The reason gay people love the London Underground – My London

The transport industry may not strike you as a stereotypically gay profession, if there is such a thing, yet the railway has a higher prevalence of LGBT+ workers than many other sectors.

Indeed, the railway family is a modern family, with a proud, gay contingent and in recent years. Transport for London (TfL) has responded in force by supporting Pride events and activities, displaying Pride signage, and actively advertising in the pink press.

Last year, the Northern line extension, which was still under construction, hosted a celebration of all things gay about the Tube.

With the Northern line extension set to open next week, MyLondon has delved into the affinity between the LGBT+ community and London’s famous transport system in a bid to find out where it all began.

READ MORE: I visited where the London Underground ‘ends’ and discovered it is in the middle of a forest

Taking the gay Underground underground

Nina Wakeford, a Doctor of Visual Sociology, was commissioned by TfL’s ‘Art on the Underground’ project to excavate the queer history of the tube for the Northern line extension exhibition.

She collated her research from the project in her book ‘Our Pink Depot’, which is rich with anecdotes and studies of the LGBT+ people who have worked on and influenced London’s underground railway.

The book culminates with a track walk and a sound show which took place in the newest part of the city’s Tube network.

Accompanied by LGBT+ colleagues from London Underground, Nina’s performance included anecdotes from her research into the symbiotic relationship between the Tube and the gay community.

“High Energy Evelyn Thomas , Computer Blue Prince , Lifted Lighthouse Family, ” were the first echoes the tunnels reverberated instead of the habitual click clack of a tube train from Edgware.

The southbound running tunnel of the Northern Line extension to Battersea Power Station is exactly eight storeys beneath former LGBT+ venue the Market Tavern making it a special place to bring Nina’s research to life.

She describes the culmination of her project as: “taking the gay Underground underground.”

The performance on the construction site of Nine Elms tube station included a drag king and a handful of TfL colleagues, many of whom confided in Nina with their experiences.

The project has more than just artistic value. As a sociologist, Nina examines what has drawn the LGBT+ community of colleagues and enthusiasts to the Tube in such numbers.

She suggests the Underground’s public service status has made it somewhat an attractive place to work for LGBT+ people than other sectors.

“There were always some pockets of tolerance,” she explains. “My sociology head suggests that it’s probably not ‘gay people and trains’, it’s gay people and public infrastructures.”

“When there is a commercial organisation which could just sack you for being gay versus a public organisation, I think public organisations tend to be a bit better,” she continues.

“It’s a sense of community within a community.” Her contemplations are based on testimony dating back to 1950 and are echoed in the latest Stonewall Top 100 LGBT+ Employer List for 2020.

The LGBT+ rights charity demonstrates public service organisations hold substantial weight in the list. However, there are no London-based transport organisations on this year’s list though.

‘Golders Queen, how can I help you?’

Nina concedes that there is some direct appeal that railway professions have to gay men and lesbian women in particular.

“Direct advertisements through the pink press was definitely a reason,” some of the colleagues she interviewed told her.

“Travel perks, shift patterns, that sort of thing.” For lesbian women she found that uniform-wearing roles allow them to be themselves without conforming to conventional feminine dress.

London’s railways are not symbolic of the gay stigma though. ‘Our Pink Depot’ goes on to explore how Parsons Green became known as ‘the pansy depot’, the Train Managers at Golders Green gaining the affectionate name ‘Golders Queens’ and which carriage of a Tube train is the gay one.

Fast forward to the 2020s, entire trainsets are running into and out of London adorned with the Pride flag, every carriage is undeniably gay.

Transport for London has been forthcoming in showing its support for the community too even if we’ve not seen a Pride tube train, introducing bi and trans roundels across the network since 2019.

In response to scrutiny over a £12,000 spending bill for Pride in 2019 a TfL spokesperson said the organisation “positively celebrates and recognises the unique diversity of London.”

They added: “We have a major role in ensuring London feels open to everyone – bringing both cultural and business benefits.”

TfL emphasised that the government body’s “participation in Pride in London amplifies the Mayor’s message on diversity and sends a strong message that London is open and welcomes all, regardless of background, religion, race, gender, disability, age or sexual orientation.”

A sense of community, a sense of pride

RailUKForums, the UK’s largest railway forum, lists ad-nauseum anecdotes and experiences of just how and why members fell in love with trains, the Underground and all things iron road.

A recurring question that emerges on the form is ‘how many of us are gay?’ In 2017, a member opened a forum and poll to find this out.

More than 160 users took part. Their response was 32 per cent identifying as other than straight. In comparison, the figure is 5 per cent in the ONS’ 2017 Annual Population Survey.

While the poll may not be a scientific measure of interest, the high prevalence of LGBT+ people in railway professions seems to be matched among enthusiasts.

The same year, the Facebook group ‘Queer Urbanism Memes and Other Things for Lonely and Forgotten Teens’ was founded.

It currently has over 21,000 members. The sense of belonging and community is clear, with London Underground topics easily leading to intricate discussions about gay culture in the city.

Visitors to the site will have never seen so many jokes about the London to Manchester Megabus called ‘Bussy Galore’ anywhere else.

The past decade has also seen the appearance of ‘Tubecrush’, a website and social media blog which sees gay men rate men they find attractive on the Tube. Users can filter men line by line and once Tubecrush even tracked one down and gave him an award.

Ultimately, its not easy to objectively measure whether there’s an exact attraction between the Tube and London’s gay culture.

Although much of the evidence is anecdotal, there is so much of it, that an affinity between the community and the mode of transport is undeniable.

What is clear is that whether an enthusiast, a colleague or both, London’s railways, particularly the Underground, have created a uniquely open-minded space of community for LGBT+ people, whether that’s to meet and work with others or to share a hobby and a lifestyle.

Nina Wakeford’s book ‘Our Pink Depot’, which has exclusive stories from members of LGBT+ London Underground colleagues past and present, is available here.

Find all of MyLondon’s Tube-related features and news stories on our dedicated page here.

If you have a transport story you think MyLondon should be covering, email callum.marius@reachplc.com

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