On show in the Queer the Pier exhibition (2020 - 2022) at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. Excerpt from 'Brighton Head and Freak' magazine (Issue 3, published 1968/9). Cover features a printed illustration by John Upton. Inside back cover features a poem about cottaging by Bill Butler. Ref: Royal Pavilion & Museums BH703003 Daren Kay, Community Curator: Before the internet, bookshops provided spaces where LGBTIQ+ people could meet and find out about people like themselves. One such queer friendly space was Unicorn Bookshop at 51 Gloucester Road, Brighton that was open from 1966 to 1973. It was owned by openly gay poet and writer, Bill Butler (1937-1977). A poet in his own right, Butler often published homoerotic poems in the shop’s publications such as this one, which is probably about ‘cottaging’– the practise of men looking for sex with other men in public toilets.     John Upton, who designed the cover of this issue of the 'Brighton Head and Freak' magazine, also painted the original mural on the outside of the Unicorn Bookshop.

Anthony Luvera is an Australian artist, writer and educator based in London. Anthony collaborated with Queer in Brighton on our first commissioned project ‘Not Going Shopping’ to explore the lives of LGTBQ+ people in Brighton. Anthony invited eleven participants to meet him and bring photographs that told their story, and they were encouraged to consider what being queer means to them, and to photograph their experiences and the things they are interested in. The group met regularly to discuss their work and share photographs, and created self-portraits in a photo booth on the North Laine, which led to discussions about photography and identity. Anthony said of the project: “the prospect of creating this work seemed to me to offer a useful way to further my inquiry into participation and self-representation with groups of marginalized individuals, and at the same time provide an opportunity to confront my own views of queerness as a gay man… Images play a powerful role in the stories we tell about ourselves and the histories told about us. Not Going Shopping expresses the points of view of the participants and myself about what it is to be Queer in Brighton.” This collection of photographs depicts the exhibition of Not Going Shopping by Anthony Luvera in Gravitas Photo50, curated by Christiane Monarchi, London Art Fair, 18 – 22 January 2017. The group exhibition featured 13 different artists and explored the theme of adolescence through photography. Luvera's work was exhibited here, and a new edition of Not Going Shopping, inclusive of a newly commissioned essay, was published alongside the exhibited photographs. These photographs of the exhibition include the collaborative portrait of Fox Fisher.

Maria Jastrzębska shares the powerful stories behind the three objects she is donating to our Queer Museum. Polish-British poet, feminist, editor, translator and playwright, Maria has published three full-length volumes of poetry and two pamphlets. She is the co-founded Queer Writing South and South Pole. In this interview Maria talks about being a girl scout, feminist activism and intersectionality, and the inherent queerness of poetry... Recorded remotely on April 29, 2021 Interview by: Roni Guetta and David Sheppeard Editing and original music by Olive Mondegreen

Social photos taken during Brighton Pride in Preston Park, 2003. The theme was "All the Fun of the Fair", photos show fortune telling in the library tent with Maria Jastrzebska (poet) and Caroline Halliday (artist and poet).

A collection of poetry and prose relating to HIV/AIDS. Written by the Xpress Yourself Group, a creative writing project that was based at the Open Door service in 35 Camelford Street, Kemptown, Brighton.