Jay Virgo

Jay was born in 1994 in Gloucestershire, moved from London to MK in 2016 and now lives in Bedford. He knew nothing about MK but having grown up in the Forest of Dean he appreciated the green spaces and ethos of the city. He currently commutes from Bedford by bus for work but would like to move back to MK. He works as Communications Engagement Officer for Q:alliance (the LGBTQ+ charity for MK and surrounding areas) and is a Trustee at the MK Community Foundation. He uses the MK green spaces in his professional life and enjoys sharing the places and their history with others. He discusses identifying as pansexual and how he initially came out as gay at the age of 11 but realised that he was pan later on. He says that he finds Milton Keynes to be a very accepting place, with charities like Q:alliance, the MK Pride Festival and the developing inclusion networks within the voluntary and community sectors. He appreciates the collaborative aspects of the local voluntary sector and works to create the resources he wishes he’d had when he was younger because although MK is well-resourced for support networks, in the place where he grew up there were no resources that a young LGBTQ+ person could access. He is proud of how his work at Q:alliance has led to the charity being able to offer more services and help more people, as more users take up the services and events being offered which now include sports clubs, social spaces and outings, hobbies and various mental health initiatives. Because MK is a new city, he feels he has space to make his mark and leave a legacy. He would like to see MK improve its accessibility and affordable travel so that people can get around the city more easily and get into more spaces without pay barriers. He feels that the predicted growth of the city in the next 20 years is an exciting one, and that it will be one of the most inclusive places to live in the country. This is largely down to the work of Q:alliance and Q’s history is something that MK Museum should seek to celebrate.