Bob Mellors

Infobox Person
name= Bob Mellors


caption=
birth_date= 1950
birth_place=
dead=
death_date=death date|1996|3|24|df=y
death_place=Warsaw
occupation= Writer, Gay rights activist
spouse=LGBT rights

Bob Mellors (b.1950 d.24 March 1996 in Warsaw) was a British gay rights activist.

Biography

In 1970 Bob went to New York and became involved with the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) [ [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/glf-london.html Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto] . London, 1971, revised 1978] becoming friends with Aubrey Walter [Subsequently a founder of Gay Men's Press] during demos outside the Women's House of Correction in New York. Meeting up with the Black Panthers helped to crystallize their ideas on gay liberation and they decided to create a London version of the GLF. [(Power, 1995) page 4]

As Bob was working in the LSE he booked the room for the first meeting of the London GLF in the Clare Market building owned by the LSE, on 13 October 1970. Also taking part in that meeting were [http://copac.ac.uk/wzgw?id=10011366&field=au&terms=Fernbach%2C+David+ David Fernbach] (author and Aubrey's partner), Richard Dipple (involved in the Albany Trust), Bill Halstead (LSE student) and Bev Jackson (later running for college office with the slogan "Bev the Lez for Prez"). [(Power, 1995) page 20]

During the 1970s Bob came to know Charlotte Bach, a writer and teacher. At her death Charlotte was found to be a man, Karoly Hajdu, a fact Bob had never guessed. Charlotte left Bob her library and Bob wrote her biography but never had it published. [In 2002 Francis Wheen published Charlotte Bach's biography "Who Was Dr.Charlotte Bach?", ISBN 1904095399.] [Refer to [http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=3264&inst_id=1 AIM25.ac.uk] , Bob's papers are retained in the Hall-Carpenter archives]

When the British GLF faltered in 1974 Bob Mellors helped in the formation of more specialized lesbian and gay community groups.

Bob never made any money from his writing and in London survived by art school modelling and working in the box office of the [http://www.electriccinema.co.uk Electric] and other cinemas.

In 1994 Bob moved to Warsaw "for the company of Polish youth". He taught English to Polish telecommunications staff. He was preparing an article on young Polish sexual identity for the gay journal Perversions [Perversions: The international journal of gay and lesbian studies. ISSN 1353-257X] just before his death.

Bob Mellors was found stabbed to death at his home in Warsaw on 24 March, 1996. This was the result of a burglary at his flat. Bob is buried in Nottinghamshire. [cite journal
first=Andrew
last=Lumsden
title=GLF founder dies in exile
journal=Gay Times
issue=212
publisher=Millivres
month=May | year=1996
id=ISSN 0950-6101 page 50.] [cite journal
title=GLF founding member killed
journal=The Pink Paper
issue=426
publisher=Millivres
date=19 April 1996
id=ISSN 1472-3662 page 4.] [cite newspaper|publisher=The Guardian|date=1996-04-13|author=Elizabeth Wilson|title=Glad to be Gay and Radical; Obituary: Robert Mellors|page=32]

Footnotes

Bibliography

*citation
last=Mellors
first=Bob
title=Clint Eastwood loves Jeff Bridges, true! : "homosexuality", androgyny & evolution : a simple introduction
publisher=Quantum Jump Publications: Another-Orbit Press
date =1978
format=pamphlet
url=http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=3264&inst_id=1
oclc=16477157
*citation
last=Mellors
first=Bob
title=We Are All Androgynous Yellow
publisher=Another-Orbit Press
year=1980
url=http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=3264&inst_id=1
oclc=16605861
*citation
last=Bach
first=Charlotte M.
first2=Bob
last2=Mellors
authorlink=Karoly Hajdu
title=An outline of human ethology
publisher=Another-Orbit Press
year=c.1985
format=4 volumes
url=http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=3264&inst_id=1
oclc= 33346846

References

* cite book
last=Power
first=Lisa
title=No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles: An Oral History Of The Gay Liberation Front 1970-7
publisher=Cassell
year=1995
pages=340 pages
id=ISBN 0-304-33205-4
* cite book
last=Walter
first=Aubrey
title=Come together : the years of gay liberation (1970-73)
publisher=Gay Men's Press
year=1980
pages=218 pages
id=ISBN 0907040047

ee also

* Gay Liberation Front
* Hall-Carpenter archives

External links

* [http://knittingcircle.org.uk/bobmellors.html Knittingcircle biography page]