171% surge in referrals prompts LGBTQ+ youth charity to launch #DeserveBetter campaign

Referrals to LGBTQ+ youth charity The Proud Trust increased by 171% following the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

This prompted the charity to launch a major new national campaign highlighting the challenges LGBTQ+ young people continue to face and call for greater understanding, safer spaces and better support.

The Proud Trust, one of the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ youth charities, has launched #DeserveBetter, a nationwide campaign calling for greater understanding, safer spaces and better support for LGBTQ+ young people throughout the year.

The campaign comes as national research continues to paint a stark picture of the challenges many queer young people face. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ pupils experience bullying because of who they are, almost six in ten have seriously considered suicide, while almost a quarter may never complete secondary school, twice the national average.

The charity says there’s a growing demand for specialist LGBTQ+ support. Over the past year alone, The Proud Trust delivered nearly 400 youth group sessions and held more than 820 support conversations with LGBTQ+ young people, parents, carers and professionals.

Almost 10,000 people visited The Proud Place, its LGBTQ+ community centre in Manchester, while more than 1,400 teachers, youth workers and other professionals received specialist inclusion training.

Through its Rainbow Flag Award programme, which helps schools create safer and more inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ pupils, the charity also reached almost 50,000 young people.

Campaign will highlight issues affecting LGBTQ+ young people

Through #DeserveBetter, The Proud Trust will shine a spotlight on many of the issues affecting LGBTQ+ young people today, including bullying, discrimination, healthcare, education, barriers to employment, family acceptance, identity, belonging and access to safe spaces.

To kick off the campaign, The Proud Trust is sharing powerful first-person stories from people speaking publicly for the first time about growing up LGBTQ+, while also shining a spotlight on the key issues affecting young people today through expert insight and lived experience.

Award-winning spoken word artist myndstate has written an original poem inspired by his own experiences of growing up gay, while the campaign will also feature a special film bringing together a host of LGBTQ+ celebrities and high-profile allies, with the full contributor line-up to be revealed in the coming weeks.

Liam Swanston, director of development and partnerships at The Proud Trust, said:

A 171% increase in referrals isn’t just a statistic, behind every referral is a young person looking for somewhere they feel safe, someone who understands what they’re going through, or simply reassurance that they’re not alone.

Every day we work alongside LGBTQ+ young people who are navigating bullying, discrimination, isolation and uncertainty while also trying to understand who they are and where they belong. We also work with adults who want to understand and support the young people in their lives better.

No young person should grow up believing they have to hide who they are, face those experiences alone, or feel there’s no place where they truly belong.

#DeserveBetter is about ensuring those young people’s voices are heard. This campaign shines a spotlight on the realities many LGBTQ+ young people continue to face today, while celebrating the extraordinary difference that acceptance, visibility, community and support can make.

We hope it encourages greater understanding, challenges misconceptions and reminds every LGBTQ+ young person that they deserve to feel safe, valued, understood and able to thrive, every single day of the year.

For more information about The Proud Trust and the #DeserveBetter campaign, visit www.TheProudTrust.org

Featured image via the Canary