LGBTQ+ History Month w/ Jamie Windust

I was never much of a history buff - and was only really interested in it at school when we spent a term learning about the witch trials (what a wild time), so since then it’s been something that I’ve acquired knowledge on like a lot of us. Whether it’s an occasional jaunt around a new museum exhibit or watching a lengthy tiktok on two times speed about something we didn’t know but absolutely needed to be aware of, our consumption of historical information has adapted into something that’s often bitesized.

But as we continue through LGBTQ+ history month - it feels like an opportunity to start understanding not just the wider history of our community, but our own personal histories with a little more nuance. What is history if not an amalgamation of our own stories and experiences (both good and bad)?

I have jokingly - or so I tell my friends - kept artefacts from my own personal world for the past 28 years in a now cracked plastic box that I keep in the back of an incredibly large cupboard in my flat, for the aptly titled ‘Jamie Museum’. I went in there recently to find some old photos and was ambushed with old receipts, tickets to shows or days out or even dresses and outfits that I had worn from decades past. But it wasn’t until I really took a look at this huge box of miscellaneous days out and friendships made, that I realised that although my namesake museum probably won’t come to fruition, there’s a lot of history in this box that is worth remembering, especially as an LGBTQ+ person.

With queer history, and the ways our community has evolved and moved through time, there’s often a thread that runs through it all inspired by fight and fear. A line that is deeply inspirational and heartbreaking in equal measure, and I love and admire those who have continually brought those historical moments to the forefront for us now. If it weren’t for learning and understanding about the LGBTQ+ folk who were there during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, or those who served in WWI and WWII hiding their sexuality or identity, our current community wouldn’t be so emboldened and motivated to continue fighting for our community now in 2026.

But we can’t forget out own histories as queer people too. Even if they feel silly or insignificant, our first crushes and the first time we saw queer people on our TV screens or the first song we listened to after a break-up - they're all layers in our queer experience. For those who didn’t get the chance to live their lives as freely or for as long as we did. I feel a sense of duty to create my own personalised museum (and to tell you to do so to) so we can let the communities of the future know what our slice of life looked like,

Especially if it’s silly.

A firm favourite for the museum has to be the first time I saw queer romance on the TV in a way that mirrored my own. Despite not having the exact same experience at school, seeing Kurt and Blaine from Ryan Murphy’s Glee made me feel like what I was seeing was possible for me, in my future. Even though it was fictional it changed how I saw myself - and allowed me to start to understand what the future could look like for me, in a way that I’d not seen before. Did I end up going to a college where I was singing and dancing at every turn, and falling in love with the most vocally adept student there? Absolutely not. But it wasn’t about fantasising about replicating their life, it was about just knowing that my future could look different to how I had feared it would end up.

Clothes play a huge part in my queer historical journey. I remember so fondly the first time I was allowed to choose what I wanted to wear - that unique transition from being dressed by your parents to finally a little sartorial independence being handed over. It was a brown checked shirt, buttoned up all the way to the top with short sleeves (which a the time were revolutionary for 10 year old Jamie). It was a chance to discover what my actual sense of style was. Yes it was from a supermarket, but that didn't matter. It was a first step on a journey I would continue with passion up until this day.

We grow up being dressed by the adults in our lives, and only get to wear our actual clothes on the weekends, so being able to discover what my sense of style was and how I wanted to share that with the world was a historical time stamp. Seconded by the double breasted coat I got for Christmas which nearly made me convulse with excitement - it was the start of my relationship with queerness and fashion which to this day, is something that I use to celebrate my queerness and my transness. So it’s a historical moment that needs to be catalogued.

This isn’t just an exercise in naval gazing though. I know it can feel ego centric and very ‘now’ to focus on the self, but this method of understanding and putting our own LGBTQ+ histories together is to provide us with compassion and a greater understanding of how we got here, right now. Through all the hardship, the breakups, the stress and anxiety. The fear and worry that who we are was wrong or ‘the problem’. It helps us find out just how strong we are, and how collectively we have these historical moments to bind us together as a community.

Use your own historical features from your life as a moment to pause and reflect that every single queer person out there, every trans or non-binary person, will have moments that are marked in their calendars (both good and bad) that have made them who they are today. It’s that connectedness and often unspoken understanding that allows us to come together at times like we are in now because we know exactly what it took to get here. We don't always have to dive into our difficult times to connect, and our own queer histories are full of enjoyable and silly moments that connect us.

Use this LGBTQ+ history month to of course remind yourselves of the bigger picture - and the moments that shaped our consciousness - but also allow yourself the time to remember how you got here. How we got here. Learn about other peoples unique memories and layers from their big plastic box in the back of the cupboard. Our history may be tough, and it may have been hard fought, but it’s also peppered with such a unique silliness and creativity, which is why it must be remembered.

Even if it’s just a ticket stub from a gig where you fell in love with the guy on the drums, or a napkin from your first date with your wife - don’t let the small moments that make us who we are today, go forgotten.