bout ye, leo

"I remember my first pride in Belfast, I think I was like 11 years old when I saw it. So pride always has a special memory for me. Particularly the idea of all the people who came before me. And to celebrate how far we've come and recognise how much more work we still need to do."

A person wearing glasses and wearing a baseball cap, wearing all black/denim. Holding an artwork cut-out of a Gay Pride t-shirt.

The first ever Pride in Belfast was held in 1991 and this t-shirt is from that event and why it's in the Ulster Museum collection.

Honestly, in a cost of living crisis, the thing I think about the museum, first and foremost, is that the vast majority of the exhibits are free. So for me, it's like one of those things that you can be like, okay, let's all go out and do something. And particularly if you don't want to go to a bar or a club or a restaurant, it's nice to be like, let's go to the museum, walk around, talk or gossip about the exhibits.

A person dressed in dark clothes, facial hair and glasses, standing against a red brick wall, smiling and looking off to the side.

Photo credit: Sam Patton

Text in black font saying 'enough about us' exclamation mark, placed on a turquoise colour block background - and a second line of text saying 'what about you' question mark also in black text but on a yellow colour block background.

I tend to connect to history through people's stories more than I do objects, and most of the history I have in regards to the queer community in Belfast is often like word of mouth. It's not necessarily stories that have the big historical significance, but rather the stories of how people, like everyday people, lived, loved and enjoyed their lives in the past. It really helps me to remember that a queer person in 1980s Belfast probably had a similar taste in music, a similar idea of what a good Friday night constitutes, a similar friendship group.

Music is a huge part of my life and it's a huge part of the history here. You know, my mum went to Good Vibrations, I went to Good Vibrations –there's something really great about the history of people making something happen, both with very little and also in really tumultuous times. And so for me, that [music], like it speaks to the punk spirit of Belfast. And it also, I don't know, it makes me want to act up a little bit more!

I think that with so much conflict going on around the world and how many narratives of ‘us versus them’ are being pushed, it's more important than ever to focus on the person to person, and to put yourself in somebody else's shoes and imagine what they want, and what they need.