Protecting and championing the creative legacies of LGBTQ+ artists and writers.

LGBTQ+ artists and writers have left their mark on every creative form. The Trust exists to protect that legacy and keep it accessible, circulating, and alive.

10 %

of LGBTQ+ Americans have a will or estate plan, vs. 33% of the general population

40-50%

of in-copyright works are effectively orphaned

47 %

of LGBTQ+ Americans name chosen family as primary family, but chosen family has no standing under intestacy law

THE PROBLEM

Queer creative work is structurally at risk of being lost.

No Estate Plans

LGBTQ+ people are three times less likely to have an estate plan than the general population. Without one, the law decides who stewards the work. Copyright and estate law was written for spouses, children, and linear inheritance, and it does not always reflect the full complexity of queer family life. The result is that rights can end up with people who are unprepared, or with no one at all.

The AIDS Crisis

The AIDS epidemic killed tens of thousands of artists before they could establish estate plans. Decades later, the copyright holders for much of that work are unknown or unreachable, and the first generation of executors who stepped in are now looking for someone to carry that work forward.

Orphaned Works

Some of the most important queer creative work of the last century is legally inaccessible, but not necessarily from banning or censorship. No one knows who owns it. When copyright is still protected but the rights holder can’t be identified, the work becomes orphaned. Films can’t be screened. Books can’t be republished. Plays can’t be performed.

OUR MISSION

The Queer Cultural Trust preserves, stewards, and champions the creative legacies of LGBTQ+ artists and writers on behalf of the communities that shaped them, ensuring queer culture remains a living and generative force that reinvests in the artists and communities who carry it forward.

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