Where Are All the Queers? All Over Sheffield, Actually.

https://medium.com/@heatherpaterson/where-are-all-the-queers-all-over-sheffield-actually-40b5c36dfe2f I was chatting to someone at the weekend who had moved to Sheffield from Manchester about a year ago. Coming from a city with a big, established gay village, they told me how surprised they’d been when they arrived in the Steel City and struggled to find the LGBTQ+ scene.

For a city of a comparable size to Manchester, where were all the queers? Where were the bars, the clubs, the places to meet people? Surely Sheffield had more to offer than what appeared to be a meagre couple of gay bars?

And I get it. If you’re used to somewhere like Manchester’s Canal Street, London’s Soho or Brighton’s St James’s Street, where you can walk into an area and immediately know you’ve found the gays, Sheffield can seem a little underwhelming at first glance.

But here’s the thing. Sheffield might not have a big, established gay village, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a thriving queer scene. Far from it.

I’ve lived in and around Sheffield and South Yorkshire since 1999, and in that time I’ve seen the city’s LGBTQ+ community change and evolve enormously. I’ve been involved in everything from youth groups and campaigning to helping establish Sheffield’s first Pride, and for over 11 years now I’ve written the monthly LGBTQ+ column for Exposed Magazine.

When I first started writing that column, filling a page with upcoming events could sometimes feel like a challenge. There were months when the listings could practically have consisted of, well, Dempseys is open.

That’s not to say Sheffield didn’t have a queer community back then. It absolutely did. In fact, when I first moved here we still had something resembling a gay village of our own, mostly tucked away amongst the steelworks of Attercliffe, with venues like the Cossack, Club Xes, Planet, Barcelona and others providing places for LGBTQ+ people to meet, drink, dance and generally get up to no good.

But venues came and went, the Attercliffe scene disappeared, and there were periods when the more visible commercial side of Sheffield’s gay scene seemed to be getting smaller rather than bigger.

And yet, while the number of dedicated gay bars might not have increased dramatically, something else has been happening.

Our queer community has been busy building something of its own.

Fast forward to today, and this is what my upcoming monthly LGBTQ+ events calendar looks like.

That’s one month. Just November. And it only includes the events I’ve been made aware of and have enough information about to include. There are undoubtedly plenty more happening across the city that I haven’t managed to squeeze in.

There are multiple LGBTQ+ events taking place across Sheffield every single day of the month.

And no, before anyone says it, it’s not just twenty different drag bingos. Although, as someone who loves a bit of drag, I’m certainly not complaining about those either.

Look at the variety of what’s happening.

We’ve got queer film screenings at Showroom, book launches and discussions at Juno Books, queer comedy, live music, experimental art, drag cabaret, club nights, choirs, life drawing, craft workshops, community meals, football sessions, board game socials, yoga classes and spaces for people who just want to sit down with a cuppa and have a chat.

There are events specifically for trans and non-binary people, LGBTQ+ women and sapphics, Black LGBTQ+ communities, queer parents, older LGBTQ+ people and young people. There are accessible and Covid-conscious social spaces, support groups, creative collectives, political discussions and fundraising events.

And that’s before we get anywhere near the frankly ridiculous amount of music and nightlife happening through groups like CYB3R, LEATHERDYKE, Cryptid Queers, FLAW Collective and the many other promoters who are keeping Sheffield’s dancefloors busy.

Organisations like Andro and Eve have spent years creating space for queer artists and performers, particularly drag kings and those who haven’t always had the same opportunities or visibility within mainstream LGBTQ+ nightlife. Gut Level has become an important home for queer music, creativity, community organising and alternative culture, providing a platform for people who might otherwise struggle to find one.

Meanwhile, organisations like SAYiT, Rainbow Blades, Trans Active, Steel City Sapphics and countless others are creating opportunities for people to connect, find support, build friendships and feel part of something.

None of these spaces has to cater to every LGBTQ+ person, nor should they. We’re not one homogeneous community with identical needs, interests or experiences. Having a diversity of spaces matters, particularly for people who haven’t always felt welcome in more mainstream gay settings.

And what’s particularly exciting for me is that these events aren’t all taking place in one designated rainbow-coloured corner of the city.

They’re happening in theatres, libraries, museums, pubs, independent music venues, cinemas, community centres, sports facilities, parks, bookshops and art spaces. They’re happening in the city centre, in Kelham and Neepsend, in Sharrow, Hillsborough, Crookes and beyond.

In other words, they’re happening across Sheffield.

And, personally, I think there’s something really important about that.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand why gay villages matter. Historically, they’ve provided safety, visibility, solidarity and somewhere to find your people at times when simply being openly LGBTQ+ could come with enormous personal risks. For generations, they were among the few places where queer people could be themselves, build relationships and organise politically.

They still matter enormously to many people today, particularly those taking their first steps into LGBTQ+ communities or looking for the reassurance of being somewhere visibly and unapologetically queer.

I’m certainly not arguing that we should get rid of them, or that Sheffield wouldn’t benefit from more dedicated LGBTQ+ venues. I’d happily welcome a few more bars, clubs and community spaces, particularly those catering to women, trans people and others who are often underserved by commercial gay nightlife.

But I’ve also always felt that LGBTQ+ people shouldn’t have to confine themselves to one small geographical area to find community and belonging.

We’re everywhere. We live, work, study, shop, create, perform, volunteer and socialise in every part of this city. Why shouldn’t our community spaces reflect that?

There’s something very Sheffield about the way our LGBTQ+ scene has developed. Rather than relying entirely on big commercial venues, so much of it has been built from the ground up by independent organisers, artists, activists, volunteers and people who simply wanted to create the kind of space they couldn’t find elsewhere.

Someone wants to put on a queer club night, so they organise one. Someone wants a space for LGBTQ+ women to meet, so they create one. Someone wants a trans-inclusive sports session, an alternative drag show, a queer book club or a social that doesn’t revolve around drinking, so they find other people who want the same thing and make it happen.

That’s community in action. Not waiting for someone else to provide something, but coming together and building it ourselves.

Of course, there’s another side to this that we shouldn’t overlook.

Having a thriving scene spread across lots of different venues is wonderful, but it can also make it harder to find, particularly if you’re new to Sheffield, don’t know anyone yet or aren’t connected to the right social media accounts and WhatsApp groups.

Which brings me back to that conversation at the weekend.

If someone can move here, spend a year in the city and still be wondering where the queer community is, then perhaps we need to get better at making it visible.

Because while I know what’s happening across Sheffield, that’s partly because I spend a frankly ridiculous amount of time tracking it all down every month. Not everyone has the time, energy or inclination to do that, and they shouldn’t need to be an amateur detective just to find somewhere to meet other LGBTQ+ people.

It’s one of the reasons I’ve continued writing the Exposed column for so long. Not just to promote events, but to help connect people to communities, venues and opportunities they might never otherwise discover.

And we shouldn’t mistake a busy events calendar for a scene that has everything it needs, either.

Many of these activities rely on small organisations, volunteers and independent venues working with limited resources. Keeping spaces affordable, accessible and sustainable is an ongoing challenge. The people creating these opportunities deserve recognition and support, and not just when it’s Pride Month.

There’s also a wider political context that makes these spaces especially important right now. With LGBTQ+ rights increasingly contested and trans people in particular facing growing hostility, having places where people feel safe, supported and able to be themselves is about much more than entertainment.

These aren’t just nights out. They’re places where friendships are formed, people find support, confidence grows, identities are explored, campaigns are organised and communities look after one another.

Sometimes that’s happening at a protest or a political discussion. Sometimes it’s happening over a game of football or a craft workshop. And sometimes it’s happening at 2am on a dancefloor with a room full of sweaty queers singing along to something truly terrible.

All of it matters.

I’m incredibly proud of what Sheffield’s LGBTQ+ communities have built, and I don’t think we always give ourselves enough credit for it. I’ve watched the scene grow and change over more than a quarter of a century, and seeing a calendar like this genuinely makes me smile.

Particularly when I remember those early years of trying to find enough events to fill my column.

So, to anyone who has moved to Sheffield and is wondering where all the queers are, I promise you we’re here. You might not find us all gathered along one neon-lit street, but you’ll find us making music, creating art, playing sport, putting on shows, organising events, campaigning, laughing, dancing and building community all over the city.

My advice? Find an event that sounds like your sort of thing, go along, introduce yourself and see where it takes you. And if the thing you’re looking for doesn’t exist yet, chances are there are other people here who would love to help you create it.

Because that’s the Sheffield I’ve come to know and love.

Manchester, London and Brighton, you can keep your gay villages.

Here in Sheffield, we’ve got a whole queer city.