The archive is inextricably linked to the construction of cultural memory and heritage, highlighting some stories, while marginalizing others. For audiovisual archives the situation is urgent: film gauge and video tapes are decaying and in need of immediate restoration. Digitisation, while increasingly being used to preserve the film footage, also offers the possibility of widely disseminating and circulating films, for instance via online exhibition. Yet, what happens if personal memories enter the (heteronormative) public sphere? What are the repercussions of digital archives on the visibility of LGBTQ* lives? How does digitisation impact on the notion of the LGBTQ* grassroot archive as a safe space? This paper sets out to discuss the ambivalences of queer visibility in relation to archival practice and access politics. How can the power structures at work within the representation of LGBTQ* audiovisual heritage be addressed? Merging conceptualisations of the archive as an instrument of power (Foucault, Derrida) and a site of both materiality (Steadman) and affect (Cvetkovich), I will examine queer archival practice (Halberstam, Muñoz, Danbolt, Stone/Cantrell) in national film archives as well as 'minor' archives, such as the Lesbian Home Movie Project (Maine) or the feminist video archive bildwechsel (Hamburg). I argue that access alone does not prevent LGBTQ* histories from being “unqueered” within heteronormative frameworks and narratives. Therefore it is not enough to merely preserve, restore and digitize archival film footage, but  archivists need to (re-)contextualise its queer potential. Metadata, editorial contributions and oral history interviews can provide additional information for contemporary and future audiences, reframing the archival footage as part of LGBTQ* cultural memory.