Exhibition launched to showcase city LGBTQ+ history

An exhibition is highlighting the history of the LGBTQ+ community in a city.

The atrium building at Milton Keynes Museum is hosting the MK Q:mmunity Tales project until 21 June, which tells 60 years' worth of stories that emerged after research from the Q Alliance charity.

Judy Goss, Q Alliance's operations co-ordinator, said: "Those of us in the LGBTQ+ community often feel our lives are undervalued, because our histories have been hidden from public view."

She added: "That's why the MK Q:mmunity Tales project was so important to so many of us. It gave us the opportunity to unearth the stories of all the incredible people who have come before us."

Homosexuality was partially decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967 through the Sexual Offences Act and the exhibition looks into life for people in the LGBTQ+ community in Milton Keynes since then via oral histories, photos and memorabilia.

It includes details on a campaign for Homosexual Equality in the 1970s, information on a Gay/Lesbian Switchboard set up by John Moore from the Open University in the 1980s, and a youth group in the 1990s.

Goss said: "As we met and spoke to scores of LGBTQ+ people from the past we learnt about the discrimination and traumas they have experienced, but also how they came together, created spaces where they could feel safe, and fought to make the lives of LGBTQ+ people in the future better.

"We hope it will be inspiring to those both within and outside the LGBTQ+ community and give young people the confidence and strength to live their own authentic lives."

In recent times, the city has had its own community centres for the LGBTQ+ community in Neath Hill and Witan, while the exhibition also tells stories of the many pubs, clubs, gay and lesbian discos and groups in the city.

Many of those events would have taken place in the Pink Punters nightclub in Bletchley, but significant damage was caused to the venue by a fire in April that police said was "started accidentally" and the site is now closed.

Jay Virgo who is also from the Q Alliance, said: "Given the current climate, many people (from the LGBTQ community) are feeling uncertain, scared and generally there is a very widespread anxiety.

"It's so important that exhibitions like this happen to highlight the importance of history and of reflecting on that but also showing that there is always light at the end of the tunnel."

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated book.

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