So this really is an opportune moment to launch what is, astonishingly, Britain’s first ever national LGBTQ+ museum, established by the charity Queer Britain. Opening its doors to the public on 5 May, the space is ideally situated in King’s Cross, both for Londoners and for those visiting the capital by rail.
Its opening is an important milestone for a minority that has only enjoyed widespread public acceptance and significant legal protections for the briefest of periods, and is, in a sense, still blinking, slightly dazed, in the light. Launching a museum is an ambitious endeavour, and Queer Britain has come together with impressive speed. In 2017, its director Joseph Galliano visited the Queer British Art exhibition at Tate Britain and “realised you could create a blockbuster exhibition around queer subjects”. As a former editor of Gay Times, he tapped into his extensive connections with LGBTQ+ organisations and queer activists and artists, and when he spoke to potential funders, Galliano met constant astonishment that such a museum did not already exist or even been attempted in its own right before. Relationships were quickly built with the culture sector – such as the Tate and National Trust – as well as partnerships with the likes of M&C Saatchi “to help us develop our strategic outlook”.
Thanks to the efforts of its patron ambassador Carolyn Ward donations began to pour in.