Introducing Queer the Pier
This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.
For almost two years now, the Brighton Museum has housed the UK’s largest collection representing trans lives; The Museum of Transology.
The exhibition currently displays diverse artefacts, including everything from prosthetics to train tickets, donated by Brighton’s vibrant trans community. This bold collection has achieved so much in terms of deconstructing myths surrounding the trans experience and promoting the representation of LGBTIQ+ people in a museum setting. Unfortunately though, The Museum of Transology will close in October this year. However, do not fear. The next exhibition in the Spotlight Gallery will continue to reclaim and uncover our local LGBTIQ+ history.
The project, titled Queer the Pier, is community led – a collaboration between the Queer in Brighton heritage project, a working group of local LGBTIQ+ volunteers and Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.
In this upcoming exhibition we aim to highlight the rich cultural history of the LGBTIQ+ community here in Brighton that has been disregarded for too long. By searching through the Museum’s own archives, working with artists and local ally organisations, and accepting donated items from community members; we will showcase the variety of LGBTIQ+ life and love in Brighton through history and today.
We want Queer the Pier to be an inclusive and accessible project for our community so, if you would like to get involved or learn more about the work we are doing, please join us at one of our meetings every other Wednesday and Sunday at the Museum. Also if you have any mementos that you would like to be considered for inclusion in the exhibition, please speak to us at one of Queer in Brighton’s monthly LGBTQ+ History Club or email us queerthepier@gmail.com
Queer the Pier will launch in 2020 but in the meantime, keep an eye on this blog for updates on our progress and come to Brighton LGBTQ+ History Club for more inspirational stories from our community.
Cameron Tallant, Queer the Pier working group member