Feeling queer?
On July 31st this year, Norwich will celebrate its second Pride event, an occasion aiming to raise awareness of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer people in our community through events, debates, exhibitions and a march through the centre of the city. Whilst events have been going on for a while, this is still only one day and as we know, there are 3-6-5 of those in a year to fill. Strip away the glitz and silence the fanfare of the very public Pride, and you get an everyday issue that won’t be serviced by parading down the street armed only with a feather boa. There are those in the community seeking advice, who have health questions or feel alone with this confusing relationship they call their sexuality. For those times, there’s the Norfolk LGBT Project, and we took some time to ask their Project Development Worker, Sarah Hines a little about what they do…
What is the
Norfolk LGBT Project and what do you do? The Project is a community-based charity that was set up in 2007 to provide support for the LGBT community in Norfolk. We provide sexual health
advice, free condoms, lube, dental dams and Chlamydia Screening. We also run a series of support groups.
Why do you think the work that you do is important and necessary in Norfolk? When it comes to sexual health we believe that LGBT-specific information is especially crucial to the Norfolk community. Many of the big organisations that cater for these issues are London based; the benefit of the Norfolk LGBT Project is that we know our community and can signpost people to relevant local services. All of our support groups are well attended and our youth group BLAH has grown so much in the past three years that we're bursting at the seams - it's brilliant! It's great to see friendships being made in a non-judgmental and safe s†pace where people can just be themselves.
What kind of support do you offer? On the sexual health front we provide Chlamydia Screening, free condoms, lube and Dental Dams, information booklets and advice that is relevant to the LGBT
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community. We have three active support
groups: BLAH, a group for LGB people aged 25 and under. The group meets in safe venues for friendship, support, social events, activities and trips. Whereas young Trans,
gender-queer or gender-questioning people are referred to Kitty or Simon at MAP. There’s also TIME OUT for gay men, bisexual men and men questioning their sexuality aged 25 and over and TRANS-FORUM - a self-help support group for male to female transsexuals. We also provide online and telephone support and if we can't help you then we'll direct you to people who can.
Do you get much help with tackling these issues (from government, institutions, grants, independent donations?
Our Sexual Health work is funded by the NHS; all our other work is funded by grants and donations. Norfolk Community Foundation helped us with a grant to set ourselves up professionally which was a big help. Much of our support work relies on successful funding applications but financially things are difficult for everybody at the moment and we are having to rely
heavily on fundraising to be able to provide activities and even the biscuits for our support groups! Later this year Pequlia Bigtopp will be walking from Norwich to Kings Lynn in heels with support along the way, sponsored by Aviva Pride, to raise money for the Project.
How many people are involved? The Project has 2 part time staff and 10 volunteers who help facilitate with the support groups and attend meetings on behalf of the Project. Everyone has something different to give.
Where are you based? When does it happen? Our office is based in Norwich and our office hours are 9-5 Monday to Friday. Our support groups are in the evenings. We also run day trips throughout the year to events such as London Pride, and Cambridge Pink Festival, last year we even took the youth group camping!
How can people get involved? We are always looking for volunteers to help with not only the support groups, but with fund raising and promotion etc. It's not just fun but also very rewarding! People can call us on 01603 219299 or email me
sarahhines@norfolklgbtproject.co.uk for more information. We will be having a stall at Norwich Pride this year so come along and say hello if you are interested in what we do.
Maxie Gedge
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