February marks LGBT+ History Month. A month when stories of trials, tribulations and triumphs of LGBTQ+ people are shared. But, says Joseph Galliano, former editor of Gay Times and now founder and chief executive of Queer Britain, LGBTQ+ history is not just for history month. He says it should be all history buffs, all the time.
Having launched a Queer Britain art show at Tate Britain in 2017 to celebrate 50 years since the decriminalisation of sexual activity between men, Galliano has since been on a mission to create a permanent, physical museum to showcase LGBTQ+ history. A proud location that can be used to help share stories and provide a place where generations can come together.
“The stories we are interested in are not just stories of activism, but stories of achievements, of societies that we live in, of how life is lived,” says Galliano. “We need to recognise that history isn’t just in the past.”
Galliano hopes to utilise history to bring life back to high streets. And he is convinced that a Queer Britain museum can do that.
In 2019, Queer Britain – in partnership with jeans brand Levi’s and gal-dem magazine – put on a pop-up exhibition on Mercer Street in Covent Garden, WC2. The Chosen Family exhibition, in which four photographers showed work celebrating Queer family life and friendship, attracted more than one billion engagements – online and in real life.
“It shows that there is a thirst for that representation,” says Galliano.
So, now he is turning to the real estate sector to help quench that thirst and find some physical space for the museum.
We see it as a place where a young woman who has just come out to her parents could visit with them, and understand that this is a much deeper, richer history than most people realise
– Joseph Galliano, Queer Britain
Queer Britain launched in 2018 as a registered charity, with the aim of establishing the UK’s first national LGBTQ+ museum and to bring back into the history books the role that queer people have played in the development of the country, its places and its progression.
Galliano had expected to have the museum open its doors to the public this year. A site had been identified in Southwark, SE1, and hopes were high that the property would serve not just as a museum but as a social centre.
“We see it as a place where a young woman who has just come out to her parents could visit with them, and understand that this is a much deeper, richer history than most people realise,” says Galliano.
It could also be a place that tells stories of how LGBTQ+ people have shaped the built environment, he says. But for now, Galliano is calling on the built environment to help Queer Britain shape the future. The Southwark site identified in the early days of the museum’s formation turned out to be more difficult that anticipated so Galliano now has a more phased approach in his plan to deliver the UK’s first national LGBT museum.
Initially, he is looking for pop-up space to host similar exhibitions to Queer Britain’s 2019 Levi’s collaboration, but by 2022 Galliano is keen to open in some meanwhile space for a period of up to a year while plans for a more permanent home are worked up. He is eyeing space of between 150-200 sq ft.
“We want to use the meanwhile space to engage with communities and to encourage people back to the high street,” says Galliano.
Ultimately, however, Galliano is keen to build relationships with developers as he believes that a Queer Britain museum could act as an attractive cultural anchor.
For Galliano, it is important too that the museum makes its final home in a prestigious London location. A location befitting the stories he wants the museum to share.
“There are stories that deserve celebrating and the museum could hold all of those,” says Galliano, with a challenge to the industry to help him do that. “If we can understand who we are now through the past, we can imagine a better future.”
And for Galliano that better future holds a Queer Britain museum.
To find out more about Queer Britain visit www.queerbritain.org.uk
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