Unlike a family photo album, queer history is rarely shared around the dinner table and is often something that individuals must seek out on their own. Chances are, your Uncle Clifford hasn’t spent years tracing your family’s LGBTQ+ past like he does with the family tree as if he were on an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Instead, the queer community must work in different ways to create these ‘family’ memories as there is no blood-relation bringing everyone together.
Enter – Pride of Place
Pride of Place emerged as is a partnership between Historic England and Leeds Beckett University in 2016 as a digital space for queer history to be shared. For Historic England, the objective is to “record and celebrate the places lived, loved, worked and played in by [LGBTQ+] people over the centuries.” As a completely crowd-sourced platform, the interactive map allows contributors to share their heritage where no entry takes precedence over another.
Entries vary from important historic events like the first UK Transgender Conference to personal stories at an individual level.[1]
In an effort to contribute to the project, I submitted the first site listing for Durham as there had previously been no entries for the city. The Rainbow Room at Osborne’s is the best thing going on a Monday night and not just because of the free candy. The Pride of Place project is a significant step towards queer cultural and historical representation as it can be accessed from anywhere there is an internet connection. The interactive map is also an ideal research tool since entries can be searched through thematic tags, place locations or through simply browsing recent entries.
In an effort to be more accessible and to increase the diversity of entries, various ‘Pinning Parties’ have been organised for those who may have been previously unaware of the project or are unable to use the digital platform independently. The London Metropolitan Archives and AgeUK have hosted a Pinning Party for senior citizens as many of these individuals were not aware of the project, but were incredibly valuable sources of information.
The “Wellcome Collection, a science-based archive, have hosted there own STEM-themed Pinning Party to encourage members of the local science community to contribute queer spaces of significance. This event is of particular interest since ‘queerness’ tends to be associated more with the arts rather than science but is proof that these public perceptions are gradually changing.
If you’re interested in planning your own Pinning Party, Historic England have created a series of guidelines to help with the process (top image). Both the AgeUK and Wellcome Collection events were held in central London and facilitated greater access in their own right but queer history exists beyond the city’s borders. British history has been lived by more than just Londoners and queer history is of no exception.
Check out some of these famous sites which you may not have known had a queer past:
Once the burial ground of great Northumbrian kings, Tynemouth Priory is also the burial place of Joseph Charlton, a local watch-maker who was hanged in 1819 after being charged for “unnatural crimes”.
On Easter Sunday in 1834 under the guise of “Gentleman Jack”, landowner and mountaineer, Anne Lister married her partner Ann Walker.
Known as a famous concert venue (Spice World the movie anyone?), the RAH was also the home of the Lady Malcolm’s Servants Balls, where wealthy Londoners would allow their servants a night of luxury. The events, held from the 1920s to the 1950s offered gay men
and women a chance at a social circle where dressing up in fancy dress, (often of a different gender), was encouraged.
These are just some of almost 2000 entries detailing the diverse history of Britain’s LGBTQ+ community but there will always be more stories to tell. By sharing these memories, Pride of Place is creating a network – a family tree, that is extending its branches to those who may need a little reminder that they are valid and every story deserves to be heard.
[1] Entry: “The ashes of Lawren Maben are scattered here at his request. He was my first 'out' friend.”
