The Freedom of a Fresh Start

Being at uni really helped me get comfortable with myself, because I was moving to a new place where nobody, or very few people, knew me. And it was like, the few people that I did know here were people I knew I could trust, so I essentially got to have a fresh start. I’m from a very small community, where everybody knows each other. [My friends and I] were all the gay people. So it’s like, I’m in this new place, I can be who I want to be. Nobody’s going to give a fuck if I pop out with a really badly cut mullet...

Leeds is a very queer city; there’s a lot of queer history here, there’s a lot of queer people here. It’s got a very DIY focused queer scene as well, I think. As compared to somewhere like Brighton or Manchester where they have their own DIY spaces, but a lot of their queer spaces are about partying. I think because it’s a smaller city as well, Leeds has more of an underground feel to their queer spaces too. Even the more ‘party’ spaces, they also have things like zine-making workshops and things.