About the Exhibition
We Are History exhibition showcases three of the biggest Prides in the UK and Europe: Brighton LGBTQ+ Pride,Trans Pride and Black Pride. Occupying different spaces and times, the photos are united in the understanding that Pride is essentially a protest and a social space that embodies the life experiences, struggles and desires of its participants. Whilst they also include skimpy underwear-clad dancing muscle boys on commercialized floats, that is a very tiny part of Pride’s story and history.
ASSOCIATED EVENTS
Pride 1973
Brighton’s very first Gay Pride Week took place 3-8 July 1973, organised by the Sussex Gay Liberation Front. On Saturday 7 July people marched from Norfolk Square, down to Embassy Court then along the Kings Road to the Old Ship Hotel. They gave out 2000 leaflets calling for an end to discrimination.
These images surfaced recently in the Argus Photographic Archive in a small brown packet of negatives with ‘Gay Lib March’ 8/7/73 written in blue biro on them. Viewing the images was like holding hands across time with those who were activists before us and re-opening long unspoken stories seen again in modern light.
Taken from the Gay Brighton Past exhibition.