UK Pride Dates

The dates for most UK prides have been revealed! Check the poster below and start planning which ones you'll be visiting!

Mel Lane's LGBT+ Schools Work!

Mel is SYP’s volunteer teacher and she’s working really hard to try and get the message of LGBTQ+ inclusion out to primary and middle schools. She’s trying to spread the word and you can help by following her work on Instagram at Diversity_mel

Mel uses stories such as …and Tango Makes Three and Introducing Teddy to talk to children about diversity in families, what it means to be transgender, the importance of not feeling pressured to be a particular type of boy or girl, as well as appropriate use of language so no-one feels victimised or excluded in school. She also works with teachers to encourage them to normalise diversity and to avoid making assumptions about the children in their class.

If you are a young LGBTQ+ person and you’d like to get involved in Mel’s work, either helping with school visits or being videoed talking about your experiences, she’d love to hear from you.

Mel’s sessions are free and she can be reached at education@spaceyouthproject.co.uk. She says that personal recommendations are really great - if you know a school that would benefit from her work please tell them and tell Mel too.

Thanks everyone!

Art Activist 2019!

Art Activist is an annual creative project that promotes the use of art and performance as a way to spread awareness for particular issues and bring along change that will benefit everyone. It acts as a bridge between LGBT History Month and IDAHOBIT Day, whilst also showcasing the talent hidden within the UK's LGBT+ community.

Art Activist hopes to encourage young people to become 'Artivists' and create media to the themes of LGBT History Month, which this year are Peace, Reconciliation and Activism. You can submit your creative piece for free here and the winning individual will be given £100 for their LGBT+ group!

The showcase event will be held on the 18th of May 2019 at the I M Marsh Campus of Liverpool John Moores University and is being hosted by GYRO.

Being Proud Awards 2019!

The Proud Trust are holding their annual Being Proud Awards in celebration of IDAHOBIT day and the themes of LGBT History Month. These awards aim to celebrate the hard and mostly unrecognised work members of the LGBT+ community and allies alike have put into helping make the UK a better place for LGBT+ people.

All the individuals and groups that receive awards are initially chosen by the public, and that includes you! If you can think of anyone who deserves recognition for the hard and consistent work they put into their local LGBT+ community, follow the link here to nominate them for an award!

The awards take place on the 18th of May 2019 from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm and will be held at the I M Marsh campus at Liverpool John Moores University, Barkhill Road.

BBC's NB Podcast Review!

BBC Sounds have just published the first two episodes for the new podcast 'NB', which explores what it is like to be non-binary and to come out in a world where everything is either 'male' or 'female'. The podcast is presented by Caitlin Benedict, who recently came out as non-binary and talks about their struggles in the show, and Amrou Al-Kadhi, a non-binary filmmaker, writer and drag artist.

The podcast itself manages to include quite a wide range of experiences from the LBGT+ community, including people of colour, different religious backgrounds and intersex voices. Having a show that brings publicity to the lesser known parts of the LGBT+ community really helps to show the impact that support can have on you. 

The show also talks about addressing trans people, including some history on the evolution of language and just how far back gender neutral pronouns go. It also addresses what it feels like for a trans person to have the correct pronouns used for them in a natural way, and how something so simple and easy as that can make a big difference.

Overall, it's great to see a podcast that talks about non-binary so openly on the BBC and although the show does feature some strong language, I would definitely recommend watching it whether you are non-binary or not. It gives a valuable insight into what it is like to be non-binary, as well as a history into how the topic gender has been treated by different cultures.

Autism Alert Card!

Autism Wessex have introduced a new card, called an 'Autism Alert Card', for anyone over the age of 10 who is on the autistic Spectrum, including Asperger syndrome.

This card has been developed by a board of a wide range of groups and individuals, including Autism Wessex themselves, Dorset Police, various children's services and people with autism and Asperger syndrome. The scheme hopes to provide autism awareness training to Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole police.

The card itself contains basic information on autism and Asperger's as well as emergency information and contacts about the card holder, and can be used by an individual if they need support from one of their contacts, help or consideration from emergency services, or just want to tell people more about their condition.

This card should help bring awareness and support to all ages of people with ASD and Asperger's when they most need it. You can find out more and apply for your own card here, or call directly on 01305 213135, and your first card is completely free!

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'.

Get Your Tickets for BH Coastal Lottery!

Space Youth Project have now created their own page on the BH Coastal Lottery website to help raise funds to keep Space open.

This Lottery allows you to support Space with donations while also having the chance to win fantastic prizes every other month, starting with a mini-break in Bournemouth's brand new beach lodges!

Tickets are only £1 and signing up would be a great thank-you for all the amazing work Space does in supporting young people. 

We have a link to our donation page on the homepage of the Space website. Remember to donate before the 2nd March for a chance to win on the first draw!

Tune into AIR Radio!

As part of Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), the LGBT radio show on AIR 107.2FM will be hosting a special transgender evening on Tuesday 20th, between 8-11pm.

A panel of local LGBT people will read out messages of support, your comments or any questions you may have. So make sure to tune in and get involved!

Messages can be sent to studio@air1072.com and marked TDOR, please send them in before 20th November if you would like it to be discussed on the show

Run Gary Run!

On the 9th September, one of our volunteers completed a half marathon on the behalf of Space. Gary managed to finish the half marathon and so far, has raised Space Youth Project £179! A massive well done and thank you to Gary!

Check out Gary's Just Giving page here!

Office Picnic!

Space Youth Project had a lovely picnic with the office team in Poole Park on Monday. The picnic was Space's way to thank everyone who helps out in the office for all their hard work. Sadly, not everyone could make it but thank you so much for everything you do for Space!

Bournemouth Pride was a Blast!

Bournemouth's LGBT+ community took over the city centre last weekend to celebrate Bourne Free with thousands of visitors and it was a party that Space couldn't have missed. Young people and volunteers met up in the early morning to get our float parade-ready and put up our stall in the Lower Gardens. When everything was glittered and all balloons were blown up, we made our way to the Overcliff Drive where we met the rest of the parade. It was amazing to march through Bournemouth to show everyone what a lovely bunch Space Youth Project is and it was great to see how the public supported us with their cheers!

Having a stall was a wonderful opportunity to inform more people about Space. Offering goodies to the public was a great chance to engage them as well as raising money to support our project.
A big thank you to all the helping hand we had on deck to make this day such a success! We can't wait to see you all there next year!

Pride is Tomorrow!

Bourne Free is tomorrow! To make sure you know where to go, PLEASE read our leaflet. It has all the information you will need to know for the day!

New in: Sophie the Erasmus+ Intern

A glittery hello to everyone! My name is Sophie and I will be with Space for the next three months to do an Erasmus+ internship. I flew over from Germany, where I'm currently about to finish my BA of Cultural Anthropology and Education. In Hamburg, where I studied, I've been working with young LGBT people for 8 months before getting here.

After arriving last week, I got the chance to attend my first youth group in Poole Thursday night. I was very curious to meet the young people and to see the setup of a group. Working in groups is what I'm most exited to spend my time on besides helping out with event planing in the office. Charming Ronnie helped me out to do the register, which was an excellent way for me to introduce myself and get to know the group. I'll try to remember all the names, but please don't mind me asking for it again over the next weeks.

During circle time the new volunteers faced interrogation by the young members of Space. Clara and Holly were there to get interviewed with me, which made it a bit less scary. I was quite nervous about the questions that might be asked, but we didn't receive any that were too personal or intimidating. I feel like everyone was too polite or shy to ask about more intimate things, but I'm sure we'll get to know each other better over the next couple of months.

Last night I went to Bournemouth group, which was quite different from Poole, especially due to the location in a youth centre. I worked on a little social media project for IDAHOBT day, the International Day Against Homophobia Biphobia and Transphobia. Follow our Instagram account @spaceyouthproject to see the results of it on the 17th May. Again this was a lovely way to introduce myself to the young people and start a conversation about their experience as a young LGBT+ in Dorset.

I really enjoyed myself in both groups and I can't wait to attend more. I wanted to talk to so many people and play a round of Pool or two, but time ran out way too quickly. Which means I definitely will have to be back!

Trans Training Blog

Second Year Counsellor Trans Training Blog

By Elena

Being present for Space’s transgender training presentation was amazing and it felt great to have a positive impact on other’s lives through the counsellors we spoke in front of. Sarah and Eli were the main speakers for this talk as I did the slides and watched, joining for the Q&A at the end. We (Eli and I) were able to talk about our own experiences openly so that they could be used to prevent others being treated the way we were, without fear of anyone interrupting or disagreeing. All the counsellors we spoke to were incredibly respectful and asked important questions, showing that they cared about our cause.

Everyone also left a feedback form at the end of the presentation, and it was amazing and encouraging to hear all the positive feedback we received, which included, “A lot of food for thought and hugely helpful to gain insight in to the area of the population which can be overlooked or dismissed. Thank you so much,” and, “I empathised with Eli’s difficulties and struggles, especially childhood and I would like to thank Sarah, Eli and Ellie for sharing their personal stories and for showing me courage!”

Being a witness to this presentation has encouraged me to write up my own story, so that I may help others in future training sessions and deliver an impactful message the same way Eli and Sarah did.

Chilly Tuesday!

We had a lovely Bournemouth group last night celebrating a young person's birthday and played group games. We also put on AIR radio, an all inclusive radio that one of our volunteers presents on. We sat around listening as she gave Space a shout out!

We hope everyone's wrapping up warm! And remember if you see a rough sleeper around in this area use the Street Link service, 0300 500 0914, to notify the council about a rough sleeper anywhere in the country. If you're in Bournemouth you can notify the council Rough Sleeper Team by email on b&pstreetoutreach@mungos.org or by calling 01202 315962. This is a 24 hour answer phone.

The Camera's Rolling!

Yesterday, on the 25th February, 7 of our young people got together at Number 18 in Poole to help us make a film. We wanted to create a film talking about homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying that will be a valuable resource for our schools anti-HBT project. A project, funded by the Department for Education and the Equalities Office, to tackle the very same bullying we came together to talk about on film.

"I'm surprised how positive this experience has been considering how bad it was at the time. Being around people reminds me of all the support I have." - Ronnie

Talking about these kinds of experiences is never easy, but it was inspiring to see how everyone was so forthcoming about their stories. It was a valuable bonding experience for everyone involved and emotions were running high. George, the director, was definitely finding it emotional during the individual interviews as it was his first time hearing about the reality of LGBT+ people's bullying experiences.

"It's been quite tough. It's nothing I've been around, experienced, or heard about before. It's sad to hear what you guys have been through. Your stories are very powerful." - George

For our young people, being a part of something that can bring about change and prevent what happened to them from happening again is priceless.

"It was a horrible experience but being able to apply it to something like this almost makes me glad to have been through it. Knowing that all our experiences could be the catalyst for a better school environment for LGBT+ people makes me see the experience a different way." - Eli

We admire our young people here at Space so much for being so brave enough to be apart of this project. A massive thank you to them, to George, and to Number 18 for hosting this project. 

"I've been blown away by young peoples ability to share their stories and them doing so will make a change." - Sarah

We are the generation of change.