Outing The Past is a festival of queer history which takes place annually during LGBT History Month in the UK, Ireland and abroad. An opportunity to (re)discover our past in all its diversity, as part of this year’s festival and LGBT History Month celebrations in Belfast, I will give a public history talk about some of the pioneering women whose Christianity led them to challenge homophobia.
One such pioneer in 1970s Northern Ireland was an English woman – Sylvia Sands (left). Sylvia had worked with street gangs in London in the 1960s as a Christian community worker. She moved to Belfast in 1971 and immersed herself in cross-community peace work. It was in these early years of “The Troubles” that she formed friendships with local gay men and lesbians.