Another key group that developed in the early to mid 1970s in London was ‘The Counter-Psychiatry Group’, led by a sociologist called Michael (Micky) Burbidge.
The group took its raison d’etre from many of the American groups (particularly in California) which developed to counter the notion of traditional psychological thinking up until then, that gay men & lesbians had some kind of ‘condition’ that could be treated using such techniques as aversion therapy, only a few steps away really from the methods employed in 1950’s Britain that led to Alan Turing’s death. The group split into three different factions in 1972 and one became Icebreakers, with a helpline initially that developed its own gay counselling and befriending group.
On Tuesday 7 March 1972 however, as the first few members of the newly proposed Ice Breaking group gathered in Micky Burbidge’s house in Camden, there was a strong feeling that not enough was being done to help the most isolated gay people across the UK, of which the group rightly believed there were many. Those involved in it felt that they were qualified to counsel other gay people because of the experiences they had had coming out and being gay themselves. In an article in Gay News at the time, Burbidge explained that they consciously rejected social work terminology: clients, counsellors and so on. This was in effect similar to the work of London Gay Switchboard of course, although Switchboard did tend more to refer people on to other groups (including Icebreakers) but this approach was not really welcomed by professional groups at the time such as the Albany Trust.
By mid 1973 the Icebreakers group of 22 people (though only 2 were women) was offering a phone help line every evening between 7.30pm and 10.30pm. The group ethos and raison d’etre is described in much more detail in Lisa Powers book ”No bath but plenty of bubbles, An Oral history of the GLF” 1970/73” available on Amazon et al.
By 1975, its annual report recorded that it had received 4, 417 calls – 1 in 7 were from women; (14%) 1 in 11 were either married or divorced; (9%). 1 in 9 were under 21; (11%) 1 in 20 were transvestites (5%) and 52 calls were from paedophiles (1%). This last figure is relevant only in so far as what was to come for the organisation and to illustrate that a very small percentage of its calls actually came from those who identified as paedophile.
However, unfortunately, the group had unwittingly became involved with Roger Gleaves, a character who ran a number of hostels in London; he had allowed their phoneline to be run from his house and although he was never officially part of ‘Icebreakers’ he was answering the phones and it was discovered that he had been suggesting that some of the young boys he had counselled should come and live in the hostels he ran in London, with sexual assaults then being reported at a later stage by some of its occupants. Whilst there was no suggestion that any one in Icebreakers had known this was occurring, it is probably fair to say that it rather dented the credibility of the organisation for some while. Burbidge also became involved in supporting the PIE (Paedophile Information Exchange) of which several members were prosecuted in 1978 for soliciting indecent images of pre pubescent boys.
For some time in the 70’s and 80’s in fact the concept of sexual relationships with pre- pubescent children was relatively openly discussed within the gay milieu. The suggestion being made in the press at the time was that paedophiles were in need of medical treatment but for Burbidge this conflicted with his belief that the categorisation of paedophilia as a ‘psychiatric disorder’ was as wrong as homosexuality’s categorisation as a ‘psychiatric disorder’ and should be campaigned for alongside homosexuality under the umbrella definition of ‘sexual orientation’. He had argued, in a letter to the Guardian on September 3rd 1975:
“The ‘harm’ which sometimes is associated with paedophilic (sic) relationships is real enough: it stems from the bigoted reactions of adults, from the hounding and interrogation of younger partners by the police and others, and from the intense feelings of guilt and anxiety which distort relationships.”
This was not the first or indeed the last time that issues such as this were to split the gay community. However, it is probably fair to say that such relationships were only ever contested as not ‘being abusive’ by the pro-paedophile activists who were arguing for the abolition of the age of consent and the decriminalisation of sexual activities children had ‘consented’ to. As noted, in an article in Gay News later:
‘Unfortunately those activists or apologists never really got round to explaining how non-verbal or pre-verbal children could consent, or indeed, prove that they hadn’t, without a statutory age of consent to protect them‘.
The issue was to circle around the lesbian & gay scene for quite some years to come, and even by the early 1980’s was still the cause of much discussion and angst within its associated communities. Interestingly, campaigners often used to quote Hungary as a country that had ‘got it right’, where the age of consent was set at 10, and this fact was quoted in the later award winning documentary Framed Youth, Revenge of the Teenage Perverts. I’m not sure anyone I knew quite believed it. In 1979 though, Icebreakers was thriving and members of the Icebreaker collective made -perhaps- their most obviously lasting contribution to gay life by founding the first ‘lesbian, gay and feminist’ bookshop, established with strong political, socialist principles. It also quickly became a social hub too – there was a coffee area with notice boards advertising accommodation, personal ads and community notices and it was used by a diverse range of groups including the Gay Black Group, Gay Disabled Group, Lesbian Discussion Group and from the early 80s, the Gay Young Socialists. Infamously the Lesbians and Gay Men Support the Miners group often met there in the mid eighties, a group founded by my freind Mark Ashton and playing a large role in its development. In fact Mark was to go on to play a huge role in the development of the gay community and its acceptance of what was to come and indeed a very significant role in my own life as well.
ON to Sex, love and life (The Rituals) 2.6 1977: I’m coming out, I want the world to know..
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