Gay Bar vs Art Gallery: Should Queer Exhibns Be Reclaimed by LGBT+ Venu? - ELEPHANT

Contents:

• GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS
• GAY BAR VS ART GALLERY: SHOULD QUEER EXHIBNS BE RECLAIMED BY LGBT+ VENU?

GAY LONDON, LGBTQ+ CLUBS AND EVENTS

Cocidg wh the 50th anniversary of the UK’s gural Gay Pri march, two cultural stutns foced on the LGBTQ+ muny will lnch London this sprg, the first of their kd Bra. He has curated the display llaboratn wh the 82-year-old gay rights activist and thor Stuart Feather. It will chart the history of the UK Gay Liberatn Front (GLF) the 1970s through documentary photography, prs cuttgs and issu of the movement’s newspaper Come Together.

It is ltle over half a century sce homosexualy was partially crimalised England and Wal, and ’s a perd fed by both progrs and trma. When Lord Arran -sponsored the bill that end the total crimalisatn of same-sex relatns between men – after his gay brother had killed himself – his preamble was bleak. “Let me remd them that no amount of legislatn will prevent homosexuals om beg the subject of dislike and risn, or at bt of py, ”After the Sexual Offenc Act was passed 1967, nvictns of gay men for gross cency actually creased, and gay people were still characterised as would-be sexual predators and threats to children.

The 1980s HIV/Aids panmic, ravaged a generatn of gay and bisexual men, attus towards gay people harned and a moral panic culmated the passg of sectn 28, banng the “promotn” of homosexualy schools: the first anti-gay legislatn passed sce 1885. Neverthels, this perd LGBTQ+ people flourished culturally and artistilly, while om the 90s onwards, hostile public attus cmbled precipoly as anti-gay laws were stck om statute as a remr that progrs is far om lear, Bra is the grip of another moral panic, this time directed at transgenr people.

GAY BAR VS ART GALLERY: SHOULD QUEER EXHIBNS BE RECLAIMED BY LGBT+ VENU?

And while today’s LGBTQ+ muni are more uned fiance of ernment policy that any time sce sectn 28 (more than 80 anisatns pulled out of a ernment nference over s refal to ban trans nversn “therapy”), Stonewall, the untry’s ma LGBTQ+ civil rights anisatn, fds self unr siege, while homophobic and transphobic hate crim are surgg. Trailblazg Labour MP Mreen Colquhoun wh the Gay Defence Commtee 1977. As a former edor of Gay Tim, he tapped to his extensive nnectns wh LGBTQ+ anisatns and queer activists and artists, and when he spoke to potential funrs, Galliano met nstant astonishment that such a mm did not already exist or even been attempted s own right before.

Photograph: Jt Tallis/AFP/Getty ImagBra’s often tortured stggle for LGBTQ+ rights is reflected many of the photographs, such as the flamboyantly drsed yet straight Jewish Labour MP Leo Abse, who succsfully phed for the partial crimalisatn of homosexualy om the backbench. Mreen Colquhoun – the first openly lbian MP who died last year – fiantly holds a plard emblazoned wh “THE MPS MUST COME OUT”, while ’s difficult not to feel a pang of sadns at a photo of Jt Fashanu flexg his mcl: he was, of urse, Bra’s first and still only out gay male profsnal footballer who killed himself 1998.

That same police force has been cricised as stutnally homophobic by the fai of the four men murred by Stephen Port over s failure to vtigate the so-lled “Grdr killer”. It should be hoped, too, that the upg summer exhibn featur more imag of stggle: there are allns, such as a Black woman holdg a “LESBIAN AND GAY PRIDE ’83” balloon, but there are so many joyo moments to celebrate that are danger of beg fotten by younger LGBTQ+ generatns, such as the lbian activists who abseiled to the Hoe of Lords or stormed the Six O’Clock News to prott agast sectn 28.

It will make mistak, but wh such mendable reprentatn among s tste and advisers, and a genue mment to listen to LGBTQ+ muni, there are huge grounds for the half-century sce crimalisatn of male homosexualy was partly repealed, Bra’s LGBTQ+ muni have ma dramatic ntributns to Brish culture and society, often while faced wh tremendo adversy.

In May 2021, Queer Bra, the UK’s first mm dited to LGBTQ+ (lbian, gay, bi, trans, queer) history and culture, opened the Kg’s Cross area of London. And ’s not before time: same-sex marriag were celebrated here om 2014, gay puter scientist Alan Turg featur on our £50 note, and many mms and attractns London have LGBTQ+ themed events, trails, and exhibs.

NOTE: The word ‘queer, ’ once a homophobic term, has a rich recent history of beg ed posively, particularly for younger generatns, as an umbrella term to refer to non-straight and non-genr-nformg inti. Lus (1926-2014) – civil servant by day and chronicler of London’s gay unrworld by night.