PHOTO: ANDREW DAWES
In the 1990s, growing up in the small harbor town of Oban, the only place I ever saw the word lesbian was in my Oxford Dictionary.
Section 28 (the UK law that prohibited local authorities and state schools from “promoting homosexuality”) loomed large. While Oban was famous for its seafood, whisky, and scenic harbor, it certainly wasn’t known for queer women. I never met anyone openly identifying as lesbian or queer while growing up there.
Fast forward a few decades, and that same small coastal town has been named by both mainstream and queer press—including DIVA magazine and The Times—as an unlikely lesbian+ capital of Scotland.
Every September, hundreds of LGBTQ+ women travel from across the UK, Europe, the U.S., and beyond to attend Oban Lesbian+ Weekend, a joyful celebration of community, adventure, and visibility on Scotland’s wild west coast. And in 2026, the festival celebrates its fifth year.
But the name itself often sparks conversation. People sometimes ask: If the event is inclusive, why call it a lesbian weekend? The answer is simple: We’re reclaiming the word lesbian.
At Oban Lesbian+ Weekend, “lesbian” isn’t a gatekeeping label. It’s a banner—one that proudly includes LGBTQ+ women, trans women, and non-binary people who feel part of the lesbian+ community.
Trans women have been part of the festival from the very beginning, including on our crew, and the space we create is intentionally inclusive.
At a time when the word ‘lesbian’ can sometimes be used to exclude, our festival flips the narrative. We use it as something joyful, visible, and welcoming. And in a small town like Oban, visibility matters.
Words like ‘queer’ or ‘non-binary’ may not always be widely understood in rural communities—but everyone knows what a lesbian is.
By putting the word lesbian on posters, T-shirts, and festival banners across town, we’re making something clear: this small Scottish harbor is now a place where queer women are unmistakably visible—during OLW+ and increasingly throughout the year.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: QUEER CEILIDH; HIKING; SOCIALIZING
FROM SPEED DATING TO COMMUNITY BUILDING
My journey to creating the festival has been shaped by more than two decades spent bringing queer women together. In fact, 2026 marks 21 years since I first launched my events business, starting with lesbian speed dating in Brighton. I’d recently moved there and spotted an advert in g3 Magazine for a lesbian speed dating event in Manchester. I remember thinking: Why isn’t there something like that in “gay Brighton”?
The events sold out quickly. And I discovered something that has guided my work ever since: Queer women love spaces designed intentionally to help them meet each other. Whether those connections lead to friendships, flings or lifelong partners doesn’t really matter—the magic is in the meeting.
Over the years, I’ve joked that I enjoy “playing Cilla,” referencing Cilla Black, the host of Blind Date. At one point, I even ran live matchmaking shows called Blind Date’s Gone Queer. Helping women find each other has always been the most joyful part of my work.
A LIFE IN QUEER COMMUNITY SPACES
My career in queer media and community building eventually took me around the world.
I managed the iconic lesbian dating platform Pink Sofa in both the UK and Australia, helping women connect through thoughtful profiles and shared interests—not just sexuality.
During my student years, I also spent summers in Provincetown, performing by night and working by day in legendary queer women’s bookshops and erotica stores like Toys of Eros and Wild Hearts. Between customers, I devoured lesbian media: magazines like Curve and DIVA, Melissa Etheridge’s autobiography, and relationship classics like The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton.
Those spaces showed me the power of queer community hubs—places where women could meet, talk, flirt, learn, and feel visible.
Eventually, I returned home to Oban and realized something important: Outside major cities, LGBTQ+ women often have very few spaces where they can easily meet each other.
FROM WHISKY AND WILDLIFE TO CASTLES AND CEILIDHS
Oban Lesbian+ Weekend began with a simple idea: Bring queer women together somewhere unexpected and beautiful.
Guests explore historic castles, take boat trips across the Atlantic waters surrounding the Inner Hebrides, and dance at our now legendary LGBTQ+ women’s ceilidh (a traditional Scottish social organized around music, pronounced KAY-lee)-which we believe is the only ceilidh in the world designed specifically for LGBTQ+ women and non-binary people.
The weekend also celebrates women, watersports, and wildlife. Workshops and activities range from vanlife talks and paddleboarding to whisky tastings, coastal walks, and outdoor hot tubs—all designed to help women connect through shared interests, laughter, and adventure.
When evening arrives, the festival shifts into party mode with comedy, music, and dancing.
In 2025, we were thrilled to welcome BAFTA-winning lesbian comedian and DJ Karen Dunbar, best known for Chewin’ the Fat, as the headline act.
For our fifth anniversary in 2026, legendary Edinburgh DJ Trendy Wendy, who played at our very first festival, will return to get everyone back on the dancefloor.
Some of this year’s evening entertainment is still under wraps. But I’m especially excited to welcome rock chick Andrea Kenny, whom I first met in Brighton around twenty years ago and who is now based in the Midlands. Andrea has the rare ability to get an entire room singing along—expect iconic power ballads from bands like Skunk Anansie, The Cranberries, and 4 Non Blondes.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: MAKING CONNECTIONS; CASTLES; YOGA
WHERE CONNECTIONS LAST
The connections made at Oban Lesbian+ Weekend don’t stop when the music ends. Several couples who first met at the festival are now living together or engaged, and we sometimes joke that a festival wedding might be the next chapter.
From a town where the only lesbians I knew were in a dictionary to a place where hundreds gather every year to celebrate community, adventure, and connection…
Oban Lesbian+ Weekend has become proof that queer spaces can thrive anywhere. And sometimes the most powerful thing you can do with a word like lesbian… is reclaim it with joy.
This year, Oban Lesbian + Weekend is on September 3-7. Find out more and book here. Follow this year’s festival here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maz Gordon is an international LGBTQ+ activist, journalist and entrepreneur, based in her Scottish hometown of Oban, where she runs Oban Lesbian+ Weekend and is a proud queer solo parent. As a student, Maz spent her summers working in Provincetown. Returning to the UK, she launched a successful LGBTQ+ women’s speed-dating and events business before moving into media, working on award-winning queer publications and events across the UK, the US, and Australia, including g3 magazine, Pink Sofa, DIVA magazine, Planet Nation, and Squarepeg Media’s Alternative Parenting Show.