A free queer exhibition at the British Library, looking at 122 years of gay history.
The UK is in celebration mode this year (no, not because of Brexit…) as 2017 marks the 50th anniversary since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in Great Britain.
The British Museum in King’s Cross in London has a free exhibition to mark the celebrations, displaying a range of artefacts from its vast collection.
Looking at the period from Oscar Wilde’s trial in 1895, to the ‘Alan Turing Law’ passed in 2017 which pardoned gay men imprisoned for their homosexuality, and via the 1967 repealing of the Sexual Offences Act, the exhibitions tells the story of gay love, legislative change and the battles for equality experienced by gay men and women in the UK.
Features on display include oral histories from gay men and lesbians; Sarah Waters’s manuscript notebook for Tipping the Velvet; the original diary of Kenneth Williams; film, original manuscripts and rare printed items tracing the history of gay people in the UK; and historic documents including the 1957 Wolfenden Report and the Gay Liberation Front Manifesto.
FREE
Until 19 September 2017
Website
