GLOBAL has unfortunately had to close due to lack of funding. The information below highlights some of the work that young people carried out to challenge homophobia in Sheffield.

GLOBAL

Global (Gay, Lesbian and Others Becoming Active Leaders) is a group of 10 plus young people all between the ages of 13-25. The group enables young people in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans) community to have a voice and inform decision makers in the City about how we can improve the lives of LGBT young people in Sheffield. We regularly attend events and meetings where we aim to challenge homophobia and prejudices around sexuality and people’s gender identity. We carry out consultations with LGBT young people to find out their issues and needs so we can make a difference.

We have taken part in Peer Research over the past 12 months, consulting with other young LGBT people in Sheffield. The peer research gave us some really good results, which we are hoping to feed into other organizations to help improve the lives of LGBT young people in the future.

INFORMATION

From our research… issues which came out as being very important to LGBT young people and which they felt they needed more information on were:

So what we have done… we have been receiving training on ‘know your sexuality’ which we hope to deliver to other young people and we also attended a conference about trans people and the issues they face.

We have been working with the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health and they have delivered us a session on alcohol awareness for LGBT young people. We are now designing our own booklet for LGBT young people which will offer support and guidance around many issues including sexual health, the local gay scene, our peer research and even some of our own coming out stories and personal experiences!

EDUCATION

From our research… 73% said that they didn’t receive enough information at school about being LGBT, with 77% not receiving any information about sexual health for LGBT young people. Most young people had to look to alternative places to find support such as youth groups or websites – this left us feeling isolated and ignored!

So what we have done… we have been working hard with Sheffield City Council and the LGB Multi Agency Team to develop a Stonewall charter of standards that all schools will be able to sign up to. This charter will aim to improve teaching of LGBT issues within school and promotion of support for LGBT young people. It will also aim to reduce homophobic bullying and hopefully improve LGBT young people’s school experiences in future.

HEALTH

From our research… 90% of those consulted said they didn’t receive enough support about being LGBT and they had to look to alternative support networks such as the internet or LGBT youth groups.

So what we have done… this year we have attended over 10 events and designed our own publicity to promote our group as a safe space where young people can explore their sexuality and gender and have a voice about issues that are important to them.

BULLYING

From our research… nearly 50% of LGBT young people said they were bullied at school – this was by not just other students but teachers too!! Of those bullied 34% also received death threats. Many LGBT young people said that they often missed school because of bullying.

So what we have done… We challenge homophobia and transphobia among young people. We think this is really important if we are going to reduce the number of LGBT young people being bullied at school. We are also working with the Anti-Bullying action group to reduce bullying in Sheffield. We took part in takeover day and presented a report on bullying and put forward a proposal to employ an Anti-Bullying Coordinator in Sheffield. You too can help stop homophobic and transphobic bullying!!!!

WE ARE CHALLENGING HOMOPHOBIA AND TRANSPHOBIA EVERYDAY!!

We are the first group of young people to sit on the Unite against Fascism steering group and have attended events to speak out about homophobia and challenge discrimination of all kinds. We also attended International Day Against Homphobia and In My Shoes, where we spoke about our own experiences and have been to young people’s hostels to raise awareness of LGBT young people’s issues.

We are really proud to say that the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health have recognised all of our work and are awarding us with an award for positive contribution to the LGB community which we’ll receive at Spring Out this April!!!