Merton invites young LGBT community to be involved

· by · in Chief executive. ·

Merton’s young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities are being invited to have their say at the next LGBT forum, as recently started up by Merton Council and its partners.

The second of the quarterly forum meetings takes place on Wednesday 8 October, in the week building up to the annual ‘Local Democracy Week’ events. The forum welcomes all LGBT people from the community but this time will be particularly focusing on young people in Merton, encouraging them to come along and have their say. Discussions will look at issues of interest and also of concern, for example homophobic bullying.

The meeting will have feedback from members of the LGBT youth group for Sutton and Merton about their views on services in Merton, along with a number of interesting speakers such as youth officers and those involved with school programmes the community.

Sue Sanders, co-chair of Schools Out, an organisation working towards equality in education for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people will also be present to talk about the resources and training available to teachers and schools from her organisation.

Councillor Debbie Shears, Merton Council cabinet member for children’s services will also be attending the meeting and said:

“The first LGBT forum we held back in August was a great success, but it was clear that there needed to be a focus on gathering young people’s thoughts and opinions too. With young people at the heart of the community it is crucial they are given an opportunity to get involved and have their say. The forum this month will help the council be able to put the needs of all our residents first and so we would encourage LGBT young people to come along and join the discussions.”

The forum is open to LGBT people who live, work or spend time in Merton. If you are interested in coming along to the meeting, please contact the Diversity and Community Engagement team by e-mail at diversityandcommunityengagement@merton.gov.uk, by telephone on 020 8545 4637 or visit http://www.merton.gov.uk/community/lgbt.

-ENDS –

The Local Democracy Week campaign is about making young people aware of their local council and getting them more involved in politics.

Local Democracy Week will take place between Monday 13 and Sunday 19 October and we will be running a series of events during this week to highlight the ways that local people can get involved in democracy and politics.