The Brief Encounter is a series of bi-monthly events in which we invite interesting people to speak on a subject of their own choice.

The meetings are being held at 8 pm on the first Tuesday of alternate months, starting October 2008, at "The Brief", 48 George St, Croydon CR0 1PD. They are free of charge, and open to all.

Forthcoming events

The current line-up is as follows (see below for previous speakers):

5^th October: Linda Bellos OBE, black/Jewish lesbian activist, former leader of Lambeth Council and originator of Black History Month UK. This event is part of CAGS’ contribution to Black History Month in Croydon.

Previous speakers

3^rd August 2010: Paul Burston, gay novelist and gay novelist and columnist, described as “the nearest thing the UK has to Armistead Maupin”. He edits the gay and lesbian section of Time Out, and his novels include Star People (2006), Lovers & Losers (2007) and The Gay Divorcee (2009). At the meeting he gave us some fascinating insights into the creative writng process, and announced that he has just agreed a deal on TV rights for The Gay Divorcee. See our Flyer and our Press Release.

1^st June: Rev Colin Coward, president of Changing Attitude UK, one of the most effective lobbying groups in the Anglican Communion promoting the full inclusion of gays and lesbians into the life of the Church. He gave us an interesting talk last month on the situation of gay people in the Anglican Church, followed by a very lively discussion.

4^th May (additional meeting): Thierry Schaffauser, male gay sex worker, and trade union leader. He has recently contributed to The Guardian in the on-going debate over the new legislation against sex work. There's more about this meeting, with a photo, in our press release.

6^th April: Dr Justin Varney, consultant in public health medicine and co-chair of the Gay and lesbian Association of Doctors and Dentists (GLADD). One of Justin’s points was that we need to engage with the local health bodies to ensure that LGBT issues are not neglected. We’re currently considering how CAGS could get involved with  this.  

2^nd February: hustings meeting, with representatives of the main political parties answering questions about their policies in advance of the General Election. See our press release for more details.

1^st December 2009: Mark Bunyan, author, composer, and out gay cabaret artist. Mark treated us to a very entertaining evening performing and commenting on his own songs, with relevance to the gay situation down the years.

6^th October 2009: Angela Mason, long-term feminist and campaigner for women’s rights, lesbian mother, OBE and a Government adviser. Angela gave a very interesting talk about her days as head of Stonewall in a period when she helped to push through several major law reforms.

4^th August 2009: Sharon Ferguson, pastor in the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) and recently appointed Chief Executive of LGCM (the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement).

2^nd June 2009: Peter Tatchell, campaigner for gay equality, human rights, democracy, and global justice, Green Party candidate and leading member of Outrage! Noted for his courageous stand on sometimes unpopular issues and his attempted citizen's arrest of Robert Mugabe. See our 3rd June Press Release for more information.

7^th April 2009: Denise Anderson, Transgender campaigner, founder member of the Spectrum London transgender support group, London representative for the Gender Trust, and chair of the Haringey LGBT Network. Passionate about hate crime and domestic violence, and actively involved in support and raising awareness for the trans community.

2^nd December 2008: Allan Horsfall and Ray Gosling, veteran LGBT campaigners. Ray is also known as a radio and TV journalist, and Allan was one of the founders of CHE. They both continue work on behalf of gay people to this day. The December press release gives full details.

7^th October 2008: Brian Paddick, who was the most senior openly gay police officer in the UK, and subsequently a candidate for Mayor of London. Brian gave a most informative and entertaining talk to a packed meeting. There's a summary of his talk on our October press release.

Press coverage

See also our press releases: 2^nd September, 24^th September, 8^th October, 3^rd December and 21^st May, and the press coverage we've received to date, also the flyer we handed out covering future events and details of other local groups and another flyer that we issued about the peter Tatchell event.

And we put this advert in the press: