Interviews Open for the SpeakOut! Project!

Space's volunteers are working with the Dorset History Centre funded Oral History Project to run 'SpeakOut!', a project that aims to expand Dorset's archives on LGBT+ history.

Following another project run early last year, it had come to the History Centre's attention that there is a huge void of LGBT+ history in Dorset, with little to none in the way of oral history.

The SpeakOut! project aims to fix this by holding recorded interviews of LGBT+ individuals across Dorset. These interviews will provide important history of the experiences of LGBT+ people, as well as the progress made as a community. The project will allow people to talk about any experiences, not just LGBT+ ones, and encourages exploring the interactions being LGBT+ has with other minorities.

Interviews can be sealed for an amount of time from 5 years to permanently for people who don't want their information being public, and consent for the storage of data can be withdrawn at any time. If you are at all interested in becoming a part of Dorset's history, you can contact the project here: lgbtspeakoutproject@gmail.com, or apply through space by emailing here: iggy@spaceyouthproject.co.uk

LGBT History Month!

As you know, the month of February is also when LGBT History Month takes place, and the theme of this year is Peace, Activism and Reconciliation!

Set up in the UK by the charity 'Schools Out UK'  after the abolition of section 28 in 2003, LGBT History Month continues to celebrate the progress of the LGBT community, as well as promoting equality and acceptance and providing resources for schools and other groups.

The BBC have also made a video for LGBT History Month that you can watch here, which talks about lesser known LGBT+ figureheads and role models who campaigned for LGBT+ rights including Sue Sanders, a lesbian activist who established LGBT History Month itself!

For more information or ways to get involved, you can visit the LGBT History Month website by clicking here.

Mermaids Secured £500,000 Grant!

An incident unfolded not long ago involving the Royal Lottery funding of the trans family support charity 'Mermaids'.

At the time, Mermaids had their latest grant frozen after following several complaints from the general public. These were sparked by a debate on the website 'Mumsnet', a forum website that aims to help and support parents, but as of late has become a ground for spreading hate and abuse against certain minorities and individuals, especially trans ones.

It was when a post under the name 'Glinner', the same name infamous anti-trans rights Graham Linehan uses on his Twitter, was made telling people to contact the Royal Lottery and have Mermaids funding seized.

The Royal Lottery were forced to freeze the funding as they investigated further, but thankfully have just revealed that Mermaids will be receiving a grant of £500,000, after they found no evidence of Mermaids using their funding improperly.

This funding will help Mermaids run for the next 5 years, and they plan to use this money to open 48 centers around the UK to help young people and their families! The Royal Lottery have also stated they are going to continue working close with Mermaids to avoid any incidents like this happening again.

Grace Petrie on Air Radio!

Recently, Charity played Grace Petrie's new song 'Black Tie' on AIR Radio, which is all about the daily struggles of trans people and understanding who you are.

For all your LGBT news and music, be sure to check out Charity's radio show, which now runs every Tuesday from 8pm to 10pm and every Friday from 7am to 9am on AIR 107.2 FM.

Also, click here to listen to Grace Petrie's 'Black Tie'.