August 14, 2019

The Home Office has been accused of pedalling racial stereotypes in a “crude” and “offensive” plan to cover fried chicken packaging with anti-knife crime slogans. 

Young people will be warned of the dangers of carrying a knife on specially branded chicken shop boxes as part of the Government’s #knifefree campaign.

Following backlash over the campaign, the Government said it was an evidence-based project and Home Secretary Priti Patel said she would “not apologise” for “communicating tragic consequences of carrying a knife”.

But her opposition counterpart Diane Abbott and fellow Labour MP David Lammy dismissed the strategy as a harmful gimmick and called on the Government to properly invest in communities to tackle violent crime.

Campaigners and members of the public also reacted with anger to the scheme, posting online that it was an example of “institutional racism”.

July 04, 2019

For many here and around the world there is still much to fight for and Pride plays an important part in those campaigns to celebrate what we have achieved so far, but also to highlight the many issues we still face. This month, we met up with the team behind Pride in Sheffield – Rosie, Sairy, Emma and Ashleigh – to talk about this year’s event.

What does Pride mean to you and why is it still important?
Sairy: Pride represents a rich history of our continuing struggle to gain acceptance and be able to live life openly.
Ashleigh: Yes, Pride for me is about resistance and protest.
Emma: We are seeing so much hostility towards LGBT+ people at the moment, especially towards trans people, and Pride is a time we can come together to stand against that.

June 23, 2019

A Sheffield charity has launched a new project aimed at improving access to domestic abuse services for the LGBT community.

Sheffield young people’s charity, SAYiT, has been funded to run a new innovative project aimed at improving access to domestic abuse services across South Yorkshire.

Two new development workers, Elly Sinclair and Heather Paterson, have been employed to work across the whole of South Yorkshire – raising awareness of the needs of LGBT+ people who are affected by Domestic Abuse.Commenting on the new project, Elly said: “we are delighted that SAYiT has been awarded funding to do this crucial work across the whole of South Yorkshire. Recent research shows that LGBT+ victims and survivors of domestic abuse are, by and large, invisible in the mainstream support system”.Heather added: “The year-long project will undertake consultation work with local LGBT+ people and community groups to understand what specific barriers exist for LGBT+ people experiencing domestic abuse that result in them not accessing support services.

“This consultation will especially seek to engage LGBT+ minority voices who may be affected by a multiple disadvantage including people who are younger or older, BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and/or Refugee), carers, disabled, different faith groups etc. These personal stories, combined with findings from academic research, will guide what work needs to take place.”

June 04, 2019

The Independent reports:

Donald Trump has suggested “big crowds” turned out to support him in London on Tuesday, while demonstrations held by opposition groups were “organised flops”. The statement, made in an early morning tweet on Wednesday, came after thousands took to the streets on the second day of the US president’s state visit.

After the march had finished, Scotland Yard said they would not provide an estimate for crowd sizes, but separately said they had deployed more than 3,000 officers for the event – and protestors easily outnumbered uniformed officers.

Organisers said the figure was close to 75,000. There were small pockets of pro-Trump fans wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and holding US flags, but these were vastly outnumbered by those opposed to the president, and there was no separate organised rally in support of Mr Trump.

June 04, 2019

U.K. residents on Twitter are correcting the record about Donald Trump’s visit.

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Like a crumpet falling out of a lorry on Downing Street, Donald Trump is currently visiting jolly old England. Also currently in England: hordes of angry demonstrators.

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Anti-Trump campaigns from Sky News and the activist group Led By Donkeys gave an early sense of the city’s true feelings about Trump—and they have not improved since he started clomping around publicly. Anyone could see that there’s a lot of energy in London around sending a message to the American president, and that the message is: “Bugger off!”

June 03, 2020

It’s June already, and we’re officially in festival season! This year, the Steel City’s queerfolk are taking over with more LGBTQ+ events than you can shake a disco stick at. First up, we have Sheffield Doc|Fest, the world-leading festival celebrating the art of storytelling across all forms returns for its 26th edition [6-11 Jun] with its biggest selection of queer content ever. Screenings at the Showroom include A Bigger Splash [Thu 6 Jun], the semi-fictionalised account of David Hockney’s breakup from Peter Schlesinger; XY Chelsea [Thu 6 Jun], following Chelsea’s release from her lifetime prison sentence for uploading thousands of documents to WikiLeaks revealing U.S soldiers targeting civilians in Iraq; Queen of Lapa [Fri 7 Jun] exploring the lives of trans sex workers in Rio de Janeiro; Seahorse [Sat 8 Jun] following the pregnancy of Freddy, a gay trans man starting his family; Father Figure [Sat 8 Jun] the story of voguing kiki house founder Guilliano; Lemebel [Sun 9 Jun] a portrait of Chilean artist...

May 30, 2019

In 2017 work began on a cluster of abandoned buildings at Moorfoot as part of a regeneration project, transforming the space into a new gay quarter.

This development, which is still under construction, is the first designated LGBTQ+ space in Sheffield. It’s a risk. Compared to Manchester’s Gay Village, the LGBTQ+ clubs, bars and pubs of Sheffield’s past have been spread all over the city. Only Dempseys has achieved longevity, a nightclub notorious for its 6am weekend closing time and its claim to having a global membership of 17,000 people. Its notoriety harks back to an era of LGBTQ+ nightlife which has since been forgotten.

Sheffield-based LGBTQ+ historian Sandra Baker Donnelly says the anonymity of these night-time spaces functioned as a refuge for people encountering discrimination. Using interviews, Sandra managed to trace the presence of gay nightlife as far back as the post-war period and before the Sexual Offences Act in 1967, which decriminalised homosexual acts between men aged over 21.

May 27, 2019

Central Government is funding a new, year-long project which aims to develop culturally competent LGBT+ domestic abuse provision across the 4 regions of South Yorkshire.

Domestic Abuse is about power and control and can involve physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse as well as forced marriage and ‘honour based’ violence’.

It is widely acknowledged that LGBT+ victims and survivors are not accessing services at the same rates as others in the population.

March 31, 2019

In 2017 work began on a cluster of abandoned buildings at Moorfoot as part of a regeneration project, transforming the space into a new gay quarter.

This development, which is still under construction, is the first designated LGBTQ+ space in Sheffield. It’s a risk. Compared to Manchester’s Gay Village, the LGBTQ+ clubs, bars and pubs of Sheffield’s past have been spread all over the city. Only Dempseys has achieved longevity, a nightclub notorious for its 6am weekend closing time and its claim to having a global membership of 17,000 people. Its notoriety harks back to an era of LGBTQ+ nightlife which has since been forgotten.

Sheffield-based LGBTQ+ historian Sandra Baker Donnelly says the anonymity of these night-time spaces functioned as a refuge for people encountering discrimination. Using interviews, Sandra managed to trace the presence of gay nightlife as far back as the post-war period and before the Sexual Offences Act in 1967, which decriminalised homosexual acts between men aged over 21.

March 31, 2019

It’s Hotting Up! 

April already! Spring has sprung, it’s officially beer garden weather (which up north just means it’s probably not going to snow) and we have another month packed with LGBT+ events. This month we also celebrate Lesbian Visibility Day (Fri 26 Apr), so let’s look at some of the queer women-focussed happenings taking place. First up, following its popular preview in LGBTQ+ History Month, there’s another chance to catch a screening of Rafiki at the Showroom (Mon 15 Apr), this time with the addition of a Q&A with director Wanuri Kahiu. Originally banned in Kenya for its lesbian content, Rafiki tells the story of love blossoming with two women despite the political rivalry of their families.