Northamptonshire is fabulous, hedonistic, frightening, ignorant, annoying, exciting and pretty amazing. Those are the views of gays and lesbians from the county who've been talking frankly about life in Northants. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Northamptonshire Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Alliance, Iain Armstrong and Jayne West were invited by the Alliance to interview and photograph members of Northamptonshire's gay community. Click on the people below to read or listen to their stories.

Jacqui Ward & Yvette Burgess Why do people look at us?		John D Lillyman There's too much 'body beautiful' in the gay community.
Michael Graves How easy is it be gay and a good parent?		Peter Warwick Not the best way for your parents to learn you're gay.
Ron & Gillian O'Leary Attitudes to HIV have changed but not enough.		Scott Jamieson & Emma Collins Put the sex into education!
Steve Young Cottaging and Clopton - they were the days!		Stevie Lishman Be careful who you tell at work - and how.
Stuart Hope Straight people can be very annoying.		William Lyth The army bloody made me, I tell you.

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Send us your own 'forgotten fairytales' to include on the website. Email us at: northamptonshire@bbc.co.uk

Forgotten Fairytales project

Forgotten Fairytales is an attempt to record the history and culture of the gay, lesbian and bisexual community in Northamptonshire. It includes a set of 11 CDs featuring interviews with members of the local gay community. The final CD is a radiophonic composition made up of excerpts from the interviews created by the project co-ordinator, Iain Armstrong.

Iain said: The project stemmed from a desire that came through the NLGBA to document gay culture in Northampton. There was a feeling that a lot was not being recorded.

"There has been a gay presence in the county for a long time but it has been largely silent due to prevailing bigotry and prejudice. This project aims to give them a voice as well as break down some stereotypes."

In Weekender