Our history

Birmingham LGBT was established in 2002. Originally called Birmingham Pride Trust and then Birmingham LGBT Community Trust, it was established as a grassroots breakaway group from the Pride Festival by individuals who felt that a Pride event once a year did not meet the community’s diverse needs

Birmingham-LGBT-Pink-Logo

Birmingham Pride Trust and then Birmingham LGBT Community Trust

Birmingham LGBT was established in 2002. Originally called Birmingham Pride Trust and then Birmingham LGBT Community Trust, it was established as a grassroots breakaway group from the Pride Festival by individuals who felt that a Pride event once a year did not meet the community’s diverse needs. From the outset, Birmingham LGBT aimed to raise awareness of issues that affect Birmingham’s LGBT citizens through consultation, community engagement, advocacy, strategic engagement and lobbying.

 

Strategic priorities and the LGBT Community Forum

In 2004 and 2005 the organisation carried out a series of events called Gay Life Matters. From these consultation events they identified four strategic priorities: younger and older LGBT people, LGBT health, housing and social care and BAME LGBT people. In 2006 the Birmingham LGBT established the LGBT Community Forum to which 36 voluntary and community groups are affiliated. In 2006 they also carried out a consultation event Are you being served?. The results were fed back to key stakeholders in the city. Birmingham LGBT became a registered charity in February 2007 and in April 2007, in partnership with Stonewall, hosted a political briefing for senior politicians and executives of Birmingham City Council.

 

SHOUT: Birmingham’s festival of queer culture

In 2007 Birmingham LGBT was active in lobbying for the regeneration of the Gay Village area and received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop the Gay Birmingham Remembered exhibition and archive. In 2008 in partnership with the Consortium of LGBT Voluntary and Community Organisations, Birmingham LGBT received three year funding from Capacity Builders to improve the reach, capacity and voice of the LGBT third sector and appointed their first full-time development worker. The trustees underwent a number of strategic planning days with the Consortium in December 2008 and identified the need to develop a strong strategic Board. A skills audit was carried out and a recruitment process followed to ensure effective governance for the organisation. In April 2009 Birmingham LGBT secured £35,000 funding from Arts Council England to pilot an LGBT cultural festival in the city in the month of November; SHOUT: Birmingham’s festival of queer. In June 2009 Birmingham LGBT secured a three year SLA from Corporate Equalities Birmingham City Council and appointed their second full time member of staff to the role Strategic Development Worker.

 

LGBT Health & Wellbeing Centre

In 2010 Birmingham LGBT carried out a series of community consultations and a large scale needs assessment (Woods et al 2011) which identified the need for a community resource to address health and wellbeing. In 2011 Birmingham LGBT were awarded £480,000 over four years to set up an LGBT Health & Wellbeing Centre from a bid to the Big Lottery Reaching Communities strand; with a £250,000 capital investment from Birmingham City Council the project was completed and the new centre opened in January 2013.

In 2011 the Board appointed a Director to oversee the strategic development of the charity and a Health & Wellbeing Manager. The organisation became a company limited by guarantee in 2011 (and a registered charity), limiting the liability of the Directors and allowing it to trade. In 2012 Birmingham LGBT appointed a Volunteer co-ordinator with a grant from Lloyds TSB to recruit, train and support volunteers for the Health & Wellbeing Centre and was successful in an application to Birmingham City council Adults and Communities directorate to set up a service for older LGBT people.

 

The last few years have seen a period of rapid expansion for Birmingham LGBT with exciting developments and major achievements, including being a delivery partner for sexual health services for LGBT/MSM in Birmingham and Solihull.

 

A short video about the Birmingham LGBT Centre’s Ageing with Pride Project

TIME LINE OF ACTIVITY

2002 Birmingham Pride Community Trust set up
2004 Supported Birmingham City Council in setting up a Sexuality & Faith Think Tank
2005 “Are You Being Served?” consultation event
2005 “Gay Life Matters” event for LGBT service providers and users
2005 First “Queer Question Time” in Birmingham
2005 Consulted on the Birmingham Carers’ Strategy
2006 “Proud History” event
2006 Established Birmingham LGBT Forum
2007 Created “City Shapers Game”
2007 Held first “Political Briefing”
2007 First “Pink Picnic” held
2008 “Gay Birmingham Remembered” project launched
2008 Systematic review on LGBT Health published by Birmingham University
2008 Gay Village Petition handed to Birmingham City Council
2008 Community Guide launched
2009 First SHOUT Festival of Queer Culture
2010 Name changed to Birmingham LGBT
2010 Faith & Sexuality event – “Listening to Hidden Voices”
2010 Birmingham City Council invests £500,000 in the Gay Village area
2011 “Out & About” research published
2011 “Gay Birmingham Back to Back” project launched
2012 LGBT Leadership Training
2012 First SHOUT Film Festival
2012 PING Brum Festival
2012 Pride in Sports Festival
2012 Gay Village Gateway Sculpture unveiled at Pride
2012 “Pull Yourself Together” Film premiered
2013 Birmingham LGBT Toolkit Developed for Schools
2013 Birmingham LGBT Centre opens its doors
2013 Older LGBT people’s service developed
2013 Birmingham LGBT wins National Diversity Award
2014 “Coming Out Stories” heritage project launched
2014 Birmingham LGBT joins the National LGB&T Strategic Partnership
2014 Birmingham LGBT partners with University Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust to deliver sexual health services
2015 LGBT IDVA service launched to support people experiencing domestic violence

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