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Welcome to our bulletin this week from
The Proud Trust


As we all continue to navigate these uncertain times and cope with the ‘coronacoaster’ of emotions it brings, it’s encouraging to see many acts of kindness amongst those in the LGBT+ community.

This last weekend would usually be Eurovision, a guilty pleasure of high camp escapism for many in our communities. Even more importantly, Sunday 17th May marked IDAHOBIT - the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. As we have already seen during this pandemic, discrimination and inequality do not go away in a pandemic, if anything they are writ large. The LGBT+ community already struggles with high levels of mental health issues and precarious housing situations, and our work continues through supporting those on the margins.

As global citizens, we also all have our role to play.  We are proud of our young people, many of whom are thinking outside of their situation to support others at home, and helping LGBT+ people in other parts of the world through campaigning, connecting and fundraising.

Our eighteen youth groups and one-to-one support continue online for the time being, as we begin to assess when and how to safely bring back face-to-face services. Thanks go out to our volunteer mentors and counsellors, and our staff, who have diligently, consistently and gently been supporting our young people during lockdown.

We are here for all young LGBT+ people across Greater Manchester and Cheshire, aged 12 to 25. If you know a young person who might benefit from attending a free online youth group or receiving free one-to-one support, please get in touch.
 

In case you missed it...

Please pass the following statement of support to all young people you work with. Click the image to download:
 


You can find ways to support our work here. 

I Went to the Gym and I...

Aim: A fun “virtual class” type activity for all to join in, using activities designed by your group.

Suitability: Any age; assess suitability of exercises as you go along. 

Resources: Just what is created/suggested by your group.

Preparation: None.

Instructions:  This is a bit like the “I went to market and I bought…” game. In turn, each person starts a sentence by saying “I went to the gym and I…”, and then finishes the sentence with an exercise of their choice, e.g. “did five star jumps”. Then everyone does five star jumps (or whatever). The second person starts their sentence with “I went to the gym and I did five star jumps and…”, adding a new exercise of their choice. All the group do both exercises. Repeat and add to this exercise list until all the group have been – they should be pretty tired at the end!
Late last year, some lesbian, bisexual and pansexual (LBP) young women came on a residential with us to the Lake District. Whilst there, they gave their thoughts to what it is to be an LBP young woman, recording these thoughts in a series of podcasts.

This week, why not listen to a young woman, who comes to our Young Women's Health project and Fusion group (for BAME young people) talking about women only spaces. Find them here.

This week's Transcriptions piece by Nush W is a playful and practical symbol of the potential for celebrating the space in between the ideals we have been taught to hold, asking the reader to delight in the simplicity of accepting what they see, rather than what they think they see or ought to see.

You can find it on our website by clicking here.

 

Transcriptions is an unabridged celebration of young trans and non-binary people as human beings in their own right, as expansive and beautiful, as the experts on their own experience. At a time when these individuals are often reduced to objects in a political argument in which they are allowed no voice, we launch this project with passion and pride for our young people and their creations.

Written exclusively by trans and non-binary young people, over the coming weeks, we will bring to you 12 poetry and prose pieces, submitted in response to the call from The Proud Trust. Literally hundreds of entries we received! The 12 we will share demonstrate the diversity, creative expression and vibrant emotional worlds of trans and non-binary young people.
 

Hosting one of the UK's leading voices in Black queer writing

Join the Virtual LGBT+ Centre, in collaboration with Rainbow Noir, from wherever you are in the world, who are hosting one of the UK's leading voices in Black queer writing for a private reading and Q+A.

Dean Atta took the world by storm in 2012 with his poem 'I Am Nobody's Nigger' which became the title of his first collection of poems the following year.

As one of the UK's most influential LGBT+ people (Independent on Sunday) Dean will be sharing from his 2019 novel 'The Black Flamingo' which follows the life of the young mixed-race gay protagonist Michael who unleashes the power of drag.

Intensely personal and political, this reading will leave you both buoyed and inspired.

Optional donations warmly received to help support LGBT+ youth through the rebuilding of Manchester's LGBT+ Centre.

Book your free places now by clicking this link http://virtuallgbtcentre.eventbrite.co.uk
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