queer joy campaign

LGBTQ+ rights have come a long way in recent decades, but that doesn’t mean we can them for granted.

With the mounting cost of living and increasing societal divisions, it couldn’t be more important to spread queer joy and support LGBTQ+ young people.

progress isn’t permanent:

In 2023, many people are shocked to learn that living as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the UK can still be a challenge. In many ways, we’ve achieved a lot in progressing the rights of LGBTQ+ people, while also helping others to accept and learn more about our community.

But over the past year, the importance of coming together in strength and mutual support has become clearer than ever.

As the cost-of-living crisis continues, the most marginalised within the LGBTQ+ community have continued to face abuse and violence, most notably people of colour as well as trans and non-binary people.

We’ve also seen an increase in the number of LGBTQ+ young people sofa surfing to avoid street homelessness, leaving them more likely to experience long-term homelessness.

With services in healthcare, social care and local authorities also experiencing a strain on resources and capacity, they are unable to properly meet the needs of LGBTQ+ young people, which is where we come in. However, just last year we exceeded our expectations in the number of young people referred to us by 9%, which also means that we need additional support to keep up with this increased demand for our unique services.

lgbtq+ rights are being challenged across the globe:

The current government has given us good reason to be concerned about the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the UK – particularly the rights of trans people.

In 2015, the UK was ranked the best place to be LGBTI in Europe, with respect to equality laws and policies. Since then, we’ve dropped sixteen places.

The Rainbow Europe Map is a comprehensive report, ranking 49 European countries on their LGBTI+ equality laws and policies. It has showed how legislative actions resulted in the UK dropping from 1st to 17th place between 2015 and 2023, with the biggest fall occurring in the last two years.

These trends are even more striking in the United States, where trans people have been particularly vilified by particular groups. In our global society, the political shocks in the US have a knock-on effect on attitudes among people in the UK.

When speaking with the young people we have recently supported, they communicated that they rarely hear authentic stories from happy, fulfilled LGBTQ+ role models. We have seen a similar enthusiasm for forming positive connections through our Youth Engagement programme, which we have been expanding since October 2022, with numbers of young people engaging progressively increasing. Since October 2022, 36 new young people have engaged with youth work sessions.

lgbtq+ young people need stories of happy & fulfilled lgbtq+ adults:

Right now, the LGBTQ+ community is under increasing pressures from wider society and relentless hostile media coverage, which is making life difficult and uncomfortable for all LGBTQ+ people. Combined with the threats to LGBTQ+ people’s rights, it is more important than ever to come together as a community – celebrating and standing in solidarity with all LGBTQ+ young people.

Having a safe, stable place to live, and the freedom of self-expression, are the foundations upon which young people can build joyful queer lives. We need to ensure that our work to support young people on their journeys can continue. Please help to support the LGBTQ+ young people who need us by making a donation to our appeal today.

Thank you.