Liverpool's gay scene in the 1960s

When I was 14 or 15, I had a tremendous crush on a boy I was at school with. I just wanted to be with him every moment I could, and we had a fling for about 6 months or so. This was my first experience with a person of my own sex; it wasn’t a sexual experience, more like adolescent experimentation. 

The term gay wasn’t used then to describe homosexual behaviour. Homosexuals were known as ‘queers’ or ‘puffs’. I’m talking about 50 years ago, and it wasn’t as fashionable then as it is now to be gay. I had heard of homosexuals but didn’t consider myself as one of them; I was just in love with this boy. After about 6 months he seemed to lose interested in me. I was in pieces.

In the mid 60`s there were no gay bars, or clubs, at least not in Birkenhead. I was only 16, and there were no places that I knew of where you could go to meet people who felt the same as I did.

For the next few years I felt very lonely on the inside. I did have straight friends but they never knew how I felt, and I even went out with one or two girls but that never went anywhere. What I really wanted was a boyfriend. I had a few crushes on some boys but they were all straight and I couldn’t tell them how I felt. I was heartbroken on the inside.

Then, out of the blue, a girl I knew said she had been out with some friends and they went to a pub in Liverpool where the homosexuals went. I remember my heart started pounding and I asked her, as casually as possible, what the name of the pub was. Well that was it. I was determined to find this pub. I went over to Liverpool wondering how I could find out where it was. If I had just asked someone they would know I was looking for a gay pub, but I had come this far and I was not going to be thwarted. Eventually, heart pounding, and face as red as a beetroot I did ask, found it, and was determined to go in. I remember it was a Tuesday evening and I walked down a small flight of steps, my knees were knocking and my heart was once again pounding, but being a Tuesday it was very quiet. I did meet someone. His name was John, and I went back to his place, which was in Birkenhead. We remained friends until he died a few years ago.

For the next few years I was full on into the gay scene and I loved it. I had gay friends, people who were just like me. Including myself there were eight of us who used to hang out together, three of them are now dead and two of them have been together for over 30 years.

I didn’t see anything wrong with the way I was living, in fact everything was just right. I was having a great time, after all this was the way God made me, I thought. I did think about God a lot, but being in a gay lifestyle in my mind could not possibly be wrong. I could not help the way I felt and my friends were good people. One thing still hadn’t happened though. I had never had a proper partner on the gay scene, I never seemed to fall for a gay man; the men I fancied were all straight. I thought though that if I gave it time Mr Right would come along.