Queer Tales: Myths and Monsters

Manchester Museum is celebrating LGBTQ+ people in all their rich diversity with events and activities, which will continue all year round.

Storytelling is an important way in which we connect with each other, share information, traditions and ideas, and also a way that we can shape new possibilities, together. But whose stories do museums tell? And who is it that’s doing the telling?

Queer Tales: Myths and Monsters puts LGBTQ+ voices at the heart of some of the most imaginative storytelling.

Cheddar Gorgeous advised “Oh yes, this will be a very different tour of the collection. A tour of stories less well trodden. Stories of monsters and magic. Stories often consigned to the mythical, the contested, and the imagined.”

Cheddar self-describes as a drag artist, academic and unicorn, and otherworldly mother of drag family, The Family Gorgeous. Cheddar founded the Manchester club night Cha Cha Boudoir, and in Channel 4’s Drag SOS, brought the transformational power of drag to communities across the UK.

Cheddar was determined to bring a bit of fabulousness to the museum and its collections, when we all needed it most!

In the deserted galleries, which would normally have been filled with the excited chatter of summer holiday visitors, for an audience of no one but echoes, Cheddar filmed a magical tour of the museum, introducing artistic responses to the collection.

“Some stories you may know, some stories stand proudly adorning the cabinets around me, whilst others persist between the lines of the composed passages and sanctioned narratives of the institution.” 

 

Manchester Pride Listening Groups Report

The Manchester Pride Engagement Team have produced a report sharing the findings of their Listening Group 2020 project, which included LGBTQ+ 55+.

See the report here: listening-groups-2020-report.pdf

 

 

A poem by Norman G:

What do you see when you look at me?

What do you see when you look at me?

Laughter and fun, bubbly like the waves of the sea.

He’s happy and funny but his jokes are a gaffe

One aim in life is to make you laugh.

 

Take a closer look, as behind the face is a soul

When Norman met Marilyn it was an ultimate goal.

At home alone, the tears used to well and choke

Memories of years gone by bring a heart that’s broke.

 

Being bisexual but a yearning to be straight

An answer to a prayer had to be fate.

Introduced to a friendly group for LGBT but older

Opened a lot of new doors such as “Older & Bolder”.

 

“Out In The City” is where I’m most content

I’m at home with great friends, which is heaven sent.

I’ll never forget the years with my wife

But yes, I’m so happy as I have a new life.