Akt (stylised as akt and legally known as The Albert Kennedy Trust) is a voluntary organisation based in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, created in 1989 to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

) young people who are homeless or living in a hostile environment. It started in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

in 1989 and opened in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1996, and expanded to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

in 2013,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

History

The charity is named after Albert Kennedy (31 January 1973 – 30 April 1989), a 16-year-old Social Services care leaver from Manchester who was gay. Kennedy died after falling from the top of Chorlton Street multi-storey car park. Despite an inquest the circumstances of his death remain unclear. The official version is that he died from misadventure. Kennedy had experienced a great deal of homophobia during his life. Manchester's gay community was moved into action by the Trust's founder patron Cath Hall. Cath Hall was a straight foster carer who saw the need for an organisation to be set up to support young lesbian, gay, bi and trans people who were facing homelessness because of rejection at home. She had observed that Kennedy's case was not isolated, and that many other LGBTQ+ young people in and out of the foster care system were struggling with the effects of homophobia. Hall described the founding of the trust as "an emotional response, an angry response, to what was going on". As a result, the Albert Kennedy Trust was formed, officially becoming a Trust in 1990. In 2019 the Albert Kennedy Trust rebranded as akt.

Support and services

Akt Bristol opening, Tim Sigsworth speaking

Akt supports LGBTQ+ young people aged 16–25 in the UK who are facing or experiencing homelessness or living in a hostile environment. It helps young people: *Stay safe in a crisis *Find emergency accommodation *Access specialist support *Develop skills, identify and achieve life goals It provides: *Access to advice from a housing specialist *Access to an emergency support pack or tenancy starter pack *Accommodation with a specially trained akt host *Connection to a mentor for one-to-one support *A place to stay in their Purple Door accommodation service *A safe place with one of their housing provider partners *Access to life-skills training, events and peer support networks

Key dates

The Trust also provided services in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

starting in 2003, but due to funding issues had to withdraw from the city in May 2006. It has traditionally gained funding through individual donations and grants from such bodies as

Association of London Government London Councils is the local government association for Greater London, England. It is a cross-party organisation that represents London's 32 borough councils and the City of London. It was formed in 1995 as a merger of the London Boroughs As ...

Comic Relief Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

, the Princess Diana Memorial Fund, and

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

. The Trust marked its 16th anniversary of formally becoming a Trust in June 2006 with a House of Lords reception by Patron Lord Alli. The occasion was also marked by an

Early Day Motion In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a Motion (parliamentary procedure), motion, expressed as a single sentence, Table (parliamentary procedure), tabled by Member of Parliament, members of Parliament that formally ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

. On 5 January 2007, Sir

Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

became a patron of the trust, joining existing patrons

Julie Hesmondhalgh Julie Claire Hesmondhalgh (born 25 February 1970) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her role as Hayley Cropper in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' between 1998 and 2014. For this role, she won Best Serial Drama Perfor ...

and Lord Alli. In 2013, the Trust merged with Outpost, a pre-existing homeless charity for LGBT youth in Newcastle, extending the reach of the Trust to the North-East of England. In 2014, the Albert Kennedy Trust marked its 25th anniversary with a number of events in honour of Albert Kennedy and the continued work of the Trust. In 2019, the Albert Kennedy Trust marked its 30th anniversary with a rebrand to akt. In June 2019, Prince William said he would be "absolutely fine" if his children came out as gay or lesbian at an event at the London office of the Trust. An online poll of 2109 people by YouGov on behalf of akt asked people how they would feel in a range of scenarios if they had a child who came out to them as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. When respondents were asked whether they would "feel proud to have an LGBT child", 26 per cent of those polled disagreed. Less than half (46 per cent) of people surveyed agreed with the statement that they would feel proud to have a child who had come out. The poll, undertaken in October 2019, found more than one in 10 (11 per cent) would feel uncomfortable living at home with their lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender child. In 2022, akt opened in Bristol.

References

External links

akt
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Albert Kennedy Trust 1989 establishments in England Charities based in Manchester Charities based in London LGBT youth organisations based in the United Kingdom