It is with sadness that we report the Wellingborough councillor who tweeted Pride is a Sin and then doubled down without apology for his targeting of the LGBTQ+ community has been reinstated as a councillor by the Local Conservative group.

It is frustrating that the Conservative party have chosen to allow a precedent for homophobia within local politics and we know there will be a lot of emotion going around.

Please do reach out if you're needing someone to talk to, or looking for any support. While we're working on building social groups and other support resources in North Northamptonshire, there are still plenty of organisations there for you to talk to.

If you can we would encourage you to write to the leader of the council to share your experiences and show why this is a mistake.

Many of you may have seen the unacceptable comments made by a certain councillor from the Wellingboough area yesterday on Twitter or in the Northants Telegraph.

What can we say? we are horribly disappointed that anyone, let alone a councillor who is meant to represent people within their community, could come out with comments like these.

It is a sad fact that in 2023 ignorance and hate is still present. I am, however, happy to say that North Northamptonshire Council are working with us closely to ensure the right outcome is met, and they reassure us that this view does not represent that of the council.

I know it can be frustrating to hear vague and generic comments but I ask us all to have a little more patience, and trust that the right decisions will be made.

We will update as and when we learn more from the leadership teams within the council

Wow what can i say!

For those of you who managed to attend Corby's first ever Pride event I say thank you. A lot of effort was put in, with multiple partners to plan this event and it was so worth it!

There were over 1000 people who visited on the day showing their support which is absolutely mind blowing for a first ever Pride event.
With Partners ranging from Qspace, Youth works, and even us at our little information stall, there was something for everyone.

The acts themselves were amazing, and I hope you all had a chance to have a dance and enjoy the sun.
This won't be the last Pride Corby sees, and i'm so so proud that we helped them get their first one off the ground.

I also wanted this month to touch upon reporting hate crime. It's something a lot of us avoid because what's going to change? The police don't do anything anyway so what's the point?

Well we've been working with Northants Police recently to help bring them more awareness of what the community faces, how it feels to still be overlooked in 2023, or worse targeted!
There's still much more for us to do as this is never a quick fix, we want to make sure that we work together toward meaningful change.
That being said we're already seeing a big shift in attitude and change.

Sadly I had to report a hate incident myself this week but i was so blown away with how Northants police handled the situation. The equality questions weren't archaic as these things usually are and actually reflected the modern terminology we expect. They came across as taking the situation seriously and asked throughout the process what result I wanted to see.

If there's one thing i've learnt in the last few months working to support change in the police that i would share it is this:
Even if you don't think anything will come from it please do report any hate incident. It may not be a direct crime but your report may be the straw that breaks the camel's back (sorry camel!). It could be that first bit of evidence against someone, or it could be the last bit needed to press charges. Each report helps to build the bigger picture so action can be taken.

~ Aaron ~

We are so vert grateful for everyone who took part in our Coffee and Cake events across LGBT+ History month.

With the support of partner organisations, and other friends across the county we raised £600 to go direct to local groups and organisations that support the LGBTQ+ community.

We will publish the details of the organisations we're supporting as soon as we've made contact with all of them to let them know. There will be 5 in total as we simply couldn't choose between those that were brought to the table.

Thank you to everyone who got involved; whether that was baking, donating, or even colouring in the packs we gave out to the libraries.
Your support will go a long way to help our community.

February is LGBT+ History month and we've been very busy working with partners across the system to put on a number of events to promote LGBT+ history and to help make a brighter future.

This month we have piloted the Care Provider specific LGBT+ training in order to take that first step toward bridging the gap in services for older LGBT+ people. We are collecting the responses from the attendees and will be reviewing their feedback soon to make tweaks to the session. It is our hope to launch the full training offer within the next 4 weeks. We will be working closely with Care Providers, the local authorities, and grant funding organisations, to ensure as many organisations can access the training. Only then can we make sure all older LGBT+ people have the services in place that they need, with staff who understand the difficulties and worries faced by the community.

We have worked with a number of organisations to host Coffee and Cake afternoons in order to raise money for local LGBT+ groups and organisations. While the grand total will be revealed at the end of the month I am happy to say that at the half way point we have raised just over £130 already.
We're hoping as more events are being planned for next week we should see that figure rise substantially.
Times are so tough right now for everyone so every penny that gets donated is so incredibly valued. There are groups all across the county who are trying to make safe spaces for the LGBT+ community and we are committed to helping them wherever we can.

Our local libraries have been doing a cracking job with their displays this month really making sure everyone knows that your local library is there for you. We encourage everyone to go visit and show your support wherever you can.

Forum members have been working hard to get the first Corby Pride event off the ground and so far we're excited by the plans that are coming together.
Planned for Saturday 10th June we do hope you can come along and have a great time.
If you're interested in supporting Corby Pride you can find the expression of interest form on the Corby town council website

Finally, for now, there are a number of events taking place across February for history month, and to remember some remarkable figures who have either been taken far too soon, or who made such an impact on our communities. Please do check out the events page for information, and do let us know if there's something we should be promoting that we don't know about.

You can check out images from history month, and much more, on the History month 23 page. We welcome you sharing images of what you've been getting up to with us so we can help promote as much as possible the community coming together.

In 2023 we will be looking to plug a number of gaps in services that we've identified across the county.

We are hoping to launch our LGBT+ awareness training that's specific to Care Providers in February. This will aim to support these settings to create an environment where people feel comfortable to be themselves and can access the support they need.

We are starting work to set up an all-ages LGBT+ support group for people to have those difficult conversations around Mental Health, find social support with one another, and to find other support where needed.

We will also be making a big push on our Safe Spaces project which looks to promote safe, LGBT+ friendly, spaces across the county so everyone knows they are welcome.

If you want to support in any way please get in touch: Chair@LGBTforum.co.uk

Feeling lonely is something that all of us can experience at any point and it can have a huge impact on our wellbeing. It’s important to remember that these feelings can pass and that there are lots of ways we can help each other too.

Fancy a cuppa? Fancy a walk? Sometimes reaching out to each other with as little as three words can make a big difference.

Find out how you can help to lift someone out of loneliness. 

On Saturday 4th June 2022 the North Northants LGBT+ Forum brought a bit of colour to the Jubilee pageant held in the Queen's honour in Northampton Town.

We went down to represent our community in North Northants and help spread the cheer. It was so heart warming to see so many people cheering for the jubilee, but also the number of people who took out their phones to snap us with our Progress flag, and the Trans flag.

Hopefully we managed to reach even just a few people, if not we definitely brought a smile to people's faces.

It's so important for us to represent our community so those who may feel isolated know there's a wider family out there for them.

If you have any pics from the Jubilee, or of any Pride event you're going to in June, add the hashtag: #NN_LGBT