Pride Month takes place in June each year and is all about celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people and raising awareness of issues affecting the LGBT+ community.
Services for Young People (SfYP) runs weekly projects across Hertfordshire for young LGBT+ people and those questioning/exploring their sexual or gender identity. They are safe spaces where young people can meet other young LGBT+ people in their area, discuss issues that matter to them, and get support and advice from our qualified Youth Workers and Advisers.
During this year’s Pride Month, the young people at these projects celebrated by holding special events and getting involved in many creative activities that helped them learn more about LGBT+ culture and build their self-confidence. They created some fantastic artwork, which is now on display at our young people’s centres across the county.
At the St Albans LGBT+ Project young people designed bunting to decorate the venue and showcase pride and inclusiveness for all, using LGBT+ flags, symbols and logos as inspiration for their designs. Through the activity many members of the group discovered the meaning of different flags and identified various groups within the LGBT+ community they were not previously aware of.
One of the highlights of the month-long celebrations was the Stevenage Youth Council's PRIDE event held at the Bowes Lyon Young People's Centre in Stevenage on 28 June. The youth council worked with members of the Stevenage Identity LGBT+/Transgender Project to plan an engaging itinerary for the evening. There were live musical performances and the young people made rainbow-coloured hands and wrote messages on them to express what PRIDE meant to each of them. The evening finished with everyone getting involved in competitive but fun Kahoot quiz on LGBT+ flags.
Comments from young people attending the Stevenage LGBT+/Transgender Identity Project:
“When I come here, I have the best time, I can just be me!”
“When I had an anxiety attack, the staff supported me to use coping mechanisms, they showed me and it helped a lot.”
“I loved the supporting nature of everybody at the group.”
The overwhelmingly positive feedback from the event has inspired Stevenage Youth Council to organise a termly showcase, giving LGBT+ young people more opportunities to shine.
Young people can join their local LGBT+ project by getting in touch with their local team or emailing [email protected].
Find full details of the projects here: Support for young LGBT+ people.
Professionals who work with young people and parents/carers can refer a young person to one of these projects here: Make a referral.
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