Nottingham LGBT+ Network has relaunched with a brand new look after almost fifty years of serving the community. The network provides vital support and communication to the LGBT+ community through its website, phone lines and newsletter.
The charity worked with Warbox, the sister company for digital PR agency, TANK, to design the new look and logo with the aim of reaching new community members who may need support.
David Edgley of Notts LGBT+ Network says the network was started as campaigning for equality began in the 1970s. It was run entirely with volunteers when it began and still is today.
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"The network goes back to the 1967 Sexual Offenses Act which many saw as legalisation but it wasn't as there will still over 20 different areas where LGBT+ people could be discriminated against. As a result, campaigning groups were set up with the principal one in Nottingham being the Campaign for Homosexuality Equality (CHE)," he explained.
"CHE started in 1971 but back then, we only had two bars compared to today where you have all sorts of groups for football, transgender or young people. People latched on to it because it offered a lifeline and quite a few people had issues with their sexuality, problems at work, neighbours, the church and the list went on. So CHE set us up with a phone line once a week in 1975."
Calls started to come in quickly to the helpline and David estimated there were about 200 in the first year. There were also letters from people looking for help.
"We had about 90 percent calls with 10 percent letters. As we were a novelty, we did get some odd ones including a letter where someone offered to sponsor the switchboard by hammering a nail through their tongue. Another said in 21 days we would be cast into the firey pits."
Over the years, the helpline grew until it was over five nights and experienced over 2000 contacts a year. People would also contact the helpline to find out what was happening around Nottingham. When homes started to have internet access, Notts LGBT+ Network moved online with a new website.
"Most people see us these days through the internet but we are aware that a large number don't have easy access so we still do paid advertising. We run on about £15,000 per year but we've been told we provide excellent value for money," he said.
Covid meant another change in that the closed venues could no longer take the printed version of the newsletter which has been running since 1998. It ceased publication and is now circulated online for free and sent to thousands of people across Nottinghamshire.
Another vital part of what Notts LGBT+ Network offers is training to some of the area's biggest organisations including the police, fire and rescue, Boots and the universities. Training includes LGBT+ awareness in the workplace, supporting victims of hate crimes and local resources along with many other topics.
Many LGBT+ people can experience homophobic or transphobic bullying in the workplace While there has been much progression for the community since the network began in the 70s, there are still areas of concern. David explained that while things have changed in how people contact the service, the underlying issues are still there.
"Things have changed as we used to get a lot of letters but now we get nothing like that. Half of our contacts are by email, phone and social media in particular Facebook. The reasons people contacted us in 1975 are still there as they need information about socialising or they still have the same problem but far fewer of them."
David said when it comes to proud moments there have been many over the long history of the network and it's all about having an effect on people's lives in the long run.
"Our proudest moments are the comments we get or email responses to say we've been really helpful. We get responses like, my young son has been struggling over this issue and his life has been turned around because of the information you gave him. People say contacting us has been a life-changing moment for them."
He added: "We had about 25 volunteers and then Covid happened. We cannot do our training over zoom as it needs to be hands-on so we went for 18 months without being able to train new people. We started training again last year and had two groups go through with four really wonderful volunteers. We've had some really standout over the past 40 years."
"If people want to volunteer, all they need to do is contact us through our email on the website. We do an interview so we can find out about them and they can find out more about us. People don't have to volunteer for the helpline as they can do things like publicity or fundraising or help with outreach.
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