writer, and poet best known for her involvement in lesbian feminist activism.
The Gay Women's Alternative, DC (GWA) (1981–1993) was an incorporated social-educational non-profit organization dedicated to enriching the cultural, intellectual, and social lives of lesbians of the Washington, D.C., area. The GWA was formed in 1980 to provide the DC lesbian community with an alternative and safe space to socialize and discuss feminist and educational topics concerning the lesbian and gay women population. The group met every Wednesday evening from 8 pm to 11 pm at the Washington Ethical Society near Silver Spring, Maryland. Weekly programs covered topics such as, "Organizing Your Finances for Success," "Lesbian Couples: How Different are we?" and "Women and Wellness: A Feminist Approach to Health Care". Speakers included black poet Audre Lorde, artist Joan E. Biren, television journalist Maureen Bunyan, and comedian Kate Karsten. The GWA held several dances, including the annual lesbian spring dance and the Spring Cotillion.
The Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA) was an American lesbian feminist organization, among the oldest and longest running in the country. It formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1972 as a breakaway from Atlanta's Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and Atlanta Women’s Liberation. The organization dissolved in 1994.
The Married Women's Association (MWA) was a British women's organisation founded by Edith Summerskill and Juanita Frances in 1938. It was the first UK twentieth century pressure group to focus on the rights of housewives via the goal of legal and economic equality for spouses, and the consideration of undervalued childcare and work done in the home with its resultant financial consequences for women after divorce. The organisation's previously unexplored influence on the course of family law, especially on the Married Women's Property Act of 1964, a landmark in the timeline of women's equality, is now recognised.
Alice Laura Embleton was one of the first women to study sciences at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, and among the first group of women to be appointed Fellows of the Linnean Society in 1905. A biologist and zoologist, Embleton developed work on pesticides to improve crop production. She was also a noted suffragist.
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