LGBT+ HISTORY HITS HOME AT NEVER GOING UNDERGROUND EXHIBITION
THE People’s History Museum is offering visitors an essence of activism as Never Going Underground: The Fight for LGBT+ Rights marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act.
I spoke to Catherine O’Donnell, the programme manager at the People’s History Museum, to find out how the exhibition came to life.
“It wasn’t until I came to research LGBT history that I realised how bad it was for people,” Catherine confessed, “I wasn’t aware of how much animosity there was towards the community and how much they really had to fight for their rights.”
Plans to recognise these moments in LGBT history were first evolved back in 2003 and since then a team of local curators from the LGBT community have set out across the UK to compile what they thought to be the perfect items to tell the tale.
They have captured it flawlessly, with original photos, quotes, videos, artwork and more, the Never Going Underground exhibition is breathtakingly honest and open.
“We tell the stories that other places won’t tell, the hidden histories.” Catherine said, explaining perfectly how the exhibition invites audiences to take a step back in time and understand the extremity of the fight for LGBT rights.
The historical context of this exhibition is key and the museum has taken on the responsibility of celebrating the cause with uniqueness and pride. Never Going Underground takes its name from the campaign against Section 28, an infamous piece of legislation that forbade the ‘promotion of homosexuality’.
“We’re a national museum, we tell a national story, but Manchester is a really important part of that story due to its radical past," Catherine explained, highlighting Manchester’s role in providing progression for the LGBT community.
A poignant aspect of the exhibition is how extensively representative of the LGBT community it is. There is such diversity within the LGBT world and this is something that has not been overlooked. From people of colour to trans-people to bisexuality, the Never Going Underground exhibition is inclusive of everyone.
“From the very beginning we knew we wanted to be inclusive. The LGBT community is so diverse, so we could never have been fully representative if we had just worked with one group or one person, there are so many voices that need to be heard.” Catherine said, championing the non-conforming nature of the LGBT world.
The Never Going Underground exhibition has an authentic vibe to it, welcoming visitors of all walks of life to indulge in the activism.
Working closely with Proud 2 B Parents, a service which provides support for LGBT parents and their children, the museum has made it a priority to invite younger generations to be a part of remembering such moving moments in history.
By pointing out some of the child-friendly elements of the exhibition, Catherine was quick to demonstrate how family-orientated the programme is, “A lot of people would think that because we’ve created an LGBT exhibition there would be a certain focus on sex and that it wouldn’t be suitable for children. Its not about sex, its about activism,” she explained, “Children are mesmerised by the sparkly silver policeman’s hat!”
A contributing factor to the exhibition’s informal nature is the interactivity throughout. Visitors are given the opportunity to design their own t-shirts, create a playlist, document memories and share their dreams for the future. By sharing personal experiences with other visitors, the exhibition becomes so much more personal and really hits home.
The interactivity is a reminder that the people in the photographs are real and are living, feeling, hurting and loving just like us.
Alongside the Never Going Underground exhibition, the People’s History Museum have created a seven-month long programme in an notable effort to fully integrate the stories from the LGBT community into the city’s history.
"We're really focusing on contextualising LGBT history within the social, political and historical framework of the museum," Catherine O'Donnell, Programme Manager
The inspiring success of Never Going Underground is a reminder to stand proud in remembrance of the fight for equality. Manchester’s LGBT community can take comfort in the knowledge that they are at home in a city of ever-growing diversity and acceptance.
