Guide to Services

How do you begin to sum up the diverse range of services, support and information that The Lesbian & Gay Foundation provides?

Well this annual guide attempts to do just that by capturing the energy of the Lesbian & Gay Foundation, its people and its purpose. Here you will find information on all of LGF’s services at the time of publication: August 2009.

However if you cannot find the information you are seeking in this resource please do drop us an e-mail or call the helpline on 0845 3 30 30 30.

A message from Paul Martin - Chief Executive, The Lesbian & Gay Foundation

“As we reach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the Lesbian & Gay Foundation's first ten years can begin to be reviewed. Since 2000 we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of services that we are able to deliver and an ever increasing need for more to be provided.

We have been incredibly successful, but our success has shown us that there is still so much more to do and we cannot meet all the needs of our community as quickly as we would like to be able to.

We can say with confidence that our work and our efforts have been noticed by people all over the world. We are doing more things, supporting more people, listening to more opinions, becoming more accessible and having more of an influence than ever before.

Our doors are always open to anyone who wants to work in a constructive and forward thinking way.Our minds are open to new ideas to help bring online new voices and an ever wider and more influential audience.”

Ending Homophobia in the 21st Century

The Lesbian & Gay Foundation helped ‘End Homophobia and Empower People’ by achieving some amazing results in the last year:

600,000 individual condoms and 600,000 individual sachets of water based lube were distributed to men who have sex with men in Greater Manchester.
379,015 people accessed LGF via services such as printed resources and outnorthwest magazine.
192,831 printed resources and numerous large-scale community campaigns were produced.
25,000 unique visitors a month visited our website with traffic coming from over 200 different countries.
6,000 hours of vital volunteering were provided across all our services by over 200 volunteers.
2,000 people were supported and informed remotely through our Helpline and e-mail service.
1,422 visits to group work sessions helped people explore coming out; meet others; and gain vital support and information in a safe and supportive environment.
1,000 hours of counselling helped to improve the mental health of over 500 LGB people across Greater Manchester and the North West.
167 gay and bisexual men accessed our sexual health outreach clinic.
100 LGB people used our advice surgeries on legal issues and policing/hate crime,over the last year.

But this is just a snapshot of the work of The Lesbian & Gay Foundation.Our services are constantly developing to meet the needs of the communities that we serve.

In this guide you will find more detail on the services outlined plus:
- Our aims to support individuals,strengthen communities, promote equality and develop excellence.
- Information on the North West's LGB & T Strategy.
- LGF's Distribution Network.
- Our work challenging homophobia in schools.
- New services such as support for LGBT Carers.
- Our groundbreaking work supporting Lesbian & Bisexual Women.

All this and more in a handy pocket sized 64 page booklet!

If you would like copies of this resource just email us for more information. We'll need to know where you want them sending to and how many you'd like.