CAGS – Croydon Area Gay
SocietyCAGS (Croydon Area Gay Society) is a society for lesbians and gay men in and around Croydon. We have over 100 members.
Our social diary normally contains at least two social events a month, for instance coffee evenings, wine and cheese parties, music evenings, and restaurant visits, and once a year our summer garden party. See our Diary Page for coming events.
In May this year we held our 40th Birthday Party and in August we held our annual Garden Party. See our events page for more about these events.
LGBT History Month
February every year is LGBT History Month.
CAGS has been working with other local LGBT organisations to promote a
variety of events throughout the month.
See the Diary Page for what's planned for February 2012.
For details and photos of LGBT History Month events in 2011 and previous years, see www.lgbtcroydon.org.uk/historymonth.htm.
CAGS History
The Society was founded in 1971, as "London Group Seven" of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE).
CAGS's history is recorded in a chapter of the book Out of the Shadows, by Tony Walton. More about the book...
Newsletter
All CAGS members receive a monthly Newsletter with the full social diary, plus articles of interest.
Downloads
(all PDF files):Rainbow Reading Group
The Rainbow Reading Group
meets on the last Thursday of each month, at 2:30pm at Croydon Central
Library.
For more information, see the Rainbow Reading Group web page.
Campaigning
We campaigned for the passing of the Civil Partnership Act by re-enacting ancient church same-sex union ceremonies.
We have organised letter-writing by our members on various issues affecting gay people, and we are currently working on a number of campaigning issues. More about our campaigns ...
CAGS in the News
We get coverage from time to time in the local press and the national gay press.
Our press page has full details, plus links to the text of our press releases.
CAGS and the Community
CAGS supports Aurora, Croydon's LGBT Police Consultation Group, and is a member of:
Latest News
Early on Sunday morning, 4th December, two gay men were removed from Shooshh nightclub on Crown Hill, Croydon, in what was reported in the press as possible anti-gay discrimination. CAGS has now spoken at length to one of the two gay men involved. He insists that he loves Shooshh and goes there every Saturday night: it's his favourite venue, very welcoming and the place he feels comfortable. He strongly rejects any suggestion that the incident was homophobic. CAGS is pleased that the matter has been clarified so effectively.
CAGS is
promoting a series of open meetings with interesting and entertaining
speakers, under the name "The Brief Encounter". The events are free
and open to all, and are being held on the first Tuesday of alternate
months.
For the full line-up of past and present speakers, see the Brief Encounter page.
Tennis
We have a very
active Tennis Group, playing on Sundays throughout the year.
More about the Tennis Group ...
Silver Rainbow is CAGS' service for older gay people: we currently have a twice-monthly lunch club for gay and lesbian people over 50, and we're working with Age Concern Croydon to increase the range of services for older LGBT people in the Borough.
For more information, see the Silver Rainbow website.
Special events
As well as our
social events, we put on events from time to time for a wider audience,
for instance stalls at Brighton Pride, London Pride, and the Croydon
Summer Festival.
For more about these events, see our Events page.
Some links
For an up-to-date list of coming events in Croydon and around London, see the LGBT London website – www.lgbtlondon.com.
For details of other LGBT Groups in Croydon, see LGBT Croydon.
For other LGBT and Croydon links, see our Links page.
