A group of people as vibrant and intersectional as London’s LGBTQ+ community will invariably have a diverse set of needs and desires. To be visible. To belong. To have a refuge. The list is infinite. And just like any group of people, the queer community requires space to fulfil those needs. Despite the demoralising statistic that nearly 60% of London’s LGBTQ+ venues have closed in the last decade or so, there is a drive for more. And the launch of two new queer spaces - that, crucially, do not just centre around nightlife - is indicative of that momentum.
Queer Britain, the UK’s first museum dedicated to LGBTQ+ people, opened on May 5 in King’s Cross. The museum’s first temporary exhibition Welcome to Queer Britain serves as an introduction to the charity and what is to come. The opening feels significant for the community and in some ways it’s surprising that it has taken until 2022 to get here. Queer Britain’s director, ex-Gay Times editor Joseph Galliano, sums the feeling up: “Queer people have often had the crumbs from the table and were meant to be grateful for the crumbs from the table.” Well, not any more.
