In alphabetical order
This category is for a charity or community initiative that has changed or continues to change the lives of LGBT+ people.
Exist Loudly
Exist Loudly is a creative youth organisation, launched in 2020 by Tanya Compas to support, uplift and empower Black LGBTQ+ youth through spaces of joy, creativity and community.
Galop
Galop is the UK’s leading LGBT+ anti-abuse charity. They work to support LGBT+ victims and survivors of interpersonal abuse and violence, domestic abuse, sexual violence, hate crimes and other forms of abuse including honour-based, forced marriage and so-called conversion therapies. They are a service run by LGBT+ people for LGBT+ people, and the needs of our community are at the centre of what they do.
Imaan
Imaan is a charity that supports LGBT+ Muslims. Founded in London in 1999, it campaigns to ensure that no LGBT+ Muslim person in Britain feels excluded from their family, their faith or their communities. Imaan is a small, volunteer-led charity which aims to represent the breadth of the Islamic faith and the range of identities and narratives of the LGBT+ community and our allies. The organisation works frequently to address the intersection of Islamophobia and homophobia.
KeshetUK
Keshet, which is Hebrew for ‘rainbow’, is an education and training charity working to create a world where no one is forced to choose between their LGBT+ and Jewish identities. They have a mission to ensure that Jewish LGBT+ people and their families are included throughout Jewish life in the UK. Jewish LGBT+ people exist in all walks of life, so KeshetUK aspires to work with all UK Jewish communities, including Jewish schools, youth and young adult organisations, synagogues, and wider community organisations to help them become more inclusive of LGBT+ people through better education and training.
Mermaids
Mermaids is a UK charity supporting transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse children and young people, their families and professionals involved in their care. Formed by a small group of parents in 1995 before becoming a charity in 2015, Mermaids exists to relieve the mental and emotional stress faced by gender-diverse children and young people aged 20 and under, as well as promote education and awareness. Mermaids provides a number of services to families and young people, including helpline and webchat support, forums, local groups, residentials and family days. They also offer training to individual professionals as well as public, third sector and corporate organisations.
Positive East
This org has been at the forefront of HIV service and care for more than 30 years. Guided by their mission – to improve the quality of life of individuals and communities affected by HIV – Positive East offers one of London’s most comprehensive ranges of HIV support and prevention services, from counselling, peer support, workshops and advice to HIV/STI testing to more than 3,000 people per year. Positive East also hosts the UK’s largest HIV community event, the annual World AIDS Day RED RUN, raising more than £875,000 for HIV support and prevention projects across the UK.
Queer Britain
For too long, LGBT+ people’s stories have been written on the margins. Queer Britain was founded to ensure there is a physical space where queer people can see their lives, histories and cultures celebrated and understood. This organisation is the UK’s first national LGBT+ museum and works to reclaim and preserve queer heritage for all. In 2022, they opened the doors in King’s Cross, welcoming 30,000 visitors in the first six months. Their first exhibition, which celebrates 50 years since the first UK Pride March, won the Museums Association’s ‘Museums Change Lives, Best Small Museum Project’ Award.
Rainbow Railroad
Rainbow Railroad is a global charitable organisation with a mission to help at-risk LGBT+ people get to safety. Around the world, LGBT+ people are facing increased persecution and violence, including in the almost 70 countries where same-sex intimacy is criminalised. Through their work, they support these individuals through life-saving programs that allow them to live safely, freely, openly and authentically, while also working with dozens of activists and partners on the ground in countries where LGBT+ people are at risk. In their history, they’ve provided life-saving support to more than 5,500 LGBT+ people in almost 50 countries.
Spectra
Spectra started life in 1996 as the West London Gay Men’s Project, set up to prevent HIV transmission in local high-risk populations by delivering services in the community as well as contributing to the evidence-based research of the period. Spectra has since broadened who they work with and the types of issues they support. They exist to support people of all sexualities, gender identities, cultural influences and ethnicities who want to make positive changes to their lives. With a focus on sexual health and emotional wellbeing, they recognise that a person’s sense of identity, well-being, culture, knowledge and confidence impacts strongly on the choices they make in life. This could be around isolation, attitudes to protecting yourself, relationships, resilience, stigma or substance use.
Umbrella Cymru
This org is a Wales-wide support service that specialises in gender and sexual diversity, equality and inclusion. The service offers a range of intervention from information to ongoing emotional and practical support to people in Wales of any age, including family members and other professionals. The service was set up in 2015 and in just under eight years has supported almost 5,000 people. The service began with two volunteers and has expanded to now employ eight staff. The team work tirelessly to deliver person-centred support to help people live authentic, happy and healthy lives without fear of hate and discrimination.
