LGB/T Youth Lynx South West
Youth Lynx is a network of LGB/T young people's groups, LGB/T student officers, and individual LGB/T young people, working together strategically to:
- combat prejudice and exclusion that harm young LGB/T people
- research gaps in service provision
- research young people's concerns and needs
- improve access to secure skilled community-responsive youth services
- share information about good practice, and
- improve social life and access to support where needed, especially for isolated young people living in the most rural areas of the peninsula.
Contact Youth Lynx via Paul (at) intercomtrust.org.uk, or ring 01392 201012.
The principal gap
All young people need to socialise safely and positively with their peers. This is not relatively difficult for young people who are growing up straight, since this is the basic environment in which they are living. It is extremely difficult for young people who are growing up LGB or Trans, or who are Questioning, since most find the majority culture is far from positive or suportive. The biggest and most worrying gap is therefore in the provision of LGB/T youth groups. At present there are none in Cornwall at all, which is a disgrace. There are none for the thousands of young LGB/T people in Devon unless they can reach Plymouth, Torbay, Barnstaple or Exeter. All credit to those youth workers who keep high-quality professional services alive in those four areas.
Similarly, in Dorset and Somerset there are large areas of the counties (especially the most rural areas) which have no provision at all for LGB/T young people.