ABSTRACT
In 2017, Kingston-upon-Hull celebrated becoming UK City of Culture (‘Hull2017’). Organisers of the cultural mega-event hoped to restore civic pride amongst residents of Hull, which had been severely affected ever since its North Sea fishing industry collapsed, and counter the marginality often projected onto Hull in wider UK representations of the city. They unexpectedly also had to manage the meanings of Hull’s high ‘Leave’ vote in the Brexit referendum, which opted to put UK onto the margins of Europe. Examining Hull2017’s LGBTQ+ programming strand, the chapter discusses how spatial and sexual marginalities interacted in appeals to LGBTQ+ and civic pride.
