THE Victoria and Albert Museum has announced that it will be combing its collections for artworks and artifacts that put homosexuality in a positive light. The project has been given the highbrow name, “Sexing the V & A collections.” Here is the museum’s announcement. Comments have been added in brackets below.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) experiences and narratives from the V&A collections are uncovered in a range of free events, talks and activities.[Why is “queer” added to this offensive list?]

Search the what’s on page to find upcoming LGBTQ events.

LGBTQ histories are a relatively new research subject for museums. [They are relatively new because this sort of project never occurred to previous generations, who thought of museums as elevating institutions. It would no more have occurred to them to gather together material depicting homosexuality than to gather together works that put drunks or prostitutes in a positive light.] Over the past few generations public attitudes to sexuality have undergone a seismic shift but museums have been slow to reflect these changes. [That’s not true. Museums have been quick to reflect these changes. Fifty or forty years ago, this would have been inconceivable.] The V&A’s new LGBTQ programme aims to address this omission.

The V&A is seeking to unearth previously hidden LGBTQ histories in its collections, researching objects and the histories that surround them. [And how many friendships portrayed in art will be given a homosexual slant without proof that they were homosexual?] Equally, these investigations look at the ways in which visitors themselves understand and make sense of these objects on the basis of their own identities and lived experience. [Only visitors who view homosexuality as good will be understood.] 

This is an exciting and complex task that is fraught with political, moral and personal challenges. [It’s not exciting. It’s boring and hackneyed. It’s stultifying in the way all ideological art is stultifying.] Perhaps the most complex question stems from the inherent contradiction that lies at the centre of the gay liberation movement and its legacy – the desire to eradicate discrimination whilst enshrining difference. [I call that hypocrisy, or just a lie.] Any investigation into this area is charged and throws up many questions and provides only partial answers. [It is indeed charged. It will nauseate many visitors and turn some away. The main question it “throws up” is why the museum is doing this.] We look forward to progressing these issues through future projects and events. [We are saddened and repelled.]

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Lydia Sherman writes:

Museums are the new change agents. They are not content with the modernism that already exists in daily life. They have to manipulate the past, just in case anyone admires it or in some way wants to emulate it. 

Museum history is not the only thing that is being revised. National landmarks are also altered by the tour guides. One lady I know said a brochure she picked up in one of the national monuments completely changed the meaning of the ten commandments which were carved on the outside of the building, saying that it represented an ancient book, but not telling which one. You’ll find such explanations going on in parks and recreation areas, too.

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