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Celebrating queer love was at the forefront of a Festival of Debate talk on Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The city is welcoming talks focussing on democracy, inequality, and climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beginning 16 April and running through until 25 May, one of the opening events was at Sir Frederick Mappin Building, on Mappin Street in the city centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surabhi Shukla, a law lecturer at the University of Sheffield, gave a talk about Maitri Karars – an agreement giving same-sex couples the ability to represent their love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lucy Straker, 42, from Hillsborough, attended the event and said: “Just having that awareness of different queer people right across the world, only kind of helps us and shapes us, giving us more better way of looking at different people\u2019s lives. We are all more enriched if we know what\u2019s going on all around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I think that was a real labour of love. Something that I think really came across is her passion and how much she is wanting to elevate queer voices in India that have been silenced for so long.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2015, Opus Independents<\/a> founded the Festival of Debate<\/a> in order to create opportunities for people to “share new ideas and lived experience that can help shape our understanding of the world.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The programme of events aims to bring together communities in South Yorkshire, exploring broad cultural movements for social change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n