Umbrella Lane, a peer-led Sex Worker Health and Well-being Project located in Glasgow, will host an overview of the history of sex work by LGBT+ people in Scotland.

Although Sex Workers have frequently been at the forefront of queer activism, in Scotland as in the rest of the world, the stories, lives and achievements of Sex Workers are frequently erased from LGBT+ histories.

As part of this year’s focus on intersectionality, Umbrella Lane has invited two LGBT+ speakers to bring the stories of queer Sex Workers from Scotland’s past to life!

Due to the stigma of sex work, many of the most oppressed and marginalised members of Scotland’s LGBT+ community, barred from “respectable work”, had nowhere else to turn to support themselves, while others embraced the freedom it offered to embrace their authentic identities.

Their tales are complex and sometimes difficult - there are stories of blackmail, crime and violence here. However, they are also raw and authentic narratives of LGBT+ people not only fighting fiercely for survival, but to thrive and exist as their authentic selves in a world which demonised and tried to erase them.