Queer Spaces in the History of Groningen. For a long time most queer meeting spots were unofficial, undergound places, to be attended anonymously and in secret. Besides parks, public urinals were well-known places for gay men to find each other. Here on the left an actual underground meeting spot: public urinals at the Grote Markt. From the 1950s onward it became easier for gay men to meet in establishments like De Mienekebar, Groningen's first gay bar, and Tearoom Indie, where the cook was gay, so gay customers could feel at ease. In 1950 Groningen also got its own chapter of the COC, an organisation for gay culture and leisure. The Groningen COC had a wonderful magazine called Finland: periodiek voor sodomie en hekserij. In this magazine you can find overviews of planned events, which were held in various places, but many of them at the COC-clubhouse.
By the 1970s the COC was too conservative for some, and too much male-focused on top of that. More radical groups emerged. The Groninger Lesbian Movement for example was way more activist than the COC. The Lesbian Movement organised Women's bookshops and Women's Cafés like De Dikke Trui and De Del as their headquarters. De Del was situated in the Old Police Office, a squat which hosted disco saturdays for gays too. And then there were several cruising areas, like the one at Reitemakersijge which has been a place for finding paid sex for hundreds of years until the 1990s, or the one at Glimmermade parking along the A28, where hundreds of people would gather every weekend. The 1990s saw a rise in LGBT+ organisations (mostly non-political) and venues. Here a picture of The Golden Arm, which was a popular night club, probably the biggest gay venue of the North of the Netherlands. Many specifically queer spaces have closed down in the last 10 years. It seems queer people feel more at ease in other places too, which causes the queer venues to close down because they can't count on the same crowd like they used to. But wouldn't it be a shame to lose those specifically queer spaces/venues? Maybe they should be reinvented? Wanna learn more? Check Alternative Groningen Tour on FB for the next Queer History Tour!
Collage by Fiona van den Bergh, who offers Queer History Tours in Groningen regularly.
Check out her facebook page for more info and join a tour to learn about our local queer history!