British Museum marks Pride month with objects that tell LGBT+ stories

By Rachel Savage LONDON, June 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The British Museum has marked Pride season by putting five objects on permanent display that tell the stories of LGBT+ culture through history, from an ancient Greek coin featuring Sappho to a Roman lamp that depicts two women having oral sex. The museum, which is currently closed due the coronavirus but usually attracts about 6 million visitors a year, already runs popular LGBT-themed tours.

By Rachel Savage LONDON, June 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The British Museum has marked Pride season by putting five objects on permanent display that tell the stories of LGBT+ culture through history, from an ancient Greek coin featuring Sappho to a Roman lamp that depicts two women having oral sex.

The museum, which is currently closed due the coronavirus but usually attracts about 6 million visitors a year, already runs popular LGBT-themed tours. Stuart Frost, head of interpretation and volunteers, said the addition of the artefacts was part of an ongoing effort to improve the British Museum's representation of LGBT+ history.

"They join a number of other objects on permanent display that collectively demonstrate that same-sex love, desire and gender diversity have always been an integral part of the human experience," he said in a statement. The objects also include a 1777 medal depicting an 18th century soldier, diplomat and spy who lived alternately as a man and a woman in France and England.

The most recent is a fake banknote made for a 2008 club event called Gay Shame Goes Macho featuring the image of British gangster Ronnie Kray instead of Queen Elizabeth. The original 10-shilling note, in circulation in Britain until 1970, was linked to the popular expression "as queer as a nine bob note".

Pressure is growing on cultural and historic institutions to reflect LGBT+ heritage in countries including Britain, whose parliament now runs tours dedicated to the hidden history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lives.