Forming rainbows over Medway

A new organisation is advocating for the LGBT+ community in our towns. We talk to the founders about the project, the abuse they've faced, and what comes next.

Last year, we sat down with Shea Coffey of Medway Pride to talk about their work and being “the grit in the system”. This year, Shea and her spouse Sarah Coffey stepped down from Medway Pride to focus on their new project Rainbows Over Medway. We decided to find out why they stepped away, the abuse they have faced, and what comes next.

“Public dialogue has gone in a very strange direction, and there is a lot of hate out there”, notes Shea Coffey. One of the projects that has brought them the most vitriol has been giving books to libraries, which might not sound particularly controversial. The issue is that the supplied books had titles like ‘Have Pride’ or the ‘Trans Teen Survival Guide.’ “How dare we!” says Shea.

There was a concern that the advocacy work that Shea was leading had the risk of undermining the hard work of Medway Pride Radio, especially when it came to funding and wider support, hence the decision to step away. A communication specialist in her day job, Sarah provides admin support, creating a wide range of posters or helping to ensure that Shea’s idea happens. “I was very much in the background doing things, and then on the day of Pride, helping people out, doing whatever we needed. Radio station side of things, I was doing all the tech stuff. On top of having a full-time job, I was basically running the radio station. It was seven days a week working on that.”

Sarah and Shea Coffey

“I felt that Medway Pride had become something iconic”, continued Shea, “and I was able to step away, leaving it in very good hands”. Shea’s focus moving forward is to pursue conversations at Westminster and with businesses over the Rainbows banner. Conversations around housing, health care and hate crime. This is no tall order, requiring time and getting access to the right people at the right time. Time that being actively involved with Medway Pride wouldn’t provide.

Not that they will step away entirely. “We’ll still be at Medway Pride”, says Shea happily, “and we'll still be at various prides across Kent and southern England”. Shea admits she has always had a love-hate relationship with Prides in general. “They're not what they were 30 years ago, which is a good thing. It's a positive thing. They're not needed in the same way.” But that doesn't mean the community doesn't still have things it needs to campaign on. Shea acknowledges that they don’t want the attention they can bring to affect “a great day out in Medway.”

Rainbows Over Medway grew out of Medway Pride Radio and rapidly became about education, understanding and welfare, particularly for young LGBT+ people. “We're losing sight of them in the conversations we're having nationally”, says Shea. “It’s very rare that anybody asks them what they want or what they need.” Whatever your position, there is the risk of talking over and at them and not talking with or to them. That’s what Rainbows aims to rectify.