'We came down on holiday, a week's holiday and it was the freedom in Brighton. There were so many gay people and they seemed to be accepted and there were clubs for gay people... ohh, wonderful! It was absolutely Mecca.'
Sandie, moved from Birmingham, 1961

In 1988 The Sun newspaper reported with shocked surprise that Brighton was the gay capital of Europe. This exaggerated report was not news to the thousands of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals who lived here.

Early records suggest that men were already coming to Brighton to have sexual relationships with other men in the 1830s. By the 1930s the town's reputation had secretly spread far and wide. Queer visitors could enjoy the Men Only Beach in Hove, a lesbian bar known as Pigotts on St James's Street and several other gay bars.

During the rest of the twentieth century increasing numbers of gay people came to live in Brighton, finding it a more tolerant place than their own home towns.

Now lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people make up the largest minority of the local population and the annual Pride festival is one of the city's major attractions.

Brighton Ourstory Project