Where to take your children for half term

I actually have no idea

Dolly Trolley at The National Maritime Museum

As anyone who reads my work/ tweets may know, one of my biggest journalistic interests is woke capture in the arts and public institutions. You can get a flavour of my fascinations in the pieces below.

• We’re not interested in white, able-bodied stories, woke literary agents tell aspiring authors

• Are you Demiboy, Genderfluid or Questioning? Patients asked to choose gender identity by NHS Trust

• Concerns degrees like 'Middle East queer politics' used as immigration route into UK

While researching these articles, I regularly go down huge rabbit holes. Once you find a bit of “woke capture”, you suddenly hit upon 10 new leads; it’s everywhere! It’s basically impossible now to go onto a museum or theatre website without being offered a woke doctrine. I have been particularly struck by how much ideological content is aimed at children.

The common rebuttal to this is that, in a progressive age, children need to know about LGBTQ+ matters, and so forth.

But curators have become obsessive about identity and their content is often utterly insane. For instance, I recently I discovered the National Maritime Museum had included Admiral Nelson in its “Queer History Night”, which I covered for The Telegraph. Its half-term line up is just as bizarre and pseudoscientific.

In due course I intend to highlight some of the other events marketed at children - for instance, ones on climate change - to demonstrate other types of ideological capture. But in the mean time, here’s a selection of “LGBTQ+ events” for half-term next week:

The Museum of Zoology: LGBTQ+ Bridging Binaries Guided Tour

Info: “Animals don’t do sexual identity; they just do sex.

“From same-sex sexual behaviour in giraffes and penguins to the scientists working in the field of zoology. How do the labels and categories we give animals affect the way we interact with the natural world?”

Out at Sea Festival: National Maritime Museum

Info: “Visit the National Maritime Museum for a day-long festival celebrating queer maritime history through the ages, as part of LGBTQ+ History Month.”

(Below) One of the performances on offer, about a “renowned pirate drag queen”.

A workshop to celebrate “people assigned female at birth who lived as men at sea” and “gender-nonconforming sailors”.

A Queer Love Tokens workshop including a chat “about historical queers”.

A performance by the choir Trans Voices (see also, The Southbank Centre)

More events from the National Maritime Museum here (I actually don’t have enough room to add all of them!).

The Fights That Made Us, Tooting Library (10+)

Info: A Q&A session with Sarah Hagger-Holt, author of The Fights That Made Us.

Description of the book below:

“Jesse has recently come out as non-binary, and is struggling to find their place at school, and ideas for their project on lost stories from history.

“Thirty-five years earlier, Jesse’s cousin Lisa is falling for her best friend, but with new laws being introduced to restrict LGBTQ+ people’s rights, they’ll have to fight for the world to accept who they are.

“When Jesse stumbles across Lisa’s teenage diary, they are fascinated and horrified by her stories of living a secret life and protesting in the streets. Now it’s Jesse’s turn to find a way to shine a spotlight on a history that mustn’t be forgotten.”

Imagine Children’s Festival at the Southbank Centre

Little Big Sing with Trans Voices (5+)

Amazing Bodies with Dr Ronx, a “trans non-binary” doctor.

LGBTQ+ Movie Night at Birmingham Children’s Hospital

Info: Join us for the LGBTQ+ Movie Night as we kick off the celebrations for the history month. This special evening will feature the powerful film "Pride," a heartwarming and inspiring true story that beautifully captures the spirit of unity within the LGBTQ+ community. Grab your popcorn, bring your friends, and be part of this cinematic celebration of our history. See you at the movie! 

Anyone is welcome to email me at charlottegill87@gmail.com about other events.