LGBT Foundation (formerly known as The Lesbian & Gay Foundation) is a national charity based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

with a wide portfolio of services. With a history dating back nearly 40 years, it campaigns for a fair and equal society where all

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

and

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (film ...

(

LGBT ' 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 a ...

) people are able to reach their full potential. They support over 40,000 people directly every year, and a further 600,000 online. They provide direct services and resources to more LGBT people than any other charity of its kind in the UK. The

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

is governed by a board of trustees from a variety of backgrounds and with a wide variety of skills and qualifications. The trustees are supported by a Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Operations, Director of Development and four Deputy Directors who oversee directorates for Delivery, Inclusion, Income Generation and Finance. The charity provides a broad range of support services including

substance misuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

domestic abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...

, sexual health testing,

talking therapies Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome prob ...

wellbeing Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative ''to'' someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good ''for'' this person, what is in th ...

, community safety, trans advocacy, LGBTQ+ armed forces/veterans, smoking cessation and the Indigo Gender Service. LGBT Foundation also offers support programmes for all LGBTQ+ communities including, bisexual,

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

and QTIPOC (queer, transgender and intersex people of colour) communities.

History

The origin of the LGBT Foundation was in the Manchester Lesbian and Gay Switchboard Services (MLGSS), which began on 2 January 1975 when six gay men got together to provide an information and support service for the growing number of gay men coming out following the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. The line ran from 7 to 9pm each evening with calls being taken about a wide range of issues. Over the decades, the services broadened out to include counselling, group work and email support. In April 2000, MLGSS unified with Healthy Gay Manchester (HGM) to form the Lesbian & Gay Foundation (LGF). Drawing upon experience gained from MeSMAC Manchester, HGM was formed in 1994 by Paul Martin OBE (current Chief Executive of LGBT Foundation), and Gerard Gudgion with a clear aim to reduce the incidence of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

infection through sex between men. Famed for its ground-breaking approach to safer sex campaigning, HGM was a pioneering gay men's health organisation offering free

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...

s and

personal lubricant Personal lubricants (colloquially termed lube) are specialized lubricants used during sexual acts, such as intercourse and masturbation, to reduce friction to or between the penis and vagina, anus or other body parts or applied to sex toys to red ...

, counselling, services, groups and volunteering opportunities such as condom packing evenings. In April 2015, the LGF adopted the name LGBT Foundation. The LGBT Foundation has witnessed and responded to and impacted a number of national and international developments for LGBT equality LGBT Foundation co-operated with

Manchester Pride Manchester Pride is a leading charity that campaigns for LGBTQ+ equality across the United Kingdom, predominantly in Greater Manchester. The Charity offers dialogue, training, research and policy analysis, advocacy and outreach activities focus ...

for the organisation of its yearly "

Pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

" event. It used to provide media partnership to Manchester Pride with its own magazine, ''Out North West,'' until the magazine was discontinued.

Current work

As of 2019, LGBT Foundation is the largest LGBT health and community services charity in the UK, offering a range of services serving over 40,000 people in person and over 600,000 people online every year. LGBT Foundation provides a wide range of wellbeing and support services. Their

programme provides practical housing advice, 1:1 casework support and advice sessions to LGBT victims of domestic abuse. Their substance misuse programme provides 1-2-1 and group support for those addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. Their talking therapies team deliver LGBT-affirmative counselling support. Their befriending service helps people to build their support networks, make friends and reduce loneliness. The Foundation Direct helpline – the organisation's oldest service - provides crisis email and phone support to over 5,000 people every year. They operate a sexual health testing service for

men who have sex with men Men who have sex with men (MSM) are male persons who engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex. The term was created in the 1990s by epidemiology, epidemiologists to study the spread of disease among all men who have sex with men, r ...

and LGBT people. Over the past year they have delivered 498 rapid HIV tests and 260 full sexual health screenings alongside providing access to sexual wellbeing advice and support. They also do outreach testing across

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 ...

. Each year their sexual health team distributes over a quarter of a million loose condoms and sachets of lube. Pride in Practice is LGBT Foundation's quality assurance support service that strengthens and develops Primary Care Services relationship with their lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans patients within the local community. As of 2019, 2.1 million patients in Greater Manchester are now registered at Pride in Practice accredited GP practices. The Village Angels and Village Haven are LGBT Foundation's night-time safety and harm reduction projects. They provide support to vulnerable people in Manchester's historic

Gay Village A gay village is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBT) people. Gay villages often contain a number of gay-oriented establish ...

on a Friday and Saturday evening from 9pm to 5am. The Village Angels was first established in 2011, where a team of volunteers and a first-aid trained shift lead patrolling the Gay Village every Friday and Saturday from 9pm to 3am, wearing the hot pink uniforms for which they are renowned. In 2016, they piloted an expansion of the Angels programme - the Village Haven. The Village Haven is a night time safe haven for those too vulnerable to be out on the streets. Following the success of this pilot, the Village Haven became a permanent fixture of LGBT Foundation's community safety programme in 2017 working continually in tandem with the Village Angels. Each year the programmes support 5,000 people every year, including 450 highly vulnerable people. In 2017, they partnered with

Smirnoff Smirnoff (; ) is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898). It is distributed in 130 countries. Smirnoff produ ...

as part of their "We're Open" campaign making a short video about the Angels work and to begin expanding the programme nationally. In 2018, the Village Angels and Haven volunteers won the "Dedication to Volunteering" award at th
Greater Manchester Health and Care Champions Awards
an initiative of the

Greater Manchester Combined Authority The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is a combined authority for Greater Manchester, England. It was established on 1 April 2011 and consists of 11 members; 10 indirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from one ...

and the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. In 2019, the Village Angels were awarded the

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, also known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sect ...

, the highest honour a voluntary group can receive in the UK. LGBT Foundation has dedicated Men's and Women's Programmes. In 2019, LGBT+ Futures Fund announced they would fund the Men's Programme to continue to delivering creative activities for gay, bisexual and trans men. The Women's Programme works to support and empower all lesbian and bisexual women to improve their health and wellbeing, increase their skills, knowledge and confidence, and reducing their feelings of isolation. Through their events, workshops and community leaders project, the Women's Programme has gone from providing one event per month to ensuring at least one activity per week for lesbian, bi, queer and trans women. They also manage over 2,500 meetup members and 2,500 bulletin subscribers with content dedicated to lesbian and bi women, and support over 2,000 women a year have greater access to targeted information through outreach and netreach. In 2019, to mark

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...

, they unveiled the preliminary results of The National Sexual Wellbeing Survey for Women who have Sex with Women. It was the largest research of its kind for over a decade. In 2019, the Women's Programme was nominated for the 'Inclusion Champion' award at the Greater Manchester Health and Care Champions Awards. LGBT Foundation also has a dedicated Trans Programme which supports people with services, events and groups. They also have a Trans Advocacy service, which provides practical support to those facing barriers to services or experiencing discrimination. More recently, LGBT Foundation has expanded its operations to

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

. The Soho Angels, a night-time harm reduction programme based upon the Village Angels, was established in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

in 2018 in collaboration with

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

and

. The

Government Equalities Office The Government Equalities Office (GEO) is the unit of the British government with responsibility for social equality. The office has lead responsibility for gender equality within the UK government, together with a responsibility to provide advic ...

to had commissioned the LGBT Foundation to roll out Pride in Practice through five London clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) —  

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

CCG and

North West London The NW (North Western) postcode area, also known as the London NW postcode area, is a group of 13 postcode districts covering around 13,895 live postcodes within part of northwest London, England. It is the successor of the NW sector, originally ...

. Nationally, Eastern Cheshire, Mid Essex, St Helens, Greater Huddersfield,

Calderdale Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, whose population in 2020 was 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the u ...

and North Kirklees CCGs have also expressed interest in running the programme in future.

References

{{Portal bar, LGBT, Transgender Organizations established in 2000 Social welfare charities based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Manchester LGBT organisations in England LGBT political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom LGBT culture in Manchester