THIS Sunday will see the first ever LGBTQ+ Women’s Sports Day at Queens University’s PEC.

The event is being organised by Sporting Pride in collaboration with Ulster LGFA, Basketball NI, Ulster Camogie, East Belfast GAA, QUB, Cooke RFC, Cooker Warriors, Female Sports Forum and Active Women NI. 

The event is hoping to reach out to as many women as possible and offers invites to celebrate LGBTQ+ women in sport through a variety of sports including camogie, rugby, basketball and skateboarding. The sports event will be followed by a night out at Boombox to celebrate women's sport.

Martin Murray – a volunteer for Sporting Pride, which is an All-Ireland LGBTQ+ organisation for raising equality and opportunities for LGBTQ+ people in sports –  explained that Sporting Pride had their annual general meeting in Belfast and invited Sports NI, Female Sports Forum, Active Women NI, GAA clubs and Belfast Aslans. After speaking with women from the Female Sports Forum and Active Women NI they decided it would be a good idea to organise an event focusing on LGBTQ+ women.

Martin said: “In the North there isn’t a lot of opportunities for LGBTQ+ women to meet up and although we have around five LGBTQ+ sports teams in the North none of them are really female focused. Two are male only and the others are mixed gender. 

“We reached out to more groups such as the Ulster Ladies Gaelic Football Association who are going to work with East Belfast GAA to hold two LGFA games and one camogie game which will be induction games and involve some training and some short games to introduce people to the sport.”

As well as GAA games Cooke Rugby Club will also be attending and offering games of tag rugby for everyone to take part in and play. Martin also said Basketball NI and Active Women NI have set up basketball games inside the PEC which will be organised as three against three and there will also be a chance to take part in skateboarding lessons.

The final event of the day is a planned fun run in Botanic Gardens followed by prizes from sponsors which will be given to the winners.