MA Communication Design Project
64 Countries have homosexuality criminalised, 33 have legal same sex marriage, and only 16 have partial or full bans on Conversion Therapy.
The UK is not one of them.
The British government has pledged a ban on Conversion Therapy practices since 2018, but despite backing from both major political parties and supporters, no progress has been made. Historically the UK was a global leader in LGBTQ+ equality, however the government has moved without conviction and the April 2025 Supreme Court ruling has meant individuals are beginning to have rights stripped away.
In the History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault suggests that the repressive nature of society leaves heterosexuality normalised but homosexuality and queerness along with it, privatised and stigmatised. Foucault argues sexuality as "a historical construct", the reality of which has been translated through to gender. Judith Butler speculates in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, that gender is not biological tact out instead merely a performance or series of repeated actions.
Queer Burden aims to give people a place to voice their queer concerns both secretly on the flag and as a part of an online digital archive through the lens of this constructed, private reality. This flag represents the queerness, humanity, and joy that is drained from people forced to undergo outdated, discredited, and dangerous Conversion Therapy practices through an archive of queer concerns. It remains unfinished; an opportunity for the flag to grow with an evolving collection of queer voices and burdens. It symbolises the much needed conversations that must continue for our society to progress.
What is your Queer Burden?
The Burdens
Each of the burdens concealed in the flag were written by people who attended Falmouth Pride in April 2025. Slowly they have been photographed and are being uploaded to the Queer Burden Instagram (@queer_burden), and will be uploaded to the website queerburden.gayThe flag was exhibited as a part of the MA Communication Design show “ECHOES” in May 2025.