Harehills ❤️ Love

So, I wanted to do an article exploring LGTB+ history in Harehills. I’d been inspired by one of the West Yorkshire Queer Stories interviews with Jo Dunn, in it she talked about the women only discos at the Dock Green Inn on Ashley Road.

You can listen to the interview here, and while you’re at it, check out so much other stuff they’ve gathered in the article about LGBTIQ+ in West Yorkshire, it’s a treasure trove of history and experiences.

There’s a few other places with the same information, such as at the Secret Library Leeds, however it appears to be all sourced from Jo Dunn’s interview. I had hoped to find stories from others that attended or were involved in setting up the disco.

I did find a couple of other stories featuring LGBTIQ+ in Harehills, but they’re not ones I wanted to share. There’s no denying Harehills has a chequered past and present, but I want to celebrate the great and good of Harehills and LGBTIQ+ history.

So this article isn’t the one I envisioned, instead it’s a call to action. There’s a lot of history, stories, and personal experiences of being LGBTIQ+ in the area not being told, so I’d like to offer a place to share them. Large or small stories, news articles, pictures I’d like to offer this blog as a place to collect them.

I’m happy to work with anyone who wants to get a story told. You can reach me through comments here, the Contact Us form, the Harehills❤️Love twitter account, or by email at jl@aspiring.org

This invitation is open to anyone from the area, or surrounding areas that fits some definition of LGBTQQIAAP (which is about as inclusive an acronym as I’ve been able to find).

In the meantime, please do check out West Yorkshire Queer Voices, there are some really fascinating stories on there.