The chief executive of a London-based LGBTQ+ museum has revealed his aim to expand the gallery to champion more stories from the queer community.
Queer Britain, in King’s Cross, is one of only ten LGBTQ+ museums in the world, featuring works by queer artists alongside exhibitions on queer history.
Andrew Given, who has led the museum for the past year, spoke about the importance of the institution, as he said LGBTQ+ exhibitions at national museums are often curated by people who are not members of the community.
“It’s all about our stories being told on our behalf, not by us. That’s why this place exists,” he said.
“Queer histories in museums have either been hidden away or misrepresented or just ignored. Only now is there an impetus for LGBT people to start telling their own stories in their own voices.”
Personal connections
The museum features the evolving We Are Queer Britain exhibition.
On display are a collection of objects, voices and images celebrating over 100 years of queer life.
The exhibition has been in place since Queer Britain opened its physical space in 2022. According to Given, the gallery has even attracted guests with personal connections to the displays.
He said: “When Section 28 passed in the House of Lords, a group of lesbians abseiled from the public gallery onto the floor of the House trying to stop it.
“There was a woman in the galleries staring at that case for ages and she said to the volunteer: ‘I was one of those lesbians’. That was only about six months ago. We have people who have come in and said ‘oh my god, I’m in that photo’ and things like that.”
Section 28 refers to part of the 1988 Local Government Act which stated that local authorities should not “intentionally promote homosexuality”.
Given also pointed out the museum’s guest book, where hundreds of visitors have left heartfelt messages about their connection to the museum.
He said: “You don’t get that in any other institution.
“LGBT people go to other galleries and never see their own stories reflected, whereas here we’re full of it.”
Open House
Between 13 and 21 September, Queer Britain took part in London’s 2025 Open House Festival.
Open House celebrates London’s architecture by opening up buildings across the city so that the public can learn about them for free.
Peter Tudor, a volunteer coordinating the festival for Queer Britain, said that Open House brought in an extra 80 people a day and opened up the museum to a wider audience.
“You never know who’s going to walk through the doors,” he said.
“It wasn’t just people from the LGBTQ community, it seemed to be all sorts of different people saying they were interested both in the building and what we’re doing.”
Additionally, Tudor expressed that the museum is known for creating a sense of community in the local area. He added that visitors are extremely supportive of Queer Britain’s mission.
“I take heart from everything that’s on the walls in the museum and the people who fought hard to make sure we are where we are today, and of course it’s important that we carry on fighting for that,” Tudor said.
Future plans
Queer Britain has ambitious plans for the future, with a new exhibition opening in February 2026 and plans to move to a bigger site in the next few years.
Given revealed that the We Are Queer Britain exhibition will be remodelled to be based around six static themes. The stories told under each theme that will change every nine to 18 months.
The initial story the museum will tell under the ‘Resist’ theme will be Brixton’s Black, Lesbian and Gay Centre (BLGC) which ran from 1985 to 2000.
BLGC was a powerhouse of community, activism and HIV support in Brixton.
Given said: “It’s an unheard story and not many people know about it.
“We’ve done a callout to people who were involved in that organisation to come and tell us their stories.
“They are going to write the interpretations so that it’s the community telling the story in their own voice, not an institution telling a story about people.”
Furthermore, Given plans to relocate Queer Britain from its temporary home in King’s Cross to a larger space.
“We are going to find a new, bigger home for this museum. We are only limited by the space that we have,” he said.
He added: “There are hundreds of thousands of stories that we could be telling, we just want to have the space to tell them all.”
Featured image credit: Rahil Ahmad
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