It started here
Hackney's Black queer history is recent by the written record, but it didn't start quiet.
Hackney Carnival had run for 23 years before a group of Queer, Trans, Intersex and Non-binary People of Colour — invited by the council's year-old Pride 365 programme to think about inclusion — built the carnival's first QTIPOC-curated space. Faggamuffin Bloc Party launched there in September 2018, described by its organisers as a reclaiming of carnival's own tradition of resistance through celebration, for and by queer people of colour. BLKOUT backed it from the start, and was there to dance.
That same year, Hackney Museum began working with us to collect the borough's QTIPOC oral histories — thirteen collected so far, ten local volunteers trained to gather more, and Bloolips drag performance artefacts added to the museum's own collection. That work continues, and it is still surfacing more of Hackney's story than any one page can hold.
The 2021 Census counted around 59,300 Black residents in Hackney. On the estimates we publish, that's 1,300 to 1,900 Black queer men in the borough — more than fill Hackney Empire's stalls twice over, living here right now. These are working estimates and we welcome correction. The point is the scale: we were never a niche. We were just never counted.
Here in Hackney
What's organised in the borough for Black queer men and Black LGBTQ+ people, as we find it — and help us find more.
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Faggamuffin Bloc Party
QTIBPoC carnival collective born at Hackney Carnival in 2018, backed by BLKOUT from its first year. Believed to be the first sound system run by and for queer people of colour — still centring QTIBPoC lives at Carnival each year, with council cultural funding into 2025.
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In the directory — BLKOUT in Hackney
- DLPlug London — Black-centred sex-positive party space for Black MSM, monthly nights in Shoreditch.
From the BLKOUT Places directory — every entry checked for activity in the last year.
Gatherings across London — the BLKOUT events calendar
Fewer and truer: what's actually on for Black queer London, checked by people, never padded.
Beside us in the borough
Neighbours doing good work in Hackney. Use them — and tell them we sent you.
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Hackney Pride 365
The council's year-round LGBTQIA+ programme, running since 2017 — history walks, drop-ins, film projects and club nights across the borough, not just one weekend in June. It's the programme Faggamuffin Bloc Party grew out of.
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Queertopia Consortium
Community-led forum for Hackney's LGBTQIA+ residents — a sober community forum on the first Thursday of every month, plus brunches and markets through the year.
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City and Hackney LGBTQ+ Network
Hosted by Hackney CVS, bringing together LGBTQ+ people, groups and services across the borough and the City to improve safety, services and rights.
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Colour Factory
Black-owned nightclub, live music venue and food court in Hackney Wick, known for spotlighting women, non-binary and queer artists.
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Project Indigo
Family Action's weekly mental health, social and wellbeing group for LGBTQIA+ young people aged 13–25 in Hackney, run from Off Centre.
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Worth the journey
Black queer men have never let a borough boundary decide where community happens. Where you're centred, not just welcome:
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Black Connection
UK-wide social network for Black queer men aged 50+, formed in 2020 and run out of London — regular meet-ups and an active, growing community.
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African Rainbow Family
Charity by and for LGBTIQ+ people of African heritage, founded 2014 — community, mental health and practical support, with a London base alongside branches in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.
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Look after yourself
Free, confidential, no GP needed, no judgement — and your business stays yours.
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Sexual Health London (SHL)
Free, discreet home test kits and PrEP by post anywhere in London — order online, nothing to explain to anyone.
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Homerton Sexual Health — Clifden Centre
The borough's NHS sexual health service, including a walk-in clinic for men who have sex with men every Thursday evening.
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56 Dean Street
Soho's LGBTQ+ specialist sexual health and HIV service — Europe's largest, and long the home clinic of queer London.
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Find your nearest NHS clinic
Every NHS sexual health service near you — testing, treatment, PrEP — searchable by postcode.
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BLKOUT in the borough
As it happened — our own occasion, on Hackney ground.
Next door
The doors are opening borough by borough. Step through, or help us open the next one.
Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2025. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2025.
1,900
Your guess stays in this browser.
One dot for every Black queer man the census estimate puts in Hackney — between 1,300 and 1,900 of us.
| Borough | Black residents (2021) | Black queer men (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| Croydon | 88,500 | 2,000–2,800 |
| Newham | 88,200 | 2,000–2,700 |
| Lewisham | 81,900 | 1,800–2,600 |
| Southwark | 80,100 | 1,800–2,500 |
| Lambeth | 76,100 | 1,700–2,400 |
| Brent | 62,500 | 1,400–2,000 |
| Hackney | 59,300 | 1,300–1,900 |
| Enfield | 58,200 | 1,300–1,800 |
| Haringey | 52,400 | 1,200–1,700 |
| Waltham Forest | 46,700 | 1,000–1,500 |
2021 Census analysis — Who Are the UK's Black Queer Men? (BLKOUT's Critical Frequency dossier)
Nobody keeps this number. Not the council, not the NHS, not the people who commission work in this borough. The estimate is ours, built from the 2021 Census, because a population nobody counts is a population nobody plans for.
Know your Hackney?
Three questions. No prizes except the stories.
01 In 2018, what launched at Hackney Carnival as (it's believed) the first sound system run by and for queer people of colour?
Faggamuffin Bloc Party — grown out of Hackney's QTIPOC community group, backed by BLKOUT from day one, and still running its stage at Carnival years later.
02 How many oral histories has Hackney Museum's partnership with BLKOUT collected so far?
Thirteen — with ten local volunteers trained to gather more, and Bloolips drag performance artefacts added to the museum's own collection. Some of that record is still being surfaced.
03 Which Hackney institution partnered with BLKOUT in 2018 to start collecting oral histories from the borough's QTIPOC residents?
Hackney Museum — the partnership went on to collect thirteen oral histories and train ten local volunteers to gather more, plus donated Bloolips drag performance artefacts. Some of that record is still being surfaced.
Reading the borough
Hackney's Black queer record starts with the borough's own carnival stage — and the museum work still gathering the rest. Start with these, and tell us what belongs on the shelf.
- Faggamuffins Step Out: Why Queering Carnival Matters — The Quietus, 2018. On the launch of Faggamuffin Bloc Party and why staking a claim on Hackney Carnival mattered. Read the piece
- The QTIPOC project: Race and Community Care — Djed Press, 2018. On Hackney QTIPOC's formation and the community-care work behind the Carnival stage. Read the piece
- Coming out of the quiet in Hackney — BLKOUT_UK, 2018. Our own account of backing Hackney Carnival's first QTIPOC-curated stage — written before the event, in our own voice.
- Hackney Pride 365 — Hackney Council, 2018. The council's own record of the Hackney Museum × BLKOUT oral history partnership, announced by the Mayor at that year's LGBT History Month event. Read the announcement
From the BLKOUT archive
Hackney runs through our own writing since 2018 — backing Faggamuffin Bloc Party's first year at Carnival, and the Hackney Museum oral history partnership we helped start. Those pieces are in the story archive and being brought back online; when they are, they'll be listed here.
Browse the story archiveAsked, answered
Where can I meet other Black queer men in Hackney?
Start with the door on this page — you'll hear about everything as it happens. Faggamuffin Bloc Party runs its stage at Hackney Carnival every year, and BLKOUT's national community is open to you today. If a few Hackney men want a table in the borough, we'll help hold it.
Where can I get an STI test or PrEP in Hackney?
Sexual Health London posts free test kits and PrEP to any London address, no GP and no conversation required. Homerton's Clifden Centre runs a weekly clinic for men who have sex with men, and 56 Dean Street is a short ride down the road in Soho.
Is BLKOUT a Hackney organisation?
BLKOUT is one community-owned co-operative for Black queer men across the UK — with a door in every borough. We're registered in Croydon and we belong wherever our men are. One of our directors lives in Hackney, and we've been showing up here since 2018.
I'm not out. Can I still come?
Yes. Come as you are — nobody at this door asks you to be anything first, and your business stays yours.
Is the history on this page accurate?
It's checked against the borough's own record and the public archive, and dated so you can see when we last looked. If we've got something wrong — or missed something you were part of — the panel at the bottom is where you tell us, and the page changes.
Be met
Come as you are. We answer.
Leave your name and we'll keep you posted about Hackney — what's on, what's starting, and how to be part of it. This goes to BLKOUT, a co-operative owned by its members. No engagement machinery, nothing sold onward — just a community that answers.
Step inside
The door is how we find each other. BLKOUTHUB is where we live.
The members' room: Black queer men across the UK, owned by the men in it. Why knock:
- Real connection. Nearly four in five members say they came to find it — and found it.
- No algorithm, no ads, nothing sold onward. A room that doesn't monetise you. Your attention is yours; we're after your company.
- Where things actually start. Occasions, groups, and the knowledge that never gets written down — passed man to man, the way it always has been.
- Owned by us. A co-operative with an asset lock: what we build together stays ours, and passes to the men who come after.
And don't just read about AIvor — talk with him. Our own voice, named for the man whose name is over every door. Ask him about BLKOUT, about Black queer life, about Hackney — he answers.
Talk with AIvor nowMake it truer
This page leans on one strong thread of Hackney's own record — and the people here know the rest of it. If a group has folded, a night has moved, or we've missed something you were part of — tell us. Corrections get credited, if you want the credit.
If you work here
This page is for Black queer men first. But if you serve this borough — NHS, social prescribing, council, community sector, creative health, or you run a room — there's a door for you too.
- Refer. Supporting a Black queer man who could use his people? Send him this page — that is a referral, and every knock gets answered by a human.
- Commission or partner. Working on Black queer men's health, culture or connection in Hackney? We're the community-owned, by-and-for partner — and the evidence base is already on this page. Write to rob@blkoutuk.com.
- List us. Maintain a directory, a support page, a signposting service? Our entry, ready to paste:
BLKOUT — the UK's community-owned co-operative for Black queer men. In your neighbourhood: https://events.blkoutuk.com/hackney/ · blkoutuk.com · rob@blkoutuk.com - Run a room. A venue, night or group our men should know about? Tell us — the page gets truer, and it points at you.
We list our neighbours and our neighbours list us. That's how a borough works.