It probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Indeed, as I understand it, the decision to call the organisation ‘DAFT’ was, at least in part, motivated by the notion that members shouldn’t take themselves too seriously. But it does seem that it quickly became a case of ‘DAFT by name, DAFT by nature.’

It all seemed to start off with the best of intentions. According to an article in London’s Capital Gay, the idea arose from a workshop on “lesbians and gay men: sexism and solidarity”, at Gay’s the Word bookshop. The initial aim was to tackle sexism within the lesbian and gay community (as it was called then.)

At its first official meeting the name was formally adopted – as part of a strategy to ‘put the fun back into politics’. There was nostalgia for the days of the Gay Liberation Front and the high spirits that had marked that period. This may explain some of the other strategies that were adopted such as an “Adopt a Bigot” scheme and plans to “Freak a fascist”. There was even a specific working group – or “cell” as it was called – to “deal with Alan Boden”, the chair of the Conservative Group for Homosexual Equality because he criticised the women-only events during Gay Pride Week.

But fundamental to the group’s actions was the notion that men and women be equally represented in everything. And this is where DAFT seemed to come unstuck. By the time of its second meeting, in August 1981, men out-numbered women by more than two to one. And seven men had signed up to the ‘cell’ created to ‘deal with’ Alan Boden, but no women, so according to DAFT rules it had to disband.

At this stage women were already beginning to threaten to walk out if they were outnumbered by men. This prompted some men to threaten to take the same action as they were committed to work with women on equal terms and in equal numbers.

I really don’t know what happened next – but certainly the signs weren’t good. If anyone has any further information about this I’d very much appreciate it.

Acknowledgement: This post is based on Capital Gay articles provided to me by Rob Patmore. I am extremely grateful for his assistance with this.