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jbjb To start with, some basic things . Like what s your name. Yeah, fine. David. David
Burbidge. What s your age? m fifty-three. So quite young. Yeah. And you re from I come
from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. And you ve lived in the East End since About nineteen
seventy six. Seventy five. Seventy six. Do you like living in the East End? Yes. Er s
er, has a freedom or it did have a freedom where people escaped to, to er, escape the
er the oppressions of small country life. So what kind of oppressions did you encounter.
Er, well, in the seventies, in er I was around my twenties, er, there was all sorts of er,
discrimination and oppression going on in, still is in small country towns and villages
where people know every else s business and er you are er .basically discriminated against
in work and er in, friendships. There s no gay structure or support. There s just basically
er casual *** contacts in parks and public places. Interviewer: And what was the change
when you came over here. David: The change was I found a community where there was a
lot of people like me so there was plenty of opportunity to er socialise, to mix, to
er, there s lots of bars, clubs and groups and so forth. So it was quite liberating really.
So what kind of activities did you love doing then, which were liberating. Liberating! Er,
well, going socialising, going to bars, meeting people of my own, er culture and er, orientation.
Er, just being, er, meeting new contacts. And at work? How was it? At work it was a
lot, a lot different because I was still in the closet so I couldn t come out because
I worked in the voluntary sector although it was a sort of er, er, er liberal sector,
it still wasn t er, as er free as people think it, it, it, was. Er, certainly it was a long
way in front of the commercial and business er, sectors er, and companies. But you still
had to be very careful about what you said and what you did, er, otherwise you would
be very soon er, found out, so to speak, and er, and er ostracised. What area of work were
you involved in. I was the er, Director of Employment for a large charity in Dalston.
Er, we dealt with er psycho dynamic social work counselling for people who have, having
er, er, .the bringing up children, or difficulties with marital relations. So did you go to University
to study I noticed some Gladstone. Hehehe, Gladstone. Yes, yes. Quite a favourite politician
of mine. But I, I like er, Victorian er, er books. Non-fiction. I particularly like reading
er, the history of religion. Er, I m not religious in any way, shape or form but, the er recording
of er religious history gives a, a recording of history and life and culture. Because that
s er where things sprang from in the beginning. So yes, I do collect er old Victorian non-fiction
books on history, phy, psychology, philosophy. You said some. some time, just now you said
that em it used to be liberating here. Has it, how has it changed. How has it changed?
Er there s er, as as people get older obviously people going to, to er, form friendships and
er, groups of people er, in in different groups and areas of interest. My interest was S&M
and the time. Er, so I sort of formed into a group of people who were interested in that
sort of thing. Er, unfortunately, AIDS came along and er, a lot of people in my sector
disappeared, virtually overnight. So, my groups of friends are very very much diminished over
the years. Er, it isn t as bad now because, er,I think we are over the AIDS epidemic as
such and most of, most of my friends, four, maybe five er all died in rapid succession.
Er, but that was about oh, ten years ago er, it s, it s easier now of course. So do you
the find that S&M culture s reviving in any way? Well, I don t know because as you get
past a certain age with being gay, you are then excluded from the gay community because
it s very ageist. Er, you, you re not going to be welcome in younger people s er, er pubs
and clubs and groups and so forth unless you re in the specific sort of er areas like daddies
and things like that. You, you are certainly not welcome on the commercial gay scene. There
isn t a sort of non-commercial gay scene as such in Tower Hamlets. I mean it has a large
Muslim population. Er the council do not fund more or less anything to do with homosexuality
whatsoever. Er so there s very little opportunity. But you joined a little em group Yes. Run
by Age Concern. So tell me about this little group. Well, it s just a group. A non-funded
group that meets er once a month for socialisation. There s only about twenty or thirty people
belonging to the group and perhaps, maybe only four or five people turn up a session.
But er s, it s not funded by anyone. It s just organised by Age Concern. Er, as a sort
of additional community resource. But er s just there for people who are isolated who
need to go em sort of socialise in some way of form to meet other people of their like.
are you working at present? No, I m retired. Er, I had two heart attacks and er, now I
suffer from er, arthritis. So er being disabled and being gay is er is not easy because you
can t get out and socialise. So have you ever considered sort of bringing your group in
here? No. I haven t got a, a group to bring in, hehe, so to speak. But that group of Age
Yes. But it s, it s not, it s it s er, er, er only an acquaintanceship group. It s not
a friendship group at all. So are there any other groups that you are a part of? Not as
I am aware of at all. So do you use internet then. Yes, I use the internet. I er, I go
on the er various LGBT sites and so forth but er, again it s er, all age orientated.
Does Age Concern help a little bit more in, you know, in terms of perhaps internet networking.
So what, what does Age Concern help you in. Well, they, they just provide the, the, the,
the building and the sort of er ad, administration to get the group together that s all. There,
there s nothing er, their input is, is quite minimal in that sense. They don t actually
actively engage in er encouraging sort of er sort of, what happens it just, it just
er, what happens generates from the members of the group. So do you feel quite isolated.
Oh yes, definitely. Yes. Er, and as you get older it gets more and more isolated because
your friends disappear through er whatever. They either move away ofr they die or whatever.
So at the moment I would say I have a handful of maybe four, five, four friends that I see,
sometimes once, maybe twice a month. Others I may see three or four times a week. But
very very er, the the social contact is very limiting. So do you find it very difficult.
Mm. Very difficult. Now em, Mangala for example, he s a Buddhist and he finds a lot of solace
in Buddhism. Some people would it is not a religion it is more a philosophy. David: Yes,
it s more of a lifestyle Interviewer: Yes. So would you ever consider doing something
like that? David: No, because I consider most philosophies er. and, a, a, from a, a, a historical
and psychological base and most of it is, boils down to self-confidence, self-esteem,
er, being relaxed, a lot of self-hypnosis chucked in. Er I don t need a philosophy as
such to be able to er, to be happy with myself. I m quite happy with my own company. Er Buddhism
to me is just of the other, well, just one of the tracts that people will use to find
er way to be happy with themselves, that s all. Er, just just one track. There s others.
There s neuro linguistic programming and er, I mean you can go to Quakerism, er, you can
go to any of the er religious setups or the non-religious. The humanist societies and
so forth philosophical societies. But er if you just put them all into one, looking from
a historical point of view, it s just a, er, a striving of, of the human psyche to be happy,
that s all. I don t think you can, it s just ways of getting there. Interviewer: So, you
talked about ageism, em, and er, in the gay community. How do you find the club and em,
bar scene different now. Well, I mean. I, I can t really comment on that because I haven
t been on to the bar scene for about seven years and I stopped going to clubs about ten
years ago. So er, there s certainly isn t as many clubs or bars in and around the East
End as there was. Er, a lot of places have closed. Places like the London Apprentice
has gone and The the Ball and Pump, er, which was on Shoreditch High Street. That was a
was a pop, popular drag bar. Er so it s, there s, there s only now, what, one or two places
that you could say they were gay bars really. Er, and also this move to metrosexualism er,
where there is longer gay bars necessarily or straight bars. It s all intermixed and
so forth. And er so there s no longer a need for gay bars. Great. So is there anything
else you d like to tell us. No. not really. PAGE PAGE gdl8 gdl8 gdl8 gdl8 gdl8 gdl8 &`#$
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