"There just seemed to be very little by way of LGBT community at the time." Richard Summers (Rich), 34, had just graduated and while when he moved to Swansea for university he was met by a thriving LGBTQ+ scene made up of students, having left university, he realised there was a lot less on offer outside of his higher education bubble.
"When I was a student there was a lot of LGBT life going on but when I looked in the community there was none of that. There was none of that for the people who actually live in Swansea."
Gay bars had gradually disappeared from the city over the years, and the LGBTQ+ scene in Swansea felt almost non-existent according to Rich. So he decided to do something about this and, in 2018, he became the musical director of True Colours- a Swansea LGBTQ+ choir. You can read more stories about Swansea here.
Drawing on his experience with youth choirs and male choirs in his hometown of Ebbw Vale, Rich dedicated his spare time to the choir, who started with just one other member and have grown to fourteen.
"It was a good opportunity to bring together a group of people who may never go to Pride and felt they didn't fit in anywhere. I wanted to make it as inclusive as possible. Even people that don't feel they fit into the LGBT community," added Rich.
Now the choir sing on stages like Swansea Grand and have performed with TikTok star Bronwen Lewis in their local chapel to raise money for a homeless charity. You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
"We've got some incredible singers," explained Rich. "It's been an amazing thing because we don't have voice tests or auditions so people can come with any skills they have and enjoy it. We make a good sound together and it's the right balance of community -focused and music-focused."
The choir meet once a week on Sunday afternoons in Fabian's Bay Congregational Church in St Thomas and are a bit different to the usual choirs you might find in a typical Welsh church. Favouring Tina Turner and Dolly Parton over more traditional hymns, the community choir have given a group of LGBTQ+ people in Swansea a space where they can be their authentic selves.
Rich is a researcher in psychology at Swansea University and has a background in the psychology of aging. The age of True Colours members range from those in their 20s to people in their 70s, something Rich said was important to him.
"I try to aim at the older LGBT community as well. I don't want to speak out of turn, but older LGBT people have lived through a lot and lived through a lot of isolation. If there's no community, there's so much loneliness. There's just so many people who maybe don't feel like they fit anywhere. It's hard to find friends when you're an adult, especially to make friends in the LGBT community," said Rich.
"There's been a number of people that have said that contact and friendship has really meant the world to them. Music and expressing yourself creatively is amazing. But it's also about being vulnerable together. It takes a bit of courage actually to sing and make mistakes with each other in a space which is safe. It builds people's confidence."
"As a bisexual person, it makes me feel like I belong."-Heather Evans, 31
Heather Evans, 31, is a musician and project manager from Nova Scotia, Canada, who moved to Swansea with her husband in 2018. Heather has been singing in choirs since she was six years old and joined True Colours in 2021 after she was encouraged by another member to go along to a rehearsal one day. "It was so good to be in a room full of music, I knew I had to join," she said.
Heather loves living in south Wales and was drawn to the Welsh tradition of male voice choirs having watched them before she moved to Swansea. Although she has embraced her new Welsh home, she found the LGBTQ+ scene very different from that of Nova Scotia. "It was definitely different," Heather said, "in the sense that I couldn't find it! I'm sure the community is quite large but there's a lack of queer spaces.
"I come from a small city, about the same size as Swansea actually, and the LGBTQ+ scene was massive. There were lots of places to go, you know, clubs, bars but also community centres and LGBTQ+ book clubs, choirs, art clubs - you name it, people even roller-skate together. But it seems like it's growing here in Swansea and I like that."
Heather said the choir gave her the opportunity to be part of the LGBTQ+ community in Wales but also helped her make friends. Heather explained that she sometimes found it hard to make connections as an adult and this was made even more difficult by moving to a new country and being in lockdown.
"It's about coming together with like-minded folks to make music. For me, it's a community and they're my friends. I look forward to singing every single week," she said.
"Queer folks and LGBTQ+ folks- it's a marginalised community, right? So, when you find people who are going through the same struggles as you or can talk about things with you like being closeted or coming out, trying to navigate dating or friendships, telling your friends that you're queer. It can be really helpful to have folks who are going through the same things.
"As a bisexual person, it makes me feel like I belong. There are quite a few bisexual people in the choir, it's grand to find your niche community within that space."
"I was a much less confident soul when I moved to Swansea. The choir has helped me be more confident in who I am."- Mo Comfort, 30
Eurovision-obsessed Mo from Maidstone moved to Swansea for university and soon noticed the lack of queer community spaces in the city.
"I found it a little bit difficult living in Swansea and believing there was a queer community here. There's not really much of a gay scene in Swansea and what was there wasn't always friendly or welcoming. It was discovering the choir that made me actually believe there was somewhat of a community."
After he saw an advert for the choir four years ago, Mo went along to one of the first True Colour rehearsals and has been going there every week ever since. Mo, who is a coffee shop manager, said: "I was a much less confident soul when I moved to Swansea. The choir has helped me be more confident in who I am."
Suffering with depression and anxiety, Mo said the support network at the choir had helped him when life had been "really, really, tough." Mo said he was thankful to Rich, who had become a good friend, for pulling him out of some difficult times and added: "Rich is a close friend of everyone that's in choir and people can go to him. He knows how to help people however they need the help."
"Sometimes queer spaces can be a little daunting for people"-Yasmin Agnew, 27
Originally from Plymouth, Yasmin, who is bisexual and in a straight-presenting relationship, joined the choir in 2019 to explore her love for singing and meet like-minded people.
Yasmin said she has found the choir to be a safe space where she feels accepted: "The community that we've created is just so lovely. Sometimes queer spaces can be a little daunting for some people, I think especially identifying as bi you might ask yourself, 'am I queer enough?' But actually no-one cares!" Yasmin added that her boyfriend comes along to all the True Colours concerts and loves supporting her choir.
"There's so many pockets of queerness in Swansea"- Jess Lucitt, 33
After her choir stopped meeting in person due to concerns over Covid, Jess found True Colours who had started meeting back up again after the lockdown. Jess's first impressions of the choir were a bit daunting. "I walked into a room of about eight or nine men! But then Yasmin came if five minutes later!" she said.
"Everybody was really friendly. I just immediately felt like I was amongst friends. I sing on my own but singing in a choir just gives you that energy. It just can't be matched."
Jess runs a queer dance night in Swansea called PYNK with her partner and was looking to meet new people in her community. "There's so many pockets of queerness in Swansea, which should all be integrated together," she said.
The NHS worker from Swansea loves to change popular songs and 'queer' them for her performances. Recently, she sang her own version of Dolly Parton's Jolene with lyrics asking Jolene to date her instead of worrying about taking her man.
"At choir, you can just turn up and be who you are and it just fits"- Alun Boaler
Probation service worker Alun and his partner of six years joined the choir last year to make some new friends after lockdowns. While his partner Scott has a theatre background, Alun said he only ever sang at karaoke before joining True Colours. Having previously tried to join LGBTQ+ sports groups, Alun feels much more at home in the choir and said the open attitude of choir members made it easy to talk about mental health.
"I tried to fit into boxes to try and meet more queer people and be this kind of person. But at choir, you can just turn up and be who you are and it just fits," said Alun.
"My other half and I, we've both had our struggles with mental health which I know is quite common for queer people. The other day, we had a rehearsal, he'd had a bad day and I just gave him a call and said, 'Get down here. Put some clothes on and come have a pint and a sing song' and it completely lifted his mood."
Although Rich has clearly changed the lives of many LGBTQ+ people in Swansea like Alun and his partner Scott, I was interested in how the choir he started four years ago has transformed his life. "More than anything, the people that I've met," Rich said, "they just mean the world to me. We're a good bunch."
Read next:
- The passionate 16-year-old activist changing Welsh LGBT+ lives for the better
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- The reasons why Angela Lansbury was a total gay icon
- Black History Month: The men stationed in Swansea in WW2 who went on to be famous and hugely influential
- 'I can't make the figures add up': Welsh foodbanks in state of emergency in worst crisis of modern times
