Sarah Wilkinson 

Sarah (she/her) is an older lesbian in her late 50s, at the time of recording. Sarah discusses moving to Newcastle for university in 1982, where she became involved in political activism for various causes - the anti-apartheid movement, supporting the miners’ strike, feminism - which continued into LGBT activism when she came out as a lesbian in the late 1980s. Sarah discusses early experiences of LGBT activism like the Never Going Underground march in Manchester in 1988 and other direct action against Section 28. She talks about how LGBT+ activism was not inclusive of bisexual and trans people and there was little awareness around intersectionality. Sarah details how at the time the police were seen as the enemy, especially due to heavy-handed policing - Sarah was arrested at a feminist protest and had to go to trial, which was a very negative experience for her. The local and national press was another major target of their activity.
Sarah feels that becoming a community organiser came naturally through being very politically motivated, and wanting to feel part of a movement that was bringing about change to homophobic oppression - but she also found friends in her campaigning group, and the social side was a factor. There were many groups and individuals, including women’s groups and men’s sexual health organisations that were brought together through the campaign against Section 28. Another key issue in Newcastle was protesting the removal of an adopted child from the care of a lesbian couple, which contributed to her later community organising around LGBT parents and families in Manchester.
Sarah remembers having lots of meetings, and some of the heated discussions that came from people with different identities and viewpoints working together. When she moved to Manchester in the 1990s, she worked at Manchester City Council, supporting them to improve their support for people living with HIV and AIDS. She got involved in the LGBT members’ section of her trade union, Unison, where there were many conversations around issues such as access and challenging racism in the community, particularly as they worked alongside sections representing other groups of members. In the early 2000s, she got involved in community-based LGBT parents’ organising, at a time when she herself was going through the process of adopting children. Sarah discusses how community organising has affected her identity and the impact of working with others towards a common goal.
Sarah discusses how changes in information technology mean that the ways people are able to connect, communicate, and organise have transformed. She was recently a community curator for the Never Going Underground exhibition on the history of LGBT activism at the People’s History Museum. Sarah reflects on how LGBT activism and narrative is remembered. She talks about how it’s important to her to remember and recognise the diversity and expansiveness of what LGBT community organising has been, and what it has meant to the people involved.