OTP 2021 Hub - People's History Museum
Here at People’s History Museum (PHM), we don’t call ourselves the home of ideas worth fighting for nothing. PHM is the national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present and future. The museum provides opportunities for all people to learn about, be inspired by and get involved in ideas worth fighting for; ideas such as equality, social justice, co-operation, and a fair world for all.
Our museum collections include badges, t-shirts, banners and more from Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, the campaign against Section 28, Pride events from the 1970s to today, and continuing campaigns for LGBT+ rights in the UK. PHM’s incredible Archive holds an LGBT+ collection which covers papers of key individuals and campaign groups such as Peter Tatchell and Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM).
In 2017 our Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights programme of exhibitions, events and learning sessions marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act. The programme explored and celebrated those who campaigned and continue to campaign for equality for LGBT+ people. For the year’s headline exhibition it was important that we gave the LGBT+ community a platform to tell the world their story in their own way. In order to do this we recruited an amazingly talented team of Community Curators from the local LGBT+ community, made up of artists, film-makers and campaigners to curate an exhibition which explored the wonderfully intersectional nature of the struggle for LGBT+ rights.
Our promotion of equality does not end there though. We first took part in the annual OUTing the Past, The Festival of LGBT+ History in 2016 during which we hosted talks, drama performances and discussions concerning lived histories, LGBT+ footballers, gender and sexuality in the armed forces. This was enormously successful and as such we were delighted to be asked to be involved with the festival again in the years that followed.
2021 will see us take part in the festival for a sixth consecutive year albeit a little differently with the event taking place online via Zoom. As part of PHM’s current programme exploring migration, the event will focus on how migration has influenced LGBT+ history and the fight for LGBT+ rights in the UK, and across the world. The evening will include a tour of PHM’s galleries and collections, with Maggy Moyo and Jenny White along with presentations from Youcef Hadjazi and Mandla Rae exploring their personal experiences and the dynamics of migration, race and empire.
So, if you’re as passionate as us about LGBT+ rights and want to learn more on the subject, put Thursday 11 February 2021 in your diaries.
To find out about visiting the museum, its full exhibition and events programme visit phm.org.uk.