We are Out Youth, providing education and training to improve lives of LGBT+ young people. We are a non-profit Community Interest Company and our dedicated team aim to:
- Deliver targeted LGBT+ youth groups in partnership with voluntary and statutory agencies.
- Provide education and awareness for staff working with LGBT+ young people.
- Provide targeted 1-to-1 and group support for LGBT+ young people.
- Promote equality, diversity and acceptance through work delivered within the wider community.
We hope you find all the information you need, however if you have a question, please feel free to email us.
News
High Court ruling on hormone blockers
We are deeply disheartened and greatly concerned over the High Courts recent ruling around hormone blockers for young teenagers. These blockers are a lifeline and give vital time and relief for trans young people to understand, process and accept their identity. Hormone blockers are not a permanent removal of puberty, nor are they cross sex hormones. They pause puberty to allow some relief from the distress it can cause trans young people. Not understanding this distress is a lack of knowledge that needs educating around. For a panel of cisgendered judges to make this decision based on such a small number of cases seems short sighted and extremely harmful, both for those young people looking to transition and for Trans rights in general, at a time when transphobic hate crime is on the increase, is add fuel to the fire. We spoke to our friends at Doncaster Pride who had this to say:
“The decision made in court regarding transgender teens is truly devastating for the trans community and our allies. I’m Bea, I’m transgender and work as a crisis support lead for LGBT people. I’m also on the Doncaster pride team and I see directly how this decision impacts the trans community. I feel like our country is going backwards instead of forwards for trans people, with organised anti trans groups pushing forward and decisions made on our lives by people that don’t see or hear us. We must all push forward to try and change this awful decision that I think was based on single sided views. After winning miss transgender UK in 2017 I feel like I have a responsibility to help fight this decision and encourage more change to make trans lives easier in the UK. Myself, Doncaster pride and the team at Out Youth are here for everyone in full support of the transgender community as a whole.”
Over the last few years we have worked with a number of Trans young people and for them, hormone blockers have, quite literally, been a lifeline. Our work in schools, as well as developing support systems of other agencies, has allowed many trans young people to thrive. The removal of this option, which for many, has been an objective in their journey, is a set back that could see increasing levels of mental health stresses which could manifest in self harm and suicide.
We will step up our work to support our trans siblings to get through this difficult time, and hope that this step backwards is reversed in the near future.