Kirsty Loehr, the author of A Short History of Queer Women, explains why queer history needs to be recognised and what Sheffield can do better.
LGBT+ History Month is an annual monthly celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans, and non-binary history.
Ms Loehr said: “Recognising and acknowledging queer history gives queer people a past. It gives us role models, faces, and personalities and it can increase our understanding of queer people.”
LGBT+ History Month was initiated in the UK by Schools Out UK and has been going since February 2005. But Ms Loehr argues there is still little recognition of queer history.
Ms Loehr said: “The main thing here is that Sheffield, as with other cities, doesn’t just do this for one month. We need to provide LGBTQ+ history all year round, it needs to be seen as “the norm” and should be included with whatever is going on in the city at the moment. The more visible queer history, the better it will be.”
Primary schools, secondary schools, and universities must incorporate queer history heavily into their curriculum Ms Loehr said. And, in an ideal world, LGBTQ + history would be “intertwined” with history in general. It shouldn’t be allocated to just one month.
Embarking on a ‘lesbian pilgrimage’ to Yorkshire Ms Loehr visited Halifax, Shibden Hall, The Bronte Parsonage, and Hebden Bridge. Despite finding the trip “accessible” and “refreshing” she said she found it difficult to find anything queer in Sheffield.
Ms Loehr wants more support from city councils, allies, and businesses. She wants the same support, spaces, and visibility as heterosexual people and “definitely thinks it could be queerer” in Sheffield in terms of visibility and queer spaces”.
“We should be supported more by city councils, allies, businesses, etc. We should have the same support/spaces and visibility as heterosexual people. I definitely think it could be queerer in terms of visibility, queer spaces etc” Ms Loehr said.
“This was partly why I wrote my book, A Short History of Queer Women. Queer history and history in general, is often very academic, and inaccessible. I wanted to provide people with a history that was easy to read, and accessible but also helpful in that it gave people the tools to find more information on the people involved in the book.
Events are running across the month in celebration of the holiday. As part of the LGBTQ+ History Month 2023 collection, Sheffield Central Library is running the documentary No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics.
The documentary, which is running on Thursday 23rd February, depicts the lives of five LGBTQ+ comic book artists whose careers progressed from the underground scene to the international stage.