It started here
Waltham Forest's queer history doesn't centre Black lives yet in the public record — but the borough has form as a place that gets there first.
In 2000, as part of the UK Gay Sports Festival, the borough hosted one of the earliest same-sex ballroom and Latin dance competitions anywhere — twenty years before Strictly Come Dancing recognised the same thing, according to veteran organiser Jacqueline Logan, who received a British Empire Medal for her thirty-year campaign in 2020. The same year, ELOP — running from Grove Road, Walthamstow since 1995 — organised the borough's first Pride, in Lloyd Park.
And in 2022, the William Morris Gallery gave Kehinde Wiley — the Black gay American artist who painted Barack Obama's official portrait — his first solo show in a UK museum: six large-scale portraits, of women he found on the streets of nearby Dalston. One of the most significant Black artists working today had his biggest UK museum moment in this borough's own gallery.
What we haven't found yet is a documented history of Black queer men specifically organising here — nothing playing the role Haringey's Black Lesbian and Gay Centre or Croydon's Ivor Cummings plays on those doors. That may be a real gap, or a gap in what's been written down. If you know different, the panel below is where the page changes.
The 2021 Census counted around 46,700 Black residents in Waltham Forest. On the estimates we publish, that's 1,000 to 1,500 Black queer men in the borough. 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 Waltham Forest
What's organised in the borough for Black queer men and Black LGBTQ+ people, as we find it — and help us find more.
Checked 2 September 2026 — we haven't found a space run by and for Black queer men in Waltham Forest yet, genuinely. If one exists, or you want to start one, the panel below is where that begins.
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 Waltham Forest. Use them — and tell them we sent you.
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ELOP — East London Out Project
Running from Grove Road, Walthamstow since 1995 — counselling, mental health support and youth groups for London's LGBTQ+ community. Organised the borough's first Pride, in Lloyd Park, in 2000.
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William Morris Gallery
The borough's own museum, in Lloyd Park — and the venue that gave Kehinde Wiley his first UK museum solo show in 2022. Worth knowing as a room that has already centred major Black work.
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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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Melanin Vybz — London LGBTQ+ Community Centre
Bankside's community centre runs Melanin Vybz, a social space for Black and POC LGBTQ+ people — a Victoria line ride from Walthamstow Central.
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Ballroom at Stanley Arts
Croydon's ballroom scene, on the other side of London — a fitting echo of Waltham Forest's own claim to the dancefloor: this borough ran a same-sex ballroom competition in 2000, twenty years before the mainstream caught up.
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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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Waltham Forest sexual health services
The borough's own guide to STI testing, treatment and contraception.
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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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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.
1,500
Your guess stays in this browser.
One dot for every Black queer man the census estimate puts in Waltham Forest — between 1,000 and 1,500 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 Waltham Forest?
Three questions. No prizes except the stories.
01 Which internationally significant Black artist had his first UK museum solo show at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow?
Kehinde Wiley — best known for painting Barack Obama's official portrait, and a gay man by his own public account — showed The Yellow Wallpaper at the gallery from February to July 2022: six large-scale portraits of women he street-cast on the streets of nearby Dalston. His biggest UK museum moment happened in this borough's own gallery.
02 Which Waltham Forest organisation has supported London's LGBTQ+ community from Grove Road, Walthamstow, since 1995?
ELOP — the East London Out Project. In 2000 it organised the borough's first Pride, in Lloyd Park, the same year Waltham Forest hosted one of the earliest same-sex ballroom dance competitions anywhere.
03 In 2000, Waltham Forest hosted a same-sex ballroom and Latin dance competition — how far ahead of Strictly Come Dancing recognising queer dancers was that, according to the organiser who received a British Empire Medal for the campaign?
Twenty years, says Jacqueline Logan, who spent thirty years campaigning to make queer expression acceptable in ballroom venues and received a British Empire Medal for it in 2020. The competition ran as part of the UK Gay Sports Festival, in Lloyd Park and Chestnuts Field, with an opening ceremony at Hollow Ponds.
Reading the borough
Waltham Forest's record is thinner than some boroughs' — start with these, and tell us what belongs on the shelf.
- The Yellow Wallpaper — Kehinde Wiley, William Morris Gallery, 2022. Wiley's first solo show in a UK museum — six large-scale portraits of women, street-cast in nearby Dalston, responding to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story. Ran 22 February to 12 July 2022. Read about the exhibition
- How Waltham Forest led the way for gay ballroom dancers — Waltham Forest Echo, 2025. The story of the UK Gay Sports Festival's 2000 dance competition, and Jacqueline Logan's thirty-year campaign for queer ballroom dancing. Read the article
From the BLKOUT archive
Waltham Forest doesn't yet have a piece in our published story archive — nothing in our own records ties BLKOUT to the borough yet. If that's wrong, or you were part of something we've missed, tell us below and this box gets its first entry.
Browse the story archiveAsked, answered
Where can I meet other Black queer men in Waltham Forest?
We don't have one to point you to yet — genuinely, and we've checked. Start with the door on this page: BLKOUT's national community is open to you today, and ELOP's LGBTQ+ groups are a real, general space worth knowing about while we build something more specific together. If a few Waltham Forest men want a table, we'll help hold it.
Where can I get an STI test or PrEP in Waltham Forest?
Sexual Health London posts free test kits and PrEP to any London address, no GP and no conversation required. The borough's own sexual health service is listed above, and 56 Dean Street is a short ride away in Soho.
Is BLKOUT a Waltham Forest 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, including here, even before we had a Waltham Forest history of our own to tell.
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 public record and dated so you can see when we last looked — and where we couldn't find something, including a Black-specific chapter in Waltham Forest, we've said so rather than guessed. If we've got something wrong, or you're part of a chapter we've missed, 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 Waltham Forest — 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 Waltham Forest — he answers.
Talk with AIvor nowMake it truer
This page is thinner than we'd like, and it is the people here who know it best. If a group exists that we've missed, a night has moved, or you were part of something that belongs above — 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 Waltham Forest? 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/waltham-forest/ · 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.