Identities! is an exciting installation coming to the Park in summer 2023. It is created and produced by Q Productions, the only queer production house in Peterborough and funded by Your Community Greenspace.

The installation will explore the queer community of Peterborough - its people, buildings and landmarks - giving the people of Peterborough education about the queer community locally, nationally and internationally. The project will also provide a safe space to the queer community of Peterborough.

Identities! Stonewall

The first instalment of Identities! launches at Peterborough Celebrates Festival in May 2023 with an installation called Identities! Stonewall in the Lynch Lake Community Hub.  

Find out more below - and look out for the launch of the rest of the project in August 2023.

Marsha P Johnson and The Stonewall Rebellion - a pivotal movement in the modern LGBTQIA+ Rights Movement.

28th June 1969 was the beginning of our rebellion. It lasted less than a week - just 6 days in New York City's Greenwich Village. Those six days and the reverberations of that first thrown brick have lasted for generations. 

Out of the Stonewall Rebellion emerged one of the very first Gay Pride Parades. Increased knowledge, activism and organisations on behalf of Gay People, and more attention paid to the rights and plight of other LGBTQIA+ Communities.

At the heart of the rebellion's origins were black and women of colour activists like Marsha P Johnson and Silvia Rivera. These women were the catalyst that inspired countless Queer people around the world to stand up and demand basic human rights and change - to stand up and shout about bigotry and discrimination from mainstream society.

Leading up to 28th June 1969, the popular Gay bar The Stonewall Inn and the wider Queer/Trans community in general, were under constant surveillance from both the NYPD and the FBI. Violence, arrest and public exposure were all seen as acceptable.

The Stonewall Inn was seen by the community as a safe space away from disapproving eyes; a place for those in the community to live and be their authentic selves. Members of the Community were also mourning the death of Ms Judy Garland, a life-long ally of the LGBTQ+ Communities.

Police arrived at the Stonewall Inn that night for a raid and crackdown on Village venues operating without a New York City state liquor licence. The State refused to give a licence to any venue suspected of serving the LGBTQIA+ Community. 

During the historical raid the patrons of The Stonewall Inn were violently assaulted and dragged into the public streets. This time however we fought back! A brick was thrown and the rest is history. 

To this day, LGBTQIA+ activists fight for equality, acceptance and the right to live peacefully. We are building our lives one brick at a time.