Catalogue Number
NMLH.2004.41.8.4
Object Name
poster
Title
Queer Valentine Carnival
Place
Soho, London
People
OutRage!
Date
1993
Description
This pink leaflet has a large black heart on it with pink text inside reading 'Queer Valentine Carnival'. At the bottom on a black banner, more pink text reads 'Orgy of queer desire'. The Outrage logo is also prominently featured, alongside information about the carnival parade.
The Queer Valentine Carnival took place on Saturday February 13th in Soho, London. A carnival procession led to a street party in Old Compton Street, which was then the centre of queer Soho with a large number of queer bars and queer owned businesses. The parade was attended by the artist and Outrage activist Derek Jarman, who had just been canonised as a queer saint by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. This was his last appearance at activist events before his death from AIDS related illness.
OutRage! was a queer direct action group formed in May 1990 and active until 2011. Its aims were to assert the human rights of LGBTQIA people; to fight homophobia, discrimination and violence; and to affirm rights to sexual freedom and self-determination. Through direct action practices they challenged legislative discrimination like the unequal age of consent for sex in mixed gender couples compared to same gender couples, and laws on solicitation for sex work that were used to criminalise queer people kissing in public and finding casual partners in bars and clubs which they challenged through 'kiss ins'. They also challenged public figures they viewed as hypocrites - mainly closeted LGBT politicians and clergy who expressed homophobic ideology in public while privately having same gender relationships.
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