The festival came a close second to Virgin Atlantic
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY OBAN LESBIAN WEEKEND
The hotly anticipated Oban Lesbian Weekend came second to Virgin Atlantic in the highly coveted Proud Scotland Travel Awards despite the festival only being in its second year. They were also the only finalist to receive the Outstanding Recognition Award.
This year marks the second instalment of the Oban Lesbian Weekend which will be held 28- 31 July. From castles, cruises and even a lesbian ceilidh, the weekend is packed full of queer entertainment and fun.
A delighted Maz Gordon, founder of Oban Lesbian Weekend, said: “As a small, community business, only in our second year, we are delighted to come such a close second to Virgin Atlantic, one of the world’s largest corporate businesses.”
She continued: “I’d like to thank our amazing Oban Lesbian Weekend crew and attendees for all their support. Many attendees said they had previously felt isolated, just like I felt when I first moved to Oban (with zero or very little LGBTQ+ community around us). It’s been amazing and quite humbling to hear so many women say they’ve now met life-long friends and even embarked on several long-term relationships, including two engagements which have ensued.”
This year’s Oban Lesbian Weekend is being held in memory of Lottie Dingle who was the editor of g3 magazine in 2008, which was owned by DIVA Publisher Linda Riley and Sarah Garrett MBE. She also founded Biscuit, the bisexual advocacy group. She passed away in September 2022. This year’s festival will be raising money for Argyll Wellbeing Hub which helps fund and support mental health teams in Argyll. The Oban Lesbian Weekend team will also be fundraising for Leap Sports which promotes LGBTQIA exercise participation across Scotland.
On this year’s Oban Lesbian Weekend, you can get up to everything from wild swimming and paddleboarding to a lesbian booze (or no booze) cruise to the beautiful, unspoilt Isle of Mull.
Siobhan Fahey, producer of Rebel Dykes, will be running a workshop, showing never before seen cuts of the documentary about rabble-rousing punk lesbians set in 1980s and 1990’s post-punk London. You can watch the documentary on Channel 4.
There will be several musical guests such as legendary Edinburgh LGBTQIA DJ Trendy Wendy and married couple DJ Sandra D & Alabaster Queen who will be making their Scottish debut.
Tickets are running out, so if you fancy a weekend of queer fun get your tickets from WWW.OBANLESBIANWEEKEND.CO.UK or email obanlesbianweekend@gmail.com .
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