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 2011 we held our 40th Birthday Party. See our events page for more about past events.
CAGS is run by a Committee elected annually by the members. See our Constitution for more details.
LGBT History Month
February every year is LGBT History Month. For several years CAGS
has been working with other local LGBT organisations to promote a variety of
events throughout the month.
For details and photos of LGBT History Month events in 2012 and previous years, see www.lgbt-croydon.org.uk/lgbthm.
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:
- SLAGO — the Surrey and London Association of Gay Organisations
- the Consortium of LGBT Voluntary & Community Organisations
- CHE — The Campaign for Homosexual Equality
- CVA — Croydon Voluntary Action
- ILGA — the International Lesbian & Gay Association.
Latest News
Our Chairperson's Annual Report for 2012–13 is now available to view.
During
February 2013 we once again worked with the other local LGBT groups to
celebrate LGBT History Month. See lgbt-croydon.org.uk/lgbthm2013
for a full list of the local events for the month.
And in May we joined with other LGBT groups and local churches to commemorate IDAHO, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. See www.lgbt-croydon.org.uk/idaho-2013 for more details, with photographs.
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.
