Ric Sajor
Ric (right) with his late partner Colin (left), 2019
Ricardo (Ric) Sajor was born in San Jose, California (now known as Silicon Valley) in July 1953 and identifies as a gay man. He moved to live with his late partner Colin Ward (1923-2021) in Haringey in 1996. Here Ric talks about what it was like growing up in the US and why he prefers living in London.
Contains some expletives.
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Ric and Colin (2013)
Ric became political from an early age and started a trade union job in his second summer at university in 1972. He later went on to work with Senator McCorquodale and John Vasconcellos in the 1980s as well as Ken Yeager, who is an openly gay politician and went to university with Ric. Here Ric talks about why he became interested in politics.
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Ric and Colin
Ric and Colin at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco (1991)
Ric then moved into Colin's home in Haringey in 1996 permanently after Colin suffered a minor stroke, which Ric talks about in the extract below.
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Ric met Colin in 1991 in London at the City Of Quebec pub, near Marble Arch. Here Ric talks about the time they first met.
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The process for Ric to gain permanent residency in the UK was difficult.​ Here Ric talks about the work of Stonewall Immigration Group in helping foreign LGBT+ partners gain permanent residency in the UK and his own experiences of gaining permanent residency.
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Ric and Colin c.2005
Civil partnership
Ric and Colin's civil partnership ceremony at the Haringey Civic Centre (2005)
Ric and Colin lived together in Haringey for twenty five years. They were the first couple to have a civil partnership in the borough on December 21st, 2005. In the following extracts, Ric talks about his memories of the civil partnership.
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Here Ric talks about why he and Colin decided not to get married when same-sex marriage was legalised in the UK in 2013
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In this extract, Ric talks about the time a newspaper reporter asked him and Colin about what it felt like to have 'equality' after their civil partnership, as well as his memories of trying to find two men in tuxedos for their cake
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Newspaper report on Ric and Colin's civil partnership (2005)
Life in Haringey
Ric and Colin at a snooker club (now closed) at the High Street in Wood Green, c.1997. They would play snooker to help Colin's hand-eye coordination after his stroke.
Listen to Ric talk about life in Haringey with Colin after Ric gained permanent residency in the UK and moved in to live with Colin.
Ric and Colin often went to the Penang Satay House in Turnpike Lane. It was the first restaurant Colin brought Ric to.
Ric and Colin at Bruce Castle Museum for Haringey LGBTQ+ Love Stories (2020), with Niranjan Kamatkar (on Colin's right) and Subodh Rathod (far right) from Wise Thoughts. Niranjan and Subodh were the first couple to have a same-sex marriage in Haringey.
Here Ric talks about Colin's and his involvement with Bruce Castle Museum in Tottenham.
Listen to Ric talk about his first legal job in Haringey after he gained permanent residency in the UK.
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic was particularly difficult for Ric as Colin's dementia had deteriorated during that time and he needed constant care. Colin died on January 20th, 2021. Here Ric talks about his experiences of caring for Colin during Covid and how he has been dealing with Colin's death.