To celebrate #LGBTHM22 we asked some of our member organisations to share their stories from their history. These features include celebrating anniversaries, acknowledging important people who have done incredible work for the LGBT+ sector and highlighting events.

Our first member organisation we are featuring is MindOut, an LGBTQ+ Mental Health Service. Helen Jones (She/her) is the founder and CEO of MindOut, who has worked in mental health advocacy for many years. Helen is passionate about empowerment, peer support and service user participation.

To find out more about MindOut please visit: mindout.org.uk

Schools OUT UK is an education charity that began life as The Gay Teachers Association in 1974. Their overarching goal is to make schools and educational institutions safe spaces for our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans+ (LGBT+) communities as teachers, lecturers and trainers; as pupils and students; as parents; as teaching and learning support staff; as site-officers, catering and cleaning staff; and as headteachers, managers and governors. There is no other organisation that supports such a wide community in attaining such a wide, yet simple overarching goal.

They are the founders of LGBT+ History Month [www.lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk] and the Classroom [www.the-classroom.org.uk] and are affiliated to OUTing the Past [www.outingthepast.com] and Pride in Education [www.prideineducation.co.uk]

50 years of LGBTQ+ support

Since 1972, LGBTQ people have been coming together as London Friend to support the health and wellbeing of others within our communities. Most of these were (and still are today) dedicated volunteers, whose actions continue to provide help that is missing from mainstream services, and we’re incredibly proud to be celebrating a phenomenal 50 years of London Friend in 2022.

Find out more: londonfriend.org.uk/londonfriend50

#LondonFriend50