LGBT Youth organisation creates Belong To the Future Day

BeLonG To, Ireland’s LGBT Youth Organisation, creates Belong To the Future Day following last year’s Marriage Equality Referendum in Ireland.

BeLonG To provides nation-wide critical support services such as peer support, advocacy, schools outreach and suicide and harm prevention. It is the co-commissioner of today’s aforementioned report and is uniquely positioned to comment on the challenges faced by young LGBT people using its service network around the country. It has seen demand for its services doubled since the Marriage Equality Referendum last year.

Belong To the Future Day May 23
Photo: PAUL SHARP/SHARPPIX

LGBT Ireland provides nation-wide critical support services such as peer support, advocacy, schools outreach and suicide and harm prevention. It is the co-commissioner of today’s aforementioned report and is uniquely positioned to comment on the challenges faced by young LGBT people using its service network around the country. It has seen demand for its services doubled since the Marriage Equality Referendum last year.

advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

Thankfully, on May 22, 2015, the Marriage Equality Referendum changed what it meant to grow up LGBT in Ireland. For the first time ever, our nation stood up and told young people, their friends and their families that it was safe to come out, that they belong to the future. Young people now feel confident to come out. Demand for services from BeLonG To, has literally doubled since the referendum.

BeLonG To, the national LGBT Youth Organisation provides critical support services such as peer support, advocacy, schools outreach and suicide and harm prevention. Of course, the high demand for these services marks an amazing point of societal evolution. However, with increase in demand, comes an increase in cost, leaving BeLonG To in urgent need of additional funding.

The recent launch of the LGBTIreland report showed that we still have many changes

Belong To the Future Day May 23
Photo: PAUL SHARP/SHARPPIX

to make if we really want young LGBTI people to grow up in a safe and supportive environment. As a nation, we do not want LGBTI people spending their adulthood recovering from traumatic childhood experiences, resulting in later mental health problems. Together, we can wipe out homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools and build young people’s resilience to such behaviours. Our little green Island can show the rest of the world, once again, how to make your country the best place in the world to grow up LGBTI.

BeLonG To is declaring May 22, as Belong To the Future Day to fund these services that nurture and support Ireland’s young LGBT people.

BeLonG To’s Director of Advocacy, Carol-Anne O Brien, is available to provide additional insight into the thousands of stories and experiences of young LGBTI in Ireland that BeLonG To responds to each year.

Belong To the Future Day is another step towards an equal future for all in Ireland.

Find the BeLonG To service online here

Check out the LGBT website here

Check out more about the Marriage Equality Referendum here