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He experienced respectful and inquisitive questioning and support from his young students, but a mixed response elsewhere, including ‘under the desk’ discrimination. In 1975 his picture was published in a local newspaper’s coverage of a picket at Lewisham Concert Hall against the comedian Larry Grayson, with protestors arguing that he was perpetuating negative and harmful stereotypes.ĭespite being new to teaching and worried for his future, Geoff made the decision to come out to pupils and colleagues. Geoff became an English teacher after graduating with a Certificate in Education in 1974 and also spent decades as an LGBT+ campaigner. But with each year the number of students joining the society grew, leading to a distinct change in attitudes and a different experience for LGBT+ students.
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In an interview recorded earlier this year, Geoff remembered difficult times as one of the first students at Goldsmiths to talk openly about his life and be visible as a gay man. Having made surveys to leave on tables in the refectory, they waded through numerous insincere responses to find genuine messages from other LGBT students reaching out. Geoff co-founded the Students’ Union’s first Gay Society, with the group organising their first Freshers Fair stall and Gay Disco on campus. He started to connect with other supportive gay men at Goldsmiths, and wrote a call-to-action in the student magazine to end prejudice on campus. But by “turning up the volume” on his personality, helped by his friends at GLF, Geoff stood up to bullies and gained more respect. He came out at his halls of residence and faced a hostile reception from his housemates. It fitted very well with my wider politics – our struggle was the same as anyone being hit by oppression, and together we’re powerful.” You have a right to be who you are, you owe it to yourself to come out and walk tall, and you owe it to every other gay person. “The big message of GLF was no more shame. I remember crying and laughing and feeling at last that I belonged,” Geoff explained. And here I was suddenly finding my people. At that time there was nothing, no switchboards, no contact lines, it was a very different world. “I found my family, I found my people at last. Geoff Hardy was a teenage political campaigner during the 1960s and after moving to London in 1971 at the age of 21 to attend Goldsmiths went to his first Gay Liberation Front meeting.