Until I became a charity fundraiser for No Limits I was, for many years, in primary education. It is only recently that I began to understand and realise the full extent of the prejudice suffered by young people who are LGBT ( lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender). One of my current roles is fundraising for Breakout Youth, a charity that supports young (13 to 21 years old) LGBT people in Hampshire. Here are some facts that I gleaned in my trawl for information. There is much more information on a range of sites such as Stonewall. National stats show that LGBT young people are:

• 2 to 6 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual youth.
• At much higher risk than the heterosexual population of substance abuse.
• At least 7 times more likely to be crime victims than heterosexual people.
• More likely to contract HIV (gay young men)
• More likely to be homeless (40% of homeless youth are identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual)
• More likely to be rejected (50% of all gay and lesbian youth report that their parents reject them).

If you are:

• an individual concerned with the extremely widespread issue of violence against and amongst school children and students
• a teacher or other educational staff who takes seriously every child’s right to be safe at school and to receive a quality education
• an organisation working on the rights of the child
• an organisation working on gender-based violence
• an organisation working on the rights for sexual and gender minorities
• a local authority, city council, local government,…. which has a mandate on education
• a trade union working on the right to education
• or any other constituency concerned with this issue

in Hampshire and need support, advice and help about issues around sexuality then contact Breakout Youth or No Limits.

www.breakoutyouth.org.uk

www.nolimithelp.org.uk