I Know Who I Am
A rainbow or two
During the Bold. exhibition, Ray Harvey-Amer told me about his ongoing work with Rainbows Across Borders (RAB). The Croydon based group was officially formed in 2013 and describes itself as “a Croydon-based voluntary self-help group for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution of oppressive homophobic/transphobic regimes.”
Over the years RAB has established strong links with the Croydon Voluntary Action (CVA) resource centre, and the Croydon Unitarians. RAB group meetings provide an opportunity to share experiences and give support to one another through the process of adapting to life in the UK. They campaign against sexism, racism and homophobia, and are best known for their performances as a chorus, singing uplifting songs on themes of liberation and freedom.
“The chorus began as a way of making new members feel welcome and providing a therapeutic activity for those who have suffered at the hands of oppressive regimes.”
The Croydon Home Office is where many asylum seekers begin the process of screening to become officially recognised as refugees. Amongst them are groups of LGBT+ people who are escaping homelands where they are at considerable risk of violence and death because of their sexuality. Asylum seekers are not permitted to work and many make use of Croydon Central Library's free resources where early members of RAB noticed rainbow logos and followed them up to level one. Here they discovered the Library's official LGBT section, launched in 2010 for LGBT History Month. There they met members of the Rainbow Reading Group, a LGBT+ community group established in 2011, who met monthly to read and discuss, while working with the library to make sure LGBT+ was represented in their library collection. The leader of the group included Ray Harvey-Amer who went on to help form RAB and secure their meeting place at the Croydon Voluntary Action (CVA) resource centre at London Road, Croydon.
Several years later, RAB has grown in numbers and is attended by people across London and the UK, as far as Portsmouth. They are regular performers for LGBT History Month, attending civic launches at Croydon’s Braithwaite Hall and Fairfield Halls, and are frequent performers on the main stage at Croydon PrideFest.
Sing out
After meeting members of RAB and learning about their experiences, I learned that many of them had suffered the indignity of being made invisible. Homosexuality, according to the Human Dignity Trust; is still classed as a criminal offence in 72 jurisdictions with almost half within the Commonwealth. 11 of which either implement or make legally possible the death penalty.
LGBT+ people survive in these countries by suppressing their true identities, and there are no role models for them to look up to. The concept behind the ‘Bold.’ exhibition was to reclaim public spaces, and allow queer voices to be heard. Now I was confronted with a whole new set of voices who had faced a far greater level of discrimination than I could imagine. On Ray’s suggestion, we arranged for RAB to make themselves heard by joining the exhibition, and giving a performance as a choir singing out into the Croydon Clocktower.
I could see the positive affect that singing had on each member. The small chorus started out shy, but as their vocals resonated around the high ceilings and the audience grew, their confidence swelled and they began to enjoy themselves. Their set list included powerful civil rights songs like Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around, based on the march to Washington for jobs and liberation, and Oh Freedom about the emancipation from slavery. Raise Your Voices is an original composition by lead singer Daniel Iga and is about the LGBT+ community coming together and supporting one another.
My favourite performance was a cover of I Know Who I Am, a gospel song about finding empowerment through God by Nigerian singer Sinach. When it was sung by RAB it became a statement of self-acceptance; of being proud to belong to the LGBT+ community and declaring ’I know who I am’ … it also made for a catchy gay pride anthem!
Got pride?
The first Pride event in London was held in 1972 and attended by just 2,000 participants. Since then it has grown exponentially in popularity with 30,000 people taking part in the march and over 1.5million spectators in 2019. I wondered if the evolution of Pride impacted the access of minority LGBT+ groups.
I began questioning in light of scale and expectation; who was Pride now for?
I wanted to know what members of RAB thought, so I spoke to member Ken who told me that Pride was an opportunity for him to celebrate his sexuality openly, something he had never been able to do in his own country. Another member, Stella, told me it was important for her to be visible in the UK - to provide hope for the LGBT+ people she knew left behind in Uganda. Pride gave each of them an opportunity to feel a sense of belonging in a foreign country.
“The Rainbows Across Borders LGBT group has given us a platform where we can come and be ourselves, sing, tell our stories, gain the confidence we didn’t have coming to this country.”
I realised that attending Pride can be an emotionally profound experience for a person who has been forced to hide their existence from society. Open displays of sexuality have become more normalised in the UK, and these days it is easy to take our privileges for granted. By understanding how much the Rainbows Across Borders needed the opportunity to celebrate themselves, it helped to heal my own relationship with Gay Pride, and pretty soon we began to talk about the group’s next gig - Croydon PrideFest 2019.
Croydon PrideFest
PrideFest is like a home gig for RAB and they have been attending since its formation in Croydon, in 2016, when they were given the honour of leading the parade. Former Croydon Councillor and festival founder Mark Watson arranged for the free event to take place over the August bank holiday, launched by Croydon’s first openly gay Mayor, Wayne Trakas-Lawlor. The parade started in North End and concluded at a street party on Surrey Street Market. There were stalls for local LGBT+ groups, food vendors and even a small stage where RAB performed alongside other LGBT+ acts like local band Bugeye, and headliners Topping and Butch. The event was so popular that in 2017 it moved to a bigger location in Queen’s Gardens, followed by a further move to Wandle Park in 2018, where it became the second biggest Pride event in London.
“Croydon is the most populous borough in London, but the LGBT+ community has often been under-represented,
but now Croydon has its first openly gay Mayor, it’s the perfect opportunity to show off the amazing diversity
we have.”
In 2019 I was honoured to be asked to march with The Rainbows Across Borders in the Croydon pride parade, and help them to prepare for their performance on the main stage later that day. The parade began at the Town Centre with over 1000 people in attendance. There was a really fun and friendly atmosphere in the air, and a surprising number of families with kids who were running around with rainbow and unicorn balloons. I met up with RAB whose sound system was blaring and being pulled along on little rattling wheels. The group held a giant banner that read “Love Is Not A Crime”, and blew their whistles, danced and sang for the entire march. They were liberated, and celebrating every moment of it! We marched towards North End Junction and headed down Church Street towards Reeves Corner, feeling like we owned the place since the trams had been suspended for twenty whole minutes. We headed through Jubilee tunnel where our shouts and whistles echoed around us, and clambered up the steps of the bridge, weaving our way into Wandle Park.
The Rainbows Across Borders chorus opened the stage, and headline acts including Soju from RuPaul’s Drag Race, Lady Leshurr, Danny Beard and Croydon’s own David McAlmont. Hosting duties were shared between popular British-Nigerian drag queen Son of a Tutu, and Britain’s first out Muslim Drag Queen Asifa Lahore.
A special cabaret tent was erected to host Batty Mama, an organisation supporting black and brown queer performers, and Well Versed Ink, a Croydon based group that uses poetry and spoken word to empower communities, provided performances and workshops throughout the day.
Asifa Lahore at Croydon PrideFest, 2019. (c)Croydon PrideFest
“Croydon is the most culturally diverse borough in London and the people who run, and the people who attend Croydon PrideFest reflect that. As a transgender woman it is great that Croydon is embracing and celebrating all of the rainbow people who make up the LGBT+ community.”
As the evening drew to a close on PrideFest 2019, I felt a great affection for Croydon. The very town itself had opened its heart to the queer community, and from the moment I stepped into the parade, I felt accepted – a feeling that stayed with me long after the festival was over. Photos and videos of the day drifted onto social media and I began to comprehend just how many people had been touched by the event. Before my eyes I saw a whole fresh set of possible networks emerge and I felt my first urge to collect…
All images are copyrighted to one of the following: Museum of Croydon, Mark Goldby, Joseph Karanja, Croydon PrideFest, Lawrence Homewood and Piccaddo Studios.
For any more information please email museum@croydon.gov.uk