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50 YEARS ON The very existence or presentation of authenticity – so often not physical, but mental – is a rejection of the binary and heteronormative world we find ourselves grasped by. We know this as queer people. And so many of us face the uncomfortable and often untruthful reality on a daily basis. But within the struggles and refusal to simply tone ourselves down through fear that others can’t handle our greatness there is a grouping of spaces. A place, space, shop, gathering or even simply a location with no roof where we gather to live together. It’s a concert that, to others, seems small but to us so mighty. But to get to a place where these locations are a thing of the present and reality, rather than just in our fantasy, takes time, progress and so often the lives of others. It’s the battles that are intertwined with the history of the queer movement. It’s the fighting against oppression to have a place of our own. And it’s the ordinary lives of ordinary people doing extraordinary things that make these spaces possible. A reality. A real place of love. A place where love is the only light. Captured by the photographer Jordan Rossi, some of the figures whose voices have brought us to this day discuss progress, problems and the beauty of possibility with HUNGER. It’s a snapshot of how the often small acts of resistance can lead to a world of great change. This is 21st-Century queer liberation – told by those who got us here.

TAKING BACK CONTROL

WRITER William J Connolly PHOTOGRAPHER Jordan Rossi STYLIST Krishan Parmar at Carol HayesManagement MAKEUPARTISTS Emma Small at Stella Creative Artists, James O’Riley at Premier Hair and Makeup