LSE launches Jewish LGBT History exhibition
The first ever archive of Jewish LGBT History in the UK has been launched in central London.
An unveiling ceremony by Rainbow Jews took place last week at the London School of Economics as part of LGBT History Month.
More than 200 people packed the gallery space, admiring the rainbow-themed panels, and carefully-selected Jewish LGBT memorabilia displays.
The opening ceremony at the LSE New Theatre included a film screening with original and never-seen-before oral history footage, as well as speeches by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, and Professor Catherine Harper, Dean of Portsmouth University Creative Faculties.
Mr Tatchell described how in the 1980s he battled to allow pink-triangle memorial wreaths to be laid at the Cenotaph war memorial in Whitehall.
He said: “I am honoured to support Rainbow Jews and to celebrate the huge positive contribution that Jewish people make to the LGBT community and to our wider society.
“Jewish and LGBT people share many parallels of oppression and of triumph over adversity. As victims of prejudice, it is important for us to stand together united against all hate.”
The exhibition is an opportunity to learn about Jewish LGBT history in Britain from the 1950s to the present from the people who shaped it.
They include: gay Holocaust survivors, strictly Orthodox lesbians, aspiring transgender rabbis and young LGBT activists.
It will be open throughout February, for LGBT History Month, Monday – Friday, 10am-8pm at the LSE.
