Toni Harrison

Toni Harrison, born in Vietnam, moved to Biggleswade, UK and then to Milton Keynes in the early 1990s, at the age of 18/19. Identifying as a Black Lesbian, she says: ‘there wasn’t much of …a Lesbian scene’. The Open University had a gay event once a month and there was also a monthly women’s disco held in a church in New Bradwell, which she enjoyed: she says that was: ‘a very safe space’. But otherwise they travelled to gay pubs & clubs in London, Bedford or Northampton. Toni was instrumental in setting up the first MK Gay Youth Line to provide support for the under 25 members of the gay community, rather than Lesbian Line. In the late1990s, when gays were accepted reluctantly in many pubs, she opened, and ran for 18 months, the first gay pub in MK, the Bull in Fenny Stratford. This successful project eventually led to the opening of Pink Punter’s by two gay men; Toni comments on this venue nowadays.

Nowadays as an older lesbian, Toni lives in Olney, which she loves, and knows little about the MK community today. She expresses concerned about all the housebuilding on the outskirts of MK.  She is still in touch on social media with many friends from earlier days, but, in her opinion, MK has never really catered for the LGBT Community; older lesbians have to create safe spaces for themselves. In her opinion MK desperately needs a safe space for the whole LGBTQ+ community. A special MK memory for Toni is the Free Spirit Festival; she ran this for two years, to raise funds for DNA kits to be sent to Vietnam.  Toni believes the story of MK’s development must be told in the Museum, because some people are unaware of all the struggles in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The LGBTQ+ community should be represented too, she says, with big, bright flags, to show that MK welcomes the community.